If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?

This post is my submission to the January edition of the Non-Profit Blog carnival. This month’s carnival is being hosted by Nancy Schwartz of the Getting Attention blog.

Most non-profits were built on a dream. An aspiration. A vision for the future.

Just take a second to think of the non-profits you support. What is the dream that you are buying into that makes you give?

Winning the fight against cancer.

Eradicating poverty.

Ending child abuse.

Whatever it is, it is likely to be aspirational and motivated by a desire to do good and help change the world for the better.

It’s all too easy to forget your dreams and get tied up in small details, endless meetings and trivia that distract from your effectiveness.

Have a think about the last time you visited a project, spoke to a beneficiary or went and chatted to your programme staff.

If it has been too long, why not make it a commitment in 2012 to take time to re-connect yourself to the dream that made you want to be a fundraiser in the first place…