Creating High Impact Non Profits, Pt 3

Myth #5: High Ratings on Conventional Metrics.When we looked at traditional measures of nonprofit efficiency, many of these groups didn’t score well, because they don’t adhere to misleading metrics such as overhead ratios.

I remember several years ago when the Red Cross got into a heap of trouble for promising 100% of their fundraising would go to a specific disaster relief situation and then spent some of the money on administration. People were in an uproar and lots of pundits put out information about the importance of reviewing how much administrative costs an organization had before contributing. I don't disagree, you should learn about the organization before you give to them. However, when it comes to policy changes and institutional movement, defining what is "administrative" can be tricky.

I admit, I speak from a place of bias as I currently work for a nonprofit, but I am firmly convinced that one of the most important assets a nonprofit has is its staff. I see the value of my program director, her knowledge of the community, and her deep familiarity with the programs we have in place. Making sure she feels valued, receives consistent developmental feedback, and has the resources necessary to succeed are priorities for me as her manager. More importantly, I think they should be priorities for any organization that has a focus on creating change in our communities.

Turnover in nonprofits, especially smaller organizations, is fairly high. Often times people leave an organization, and leave the work, because they are burned out. We lose leadership, institutional knowledge, and crucial historical context for the work we are doing when this happens. Overhead ratios mean very little when they don't leave room for the people who are doing the work to get it done. And ultimately the goal is to accomplish the mission in the most effective way possible.

ROI

He speaks yet I do not hear.
What I hear he does not speak.
The message is wrong.
He's insincere.
He sounds just like her.

She rambles on my voice mail.
She sends empty essays to my inbox.
The message is wrong.
She's insincere.
Her words, to me, are stale.

Everyday I hear these cheers.
Everyday I am disappointed.
The message is wrong.
They're insincere.
They've been saying the same for years.

Someday I will believe again.
Someday I will have faith.
A message that's true.
A message, sincere.
Someone with visions of change.

-timuri

PRIDE and Diversity Education

Sunday is Pridefest in Denver. The LGBTQIA community is once again gathering in the park to announce that they, that WE are not to be ignored. For those wondering about the alphabet soup acronym, it stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, Intersexed, and Allied. Allied, that's most of you, hopefully. The people who are "in the social norm" but also interested in the rights of all people.

Being an activist I'm involved in a variety of social justice and equality projects. But around this time of the year, more than others I am reminded of how far we've come, and how far we still need to go. I've been teaching diversity education longer that I've called myself a trainer. In any company I worked for I was always the person that my manager could come to to ask questions about the queer community.

I've fielded questions about how to handle employees who transition from being one gender to another and stayed in the same job position. Other employees came to me to ask if I thought it would be safe for them to come out, which I always found rather funny since I was already out, thus I thought they would have already determined that. I figured out why later. In all of these situations I just gave them the best advice I could since I had no "formal" training. After I had formal training, I think things actually got worse.

Diversity education, didn't help teach people how to accept each other, it taught us how to be tolerant of each other.

Layoffs & Limp Logic

I'm trying to figure out where the logic is when companies make their layoff decisions. It seems companies cut a swath through the HR and training divisions early in the cutting. Aren't these the people they hired to help the rest of their employees feel better, work better and stay with the company? These are the people that have a personal desire to see your people be better at what they do, it's part of their make-up. So why get rid of them? Isn't that like cutting off the proverbial nose?

I understand the bottom-line logic. HR & Training produces no revenue. But neither does a dis-satisfied employee. I'm betting that those people working in the company that just saw their friends "let go" are not happy people. They are taking the newly released out for drinks and sitting around complaining about the company. Is that the kind of energy they want to foster?

I'm just trying to get my head fully around the idea so I can unravel it. With layoffs come change, instability, new responsibility and confusion. Wouldn't you want to have the best team you could, on hand, to make sure you can keep the remaining talent you have left? I know I would.

Dad's Day Out

Yesterday was Father's Day. My own father is in Hawaii, so I made sure to call him to wish him well. Not as if he needs it, he's hanging out in Hawaii drinking a Mai-Tai but still, it's the thought that counts right? Previously this would have meant that my Father's Day was to consist of making balloon animals for people and then finding something to fill my evening. This year was different.

As a now pseudo-step-father to two fantastic kids I was awoken to breakfast made by my 11 year old daughter. Our journey to a
father-daughter relationship has been a tough one. It's been fraught with doubt and resistance and the occasional slammed door but several years later I am pleased to say that my breakfast was made of love and contained no trace of malice. We've grown close and I love her dearly. She's managed to find the limits of my patience in a way that no one ever had before and simultaneously helped me find the ways to love her all the more for it.

The remainder of my day was not filled with solitary thought or pointless dallying, but with "dad stuff" as they called it. We went to the movies, watched The Hulk, which I and my 12 year old son enjoyed immensely. I was treated to a Japanese steak house where I ate delicious sushi and enjoyed hibachi grill magic. Ice cream and friends, video games a a little bit of construction rounded out my evening. The late hours were spent playing Rock Band and watching films till the early hours of the morning.

I'm a father. We've been forming a family for a few years now, but it wasn't really till yesterday that I knew how much they have accepted me. It is a great feeling.

Clarity and Weight (Carat)

Clarity:

Clarity comes from openness, honesty and transparency. Organizations are often so afraid that one employee might steal something that they make all of their employees feel like they are not trusted and they are always being watched. This does not produce a clear and beautiful feeling. It created flaws, inclusions, blind spots and a massive space for disloyalty and apathy. If someone can not be given the trust to know ALL they might need to most effectively do their job, then perhaps they shouldn't be working there.

