What’s your nonprofit like? Is it really good, semi-great, or just limping along?
Master marketer Seth Godin in his book, Small is the New Big makes the point that people and companies can either be competent or brilliant. Given those two choices, I think you would hope your organization is competent. Or would you?
Godin contends that competent organizations have “a predictable, reliable process for solving a particular set of problems. They solve the problem the same way, every time.” Sounds good to me.
Competence is a good thing when you’re going out for your favorite burger and fries. You want what you want. You don’t want any variations. You depend on getting exactly those flavors you crave.
A competent burger joint in my neck of the woods is Gazeebo Burgers. They have maybe the best vege burger in town. It’s good food at a good price. There buns are great! It’s always consistent. It’s something you can depend on when you’re hungry. The good folks at Gazeebo Burgers are very competent in what they do.
But it’s real tough to get a green hatch chili burger there.
A brilliant restaurant a couple of miles away is Tramontana. These guys get a “wow” when it comes to satisfying your taste buds! But their menu changes on a regular basis. It’s almost always great…but not always always great. Sometimes, they don’t come close. It’s those times that I find myself wishing for that good ol' Gazeebo burger.
The Tramontana chef creates menus based on what provisions are available. He adapts to what is in season. Often those creations are brilliant. But they’re not to everyone’s tastes. That's the risk he takes with changing menus.
So there are my (and Godin’s) comparisons of a competent eatery to a brilliant restaurant. The competent is consistent. To the point of always being the same. Not a bad thing as long as you don’t have to adapt to change.
Now are you getting my point about organizations? When is the last time you looked at your strategic plan? When is the last time you had to change because your clients or your donors were facing new challenges?
It’s good to be competent. Necessary even. But you have got to have a little of that brilliant gene in your organizational DNA. You need it not just to react and adapt to change, but to anticipate it. Otherwise you may soon find a brilliant burger joint moving in around the corner.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Fruit of the Nonprofit
It's been right under my nose all this time, and I just now saw it. I love nonprofits. Actually I love good nonprofits and find myself wanting to gently weed our garden of the bad nonprofits.
What does it take to make a good nonprofit? A lot of seeds are planted to grow nonprofits. Some turn out much better than others. They bear fruit. How do you get that good fruit? The answer was in the Bible right under my nose.
Pull out that dusty old Bible of yours and check out Galatians 5:22-23. Don't worry, you don't have to be a believer or even a spiritual kind of person to read this (it does help if you're literate).
That passage says that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." To me, these are the common denominators for good nonprofits:
Love - is your organization motivated by genuine love for your cause?
Joy - do the key leaders exhibit a steady, contented joy, even during trying times?
Peace - do staff and volunteers feel a sense of peace as they tackle the mission?
Longsuffering - can you wait patiently knowing you're doing the right thing and wait for people and programs to grow steadily and strongly?
Kindness - do the people of the organization really care about who or what they serve?
Goodness - does everyone really want what's best for its constituents...even if it means stepping back to allow others to do a better job?
Faithfulness - are we keeping our commitments to the mission?
Gentleness - is our strength under control? can we speak loving truth?
Self-control - do we have the discipline to stay within budget and make progress towards our goals?
Not a bad checklist, huh? I'd like to take credit for coming up with this, but a guy name Paul wrote it around 50 A.D. (amazingly, there's a few original copies around, I think). Also, John Maxwell in his Leadership Bible uses the same characteristics to describe leaders.
Fruit is a good thing, isn't it?
What does it take to make a good nonprofit? A lot of seeds are planted to grow nonprofits. Some turn out much better than others. They bear fruit. How do you get that good fruit? The answer was in the Bible right under my nose.
Pull out that dusty old Bible of yours and check out Galatians 5:22-23. Don't worry, you don't have to be a believer or even a spiritual kind of person to read this (it does help if you're literate).
That passage says that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." To me, these are the common denominators for good nonprofits:
Love - is your organization motivated by genuine love for your cause?
