Fellow blogger Pam Ashlund over at Nonprofit Eye is shutting down her blog. The pressures or powers that be have led her to stop writing under her real name for fear her sharp and truthful commentary about the nonprofit sector could negatively impact her career. But that’s why I liked Pam’s writing so much, her ability to keep it real with no “spin”, no sugarcoating the issues out there.
Here’s the insight: I’m a satirist at heart. I’m not cut out for writing the dry stuff. Whenever I write something from the heart I feel my work reputation disintegrating before my eyes. On my other blog, I write whatever I’m musing about. On both, I don’t write under a pseudonym. In other words, I put myself out there. On that other blog, last week, I received a number of threatening comments. The anonymous (of course) commenter pointed out that I was pretty stupid to make it so easy to identify myself and (the scary part) where I live.Needless to say I took the pictures of the front of my building down that night. But I realized that I worked hard to create a very specific web identity and that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea…At least not under my own name.During my job search I put all that on hold and reigned in my ramblings. The Nonprofit Eye was turning into a plain vanilla accounting and compliance reference site. What this means is it is time for a transformation but first a transition. I’ll be shutting down the “Eye” at the end of March. It’s been a good run, but it’s time to be moving on. I’ll leave the site up for a while and then move the good stuff over to my website (www.nonprofiteye.com).
And then the transformation. I will reappear sometime, but not under my favorite (real) name. I’ll have to join the world of (depending on your perspective) cowards or smart people. Either way, I won’t have to edit my sharper thoughts for fear of repercussions at work; and more importantly, I will be able to say what it is I want to say, in my own voice, even if not under my own name. Hopefully some of your will recognize the reincarnated voice and continue along with me on my written journey.
And this is the fear I think many bloggers have way deep in the back of their minds. One day something I write could get me in trouble. But then the revolutionary part of us rises up and says, “frankly I don’t give a damn,” and I will say what needs to be said. My heart dropped into my shoes a few months ago when I wrote the post, “Philanthropy Doesn’t Care About Black People” over at the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog. I was worried about people’s reactions, but my need to voice my opinion on the lack of racial diversity in the sector was much greater than my need to people-please. And what happened? It was the most-read post on the SSIR blog in 2007, and was quoted in a recent Nonprofit Quarterly article by Jeanne Bell. What kind of sector are we where we can’t have a voice? If we are indeed the ‘Independent Sector’, where is our independence? That’s supposed to be what separates us from government and business, remember? It’s not just our tax-exempt status that makes nonprofits special. We are supposed to be the sector where our only special interests are the people and communities we serve. But I tell you one thing, the day that anybody tries to shut me down from writing what I know and feel on this blog, there will be trouble. Because a sector that tries to censor me is a place I definitely don’t want to be. And that’s real.
We will miss Pam’s sharp Nonprofit Eye, but please be sure to look for her around the blogosphere. I’m sure she’ll pop up with more content than ever, albeit under a pseudonym.




