Holstee Manifesto

I am sure many of you have seen this. It is the Holstee Company Manifesto. It has been a source of inspiration for me for a couple of years now.  I wanted to share it with you all  and ask that you take  a few minutes to read it and take it all in.

Today I am coaching and teaching a  class on  starting a nonprofit and consuming lots of amazing  knowledge from colleagues.

I love days like today. I get to build and support community  in a way that taps into my natural talents and gifts.

I am a lucky girl.

Today I was able to share my passion about nonprofits and with other geeky sector folks like myself. These are people with big dreams – big hairy audacious goals that they are working hard to make reality. They are changing the way we look at  the food we eat, the way we interact with the environment,  the way we educate our young.

They are trailblazers. Their work is never simple or easy.

They are  here to transform the world. Their  lives have meaning and their gifts are impactful.

They go deeper because the world demands it.

I love my work.

So today I invite you to go out and create something powerful and transformative and  to use your passions and strengths in  ways that serve the greater good.

A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. ~Aldo Leopold

As I was meditating this morning my mind began to wander. That is nothing new- that is a key part of the practice. You get lost but you come back You come back to your breath, to your core, to your center…..with gentleness you return home.

You were lost but now you are found.  With every breath you have the opportunity to start a new. In all honesty its one of my favorite things about meditation.

It offers grace, mercy and renewal for the practitioner.

This is what I want for Susan G Komen for the Cure

I am sure you heard that yesterday  the nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates. That money was used to fund breast cancer screening and education programs to women. Planned Parenthood says Komen grants have paid for about 170,000 breast exams in the past five years.

Poor women. Women in need.  Many of these women  had no where else to go for care.

Women are being hurt and being left behind….by an organization whose main purpose was to support women.

I am not here to argue about how or why politics played a hand in this decision. I am here to say this:

You are lost, but you can come home.

Komen you can start a new-just like a daily meditation practice you can begin again. You can return to your core,  to your center… to your home. Your support for women and their health has to be unconditional.  More than anything you must be an organization with integrity, vision and values– not just a fundraising juggernaut.

Thousands of women appreciate what you have done for them and their families. They know your kindness, your gentleness and your unwavering support. You have saved lives. You once were held in such high esteem.   Once upon a time your values were clear. …You lived them.

Give every woman whom you have ever helped and every donor who has ever given you a dime the gift of integrity.

You can be great again.

Give your self the gift of living your values and governing with integrity.

Listen to the angry calls and emails headed your way…hear them because deep inside is where you can find truth.

Go back to the breath. Go back to your core.  Go back home.

Grace, mercy and integrity  are yours  if you do the work.

Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every organization has a rhythm.  A rhythm that is uniquely its own. It is filled highs and lows. Times where it may seem to only whisper and other times where the volume seems to be permanently turned to 10.

We have a rhythm. A rhythm of disorientation, growth, reorientation and transformation.  These are key periods in the life of a nonprofit. Some times we step boldly into the unknown willingly- with careful thought and planning- but many times not.

We don’t choose it, it chooses us.

Many times is it accidental and mysterious or comes from a place of pain and stress.  We take charge and plan carefully weighing all the options. Evolution. A new chapter.

Times of change can involve  new relationships, new partnerships, new places  or new projects.

They can just as easily be triggered from securing a huge grant or having your executive director give notice.

New goals. New direction.

New goals are scary. They move us from our comfortable settings, from the communities that we know  and even more importantly the communities that know us.

It may mean unpacking old baggage, exposing flaws and learning new skills.

Signs of major transitions:

The struggle for resources and exposure
The need to create new program models
Limited  opportunities
Inconsistent program results
Decreasing donations and  shrinking funding base
Management by crisis

Opportunity and turmoil.

Be mindful that transitions can take  toll on your organization mentally, physically and socially.

Staff may start to call in sick more than normal, because they really are getting more colds and viruses.

If your organization is in the middle of a transition:

Take your time with it. Do not rush the process.

Do not act, just to act. This is difficult place to be as our culture admires action, but we need to bring things to a natural end  and discover what we need to learn.

Be uncomfortable. I did not say you have to like it but understand  the anxiety, old fears and distress  are expected and necessary- they denote change is happening.

Create temporary structures. Organizations  and people can tolerate the inner change and evolution as long as they feel protected and  have working temporary solutions while the long term ones are being worked out.

Use the transition as a learning opportunity. Who are you becoming? What skills do you need? It is an opportunity  to learn new things in new ways. Be an explorer.

