Nov. 24, 2025

My Five Most Powerful Sources of Gratitude

My Five Most Powerful Sources of Gratitude

At the beginning of this Thanksgiving week. I wanted to take just a few minutes to share with you my five greatest sources of gratitude right now, and a little bit about why they’re so significant.

 

We're living in a time when it feels really hard to operate from a place of gratitude. There's a lot going on that is just not good for humans. And it's hard. Nonprofit leaders in particular are feeling super stressed and under attack in a lot of ways, and we're watching attacks on members of our communities. There's a lot of really bad, scary stuff going on.

 

In the middle of all that, it becomes much too easy to lose sight of what's good in the world. But it's the good stuff that keeps us going. It's the good stuff that gives us a reason to stay in the fight. And to show up for all the people who matter to us, and to whom we matter.

 

Those of us who are lucky enough to work in the Nonprofit universe, a lot of us are here because we feel called to this work. Whether we're in direct service or advocacy or doing both at the same time, it's a labor of love. We do this because we care.

 

So when we find ourselves being pulled away from awareness of that and being sucked into the vortex of doom, I think it's really important to take a step back and take a little inventory of all of the things that motivate and inspire us, that recharge us, and that keep us going and keep us sane.

 


In this episode, I'm sharing:

  • What I’m doing (and not doing) to stay sane in crazy times
  • Why I’m seeking out people who challenge me and help me grow – and the amazing results that’s creating for me and my clients
  • The valuable perspective shift we can take from animals
  • The unexpected advocates who are emerging as a powerful source of inspiration for me
  • My Thanksgiving wish for you

  

Interested in joining my new coaching program as a Founding Member? 

Reach out to me here:

On LinkedIn

Through the podcast website


WEBVTT

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you're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.

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In today's episode, I'm sharing My five most powerful sources of gratitude right now.

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So stay tuned.

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If you wanna have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.

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I'm Kath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive Nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.

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It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner and to have them.

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Bringing opportunities and resources to you.

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This podcast will help you do just that.

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Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.

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Hey there folks.

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Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.

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I'm your host, Kath Patrick, I'm so glad you're here for today's episode at the beginning of this Thanksgiving week.

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I wanted to take just a few minutes to share with you some of the things that I'm feeling most grateful for right now and a little bit about the reasons why.

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We're living in a time when it feels really hard to operate from a place of gratitude.

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There's a lot going on that just is not good for humans and it's hard.

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Non-profit leaders in particular are feeling super stressed and under attack in a lot of ways, and we're watching attacks on members of our communities.

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There's a lot of really bad, scary stuff going on.

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And in the middle of all that, it becomes much too easy to lose sight of what's good in the world.

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And It's the good stuff that keeps us going.

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It's the good stuff that gives us a reason to stay in the fight.

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And to show up for all the people who matter to us, and to whom we matter.

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All of us who are lucky enough to work in the Nonprofit universe, a lot of us are here because we feel called to this work.

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Whether we're in direct service or advocacy or doing both at the same time, it's a labor of love.

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We do this because we care.

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So when we find ourselves being pulled away from awareness of that and being sucked into the vortex of doom, I think it's really helpful to just take a step back and take a little inventory of all of the things that are really great in our lives.

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And that keep us going and keep us sane.

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I was talking recently with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time, and we're both long time advocates.

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He asked me a question that was kind of out of the blue.

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Usually in normal times you would say, so what have you been up to?

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Anything cool going on in your life?

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But what he asked me was, how are you keeping sane these days?

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And I had to think about that for a second, but I had an answer.

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What was interesting to me though, and this made me think.

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I started with an answer of what I'm not doing.

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Of things that I have changed in my routine in order to help keep me sane.

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The biggest one is I no longer read in-depth news in the morning.

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I used to absolutely love sitting with a cup of coffee before my day started and just going through the newspaper, whether holding an actual copy in my hand or looking at it on my phone, whatever I'm doing.

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I used to love doing that, just kind of catching up on what's going on in the world.

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Seeing what's new.

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Often there'd be something that was relevant to my advocacy work.

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So I'm keeping on top of things for that as well.

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I'm not doing that anymore.

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Because what I found is that to do that, to be confronted with the absolutely horrendous headlines that are on the front page every single day.

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That if I start my day reading anything more than the headlines and getting into the details of it, by the time I've spent maybe half an hour doing that, I'm depressed.

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My creative energy has been sucked out of me for the day, and that serves no one.

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That doesn't serve me.

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It doesn't serve the people I help.

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That is not a productive way to spend my morning.

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I still read the news.

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I catch up on it at the end of the day.

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And you know, I check alerts on my phone.

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If a major catastrophe is occurring, I'll know about it.

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But other than that, I don't really need to know minute to minute what's going on.

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And what I find is that if I set that aside and regard that as unhelpful noise.

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I find it much easier to stay focused on the work at hand.

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To bring the kind of empowered and passionate energy that I wanna bring.

