Sending You My Gratitude with Gifts to You and Your Favorite Charity This Holiday Season
The holidays are a time for gratitude and we want to say thank you and give you gifts!
I am extremely grateful for you, reading this right now. So here are some of the most popular 5-Minute Plans from the 5-Minute series for you to make the holiday season and 2017 new year planning easier:
- The 5-Minute Social Media Plan
- The 5-Minute Business Plan
- The 5-Minute Employee Engagement Plan
- The 5-Minute Career Plan
- The 5-Minute Vision Plan
- And other helpful templates
Great leaders and managers work hard every day to improve. The Leadership Development Self-Assessment evaluates your current leadership level. This was designed to help leaders and managers at all levels become more effective by increasing self-awareness and self-understanding. The results are emailed ONLY to you and they include a benchmark comparison with metrics to identify leadership effectiveness and areas for improvement. This is also a gift and it is here.
I am giving books as gifts this year for Christmas. I tend to read more nonfiction than fiction, so that list is shorter. Some of the books I am buying for others, in no particular order include:
Fiction:
Syren’s Song and The Aden Effect by Claude Berube (I know him from my Navy days – really cool action mysteries with nautical overtones!)
Louisiana Longshot by Jana DeLeon (I don’t know Jana, but the books are fun and funny.)
The Space Between and The Twelfth of Never by Cindy Chamberlain (Cindy and I went to school together. She develops rich characters with great writing.)
Nonfiction:
Winning Well By David Dye and Karin Hurt*
High Profit Prospecting By Mark Hunter*
Engage With Honor By Colonel Lee Ellis, USAF (ret)*
Find Your Voice as a Leader by Paul Larsen*
*PS I know all of these authors and love them all. I have other friends who had books come out this year and I love those too, but these are the ones I am buying in lots of 10 to give away. If you have other books you are gifting, please include it in the comments!
By the way, Paul is doing an amazing promotion for the charity Together We Can Change the World. He is raising $3,000 for orphanages in Thailand. If you buy the $9.99 Kindle, he is donating $50. If you buy his softcover book for $14.99 he is donating $100. Together We Can Change the World funds orphanages, schools, and clean water wells in Southeast Asia. This is a huge money multiplier! And the book is GREAT!
We at Productive Leaders are giving away $500! We want to donate to your favorite charity. Please list your favorite cause in the comment section below and give us ONE sentence why it is near and dear to you. We want to promote terrific organizations that are doing terrific work to help others. On December 23, the Productive Leaders team will select charities based on what YOU say, and they will receive a donation!
I also want to shout out my gratitude to Peter Stark, my brilliant co-author of Why Leaders Fail and the 7 Prescriptions for Success and his team who worked on this book project these past few years: Marielle, Dusty, and Marilyn.
I also want to shout out the people who make my team fantastic: Mika, Robyn, Brynn, Matt and Lori.
Have a wonderful holiday season! What are you grateful for today?
Comment below!
We started he “Kate Singer Endowment for Cranio-Facial research ” at the Dell Children’s Hospital and the Rady Childrens hospital after our kid (now age 15) had to have her skull rebuilt at age 6 months, we now raise money to help find ways to treat cranio-facial abnormalities.
Thom,
That is SUCH a great cause! Your family is making such a difference for other families! Thank you for doing that!
Hugs, Mary
In addition to the Winning Wells initiative (clean water in Cambodia) Karin and I do, one of my longtime favorites has been the Colorado Fourteener Initiative. They provide all the maintenance and trails for Colorado’s tallest peaks. The government doesn’t maintain these trails, an incredibly hard-working charitable nonprofit does by leveraging donations and volunteers. http://www.14ers.org/
Love what you’re doing with this Mary!
Happy Holidays,
David
PS: Thank you for the recommendation of Winning Well – Together with Why Leaders Fail it’s a leadership transformation spectacular!
David, Thank you for letting me know about Colorado Fourteener! I did not know about that one! And of course, I love the Winning Wells movement in Cambodia!
You are awesome!
Hugs, Mary
We give to two charities here in Coeur d’Alene.