Joy - do the key leaders exhibit a steady, contented joy, even during trying times?
Peace - do staff and volunteers feel a sense of peace as they tackle the mission?
Longsuffering - can you wait patiently knowing you're doing the right thing and wait for people and programs to grow steadily and strongly?
Kindness - do the people of the organization really care about who or what they serve?
Goodness - does everyone really want what's best for its constituents...even if it means stepping back to allow others to do a better job?
Faithfulness - are we keeping our commitments to the mission?
Gentleness - is our strength under control? can we speak loving truth?
Self-control - do we have the discipline to stay within budget and make progress towards our goals?
Not a bad checklist, huh? I'd like to take credit for coming up with this, but a guy name Paul wrote it around 50 A.D. (amazingly, there's a few original copies around, I think). Also, John Maxwell in his Leadership Bible uses the same characteristics to describe leaders.
Fruit is a good thing, isn't it?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Conversation with the Mayor
Had a little visit with my buddy, the mayor, earlier this month. Okay, it wasn't just me. It was me and 200 or so others active in the nonprofit world of Dallas.
And, though I believe Tom Leppert is a good guy, we're really not buddies. But I sure have to give him credit for spending time answering questions off the cuff on a wide variety of subjects. I'm not sure previous Dallas mayors have spent time in a town hall meeting like the one organized by the Center for Nonprofit Management on January 16th.
The Center is an active member of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, the national coordinator of the Nonprofit Congress. Other nonprofit groups are meeting in various cities around the country in preparation for the upcoming national meeting in June. There they will address the three current national priorities for nonprofits:
The mayor believes that the future of Dallas is in the hands of the nonprofits. He wants to encourage an entrepreneurial attack on problems from different angles. Some solutions will work. Some will not. Even in failure, there is value from this approach.
Mr. Leppert went on to say that unless the poorer rooftops of the city are improved, the more wealthy rooftops cannot continue to support the city. His goal is to make Dallas more competitive. Not just in Texas. Not just in the U. S. He wants Dallas to be more competitive among world cities.
Hear, hear, Mr. Mayor. Set that bar high. Extremely high. We've got a lot of work to do.
And, though I believe Tom Leppert is a good guy, we're really not buddies. But I sure have to give him credit for spending time answering questions off the cuff on a wide variety of subjects. I'm not sure previous Dallas mayors have spent time in a town hall meeting like the one organized by the Center for Nonprofit Management on January 16th.
The Center is an active member of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, the national coordinator of the Nonprofit Congress. Other nonprofit groups are meeting in various cities around the country in preparation for the upcoming national meeting in June. There they will address the three current national priorities for nonprofits:
- Organizational effectiveness and efficiency (a familiar subject in earlier postings)
- Acting collectively for positive change (a more familiar subject from the past)
- Public awareness
The mayor believes that the future of Dallas is in the hands of the nonprofits. He wants to encourage an entrepreneurial attack on problems from different angles. Some solutions will work. Some will not. Even in failure, there is value from this approach.
Mr. Leppert went on to say that unless the poorer rooftops of the city are improved, the more wealthy rooftops cannot continue to support the city. His goal is to make Dallas more competitive. Not just in Texas. Not just in the U. S. He wants Dallas to be more competitive among world cities.
Hear, hear, Mr. Mayor. Set that bar high. Extremely high. We've got a lot of work to do.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Due Diligence
There's over 9,000 nonprofits in Dallas County today. More than 3,500 of them filed a 990 tax return so say the smart folks at Urban Institute. With that many working nonprofits in town, chances are that there's someone trying to do the same thing you're doing.
Okay. Let's narrow the field from that 3,500+ and add another filter to look just at your cause: healthcare, poverty, children, environment, aging, the arts, whatever. Chances are that you've still got somewhere between 5 and 25 other nonprofits trying to do something very similar to what you're doing. That makes it a little challenging to raise more money and excite more volunteers year after year.
