What the Fundraising

Acknowledgments

Over the last few months, I kept getting alerts on my phone that my heart rate had risen above 120 beats per minute while I seemed to be inactive. It turns out that writing this book was hard. It took me 18 months to even agree to it, and another 4 months to actually start writing. It’s funny that so much of this book is about self‐doubt, overwhelm, and paralysis, but there I was in all of my own imposter syndrome and completely paralyzed. I always say that everything I talk about and teach in my work is a practice I use on a daily basis. It’s true, and it’s how I stay in action 98% of the time. But sometimes, for all of us, the paralysis runs deeper, and it takes longer to move through our resistance.

I was terrified to write this book for several reasons. First, I thought I was too early in this work to make my voice important enough for a book. After all, I only started my full practice in 2021. I had all the perfectionist narratives that said, “I will be ready when,” but I acknowledged them for what they were and said yes anyway. I hope this inspires others to take the leap before you’re ready, too. The second reason for my resistance is I know my research is incomplete. Every day, I am learning, growing, and doing new research on the What the Fundraising podcast. How could I publish something that I can’t just delete a few days later if I change my mind? For someone who is constantly iterating on their work, this idea is agonizing. But once again, I saw ...