Archive for the ‘Big ideas’ Category
Posted by Jon Howard on May 27, 2011 in Big ideas, Communicating
Nonprofits spend a lot of time and effort trying to change what other people do, from influencing a teen to quit smoking to getting a prospective donor to write that first check. Why is it that our most logical arguments and most eloquent appeals so often fall on deaf ears?
Because behavior changes like these are driven by face-to-face contacts and peer pressure, not our logical minds, according to Alex Pentland of MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab, interviewed on NPR’s Here and Now recently.
“We’re not really as rational as we think we are.” he told Here and Now host Robin Young. “If you want to change their behavior, giving people arguments is probably the wrong thing to do.”
Pentland studies human behavior using smart phones and other devices to track his subjects’ every movement and social interaction. He also uses phone polls to supplement the tracking data with subject reports on everything from their opinions to their weight. These “digital bread crumbs” give Pentland a huge amount of new and highly accurate data about what people really do all day (and night).
“What are the behaviors that lead to decisions?” Pentland asks. In study after study, he finds that it’s who we spend time with, not what we learn consciously, that predicts our decision-making. “Most of the decisions you make about behavior are ‘when in Rome do what the Romans do’ behaviors.” Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on May 17, 2011 in Big ideas, Good reads
This is the question for this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival, hosted by Nancy Schwartz.
It’s a tough one because there are so many books I could choose from over what is now a pretty long career.
But if I can only pick one, I’m going to pick Stewardship- choosing service over self-interest by Peter Block.
This book looks at leadership through the framework of stewardship, a word that I use frequently in my work with nonprofit organizations and appears as one of the three major board responsibilities I highlight in my board self-assessment book How are we Doing?
I was introduced to Block and Stewardship when I was working on my master’s degree in organization and management at Antioch University New England. I started the program at Antioch a few years after I went into consulting. It was a fabulous and challenging program that gave me a new lexicon for my work – and exactly what I needed to become a consultant after years working in the nonprofit sector. I particularly relished the extraordinary amount of self-reflection leading to self-knowledge the program demanded — so essential for any leader or change maker.
Reading Stewardship didn’t actually shift my values … instead, it was a bright illumination of my own thoughts about my role in life, about governance and management, about working in organizations and about serving my community. I’ve always been drawn to a life in the social change sector. Whether volunteering, working at a nonprofit, or serving nonprofits through my consulting practice, service has always been integrated into my life, never just an appendage to the other things that I do.
Stewardship introduced me to other books by Block. Most consultants know his seminal work Flawless Consulting. I’m a VERY big fan of The Answer to How is Yes, which I require my students to read at Simmons College and which has become a norm and a mantra in my consulting.
What makes Stewardship so meaningful for me? In Block’s words:
- “Stewardship begins with the willingness to be accountable for some larger body than ourselves.”
- “Genuine service requires us to act on our own account. We cannot be stewards of an institution and expect someone else to take care of us.”
- “Stewardship is the choice for service. We serve best through partnership, not patriarchy. Dependency is the antithesis of stewardship and so empowerment becomes essential.”
- Stewardship is “accountability without control.”
Block looks at leadership, management, governance, staffing, financial management… most aspects of organizational life… through the lens of stewardship. When I first read the book, it wasn’t a cakewalk for me, raising questions if this was just another framework for employers to shirk any obligations to their employees. But Block comes to that question from a different place: he digs deeper into the relationship of employee to boss in The Answer to How is Yes.
Now that I’ve pulled the book off the shelf and shared it with you, time to read it through once again. I hope you will too and that you’ll share your thoughts with me.
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Posted by Jon Howard on May 3, 2011 in Big ideas, Research
In my last post, I cited the Grameen Bank and LISC as two outstanding examples of successful program-related investment (PRI). Both of these revolutionary institutions got essential growth funding from Ford Foundation PRIs in the 1980s.
Yet three decades later, PRIs remain rare. According to Doing Good With Foundation Assets, a 2010 Foundation Center study, only 173 out of 75,000 U.S. foundations made any PRIs at all over the two-year study period of 2006 and 2007. In dollar terms, PRIs accounted for just $734 million out of $91.9 billion in program disbursements over the two years.
