A Letter to People Who Volunteer

Dear Volunteer,

Our organization thrives because of your hard work and commitment to our shared vision. You give your talents and expertise freely which enables us to thrive, provide valuable services, and save money (you also are core to our staying in legal compliance as a non-profit, but that sounds pretty cold...but thanks!). We couldn't do what we do without you. Really!

Working with volunteers can be challenging for professional staff. We have experience and training too and sometimes our efforts and passion get overshadowed by yours (you give it away for free while we get paid!). But I know we are truly in partnership with one another. In fact, I have to remind myself, non-profit organizations were not created to be the professionally run institutions that they have become; they were always intended to be entirely volunteer led. But I am glad you are here!

Sometimes it's hard to remember that volunteers are not extensions of staff or unpaid staff. To think this way actually devalues your generous gift of time. You are purely, thoughtfully, kindly a volunteer. Period. I need to remember you are, for example, a volunteer who is a doctor or a volunteer who is a fundraiser or a volunteer who is a community leader. You are a volunteer who brings your personal and professional expertise and resources to help us advance our common goal. You round out what we are as a professional staff. Cool.

The demands placed upon volunteers are great. I recognize this fact clearly. And I know that you volunteer in addition to maintaining your paying job, raising a family, commuting, being a student, and other life functions. I cannot expect that you are here 40 hours a week like me. If you were to do so, you should be paid. My job is to leverage those hours we do spend together in service to our organization. I have to take some responsibility for how well you are able to serve our organization. If it's not working too well, chances are staff has something to do to make sure it gets better. We need you.

I count on you to serve and to guide me. I count on you to teach me something, to share your resources, and to be of generous spirit. I count on you to be willing to do what is needed to be done. I count on you to show up on time and do what you say you are going to do. I count on you to be a member of the organization and a donor too. I count on you to be an ambassador of our good work in the community. I count on you to come to me when we have a problem so we can work it out, for the sake of our organization and its reputation in the community. I count on you to let me have a professional say and not try to overpower my expertise because I am staff and you are a volunteer. I count on you to do yourself what you think others should be doing (for example, I need you to be a donor if you think they should be a donor). I count on you to be willing to be counted on.

And counting on one another is a mutual thing. You can count on me to bring my best professional expertise to the organization and to serving you. It's what you pay me for. I will work with you and understand your role. Clearly. I will honor this timeless tradition of volunteerism and work with you, support you, and hold you up...as I know you will for me. I will respect you and all of your expertise and gifts. You are not free labor to me; you are a valuable resource! I will be of good cheer and appreciation for your service and I will seek to clarify and make appropriate adjustments when things need to be adjusted. I will know and appreciate the distinction between leadership volunteers and front-line/program volunteers and be clear when I am asking you to do something. I will not ask you do anything I would not do myself, unless it is an specialized skill you bring, of course. I will appreciate you and you will know it.

Just like you volunteer at this organization and maintain a life and profession outside of this volunteer service, I, too, will volunteer in an organization somewhere. You can be a role model for me. You can also be a mentor for me. I will be a donor and a volunteer and a resource and a leader. Somewhere. We can have a passion for the organization/cause we have in common and I can have a passion for something else too. I need to walk my talk. To be an effective manager of volunteers, I probably need to be one too! I will. My best training for volunteer management did not come from a classroom or a training seminar; it came from volunteering myself! You're welcome!

More than anything, Volunteer, you were on my mind this morning. I was feeling a heap of appreciation for your service and expertise. You do make me a bit crazy at times (sometimes you are a bit demanding!), but I have come to realize how much you mean to our organization and what we mean to you. Passion looks, well...passionate at times. Your service to our organization is incredible and I am glad to know you.

You are my hero!

The Staff of Your Non-Profit Organization

It's (not) the Economy, Stupid!

There is a common theme of blame and dis-empowerment in our culture today--"It's the economy"--that we use to let ourselves off the hook for failing to deliver on our goals. Blame the economy! I get that the economy is tough...really tough for many...and yet, there is a tendency to overstate the importance of the economy weighing us down so we do not have to address the truth of what might really be weighing us down. The external factors of life are rarely what bring us down; how we respond to them is the issue.

Hard truth? The economy is not necessarily the reason why your non-profit is struggling to meet its fundraising goals. The economy is not necessarily the reason why you have yet to find a job. The economy is not necessarily the reason your organization is losing customers or members or market share. When we fixate on the economy we are assuring ourselves that for another period of time--days, weeks, months, and even years--we will not be taking responsibility for the condition of our organizations, budgets, lives, relationships, job searches, market share.

