Let me know if you’re feeling this way. Lately, it seems many nonprofits are feeling like they’re stretched beyond capacity but still falling short of fundraising goals.

One of the best ways for these charities to regain momentum is to stop splitting donors and volunteers apart. Some nonprofits are still keeping these two groups separate - having development staff build relationships with donors while event managers create and empower a volunteer base.

When most of us think of nonprofits, our minds go to places like billion-dollar charities like the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army or St. Jude’s. They’re great charities who have helped change millions of lives but the vast majority of nonprofits have budgets of under $1M annually. In fact, an astounding 92 percent raise under $1M.

Are you a leader? I’m writing this today to tell you that you are a leader and my hope is that at the end of this post, if you don’t already consider yourself one, is that you’ll believe why you are one.

We see these instances on TV or social media that we would call a leader someone who would give like $10M to a school, or write a bunch of hit songs, or invent a revolutionary technology. The problem with seeing these wonderful accomplishments as the only examples of leadership is that we create a situation where leadership is something that is beyond our capabilities. In fact, I’ve been using the phrase “make the world a better place” but without context it also puts leadership beyond our grasp.