You will make it to the other side. Just remember, it is in the endings that new beginnings are made  possible.

Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness. ~Amos Bronson Alcott

I could just look at these reports and think that I know what is wrong with these organizations and in all honesty I would be wrong and that would be short sighted.  In every society, organization, or group, something works.

We are not our wounds or our weaknesses.

Too many organizations assume that  they and their employees need to be good at many things, rather than excellent in the key areas.

Tom Rath  author of Strength Finders 2.0  says that focusing on what works in your organization — transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much time and energy as taking something that is average or below and making it slightly above average.

He is correct….and brilliant.

What we focus on becomes our reality. Focus on strengths.  Seek them out. Nurture them.  Push your organizational strengths boundaries.  Acquire new knowledge.

This is not to say that you ignore your organizational weaknesses,-not at all- that would be crazy and you are anything but that!  Seek out  partners, create a  system that will offer support, or use one of your stronger talents to compensate for one of your weaker ones.

Just know that you are more than those weaknesses.

You just want to focus on, study and learn from success. You want to spend time learning from organizations that  have discovered their strengths and leverage them. The more you understand how utilizing  strengths leads to success, the more likely you will be to create success in your own organization.

Don’t  create an organizational culture that focuses on what you lack. Capitalize on the gifts with which your community is blessed.It is more demanding but also its more productive.

Rooting your organization in strength based values and learning will prepare you for long term success and greatness.

If you want to build core  nonprofit management skills crucial to your organization’s success you can schedule some 1:1 time with me here or learn about other ways we can work together here.

Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions.
Bo Bennett

I am going to tell you  something that I have learned over the past 25 years….You want a better organization? You have to start with a better Executive Director. You have to start with better leadership.

What does an average  executive director do every day? They organize fundraisers. They work with their board of directors. They write grants. They provide direct services and programs. They motivate volunteers. They deal with the news media and handle marketing. They manage staff.  They manage budgets and are in charge of  the financial numbers.  They make sound legal, ethical decisions.  Many do all these things before 11am.

They build the ark while animals are climbing on board.

The  to do list that I just ran through literally came off the top of my head. They do all of the above and so much more. I honor the hard work that they do everyday… and because of that I want executive directors to  be honest with their boards and funders.

You need to be better equipped to do the work. What could honesty look like ?

1. You need staff and resources. Stop being a martyr. You can not do everything . You only have so many hours a day. You need help. Help from your board and you need staff. The next time a funder asks what they can do to help, tell them the truth. You need an investment in staff and infrastructure to help you move your mission forward.

2. You need professional development. Have you looked  at your to-do- list for this week? It is NUTS.  How many people do you know that are experts in finance, legal issues, HR and fundraising who also can give a great  keynote address while writing a killer press release ? Ummm…not many. The nonprofit world traditionally  equates professional development with travel and large fees. We now have distant learning programs, certification programs at local colleges and webinars and tele-classes. Travel is not necessary just good content and training. Make it  a key part of your budget– just like your utilities and programs to upgrade your skills. There is a clear link between individual development and improvements in organizational performance.

3. You need a plan.You need a strategy.  You cannot have a program without staff, technology, space, systems, evaluation, research and development. It is crazy talk to say that you can separate money spent on programs from money spent on the support of programs or that you need no money to support programs.  You need a real plan to finance the work. You may have limited access to expertise and skills needed to take  you to the next level. You may  need to invest a little in your future (time as well as money), to discover ways to grow your capacity (and connect with peers and expert resources who may be able become allies down the road)

4. You need coaching.  You may have started off  managing  programs and now you are at the helm of a huge organization. The skills that brought you there are not the ones that keep you there. Again, you do killer work but sometime you feel overwhelmed  keeping all the balls in the air everyday. Some days you just want a unbiased ear to help you think through next steps, or offer advice on working with your board or that difficult employee.  Coaching can have enormous value as a stand-alone strategy for developing leaders and their organizations. Many organizations are waking up to this critical point and are looking for leaders that understand the value of coaching.

5. You need time off. Renewal. Self Care.No smart phone, no email.  No staff. We all need to time to invest in things that bring us pleasure and make us happy.  It can be extremely isolating running an organization. Many don’t feel like they have the time – to look up from what is in front of them, step away from their desk and the huge pile of work and take time away. You can do it. You must do it. It is the only way that you will be at your best  and be of service to others. As you attend to the needs of others it is vital that you attend to your own needs.

