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November 04, 2009

Independent Sector
Independent Sector Gathering Opens With Sense of Urgency

Detroit

With a mix of urgency, excitement — and at times, frustration — speakers here at the opening session of Independent Sector’s annual meeting called on nonprofit leaders to find new ways to work together in response to the nation’s problems.

This is an “all-hands-on-deck, walk-and-chew-gum kind of moment,” Melody Barnes, President Obama’s domestic policy adviser, told the audience.

She said the administration is committed to finding innovative ways for the federal government to support and promote nonprofit groups.

For example, through the Office of Social Innovation, officials hope to identify successful programs and help them expand to serve more people, she said. “We believe somewhere out there is the next Teach for America or Harlem Children’s Zone, and we want to find it,” Ms. Barnes said.

The work of nonprofit groups, she added, figures heavily in the discussions at the White House; it’s “part of the bloodstream” of the administration.

‘Six-Turkey’ Scenario

Other speakers at the two-and-a-half hour opening session talked about the need for organizations within the nonprofit realm to work together far more than ever before, uniting around precise goals and then clearly dividing up tasks.

Gail McGovern, head of the American Red Cross, told a story of families at a military base that almost received six turkeys apiece for Thanksgiving because of a lack of coordination between charities. “In these economic times, we have to be very careful that we don’t waste a dime,” she said.

Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, a religious and human-rights network, put the issue even more bluntly, likening nonprofit organizations to competing gangs protecting their turfs. “We’ve got to drop our gang colors,” he urged.

Nonprofit groups need to move beyond thinking about their own organizational success, which holds little meaning if bigger societal needs are still going unmet, Brian Gallagher, head of United Way Worldwide, told participants.

While many nonprofit leaders talk about collaboration today, he said, few embrace it at the level required. “True integration is when you let someone else spend your money,” he said.

Mr. Gallagher pointed to United Way’s work with foundations and charities to cut the high-school dropout rate in half by 2018 as an example of the kind of goal nonprofit leaders should commit to and then be willing to be judged on the results.

‘Collaboration Silos’

Several speakers talked about the need to form new alliances, often with unlikely partners. Mr. Gallagher warned against getting stuck in “collaboration silos,” in which similar groups never venture beyond talking to organizations that share their particular causes.

Janet Murguia, head of the National Council of La Raza, and Benjamin Todd Jealous, who leads the NAACP, described their recent collaboration to urge Congress to make changes in health-insurance options.

Speakers also criticized the nonprofit world for being too slow to embrace the need for changes. “Where’s the passion of the ’60’s,” asked Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation. She questioned how nonprofit leaders could think a goal of ending childhood poverty in the United States by 2015, for example, was an acceptable timeframe when the problem is so fundamental and potentially fixable.

Added Mr. Jealous: “You need to allow yourself to be outraged.” The emotion, he said, “points out to you who those other friends are out there” that you might not otherwise think of who could become potential partners.

— Jennifer Moore

Wednesday November 4, 2009 | Permalink

Comments

1. Collaboration is great and needed. It is sad when a not for profit helps youthful juvenile offenders on probation and the NYC Department of Probation fails to provide a support letter for services provided so that the CBO can continue to respond to RFP’s. We are such an orgnaization www.blotlec.org. Also other CBO’s have given off a spirit of bad Karma when another organization tries to help. It is very sad especially in our Jamaica Queens community. We are open to receive help to expand our programs to help keep troubled youth out of the court system. If you know of any resources that would help us. I would be very greatful. Thank you for this article.

   — Rachel Gordon    Nov 5, 02:20 PM    #

2. The platitude-mouthing dinosaurs at this conference are the real problem. Most hilarious: Brain Gallagher, head of the newly renamed United Way Worldwide (what hubris!), talking about “letting other people spend your money.” Spending other people’s money, especially other people’s taxes, is what the re-invented United Way is all about — another pig at the public trough. Time for outrage, all right, but direct it where it will do some good, please.

   — The Untied Way    Nov 5, 02:30 PM    #

3. Many thanks to Margaret McKenna for recalling the “passion of the 60s” [and 70s/80s too] since we still need that passion and mission for systemic change in the policy sphere to really transform the way societies treat women, children, communities. We are lucky that so many of our current/former advocates for women’s human rights around the world and in local and state office in USA now are policymakers. They give me hope for the future of politics, policy — and sustainable development — in the world! Leslie R. Wolfe

   — Leslie R. Wolfe    Nov 5, 03:34 PM    #

4. It is significant that the Obama Administration is participating in the necessary transformation of the nonprofit sector. It is my sincere hope that Melody Barnes and the Office for Social Innovation will provide a vehicle to corral this diverse sector (as we have proven unable to do so ourselves) and lead us through the change we so desperately need. For those of you who remember, we used to talk about passion, innovation, and change and – with a great deal of elbow grease and very little money – actually expect it to occur. Without question, the strain and lack of harmony within the sector has harmed the people and the planet it is our mission to serve. When will we understand that we are not at war with one another and act as though our very lives depend upon coming together. Because they do.
   Shelley Hammill

   — Shelley Hammill    Nov 5, 05:27 PM    #

5. Yes, nonprofits can try to think outside the box. Many are already seeking new partners for programs during these difficult times. But realistically, collaboration is not a magic bullet. It can sometimes be hard to pull off, and it isn’t always the right approach. I’ve heard way too much about the imperative to collaborate and far too little about how we do that well. Likewise, scaling up is not always the best thing to do with a program. Could we have “more matter, with less art” about these topics, please! A little more respect for the expertise of nonprofit leaders would be appropriate too. I am really tired of hearing that nonprofit leaders are supposedly ineffective and slow to embrace change. That isn’t just a stereotype that unfairly tars the entire charitable universe – it’s a falsehood that actually damages the sector, in my opinion.

