Charity Giving

Charities are having a hard time with more than a third of people in the UK giving less to charity than they did before the recession. Which might not be too surprising, however a survey carried out by independent research company markettiers4dc indicated that 35% are giving less because of the economic downturn and 4% have stopped giving completely. A small chink of sunshine in this blackened sky is that 8% said they were giving more.


It is interesting to note that when asked to choice which from a list of suggestions would encourage them to give 75% chose not having to commit to regular donations and 60% chose donating privately without anyone knowing they were doing so.

A different set of research shows that organisations applying for a “Reaching Communities” grant from the Big Lottery Fund have a less that 10% chance of success!

Getting It Done

Over the past few weeks I’ve been having discussion, via LinkedIn, with people from around the world about how they “Get Things Done”. Of course we are all different and so tackle the problem differently. For me the biggest issues have been delegation and follow up. I was surprised and reassured to hear that I’m not alone.

Two great tips have been the use of Outlook and David Allen’s system informally referred to as “GTD”.

Outlook provides some superb task allocation and tracking facilities and I would recommend watching this YouTube clip. "Assigning Tasks & Adding Them To The Calendar".

David Allen, not to be confused with the wonderfully irreverent Irish comedian Dave Allen, says that when he has to describe his approach in under a minute, he usually says something like “Get everything out of your head. Make decisions about actions required on stuff when it shows up—not when it blows up. Organise reminders of your projects and the next actions on them in appropriate categories. Keep your system current, complete, and reviewed sufficiently to trust your intuitive choices about what you're doing (and not doing) at any time.”

Sounds easy but is mind blowing at the same time. It comes down just four major components;

1. Collect: Capture everything that you need to concern yourself with in what Allen calls "buckets": a physical in-box, an email in-box, a notebook you take with you, a little tape recorder, etc. Don't try and remember everything! You can put the thing you need to act on itself in your in-box (a bill, an assignment) or write a note on a single sheet of paper ("change oil in the car"). When you first start, or when you feel like there are lots of things on your mind, sit down and do a "mind sweep" of everything you are concerned about.
2. Process: Now it's time to empty all those "buckets." Start at the top of the in-box, pick up each item and ask yourself "is there an action I need to take about this item?" If there is no action you need to take, either throw the thing away, file it for reference, or make a note on your "Someday/Maybe" list. If there is an action you need to take, can you do it in two minutes or less? If so, do it now! If not, decide what that next action is, and enter it on your "Next Action" list. If one action won't finish this off, enter the overall goal on your "Project" list.
3. Organise: As you will have gathered the cornerstone of this system is lists. Like with your collection buckets, you want to have enough lists to keep everything straight, but not so many that you are never sure what list to use. Here are the basics:
• Next Action: what is the very next thing you need to do to get your thing done?
• Projects: chances are many of your things will need more than one action to accomplish. Keep track of those multi-action things here.
• Waiting: often we depend on others to help get things done. If you are waiting on something, write it down here, so you don't forget.
• Someday/Maybe: for when you have a great idea or long-term goal that you just can't make time to work on now. You don't want to forget about it, but you don't want it to clutter up your Projects list.
• Context-sensitive lists: e.g., "Phone calls," "Errands," etc.
• Calendar: try and use your calendar just for appointments and other things that have to happen on a particular day/time. This is where the Outlook tasks come in handy.
• Filling: keep a simple, easy to update filling system. Don't just dump it all in one pile because you’re not sure where else to put it. Get comfortable with putting a single piece of paper in a folder, labelling it, and filling it away.
4. Review: If you don't look at those lists, they won't do you much good now, will they? You'll have to review your Next Action list and your calendar every day (and probably several times a day). Set up an appointment with yourself to do a weekly review, where you process all your in-boxes down to empty, and review all lists to be sure you are on top of things.

Oh yes there is a fifth and it the most important DO IT! GTD tends to leave it up to you as to how to decide what needs to be done right now--Allen seems to believe if you have everything laid out in front of you, it will be obvious what needs to be done at any given moment based on your circumstances (deadlines, how much time you have available, what tools are nearby, how much energy you have, etc.)

I’d be interested to hear of your experience and techniques.