T-38: Inch by Bloody Inch

Are we there yet?

Last night was the final Matrix Theatre Company Board meeting before our trip. One of the activities was meeting the new leadership. Another was receiving from me a 13 page report on Matrix’s strategic plan. We spent nearly an hour talking about the upcoming Dreaming at Daybreak fundraiser. Boy, does this capture the complexity of making sure that the company is ready for my departure.

The report discussed all aspects of Matrix: board, development, communications, programs, operations, facilities, and strategic partnerships. Each one of these is complex in its own right. Each one has a mix of stuff that works well, stuff that barely or doesn’t work, human fallibility and greatness, difficult finances, conflicting priorities, and varying timelines. Anyone who has been an Executive Director, especially of a small organization, will recognize this list.

When describing my job, I often resort to carnival metaphors. My job is juggling knives, anvils, feathers, and jellyfish…endlessly. Or perhaps it is keeping fifty plates spinning at all times, and even when one drops and breaks, making sure the others keep spinning.

As soon as the company figures out one challenge, it is time to work on the next three. Here is a case in point that was made very clear last night. We have been working hard on the Dreaming at Daybreak fundraising breakfast. It is a lot like coordinating a wedding, only instead of one invitation list, there are at least 20 people inviting people. So imagine all the arrangements, plus speakers, plus a video premiere, plus lining up sponsors and donors….and communicating daily with 20 people. Then last night, two of our board members laid out the challenge that follows the event.

We need to devise…pronto…a system to make sure that people who make pledges, especially those people who make multi-year pledges, fulfill them. Both board members had horror stories of pledges made at fundraisers that were never fulfilled. Getting the accounting and cultivation systems in place to do this presents a challenge I had not much considered until just a few days ago. Oh my. Oh well.

In the meantime, we are still plugging away at solving the bicycle trip logistics. We finally decided to fly to Portland from Denver, which means that we will ship our bikes. How we will get back home is a question we will delay to answer. Who knows how we will feel when we get to end of our trip? Will we want to get off the road as soon as possible? Will we want keep exploring?  Who knows…maybe we won’t even get to Portland, Maine. We have decided to let the trip tell us the answer to this question.

In the meantime, I need to do the final tune-up of my bike, and make arrangements for shipping our bikes. We are still trying to secure our house/animal sitter (!!!). We still have financial/bill paying arrangements to make.

38 more days to go. Inch by bloody inch, we will get there… inch by bloody inch.

 

---