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A podcast for fundraisers who want ideas, examples and inspiration to help you raise more money for your charity or non-profit.
Rob is an author and award-winning fundraising trainer. Each week he and his guests share examples of successful fundraising, as well as lots of practical tips to help you apply these techniques in your own job.
Hi. This is Rob. Welcome to the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast. Today, we're looking at some ways to tune in to your sense of purpose and how doing this increases your feelings of passion, power, and energy. It's with the brilliant Esther Kwaku, who is the founder of We Got Nerve.
Speaker 2:We spend a significant portion of our lives working. We're at work most of the time. And many of us, we want our work to be more than just a transaction of time for money or a strategy or a set of to do lists, but more like a meaningful journey that really resonates with our values and aspirations. Sometimes this feeling is described as a term that we now know as moral injury. So this is when our ethics and sometimes our purpose are compromised at work.
Speaker 2:And if we're compromised too much, then our feelings can develop into something much more uncomfortable. Sometimes it can manifest into physical symptoms too. So purpose is, you could say, it's an aspirational reason for being. It's a deep conviction about what is true for you that inspires and provides a call to action. It's timeless.
Speaker 2:It's like a compass. It guides the direction for your life. And it's a human thing. It's not economic.
Speaker 1:This is the keynote session we recorded a couple of years ago at one of our Breakfast Club for Fundraising Leaders events. We got so much great feedback about Esther's talk at the time. And because I think the topics she covered are still needed more than ever, we've decided to share it with you now as a podcast. Just before we dive in, there's a point two thirds of the way through where she invites you to take a couple of minutes to listen with your eyes closed. It's a great exercise, and I really recommend you do it at some point.
Speaker 1:But if you're going to do this mindfulness exercise today, please do make sure you're somewhere safe and obviously that you're not driving.
Speaker 2:Hi, everyone. How are you doing? So I'm Esther. I'm a teacher. I facilitate.
Speaker 2:I run workshops. I design powerful conversations. And as Rob mentioned, I run a social enterprise called We Got Nerve. And I'll tell you a bit more about that in a moment. Today, I really want to talk to you about purpose, passion and power, which is a topic that transcends the boundaries of our careers and connects us to why we're here.
Speaker 2:So you can relax into this session, can drop your shoulders a bit. This is your time. And just listen. It's just me griffing with you around purpose. Because in a work world that is constantly bombarding us with the noise of deadlines and targets and expectations, it's really easy to get lost in this daily grind so much so that we don't often pause to ask ourselves that fundamental question, which is why am I doing what I'm doing?
Speaker 2:Sometimes that question comes at a point when we're a little bit stressed or on the way to burnout or maybe deep in the burnout. And trust me, I have been there. So discovering your professional purpose, it's not a luxury actually, it's a necessity. It serves as a compass that guides your career, that steers you towards fulfillment and passion and a deep sense of accomplishment. Because if we think about it, we spend a significant portion of our lives working.
Speaker 2:We're at work most of the time. And many of us, we want our work to be more than just a transaction of time for money a strategy or a set of to do lists, but more like a meaningful journey that really resonates with our values and aspirations. Perhaps you're looking for stepping stones towards a greater vision for yourself or a legacy that you want to build. So exploring purpose doesn't just benefit you as individuals. It's got a ripple effect, a big one.
Speaker 2:It extends into the wider tapestry of society. When you're purpose driven, you're more likely to innovate, you're more likely to lead with empathy and contribute positively to your teams and your organisations too. So we're in a really rapidly evolving professional landscape. And so our adaptability is key. And so knowing your purpose gives you an anchor.
Speaker 2:It helps you to navigate challenges with resilience and pivot when you need to and make more authentic decisions as well. So let's not underestimate the power of this kind of introspection. Let's take our time and delve into that profound question of why do we do what we do? So I'm going to go first. So about ten years ago, I was working with an international NGO that supported people with disabilities, and I was one of the very fortunate fundraisers who got sent places.
Speaker 2:I got sent on field trips, as we often call them, to sit with really vulnerable individuals and communities and collect stories. So that was my job, was a storyteller and a story gatherer. And my brief was to bring those stories back to be used in campaigns and appeals and so on and across different channel lots of different channels. And I remember one of those particular trips that was really triggering. It was in Uganda, and I was sitting with a community.
