nonprofit zen | perspective and guidance for the nonprofit professional

the death of ideas

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:19:22 +0000

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It has been nearly a year since Pixar's artist Emma Coats tweeted her famous 22 tips for effective storytelling. Coats provides a very compelling guide on how to craft a story line that is both engaging and enduring.

What is particularly compelling is that we can take her recommendations and peal them out, and explore how they have a much broader application than storytelling alone. The one that stands out for me is this one:

#11 - Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you'll never share it with anyone.

Getting started, for all of us, can be one of the limiting factors in bringing forth an idea. Good ideas need to be brought to the light of day. Bad ideas, as well, need their proper hearing so that they might be honed and polished into something worthwhile.

Putting our thoughts down on paper, in words, or a diagram, or into an electronic format, forces us to work the idea through; to see its full greatness, its ugliness, its possibilities. If we mull it over in our mind, it isn't real; it's not a true idea, until we show it to someone and say, "Here, I came up with this, what do you think?"

We could readily admit that nonprofits have never been accused of having too many ideas. If anything, the nonprofit sector is often viewed as lower-tiered in comparison to a for-profit business. I wonder what ideas we could formulate to combat that perception...

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the one reason nonprofits don't have enough money

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:33:01 +0000

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I was inspired by an article that appeared in the Huffington Post a few weeks ago. Nell Edgington provided some excellent views in 5 Reasons Your Nonprofit Isn't Raising Enough Money. Thinking more about the five categories she presented, I saw what I thought was a common theme running through all of them: Fear.

In most of our life pursuits, unacknowledged fear is what holds us back from achieving all that is possible. And for nonprofit organizations, we are prone to the same malady, employing the same excuses about not having the time, expertise or other resources available. Consider the five points that Edgington introduces...

1 - Too Many Programs Drain Money From Your Organization. Edgington notes that many nonprofits do not evaluate their programs for effectiveness and impact on the bottom line. Instead they can be driven by fear of what the media or others will say if they make hard choices and decide to cut or drop programs.

2 -You're Leaving Money Up to One Person. Fundraising can often be viewed as the responsibility of the CEO, Executive Director or Development Officer. Many board members are afraid to stick their necks out, or their hands out, on a consistent basis because it's safer to not put themselves out there and be held accountable.

3 - You're Not Effectively Telling Your Story. It can be risky telling a unique compelling story, a story that may not resonate with everyone. We can be tempted to dumb down our stories, so as not to offend someone; we're so afraid of leaving anyone out. After a while it leads to the next symptom...

4 - You're Doing What Everyone Else Does. We all want to fit in, to feel safe, compare ourselves to other organization. And so we copy what other agencies are doing, and that way if anything goes wrong, no one is to blame.

5 - You're Not Investing In Your Money Raising Function. One of the greatest fears can be spending money on infrastructure for fundraising. Accountants suggest that a certain percentage of money be spent on programs, not on overhead; but if organizations do not invest in the funding function, they may not survive to provide those programs. Following perceived best practices can hamper an organization.

Fear may be the reason we hold our organizations back, but glimmers of courage and leadership can always emerge, offering possibilities and hope for better ways to live our missions...

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advancing innovation in nonprofits

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:32:27 +0000

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A recent article from Knowledge@Wharton, Why Innovation Is Tough to Define – And Even Tougher To Cultivate, examined the concept of innovation in business. While the authors touched on one example from the nonprofit sector, the 10,000 women initiative sponsored by the Goldman Sachs Foundation, the focus was on accomplishments in the realm of technology, engineering and entrepreneurship.

Looking beyond the argument of what nonprofit innovation examples could have been examined, there was one important point that could easily have been overlooked. Jay Schnitzer, a former director of the Defense Sciences Office, noted that DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, employs a model that fully embraces innovation and action.

DARPA is where the best and brightest are brought together to address significant and challenging problems; resources are then provided, and the government gets out of the way so they can go about accomplishing their work. (For more on the innovative accomplishments of DARPA, check out Regina Dugan's TED talk.)

Schnitzer goes on to ask why other parts of our government can't work in a similar way. DARPA's approach, he asserts, is "built on fulfillments, milestones and metrics...It's not built on entitlements or equality."

Perhaps that's a model that nonprofits might want to pursue as well...

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ignoring digital media

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:45:06 +0000

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More and more we hear about the benefits of digital media for nonprofit organizations. Not only can digital media transform online giving, it can also help build community engagement and social action. Though nonprofits have come to employ some of the more popular social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, they have not been as present on other platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram, which can be a very effective means in connecting with followers.

In a recent article, How Digital Media is Changing the World of Philanthropy, Nigel Lewis of AbilityNet notes that donating by text messaging has grown 10-fold over the past year. He further points out that about 30% of all charitable donations are made through digital channels.

Unfortunately, many of these trends are lost to nonprofits because of their hesitancy to immerse themselves in technology. Organizations can miss the connection between social engagement and online giving, and by limiting themselves in one area, inhibit their success in another. While technology alone is not the solution to all the challenges nonprofits face, embracing and investing in these tools will certainly improve their standing in the online world.

