Nonprofits proud to be “unbusinesslike” these days

Published on October 6, 2008 in Nonprofit sector. 1 Comment


I’ve been wanted to put pen to paper regarding the financial times, but have been preoccupied with other matters.  This is a fascinating time—very difficult for many, very thought provoking for many more.  From the beginning, I have been interested in the “silver lining” associated with the economic downturn.  Reports that public transportation use is up, home gardeners planted a record number of seeds this year, and retail sales are down hardly alarm me.  People thinking before they spend?  Apparently, a new idea for many privileged Americans. 

 

A critical question for those of us working in the nonprofit sector is “What does this mean for nonprofit organizations?”  Before answering this question, we can’t quite stop ourselves from an “I told you so” moment.  After being harassed endlessly to operate in a more business-like manner, we would all like you to notice that businesses have problems, too—big ones! 

 

A friend of mine who prefers to remain anonymous writes:

As I’ve been following the financial meltdown, I’ve been pondering the push in recent years towards philanthrocapitalism, social enterprise, microenterprise and the impulse towards treating nonprofits more like ‘businesses’.  I have no quibble with the last – if you can’t manage your books and figure out how to bring dollars in, then you’ll cease to exist – but the tension between unfettered free-market capitalism and what a community needs to survive on a civic, spiritual or non-tangible level is enormous.  The condescending attitude that nonprofit boards have a lot to learn from for-profit boards seems to have been turned on its head here.

 

Also, the situation we’re facing is a ‘credit crunch’, where, as the New York Times says, “banks become more fearful of giving out cash”.  Now we know what happens to foundations who ‘choose’ not to give out a certain percentage of their cash - they cease to be foundations.  It may be incredibly foolish of me to ask why banks aren’t required to commit a minimum percentage of their assets to credit - maybe they are - but by using language like ‘fearful’ and ‘reluctant’ the NY Times is either anthropomorphizing a business or pointing up the goddamn truth - people make these decisions and this sounds less and less like a credit crisis and more and more like a hold-up.

Jan Masaoka comments in the current issue of Blue Avocado:

The next time someone says to you for the umpteenth time, “Nonprofits should be run more like a business,” say back to them: “Like which business?”

This month, with huge financial firms tanking and passing the pain to thousands of employees, shareholders, customers and taxpayers, it’s a good time to remember that if Lehman Brothers or AIG had been run more like nonprofits, they might not be in the trouble they are in today. If these firms had been run like nonprofits, they would have placed community well-being above executive pay, profits, and competitiveness.

Want to read more?  Visit the Nonprofit Quarterly for many more nonprofit leaders “sounding off on the bailout.”

 

Seasonal blogging

Published on July 6, 2008 in Consulting and Recommended reading. 0 Comments

Well, I haven’t had much time to blog lately.  Lots going on in my personal life, an interesting array of consulting projects, and the summer are keeping me busy.  Maybe blogs should be dormant during the summer months–my laptop screen just isn’t very visible out in the sunshine.  This entry will violate the rules of single topic blogging by providing you with a general update from LPC.

First of all, I just checked my website statistics.  Apparently, my month-long blogging hiatus hasn’t made traffic suffer too much.  In June, over 1,000 unique visitors made over 3,800 visits to my website and blog.  Of course, more than half of these were probably automated bots or spiders.  And I have little idea how to interpret the stats.  Still, it sounds exciting, and it is definitely true that adding a blog to make my website more dynamic has resulted in more traffic.

I am working with some fabulous clients at present, including Food Lifeline, Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, Southwest Youth and Family Services, New Beginnings, Peace Community Center, Cascade Regional Blood Services, Chaya, University District Service Providers Alliance, Chelan-Douglas Volunteer Attorneys, and Make-A-Wish Foundation of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.   I’m grateful for these fabulous opportunities.  At the same time, I know what you are thinking, and you are absolutely right!  I hope to close out a few of these very soon to preserve my sanity and enjoy the summer.

In other news, I recently joined the board of directors of the Whidbey Institute.  I have learned a great deal through WI programs, and I encourage you to check it out and let me know if you are interested in learning more.

