Friends, it’s time to stop doing what we’ve been doing. As we discussed last week, nonprofits are not currently working. And what’s that we say about continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results? Change is necessary. More than change, I say TRANSFORMATION is necessary. And I’ve got some suggestions below for where we can start that transformation.
Read on….
For You: Today’s Main Course
Last week, I published We Love Nonprofits for Their Potential, Friends — & They Keep Letting Us Down… and I have to say, it can be easier to notice and point out what’s wrong with something… than to envision how it could be better, and propose that vision for others’ consumption… and potential criticism/cynicism.
But idealism has been my jam for a long, long time.
And I’ve always called myself not only an idealist but, even more, a practical idealist — which to me means that I’m not just looking at things with rose-colored glasses and proposing pie-in-the-sky ideas but, rather, I’m grounded in practical reality and how to make something materially better in a way that will actually work.
So I’m doing a bit of that today here.
Without further ado….
1️⃣ Egos take a seat.
Have you noticed how much egos muck up the good nonprofits can do? Forget the good, have you noticed how they so often completely gum the gears of operations, to the point that they can barely function?
I gave several examples of what this looks like in practice last week, and I am sure you have many of your own examples too.
Friends, we’ve got to stop letting egos run the show.
Egos are actively harmful to the work of nonprofits, because, according to nonprofits’ very organizing and legal principles, these organizations belong to the community served the very second they obtain their 501c3.
So if staff, volunteers, or other humans involved with nonprofits are behaving as though the org is actually theirs… or that the work of the org is about them… they are actively undermining that org’s entire purpose.
The alternative I’m proposing?
People involved with nonprofits realize that they need to be especially self-aware and conscious. They realize that, if they simply unconsciously react to things they encounter in the work, they’ll just be continuing and reinforcing the unhealthy conditioning they’ve had from the world around them (a world that created the problems the nonprofit had to be created to address in the first place, natch).
In that effort, they regularly meditate, so that they can learn to be mindful and present, able to notice when their ego is taking over. This practice allows them to more objectively observe situations they encounter — and consciously respond to them, rather than resorting to knee-jerks.
Their entire approach to the work is with the understanding that they are simply stewards of something meaningful and important — stewards who may have received the responsibility of caring for this mission from others, and who will likely pass it on to yet others after they are gone.
They know they’re not here to prove anything.
They never insist on their way, because they’re aware that their perspective may be flawed and incomplete, that they always need to understand and incorporate the experiences of other community members.
They don’t ever assume they know everything, because they’re always aware of their limitations and biases.
They happily pass on work to others who seem better prepared to do it, since their only goal is to find the best person to do the work in the best way possible, for the good of the org and its mission.
Because they know and admit how much they have to learn (always), they will always be open to being taught, to changing their mind, to being shown a new way to understand something they might not fully understand yet.
They cede power — especially the power of decision-making — to people who have real, on-the-ground, lived experience with the work.
They easily, quickly, and often share credit with others, because they know that no success is possible alone.
They don’t ever get caught up on which version of an edit is used… or which items get added to the agenda (or even which order agenda items are in!) unless they can see a way the meeting will be genuinely better for all with a change… they don’t ever play petty games with others, always giving the benefit of the doubt to them and being willing to work through conflict fairly with them, knowing their shared commitment to the mission is the most important thing… they will always tell the truth and be honest, even when/if it doesn’t reflect well on themselves, because they know that everybody involved needs a clear, accurate picture of what’s currently real, in order to make effective decisions about what to do next… and, last but not least, they approach a nonprofit as the collective effort it is.
They know they’re here as place-holders, stewards.
They know they are simply taking a role on a ship that was already sailing somewhere before they got on it… and that the ship will continue sailing there whenever they disembark. They know they have only to do their role as well as they can while they’re in it, to help the ship ultimately reach its destination. They have only to care for the ship and their fellow crew members… and to make sure the ship remains on course.
Can you even imagine?! Can you even imagine how different nonprofits would be with just this one change? And yes, I get it. I know that this is not that juicy thing we all love to do: blaming a “bad guy” somewhere out there. This one is not always fun, in fact. This one is “in here” — for all of us. This one gives work to ALL of us, asking each one of us to take responsibility for the change. But I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think we could do it. I think we can. I KNOW we can.
2️⃣ Power and decision-making lie with those with real-life experience.
I referenced this in number one above. And honestly, folks, it shouldn’t take a lot of explanation or elucidation.
In a better world of nonprofits, no one would ever make a decision…
… unless they had, at the very least, talked to someone with real, on-the-ground, lived experience with the mission’s work.
But ideally, they wouldn’t just talk to someone before making the decision themselves. Rather, they’d actually hand over decisions to those with real-life experience of the mission’s embodiment and reality.
No qualification should trump lived experience, when determining who is handed power and allowed to influence decisions and direction. Not academic degrees. Not a suit or tie, or nice shoes. Not a fancy title. Not an impeccable resume full of similar work with steadily increasing responsibility and leadership. Nothing.
Honestly, what better qualification could there be for this work than real-life experience with it… to inform what is most needed?! Are other things even really that important? And if other things ARE important, can’t leaders who belong to a community and share its lived experience easily be helped by people with that expertise, all while prioritizing their own expertise and know-how above all else? We can — and must — begin to adopt this mindset in nonprofits.
3️⃣ Default funding for nonprofits exits the hamster wheel… and becomes general operating, flexible, multi-year, renewable, based in a sustained relationship between funder and fundee.
The hamster wheel of one-time, limited funding that must constantly be chased, the iron grip of donors’ need for control and credit and over-involvement in the work…
…dissolves, once and for all…
… and in its place, funding just freely flows, like water, to wherever it’s most needed, wherever the community is raising a need, demonstrating a problem that has arisen, and telling funders how it must be solved.