You may be slightly different or very different from your peers (aka partners .... aka competitors). But to potential donors who want to help fight poverty, for example, all the homeless organizations look the same at first blush. The fact is they are mostly very different.
How do you distinguish yourself??
It's no longer enough that you have a compelling case statement. (Although you can take some comfort in knowing that some of your peers have not reviewed or updated their mission statement or web site in years.) Being current and relevant certainly helps you distinguish yourself.
Each year, donors ask better questions and perform more due diligence about the nonprofits to whom they may give. It's important for the nonprofits to improve their own due diligence.
The keys for many donors are:
- show me the numbers!! (quantities, percentages, benchmarks, results, results, results)
- show me some independent evaluation
- show up (as either a volunteer or a site visitor)
Showing up is not a popular choice for many foundations, donors, and evaluators. It takes time. You might be uncomfortable in the surroundings. You might get dirty. (I'll save this rant for another time.)
GiveWell is a new foundation in NYC with the noble intent of evaluating charities in different fields and making the results public. They began this with big hearts, good business brains, and a real drive to bring efficiency and order to the evaluation process (ahhh....the appeal to my own left brain....). There are other evaluators across the country.
Many nonprofit evaluators are still learning that there's a lot more to evaluations than just cranking the numbers and publishing the results. For one thing, the numbers on true effectiveness are elusive. It's often made more difficult by our mobile society and the fact that many clients just don't stay in touch on a consistent basis.
The best way to distinguish your nonprofit is to show everyone how effective you are. Until you can get the donors and evaluators to show up for site visits or as volunteers (....do you have a really good volunteer coordinator???....), you need to be able to show you're effectiveness. It takes a process to measure your successes. That costs time and money, but it needs to be done.
You may learn something about your organization. It may mean a very critical self examination of what's working and what's not. It may take real guts to change. But you've got to ask yourself, why you do what you do? Who are you really trying to help?
Whether you're new or have been in this business for years, it's absolutely vital that you not only show everyone you are different, but that you make a difference. Due diligence and investments in process, self examination, and change will pay big dividends for everyone involved.
Okay. Let's narrow the field from that 3,500+ and add another filter to look just at your cause: healthcare, poverty, children, environment, aging, the arts, whatever. Chances are that you've still got somewhere between 5 and 25 other nonprofits trying to do something very similar to what you're doing. That makes it a little challenging to raise more money and excite more volunteers year after year.
You may be slightly different or very different from your peers (aka partners .... aka competitors). But to potential donors who want to help fight poverty, for example, all the homeless organizations look the same at first blush. The fact is they are mostly very different.
How do you distinguish yourself??
It's no longer enough that you have a compelling case statement. (Although you can take some comfort in knowing that some of your peers have not reviewed or updated their mission statement or web site in years.) Being current and relevant certainly helps you distinguish yourself.
Each year, donors ask better questions and perform more due diligence about the nonprofits to whom they may give. It's important for the nonprofits to improve their own due diligence.
The keys for many donors are:
- show me the numbers!! (quantities, percentages, benchmarks, results, results, results)
- show me some independent evaluation
- show up (as either a volunteer or a site visitor)
Showing up is not a popular choice for many foundations, donors, and evaluators. It takes time. You might be uncomfortable in the surroundings. You might get dirty. (I'll save this rant for another time.)
GiveWell is a new foundation in NYC with the noble intent of evaluating charities in different fields and making the results public. They began this with big hearts, good business brains, and a real drive to bring efficiency and order to the evaluation process (ahhh....the appeal to my own left brain....). There are other evaluators across the country.
Many nonprofit evaluators are still learning that there's a lot more to evaluations than just cranking the numbers and publishing the results. For one thing, the numbers on true effectiveness are elusive. It's often made more difficult by our mobile society and the fact that many clients just don't stay in touch on a consistent basis.
