The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: An Email Story

The other thing I'll say, and this is a blessing and a curse. I have an open inbox and I get the good, the bad and the ugly. And sometimes I get an angry one and they are shocked when I answer. And they're like, “Oh, I didn't know you actually read these.”

I thought I would just live in anonymity land.

Exactly. Like, “If I knew you were going to read it, I wouldn’t have told you I was.” It's really important for me to be able to communicate with anybody in the organization and have them feel like there's an open email policy there. I said, it's a blessing and a curse because answering them all can really be difficult. I sent a memo out after the killing of George Floyd and I wasn't even sure if I was striking the right tone. I was just so aghast and unhappy and, just, I think writing the thing was a bit of a catharsis, honestly. And I think that opened up the door for and I said if you are feeling fearful, if you are upset, we have an employee assistance program. We have HR, we have an Ombuds office, or you can always tell me. And I put my email in there like I always do. And I got so many responses that I could barely get more than 10 of them done without losing it really. I mean, people were hurting. And I think that the fact that they could trust me with their stories really spoke volumes. And that's what you want in your organization. You just want them and your donors to trust you or else they'll find another place to work or another place to give.