Nonprofits need to remember that every day they are competing for attention; not just with other nonprofits, but with for-profit businesses as well. There is only so much mental space, a limited attention span for all of us to listen to and respond to messaging. If nonprofits fail to be present, they run the risk of not being heard at all...

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supersize my philanthropy

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:14:31 +0000

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The Big Mac has at least one redeeming value: it has led to the creation of a comparative tool which measures the level of giving in different parts of the world.

The =mc Big Mac® Philanthropy Index emulates the methodology from The Economist Magazine's Big Mac Index, which compares wages and prices to determine what it would cost someone to acquire the ubiquitous food product. So we now have an effective means to measure the level of philanthropy of all the countries around the globe.

This may be a surprise to many, but the United States did not fare so well in the 2013 report. The U.S. wound up in 9th place behind the likes of Hong Kong, which was ranked # 1, with an index of 9.02, and Thailand, #5 with an index of 6.50. The U.S. philanthropy index was 6.16.

A summary article appeared in the Jewish Philanthropy website and includes a valuable infographic which contains a breakdown of the 37 countries included in the index. The full report can be found at The Management Centre a UK based nonprofit consultancy firm.

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taking food from our own mouths

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:53:21 +0000

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Our natural inclination is to promote policies that benefit our nonprofit organizations. Donors and foundations alike expect nonprofits to stay true to their mission and protect the assets of the agency. Is it possible that everyone is wrong; that it may be in the best interests of serving the mission, by adopting strategies that cause financial pain for the organization?

This is precisely what the United States government is proposing in respect to international food aid. The administration is now suggesting that rather than purchasing food staples from U.S. farmers and shipping those goods overseas, that they begin buyingw those products from farmers in poor countries. While this action would be more efficient and cost effective, enabling our country to feed more people in need, it would cut U.S. producers and shippers out of the loop. Further, opponents argue that the long term effect would be that our overall capability to provide aid would be diminished.

This dilemma is a valuable case study for any nonprofit organization; it can lead us to examine how we might best serve our target market. It can also challenge us, asking if we are more concerned with achieving our mission, or more focused on sustaining ourselves as an organization...

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in-your-face philanthropy

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 13:52:24 +0000

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It's interesting how we can find inspiration from unusual sources. In this past week's New York Times, there was an article about the drug company Novartis and their approach in marketing their oral Multiple Sclerosis treatment.

The advertising campaign, "Hey MS, Take This" takes a feisty approach, showing the defiant spirit of many young people battling the disease. Rather than taking the more heartfelt, woe is me approach, they are instead embracing the spirit of, "This isn't going to stop me!"

In promoting our individual causes, be it hunger, autism or homelessness, are there ways for us to have more of an edge; challenge those on the sidelines to come in and join in our noble battle. Sometimes, defiance and an edgy attitude can be attractive, and draw in the types of players that will make a difference in our works...

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when the greater good is not so good

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:02:25 +0000

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It could be that nonprofit organizations are unknowingly promoting conflict.

In the midst of seeking financial support for their cause, nonprofits will often appeal to individuals in the spirit of contributing to the greater good and taking care of society as a whole. The assumption is that everyone cares about the greater good. While that may generally be true, the messaging may not resonate with all individuals.

According to research revealed in an interview on National Public Radio, concern for the greater good may run counter to our American psyche and our culture of individualism. In fact, studies have shown that individual performance drops when the rewards are associated with a group rather than for an individual.

Nonprofits and even foundations would do well to consider how they appeal for support, and be more in tune with perceptions of individual liberties and accomplishments, and how those views can be in conflict with charity. Can we find ways to speak to that sense of individualism and still remain true to our cause of serving broader society; can we honor personal contributions while also lifting up larger societal needs.

There has always been a delicate balance of acknowledging individual support and honoring the broader cause. All the better for us to be more aware of it...

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what's the matter with giving

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:00:51 +0000

The problem with giving and the support of charities can be seen at a number of different levels. As Dan Pallotta points out in his powerful presentation: The way we think about charity is dead wrong, support for charitable organizations has been stuck at 2% for decades.

The larger challenge that exists, however, is the general view of nonprofit organizations. From all directions there are underlying expectations that nonprofits should not invest in themselves, but dedicate themselves so severely to programs, that they are not able to build significant, sustainable organizations that can actually begin to conquer the huge social problems we face.

This is probably one of the most important TED presentations given, one that speaks to foundations, nonprofits and the general public.

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good news about corruption in nonprofits

toma1954@verizon.net (tom) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 13:46:07 +0000

The prevalence of nonprofit shenanigans was evident. Of the six articles highlighted in Philanthropy Today, an area on the Philanthropy website, four of them dealt with embezzlement or some other nefarious activity at a nonprofit organization. The stories range from the exploits of a self-proclaimed "Indian Jones" rabbi claiming to have rescued ancient Jewish Torahs, to a celebrity purportedly walking off with funds raised for earthquake relief.

Raising up these instances of fraud may cause some concern for those in the nonprofit space, but it is really helpful for all of us to be reminded that corruption is possible anywhere. And that we need to be well versed in how opportunities come about , so that we can speak intelligently to our public about the realities in our world, and also better protect our organizations from becoming a victim.

Rather than running away from our industry's problems, we should be embracing them to learn, accept with some humility, that we too are far from perfect...

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