Open Thread Thursday 1.28.10

Hello,

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Donate to Haiti

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Anything would be appreciated

Hi, my name is evan. I live in Montgomery, Alabama. I've been thinking about the following question.

Howard Zinn once argued that in order for President Obama to be a president who implents substantive progressive change, he will need a national movement in the country capable of demanding such policies of he and his administration.

Given 1) the financial disparity between financial institutions+their political bedfellows and social justice advocates; 2) IRS tax restrictions regulating the behavior of many social justice oriented groups; 3) the general disconnect between some non-profit/social justice group leaders/members and the Democratic party; 4) the absence of a powerful and progressive national third party, and 5) the rules of Congress and our various state legislatures, how do we who work for social justice groups help shift the people within our local spheres of influence enough to pass policies that yield the greatest possible benefits to working-poor, unemployed, and marginalized people, while also working to do the same on a national scale?


I really love your blog. thank you for all you do.

Thanks for this question, Evan (didn't we meet in Atlanta last year?). I think it's a powerful one, and one that has and will continue to plague those of us who work for social justice. One example this question brings to mind is when there was talk of using charity subsidies to help pay for healthcare reform. Some national nonprofit groups were all up in arms, publicly stating that they were against that policy because it would cut into benefits for donors to nonprofits. I couldn't believe it. At the expense of healthcare reform (which *does* impact the people we serve), some folk were only interested in how it *might* impact their organization's donations in the future. So all I can say is, we have a long way to go.

I want to chime in and agree with the points that both Rosetta and Maryjane made. I found that in my org., I was able to make much more change and take more action after I had gained the trust of my boss but also my peers, who were more cooperative towards new ideas once they'd "vetted" me, which I think is something everyone goes through at a new org, non-profit or not. I also found that oftentimes something I was suggesting had already been tried, or was not possible within the current infrastructure, which were things that had not been readily apparent to me in my first few weeks, months, and even the first year; in fact, I am still learning my organization's history in regards to administration, leadership, etc. I also found that, (and maybe this is not a problem for you but it was for me because I'm very much a "big picture" person), that I had to take my long list of ideas and break it down into what was most imperative to implement as soon as possible, and what could wait, and then stagger these ideas/attempts to implement them, because while change is good, people have a plethora of opinions and attitudes towards it and sometimes you have to respect that in order to successfully implement it.
I hope this was helpful!

Thanks Rosetta and Mary Jane!

Well, this article has got some folks ALL up in arms today. Foundations' Four Biggest Faux Pas: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/142/do-something-we-really-need-to-talk.html

What do y'all think?

OK, had to allow cookies for it to load. anyhoo...

I didn't think the tone was as bad as some of the commentors seemed to think, and I think the points she makes are valid ones. It's a dance, with one side having all the power and control and the other trying to learn the steps to make the powerful partner happy.

Can't get the page to load; keeps counting down an ad in the upper-right corner and starts count over again. Tried in two browsers so far. What's it about?

I just posted an update on my twitter last night that I wish I could release my fustrations about my nonprofit org without getting fired and I feel pretty comfortable here.

I am new to the nonprofit sector as of January 2009. I would like to share my blog, www.aheartforchange.blogspot.com where I promote social change and action in Baltimore City and it is a work in process as I grow in the nonprofit sector and learn more about myself. Anyway, I have a question.

1. How do you gain the support of your co-workers who have been in the nonprofit sector longer than you when you are trying to implement positive change?

Thanks for allowing this space for me to vent and also Rosetta you are a true inspiration to me and I appreciate all you do for young nonprofit leaders like myself. I look forward to meeting you when you come to Enoch Pratt Central Library in Baltimore!

Listen to them, hear them out. They may not be getting behind you on the changes you're suggesting for many reasons. You didn't say if this was a system change or something little like ditching Dewey Decimal, but it applies to chagnes all along the spectrum of micro to macro.

- Was the change tried before, but failed? if so, why did it fail? Did it leave such a bad taste that there's no motivation to go down that road again?

- Is what you see as a change really the way it used to be at one point? I was excited about an initiative to move from large, centralized agency offices to community-based satellites; the AED at my agency laughed and explained that in our field, the pendulum regularly swings between centralizing and satellites, and that if I stayed in the field another 20 years I would see it swing back again, touted as a "new innovation."

- What are the barriers to change, and just how big are they? Is it a director whose toes will get stepped on? Is it a local regulation that needs to be changed or, worse yet, a state or federal law that bans this particular change? Sometimes the changes are things others have already tried to make but were blocked by various Powers That Be, or by consequences/ramifications either from within or outside the system that you might not know about.

Don't research these questions independently, actively seek and talk to the people who have been around. This way you get the back story AND you show interest/respect for your more-experienced coworkers who won't be as quick to toss your ideas aside later on.

I had the same frustrations when I first came into the nonprofit sector. At one point, I worked with a much, much older lady who seemed to know very little about managing an organization. She reminded me of my grandmother. I knew there were many changes that needed to be made, but I also realized that she would never listen to me until she knew she could trust me. After several lunches and long conversations about her daughters, she finally started to trust me and listen to the changes I wanted to make. My takeaway from that experience was that you have to get to know people on a personal level and build that trust before you come in and try to change things. Especially with older or more experienced folks.