I have to say, when Deanna asked me to write an article about myself for the monthly newsletter, I thought, “this is my worst nightmare!!!” I’m sure most professionals would love the air time to advertise themselves, but I’m not great about talking about myself. I’d rather use this space to talk more about Savage Support and the work I’ve done in supporting them over the last five years, in honor of their 5th birthday.

For the last 10 years, I have been working with nonprofits to help build capacity, integrate policies, implement efficiency-improving technology, evaluate their impact and measure the quality of services an organization offers its community and beneficiaries. Basically that means that I help organize the business side of running the nonprofit so they can focus on “doing the work” as I like to say.

This is the kind of work that no one really thinks about doing when they start a nonprofit. Most people, out of the goodness of their hearts, pool resources from their families and friends and don’t realize the long haul effort it takes for an organization to go the distance, remain sustainable and relevant. They tend to not think about what policies need to be in place for an organization’s protection, how to formalize job descriptions for board members or create a 5-year plan with goals and objectives. That’s where I come in!

One of the many pitfalls young nonprofits will fall into is a vicious circle of putting out fires. As a result, they find it very difficult to get to a point where they are looking ahead at their sustainability rather than the issues they are faced with right now. This means they never look at building their capacity for the future and tend to stay small.

I’ve been with Savage Support in an advisory capacity since their inception, and have been continually impressed with their dedication to their sustainability and long-term impact. They focused on the essential building blocks at the beginning, which take time and money, and which most organizations skip in favor of immediate action. As a result, they are in a place now where they are able to switch gears and begin focusing on other aspects of the organization to grow it, improve it and support it.

The board has been dedicated to the beneficiaries of the breast cancer support community and has adapted itself according to their needs and demands. The role that I have played along the way included gentle nudging here and there to ensure the board has stayed on task and stayed true and authentic to their mission and vision.

Since the beginning, Savage Support has planned to service scheduling, payments, and evaluation via our website rather than continuing to handle scheduling on a case by case basis. This year, after a few sticking points with technology, we are rolling out the beneficiary end of our website to our beneficiaries. In doing this, we are fulfilling one of our first goals of ensuring beneficiaries are able to access and schedule services without having to speak with any of our board members or any staff at all. In implementing this solution, the board is freed up to be able to recruit new beneficiaries, do more fundraising, and raise more awareness about what it is Savage Support does. Additionally, the automated nature of the website will allow Savage Support to take on and serve more beneficiaries than we have ever had before.

I am so proud of Savage Support, the whole board, our volunteers, our donors, our partners and all of our service providers who have supported us along the way. What we have achieved together is an amazing step for a nonprofit and is something that not every nonprofit is able to boast.