Unleashing the Magic of Creativity

By John A. Stefani

At a recent meeting for a nonprofit organization I belong to, a long time friend complimented me because I am so creative with fundraising ideas. According to Wikipedia, “Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new (a product, a solution, a work of art etc.) that has some kind of value.” Not everyone is cut out to be painters or poets, at the same time, it’s important in a work environment to embrace some creativity. Creativity can be the way a business can gain market share on a competitor or to gain new customers. Creativity can be the way a community organization increases its budget through a new fundraising idea.

What process do artistic people, like artists and poets, do that classify them as being creative?

Is it magic?

As a child, I was pretty good at doing table magic. I enjoyed showing people the magic tricks that I could do. I practiced the tricks so all my movements would seem natural. Much of what a magician does is convincing the audience’s eyes to look one place when all the action is happening in another place. It seems when people look at creative people they look at the final product and not so much the process that went into it.

People are so used to looking in the wrong areas they miss the true creativity of the craft. I believe that creative people end up unintentionally deceiving others. It’s just how people tend to look at other people's creativity; people just look in the wrong spot.

I have witnessed the birth of the best ideas with a group of people, a cocktail napkin and a pen are present (adult beverage optional). Brainstorming is a great place to start.

By writing down all the ideas even if they seem crazy might yield a few great results. This is best done in a group of people. When creativity becomes in full bloom people will start adding to one of the ideas to make it better. Brainstorming should be practiced regularly. After awhile, creative ideas will start popping up outside of brainstorm sessions. Here is a good resource on how to start brainstorming:   http://www.mindtools.com/brainstm.html

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Minnesota Snowstorm Feb 20, 2011

Here is the view from the back window of the snow that is hanging on the gutter of the house.

We love our lottery, but charitable gambling and horse-race betting is down in Minnesota

By John A. Stefani

Most all the articles on charitable gaming acknowledge that charitable gaming is down:

Charitable Gambling Continues Its Steady Decline

MinnPost - We love our lottery, but charitable gambling and horse-race betting down in Minnesota

Session Daily - produced by nonpartisan Public Information Services = Lottery up, other gambling down

There is only speculation on why there has been this decline and most articles ask a couple of people for their opinions which are biased and data can only be ranked statistically as a poor sample of the population. I would like to see some research with some empirical data that shows the reasons for this decline. It's not just charitable gaming in Minnesota that is down. I have seen articles from other states whose revenues from charitable gaming has declined as well.

Both articles say that adding a racino would help. Seems to me, adding a racino wouldn't at all help charities who need and depend on charitable gaming.  Some say that electronic pulltabs and electronic bingo would provide more flair and rejuvenate charitable gaming. What do you think?