The best way to distinguish your nonprofit is to show everyone how effective you are. Until you can get the donors and evaluators to show up for site visits or as volunteers (....do you have a really good volunteer coordinator???....), you need to be able to show you're effectiveness. It takes a process to measure your successes. That costs time and money, but it needs to be done.
You may learn something about your organization. It may mean a very critical self examination of what's working and what's not. It may take real guts to change. But you've got to ask yourself, why you do what you do? Who are you really trying to help?
Whether you're new or have been in this business for years, it's absolutely vital that you not only show everyone you are different, but that you make a difference. Due diligence and investments in process, self examination, and change will pay big dividends for everyone involved.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wiki Social Science
Does your nonprofit really offer what your end user clients need? Or are they just taking what's offered even though they really need something else?
Currently I'm on a church committee with a goal to facilitate social, economic, and spiritual transformation in one of the poorest areas of Dallas. Realizing it's nearly impossible to find a solution until you've identified the problem, I've been a part of two different surveys to determine the main problems in this area of need.
Results from both surveys were very similar. But two things bother me about these surveys:
1) they were conducted by well meaning people who had little training in preparing or conducting surveys
2) over 90% of the participants represented only about 40% of the people in the area
How can we be sure we are addressing the real problems in the area???
The Wall Street Journal recently had an article on investment research and wiki's. Wiki's are a fascinating way to me (a yawner to my wife) of collaborating on most anything. Wikipedia is currently the most prominent example of lots of people working together.
In Everybody's an Analyst the writer discusses a new kind of web site that offers financial information from a broad group of people acting unofficially (and with little regulation) in concert.
This has significant limitations when it comes to investment advice, but what about research? Especially in the area of social science.
Accurate surveys cost money. Even if you get a nearby university to put its students at work on this.
But if there was a demographics wiki web site available, it seems to me that lots of nonprofits could take advantage of better information on their end user clients.
Imagine that. Getting more efficient on the cheap. Actually working together, maybe even towards a clearly defined goal.
Are there any smart people out there working on this?
Currently I'm on a church committee with a goal to facilitate social, economic, and spiritual transformation in one of the poorest areas of Dallas. Realizing it's nearly impossible to find a solution until you've identified the problem, I've been a part of two different surveys to determine the main problems in this area of need.
Results from both surveys were very similar. But two things bother me about these surveys:
1) they were conducted by well meaning people who had little training in preparing or conducting surveys
2) over 90% of the participants represented only about 40% of the people in the area
How can we be sure we are addressing the real problems in the area???
The Wall Street Journal recently had an article on investment research and wiki's. Wiki's are a fascinating way to me (a yawner to my wife) of collaborating on most anything. Wikipedia is currently the most prominent example of lots of people working together.
In Everybody's an Analyst the writer discusses a new kind of web site that offers financial information from a broad group of people acting unofficially (and with little regulation) in concert.
This has significant limitations when it comes to investment advice, but what about research? Especially in the area of social science.
Accurate surveys cost money. Even if you get a nearby university to put its students at work on this.
But if there was a demographics wiki web site available, it seems to me that lots of nonprofits could take advantage of better information on their end user clients.
Imagine that. Getting more efficient on the cheap. Actually working together, maybe even towards a clearly defined goal.
Are there any smart people out there working on this?
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Who's Your Buddy?
Coordinating volunteers.
Coaching kids soccer...or any other sport for kids under 8.
Getting your church committee to do SOMETHING besides talk.
Starting a new business, a new project from scratch.
Riding bicycles in a pack.
Shopping at the mall after Thanksgiving.
Finding other organizations to work with yours.
Yes. They all have the common denominator of cat herding.
Can't we all just get along?
No. Well sometimes yes.
So what do you do if you're one of the 837,027 U.S. nonprofits trying to do more than just exist from month to month? (Nearly 40% of you ran deficits in 2003.)
How 'bout finding a buddy??