Speaker 2:I was under the mango trees. Their homes were amongst them. I don't know if you've ever been to a place like Uganda where there's a colorful woven map that gets brought out for visitors to sit on, and it's where stories are told. And I was listening to what they were saying and how they were talking about themselves with pride, assertiveness, confidence. And then I was looking at my brief and I looked at them and I looked at my brief.
Speaker 2:And I remember thinking this doesn't connect. I felt a disconnect because the brief that I was given wasn't the story that I wanted to tell. This is a long time ago, way before conversations about ethical storytelling and and so on. But it really threw me, and I realised it had been building up for some time, this kind of purpose ethical dilemma. Sometimes this feeling is described as a term that we now know as moral injury.
Speaker 2:So this is when our ethics and sometimes our purpose are compromised at work. And if we're compromised too much, then our feelings can develop into something much more uncomfortable. Sometimes it can manifest into physical symptoms too. So I'm sitting there thinking, you know, I have to raise all of this money. I have to put on the heartstrings.
Speaker 2:I have to show absolute poverty. But what our Ugandan friends, folks, peers were saying they actually needed was not the brief that I was raising money for. So I came back to The UK, and I kind of felt this sinking feeling of disillusionment, actually, because my purpose was thrown into question. And I campaigned internally and tirelessly, but I left feeling burned out, and ultimately, I quit the sector entirely. Quit my job.
Speaker 2:Just quit. I wanted to give myself some time and space to sit with this for a bit because I had a burning desire to find other people, organisations, who were making change happen in different ways and telling stories in a different way. So I set off on a mission to do just that. And actually, I went back to Uganda, and I retraced my steps because I felt more free, more unbound. I interviewed people.
Speaker 2:I asked different questions, actually using a lot of the the the tips and advice that Ben was talking about just now, different angles, finding unexpected stories, looking at the order of things, the details, the details that we don't often pick up on. And along the way, I challenged my own assumptions about what it what I wanted to do and why. So I came back with a bunch of data, a bunch of stories, and I set up NERF. And so together with local communities, we shift the narrative around people's stories. And in doing so, and using a lot of local community members, we help brilliant people living in really tough environments to start up their own businesses by telling their own stories with their own voice, with their own agency.
Speaker 2:Sometimes they write their own scripts. Imagine a script written by someone for the radio for appeal. So there's a real element of dignity and authenticity, and it's based on real curiosities. Purpose. And I have to say, I love what I do.
Speaker 2:I love, love, love, love, love what I do. So what is purpose when it comes to you and what you do? So purpose is you could say it's an aspirational reason for being. It's a deep conviction about what is true for you that inspires and provides a call to action. It's timeless.
Speaker 2:It's like a compass. It guides a direction for your life. And it's a human thing. It's not economic. And in your day to day work life, it's that intrinsic sense, that buzz, that sense of fulfilment that you get from doing work that is meaningful for you.
Speaker 2:Purpose can help you to understand why you're carrying out a particular mission, why this mission matters to your career, and how your career impacts your organisation and the sector and wider society, ultimately the world that we live in. But I really, really, most importantly, I love what I do. So how do you love what you do? How do you know why you do what you do? One good place to start is by asking yourself some liberating questions, starting around your purpose and your values.
Speaker 2:Because purpose is a compass, as I mentioned before. It guides you to act in a way that's consistent with your values and beliefs. So we're gonna try a bit of that. I want you to have a ponder and write down or think about the following questions. And if you don't have the answers, that's absolutely fine.
Speaker 2:Also, if you prefer not to engage, that's also fine because sometimes you just have to be in the right state of mind to be able to really lean into this. But your mental, emotional and psychological safety always comes first. So I'm gonna go through them quickly. As I said, you know, you don't need to answer them all because some of them are quite intense. But if a word comes to mind, just write down the first word that pops out.
Speaker 2:Use your gut and you can build on that later. So the first one is what brings you deep joy and fulfilment regardless of external expectations? If money were not a factor, how would you choose to spend your time and energy? What activities do you do that make you lose track of time so much because you're so engrossed in them? When have you felt most alive and connected to your true self?
Speaker 2:What are the values that matter most to you and how are you aligning your life with them? If you had no fear of failure, what bold dreams or goals would you pursue? When do you feel a sense of flow where your skills and challenges are perfectly matched? When do you feel that flow state? What's the big picture that you suspect is there but you can't see clearly?
