If you are anything like me, your restful Christmas break only lasts a day or so before you get antsy and a little bit of cabin fever. Yes, the family events are a blast, and I look forward to each one of them. But due to the feverish pace of November and December in the Independent K-12 and nonprofit world, I don’t expect many of you to unwind for long.

If you have not yet made your final purchases for your leadership team this year, you need to read this (and open the Amazon app while you read). Where did we get that quippy little gift saying anyway? Something I want, something I need, something to wear, something to read. When we had our daughter ten years ago, parental advice and similar quips were abundant.

There is a good chance that you are reading this and building donor capacity for the first time. If so, then this first section is for you. For more tenured teams and efforts, we hope this is old news. Here are your three lowest hanging apples.

My parents asked me not to go to my Junior/Senior prom for church and teenage hormone reasons. It felt very unfair, but I complied with their wishes my 11th grade year. However, when I was a senior, I went.

I have walked into warmer rooms, that is for sure. The school leadership had already assembled when I was brought into the boardroom, and they were hopeful that my report about their development operations wasn’t what they had anticipated.

We grabbed a working lunch at Loveless Cafe to talk through expanding her nonprofit’s revenue streams. The CEO was as kind and thoughtful of a leader as you will ever find. Her gifts were evident, and the passion she had for leading her organization was rarely matched by other leaders.

We were on the slough about 30 minutes before shooting light. My dad, younger brother, and I were hunting flooded timber in Central Arkansas and were motoring our way to our preferred spot when the entire world turned gold.