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To show up the way I wanna show up to do the work that matters.

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And so that was basically what I said to him.

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But the other thing that I said was, and I spend as much time in nature as humanly possible because that's healing for me.

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It's restorative.

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That is the definition of sanity for me.

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So I was thinking about that conversation when I was making a few notes ahead of this episode.

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And thought about, right now, in this time, what are my sources of gratitude?

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What am I feeling thankful for?

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And you won't be surprised to hear that it's a combination of the personal and the political in the sense of the advocacy universe.

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Cause those are pretty tightly intertwined for me.

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First and always.

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The thing I'm the most grateful for are friends and family, including the four footed ones.

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My two very sweet cats who are always present and always entertaining, sometimes entertaining on Zoom.

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Some of you may have met them on a Zoom call here and there.

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They're delightful and amusing and sweet, and they regularly ground me in the essentials.

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One of the cool things about animals is that they're uncomplicated and they're fully present all the time.

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That in itself is a model.

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And a thing that reminds me that I'm a lot happier when I'm fully present in the moment too.

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When I get to worrying and stressing out about all the things that might happen, I find it really valuable to just spend a minute with an animal who is not worried about any of that stuff.

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They are worried about am I safe?

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Am I warm?

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Do I have food?

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Am I loved?

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And if that's all going on, then I'm good.

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I find that a really helpful reminder sometimes, and very grounding.

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I'm incredibly grateful for the wonderful humans in my life, a group of good friends who are there for me always and who are a never ending source of joy and love in my life.

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Especially my partner who's always there for me and who helps me keep perspective and stay sane.

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I'm always grateful for the loving relationship that we've created, and for the fun that we have.

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We've been together a long time.

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And a few days ago, one of us said something and we just both fell out laughing and we couldn't stop.

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We were laughing uncontrollably for a good five minutes.

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And I said to her, you know what, that's pretty romantic.

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That after all these years we still make each other laugh so hard that we can't function.

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You know, in these very challenging times, laughter and joy are so precious, and I'm so grateful for them whenever they appear.

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But also the fact that I get to share them with this amazing person.

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Another thing that I am deeply grateful for is time in nature.

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It's as necessary for me as breathing so I make it a priority.

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But still, I never lose my sense of wonder and gratitude every time I step on a trail.

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I feel like every day in nature is a gift.

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Every day in the woods is a gift.

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And I'm finding that I need more of that these days for its ability to heal, to ground, to restore.

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And what I also find is that particularly when I'm hiking, there's a creative flow that arrives that doesn't show up anywhere else.

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It's kind of amazing.

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So sometimes I'll just go for a walk or a hike to let the ideas flow.

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I'm grateful for the people who challenge me and help me grow.

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And that's quite a few people right now in my life, which is by design, by choice.

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I have sought out people who will challenge me to level up.

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I have several really great coaches that I'm working with on different things, and I am just blown away at the growth that I'm experiencing in working with them.

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Some of them are coaches that are helping me with aspects of my business, which is extremely helpful.

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And others are helping me with a skillset that I already have, that I've developed over many years.

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But they're taking me to another level.

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That is really fun and exciting.

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They're helping me with aspects of communication and voice that are layers and levels that I had never been able to reach before.

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They're making me not only better at communicating as an advocate, as a coach, as a teacher.

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But also, as I learn these new layers and levels of skill, I get to bring them to you.

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I get to bring them to my coaching groups, to my one-to-one clients.

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And all of them are benefiting from the things that I'm learning from my coaches.

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I am so jazzed about some of the stuff that I'm learning.

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Every time I learn something new, I almost can't wait to bring it to everyone else that I work with to help you take advantage of those things too.

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I've also, in the process of participating in these different coaching groups, have met some really cool colleagues who, we're challenging each other to level up.

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To take the next big leap to get even better at what we do.

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And that is really exciting too.

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There's a handful of folks in that peer group that, they are all on fire.

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It is contagious and wonderful, and I'm so grateful to get to be part of those kinds of conversations and partnerships that are helping all of us elevate what we do.

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I'm grateful for the courage and creativity of all the advocates out there who are showing up in a million different ways.

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They're showing up at the No Kings protests.

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They're showing up in communities every day, all over the country, large and small, urban and rural, red and blue.

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They're everywhere and they're showing up, standing up and saying no to the outrageous actions of this administration, and demanding better.

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I'm especially grateful and appreciative of the courage and creativity of the folks in Charlotte, North Carolina right now.

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And I'm a little bit in awe I have to say, because of how rapidly they have responded.

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Now the thing that's worth noting is that when, particularly some of the really egregious ICE behavior started happening, it took everybody a little bit to kind of get their feet under them and realize what's going on here.

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How do we fight back, what do we do?

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But what's happening is, as there are these occupations, attacks from ICE, deploying National Guard and all this nonsense in different communities.

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Each time that happens, the folks on the ground figure out ways to respond and to challenge that and to push back on it.

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What's happening is that there is an accumulation of knowledge and strategy and tactics, and they're being shared.