The economy is bad. What's worse is ignoring our individual and collective power and responsibility to do anything about our situations while in this economy.

Think about it: Not meeting your fundraising goals can be about having a poor or a poorly articulated case for giving. Maybe your fundraising staff and volunteers are poor fundraisers. Maybe you don't understand your donors and what motivates their giving to you. Perhaps you don't understand what your philanthropic competition is doing to set itself apart from you. What if your strategy is just bad? What if your services are uninspired, tired, or not needed any longer? Perhaps you are not asking the right people in the right way and for the right amount of money or the right kind of support. What have you done to address staffing, training, infrastructure, data? Maybe you're talkers and not doers (many fundraisers love to talk about what donors should be doing with their money!).

Think about it: Maybe your work experience is deficient for the jobs that interest you. Maybe you aren't networking actively enough. Maybe you spend too much time looking for work from your computer and not enough time engaging and enrolling people face-to-face in your job search. Maybe your skills are out of date. Maybe your interview skills are weak and offer up a poor reflection of who you really are and the value you can bring the organization. Maybe you are unprepared. Perhaps your deficiencies (we all have them) are leading and your successes (we all have them) are trailing behind in your search. Maybe your resume is poorly written and badly designed. It could be the suit, the hairstyle, the perfume/after shave, the scuffed shoes, the accessories. Perhaps you are surrounded with too many people commiserating with you (telling you the economy is really the reason why you are not landing a job) and not telling you useful truths (for example, you appear desperate and there are typos in your cover letter) for fear of upsetting you.

Think about it: Maybe your organization is poorly managed or your services are badly presented to your public. Maybe your organization's failure to strategically plan in the past has come to haunt your present. Maybe your competition is just better than you delivering the same services. Perhaps your customer/member/donor services have become stale, insincere, underwhelming. Perhaps your public sees an investment to an organization other than yours is a better investment. Maybe you have gone adrift of your mission and your core business principles have failed. What if you are resistant to acting upon complaints, criticism, feedback that you pretend to seek? Maybe your lapsed members are just not that into you any longer.

When we tend to repeat the external reasons why our success eludes us (it's the economy!), it is generally a good indication that we are unaware or unwilling to look at our own contribution. Yes, the economy is bad...often our own contributions are worse!

Think about it! And then do something!

Play to Win!

Board of Directors, JCC of the North Shore, February 9, 2011

About one year ago, it was reported in my community that the 100 year old Jewish Community Center was going out of business. Membership--the life-blood of the organization--was plummeting, philanthropy was down, the economy was killing the organization, the facility was in growing disrepair and lacked modernity, and a new YMCA in the town was competing fiercely. The organization's programs, leadership, and mission were completely out of alignment. No one was talking about it openly, but there is also a Jewish communal "cannibalism" taking place where organizations are directly (or indirectly) seeking to damage one another to advance their own agendas. All in all, this was a pretty typical scenario for JCC's in many communities across the country (and frankly, quite common in other religious and other service areas). Open on Monday, out of business by Shabbat!

I have been very critical of the JCC and its management. I have written about it on this blog several times before. This JCC has been an incredibly good example of how not to do things on many levels. It would be easy to be a sideline critic--this JCC has had many of those--but I became increasingly more frustrated because I had been trying to volunteer my professional fundraising skills and coaching service to help the JCC for a couple years and had been rebuffed. Really! Mine was one of hundreds of stories just like it. Architects and managers of a failure run for cover, triggered by the enormity of their problems and overwhelmed by the options to reverse the failure. In this case, closure is easy!

I wasn't present, but I have heard several versions of the story of the board meeting the night the decision was being made to close the J. The rancor and upset, the accusations and the finger-pointing. My favorite: "It took 100 years to destroy the institution beloved by so many!" What a waste! And what emerged from that fatal night was a completely different scenario: Some courageous (some have said crazy) volunteers said they would reinvent the JCC for its next 100 years, raise the funds, make the tough operating decisions, hire, fire, risk, defy, and imagine. In no way, under the watch of this group of focused volunteers was the J going to close. There were people in the community, many who were part of the problem leading to the near-closure, who said "Show Me!" These volunteers stood before the powerful voices shouting for closure and and accepted the philanthropic challenge of a generation!

Challenge accepted, success in the works!