What’s the problem?
“The limits really are our own core capacities,” says Owen Heleen, Vice President for Grant Programs at The Rhode Island Foundation. The Rhode Island Foundation has been making PRIs since 2002 and was listed by the Foundation Center as the 14th largest provider of PRIs in 2006 and 2007, with investments of nearly $12 million in those two years. Despite their above-average experience, each new PRI brings fresh challenges to the Foundation’s program officers.
“When you’ve seen one PRI, you’ve seen one PRI,” Owen tells me. “Each one has been unique.” The knowledge and skills needed for due diligence, financial workouts and regulatory review change depending on the project, the sector, the number and type of partners and the financial tools used. That’s one reason why the Foundation doesn’t aggressively solicit PRIs.
“The best ones come to us.” says Owen. Read More >>
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Posted by Jon Howard on April 26, 2011 in Big ideas, Research
We think of social enterprise as a new trend. So, would you be surprised to be reminded that two of the nonprofit world’s most successful and transformative social investments were made more than 30 years ago? Muhammad Yunus started The Grameen Bank project in 1976. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) was founded in 1980.
Both new enterprises got key early funding from “program-related investments” (PRIs) by the Ford Foundation. Both used familiar financial tools in creative ways to benefit people who were otherwise unable to access financial services. In both cases, that seed funding, given as loans, helped attract many millions more in public and private investments.
Grameen launched a new and profitable global financial services industry serving very low-income people. Mohammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize in 2006 for this achievement. LISC played a pivotal role in creating a powerful national network of local community development corporations (CDCs) in the United States. The CDC movement has transformed devastated and endangered neighborhoods in the United States by restoring millions of homes as well as commercial centers and public amenities.
Program-related investments (PRIs) by charitable foundations, have been around since the Tax Reform Act of 1969. The Act allows foundations to include loans, equity investments or financial guaranties for mission-related purposes (program related investments) to be counted toward their asset disbursement requirements just as they would count a grant.
PRIs can launch revolutionary innovations in meeting social needs and they have clear financial benefits for foundations. Yet, only 173 out of 75,000 U.S. foundations made PRIs in 2006 or 2007, according to Doing Good with Foundation Assets, a 2010 study from the Foundation Center. Why are they so rare? I’ll take a look in my next post.
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Posted by Jon Howard on January 14, 2011 in Big ideas, Profiles of passion and courage
Last night, Gayle and I proudly attended the 17th Annual Latino Dollars for Scholars Award Dinner as LADO scholarship sponsors. We love LADO because it gives deserving and talented students vital help with the steep cost of a college education. We love LADO because it does its work with obvious, all-volunteer joy, pride and astonishing persistence.
But most of all, I think we love LADO because through LADO, we get to see the real American Dream unfolding before us, and the chance to play our small part in making sure that dream never dies.
This year, LADO awarded eighteen $1,000 scholarships to Latino college students from Rhode Island. It’s not a lot of money – unless you need a stethoscope for your nursing classes, like Marissa Laghana, who spoke at last night’s dinner. Or money for books or for travel home. It makes a difference – often it makes the vital difference between staying or leaving.
Marissa’s parents came to Rhode Island from Guatemala. Marissa was her family’s first high school graduate – and she’ll be their first college graduate, too. She knows what her parents struggled through to give her this chance and now she’s going to make their sacrifices worthwhile.
These 18 young men and women are talented, determined, directed. From this point onward they travel their separate paths to destinies they may only guess at today. For most, that future will include reaching back to help those coming along behind.
What strikes me now is the shared road they’ve traveled with their families to arrive at this night. Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on November 2, 2010 in Big ideas, Strategic Thinking
I was really intrigued by a story in the November 1 edition of the Providence Business News. A local web development business named BatchBlue decided to share its extra office space once a week for free with other small shop folks. 
The gathering, dubbed BatchHaus, is pretty informal. (It was a delight to spot my neighbor with laptop sitting on a couch in the photo that accompanied the story).