Speaker 2:How can you use your unique talents and strengths to make a difference in the lives of others? And what kind of person do you want to become? And what steps can you take to embody those qualities today? So remember that these questions are designed to provoke deep thought and self discovery. I would really suggest that you take your time with each of these questions.
Speaker 2:Don't write down what you think others want you to say. Okay? Be really open and honest with yourself. And also appreciate that your answers may evolve over time, and that's perfectly natural too. And with these answers, you can reflect on whether they match up to the values you think you have.
Speaker 2:Okay. What you might be holding on to. So I'm not just talking about values such as truth, honesty, respect. I'm talking about different kinds of questions that can help you to really think through your values. And I'm going to paste some of those in the chat now as well.
Speaker 2:So feel free to take these away. And these are questions like, you know, what do you spend your time doing? Where do you spend most of your energy? What do you visually consume on a day to day basis? Doomscrolling anyone?
Speaker 2:What do you think about? What do you envisage for yourself, for the world? What do you say to yourself? What does that internal mind chatter say? What are some of the positive or negative drivers in your life?
Speaker 2:So things that you that are driving towards or things that you're running away from. How do you talk to others? What do you say to people? What do you talk mostly about? What goals do you set for yourself?
Speaker 2:And who really inspires you? Maybe it's a book or an author, someone in your life. Who inspires you? You can also choose to amend or tweak these questions to fit you better because these questions are really powerful. I'm also going to talk about some of the ways you can create some space to actually think about some of these, because like I said, we're all really busy and we're 120 miles per hour sometimes.
Speaker 2:I also want to say that eventually, though, I came back to the sector and I still work very closely with non profits and charities in The UK and outside of that as well. Reflecting on these questions. It's yeah. It's taken me on some really wild and unexpected journeys.
Speaker 1:Hi. It's Rob. And just before we get to the last bit of the conversation, I wanted to ask, is there an area of fundraising that you need to improve this year? If there is, and if you find the Bright Spot ideas we share in this podcast helpful, please get in touch. Whether it's a bespoke training session for your team or our learning and inspiration club, the Bright Spot membership, or one of our two high value mastery programs, we would love to help you smash your target this year.
Speaker 1:To find out more or request a chat, go to bright spot fundraising dot co dot u k.
Speaker 2:So in addition to those questions, you definitely want to carve out some space to think about all of them. So I'm going to leave you with some tools and some practises. I've got a big toolkit for this, by the way, but just some things to help power you up if you might be feeling a bit stuck. Or maybe you're not feeling stuck and you just want something to affirm what you already feel and to confirm your purpose. And these are some things that you can actually do during your work time.
Speaker 2:So first thing is just to slow down and give yourself and your team some space. Try and see if you could leave a gap between your meetings. You You might be doing this already where you make your meetings twenty five minutes instead of thirty or fifteen minutes instead of sixty minutes. So what that margin of time does between, you know, running from meeting to meeting is it just helps you to question things a bit more, but it also helps you to see where your alignments or misalignments are. The second thing I would suggest to you is to breathe.
Speaker 2:Breathing and mindfulness is so underrated. Right? Those of you who do practise mindfulness and breathing, absolutely bring that into work. Because when we're feeling uncomfortable or we're not giving ourselves space to think, our body tends to tense up and we breathe really shallow. And what that does is it puts the body into survival mode.
Speaker 2:And what do you think happens when our body's in survival mode? We actually rely on our unconscious bias, and we all have unconscious biases. Now I'm not talking about unconscious bias in the DEI or culture aspects of things. I'm talking about unconscious bias in terms of a function of the brain. It's a function of our brain.
Speaker 2:Because at any one moment, we're processing 11,000,000 bits of information. Did you know that? I didn't know that before. We're processing 11,000,000 bits of information, but only 40 of those bits are being processed consciously. So the vast majority of what we're processing in our brain is happening unconsciously.