The story has not been fully written just yet...how it happened that a small community and a group of volunteers saved their JCC from closure. But many new chapters have been written. I can highlight a few things, though:

• Skewer the sacred cows! The JCC model (and the YMCA and the United Way and the Jewish Federation and the list goes on) is broken and must be reinvented for a new generation. Having a Facebook page and sending clever Tweets on Twitter does make your organization current. Go deep. And then go even deeper to find a fresh way of delivering your mission. If you are afraid to take on the very core of who you have always been (like membership or payroll deduction), chances are you are in the presence of a sacred cow.
• It's about philanthropy! Even a member who pays a fee for a service is a (potential) donor. Even a client who receives services at your organization can be a donor. Every single person you come into contact with can be a donor...if you ask. If you call the people in your non-profit world anything other than a donor, you will fail!
• Generational shift is real. This is not about age as much as it is about the way in which we think. Never before has our world changed so fast (and continues to...daily) and we must respond. That which forces us to change will occur overnight! Our response rate to the forces of change will often take months. It is often too late! We must become far more adaptable, faster. The days of "non-profit" being an excuse to be slow, inefficient, unaccountable, un-measured, poor performing, unlicensed, un-credentialed, lacking resources, etc., etc., are over. Get in front of your own truth, experience, and narrative!
• Change the language! Our JCC is not in the clear yet, but it isn't out of business. In fact, it appears that it will be in business for a few more years, years which will be spent growing in new ways and becoming sustainable. This JCC is back...and better only because of words like bold, new, fresh, accountability, measurement, benchmarking, donors, efficiency leading the conversation.
  
• Unpack what is conflated. In the new world, risk doesn't have to be bad. Bold doesn't have to be scary. New ideas do not have to be youthful inexperience any more than history has to be an anchor into a failed past. The decisions this board has made are risky and smart! We are in control of how we package, view, and promote our actions and beliefs.
• Don't Under-capitalize! It takes money to make money. Spend it. I think there is a non-profit version of dying with tons of money in the bank, having never been on a vacation, remodeled the house, or given to charity. A non-profit can afford expert professional staff, cleaning crews, upgraded computers and software, expert consultants. The list goes on. Businesses fail because they are under-capitalized. Non-profits are businesses! Capitalize! Again, the conflation piece--being cheap does not mean you are being efficient.
• The Titanic Conundrum. Sometimes leadership (or lack of it) looks like deck chair rearranging on a sinking ship. New paint does not fix problems; it just freshens the place up until people look deeper. A spiffy web site does not elevate the quality of classes promoted. Adding member benefits does not convert these people to being philanthropists. Rewarding bad work does not make bad workers work better. It's not about the deck chairs; it's about the ship taking on water and the number of life boats!
• No Drama Zone! Declare it. Get on board. Match the hard work; don't make more hard work. Drama is what you do in your home or office away from others. Problem solving, re-strategizing is what you do in a committee meeting or staff meeting or board room. Be aware of your impact.
  
• Stay relevant. 'Nuff said!
  

The JCC board approved a sweeping reinvention plan last week. It is bold. It is not without risk. It is exciting. It is a bright hope for a brighter future. And it has reminded me of why I do this work. Our work in philanthropy is about changing people's lives and making our world and communities better. It can be a job, but it also has to be a mission in life...a purpose driven life. We can never be okay with charitable organizations going out of business; the impact on the people who rely upon them is too great. The hole left in the heart of a community is gaping.

Most non-profits are an un-renewed grant award or a struggling annual campaign away from closure. Before the real crisis hits you, what can be done today--with your leadership and your programs--to stay ahead of the crisis? The people who rely upon your existence are counting on you to know. Today!

P.S. I finally became actively involved. That moment happened about six months ago when I was invited to join the volunteers who were saving the J, as a member of the leadership task force and then as a member of the board of directors. Talk about putting my skills and my ideas and my expertise where my mouth is. Get off of the sidelines. Jump! Higher. Now. What an amazing volunteer experience I am having. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Systems and Values and Thoughts (oh my!)

A post inspired by the blizzard out my window!


