A few weeks ago, my husband and I spent a few hours reliving our youth. We went to the photo exhibit, Who Shot Rock and Roll at the Annenberg Space for Photography,  and while I was never a huge rock fan, I was surprised at how many of the photos I could identify. That was probably due to too many visits to Cleveland's Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

   Regardless, looking at rock stars (and wannabees) posing and posturing, I couldn't help but think how much attitude counts. Strut like you mean it and whole stadiums will cheer. Languish like a wallflower and, well, you'll never get to be an icon.

   Of course, along with attitude, you've got to have something else-talent, the right moment, the right look.

   In our world, what you really need is a great mission and-even more important-impressive outcomes. And you need an attitude that says, "Yes. This is important and I know that others want to learn more about what we do and how they can help us do it."

   You can't do that, of course, if you are always apologizing for wanting to tell people about what you do, invite them to get involved with you, ask them to support your organization and mission.

   Attitude counts. For most of my life-as a writer, a salesperson, a fundraiser and now, a consultant-I've been the business of getting rejected. Put that way, it sounds harsh. It also makes you wonder why anyone would subject herself to such a career.

   And no, I'm not a masochist. I don't love rejection. To be honest, I don't even like it a little bit. Mostly, therefore, I don't consider it a negative. People haven't said no to me; they just haven't said yes yet.

   A few days after seeing Who Shot Rock and Roll, my husband and I went to see Searching for Sugarman.   

   Because I really think you should see this movie, I'm not going to say much about it. There are a lot of lessons there-and like most lessons, what you bring to it will define what you take out. So there is the lesson that success takes many forms and sometimes takes a long time. There's the lesson about the unexpected. For me, there was a lot implied about persistence and price. And of course, attitude.

   For many in the nonprofit world, persistence and the price we are willing to pay to make things happen are uniformly low. So many organizations have fantastic missions and do great programs (generally with little resources), but there it seems to stop. And there it creates a barrier against doing better.

   I hear how "we should be supported."   How, "I'm not comfortable hitting on anyone." I'm told that the economy is bad, the government has cut back, foundations aren't supporting things other than basic services. And yes, the economy is bad; the government is cutting back; and foundations do have to make hard choices. But that is not the problem.

   For nonprofits to success, we need to learn to strut our stuff. Be proud, be loud. Show our communities why we matter and give them plenty of opportunities to join with us in making the work a better place.

  Let's all be proud of what we do--and give others an opportunity to do it with us.