What Is Enough?

I’ll admit that sometimes I have a problem with the word plenty.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am excited about our vision at Plenty for a future where there is plenty for everyone. I believe in this vision, and am thrilled to be working with a team of people and clients who feel the same way.

The challenge with plenty is that there are two ways to get there: you can accumulate more of something, or you can redefine the point where you reach abundance. And let’s face it — we live in a culture where more is better. It’s the classic choice between quality and quantity, and quantity usually wins. Too often, when we think about plenty, we simply think about aiming for more.

The drive for more is inherently baked into the concept of fundraising. We’re all here to raise more money with the goal of positively impacting the world. In that view, there is only one definition of plenty.

Where there is room to challenge that perspective is how we get there. Part of my vision for plenty is to help redefine what it means to have enough. Do we need to find more donors or build better relationships with our current donors? Do we need more events or more impactful experiences on our existing events? Do we need to convince more people to care? Or do we need to help those that already care, better understand our impact?

As with most things, I don’t believe we’ll reach our vision by choosing one route or the other. Approaching problems from both angles will move us forward, but also require us to innovate. Finding new ways to accomplish goals and constantly challenging our perspective is one way I’ll be pushing for plenty.