The PBN article quotes the visitors to BatchHaus, many of whom work alone, expressing their appreciation for the opportunity to meet similar techies and make connections. Some of those connections have led to business leads, but overall, the camaraderie helps to create a stronger tech community, which is important to these new entrepreneurs. I was intrigued by the idea.
Then, the very next day, I was at a meeting with colleagues. I reported on the progress of multi-stakeholder learning teams I was using to do the environment scan for a strategic plan for a colleague. (for a future blog).
The colleague I had recruited to facilitate one of the learning teams mentioned that a number of the stakeholders had never visited each others’ facilities, even though they often referred clients to each other. So site visits were put on the agenda.
There are many encouraging reports of the wonderful benefits to co-locating nonprofits. But you don’t have to jump all the way to permanent rental arrangements. Like the BatchHaus folks, hanging out together can be good for your organizational health. Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on June 1, 2010 in Big ideas, Good reads
Despite our incredibly full work schedules, Jon and I actually spent a weekend away from work. The weather was just gorgeous, sunny and warm, and even the downpour Saturday night couldn’t spoil our much needed respite.
I finally pulled those weeds and planted the last of the veggies and annuals I’ve been staring at for the last week. I accomplished my first bike trek over 25 miles this spring on the East Bay Bike Path — I finished 30 and even had a few more miles in me, really I did, but those two flat tires within minutes ended the trip for me. Thanks to instant service from Legend Bicycle, a mere $11.60 for a new tube, rim tape and installation and I’m back in the saddle.)
Throughout the weekend I’ve been using some of my leisure time to catch up on the stack of magazines and newsletters piling up at home and in the office. And in doing so I’ve been reminded why it is so critical to take time out from the work. What applicable gems of information I’ve been missing!
The Spring/Summer magazine, Land & People, of the Trust for Public Land led with a fascinating story about an innovative collaboration among five conservation groups inspired by two of their donors. The groups have come together as the Northern Sierra Partnership to share “strategy, leadership – and most unusually donors and funding — to prioritize and execute conservation projects across a five-million-acre swath mountains.”
I’m always on the lookout for examples of great collaborations, with a special eye for fundraising partnerships. These groups believe that by working together they will raise more money than any of them could on their own — in this case, Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on April 9, 2010 in Better Boards, Big ideas, Strategic Thinking
With the extremely poor financial condition that states are experiencing and the coming wave of dramatic cutbacks in state and local funding of services delivered through nonprofits (one colleague noted close to 15 nonprofits on the financial brink in her Florida community), one would think that boards would crave new thinking around program delivery, organizational structure, partnership or cost reduction.
But a conversation yesterday brought back to me a dynamic that I’ve been observing for many years: the role of boards as conservators.
A little background.
Yesterday I made my bi-annual trek to life portfolio company New Directions to discuss life in the nonprofit sector with their clients. New Directions clients are accomplished people in business or the professions who are designing the next stage of their life journeys.
My portion of the conversation was “The rewarding and confounding world of the nonprofit sector,” which is partly nonprofit 101 and partly DEEP THOUGHTS.
A fellow “interpreter of the sector” was the Executive Director of a capacity building (smallish, $500K budget) nonprofit. He mentioned that for the last two years he had been a co-executive director, a leadership team that resulted from a merger. He mentioned that the other ED was winding up his term and he would soon be the sole ED. When I asked how the co-directorship worked for him, he shared he really liked the arrangement, but his Board just wasn’t comfortable with the shared leadership model.
Boards as Conservators
At first a bit surprised by this tale, it reminded me that many boards are naturally suited to their role as conservators.
Here I’m using conservator in its definition as someone who conserves or keeps safe. Like a custodian, guardian, or protector.
The words we use to describe board duties — like prudent, loyalty, care, fiduciary — imply moderation and caution. Another word I might use would be “conservative.”
In my experience, most Boards of Directors are loathe, and rightfully so, to take big risks. In their conservator role, boards put the breaks on reckless spending. Because boards usually reflect the mindset of the communities they serve, they often restrain choices, decisions or actions Read More >>
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Posted by Jon Howard on November 17, 2009 in Big ideas, Effectiveness
Last week, I attended the Social Enterprise Rhode Island Summit, a project of Social Venture Partners of Rhode Island. I came with a chip on my shoulder.
