Comments on: The Nonprofit Sector Needs to Get Over The Fear Thing

By: Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:05:58 +0000

Thanks Bryann. Yes, we absolutely have to understand how an individual nonprofit’s work fits into the larger marketplace of issues and actors. Nonprofits must understand what else is going on in their “mission space” and figure out how to contribute to that larger arena and chart their direction from that knowledge.

By: Bryann

Bryann — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:17:56 +0000

Great stuff, Nell! I’m looking forward to your dismantling of nonprofit fear in the rest of this series.

You’re right though: Sometimes the fear is self-imposed. On my front, I elaborate on the fear of taking a more creative and holistic approach to internal collaboration so that programs and services can have real impact.

Dan above slightly touches on this where, aside from NOT having the funds to “solve” large social issues by 20XX, some organizations develop initiatives that are disconnected from the complexity of what designers call “wicked problems” — problems that are massive in scale, ill-defined in HOW to solve, with ever-changing requirements.

It’s true that sometimes a scaling back and recalibration of goals is needed. It’s surprising how many new organizations charge into the unknown without a thorough understanding of their mission space. And before they know it, so much time, energy, and money were funneled into the wrong things.

This also plays into “the fear of being honest.” When a new collaborative process is introduced — whether it’s design thinking or participatory design etc — it WILL uncover information gaps and hidden assumptions in the mission. In the end, it usually reveals those who really wants to move forward, and those who just want to keep things as they are.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:44:11 +0000

Yes, I agree. Certainly nonprofits need to dial back some of the happy talk about “ending this or that problem by 2020″ and then acting like it can be done with an organizational budget of a few million dollars. For most of those problems, we either need to find (massive) new revenue streams or recalibrate our goals.
I just noticed you had already mentioned working hard and working well. Fantastic book. I think the difficulty of the discipline involved in such an approach is wildly underestimated and impossible to achieve when an organization is afraid, particularly afraid of being honest. Again, I think much of the fear is understandable and natural given the larger funding environment, but it is on both parties to move beyond the dysfunctional dynamic you rightly observe.

By: Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:09:03 +0000

Dan, I completely agree with you that funders are partly to blame for the dysfunction of the sector. And some of that is changing as more funders start experimenting with new things (capacity capital grants, longer-term funding, less strings). But I also think that nonprofits hold themselves back at times too, and we have to recognize and address that. Being bold means that you step outside of the resources currently at hand and chart a new direction. As I always say, instead of asking the question “What can we do with what we can raise?” ask the question “How much do we need to raise to accomplish OUR GOALS?”

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:58:23 +0000

The new Working Hard and Working Well book is an excellent guide to confronting some of these issues. But I have to say that I think the single biggest obstacle to a transformative nonprofit sector is government and foundation funders refusing to make multi-year general operating support grants, and the refusal of funders to embrace the full cost of actually creating meaningful social change. This is particularly true in the human services sector.
Nonprofits work in a system that creates all the fears you list. Our efforts should be focused on changing that system, rather than telling nonprofits to “be fearless”, as some would advocate. The funders are where the problem starts and where it will need to be first addressed.

By: Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:08:08 +0000

Good for you, Linda. And I’m delighted to hear that you’ve received such a positive reaction to your frankness. I agree with you, it’s time for all of us to tell it like it is.

By: Linda Chave

Linda Chave — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:57:17 +0000

Couldn’t agree more – especially when it comes to confronting misguided trends involving BIG DATA and GROUP THINK. I’ve just taken to speaking my piece and letting the chips fall where they may and have had a surprisingly positive reaction to my “frankness.” Turns out lots of folks are just waiting for someone to say “the Emperor has no clothes.” I’ve studied too long, witnessed too much and currently work way too hard to simply shake my head yes when it comes to big, important and often far-reaching issues. With such limited resources at our disposal today, it’s really time that the non-profit sector stop deferring to funders and start using its expertise to create more viable, vibrant solutions to age old problems.

By: Nell Edgington

Nell Edgington — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:53:43 +0000

Andrew, I’m glad to hear that you are pushing harder and stretching yourselves and your organization. Good for you!

And you all at Rush Soccer have provided a great example of what I’m talking about, thanks for sharing!

By: Rush Soccer

Rush Soccer — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:06:41 +0000

Nice article, fear holds a lot of us back… Rush Soccer’s very business model is a great example of what success you can create with a little courage.

Our club was started from scratch, once upon the time in the 70′s. After much success, we decided to merge with a nearby club – something fairly unheard of at the time. Years later, we would start to expand outside county lines, which was strongly advised against by Board Members and State Youth Soccer officials. Many years and surges in growth later, we decided to expand outside state lines and adopt clubs throughout the United States. We had more naysayers than supporters – they thought it was suicide. No youth soccer organization had ever expanded. We didn’t have the resources. It couldn’t be done.

Long story short: today we are the largest youth soccer organization in the world, with clubs in over half the states and 20+ international countries…. And counting. We grow every day!

If they say it can’t be done, let that be an indication of a great opportunity to do something everyone is else too scared or lazy to do.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:53:39 +0000

As a friend of mine likes to say “if you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got”. Fear comes from a lack of understanding of the outcomes which comes from inadequate planning. And Nell is dead on when she says not all planning is good either. When I’ve seen the traditional process used I’ve noticed that it doesn’t push hard enough to challenge assumptions or the obstacles that need to be crossed before a goal can be achieved. We’re in the midst of a major strategic planning process right now and my best take away is the realization that outstanding organizations only do great programming. From that realization we’re focusing growth, shedding unproductive tasks and building partnerships to help us make sure every program we undertake has the capacity to be a model program.

For anyone struggling to make time for this activity, pick up a copy of Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and within a few weeks you’ll have a different perspective.