After a full day of helping nonprofit organizations with their accounting and bookkeeping needs, I like to relax by watching home improvement shows. I enjoy seeing the old become new, the worn-out be revived. I have learned that you can never have enough shiplap, and that “open concept” is the new standard in home living. I have been educated in asbestos remediation and load-bearing walls. After years of watching these shows, I started dreaming about what it would look like if I were to tackle a project like this on my own. I grew to believe that I could do it and I convinced my husband to let me have a go at it. (He wasn’t as convinced of my abilities as I was - but he agreed to give it a try!) We purchased a 110-year-old fixer-upper last fall, and I have been enjoying the renovation process, using all that I have learned from my TV mentors.
Our oldest son served as my main demolition man. As he was working one day, I mentioned that we hadn’t yet found any treasures in the house (an event that happens quite often on reality TV). But shortly after I said that, we discovered some old newspapers – one from 1934 with a photo of Hitler and Mussolini on the front page, and another from the same time period in Russian. I framed some pages from the papers and will display them in the house to carry on the history and the stories of the house that we know very little about.
As we continued our demolition, our son uncovered a brick chimney that had been completely hidden. After a great deal of muscle power, the bricks were exposed. Likely constructed by an apprentice mason, the edges of the chimney are imperfect and the bricks are not completely aligned – but it’s still beautiful, and will be a special feature in the new kitchen and dining room. At the time the house was built, the intent of these chimneys was purely functional - not decorative - and were designed to be kept out of sight. Now as we discover these hidden treasures, we want to expose them and show them to the world.
Hidden treasures can be found anywhere, not just inside the walls of an old home. Does your organization have hidden treasures that could be rediscovered? Think about any unique talents or undervalued abilities of your staff and volunteers - can you leverage these skills in a new way? Research your existing software applications and tech tools to makes sure you’re using them to their maximum potential. Are there any discontinued programs or activities from your organization’s past that could be revived and refreshed? Dig deep, tear down walls, and start poking around in dusty corners. You’ll never know what you might find when you go looking for hidden treasures.