Remember. It's not all about you. At least it's not supposed to be. Aren't you doing this for a cause? Who else is trying to do the same thing? Can you help them? Can they help you? Each of you probably has unique strengths. If you're duplicating each other, someone needs to go...or change. Remember, you're trying to do good, not just look good.
Life is full of chaos, but often in the middle of that confusion is someone going the same way you are. There's your potential buddy. Watch a bike race sometime. The Tour de France is the big one, but there are lots of others.
The riders ride in a pack for miles. They're mostly competitors, but they're actually helping each other along the way. It's amazingly more efficient to ride in a pack. They are cooperating at the same time they compete against each other. It's chaos at its most elegant.
The chaos turns into pure teamwork when the teams pull out of the pack and form pacelines and work together to go further and faster with less effort. (I'm trying valiantly not to repeat an earlier blog...but this is such an important concept.)
Nonprofits are in a competitive business. David LaPiana wrote an excellent book about this. It's called "Play to Win, The Nonprofit Guide to Competitive Strategy."
You've got to be a successful competitor or you'll fail. But you've also got to be a buddy to get along in this herd of cats.
Coaching kids soccer...or any other sport for kids under 8.
Getting your church committee to do SOMETHING besides talk.
Starting a new business, a new project from scratch.
Riding bicycles in a pack.
Shopping at the mall after Thanksgiving.
Finding other organizations to work with yours.
Yes. They all have the common denominator of cat herding.
Can't we all just get along?
No. Well sometimes yes.
So what do you do if you're one of the 837,027 U.S. nonprofits trying to do more than just exist from month to month? (Nearly 40% of you ran deficits in 2003.)
How 'bout finding a buddy??
Remember. It's not all about you. At least it's not supposed to be. Aren't you doing this for a cause? Who else is trying to do the same thing? Can you help them? Can they help you? Each of you probably has unique strengths. If you're duplicating each other, someone needs to go...or change. Remember, you're trying to do good, not just look good.
Life is full of chaos, but often in the middle of that confusion is someone going the same way you are. There's your potential buddy. Watch a bike race sometime. The Tour de France is the big one, but there are lots of others.
The riders ride in a pack for miles. They're mostly competitors, but they're actually helping each other along the way. It's amazingly more efficient to ride in a pack. They are cooperating at the same time they compete against each other. It's chaos at its most elegant.
The chaos turns into pure teamwork when the teams pull out of the pack and form pacelines and work together to go further and faster with less effort. (I'm trying valiantly not to repeat an earlier blog...but this is such an important concept.)
Nonprofits are in a competitive business. David LaPiana wrote an excellent book about this. It's called "Play to Win, The Nonprofit Guide to Competitive Strategy."
You've got to be a successful competitor or you'll fail. But you've also got to be a buddy to get along in this herd of cats.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Starts and Finishes
Time to start your next project? Or are you just too whipped to think about climbing a new mountain?
Wonder when this current project will EVER finish? When will we ever get out of this valley? Is it time to give up?
Don't like those words? Try these: It's time for someone to feed us. We've been feeding others long enough.
Ahhhh....the joys of projects, especially those that start with good intentions, but seem to lose their luster and energy as time goes by.
The November issue of Christianity Today has an excellent article by Greg Snell titled "Developing Good Development." More than a few skeptics think millions (billions?) of dollars are being wasted (they probably are) and that all that generosity is harmful to its recipients (in many cases it is).
Some of those skeptics are saying "give up." That's just what you wanted to hear, right? A reason to quit. Mr. Snell disagrees. There are others who share the views of Mr. Snell.
Ram Cnaan, in his book, The Other Philadelphia Story, talks about how faith-based giving initiatives in Philadelphia are making huge differences in that urban environment. His studies conclude that faith-based nonprofits in Philly contribute as much as $250M a year for vitally needed services that the government does not have to maintain.