I am intrigued by how challenged everyone is (it seems!) to get along, come together, make it work. When did the challenge become how challenging it is to be/work together and not the collective overcoming or resolution to the issue--the challenge--at hand? When did families begin to look like "casts" of a reality TV show and when did work groups begin to resemble an elementary school playground complete with authority figures, upper and lower classmates, structure, bullies, cliques, purpose, games, inside and outside voices, stalling tactics? How many people will know "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" and not "E pluribus unum"? What happened that we marginalize those with whom we disagree rather than bring them closer, try to understand and seek some common ground, and move forward together in service of something greater? How is it that the more connected we are the more disconnected we are? How is it that the more tools we have, the less we accomplish? How is it that the more we have to fill ourselves and our partnerships and our organizations, the more empty we actually are (or appear)? What happened to polite disagreement, not loving one another but liking one another, agreeing to disagree? When did the customer become wrong? When did the intent of donors get "correctly interpreted" by creative internal bookkeeping? How did we become okay with working so much harder as the bar got so much lower? When did staff learn the way to success was to break the will of a volunteer and when did the volunteer learn that the way to success was to demean staff as people too un-something to do the noble work of volunteerism? When did it become so terrible to look at history to inform decision making today? And what is it about looking forward that is so scary to people who hold history so deeply? What are the barriers to saying "I'm sorry" (or "I screwed up" or "let's try this again...") and what could be if we said it more? Organization, relationship, or personal crisis doesn't usually just happen; it is typically an accumulation of neglect, mismanagement, denial, poor adaptation to change and yet we act so blindsided when it is in front of us. What's up with that? When did our love for (and right to) individual autonomy become disconnected from personal responsibility and accountability? When did having our efforts or success or skills measured get conflated with our personal worth and self esteem? We learn that driving a vehicle is a privilege and not a right; what is intended by this differentiation and what is your interpretation of this differentiation? I wish the salaries (and our collective priorities) would change and good school teachers (and police officers and fire fighters and soldiers and nurses...) would earn more than bad professional athletes; what does it take to radically shift the values of this culture?

Believe me, this is not a post of spiraling negativity just 12 days into the new year! In fact, there is a lot about this post that is positive, provocative, and intriguing. And what do you notice in your world?

I am really intrigued. Really!

Time to go shovel snow!

Shame in the New Year

I remember reading once how "to do" lists should be renamed "shame" lists. All we really do is commit what we think we will do to paper, don't do any of it (often because the list is so long and overwhelming), and then we go do some shaming activity to make ourselves feel better for failing to accomplish anything on the list! Sound familiar?

At no time is this cycle more prevalent than at the New Year! Big ideas occupy our to-do lists and we even have a special name for them--New Year Resolutions. Most people who have "resolved" to eat better and be more active are devouring chocolate and potato chips on the couch in front of the Rose Bowl game on New Years Day. Really!

So what's wrong here? My contention is that we often resolve to do, not be! And not doing is easy and suffering the shame for not doing is short lived. Not being is a different story, one that leaves us reflective, often challenged, and usually motivated to work harder to achieve the goal. Let me give you an example:

The New Year resolutions, to-do lists may look like this (they often do!):

For an individual

1. Eat healthy.
2. Exercise more.
3. Watch less television.
4. Stop cussing.
5. Stop using the cell phone while driving.

For an organization

1. Raise more money.
2. Provide specialized training for our staff.
3. Grow the readership of out blog.
4. Expand our service program to a new population.
5. Raise more money.

What do you notice about the list? What do you notice about yourself when you read the list? Where does the impact of the list hit you? Where's the inspiration in the list for you? How inspired are you to take it on?

These lists, in order to mean something to us and for us to hold them closely enough to be of value, must be bigger, inspiring, a stretch but attainable, and functional. Your list must be anchored in where you are at the moment, where you want to go, what you will do to get there, and include a real accountability. Say what?

So try this:

For an individual

1. I am 30 pounds overweight, feeling sluggish, and my blood cholesterol is in the unhealthy ranges. I will have a body that is healthy and will sustain me for my own peace of mind, for the sake of my family, and so I can enjoy the activities I love to do, and even discover a few new ones (like kite surfing!). I will join a daily Boot Camp program at my local gym and use the instructor as a motivator to not miss class. I will eliminate all commercially processed foods and sugars from my diet. I will not buy them and I will work with my family and friends to find healthy food alternatives. I will take a healthy eating class in January. I will drink three liters of water a day. I can measure this water intake by keeping liter bottles filled each morning and consuming them each day; I'll do what I can see. I will monitor my blood cholesterol with my physician regularly. I will make a quarterly appointment for labs and a consultation and make adjustments according to the data.

For an organization

1. My organization is underfunded to meet the needs of our constituency. We also do not have adequately trained staff and board members to do the fundraising. My goal is to have our organization be financially sustainable long term and our monthly budget running in the black. I want to double our fundraising personnel capacity. I am going to personally solicit six donors for $10,000 gifts each by February 15. I am going to write the grant for the community foundation and submit it by the January 25 deadline. I am going to retain a consultant to work with each board member personally to develop fundraising comfort and skill by January 15 and the training sessions will be complete by March 1. I will review our budget and see where I can trim expenses by 7% before the April board meeting.

