As we begin the New Year I reflect back on a conversation I had with a development staff early in the fall. In short, she lamented that she was “…tired of having to constantly justify her organization’s work.”

On one level I sympathize with her. Constantly having to explain, and often defend, the good work your organization does in the community can be exhausting. I, and other funders in my position, experience only a little of this when we sit down at grant maker roundtables and essentially tell the same story again and again at each of three or four rounds. But for us, that happens only once or twice a year—though this year I did five such events spread throughout the area I work.

But more than the grind of saying the same thing again and again, sometimes it feels demeaning. After all, your organization is doing important work. Why should you have to defend it and constantly explain it?

Yet that is the wonderful challenge that one accepts with development work. Whether as a grant writer, a major gifts officer, or a generalist who handles a wide variety of fund raising activities, you are often the face and the voice of the people your organization helps.

So when you are down, when you feel your stuck in a rut, defending the work of your organization that you believe should be self-evident, remember this: take some time to talk with those in your organization—volunteers, staff and clients—who understand and believe and you do.

Then take the strength you will gain from those around you and use it as you face everyone else in the world who does not yet understand. There is an old saying, “A friend is a stranger I haven’t yet met.”

Your role is to meet those strangers and to guide them to understanding the importance of your organization’s work. Someone has to do it; someone has to be at the frontier, stretching the boundaries that now exist. And development staff is charged with coordinating that effort.

Sometimes it means you do the talking, sometimes it means you create the environment for others: volunteers, clients, or other key staff.

Yes, it is okay to feel from time to time that you are doing a thankless job. When you feel that way, do something to recharge your enthusiasm. Because your role is not preaching to the choir, but to those who aren’t quite sure where the church is.