Safe Passage (formerly North Idaho Violence Prevention Center) – This a shelter for abused women and their children. The women are provided with shelter for them and their kids, an advocate, free legal help, counseling, help finding work, counseling for their kids. This agency does God’s work. They are amazing. I’ve helped raise funds for them in the past, donate consistently and my office adopts a family every year at Christmas. http://Www.safepassage.org
The second charity I always donate to is – Children’s Village. Children’s Village to a home/place where if a parent can’t handle their child and they need a safe place for their kids for a short time, they will take their kids there. Its not babysitting. These parents are in true need of emergency help. They just built a new long term home on the property for Teen Girls. The time the kids stay there is a day to years. It all depends on the circumstances. They also do God’s work for these children. http://Www.childrensvillageCDA.org
I’ll message you if these websites are incorrect. I’m going off memory. ?
Dear Dana,
Wow! Those are both fabulous causes! YOU are amazing! Thank you!
Hugs, Mary
Mary, thanks for these great five-minute coaching tips. Great ideas and very powerful. I’m going to use them to be more productive in 2017.
i have several charities that I support–mostly Christian and veteran related. My favorite in the last category is the Air War Courage Foundation. It has no overhead and 100% of funds are used to help veterans and veteran families–mostly at Walter Reed/Bethesda and Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio with some going to scholarships for children of active duty who are killed in the line of duty. It has a 4-star rating from Charity Navigators.
Keep up the great work and thanks for your friendship and support. Lee
Dear Lee,
You do SUCH amazing work!I am so impressed with you! Thank you for being such an inspiration!
Hugs, Mary
Love you Mary!
I have a very small nonprofit, 501(c)(3), entitled National Association of Veteran Entrepreneurs. It focuses on assisting Veterans to “Make a Job” and the “how” is within the book I wrote: “Becoming a Five-Star Entrepreneur.” It’s on Amazon, but I give it away to Vets for free along with the accompanying training courses for each chapter. I haven’t done any marketing and my partner (an attorney) and I have bootstrapped this endeavor as an aside with our Civil Air Patrol volunteer work, which puts in contact with military personnel regularly. Since I have quit mt Professor positioin, I have more timee for marketing and I am planning for 4 more courses and to re-print 1,000 books to give out by Spring. Since they are $3 each from CreateSpace, I could use some help. I charge nothing to Vets and I am unpaid. However, I am going to market the package (book plus courses) to Vet support groups for $7 each in lots of 10, in order to have resources to develop 4 more business courses and print more packages. Also, I need to re-do our website-our free help left us with nothing. I have 5,000 Vet groups to contact!
Thank you for ALL you do and your service to NSA and to you as a fellow Veteran. God Bless and Merry Christmas!
Dear Gene,
Wow! I had no idea that you did that! That is amazing. I have the 15 Ways to Grow Your Business in Every Economy book that I use for entrepreneurs. I will help with that, too!
Hugs, Mary
A portion of the proceeds from my novels goes to horsesforheroes.org at a New Mexico ranch where vets help post-911 vets with PTSD or other combat injuries by working with horses and living a cowboy or cowgirl life.
Dear Claude,
You are SUCH a good guy! That is a great cause! I didn’t know you did that. I love your books!
Hugs, Mary
Recently I have learned about an amazing organization that is based in Monument. The Exodus Road. Check them out, Mary. The work, the people, their passion and conviction have touched me beyond words.
Dear Teri,
Wow! I had no idea that there was an organization in Monument that is fighting human trafficking. They have a ton of information and they are working to rescue people every day. https://theexodusroad.com/
I had no idea. Thank you, Teri!
Hugs, Mary
Hi Mary:
Thank you for doing this — what a great gift to any of these inspiring nonprofits! Here’s one more: Destination Imagination Colorado helps prepare Colorado’s kids to be the future innovators and leaders we need, through a project-based system that culminates in a competition that’s really more of a celebration. The kids choose among several challenges that combine the arts, sciences, and technology with creativity, teamwork, and problem solving. The point isn’t the competition, it’s the teamwork and problem solving that leads up to the competition. No direct adult help is allowed — the kids do it all. Adult Team Managers make sure the kids stay safe and are allowed to teach skills, but they don’t help choose or solve the challenge. Alumni say D.I. changed their lives. (I volunteer on their board and am working on a fundraising program for them.) http://dicolorado.org
Dear Leslie,
Oh what a GREAT idea! I didn’t know Destination Imagination was a nonprofit! They do SO many cool things! I am so impressed!
Thank you for thinking of them!
You always do so much for so many people!