Now these are resolutions! And I know there is some version of these kinds of resolutions in each of us. Really! We are not usually willing to do what we say we will do if we are not inspired or held accountable to do it. Inspiration leads to action! "Stop smoking" becomes "I feel my body is really unhealthy from my cigarette smoking, it's expensive, and finding locations to smoke is really challenging. My family worries about my longevity which makes me sad although I don't show it. I will stop smoking this year by tapering down usage and by using cessation products under the care of my physician. On day one, I will gather my family to talk with them about how I will need their active support and encouragement; we will design a plan together. I will eliminate all cigarettes by June 1 and only use cessation products. By 2012 I will be completely smoke free."

It takes courage to create change in our lives, to disrupt patterns, to change culture, to address addictions. And to do so requires some thought, some planning, some support, and a lot of accountability. Rarely do we just stop doing something or change the way we think about something. There is more to human behavior. We aren't so simple.

So grab you list of 2011 New Year resolutions. Go on, get your list! (Okay, so get a piece of paper and write them down). And re-work them, one by one, from the list you know you won't do into a plan that inspires you to achieve your goals.

Peace in the new year!

Simplify

It doesn't have to be complicated! Really...really!

Often the resolutions to our challenges are right in front of us. It would appear--especially for those of us affiliated with the work of non-profit organizations--that it is our belief the resolutions, in order to be effective, have to be more complex, detailed, tested, expensive, debated, focus-group approved, consensus made, stakeholder engaged, consultant-driven. We have convinced ourselves that reaching out to the problem solving industry is better than accessing our own common sense and intuition. Think about it!

Now, it is true, some challenges we face require additional support. Big support. And, sometimes the resolution to what feels like a major institutional problem is just plain and simple:

• Offering a contract to the new hire may help them to stay longer and alleviate your fear of an abrupt departure.
• Hiring an electrician to relocate the electric outlet which will enable the computer to be moved so that the greeters' backs are not facing guests as they enter the building.
• Adjusting or amending your strategic plan (or Bylaws, for that matter) when it fails to inspire or organize people toward goal achievement.
• Requesting that a disengaged board member step down prior to the completion of a term.
• Replacing meeting mechanics (i.e. Robert's Rules of Order) with a dose of healthy facilitation skills, hearty discussion, and a clock to keep time.
• Treating anyone in your midst as a potential donor and using every gathering of people as a cultivation opportunity.
• Keeping it real...simple...real simple.

It is pretty typical that the biggest challenges are resolved with the simplest solution, the solution that is intuitive and readily accessible. It is our belief that the resolution has to be bigger (smarter? expert? expensive?) that keeps us from actually resolving what ails us. We fall into a cycle of avoidance, overwhelm, fear, perfectionism, procrastination when we know--in our hearts--that the solution we seek is right in front of us. This does not have to be complicated.

Think about your challenges for a moment. Give them some order, biggest to not biggest (rarely are our challenges viewed as small). Now consider the biggest challenge and what you know is the resolution. Go deep. You probably know the ways to address the challenge. Now think about what you are actually doing to address the big challenge. What is the gap between what you know/intuit and what you are actually doing? What would alignment between the two look like to you? What are the barriers in the way of your intuition coming forth and resolving the matter? When you say "yes" to an overly-processed solution, what are you saying "no" to? What would simplicity look like?

Take the biggest challenge on your list and resolve to resolve it...today!

The Pursuit of Joy

I have a new acquaintance (quickly becoming a friend) who is a talented, educated, experienced, skilled professional in her non-profit field. She is fantastic. And she has been stuck in a rut professionally. I know she is a success--meets her goals, contributes positively to the cause and culture, leads--but she would describe her existence as joy-less. Something is missing.

It took some time. Then the shift happened.

Perhaps you can relate: There are those moments in our lives when we have had enough of our circumstances being the way they are and we make a change...a deliberate, conscious, intentional shift in the dynamic in order to create a new dynamic. We stop waiting for something to change and we go out (or inward) and make the change! My friend did this. She stopped waiting and she started making. It did not take long before the new job, the new home in a new state, the new challenge was created. She stopped living from the place of managing circumstances she did not like and began vigorously shaping her desired life and circumstance. Re-frame!

It wasn't easy, I'm quite sure. Big results require big effort.

And in this case, she chose to shift away from "what can I do to make this situation more tolerable?" to taking a big risk in today's unstable economic climate and pursue a job where she can make a real impact and feel real passion and joy. Big, scary, "what the hell am I doing" kind of effort! To be fair, I am all for the need to sit still and examine our current states of being in order to mindfully shift energy, resources, time into more fruitful areas. But quiet exploration must yield to real work, to sincere effort, to doing something!

