Friday night I started a project that I had waited for months to get into—putting together a Teak Glider bench.

Solid…Durable…Long lasting…I will have this Teak bench for years to come. I cracked open the packaging, studied the directions and the only tool needed: a hammer.  No nails, no screws, no glue. Too easy.

The seat, the back, the end frames, the tensors;  all coded for easy assembly and the wood fit snugly each time I inserted a board into a joint. Within half an hour the bench had form and I was imagining the smooth glide… this was too easy! The oil of the teak wood was like satin as I ran my hand over the bench. And then I noticed a small package of wooden dowels; each about one inch long and twenty-four of them. I carefully counted them out, lined them up and went to get the hammer. Thinking to myself “and I was going to hire someone to put this bench together.” Hammer in hand, I was ready to do the dowels.

I started with the first holes I saw…twelve right across the front of the seat. Then I did eight right across the back of the seat. Then I hammered four into the armrest on the left. No more dowels…done! I thought, that’s strange, as there’s a lot more holes. All the holes at the joints were waiting for dowels and I’d just put them in the first holes I’d come to…pretty, but not gliding too well. I thought of my grandfather as he always said, “to a hammer, everything’s a nail.”

I stepped back and admired my teak bench…and I thought of fundraising and how we do our work in nonprofits. Too often we grab a hammer and hit the nail into the first hole we see. We try to fill every hole that comes at us and end up not filling the right holes. It’s time to put the hammer down, count the dowels and focus on the right holes. I can help you with that…let’s put our tools together and build a stronger organization.