   — Lulu    Nov 5, 06:33 PM    #

6. There is such a vast array of attitudes among non-profits today. Some are truly cutting-edge with programming as well as their financial acumen…they have well-defined missions and workable strategic plans. Their focus and decisiveness come from knowing what they do best, who they serve and the value of the impact they create among their communities and constituents. A nimbleness to act on both opportunities and challenges is a defining trait of those organizations who will continue to find a way to be vibrant and relevant.

   — Linda Reynolds    Nov 6, 07:33 AM    #

7. I’m sorry, but “Where’s the passion of the 60’s?” is not going to resonate with anyone who was born in the last quarter century. How about “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too, or “Fifty Four Forty or Fight” as slogans – they will have as much meaning (both from 1840s if you not a history buff). Today’s 29 year olds were born the same year that John Lennon was murdered – 1980, ten years after the Beatles broke up.

   There are lots of problems to be solved, and there are many energetic Gen X, Gen Y and Baby Boomers who want to solve them, and have good ideas on how to solve them.

   A pet peeve of mine is how many non-profit pundits and academics treat scalability and colloboration as goals in themselves. For some non-profits yes, for others, no. The non-profit sector does a lousy job of recognizing it’s own diversity of size, and realizing that that does make a difference.

   Here are points two and three from my letter to the IS pre-meeting in Colorado Springs this summer, which are still germane:

   2. The question: “Are there too many non-profits?” is a weak question, and answering it only produces thousands of pages of reports and no real change.

   A better question is: “Have we solved all the problems that need solving?”

   Until the answer to that question is yes, then the answer to “Are there too many profits” is: “ No, we don’t have enough of the right non-profits!”

   This is similar to the question: Are there enough restaurants?

   The answer to that depends where you live, and what you want to eat. In some places the answer is yes, some places no.

   Even if you decide the answer is “Yes, there are too many non-profits” there is no mechanism to force a change, and just like the restaurant example, if a particular non-profit does not get enough traffic (e.g. donors and patrons), it will fail, regardless of how good the chef was.

   3. Scalabity is a false idol.

   Recognize the fact that we live in a complex world, and some non-profits need to be big in order to accomplish their mission. Other non-profits do not need to be big in order to be successful, and in fact, would fail if they were a different size.

   Here’s one example, in Annandale, Virginia there is an award winning non-profit pre-school, which has been part of the community for 40 years. It is located in a church where it uses the Sunday school classrooms during the week (it is a secular school, completely separate from the church). This pre-school has an enrollment of about fifty 2-5 year olds, which with a little fluctuation is the size it will always be – the church is not going to build and additional wing, and after 3 years, the current students graduate. This school, as long as it is in existence, will have between 40 and 60 students, and it provides a great, award winning benefit to the community. The leaders there don’t spend one minute thinking “How can we scale up?” nor should they.

   Regards,
   Bill Huddleston
   www.cfctreasures.wordpress.com

   — Bill Huddleston    Nov 6, 12:21 PM    #

8. Until United Ways, foundations, and major donors start giving 3-year operating support instead of funding pet projects on an annual basis, there is an almost insurmountable disincentive to collaborate.

   — Emily Hall    Nov 6, 02:30 PM    #

9. I agree with Lulu: Even when collaboration is the right approach, doing it well poses huge challenges. We need “More matter, with less art.”

   — Peter Golio    Nov 6, 06:26 PM    #

10. While I understand the call to action I think it is a bit unreasonable to call for broad reform and collaboration across an entire sector. Too often the sector has been felled by these fits and starts.

    Too often leadership knows little about the sector and arrogantly steps in to make things happen. In Obama’s and Barnes’case they, wisely, ask us to lead and they will help.

    I am a big fan of the Harlem’s Children Zone, Geoffrey Canada is a hero. But even I am tired of it being the only charity I can hold up as model in my community. Grant it, I don’t know them all but I know many that do great work. But their work still needs great improvements to tackle challenges they face working on the toughest problems in at-risk communities. They need real support and the best we have to give, not the crumbs, to fix these problems.

    Too often they are overstressed, underfunded and in a survival mode so deep that thinking about anything outside of the daily bump and grind is foreign to their existence.

    There is the chicken and the egg of not getting proper funding and not knowing how to build a case for what they need—sometimes not even knowing what they really need.

    When I ask the question about which ones should be build up first I can never get an answer from foundations or others.

    If we cannot decide on circling a few with some real resources and strengthening them how are we going to move the whole. It is pointless.

    I am tired of seeing money wasted on conferences, galas, and meetings where people talk, get press and nothing…absolutely nothing happens!!!

    If you are tired of this too email me and let’s do something about it. I can be reached at canderson@andersonconsults.com. Look me up. I still want to change the world and have the 60’s passion for the new day! Let’s roll.

    — Chandra Y. Anderson, CFRE    Nov 11, 08:16 AM    #

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