"Relationships create powerful barriers to exit."  Justin Grotty

This quote from Justin Grotty at this week's Business Marketing Association Conference in San Jose caught my eye as I was reading a Social Customer Manifesto post this week.  We know this intuitively from personal experience (it's hard to leave a marriage) but it also has great power in nonprofit relationships.

Here's a great example from my own charitable experiences.  Ten years ago I became involved with a then-brand-new organization called the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee.  They planned to support local filmmaking and give filmmakers, screenwriters and directors a place to show their work.  I liked the idea and sent a contribution. Soon after that I was invited to be a preliminary judge at the festival.  I went down to the university where they borrowed space early one Saturday morning and had great fun screening film entries.  Then I started getting really interesting emails about films, speakers and events around filmmaking. Then I was given a pass to the festival, which I attended and really felt part of. 

This relationship makes it hard to exit--nor do I want to.  Grotty is right.  "Relationships create powerful barriers to exit." 

 

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