The term “social enterprise” has swept the non-profit world. Everyone from startups to the old dinosaurs of the public service world now claim to be “social entrepreneurs.” It’s a great style statement. Just tell me: what does it mean?
What’s the harm in a buzzword? For one, hoopla about “innovative, market-based models” gives business and government more cover for starving health care, education and other critical social investments of the real resources they need. Be that as it may, the SERI Summit knocked the chip off my shoulder with its energy, optimism, good will and some really smart solutions to problems described by featured panelists.
Who could be grumpy about Hippowater International, a cool low-tech solution to the huge burdens that fetching water imposes on women and girls around the world? Who would not admire Rajiv Kumar’s clever use of peer pressure to mass-market healthy exercise through Shape Up Rhode Island or the way his group’s leveraged the market value of the mission to underwrite national impact? What child of the Sixties wouldn’t be charmed by John Abram’s stories about South Mountain, the employee-owned design and construction company he founded?
What else I loved about this summit:
- Lots of stories, lots of ages, lots of perspectives.
- A big, lively crowd – 200? 300? More? – full of people I knew and didn’t know.
- Just enough slack in the schedule for random encounters.
- Lots of energy and curiosity and a refreshing lack of certainty.
- Mashups: new-tech/no-tech, for-profit/non, thinkers/doers.
The conference moderators frankly refused to define social enterprise. (Check here for Wikipedia’s definition, or this one, from the British government’s Office of the Third Sector). Instead we heard a wide range of ideas and stories from people who put themselves under this big umbrella. Here are some common threads I captured:
- Problem-solving
- Profit-seeking
- Social mission
- Innovative, inventive, creative
- Values design
- High- and low-tech solutions
- Focus on cost reduction
- Bias for data
- No “conventional wisdom”
A list isn’t a definition and none of these are qualities are exclusive to “social enterprises.” Lots of the organizations that presented looked like regular old, resourceful, dedicated and professional nonprofits to me. But, there’s no denying that this was a different crowd with a different vibe than you’ll find at conferences called by the Association for Fundraising Professionals, the Rhode Island Foundation or the United Way, all still vital centers of learning and support for nonprofits
I still think that the lack of serious, well-directed investment capital, not a shortage of clever ideas, is the chief barrier to moving the national needle on education, among other critical needs. Social entrepreneurs won’t get the job done if they settle for praise and token funding. But I’m now more hopeful that a generation of who speak a business dialect and live in an enterprise culture could really generate or attract that investment.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on November 3, 2009 in Big ideas, Tidbits
“Nearly half of children will be on food stamps” read the headline on page B4 of my newspaper this morning. You can read more about it here.
I have to say, I was pretty shocked at the findings. The paper was reporting a study by Mark Rank of Washington University and his Cornell University colleague Thomas Hirschl. It went on to say that “90% of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood.”
Then I turned the page and read an editorial explaining why I shouldn’t be upset about huge compensation packages for Wall Street Traders. After all, “Wall Street professionals… lost a lot more money than Main Street did.”
Right.
Then a story came on the radio that the president of our local Ivy League University earned $800,000 last year. That put her below the over $1 million in compensation received by her peers at 23 other private colleges, as reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Chronicle of Higher Education also reported that over 58 private colleges now charge over $50,000 per year for tuition, room and board. For a family of four to be eligible for food stamps, their take home pay has to be less than $22,000 a year. according to that food stamp report.
For many, myself included, a college education was the path to a better income. But today, over two-thirds of college students graduate with debt averaging over $20,000.
Even in this recession, colleges continue to raise tuition and fees to their students – and that includes the public colleges of cash strapped states. The college graduation rate of black students nationwide is 43%, though much higher at those ivy leagues. But then again, I have to wonder how that breaks out by income of students enrolled as many lower and middle class students can’t afford private colleges and 3/4 of all African American students are enrolled at state universities, according to a 2007 article in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
“Income inequality is at an all time high.” Nonprofit income inequality is also shocking.
Education is touted as the solution.
I still ask: How much is enough? What do we owe each other?
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