Find the Needle: An Opportunity

This article is part of a series designed for our Find the Needle community coaching opportunity, but it is also beneficial to anyone.

Have you ever lost something for several days? How does it feel not to find? The elusive item can consume your every thought. It’s like someone is playing a game with you, and you are losing repeatedly.

The phrase "it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack" has been used for over 5,000 years to indicate the difficulty of finding something. Community development work can often feel like an insurmountably challenged search when we desire understanding and answers to our longstanding problems. 

What is the needle you are trying to find in the haystack? The right issue? The right partnership? The right leader? The right team? The right funder? The right vision? The right solution?

There are times when another “seeker” can help out. For whatever reason, someone else might find in minutes what you have tried to find for days. In fact, it is often in a place where you looked repeatedly and didn’t see it. Makes you mad, right?! There are reasons why another seeker sometimes sees when you don’t, and we want to help you find the needle.

Upcoming articles will speak into your search to find the needle for your community, including issues like motivation, self-care, partnerships, and creating space. 

READ CAREFULLY! - APPLICATION DEADLINE: AUGUST 15, 2025, at Midnight Eastern.

Simon Solutions invites your community to an opportunity to apply for donated individualized coaching. We are the maker of the web-based case management tool and community collaboration database CharityTracker.

Our team is seeking three communities in the continental United States that share the sentiment, "We want to find some answers that have eluded us for far too long!" Those three communities will receive six one-hour individualized community coaching sessions via Zoom with our Community Impact Specialist, Dr. Chuck Coward.

Completing the Find the Needle application puts you in the running for consideration as one of the three communities for this campaign. 

THEN, one of those three will win two days of on-site coaching with Chuck in your community. Simon Solutions will provide the coach (his time and expenses), and you will be guided in preparing gatherings and working sessions beforehand to make the most of those days.

This potential gift of coaching for your community is worth several thousand dollars, but it's not entirely free. If you are chosen, you will have to work. Coaching sessions will lead to action points for you and your community to complete to demonstrate your commitment and determination.

Our Find the Needle campaign is designed to:

• Help cultivate an atmosphere of belief in, desire for, and determination to bring restorative change in communities.
• Help cultivate an atmosphere where partnerships are sought and nurtured for collaborative problem-solving.
• Help find that elusive needle.

Make the Case for Your Community
The application is where you make your case. Convince us that your community is the one for this investment to help you find the elusive needle in the haystack.

Testimonials
"Find the Needle coaching instilled a renewed sense of purpose and confidence in our ability to lead and inspire. For Gabriella’s Smile, it provided clarity and direction, reinforcing our mission and empowering us to believe in the significance of our work. This belief has strengthened our presence and deepened our connection with the pediatric cancer community.

Cecilio and Isabel
Gabriella's Smile Foundation

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"Working with [Chuck] through Find the Needle Coaching was both grounding and energizing. [He has] a gift for quickly tuning in, not just to the work someone is doing, but to the heart behind it. Through our sessions, [Chuck] helped me cut through the noise, identify some of the deeper obstacles I was facing, and look at my mission through a clearer, more strategic lens.

[Chuck] didn’t just give advice, [he] listened, challenged, encouraged, and gave me practical homework that helped me move forward. [His] guidance has brought more structure to my work, sharpened my focus, and helped me connect the dots between the vision I hold and the steps it takes to build something sustainable.

And that ripple goes far beyond me. The work I’m doing with caregivers and community support through Daisy’s Place and The Thriving Caregiver feels more rooted now, more purposeful. That’s a direct result of [Chuck's] insight and investment in my growth."

Carolyn
Daisy's Place

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NOTE: If you do not currently utilize CharityTracker, you must become a user before being considered a potential community for coaching. Get a Demo

Find the Needle Application
DEADLINE: AUGUST 15, 2025, at Midnight Eastern.

Do you desire to strengthen your CharityTracker or OasisInsight network and achieve new levels of collaboration and impact? Reach out to Chuck today to schedule your conversation: chuck@simonsolutions.com. 

Dr. Chuck Coward serves as Community Impact Specialist for Simon Solutions, Inc. Chuck has invested over 35 years in fostering human and community development from a variety of places and roles, including as a pastor, non-profit Executive Director, Director of Development, businessman, consultant, university professor, The Struggle Coach, and the founder of Entrusted Foundation. Serving to make people and communities stronger is his great passion. Chuck is the proud husband to Anita, dad to four, and granddaddy to eight.