"Put your idea down in words. Great leaders place great importance on writing down their vision, their idea, their central driving purpose - and then sharing them with others. First articulations are difficult to create, but painfully necessary. Force yourself to pen a speech, a brochure, a film, or, if you must, a PowerPoint deck that helps you recount your team's vision. You'll immediately recognize your idea's vulnerability. Then rework its expression until it can fully withstand slings and arrows."

We know that Halloween isn't celebrated in every community or by every member, yet we wanted to put out some quick tips to keep children and pets safe in communities that do.

We've excerpted a few tips from Elaine Wilson's Family Matters Blog:

• Each child should carry a flashlight or glow stick.
• Parents should accompany young children or groups of children when trick-or-treating. Walk with friends and stay together.
• Keep children away from candles and flames, especially when in costume. Ensure children know how to stop, drop and roll in case their clothes catch fire.
• While Halloween is a blast for kids, it can be the opposite for pets who can become frightened by costumes or hurt during Halloween pranks.
• Consider keeping your pet in a separate room, away from the door, when trick-or-treaters arrive. Strange people in even stranger clothes can frighten some pets.
• Don’t leave your pet outside unattended on Halloween, or on the days preceding or following this holiday. Halloween pranks committed against pets can be vicious, and black cats are particularly at risk.

For a bunch more tips, see Elaine Wilson's Full Blog post.

Best wishes to you and your community for a safe and happy Halloween! We'll be back to our regular tips tomorrow! If you don't celebrate Halloween, you might want to browse through our tips.

Want a great way to keep up on leadership trends during your drive time commute or while doing routine work? Instead of books on tape, consider downloading podcasts and listening to them instead. Here are just a few resources we've found:

• More than 50 philanthropy podcasts are available from Social Innovations Conversations sponsored by Stanford with community benefit sector leaders.
• Several really interesting third sector podcasts from the UK at Podnosh.
• You can also use a search engine like Podoscope and put in the terms that you're interested in for relevant content.

Know of other resources for good commute-time learning?

Before you know it, 2009 is going to be zipping out the door, and 2010 will be waltzing in. Use this month to get jazzed up and ready for the New Year!

1. Analyze. Review financial and program goals for 2010, and set (or confirm) Q1 targets and benchmarks.
2. Scrutinize. Review all vendor contracts. Send out RFPs to get competitive bids and/or contact existing vendors and see if you can negotiate discounts or get added value. Include phone/internet, legal and financial services, PR/marketing, website hosting, etc.
3. Recognize. Send personal holiday cards to board members, staff, and key volunteers. Gifts, if appropriate.
4. Evangelize. Get your fingers moving and personally add thank you notes to every major donor gift given this holiday season. Make phone calls to those that you haven't heard from and wish them happy holidays, with an "ask" or reminder if appropriate.
5. Organize. Clean up files and email and get 2010 files ready to go.
6. Catalyze. Reach out to civic associations, partners, etc, and get at least one speaking engagement a month on the calendar for 2010.
7. Prioritize. What are you going to do the first week back from the holidays? Have it mapped out and waiting for you when you return.
8. Realize. Next year's going to be a tough one, and the more advance planning you do, the better equipped you'll be.

What else is on your end-of-the-year to-do list?

Happy New Year! Here are 10 tips designed to kick-start your organization in 2010:

1. Send a Happy New Year note to your Board members and your leadership team. Include a calendar of already scheduled important dates. If you have Outlook for email, you can even attach them as separate meeting requests that they can click on and save directly to their calendar.
2. Make sure that your mission and vision is front and center in everything you do this year. 18 prominent places to keep in mind.
3. Hold a budget review session with your leadership team to make sure that everyone knows the financial challenges and opportunities for the coming year. Put similar monthly or quarterly meetings on the calendar so they don't fall between the cracks.
4. Create a draft of your own personal development goals for the year. Circulate it to your board and leadership teams and get their input on other critical areas for learning. Create a process for your staff to do the same and commit to supporting them in reaching their goals.
5. If you haven't done so within the past year, circulate a Board self-assessment survey, and review it at the next regularly scheduled board meeting. Set Board "enhancement" goals and build a strategy to reach them.
6. Review your existing grant application calendar or create one if you haven't yet got one. Create check points and due dates well in advance of the deadline to avoid last-minute crunch time on writing. Look for gaps and research new opportunities that could be added.
7. Run through your website and see what content needs to be refreshed. Do you refer to 2009 at all? Are your program descriptions current? Make sure that your other marketing and outreach collateral is up-to-date, too.
8. Build a dashboard of program, financial, and other goals that can be easily referenced to measure progress at any time. Decide with whom and how you will share updates. More on dashboards.
9. Schedule meetings with local media to catch them up on your plans for 2010. Find out what interests them and keep it top of mind to ensure good press coverage.
10. Don’t forget to celebrate your successes within and throughout your full organization. Keeping your staff and volunteer teams engaged, excited, and enthusiastic is going to be critical this year.

