Nonprofits are the worst holiday letter ever

So it is May, but let me take you December. Since we have Facebook to portray our perfect and wonderful lives to each other, maybe we don't get the holiday letter as much, but you all know exactly what I am talking about. The "my kids are better than yours, our lives are much busier, productive, happier than yours" letter. We despise them because we know they are not true. NO ONE is that happy or productive. It just reeks of insincerity. We get this on a daily basis with our Facebook friends who just LOVE THEIR KIDS SO MUCH, and their partner is SO DARN WONDERFUL to them blah blah blah.

What really attracts us to others and helps us form real relationships is sharing our whole self. The strengths, the "good enoughs," the stuff we are working on. It gives us our humanity. When we expose our weaknesses, we are stronger for it.

Our holiday letter this year could include how my son failed four classes this year. WHOO HOO what a kid! (My son, my love for you is not based on your GPA or driving record, thank goodness!) See how much more you liked me because I shared something like this. My son is struggling to graduate HIGH SCHOOL. There you go. We love blogs like Scary Mommy because they tell the truth about raising kids. We can relate, it is almost a relief that someone is telling it like it is.

Ya got me?

Okay, let's take this to an organizational level.

If all your nonprofit communications is like a holiday letter, you are coming across as fake. We are awesome, our programs are awesome, our people are awesome. JUST AMAZING. All the time. The messages we pump out are shiny, pretty and polished.

And when we do this, we think we are doing the right thing but it comes across as fake. We think we need to only be positive lest a donor find out we don't succeed at everything and run screaming to the next nonprofit that does. But really, that nonprofit doesn't either. All organizations have successes and failures.

People want us to be straight. Tell the truth. Tell the complicated story. Tell how you tried and failed. When we do this, we look secure and confident in who we are. Donors will love us for our honesty and transparency because donors are human beings (shocking I know) who want a real relationship, just like we all do. When we let the cracks show, we let people in. They trust and respect us more for the courage to share the truth.

Be brave enough to tell the truth about you and your organization.