Byron Johnson of Baylor University looked at Ohio and concluded in his study that faith-based programs in that state can bring about "dramatic increase in the cost-effective provision of social services that otherwise go unmet in so many communities." It seems to me this applies to the world, not just a city or state.
John DiIulio, does a good job of summarizing the works of Cnaan and Johnson in his Wall Street Journal article, The Other Philadelphia Story. Mr. DiIulio has also just released a book, Godly Republic: A Centrist Blueprint for America's Faith-Based Future. A magazine that presents a vision of liberal philosophy, politics, and public life, The American Prospect gave the following review of his book: "If there were more liberals who shared John DiIulio's passion for justice, liberalism would be better -- and so would America." My comments on faith vs. secularism and liberals vs. conservatives will have to wait for another time.
Back to "Developing Good Development." Mr. Snell offers ten principles (my comments are in parenthesis):
1. Know more than your mission statement (make sure everyone knows it)
2. Avoid deficit auditing (live within your means)
3. Seed the project with local seeds (insure there's "skin in the game")
4. Make the rounds early and often (relationship 101)
5. Build values before buildings (see number 1)
6. Practice cost sharing (find partners willing to invest)
7. Use the eyes and ears of locals (relationship 102)
8. Don't patronize (relationship 201)
9. Answer questions slowly (relationship 202)
10. Plan your exit strategy (plan on eliminating yourself)
Whether your working in Kenya, Mississippi, or Dallas, Mr. Snell offers principles that every nonprofit will do well to consider.
Wonder when this current project will EVER finish? When will we ever get out of this valley? Is it time to give up?
Don't like those words? Try these: It's time for someone to feed us. We've been feeding others long enough.
Ahhhh....the joys of projects, especially those that start with good intentions, but seem to lose their luster and energy as time goes by.
The November issue of Christianity Today has an excellent article by Greg Snell titled "Developing Good Development." More than a few skeptics think millions (billions?) of dollars are being wasted (they probably are) and that all that generosity is harmful to its recipients (in many cases it is).
Some of those skeptics are saying "give up." That's just what you wanted to hear, right? A reason to quit. Mr. Snell disagrees. There are others who share the views of Mr. Snell.
Ram Cnaan, in his book, The Other Philadelphia Story, talks about how faith-based giving initiatives in Philadelphia are making huge differences in that urban environment. His studies conclude that faith-based nonprofits in Philly contribute as much as $250M a year for vitally needed services that the government does not have to maintain.
Byron Johnson of Baylor University looked at Ohio and concluded in his study that faith-based programs in that state can bring about "dramatic increase in the cost-effective provision of social services that otherwise go unmet in so many communities." It seems to me this applies to the world, not just a city or state.
John DiIulio, does a good job of summarizing the works of Cnaan and Johnson in his Wall Street Journal article, The Other Philadelphia Story. Mr. DiIulio has also just released a book, Godly Republic: A Centrist Blueprint for America's Faith-Based Future. A magazine that presents a vision of liberal philosophy, politics, and public life, The American Prospect gave the following review of his book: "If there were more liberals who shared John DiIulio's passion for justice, liberalism would be better -- and so would America." My comments on faith vs. secularism and liberals vs. conservatives will have to wait for another time.
Back to "Developing Good Development." Mr. Snell offers ten principles (my comments are in parenthesis):
1. Know more than your mission statement (make sure everyone knows it)
2. Avoid deficit auditing (live within your means)
3. Seed the project with local seeds (insure there's "skin in the game")
4. Make the rounds early and often (relationship 101)
5. Build values before buildings (see number 1)
6. Practice cost sharing (find partners willing to invest)
7. Use the eyes and ears of locals (relationship 102)
8. Don't patronize (relationship 201)
9. Answer questions slowly (relationship 202)
10. Plan your exit strategy (plan on eliminating yourself)
Whether your working in Kenya, Mississippi, or Dallas, Mr. Snell offers principles that every nonprofit will do well to consider.
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