Hello Friend,
I don’t know about you, but lately, it feels like life’s been kicking me in the teeth. And hey, I’m not here to complain. Some of my greatest accomplishments have come after getting my ass kicked (metaphorically and otherwise).
When things get tough, when it seems like everything is falling apart, I’ve learned that the best way to bounce back is to shift my mindset. It’s all about going from feeling powerless to feeling empowered, from being stuck in fear to opening up to curiosity. And, for me, the secret to that shift is hope.
I can already hear the eye rolls: “Hope? Seriously? Isn’t hope just wishful thinking?” I hear you. You’re right, hope isn’t a strategy. It’s not something you can chart on a spreadsheet or plan for in a meeting. But that’s not the point. Hope is for us—the underdogs, the doers, the ones who wake up every day to make the world just a little bit better.
I came across a quote the other day, and I can’t get it out of my head:
“People speak of hope as if it is this delicate thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It is not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, and the grit of cobblestones in her hair, and she just spit out a tooth as she rises for another go.”
Isn’t that just perfect? Hope isn’t fragile. Hope is tough. It’s the thing that gets us back on our feet every time we fall. It’s a fighter.
Let’s be real: sometimes it feels like progress is a slow crawl. It’s frustrating, exhausting even. But here’s the thing—change happens. It has happened before, and it will keep happening. Not because we let fear control us, but because we put our hope in something bigger.
And we’ve done it before, haven’t we? We’ve seen huge shifts in society when we rallied together and decided enough was enough. Think about it: reducing drunk driving, requiring seat belts, creating the 911 emergency number, getting people to quit smoking. These things didn’t happen overnight, and they sure didn’t happen because we gave in to fear. They happened because we dared to hope in something better.
Here’s where it gets real for us as nonprofit leaders: every day, we’re faced with the temptation to focus on the gloom and doom. It’s easy to grab attention by pointing to the scary stats, the heartbreaking stories, and the dismal projections. Fear sells, no doubt about it. But here’s the thing—fear might grab people’s attention, but it doesn’t inspire lasting change. Hope does.
We need to shift the narrative. We need to share the wins—no matter how small—and celebrate the incredible work that’s happening every day. Let’s shine a light on the progress we’ve made, on the people and organizations who are doing the heavy lifting. And we can’t do it alone. Recognizing others—collaborating, not competing—is what makes the impact last. We need to build movements that unite people around a shared sense of purpose. People need to see what’s possible when we all come together.
Right now, bringing people together seems harder than ever. But here’s the bright side: this is the one thing the social sector has always been good at. We’ve always been the ones who remind people of what we have in common, not what divides us. We have the power to bring people together around a shared mission, and it’s time we leaned into that.
Let’s remember who we are and what we’ve already accomplished. Let’s resist the forces that want to divide us and keep pushing for unity. It’s not just about looking good; it’s about being great. It’s about showing up every day with that hope in our hearts, no matter how tough things get.
Hope isn’t some fluffy, feel-good thing that we throw around when things are good. Hope is a choice—a gritty, no-quit choice to get back up and try again. As nonprofit leaders, it’s our job to embody that hope and share it with the communities we serve.
So let’s get to it. The world needs our hope now more than ever.
Talk soon,
Damon
