2. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step One: Motivate - The Beacon of Hope Challenge
Step Two: Empower - Volunteering and Community Service:
Step Three: Mentor – Invite Others
Step Four: Team build
Step Five: Leadership Development
Step Six: Fundraising
Step Seven: Scholarship
3. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step One: Motivate - The Beacon of Hope Challenge
4. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step One: Motivate
The Beacon of Hope Challenge
The first step is to retrain your way of thinking and speaking. Make a personal
pledge to spread good news every day. Hang on to one positive thought, one
piece of good news of good advice. Find the Silver lining in every cloud; even
if it comes down to one word that gets you through the day. Find that word;
make it your power word. Make it your good word. The Beacon of Hope
Challenge is a Pledge to spread One Positive Thought Every Day.
5. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Two: Empower - Volunteering and Community Service:
6. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Two: Empower
Volunteering and Community Service:
This is the Second Step of the Point of Light Network Growth plan. This is a
pledge to volunteer once a week, working for a charity or community service
group of your choice. This can be a Homeless Shelter, Food Bank, Community
Center, Park, Library, School; it is your choice. This is a pledge to get involved
and make a difference.
Listen, all of us can go to seminars and workshops and get excited for a day or a
weekend, or if you are lucky a paid week. Then what happens after you leave
the workshop or the seminar? If you will commit to finding one day a week to
volunteer and get involved, you will find out that no matter what you are going
through, you can help others and make a positive difference in your community.
7. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Two: Empower
Volunteering and Community Service: - Part Two
When you volunteer, get to know the leaders at the charity or
community service organization. Get to know them and find a
mentor. Find someone you can learn from and someone who
appreciates your efforts. You will find that helping others is a
rewarding experience and you will grow because of it.
8. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Three: Mentor – Invite Others
9. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Three: Mentor – Invite others to join you.
Invite others to take the Beacon of Hope Challenge and to join you when you are
volunteering. This is a very important step. Sometimes people will say they will help
you and they won’t. Sometimes people will say that they will join you and they do
not show up. You have to be committed to keep moving forward even if you are not
joined by others in the beginning. It is very important not to jump straight to Step
Three without being firmly committed in Steps One and Two. Do you Spread Good
News every day? Are you committed to Volunteering Once a Month? Do you have a
mentor where you are volunteering? No one wants to feel like what they are doing
does not matter. Before you can mentor others, you have to be fully centered in your
personal commitment to make a difference.
10. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Three: Mentor – Invite others to join you. – Part 2
Now, other people will start to come around after they see your commitment. It is key to realize
that you can not pick and choose who will come around, just be confident that you are making a
difference and keep inviting people. Encourage those who show up. Some people will be one and
done. Some people will show up once or twice and then get pulled back into their own lives and
fade away. Encourage those who show up. Mentor those who stay. Let them know that they are
making a difference.
This does not mean that you can be all things to all people. But it means you can help people in
areas that you are strong and help them learn they can also make a difference. You should use
social media to invite others and keep people informed of your own personal transformation and
your efforts in the community. Stay Politically and Religiously neutral, telling people to vote and to
believe in God is a great thing. Telling them to vote for this party or join that religion can cause
more harm than it is worth. Let people make up their own mind; you can take people on a journey
of discovery that begins by spreading good news and help others who are in need.
11. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Four: Team build
12. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Four: Team build
Invite everyone, encourage those who show up, mentor those who
stay. Soon you will see your efforts will begin to attract a crowd of like-minded
people. This may not happen overnight, or in a week or in a month. Do you
believe what you are doing is worthwhile, even if you are the only person in the
beginning? Then do not worry about how fast the team grows in the beginning,
keep your mind on being the best mentor you can be to others. Encourage,
motivate and share your story with others, and encourage them to share their
story. Again, use social media to record the efforts of everyone who shows up
and continue to invite others. Introduce your team with the people who work
at the charity or community service organization full time. Yes a system of
coaching and mentoring to continue your personal development as you build
your team. Again, share your team’s story on social media.
13. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Four: Team build – Part 2
Some people will leave others will join. This is all part of the team building experience. This is also part
of your development as a mentor and coach. Once you have a stable group of 5 to 10 people, you
should think of ways that you can help promote the fundraisers that your adopted charity or
organization is promoting. At this stage, the seeds of leadership have been planted and should begin to
take shape. Be careful not to over reach to early. Make sure you have a good foundation. Make sure
there is strong communication between your group and the organization or organizations you are
helping out. You may choose to help out a small list of organizations on a rotational basis.