What else do you need and how can you get it?

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.~Martin Luther King, Jr

Community and justice can not be spoken about if we do not talk about the elephant in the room– economic injustice.

One definition of justice is “giving to each what he or she is due.” The problem  is knowing what is “due”.

Justice and charity are not the same thing. Charity compels us to give to relive suffering.  Justice speaks to allowing a person to not need charity, but actually become charitable himself.

Economic injustice involves our  failure to provide individuals with basic necessities of life.  Access to adequate food and housing, and its maintenance of huge discrepancies in wealth.

Charity or  Philanthropy are never substitutes for justice.

Economic injustice is what makes philanthropy necessary.

Facts

• The combined wealth of the world’s 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined income of 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.
• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
• A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world’s poorest 2.5 billion people.

• 20% of the people in developed nations consume 86% of the world’s goods.
• 12% of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water.
• Globally, 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures – the poorest 20% account for a minuscule 1.3%. Specifically, the richest fifth (1/5):
  • Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth consume 5%.
  • Use 58% of the total energy, the poorest fifth use less than 4%.
  • Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth have 1.5%.
  • Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth use 1.1%.
  • Own 87% of the world’s vehicle fleet, while the poorest fifth own less than 1%.
• An analysis of past trends shows that the gap between the richest and poorest countries are increasing:
  • In 1820, it was 5 to 1.
  • In 1913, it was 11 to 1.
  • In the 1950s, it was 35 to 1.
  • In 1973, it was 44 to 1.
  • In 1992, it was 72 to 1.
• The cost of providing basic health care and nutrition for all people in the world would be less than the annual cost of pet food in Europe and the United States.

I could go on but I will not.

 

We have a dirty little secret in the nonprofit sector. It is our elephant in the room–our lack of paying staff livable wages.

We talk about helping and supporting communities while not always helping our own.  Economic justice is ultimately about moral principles.  The principles which guide us as we design organizations.

They show what we value…who we are.   You can not  advocate for fair  housing if you yourself do not pay your staff a livable wage so they can live in decent shelter.  You can not protest for better healthcare if you do not offer adequate healthcare to your own staff.

Having staff that feel chronic deprivation and/or harsh living conditions is unacceptable. Many folks in our sector feel this way every day. They often feel unsafe, insecure, and powerless. In our own way we  enable the system we work hard against every day.

We are here to change the status quo, not protect it.

Let us start with ourselves.

 

 

What are nonprofits really hungry for?

I work with many, many nonprofits that are hungry for many things. They are hungry for volunteers to engage, hungry for some marketing trick to help them break through the noise so they can been seen and their messages can be heard.

Yet, more than anything they are hungry for infrastructure.

In this sector we have created a culture and organizational life cycle that  is leaving nonprofits so bone deep hungry for decent infrastructure that they can barely be called organizations. They are not lean, nor are they effective.

They are killing themselves from the inside out. They are not functioning as real organizations, they do not look like them, they do feel like them and they do not serve their clients or communities well.

Why? Because they do not articulate clearly the  TRUE cost of their programs or what it takes to run  their  organizations.

Underfunding  infrastructure has been such a dysfunctional way of life for so long that we have begun to  BELIEVE that it is normal and the way we are supposed to live.

Businesses that invest in infrastructure— accounting systems that work, technology that helps rather than hinder, skills training for staff and volunteers, organizational development, fundraising systems and processes, and other essential overhead—are the ones that succeed.  Nonprofits are businesses. Businesses that focus on social change and social enterprise, but a business non the less. Businesses that invest in infrastructure not only survive, they actually thrive.

We have underfunded infrastructure for so long that  it has become our mythology. You know the lies we have told ourselves for years:  Low pay is required -you must make do with what you have- you must do without- there is no funding for training.… We believe that we can do more with less time and time again. I am here to tell you that is actually not true.

You can NOT always do more with less.

You can only do so much with less.

So in 2012 I want you to figure out what it will actually cost you to get the outcomes you want.  What is the real cost of impact? Because THAT is the real cost of doing business. Let this be the year we  feed our entire organization, and lets feed it well.

If you want to build core  nonprofit management skills crucial to your organization’s success you can schedule some 1:1 time with me here or learn about other ways we can work together here.