Hugs, Mary
Thanks, Mary, for being such an incredible role model and for your tips and generosity. We support The Global Education Development Institute (http://gedinfp.com), a 501C3. As a not-for-profit organization, The Global Education Development Institute was founded to enrich the leadership knowledge and skills of healthcare leaders across the world. The GEDI board has disseminated knowledge through a hallmark book, presentations at national and international conferences and through our partnerships with other global organizations. GEDI offers online and onsite programs. We have done a considerable amount of work in Eastern Europe, Jordan and Africa. The proceeds from all of my books go to GEDI.
Dear Sharon,
This is incredible! I had not heard of GEDI and they are internationally improve the ability of healthcare providers. Amazing work! I am so impressed that you also donate the proceeds from your books as well. What is your latest book and where can people find it to help GEDI?
Thank you!
Hugs, Mary
Mary, this is one of the reasons I love you. What a generous spirit.
Nothing makes me happier than spending charity dollars with http://DonorsChoose.org. Teachers are some of the hardest-working people in the world — with one of the most important jobs. DonorsChoose lets teachers ask for funding for special projects — projects that sometimes they feel so passionate about that they pay for them out of their own pockets.
What I like about this charity is that you can search for projects that mean something to you. My late mother was a librarian who strongly believed in encouraging kids to read. So I search for library projects to fund. My sister is a science teacher who struggles with finding supplies for her students. So I search for science projects.
I know you have a passion for animals, and a quick search finds teachers who want to help their kids learn all about them. https://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?keywords=animals
Another wonderful benefit to this charity is that you see the teachers you are helping. They can even have the kids send you thank you notes! You know that a caring teacher is sharing her supplies directly with the kids right away, and that your donation has made an immediate impact. Every time I give, it warms my heart.
And you warm my heart. Thank you for your generosity.
Dear Beth,
You truly are MyNerdyBestFriend.com! I go so sidetracked on this site that I spent 20 minutes exploring all kinds of cool stuff teachers are doing now. This is such a unique idea. It really lets donors put their resources where the cause best resonates. Wow! Thank you!
And YOU are incredible. Thank you!
Hugs, Mary
You are very welcome. I’m honored you liked it enough to donate. It just makes me feel so good.
Mary – Thank you for doing this!! My mother, Ruth Burns, founded the library in our hometown of Theresa, WI. She was am advocate for reading and continuous learning. Regardless what your socio-economic status is, as long as you know how to read, and have access to books and resource, you can learn about almost anything! This is why Theresa Public Library is one of my top charities. Many changes since the first summer library offering in 1962, but a rural community that continues to rely on the library! http://www.theresa.lib.wi.us/
Thank you,
Nora
Nora!!! You are so wonderful. I love any opportunity to hang out with you.
I used to teach adult literacy classes in Hawaii.
Teaching literacy is so tough – harder than any other teaching I have ever done.
What a great cause!
Hugs to you and your Mom!
Mary
I volunteer as an instructor and planner for Casting for Recovery, New Mexico. This 20 year old initiative provides free 2 1/2 day retreats for women at any stage of recovery from breast cancer throughout the United States, the UK, and New Zealand.
70% of these participants have never sought any kind of support. On the retreat they have the opportunity to be outdoors in the healing embrace of nature, learn a new sport (fly fishing) and find the love and support of a community of individuals who share their journey.
In the words of our participants….” I learned more this weekend than the 25 years of this journey.” “To sing & to dance, To touch and to play, To laugh and to cry, To listen and to share, To make sense of confusion, To grow and to ignite, To weave and to mend, To renew and to touch life.”
It is a profound honor to meet and share this experience with these incredibly strong women.
Dear Susan,
This is SUCH an amazing idea! What a wonderful opportunity for women to heal on so many levels. Thank you for letting us know about Casting for Recovery!
Hugs, Mary
I forgot to add the website…https://castingforrecovery.org/breast-cancer-retreats/new-mexico-texas-panhandle-southern-colorado/
Disabled American Veterans. As a 21 year soldier I have minor recognized disabilities but NOTHING compared to our service members of today or to my WWII disabled-sailor father who was a lifetime member of DAV.
David, I am with you. After 21 years in the Navy I have some issues but NOTHING like some others. I am so grateful. The DAV is a GREAT cause! Thank you for reminding me!
Hugs, Mary
Mary, what a lovely and generous idea. Thank you for considering so many worthy charities. One I support is Mean Street Ministry (http://www.meanstreetminiystry.org/) on Colfax Avenue in Denver because they help families and individuals who are living in their cars or on the streets.
Dear Robin,
Wow! That is such an important cause, especially during weather like now. I am so glad you posted. I had not heard of them. Thank you!
Hugs, Mary