Thursday, September 28, 2006

In search of treasure 2

In my post two days ago I was searching for the words to describe the Evergreen Leaders' treasure. My heart sang when I came up with: Call us when you want your nonprofit to thrive while transforming lives.

But then slowly my enthusiasm waned. Something was missing. Then I remembered my friend Bob Betzelberger's question to me a couple of years ago: What's the pain that EGL will relieve? When Bob asked that question I didn't know what to say. An eternal optimist, I find it difficult to focus on pain yet I know that when someone knocks on a nonprofit's door it's usually with a combination of desperation and hope.

So went back, read the jottings in my journal that led to Call us when you want your nonprofit to thrive while transforming lives. I had forgotten I had written: "I want nonprofits to care as much for their organization as their cause."

How do you portray the pain that nonprofits get into when they have miserable organizational problems while trying to do good? I kept trying out version after version of an EGL treasure statements. Here's the latest:

When you’re tired of your nonprofit hobbling, call us. We help nonprofits thrive while transforming lives.


Let's see if that takes root and grows.