Speaker 2:Our brain is relying on mental shortcuts to be efficient, but can also be wildly wrong. And research suggests that our conscious beliefs can completely contradict our unconscious beliefs. So we have to tap into that a bit more. We have to think about the lenses and our views of the world because they all come from different aspects, the culture that we grew up in, the curriculum we were taught at school, all the stuff that we consume on a day to day basis. So breathing really gives you a moment to step off the treadmill of your thoughts and be in the moment.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to try something a bit similar. It's not a breathing exercise as such, but it's a presencing practice which you can do for yourself to tap into how you can think about this a little bit more, and it's a body scan. So I want everyone to just get really comfortable in your seat. And you can choose to do this or not. It's absolutely fine.
Speaker 2:But I want everyone to just just take a moment for yourself and find a comfortable position in your seat and allow your spine to be straight and just let your shoulders relax. And then close your eyes. Or you can gaze softly downwards. And I want you to put both feet on the floor and cross your legs and connect with the ground. And then take a deep breath in.
Speaker 2:Fill your lungs with fresh air and exhale slowly and release any of that tension. So begin by bringing awareness to your feet. Feel the sensation of contact with the ground. Notice any sensations, warmth or tingling. Any place that feels particularly warm or particularly cool.
Speaker 2:Pay attention to pressure. Where do you feel a sense of heaviness or lightness or contraction? And as you breathe in again, imagine drawing in all of that energy through the soles of your feet. And breathe out. Now shift the focus to your legs to feel the support beneath you.
Speaker 2:Acknowledge any sensations, whether it's the weight of your legs or any subtle movements. Breathe into any of those areas of tension, allowing them to soften with each breath. Now, bring attention to your pelvis and your hips. Sense the stability and the grounding that they provide and feel the gentle rise and fall of your abdomen with each breath, that natural connecting rhythm. Move your awareness to your lower spine and back.
Speaker 2:Picture each vertebra stacked and supporting you. And with each breath, visualise like a wave of relaxation moving up through your spine, bringing a sense of ease. Now shift your focus to your chest and heart. Feel the expansion and contraction with each breath, connecting with the beating of your heart, which is a reminder of your life and your purpose. Bring attention to your shoulders.
Speaker 2:I carry a lot on my shoulders. Releasing any tension that's held there and just let your arms drop a bit more by your sides or on your desk and feel the pull of gravity. You may notice any sensation in your hands, perhaps some warmth or subtle vibrations. And then move up to your neck and throat. Allow all of these areas to relax and create space for your authentic voice to emerge.
Speaker 2:And feel your breath moving freely through your throat. It's a symbol of expression and communication and storytelling. And then finally, bring awareness to your head, relax your facial muscles, soften your jaw and release any tension around your eyes. And then breathe into your mind and let go of thoughts that no longer serve you. Just get really good at noticing what's happening under your skin.
Speaker 2:And that also includes emotion because sensation and emotion are very tightly linked. And when you're ready, you can gently open your eyes. Welcome back. And so as you go throughout your day, your busy days, see if you can find a place or a space where you can stop and pay attention to these sensations. I try and do this a few times a day.
Speaker 2:And I do this because bodies, our bodies, can be a really great indicator of what's going on. Our bodies are instruments of perception. So when we're more aware of what's going on under our skin, we pick up on more information about ourselves and other people and also about how we're responding to situations. So the more we tap into that, the more we can use multiple intelligences. And all of this links to purpose.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to finish off there. What I prepared today was just a snippet. Tight tiny, teeny snippet. I've got workshops and master classes versions of this too as well. I've also got a purpose toolkit, which I will share with Bright Spots.
Speaker 2:It's got some templates and things that you can use, you know, around your inner circle of people, how to find your top strengths, and some guidance on how to write a purpose statement as well. But as you can tell, I love purpose because we just we don't have this conversation enough. It's super important. It's important for you because you do really important jobs. So let's dive into joyful work, people.
Speaker 2:Joyful work, right? This is supposed to feel good as well sometimes. You can come and find me on LinkedIn if you want to know more because I think we've run out of time for questions, I imagine. But I'm really, really pleased. Thank you.
Speaker 1:There you go. I will share Esther's passion and purpose questions on the episode notes in the podcast section of our Bright Spot website. Thank you for listening and for supporting the Fundraising Bright Spots Podcast. If you found it helpful, please don't keep it a secret. I'd be incredibly grateful if you'd spread the word to your colleagues and on LinkedIn so that together, we can help as many fundraisers and leaders as possible.
Speaker 1:Good luck. Let us know how you get on, and I look forward to sharing another Bright Spot episode with you very soon.