Name your rut, your stuck place right now. What is holding you back (for you in the non-profit world, the answer is not "money")? What do you really know about this place? Now imagine the shift to something else, a different place, a different perspective. What will it take to get there? Name some action you can take to get closer to this new place. What are you willing to "spend" in order to get there? What will it "cost" you to stay where you are? what are you willing to do in order to be who you want to be?

My friend wanted to find joy. Pretty simple conceptually, yet achieving the goal (finding joy) is loaded with practical and emotional weight. Finding joy requires various levels of risk, perseverance, and a sense of humor. What else?

What do you want?

Tough Times

A major study produced by Guidestar about the financial health of America's non-profits in the first half of 2010 was released today (7014 respondents) and it contains great validation and little surprise. In short:

• Charitable contributions decreased greatly.
• Fewer individuals gave.
• Gifts from individuals were smaller.
• Demand for services increased modestly.
• Foundation grant awards decreased.
• Foundations made no major changes in their grant making processes.
• Number of funding requests remained the same.
• 2010 annual budgets increased slightly over 2009.
• Budget reductions are due to reductions in activities and services.
• Volunteerism has stayed the same.

The full study--The Effect of the Economy on the Nonprofit Sector--complete with charts and graphs, can be found here.

It is a tough time out there for nonprofit organizations! But you already knew this... Yet, I am convinced, if you meet the challenge of the times with new perspectives--for leadership, staffing, measurement, donor stewardship, fundraising, service delivery, strategic planning, board management, volunteer recruitment, message management...everything-- you will come through in a better place.

What are you learning from these times? You have a solid sense for now...what's next? Try removing money (funding, fundraising, etc.) from the equation for a moment...what's going on in your organization? Here's the creative, new perspective part...what solutions can you come up with that do not require money (funding, fundraising)? Money is just one of the many tools you have available to deliver the services you are committed to; what are the other tools you have available and how well are you using them?

The inward journey during a time of external chaos is worth exploring. Give it a try!

And give me a call if I can be of service to you.

Simple

"Things were so simple then..." an executive director of a large non-profit said in a moment of quiet reflection: A staff of 3. A board of 7. A budget of $100,000. A small functional office. No quarterly reports to submit to foundations. A direct mail program managed from an office computer and laser printer. Volunteers. An abundance of good will. Just look out the window and see impact.

"I can't believe that..." said my 14 year old son who loves to talk about (and sometimes ridicule) the old days in which I was raised: Record albums and 45's. 50 cents an hour babysitting gigs. Getting off your seat to change the 10 channels on the black and white TV. Packs of teenagers sitting out on a porch talking or making crank phone calls. Summer drives across country and camping. Typewriters. Carbon paper. Encyclopedias.

Things were simpler when compared to today. It's true. And time and technology and life move on, forward, progress, future, tomorrow, next.

What I notice is how unbalanced it all feels when we are not in control of or aware of the choices we make, and our lives become overwhelmed...not of our own design. It is not my interest to keep the future from happening or necessarily trying to define how the future should unfold; my interest is in being mindful of how I choose to participate in it unfolding. I work hard to make the decision to participate, or not, in service to the simplicity and ease I need in my life. It's when I lose sight of the fact I have choice that I begin to flail, feel overwhelmed, act less skillfully on my own behalf.

My life, and keeping it simple, is a work in progress:

• Simplicity of a home-based business: My laptop computer, a cell phone, the Internet, and a well-equipped home office allow me to do business anywhere in the world at anytime, raise my son in real time, and have a work and life balance that enhances me. It is easy to overwork though. Setting boundaries can be a challenge.
  
• Simplicity of staying in touch with friends, family, and colleagues: I have joined 3 social/business networking web sites (only 3!) and I find they take up more time maintaining and less time really being engaged with the people on them. There is a passivity to it all.
  
• Simplicity of less stuff: We gave up our second car and are saving a lot of money. And yet, even one car is a lot to maintain (the airbag warning light has been on for three days requiring a visit to the mechanic). And Boston public transportation can be unreliable. I'd like to use a boat and yet the owning of a boat feels out of the question. I love my home and property; there is a difference between gardening and yard work. Love the ocean view from my decks; a 50 year old deck has collapsed from rotted wood. Ugh!
  
• Simplicity of service: I have volunteered to serve on an advisory board of a non-profit organization and managing the details of membership on this board is more time consuming than my service to the organization itself.
  

