DO-RE-MI. Start at the very beginning.

Today is the last day to register for The Tech Savvy Nonprofit Cohort. It starts next week. Register here, and watch a video about it on LinkedIn here.

We introduced our kids to The Sound of Music last week and I was reminded that I can’t make it through the first song without crying. Same for the second song.

Julie Andrews is fresh on my mind as I consider where the Impact Flywheel starts. (At the very beginning. The very best place to start.)

I’ve sparred with my friend Adam Jeske about this topic. (And might I say, friends are the very best people to argue with.)

I suggested that the Impact Flywheel starts with the story. He suggested it starts with the work.

The four flywheel stages as cards: each one shuffles past the others into the next numbered slot, so every stage takes a turn as step one, in flywheel order.

As we talked, he went on to add something profound: unless the nonprofit is a startup, the flywheel is already spinning. So if it’s already spinning, where should we begin?

The Impact Flywheel taking shape: an orbit ring draws in, then the four petals form one after the next, clockwise, around the Honeystack mark.

Permission to do good

If you want to do good in the world, you can just do it! You don’t need to wait for permission from someone else. But if you want to do good in the world with someone else’s money, well, now you need their permission in the form of money. (Unless you are Robinhood.)

While I’m not a marketing person (thank God), over the course of my career, I’ve come to appreciate them :)

Here’s what I’ve found: unless you can tell a story that moves people, pretty much nothing else matters. Great execution and amazing impact do not always pay the bills. If you can’t tell a story that reaches people, you will run out of runway (soon).

Now, you don’t always need a phenomenal marketing apparatus to get rolling. A few big checks from some amazing donors can be enough. But those donors will need a reason to write the check. The reason will be the story you tell.

Which is why I think the flywheel starts with the story. But what do you think? Where does it start for you? If you agree with Adam, I refuse to tell him.

And if you are in the mood for a great story, you can watch The Sound of Music on Disney Plus or on a very worn DVD in my house.

Julie Andrews as Maria spinning with her arms outstretched on a mountain meadow in the opening of The Sound of Music.