Like refreshing, life-giving water, funding just flows…
freely, quickly, and responsively.
Dollars don’t come with limitations… demands for data… requirements of compliance… expectations for orgs to enact funders’ theory of change… but rather, they’re freely allowed to enact the org’s theory of change.
Dollars are given for general operating needs — so that orgs can assign them as needed. Dollars are flexible — because everybody who’s ever spent any time around nonprofits knows that unexpected events and flexibility are the name of the game. Dollars are multi-year, renewable, and repeatable — and, as an extension of the full investment and genuine partnership they bring, they facilitate a sustained, meaningful relationship between funders and fundees.
How completely world-changing would this be?! If this was a reality, nonprofits and their staffs would free up SO MUCH wasted time and energy — and they’d suddenly be able to pursue SO MUCH MORE innovative strategies, without being distracted by the constant hum of anxiety over funding, having to genuinely worry whether the org will even be here next year… so much so that they might actually be able to move the needle on the problems they’re addressing. Can you imagine?
4️⃣ Staff professional development moves from “just winging it”… to a high priority in nonprofit budgets for money and time.
Nonprofits would realize that “just winging it” is not professional development, that professional development is absolutely necessary… and that effective professional development is not free — that if we want to offer our org’s staffers effective professional development, we know we’ll need to generously budget for that.
As a provider of professional development for fundraisers myself, I’m continuously floored how often folks tell me they’d love to participate… but they don’t have the funding for it from their employer… NOR do they make enough to pay for it themselves… OR they lack both of those things AND, even when I offer them a scholarship, they tell me they’ll not be granted the TIME by their employer to participate. When things change for the better, these problems will quickly disappear.
People will have generous funds… and plenty of time… to pursue professional development, because nonprofit leadership will realize that that is quite literally what will make or break their ability to be successful and achieve their missions.
Leaders will realize that they don’t want to just throw spaghetti at the wall anymore, because they’ll see how much the work they’re doing is often deeply affecting other people, and/or our shared planet, and/or our collective well-being. So they will take it seriously enough to ensure that they — and all of their staffers and volunteers and everyone working on the mission — are as prepared and supported as possible, so that they can do the best work possible.
Professional development will be as prioritized and important as fundraising… and accounting and budgeting… and as the programs of orgs — as much of a focus as those things are.
The beautiful thing about this one is that it’s one of those win-win-win kinda situations. Yes, the individuals getting professional development benefit. AND the orgs they’re serving benefit. AND the other orgs they work with over time will be served. AND the mission will be served. AND the entire community will be served. You just can’t go wrong with investing in professional development for nonprofit staffers — and that will finally become the normative belief in the nonprofit sector.
5️⃣ Our shared humanity is centered in every relationship, every strategy, every decision, every action, every priority. No one will ever have to worry if the money, or a competing priority, will trample the humanity of anyone involved — because the humans and their humanity will always be prioritized.
The fact that we care as we do this work will mean everything, and that care will be valued by — and shared by! — everyone else around us.
Our care will no more be a liability.
Nonprofit work will no longer be measured and evaluated as though it’s a machine — where inputs drive predictable outputs as though we’re stamping widgets and advancing them along a conveyer belt to a transport truck ready to whisk them away to waiting consumers — so that we have to become machines to enact the work the way it’s contextualized.
We will no longer go go go, do do do.
Instead, we will start to prioritize being together.
We will all regularly take time to pause, to take a breath.
We will grant each other so much more flexibility in how we work.
We will get to really know and genuinely appreciate program participants, our colleagues, our volunteers, and even our donors and funders.
We will make a point to experience the joy of community in this kind of community work — to make the work really about community.
We will no longer feel isolated. Misunderstood. Unseen. Unheard. Because all of us will be actively, consciously cultivating a dynamic and alive community for everyone involved with the org in any way.
I feel so joyful even just thinking about this. Just think about how much this would change our lives, our work. Just think about how much this would change the results of our missions. Just think about how much this would change the world.
6️⃣ Individual orgs will be de-emphasized and de-prioritized — and the well-being of the collective will be everyone’s focus.
Instead of nonprofit orgs becoming so myopic, because they’re running in their own personal hamster wheels focused on their own survival…
… the hamster wheels will stop (see above!)…
… everyone will look up, and around…
… and we who do this work will start working in purposeful, ongoing collaboration and cooperation with everyone else working in the community.
Individual missions will not be as important. Persistence of one org will cease to be a focus, while a mindset of doing-whatever-it-takes-to-solve-these-collective problems-in-our-community will animate everyone involved in this work. Sometimes that will mean two or more orgs will start operating as one, or officially merge. Sometimes that will mean the community will collectively decide to close one org in favor of another. Sometimes that will mean… who knows?
But the possibilities of moving forward collectively — to serve our communities as effectively as possible — will be so much greater when we’ve shifted our mindsets and approaches in this way.
The transformation here is similar to number one above. At the org level, there will be a sort of de-emphasis of an individual org… to prioritize the good of the whole. And once that happens? Nothing will be able to stop the good things we can accomplish — collectively, collaboratively, in community with each other.
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What do you think?!
Thoughts?
Feedback?
Further discussion?
Please pop off in the comments!
Is it just me…
… or would these changes completely change our communities — and our whole world — for the better?
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Practice: Make It Yours
Here’s your mission, should you choose to accept it:
Consider and reflect on all six of these suggestions.
Decide which you could actually start to enact.
Start to enact whatever you can.
Share this post and these perspectives with others in the field (including other suggestions YOU have for positive transformation in nonprofits!).
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