Carat Weight:

Our society exists on a "bigger is better" mentality most of the time. We grade ourselves year over year on our growth and increased sales margins. At a certain point, bigger is just bigger, and growth becomes cancerous. Size is certainly a factor to consider. Small business assume a lot of responsibility on a few people and should anything happen to one of them, the business impact can be extreme. However large organizations often find a great deal of difficulty in maintaining the quality and clarity factors because there is just too much to manage. Keeping the business large enough to be comfortable but small enough to care for is a challenge but an important one to focus on.


So as you continue to build your business or work within a company keep in mind where you sit in this diamond and how you can help to make your company shine.

Cut your company to the right fit for your customers and in a way that helps the facets shine.

Use all the Colors of your organization as a strength and help everyone feel welcome instead of ignored.

Clarity, honesty and transparency will go a long way to reducing your personal work load and bringing peace of mind to you and your people.

Remember that a large Carat diamond can be easily mistaken for costume jewelry. Keep your size where you can still maintain good cut and clarity. Bigger is not always better.

The cut and color of your organization.

Cut:

The two main variables in your cut are shape and quality. The shape of a diamond is largely about preference and the needs of your consumers. Some people prefer the shape of a Starbucks-like business because if feels reliable and consistent. One caramel mocha will pretty much taste the same from store to store. Others may prefer their corner coffee shop which gives them a more unique feel and the idea that it is the only place to get a particular brand, or taste.

The quality of that particular cut is all about the facets. The top of the diamond. The variety of angles and faces that are seen when one gazes upon a stone, and in your company those facets, are the mail clerks, service technicians, receptionists and all the entry level positions that make up your organization. People don't buy a home theater system, or a new car from the CEO of the company. I bet most people couldn't even name the CEO's for most of the products in their home. But they might be able to name the salesperson who helped them. The quality of a diamond cut is based on the depth of the cut and the facets. The facets need to be well cared for, polished and chosen with care. The stone should not be cut too deep or it looses some of it's ability to shine. And this is true with your company too. The farther away from the front line a leader is, the less in touch the front line can be with that leaders ideas.

Color:

I know everyone is tired of "diversity education" and I think I can pin point why. We went about it all wrong. I'll own up to being part of that problem. So many of the diversity programs I taught in the past decade were more focused on tolerance instead of education. We told people that they were wrong to even notice our differences and we tried to make people color blind.

The strongest color for a diamond is clear, crystal clear. What makes this diamond so beautiful is that when you really look at it you see every color in the rainbow. It fractures the light and the different colors within become the diamond's shining strength. A white diamond looks like quartz, pink is called champagne. Black diamonds are used mainly for industrial work and the so called colorless diamonds just don't sparkle like they should. None of them hold the value that is found in the brilliance of a diamond that uses ALL the colors to hold your attention.

Turning the Office Pyramid on its Head

Ever since I was a kid I've had the vision of businesses as pyramids that needed to be climbed. We see it all the time in the images of climbing the corporate ladder, working our way to the top, and any number of other analogies putting the people who do the front-line work, at the bottom of the organization.

These are the faces that the customers see every day. Those very people who are in the mail room, at the cash registers, that do the service calls and answer the phones are the real faces and image of their organizations. A company is not a pyramid, nearly as much as it is a diamond.

Let's examine the 4 C's of grading a diamond and see how your organization measures up.

There's something wrong when Coke inspires me.

I've seen this commercial twice and it honestly moves me!

I can convince myself it's good for me.

Knit Purl Cafe is my new favorite place in Boulder. To start, they serve organic, fair trade, gluten free ice cream which is delicious. Add to that tea, coffee, cute little tables, and you might think they are set. But no, you would be wrong. They also have a nice selection of specialty yarns and regular knitting circles (or more colorfully "stitch and bitch" circles). Add to that, the owner, Kim, is friendly and fun to chat with. Heading into the summer months knowing the best places for good ice cream is high on my list of musts, and this definitely qualifies. Hope to see you there!

Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.

Several years ago I certified in alternative healing techniques and I really began to believe that there was a goal of health I could achieve. That if I did things right I would become healthy and never deal with illness again. It was a pretty lofty goal, and it may actually be possible, but one day it clicked for me. I was trying so hard to be healthy I was no longer enjoying my life. I had become obsessed with my goal and could no longer relate to why the goal was important to me. I was trying to survive the storm, rather than appreciate the rain.

I doubt I'll ever finish all my work, figure it all out, find the perfect balance, or any of these other well intentioned, somewhat intense goals. Days like today, when I start to get a little overwhelmed by the pile on my plate, I realize it doesn't matter. Because I do know how to dance in the rain. I can enjoy each moment, and really find that fulfilling piece of each day.

Creating High Impact Non Profits, Pt 2

High impact non-profits combine service with advocacy. This means they work to alleviate the immediate problem in their area with direct action while also participating in initiative and lobby efforts to change regulations or industry standards to end the problem all together. Their work in the field, dealing daily with the realities of the problem they are working to solve, can inform the larger legislative work or informational campaigns created across the spectrum.

They do this because the problems that need to be dealt with are huge and often devasting to those who are facing them. Emergency services and support are critical to relieving the basic problems people face. But they won't fix the long term problem. That requires a larger view of the situation, creative collaboration, and an ability to step back and really see what needs to be done to solve the problem.