In my every day life, I am a fundraiser.

Fundraisers are resilient people. Perhaps among the most resilient out there. Rarely is anything truly cut and dry, one-size-fits-all. And yet we succeed.

Over the last year, I’ve learned about the Power of the Pivot. A roadblock is introduced and you find yourself looking at the alternatives. The mission remains. The need remains. The goal doesn’t disappear. So, you must pivot.

So many fundraisers and nonprofit professionals have found themselves looking for new ways to achieve what, in previous years, was already difficult to do. The grand soiree. The golf tournament. The big annual half marathon. Even the simple donor meeting now had to be done under new rules.

And we pivoted.

So many fundraisers found out how truly creative they were. They also found out how truly generous their donors were. We, as fundraisers, found new ways to connect our mission to those with a passion to ensure its success and those individuals, companies and foundations saw that the mission still needed them even if the environment had changed.

All this is to say, I am proud to be a fundraiser. In the past, people have asked me, “How could you just ask for money all day?” And I tell them that my job is not so much to ask for money, but to connect someone’s passions with my organization’s mission. They have work they want to see done in the world and my job is to show them how we can accomplish it together.

And sometimes, in order to do that, you both have to pivot.