NonprofitEye

I attended a conference on non-profit policy. It was a conference, like a dozen others I’ve attended over the years. At the breakfast talk I was half asleep, but the keynote was so electrifying that I woke right up. After the talk, as I stood in line to talk to the keynote speaker, I said hello to Flo Green the Executive Director of the organization sponsoring the conference. We started talking about how ironic it is that nonprofits have come under attack for being too much “like a business”. We've all been working so hard for the past twenty years to have the work done by non-profits taken seriously. The approach being to emphasize that we were no different than any other business: professional, hard working, corporate, etc. And now we find the entire non-profit sector under attack, because if you can’t tell the difference between us and a business then maybe we don’t qualify for the much sought after IRS tax-exemption. How ironic to achieve SO much success that we could lose it...

Just read Andrew Taylor's post An Unpleasant Argument . In his post he struggles with donor challenges about how to prioritize the recipients of charitable gifts: Why should people give to your organization rather than support the poor, the hungry, or the destitute? And why should your donors get a tax break on their gifts? It reminded me of something that happened during the Katrina disaster. Rescuers enforced triage rules and refused to allow people to bring their pets. Of all of the horrors that occurred during the bungled emergency response, this gave me the most pause. It was a double punch, first you've just lost your home and you've been sitting on a roof fearing for your life and then, forced to leave your family cat or dog to a certain death (drowning or starvation). I knew, with every shred of logic I have, that the triage strategy was correct. People first, pets second. And there were people everywhere, stranded and dying and desperate. There's no...

WHAT'S IN A NAME? by pam ashlund What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) Let me begin with a declaration: No one should be allowed to self-declare themselves a “wave” (the third wave, the first wave, the new wave); It’s okay for historians to name these movements retroactively, but naming them yourself, in real time, is a no-no. So many have called for a new name to replace "non-profit"; the objection being that it is defining ourselves by what we are not . Try out a few commonly in use: CBO - Community Based Organizations NPO or Non-Profit Organization? NGO or Non-Governmental Organization "Civil Society" The "Third Sector" (Church and State being first and second) Pondering these, I came across a website called ForBenefit.Net where a new name (and model) is proposed: For-Benefit . Touted as "a new paradigm in organizational design" and "a new class of organ...

Bruce Sievers & Nonprofit Identity by pam ashlund Every once in a while (I wish!) I find I’m guilty of a huge (unintentional) oversight; and last April was one of them. Specifically, it was March 21st & 22nd, at CAN ’s Policy Day’s in Sacramento, CA. It was at that conference where I heard Bruce Sievers deliver the keynote address “A Tale of Three Cities: Government, Business, and Civil Society--a look into the increasingly fuzzy relationship between nonprofits, government, and business”. It was after hearing his talk that I launched the NonProfit Eye and wrote my first post “ Identity Crisis ”. Since that day, I haven’t stopped struggling to address the ideas that sprang from that keynote. Bruce, on the understanding that I not use it in print, sent me his talk notes (which helped to re-inspire me long after the talk). Today, I came across (yet another) blog (posted on 10/28) on the topic of Non-Profit Identity and I set out to track the coverage of that topic. I imagine that...

SOLVING THE NONPROFIT IDENTITY CRISIS: THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE by pam ashlund When will nonprofits learn what is common knowledge to politicians? Modern political strategy stands on three pillars (according to Wikipedia): M essage, M oney, M achine. The entry-level campaign strategist understands that the second two won’t come until the first pillar is set up...establish the clear message (and ideally condense it into a catchy sound bite). Let’s face it, we have an uphill battle on money and machine. If we raise too much money-- unrelated business tax , if we raise too little-- program cuts , if we spend it promoting our cause-- misuse of funds ; if we hire savvy leaders— Excessive Compensation ! If we hit the streets- unallowable costs ; if we use our volunteer activists? Lobbying ; If we hook up with local politicians? Loose your tax-exempt status! But Message? There are no barriers in our way here. Who are we? What do we want to be? And once we know why we are here…what...

The Oxymoronic Challenge - More on the Nonprofit Identity Crisis by pam ashlund A nonprofit making a profit? marketing its brand? The first time I heard someone talk of “marketing our brand”, I thought “what on earth can we be marketing? We’re a non-profit, we’re not selling anything!. It seemed oxymoronic. But how wrong I was. In nonprofit accounting, I’m frequently asked by members of the for-profit world “what’s to account for if you can’t make a profit?”. Har Har. “But of course we can make a profit!” I want to shout, but I have to take these conversations slowly and carefully. Re-education is possible, but sometimes frustrating. So many myths to dispel, so many insights to articulate. Thinking about innovation today. First, what IS innovation ? The standard definition is: “the process of making improvements by introducing something new”. posted in my NetSquared blog, The Dearth of Nonprofit Innovative Thought : It's time to strike up a conversation backed by sound research, p...