 

When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it. W. Clement Stone

Your mission  describes the purpose  of your organization. Why you exist. It helps to identify  your audience, what they actually need and how you will provide it.  It is so tempting to create this new organization or program by yourself . You are just being more efficient, right?  Meeting time and time again over the same old agenda, discussing the same issues seem so 1992.

You are a quick start. You have a new idea. You see a need and want to get straight to the good stuff– the doing.

Its efficient and seriously risky. You can move on down the path only later to realize that there is some knowledge, experience or point of view that you have forgotten to invite to the party. One that can make or break your end goal.  Make or break your organization if I am being honest.

Not cool. Not cool and honestly not smart.

Make sure all the necessary voices are at the table and make sure you hear them. If you are having a big planning session. All the power players should be invited: key board members, big corporate partners, key volunteers, staff, community members. Please do not forget  the perspective, voice and wisdom of your clients/customers.

The staff, board and clientele should be a part of the development and planning. Everyone should be able to answer the question of what do you exist to do and what the desired outcomes will be. It is the burning desire that makes your staff, volunteer and board want to get to work.

If peeps ( board, staff, volunteers, advocates, your local community) can’t answer the question of why you exist  clearly and easily,  then its time to schedule another meeting because you have some work to do.

If you want to build core  nonprofit management skills crucial to your organization’s success you can schedule some 1:1 time with me here or learn about other ways we can work together here.

One of my favorite  exercises to do with new clients is ask them what they consume in a given day. I am not talking about food or empty calories or their french fry fetish. I am talking about knowledge. How and where do they consume knowledge?

Leaders that value learning are important to your organizations evolution.

Running a nonprofit is hard work and amazingly time consuming, We all know that there is always another report to write, meeting to attend and potential funder to chat with.

Yet as a nonprofit leader you need to make time and consume knowledge. You should build this step into your calender and make it apart of your regular routine. It should be a priority.

Now that we have a bright new year before us and I know many of you are making plans and resolutions for 2012, I ask you this: What Will You Read in 2012?

Some recommendations to get you started:

Full disclosure; Please note that these links are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission for the referral.

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath

Transitions by William Bridges

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Becoming A Person of Influence:How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others by John C. Maxwell and Jim Dornan

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

No More Throw-Away People: The Co-Production Imperative by Edgar S. Cahn

Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest by Peter Block

Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam

This list encompasses everything from books on community building to human behavior and is just a quick list to get you thinking.  What would you add to my list? What would you take away?

Remember, you are what you consume! What will you consume in 2012?

Tis the season of lights. A time to reflect and celebrate …. My 2011 Year End Report

2011 was a year of transition, loss, hope, opportunity, fun and adventure!   Here is the wrap up of highs, lows, lessons and leaps of faith! You can find the  complete report here.

Highlights:

•  I started the New Year off in what would eventually be my new home Asheville, NC.  It was a lovely way to start what would be a year of many changes and challenges
• In addition to my consulting work I started doing more one on one coaching! I love coaching it allows me to utilize my strengths and provide practical tools, inspiration and support to my coaching clients.
• I got to do some great work with my best friend of 27 years  Pam Slim. We created a tele class on partnerships.  Creating and facilitating Partnership Activate was such a wonderful experience.
• My blog really took off! In February I completed my 100^th post but it seems like in April I was guest blogging everywhere and man how much fun was that!
• My youngest daughter graduated from HS! My house was filled with family friends and I had 2 major consulting projects in the hopper. Oh yeah—and I wrote an E-Book!
• I did take some time away from the back to school hustle to do a radio show. I was interviewed by Michael Chatman has been voted America’s Maverick Philanthropist and one of the nation’s leading authorities on new philanthropy. I had a great time chatting with Michael about the need for new and innovative funding models in philanthropy. We focused on one of my favorite questions— Fundraising or Financing.
•  I also worked with one of my favorite partners in the world on an exciting new project. My partner in crime Heather Plett and I have created a series of learning events  via a partnership we call Global Listeners.

Greatest Learning: Community offers us promise. It offers us the promise of acceptance, of belonging, of safety and of support.

Community requires us to be vulnerable, to co create and to co-own. It requires shared leadership, shared success and shared failure. Communities can be  hard, lonely, insular and painful at times– quick to judge , hard to forgive full of rules and laws that restrict and confine.

Community can  also  be welcoming, open, rich and diverse. Community is not created instantly nor easily. Its created through hard work, honest and deep conversation and the acceptance of individual differences.

Build communities first–problems will then be solved.

Here is wishing you all a transformative 2012!