Whatever you do it is very important that you are having fun. Having fun and helping others is a win –
win scenario that will keep people coming back and keep your team growing. Make sure you are
recording and posting pictures and video clips to social media. Some people will also choose to blog
about their experiences. This is encouraged.
14. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Five: Leadership Development
15. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Five: Leadership Development
Once you have a core team of 5 to 10 people and you are helping a few organizations.
You may want to consider starting a charter with the intent on forming a Point Of Light
network Chapter. This is the time to learn and grow as a leader. Find what works and
what does not. Find the people who are active on social media and comfortable
creating a steady stream of content via blogging, pictures and video. Also work with the
Charities and Community Service organizations to hold workshops and volunteer drives
in your community. Continue to invite, encourage, mentor and grow your team.
16. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Five: Leadership Development – Part 2
Again, now is the time to develop workshops that serve the community, promote your
chosen community service and charities and also shine the light on your team’s efforts.
This is not the time to worry about spending or making money, this is a time to be
creative and develop pilot workshops at no cost. Do not pay people to speak, do not
rent venues. Work as a team, with your team and the leaders of the organizations you
are helping and be creative. It is a critical time to prove that you can continue to make a
difference without spending any money.
Social media is free. Find venues that will let you host workshops in trade for promoting
their establishment and maybe see if the charity organizations and community service
groups will give vouchers for business that donate services. Be the team that does more
with less.
17. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Six: Fundraising
18. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Six: Fundraising
Everything we have done up until this point has been to show you that you do not need to
spend money to make a difference. Now the point is to show that you can help make a
difference by helping raise the much needed resources to help sustain community service
efforts. It is very important that you are already working with Community Service and
Charity organizations that you truly believe in. Now, do you believe that you can help raise
money to help sustain these organizations without spending more than you are taking in for
the charity? What is the point of losing money on a fundraiser? What is the point of buying
a bunch or merchandise and the bulk of the money does not go to the organization? Can
you be creative and keep a low overhead while you raise funds for your favorite charity or
for your community?
19. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Six: Fundraising – Part 2
One of the major complaints about charity work is that not enough goes to
the charity, but to the fundraisers. One of the major complaints at the charity
is that they have to outsource and do not have the funds to compete for the
best mangers and organizers. We are here to prove we can make a difference
without spending a lot of money, and we are here to prove that we can raise
money without a lot of overhead. It may take a moment for this to sink in,
this is why you should not start here. Make sure you are firmly grounded and
committed in the first Five Steps of the Point Of Light Network Development
Plan. Do you find a true passion in spreading good news and giving back to
the community? Do you want to mentor and coach others? Have you built a
team of people who will give back and are not looking to get paid for their
efforts? Then this should be very easy to understand.
The Point Of light Network believes that the sky is the limit to fundraising, but
we should operate with the lowest overhead possible so we can return the
largest possible percentage back to the community.
20. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Seven: Scholarship
21. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Seven: Scholarship
Moving forward and giving back; so easy to say, now can we do it? The Point Of
Light Networks Loftiest goal is to be able to provide Merit Based Scholarships to
those in need. Not to provide scholarships that are unattainable to all but a
select few, but to provide incentives for those who need assistance and are
willing to put the needs of the community before their own personal gain. To
provide Scholarships to those who are willing to provide front line mentoring,
coaching and leadership back to the community. To provide access for those who
have made something out of nothing their whole lives. This can only be done
through tight fiscal responsibility with any excess funds that are raised by the
Point of Light Network.
22. Point Of Light Network
Growth Plan
Step Seven: Scholarship Pt 2
Because Fundraising, Workshops and Conferences will provide the basis for the Scholarship
Funds, we must first and foremost be responsible with every dollar raised and every dollar
spent. This comes by first being mindful of the hours that people are spending working for free
for the good of the community. It also comes from community, people interacting together
while volunteering at homeless shelters, food banks, cleaning up parks and providing tutoring
and continuing education classes. This comes from real mentoring and coaching in the
community, for the community, by the community we are creating.