Great Team Exercise - Discovering Strengths

My team and I may be the last team in the country to do this exercise as a team. Recently, we read through Marcus Buckingham's "Now Discover Your Strengths", did the strengths test, and discussed our strengths as a team.

This was very helpful because it preceded a discussion about reorganizing our department and our individual tasks and responsibilities. Knowing our individual strengths and those of our teammates helped considerably as we discussed who should do what. It helped us understand why each of us tend to gravitate to certain tasks and prioritize our time the way we do. It's also helped us since that discussion as we work through issues that arise by reminding us how others in the department approach things. What a great exercise.

My Top 5 Strengths Are:

1. Deliberative
2. Responsibility
3. Analytical
4. Discipline
5. Focus

I know...typical robot accountant.

Online Giving Popular even Expected?

Kem pointed this article about online giving out to me. It's an interesting read. Especially the survey information about what communication donors like to receive and don't want to receive. It backs up my opinion that online giving is an amazing tool for churches and charities. It's becoming more and more popular with donors. In fact, at this point in time, I think donors almost expect it to be a option for giving to an organization. Think about it. It's available 24 hrs. a day, 7 days a week. Its accessible from anywhere in the world. It makes it convenient and easy for a donor to give anytime, anywhere. Churches and charities can greatly benefit from maximizing this powerful tool.

Some things that increase the power of online giving for an organization:

1. A good web presence - Are people visiting the web site frequently and for all kinds of different reasons? The more people visit the web site the more likely they are to use online giving.
2. An easy to find link to the online giving application - I think there's a happy medium here. You want it to be visible, but discrete.
3. The ability to set up a giving schedule (i.e. once a week, once a month, etc.) - This is a powerful tool. It allows donors to decide in advance what they're going to give on a regular basis and provides a regular revenue stream for the organization.
4. Easy to find, easy to understand help information - Sometimes people need help using the application. They need to be able to easily find some easy to understand help documents.