When I was a senior in high school I entered a speech contest. Lion's Club, I think. The topic had something to do with our increased reliance on technology. I visited with my uncle who was a brilliant and inspiring thinker and we came up with this idea that a key purpose of technology was to provide humans with more leisure time. The other young speakers talked about efficiency, mechanization of factories, etc. And I talked about--nearly 30 years ago--how we were so stressed and overwhelmed by the technology in our lives and how our lives did not actually become simpler, more leisure filled. Having a dishwasher means we wash more dishes. Same is true for the washing machine; we just do more laundry. Cars, boats, swimming pools, computers, large yards and homes...more to maintain. How was it then, and how is it now, that with all of these technological wonders we are enjoying less leisure time and feeling more disconnected from one another? What do you notice abut the amount or quality of simplicity in your life? If you want more, what will it take to get it?

Simplicity... keep it simple...ease.

Is There Comedy in the Tragedy?

The global economy in a tail spin. Wars. Invasions. Climate change. Disease. Hate crimes. Intolerance. Soaring costs of oil, medication, tuition and daycare, groceries. High unemployment and the incalculable negative impact on families. Political scandal and corruption. Pollution and traffic. Incivility. Greed and gridlock.

Who can stand it?

How are you coping in all of this? What strategies do you have in place to overcome the challenges of our times? I notice many people are "getting smart" as a result of the economy; they are choosing to cut back, save a bit more, drive a bit less, recycle, pay attention to consumption of goods and power and fuel, clear out excess, volunteer. How are you "getting smart" in your life?

My initial intention for this blog posting was to write about fun and how to have it it in these times. My concern is we are becoming so overwhelmed by the larger economic landscape that we are losing our sense of humor. Maybe this is okay (and hopefully temporary). I meet regularly with leaders of non-profit organizations and it's all about cutting back, laying off, inward thinking, serious governing. There is little thought paid to why they do what they do, just that they have to do. I find myself reminding them about their Mission! The work of governing a non-profit in these tough times has squeezed the fun out of service...completely. How uninspiring. Doing "sacred" work has been replaced with doing the work for less and for fewer clients or else shut down. Vulnerability is everywhere. It makes me sad.

What slice of joy and fun and ease can be found in your day?

Savor it!

An Apple a Day

Founders of organizations (and companies) are an amazing group of people. They are the types who incubate ideas and then make them happen by bringing people and resources together. It's leadership. What also typically happens with founders, particularly in the non-profit sector, is they ultimately learn they are not good managers of the programs they create. Incubating ideas and marshaling forces to create is a very different skill set than leading day-to-day operations and managing programs and people. In the quest to institutionalize (to become sustainable), this is the place where organizations suffer.

I notice there is a lot written about, talked about, and blogged about Apple Computers and their products lately. And what piques my interest is how much more is written about, talked about, and blogged about the founder Steve Jobs and his health and how the company is negatively affected (stock values are plummeting; brand power is diminishing) as he appears to wither away from a hormone imbalance of some sort forcing him to take a leave of absence for six months. Have you been following this story?

What intrigues me the most about the story is the negative impact a founder has on the organization they founded. When does an organization--whether for-profit or non-profit--become independent from the founder and truly self sustaining? And what about organizations whose very existence is so defined by the founder that when there is a "transition", the organization suffers? What responsibility does a founder have to protect the brand (in this case, to separate themselves from the brand) and help the public see the brand is solid, independent of the founder? And what about succession planning? What responsibility does a founder have to ensure the success and sustainability of the brand while they transition away and ultimately leave the organizations they created? When do founders acknowledge that what they created has become bigger than them and what will they do about it?

P.S. Just a little aside about the power of branding, I find it fascinating that when I went to the Google (that's a Bush-ism worth a giggle!) to look up an image for "apple" that of the 21 images that came up in the search, only 5 of them were of the eating variety and the rest were of the computer variety. Wow!

Dear Mr. President

I wrote about this idea on this blog in early December and here is an interesting article in this morning's Boston Globe newspaper on the same subject:

The Double Payoff of a Stimulus Plan for Non-Profits

AMIDST THE escalating demand for a federal stimulus package to rescue what seems like a new industry every day (first the financial sector, then autos, then steel), little attention has been paid to stimulating the nonprofit sector.

Yet the nonprofit sector is larger than the auto and steel industries combined, representing 10 percent of all US jobs, and 13 percent of jobs in Massachusetts. If the government fails to pay attention to this critical sector, there could be a loss of 1 million nonprofit jobs, leaving 1 million families without a paycheck, 1 million families buying fewer goods and services, and 1 million families who are closer to foreclosures and debt default.

The nation loses twice when there is a job lost in the nonprofit sector. Not only does a family lose an essential paycheck, but the community also loses a home healthcare worker, a preschool teacher, or an after-school tutor - people who often serve those most in need.

