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# Putting the Pieces Together
- URL: https://sundaymorningcoffee.co/putting-the-p/
- Published: 2026-08-26T23:35:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-27T00:40:43.000Z
- Description: Sometime you can't see the final picture when you're just starting out. You have to keep putting the pieces together.
- Author: Anna
- Tags: Career

Over the last two years I helped raise money for my son’s baseball team. We had a lofty goal of $22,000 to send his entire team and the coaches to Cooperstown. The plan was to fund the week-long tournament solely through fundraising.

Our community was extremely generous, with local businesses and, of course, grandparents donating to the cause. 

I initially thought raising the money would be difficult. And don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of work. We organized a variety of fundraisers including car washes, Chinese auctions, bingo night, Super Bowl boxes, numerous raffles, and more. We held 1-2 fundraisers a month during the last year.

The hardest part, though, surprised me. It was getting a group of busy parents, all with hectic schedules, together at the same place and time so we could pull off each fundraiser.

We needed to work together as a team if we were going to meet this goal, so it was important for everyone to be on the same page.

 So how did we do it?

It was a lot of coordinating schedules, sticking to budgets for each fundraiser, keeping track of donations, sending out thank-yous, advertising our fundraisers, and making sure we made payments every few months on time as required by the tournament.

It reminded me of when I worked in media.

 I spoke daily, if not hourly, with media reps, print production specialists, sales reps at magazines, my internal client services department and marketing partners. This was my territory.

I gathered information from all different parties and pieced it together like a puzzle. A puzzle that had to meet performance metrics. What magazines should we run in? What performed well last time? Can we meet the publication’s deadline? How will the campaign perform as a whole? Will the creative be ready in time? Let’s confirm the specs again.

Sometimes it was chaotic, but it was always satisfying seeing it come together.

Just like our team’s baseball fundraising. Once everyone decided on dates for the fundraisers and confirmed availability with local fairs and businesses, things slowly but surely started to come together. We posted our team’s images and fundraiser details on Facebook for family and friends to see.

It’s impossible to see the final picture at first. You just have to keep putting the pieces together.

And yes, we met our goal and Cooperstown was a success. The team came in 5th place in the top division out of 94 teams nationwide.