I urge you to attend the 2009 Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship Conference on Wednesday, 9/16/09. My friend Darian Rodriguez Heyman will be presenting alongside Ralph Nader, and it promises to be be an exciting, fruitful event.

On the Economic Crisis

Looking at the problem in a new way, he said, “Most of our problems are mission and vision, not fiscal.” Instead of being reactionary to budgetary constraints, now is the time to assess where the organization is going, what its priorities are and what leadership is needed. “People don’t give to deficits and budgets, they give to mission and vision.” And when something fails, “Don’t be afraid to say something didn’t work.” Transparency and trust is more important than ever.

In this time of increased competitiveness, he reminded us that nonprofits are working to solve common problems and quoted Common Cause Founder John Gardner: “The things that unite us are more important than the things that divide us,” to suggest that we should be finding ways of working together. Look to other sectors of ideas and to see what is working.

On Board Development: The 4 Ws

He looks for board members that have two of the following qualities: Wealth, Work,  Wisdom, Wallet. It’s not how much they give, he said, it’s how they respond to owning the outcome of the organization. Seek to build a board with diversity, different ages and ethnicities as well as a diversity of skills and gifts. Attract younger people who can help you understand the new issues and thinking. Keeping people engaged is essential. “The plan isn’t as important as the process.” And have people who know how to read financial statements.

On Forming an Advisory Board

Edgar is big on getting people involved and has a large extended advisory board. He asks anyone he meets who shares the spirit of  the organization to join the advisory board. Though not a formal board that meets, it connects people to the organization and each other and provides a means to the organization to tap into people’s networks at critical moments.

On Maximizing Meeting Time

Since it is difficult to get people together, maximize this time by using the morning as a seminar by a sector expert or an update on the organization’s activities, and the afternoon session for the meeting.

On New Threats & Opportunities

Apparently fond of words starting with the same letters, he articulated the new concerns as Fear, Fundamentalism and Fox News, and the universal goals of Peace, Prosperity and Planet Earth.

On Movements

With membership in nonprofits decreasing steadily over the past decade or so, what can nonprofits do? People are joining movements, he said, and nonprofits need to be the engine of those movements. He asked, how do we do we engage “ego disarmament” around who gets the credit?

Citing a $6 billion state deficit, Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy reported at the recent Connecticut Nonprofits Conference that the last eight years have brought “an assault on social services.”

“Government has an obligation to provide for its citizens.” He delivered a passionate call to fund the state’s safety net, starting with a 1.5% average increase in nonprofit aid. “The needs of the least among us should be taken care of first.”

Fellow presenter and NYU Professor Dr. Paul Light predicted massive consolidation in the nonprofit sector due to recession. Smaller organizations will likely join together to reduce administration costs.

According to Light, nonprofit organizations represent a $1 trillion sector, powered by 11.5 million employees and 61 million volunteers.

He views a reduction in the number of nonprofits as inevitable and a chance to strengthen the sector. Instead of avoiding the situation, we should embrace the opportunity to start a strategic dialogue regarding which organizations should go under and which ones should survive.

WAKE UP CALL: As a member of the nonprofit community, how can you engage peers to begin open, honest communication about the challenging times ahead?

]]> https://redroostergroup.com/recession-roll-ups/feed/ 1 https://redroostergroup.com/reframing-the-nonprofit-state-of-mind/ https://redroostergroup.com/reframing-the-nonprofit-state-of-mind/#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:52:55 +0000 http://redroostergroup.wordpress.com/?p=178

As an expert in branding for nonprofits, I found it refreshing to hear a fellow nonprofit expert discuss the concept of the nonprofit sector’s brand as a whole. Without using the word “brand” specifically, NYU Professor Paul Light pointed out that no one refers to “nonprofit-ness,” although the term “businesslike”

is often bandied about. This state begs the question: What are the attributes that define nonprofits? (To be immediately followed by: Are these traits positive?)

At the 6th Annual Connecticut Nonprofits Conference on November 17, Light set forth the following as common characteristics of the sector:

• Incorporated. Nothing terribly exciting. Just a technical term that describes the organization’s legal entity, typically accompanied by a board of directors and governing bylaws.
• Older. The average age of employees in the nonprofit world is 45, compared to the thirtysomethings who work in the for-profit business community.
• Poor. The nonprofit sector has long been synonymous with poverty and hardship. Staff members take pride in denying themselves such niceties as heat and air conditioning, matching furniture, and flat-screen monitors.

Instead, Light proposed aspirational attributes that nonprofits should strive toward:

• Rigorous. Nonprofits need to apply rigorous standards to measurement and management. The sector currently excels at showing need. Instead, organizations need to show tangible results that matter to donors.
• Confident. The nonprofit world consistently works miracles and effects far-reaching social changes that leverage tight budgets. Such effective stewardship should inspire confidence and drive future efforts.
• Proud. The nonprofit sector has the greatest workforce in this nation. Tireless men and women work long hours for the public interest. Employees come to the office every day for the chance to accomplish something good, but they leave feeling stressed out. This sad fact must change.
• Audacious. Today, innovation wins. Nonprofits have to push the envelope and try new things. To change the nature of the world, nonprofits must challenge the prevailing wisdom and find new solutions.

WAKE UP CALL: As a sector, can we take responsibility for the perception of nonprofits and how can we collectively and individually start to change the definition of “nonprofit-ness?” One thing you can do is to attend the Nonprofit Congress in May in New Orleans in which the statewide nonprofit associations will converge to discuss the state of the sector, share best practices, and explore how to improve the visibility of the nonprofit sector.

See our sketches from the 2008 Nonprofit Congress.

Red Rooster Group does our part in advocating for the sector. Read more: Creating Awareness for the Third Sector

At the National Nonprofit Congress, Doug Sauer, Jon Pratt, Joan Austin discuss how to help nonprofit organizations, specifically those providing social services, to implement best practices.

The opening session of the National Nonpofit Congress held in June in Washington, DC, kicked off three days of conference sessions bringing together the best ideas to promote the public sector.

Karrie Galloway, the Director of Friends of Guest House, shares the joys and challenges of helping recovering addicts to acclimate to society.