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They're being shared all over the country.

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And so each new place these clowns show up, they're being met with a better organized response with community activists who have learned from their peers in another community and are now building on that.

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So what we're seeing in Charlotte is just incredible.

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Just a couple of examples.

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Churches organizing huge groups of community members, training them to use whistles to warn neighbors about ICE and to document their unlawful practices and to do that safely and legally.

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To give one example, there was a church that offered such a training on a random weeknight, and over a thousand people showed up to get that training.

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There were so many people that they had to turn some of them away.

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But just think of it.

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A thousand people showed up, gave up their evening on a weeknight to say, my top priority right now is to protect my neighbors and to push back on this outrageous, unlawful behavior.

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Show me how.

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Teach me what to do and I'll put myself on the line and go do it.

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That's huge.

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And I, I can't even begin to express my gratitude and appreciation for all of those folks who are willing to do that.

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And it gets even more creative.

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We've seen that in a lot of places, whistles, taking video of unlawful behavior by ICE, et cetera.

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That's good, but it gets even more creative.

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So in Charlotte, PTA members.

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Think about this.

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Who are like typically the least radical, the most boring, the most status quo folks on the planet are like the PTA.

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And there they are, the PTA members in Charlotte are standing guard at school entrances to protect students from ICE.

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Parents are organizing to help families within the school community who are afraid to leave their homes.

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A big group of women got together to organize drivers to pick kids up and drop'em back off to and from their school day if the parents were afraid to leave their homes.

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Now it's horrific that we have a situation where the parents are afraid to leave their homes.

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But at least they're able to get the kids to school.

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and they're rallying to the side of their immigrant neighbors and protecting them.

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They're protecting them, they're finding ways to help, they're finding ways that will solve real and immediate challenges.

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While they at the same time organize to push back on the root cause of the problem.

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It's phenomenal.

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And we're seeing mutual aid of all kinds popping up all over.

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The creativity is endless.

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endless The principle of mutual aid is so powerful right now because it doesn't just help somebody out, which is important.

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It also binds us together and says, you know what?

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You're my neighbor.

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I care about you.

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I'm not gonna let bad things happen to you.

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Let me help you.

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Let's all get together and help each other.

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Let's make sure nobody is harmed.

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That's so powerful.

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And I'm so inspired and so grateful for everyone who is standing up and showing up to do that Incredibly necessary work.

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And lastly, but really first.

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I'm grateful for all the Nonprofit leaders who are the reason I do this work.

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You are amazing.

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You inspire me every day with your fierce dedication and determination.

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And your desire to always be taking your work to the next level.

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I have the best job on Earth.

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I get to help Nonprofit leaders be even more effective at their advocacy work and at getting decision makers to buy in and support the incredible work that you do.

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It is an absolute honor to serve you.

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I wish you the very best of Thanksgivings.

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I hope you get to spend your holiday surrounded by love and kindness and caring and really awesome food.

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And mostly that you get to relax and lean into the experience.

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And that you have an opportunity to connect with the things for which you're feeling gratitude that maybe you don't have time to think about when things are really crazy all the time.

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One of the beautiful things about this particular holiday is that you know there's really only three purposes for Thanksgiving.

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Get together with friends and family and share an amazing meal.

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Eat way too much pie.

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And give thanks.

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That's it.

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It gives us time to reflect.

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It's one of the few holidays that are focused on that.

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So I hope you'll take the opportunity and connect to the things that bring you joy and that inspire gratitude in you.

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Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.

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Before you go, I have some news I think you're gonna want to hear.

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To kick off the new year, i'm gonna be offering a brand new program designed to help you take your advocacy results to the next level.

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I've designed this program to focus on a handful of the most powerful and effective strategies for engaging your money and policy decision makers in a way that gets you the results you want.

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We cover lots of different strategies and techniques here on the podcast, and I've heard so much wonderful feedback about the value folks are getting from that, which is awesome.

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But I also hear that it's a lot.

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And what I hear more and more is just gimme the things I absolutely have to have.

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Tell me what's gonna be the most effective, the most powerful, and let me focus on that.

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So that's what I've decided to do with this new program.

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It's laser focused on a set of core strategies that are incredibly powerful and universally effective.

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It doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter what service niche you're in.

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This is the shortest path to success.

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I'll be teaching those core strategies and supporting you with lots of coaching and weekly conversations, all designed to equip you to get the results you want.

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I am limiting this to the first 10 founding members who step up.

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I'm limiting it because I wanna make sure that you get exactly what you need from the teaching and the coaching.

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And as a founding member, you'll have the opportunity to direct the focus of the coaching as we go.

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Think about how many times you've been frustrated with a decision maker not getting it, not getting the true value of your work and its impact.

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This is where we fix that.

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So come on in.

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Shoot me a message on either LinkedIn or the podcast website.

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I'll put those links in the show notes.

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And let's make a plan to work together in the new year and start getting you those next level results.