Happy May, team! Can you even believe it?!

Somehow, we have survived two months of social distancing and self-quarantining. We’ve learned to work from home, connect with friends and colleagues via every imaginable form of video chat, and maybe even make our own sourdough starters (because bread-baking is apparently the cool thing to do while sheltering in place).

What is one new thing you’ve learned during your time at home? We’d love to hear about it! 

It could be a skill or a hobby or a work hack – or simply a new way to keep your children distracted for 12 whole minutes.

Regardless of how productive you’re being (or not being), you are doing it. You are surviving an unimaginable season with grace and determination and hopefully a few laughs. (And probably tears, too, if we’re being honest.)

Go you.

Big news! We decided to make the most of sheltering-in-place and used it as an opportunity to upgrade our look and get fancy with our brand. Do you like our new style?

Huge thanks to brilliant designer and creative mastermind, Caitlin Hottinger, who helped us bring our dreams to life. Check out all of her great work here.

What have you tackled during this season that you might have otherwise put off? (And if your answer is “keeping my children alive and semi-educated” or “learning 247 TikTok dances,” that is totally valid. There is no “winning” at this — we’re all just doing our best!)

A lot of our quarantine projects have revolved around organization — both physically and digitally. We’re cleaning out closets and inboxes and desktops like it’s our job — and those tiny achievements feel like we are moving mountains.

So here’s your encouragement for the day: Check one thing off your to-do list. It can be the tiniest thing there. You can even add something to your list just so you can cross it off (we do this A LOT). And then celebrate that victory.

You did it! GO YOU.

In these unprecedented times (give yourself a check mark for your self-quarantine bingo!), as we are all figuring out how to navigate work and family and home-schooling and the utter mystery that is the enormous amount of dishes we use in a day (Seriously. Is anyone else doing dishes all.day.long?), our lives can seem at once wildly slow and completely overwhelming. 

We feel you.

There are moments when all of this feels impossible to handle.

But guess what? It’s Thursday again. You have survived another week. Go you.

Take a moment to think of one big win from the last 7 days. A good conversation? A successful virtual meeting? A brilliant idea?

Spend the next 10 seconds remembering — and celebrating — that. We have lost many things we love, but we refuse to lose our joy. We will keep celebrating, even when it feels unnatural. Even when it’s hard. Even in midst of suffering.

Team, we did it. It’s another week and we’re still standing. Give yourselves a pat on the back.

Now that we’re all settling into our work-from-home routines (or resigning ourselves to entropy), we’d love to hear from you. What is going well? What is impossibly difficult? What has been encouraging?

We’ll start:
1. Things that are going well: our team. We are so grateful to work with rockstars who have made the shift to this new working style with grace, speed, and big smiles. Our work lends itself well to a digital environment, but still. Our people deserve all the accolades.

2. Things that are hard: everything? Does that count? Somehow everything is more difficult — even if it’s simply because our brains are processing grief and trauma and disruption every second of the day. It’s ok that things are hard. One foot in front of the other.

3. Things that are encouraging: amazing digital content that is pouring out of living rooms and kitchens and basements all around the world. People singing together. Humans helping humans. First responders (our heroes). Sunshine. Everything might be harder than normal — but we’re spotting a lot of beauty, too.

Now it’s your turn. Let us know what your experiencing as you keep your distance. We’d love to hear from you.

One of our goals for the +Good newsletter is to remind nonprofit leaders that they aren’t alone. Your experiences are challenging and unique to your context — but they aren’t solitary.

There are other people in the trenches with you. Don’t forget that.

And there are other people who are just as exhausted as you are right now.

(Right?? Is anyone else just so tired? Our armchair science tells us it is our bodies’ way of dealing with grief and trauma and uncertainty…and we are feeling it.)

This is hard. It will continue to be hard. But remember you have a community of people around you cheering you on (us included).

Let us know how we can help — and keep on doing the good stuff. We are proud of you, impressed by you, and on your team.
You’re not alone.