Hopefully, I’ll someday have some book news for you.  I am hoping to find time soon to dig into two provocative new books:  The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution, in which David La Piana debunks conventional planning and offers an alternative approach that his firm has tested with good results; and, The Revolution will not be Funded:  Beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex.

So, stay tuned but don’t hold your breath!

Barter and the Giant Swing

Published on June 8, 2008 in Consulting, Social capital and Sustainability. 0 Comments

I’m just back from family camp at YMCA Camp Coleman in South Puget Sound. How fun for adults to get to participate in camp alongside their kids! Among other exciting activities, I got to ride in the Northwest’s biggest swing, which requires a harness and swings kids of all ages at a height of 150 feet over a ravine. Quite an exciting experience!

Naturally, this experience got me thinking about bartering. That is, given all the wonderful experiences offered to me and my child by local nonprofits, how can I barter my services for good stuff like summer camp, science education, and so forth? Regrettably, there is no tax advantage to be gained from bartering: both parties are obligated to treat their “sale” through the barter as taxable income. Furthermore, there is IRS paperwork involved (a 1099-B form at year-end), making bartering not nearly as attractive. Still, I want to think more about when it might make sense for me to barter with clients. Solar Washington contacted me recently, and I’d love a solar array on my roof!

If any readers have more experience with barter and when it makes sense, I’d love to hear it. In the meantime, I guess I’ll have to keep laying out cold, hard cash for my vacations, professional development and home improvements.

Excellent Advocacy

Published on May 15, 2008 in Nonprofit sector, Strategic planning and capacity building. 0 Comments

Here’s something a little more upbeat to balance my last post!

It’s so exciting to see the social sector getting so strategic about advocacy.  Well, actually I think there is a proud history here, but I happen to be jazzed about a couple of specific examples of smart advocacy that I’ve heard about recently.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Greg Small, executive director of Climate Solutions, recently.  He filled me in on the evolution and successes of Priorities for a Healthy Washington, a collaborative effort by environmental organizations to set statewide advocacy priorities—four per year—that everyone gets behind.  They have had great success in getting legislation passed in support of these democratically chosen priorities (one organization, one vote) for several years running.   Their annual prioritization process allows for vetting proposals internally and feasibility testing through dialogue with key political leaders.  It’s real collaboration, and it’s getting real results.  The structure of the collaboration is simple, and seems to be working due to strong, trusted leadership.  And with the results they have been able to achieve, the flywheel is moving now, as Jim Collins would say.

I also recently heard Patti Whitney-Wise speak about the Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force.  This is a highly successful collaborative effort to reduce hunger in Oregon, where leaders were shocked to learn that Oregon’s hunger rate was among the highest in the country, and resolved to take action.  Their roadmap is Act to End Hunger: 40 Ways in Five Years to Make a Difference, a strategic plan that outlines roles for funders, nonprofits, government, and community members to contribute to the campaign.  The Children’s Alliance is spearheading a similar campaign here called End Childhood Hunger, and I hope more funders and community members will get behind it.

Please note that in addition to the stars aligning, these groups managed to prioritize effectively.  They have diverse constituencies who came to believe they would accomplish more by focusing on a common cause, even if it meant compromising some on their individual organizational agenda.  While I know this approach is not a panacea, I hope and see evidence that some of the other sectors I’ve been working with, such as anti-violence advocates and organizations serving people with disabilities, will follow suit.

Bad news day

Published on May 13, 2008 in Leadership and Nonprofit sector. 0 Comments

Okay, now I’m depressed.  First, I hear that the Executive Director of Verbena Health, where I served as interim executive director in 2006, has been accused of major embezzlement of agency funds (see Head of Local Nonprofit Accused of Embezzlement).  Right now, I’m too sad to even comment.

Then, when searching for this news story, I see another story titled “King County’s biggest Food Bank May Close” about Operation Emergency Center, about one of only two or three (depending how you count) food banks in the entire Rainier Valley (yep, out of 29 food banks in the City of Seattle, only three are in the most impoverished quarter of the city).  The other main Rainier Valley food bank, Northwest Community Services, has been unstable for some time (i.e. sending out appeals for funds saying its doors might close), and is currently going through leadership transition.   Please, no more unpleasant surprises today!

