10 Comments
Sep 3Liked by Dan Mangiavellano

I've brought a lot of my previous work life into the nonprofit world. The biggest is the idea of MVP - minimum viable product. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good - get something out into the world, see how people respond, and make edits and updates from there.

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We say this at work all the time - don't let perfect get in the way of good! So important and hard to do!

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Yes, I did call teachers “mom” occasionally. It doesn’t keep me up at night. However, the time I ended a business call with “ok, bye, love you” haunts me to this day. 😿

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I've done it too, and I have been on the receiving end too! It happens. All is good.

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I heard of someone who asked an airline's customer service representative "will you please hold me for a minute" instead of "will you please hold for a minute," so....

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I have questions about Big Macs, fever dreams, and people you want to call mom.

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Would also note that both fundraisers and teachers use their children as captive audiences, but as Frankenstein's fiend might say, it is true; we shall be monsters.

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i called my teacher mom once and it was the most humbling experience that ended with me on the verge of tears rapidly trying to explain that “i know you’re not my mom, i KNOW who my mom is i promise!!”

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I’m obviously not, nor have I ever been a teacher (I wanted to, but the bulletin boards terrified me- true story), but I think if a student ever called me mom, I’d be so flattered, and honestly kind of proud of myself for having developed that kind of trust and affection.

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I always feel nostalgic for my social studies classroom at this time of year. I do miss it a bit, but agree 100% with your comparison of teaching and fundraising. Any day now I'll have my annual recurring nightmare - the one where I can't find my seating chart and I know *none* of the kids' names! Best thing about fundraising vs. teaching? No need to write sub plans when you take a day off! ; )

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