Look for the Helpers

This Monday, August 17, marks National Nonprofit Day.

Established in 2017, National Nonprofit Day honors those who set out to make a difference. And while it's a national day here in the United States, if you're one of our readers or listeners from the dozen or so countries we know of, you deserve to be celebrated just as much.

Today's Wave Report is for you.

Look for the Helpers

It's a classic, but I keep coming back to one of my favorite quotes from Mr. Rogers:

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" – Fred Rogers

There's a lot of scary in the news these days. And still, if you look, you will always find the helpers.

If you work within a nonprofit, you are a helper.

If you serve the nonprofit sector, you are a helper.

If you give to create impact through a charity – of your time, your skills, or your resources – you are a helper.

You Didn't End Up Here by Accident

One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that most of the people I've met in this space did not set out to work in the nonprofit sector. 

Many, like me, didn't even realize it was a possible path. And yet, through a hundred different circumstances, our journeys brought us here – together.

I don't think that's an accident.

I'm convinced we're each on a kind of journey, and the more we live it out and reflect on it, the more it illuminates why we're here. There's who you are – your particular wiring, your strengths, the things that come naturally to you. And there's where you've been placed – the time in history you were born into, the people around you, the experiences that shaped you, the good ones and (sometimes especially) the hard ones.

Somewhere at the intersection of who you are and where you've been placed, you found yourself with a choice about what to do.

And you chose to help.

That's your purpose showing up in the most ordinary-looking decisions – the job you took, the cause you gave to, the problem you couldn't walk past. (I've written before about this intersection of who we are and where we've been placed, and it's an idea I want to come back to soon, because I think there's even more here worth exploring.)

But today isn't a day for exploring. It's a day for celebrating.

To the Helpers

So on this National Nonprofit Day, I just want to say: thank you.

Thank you for doing work that often goes unseen. Thank you for the late nights and the stretched budgets. Thank you for the small wins that don't make headlines but change real lives. Thank you for being the helpers that someone, somewhere, is looking for right now.

The world is better because you decided to do something about it.

💡 Takeaway: You didn't end up in this work by accident. Who you are met where you were placed – and you chose to help. On National Nonprofit Day, know that you are one of the helpers. And that matters more than you know.

Happy National Nonprofit Day. I'm grateful for you.

Until next week… Surf's Up! 🌊

 - Dave