21st Century Leadership Trend #2: Digital Natives

Published on April 22, 2008 in Blogging & technology, Knowledge management, Leadership and Social capital. 1 Comment

There has been a buzz in the nonprofit community about generational change, and culture clashes between older managers and younger staff are happening.  Leaders are trying to get a handle on new ways of working and are a bit put-off by the high expectations of up-and-coming nonprofit staff.  Just as the rate of change has increased exponentially lately, the generation gap here is more significant than in past generations, requiring us to be flexible and adaptive.

First, let me describe a little of what I am seeing.  Some of the friction happening now is sparked by bafflement by elders about how young people multi-task and incorporate multiple technologies into their lives.  They see emerging leaders working while listening to their ipods, texting friends, and checking their My Space or Facebook pages constantly (My Space users visit their page on average 30 times per day).  These staff members are digital natives, and have integrated these technologies fully into their lives.  In contrast, older digital immigrants find utilizing these tools more awkward and distracting, and cannot comprehend that the constant distractions these things would pose for them do not undermine staff members’ productivity.

It’s important for digital immigrants to adopt a posture of curiosity about the use of these new technologies.  Rather than being dismissive, inquire about how coworkers are finding them beneficial.

Most old schoolers (digital immigrants) in the nonprofit sector understand the adage “It’s all about relationships.”  However, we have a narrow view of relationships:  they are primarily personal, one-on-one connections that are supported by face-to-face contact.  Telephone conversations and mail are supplemental supports to maintain relationships.  In contrast, digital natives may be more comfortable forming and strengthening relationships via Web 2.0 (a general term for online applications that promote connectivity).

At our conference session, a woman spoke up, lamenting the displacement and devaluation of face-to-face communication in favor of impersonal, technology mediated communication.  I suggested that she might approach the issue differently, by showing curiosity about how people achieve the feeling of personal communication via online social networking—because clearly people are getting something out of Facebook that does feel personal and intimate.

Probably the best single strategy for bridging this digital divide is intergenerational exchange.  I have already learned a great deal about digital natives from my seven-year-old daughter.  At Christmas, she gave me a funny look when I suggested reading the instruction manual to find out how to give her new virtual “Nintendog” a bath.  Before I could get the manual open, she had figured out how to do it intuitively.  Indigo or crystal child?  Maybe.  A fascinating window into how digital natives think differently?  Definitely!

21st Century Leadership: Dealing with Complexity

Published on April 12, 2008 in Knowledge management, Leadership, Nonprofit sector and Sustainability. 1 Comment

I’m finally getting around to sharing a few highlights from our conference session this week at the Nonprofit Conference.  It was a pleasure working with Amanda, who knows how to keep a presentation lively.  We enjoyed preparing for the workshop, trading new insights on where leadership is headed.  I had the fun of talking about trends affecting nonprofit leadership:  increasing complexity, emphasis on collaboration, generational shift, shift toward authenticity, talent crisis/leadership succession.  As you can imagine, there is lots to say about each of these areas, so I should have plenty of blog fodder for some time to come.  Below, my thoughts on the challenge of exponentially increasing complexity.

Complexity is the first trend we talked about in our session.  I think most of us share the feeling that our world is getting more complicated by the minute.   On a personal, individual level, we are faced with information overload (one issue of the New York Times is estimated to contain more info than a person was exposed to in a lifetime before 1900).  This overload exists for us in the nonprofit sector—with 6 new nonprofits founded every week in Washington State, who can keep up?

At the same time, corporations have devolved many services to the individual:  we are now responsible for conducting our own banking, financial investing, healthcare advocacy, cashiering groceries and many other tasks formerly provided to us by others.  This greatly expanded list of activities of daily living (ADLs, as they are called in the social service world) takes a lot of bandwidth!

At the organizational level, similar changes are taking place.  Nonprofit “ADLs” now include management of multiple, restricted funding streams, documentation of outcomes, risk management, and messaging and establishing a consistent brand identity.

Many of the social issues the nonprofit sector is working to address are complex, boundary-crossing and intertwined (global warming and poverty being two examples of complex challenges).  These challenges are more difficult and time-consuming to solve, and require varied perspectives and types of expertise to tackle.  At the same time, global interdependence and reduced relevance of geographical boundaries are placing new demands on formerly localized nonprofit service providers.