Just as job losses in the nonprofit sector has a double loss, a smart investment in this sector could have a double payoff: more jobs today and a more talented workforce tomorrow. President-elect Obama and New England's congressional leadership should team up with community foundations and other philanthropies - and with service organizations that stand ready to mobilize millions of Americans - to make a bold public-private investment in America's most effective and efficient nonprofits.

The stimulus package should include two far-sighted investments in the nonprofit sector:

A federal investment in national service, placing at least 250,000 young people (and graying baby boomers) in full-time service, many of them focused on education;

A $2 billion matching grant fund to encourage and match new philanthropic investments in high-performing organizations that power an "opportunity pipeline" stretching from neonatal care through preschool, after-school enrichment, college access, and job training.

A serious program of national service could put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work by this summer, replicating what FDR did in his day with the Civilian Conservation Corps, which Roosevelt biographer Jonathan Alter has called the most popular of his New Deal programs. For a small price compared with the creation of jobs in other sectors, this would make a big down payment on Obama's promise to create 3 million new jobs and would represent the type of "all hands on deck" approach to problem solving that the country is yearning for.

An "opportunity pipeline" federal matching grant program could leverage $2 billion or more in new philanthropic investments in organizations that build human capital (from preschool to job training) and leave a legacy of shared investment in a better future.

To earn a federal match, eligible foundations would have to either raise new funds or spend from their endowments at a rate higher than is required by their tax-exempt status, thereby pulling philanthropic money off of the sidelines and doubling its value. Moreover, federal support should go to only those initiatives supporting programs with a track record of success.

Obama has rightly called for a new efficiency in government, greater transparency, and greater engagement of the citizenry in solving collective problems. In many ways this is a return to our de Tocquevillian history of community-based problem solving, while also recognizing the federal government's role as a catalyst for change and an investor in solutions that work. An investment in the nonprofit sector that focuses on strengthening human capital and encouraging investments in proven programs would support Obama's vision.

The front pages of newspapers are filled with references to Keynesian economics. Keynesian investments to prime the economic pump are seen by many economists as a necessary evil - required at times like these to prevent economic collapse, but capable of building nothing for the long term except debt for future generations. But what if a portion of today's stimulus package was focused exclusively on the one investment that would not only produce jobs now, but would also build human capital, making the nation more competitive in the future?

Paul S. Grogan is president and CEO of The Boston Foundation and Eric Schwarz is president and CEO of Citizen Schools.

One perspective that is certainly worth looking at!

Here's an Idea

[Note: I don't intend for this blog to be "political" yet I am aware that politics and current events might influence how I see a particular issue at times].

President-elect Obama is often speaking about his idea (among others) to stimulate the American economy by implementing a massive public works improvement plan. More bridges and highways, improved schools and libraries and hospitals, enhanced parks and open space, to name a few topics. The idea is to invest money in America, in American workers, in American infrastructure and this will be good for the economy overall. I'm no economist, but okay!

And I wonder...from my perspective as a person who works with leaders of non-profit organizations, what can be more to the core of who we are as a country than how we care for one another? In terms of a massive public works improvement plan, every American non-profit organization should be first in line to receive funds!

Every public homeless shelter and animal rights organization and civil rights task force and art museum and school and healthcare institution and domestic violence shelter and hospice and hotline and soup kitchen and youth sport team and English teacher in the inner city and prison librarian and pool lifeguard and social worker and community center volunteer should be considered first for the funds that will be made available to repair our country's infrastructure.

It is pretty simple: American non-profit organizations need trained volunteer boards of directors, qualified and trained and fairly compensated staff members who also receive health and other benefits, appropriate and safe and accessible and resourced facilities, support with planning for a sustainable future, computers and other useful equipment. Non-profit organizations need support for projects and equipment and staff specialists specific to the service they deliver. These non-profits need fundraisers who are trained and who have the resources to leverage a few gifts into many gifts. They need databases and web sites and file cabinets and lead-free paint and playground equipment and gallery space and veterinarian care. Unpaid staff people (and there are too many!) need to be paid for their tireless contributions and non-profit organizations need to move out of well meaning people's living rooms and into facilities more easily accessed by clients. We need to provide the resources so they can replace "basic services" with "we can provide you with what you need or we will link you to someone who can." Non-profit organizations should not have to have "sliding scale" fee structures or waiting lists; everyone should have service if they need it. Non-profit organizations should not have to choose between providing service or keeping the facility warm in winter.

I could go on!

I know a lot about non-profit organizations and the people who love them! No one can do more good with such limited resources than people who work for non-profit organizations. A massive investment in non-profit organizations--the human infrastructure of our country--when managed by people who demonstrate daily they can do so much with so little, would be a smart investment.

Now that's change!