What other things are you doing to kick off 2010 successfully? Just log in and comment!

Instead of our regular tip of the day today, we instead bring you a few of our favorite quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” "Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."

“Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”

“Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.”

In his honor, Laura Deaton

Pink, red, hearts, ribbons...It's February and I've pulled together a list of 28 ways to "spread the love" within your organization this month:

1. Handmade Love: Do you work with children or other vulnerable populations? Have them create valentines to send to your major donors. Or, create paintings, beaded necklaces, or another homemade item with a heart theme.
2. Love and Logo: Send your Board members and key volunteers a special branded Valentine gift (an engraved glass paperweight, a heart-shaped crystal, a scarf or tie with hearts on it).
3. Love and Bellies: Invite your key program volunteers to an informal luncheon at your offices prepared by your staff to thank them.
4. Video Love: Make a "we love you" video and put it up on your website, Facebook, YouTube, and tweet about it.
5. Love and Stories: Seek out your strongest supporters, take them a small gift, and capture their stories, then share them throughout the year. More on storytelling.
6. Love and the Mission Moment: Start your February Board meeting by going around the room and asking Board members to share a moment when they have been most touched or inspired by your organization.
7. Email Your Love: Queue up e-cards to arrive in all of your key staff and Board members' email inboxes on the 14th (if you have home emails) or the 15th (if you are using work).
8. Blast Your Love: Send out a special "We Love You" e-blast to your mailing list on Friday, the 12th.
9. Court the Media: Plan something public and visible for Valentine's Day (Sunday) and let the media know so that you'll get coverage. More tips on engaging the media.
10. Love and Thoughtfulness: Look for small and surprising ways to thank your staff team throughout the month... a single rose, a coffee gift card, an unexpected afternoon off, tickets to a local performance or movie.
11. Love and Chocolate: If you have a reception area, keep it stocked with chocolates for visitors to enjoy.
12. Love and Inspiration: If you haven't done an "Inspiration Audit" recently, now's a great time. See more.
13. Love Connection: Who has acted as a mentor, and a coach to you? Find ways to touch base with each of them and share the impact that they've made on you.
14. Love on the Wall. Take pictures of your program volunteers and staff, place them in the center of hearts made of construction paper, and cover a wall with these hearts...add to it all month, and encourage others to do so, too.
15. Sprinkle Your Love: Buy some heart confetti and sprinkle it all over the office on the 14th so that people walk in on Monday morning to a festive surprise.
16. Love and Praise: Start your next staff meeting with personal, specific praise to each member of your team. Continue that tradition through the rest of the year. More about praise.
17. Love and Poetry: Write a silly, funny, or endearing poem about your organization, videotape yourself reciting it, and send it to your Board and staff. Stepping out of character and reconnecting with your own passion will help them reconnect, too.
18. Open Your Heart and Home: Host your next staff meeting at your house and include a lovely lunch to thank the team. If you're not much of a cook or housekeeper, treat them to a nice lunch out somewhere instead.
19. Love Songs: Hire a serenader or a Barber Shop Quartet to show up in the middle of your February Board meeting to sing a special "Love song" to the Board. Or, have your entire staff sing something at an unexpected point in the meeting.
20. Cheesy Love: Go to your local discount store and pick up little knickknacks. Heart-shaped sticky notes, pens with hearts on them, candy dishes, etc. Make little gifts baskets for your key team members that are filled with cheesy gifts just for them.
21. Love Certificates: Make your own special "Thank You Certificates" for each of your staff, and put them in an inexpensive frame. They'll likely keep them at work and be reminded of your thoughtfulness regularly.
22. Wear Your Love: Have special "I Love X Organization" t-shirts made and give them as gifts to your staff, Board and volunteers to wear whenever they want. Offer them for sale to your audience, supporters, program participants, and families.
23. Love and Learning: Give your team members a gift certificate to a local bookstore, and plan a joint trip to go book-buying.
24. Love and Mission: Make this mission month and make sure you've got it shared everywhere and anywhere you can. Get a checklist of locations here.
25. Love and Health: Adding "heart" also means getting and staying healthy. Start a lunchtime walking group or find ways to take walking breaks during the day with your team. It'll bring some new energy to your team, too.
26. Love and Money: Do you charge for your service or products? Put a Valentine's discount or special bonus offer in play.
27. Love and Exchange: Remember that February is also Heart Health Awareness Month and Black History month among other celebrations. Can you wrap these into educational programs, or other services you provide? If these aren't your service areas, could you offer to help staff another organization's event this month in exchange for their help at another time with yours? Or, is it just a great opportunity to collaborate in other ways?
28. Love and Social Media Karma: Pull together special quotes about love, heart, kindness, and mission and share them via social media all month. Look for others who are doing the same, and actively re-tweet them.

Whatever you do, use February as an opportunity to begin to "show the love" and then get in the habit of doing something special every month. You'll be amazed at the difference these small things can make for your entire Board, staff and volunteer teams.