A final challenge associated with the growing complexity of our world is knowledge management.  How do we appropriately share and utilize information within and outside of our organizations?  Given the overwhelming volume of information available to us, how do we keep up, and how do we filter the information to find what is most pertinent to us achieving our mission?

Here are some recommended responses:

  • make space for reflection, synthesis and sensemaking activities (as individuals and groups)
  • explore how new technology can assist us in organizing information in ways that are accessible to our own organizational leaders and key partners in the field
  • resist doing everything ourselves, and establish relationships with trusted providers of supportive services (e.g. tech support, investing, benefits administration) so that we don’t have to know it all
  • adopt a non-territorial, “open source” approach to information, sharing effective practices freely so that their positive social benefit can be maximized
  • Collaborate and build strong networks
  • Shift your thinking from “institutional advancement”—improving your own organization’s standing—to a focus on advancing your field
  • Breathe!

Taproot branching into Strategic Planning

Published on April 11, 2008 in Strategic planning and capacity building. 0 Comments

I was pleased to hear from the Taproot Foundation this week that they are expanding their pro bono technical assistance to include support for strategic planning.  What is most impressive is that they have pinpointed specific parts of the process that they feel they can do best, and will not be trying to do it all.  They will focus their efforts on research at the front end of the planning process, such as competitive scans, stakeholder mapping and cost analysis, and on developing measuring and monitoring systems after the plan is developed.  So, I look forward to partnering with them to allow nonprofits to complete a quality, thorough planning process at a more affordable cost.  Their new program will be launched in Seattle in September 2008.

A fun article outlining their approach, MBAs Gone Wild, was recently published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Attracting the creative class

Published on April 11, 2008 in Social capital and Sustainability. 0 Comments

The Nonprofit Conference this year has given me a lot to chew on.  I am going to share some tidbits with you from one of the most poorly attended sessions, a presentation of the efforts of “Creative Tacoma”, an economic development partnership effort.  It’s unfortunate that the usual Seattle myopia prevented more people from hearing about this effort.

Tacoma leaders (Chamber, Port of Tacoma, City, businesses, citizens) have come together to work to make Tacoma a more appealing city for members of the “creative class.”  The campaign is called Creative Tacoma.  This term was coined by Richard Florida, who has done extensive research to try to determine what factors are associated with the unusual economic success of some US cities and towns.  He argues that there are “Four T’s” that support a thriving community:  Tolerance (of diversity), Technology, Talent and Territorial Assets (such as our beautiful outdoor setting).  These factors appeal to and attract members of the creative class, which is a broad term to describe knowledge workers of all kinds (artists but also healthcare workers, high tech workers, etc.).   It sounds like Creative Tacoma has bought into investing in the 4 T’s as a economic development strategy, and has had some successes in bolstering community pride and “livability.”

This approach is appealing to me–not a surprise since I am just the kind of bohemian-wannabe person they are trying to attract.  By the way, a fun, much talked about aspect of Richard Florida’s work has been that he established a “Gay index” for cities after determining that the population of gay men is highly correlated with economic success.  I’m not sure what he has to say about lesbians.

My biggest question to them was about whether the focus on attracting creative class people could be perceived as elitist (this has been a common criticism of Florida’s work).  I was impressed with their thoughtful answer, and convinced that multiculturalism (they talked about needing more mosques to attract well-qualified doctors) and retention of Tacoma’s solid blue collar middle class (longshoreman, etc.) were very much a part of their local focus.

For those of you who haven’t been to Tacoma lately, it has much to recommend it.  I suggest you visit the Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum and Point Defiance Park.  Eat at Southern Kitchen (okay for vegetarians, but not for impatient people) or the Antique Sandwich Company (near the park).  Also, I made sure to remind the presenters at the conference session that one of their greatest assets is Olympus Spa (Korean-style women’s spa).

Rock climbing is not enough for our at-risk youth!

Published on April 1, 2008 in Nonprofit sector, Race and social justice and Recommended reading. 0 Comments

Need a good laugh?  Try this article from The Onion:  I’m Starting This Foundation So Inner-City Youths Will Have The Pole-Vaulting Opportunities I Never Had.  You can tell by the title that its quite humorous.