We all have experiences with non-profit organizations. Think back to your first memory of a
non-profit and share that with your audience. Have you participated in little league? Been in
Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts? Purchased Girl Scout cookies? Attended a camp sponsored by a
non-profit? Have you adopted a pet from a Humane Society? Have you volunteered
anywhere?
For example, my first memory was being involved with a YMCA program. We were picked up
at our elementary school one afternoon each week and taken to the downtown YMCA. While
there we participated in sports, crafts and swimming. I remember doing archery one time, I
missed the target, I really missed the target, I somehow managed to shoot the arrow up into
the 20 ft high ceiling. I was so proud of my achievement. My Dad often told the story of how I
came home beaming because the employees at the Y told me nobody had ever shot an arrow
into the ceiling before. Fast forward to years later when I got a job as an office manager at a
local YMCA branch. Over the course of a few months, I got to know all of the employees in
the organization. Wayne Hash, the Facilities Director, shared a story of his most frustrating
moment when he was the maintenance man at the downtown branch. He relayed how he
had to get a cherry picker and retrieve an arrow “some untalented little girl had shot into the
ceiling”. I started laughing and told him that little girl was me.
Your story might begin with a recent experience, or it could be from childhood, or like mine,
it might be a story that began in childhood but came full circle when you were an adult.
