This is the final post in a series exploring new leadership for a new nonprofit sector. Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss future articles!

What kinds of nonprofit leaders do we need now in order to effect social change? Real social change? The most obvious piece of the puzzle seems to have gone missing as most Baby Boomers stopped raising hell decades ago.

Standing up for what we believe in. Being the steadfast rallying cry for positive change and justice in this country, instead of only getting riled up when our donations are threatened. Funding (or the fear of losing it) has turned many organizations from pitbull watchdogs into whining poodles. (Nothing against poodles! But let’s be real, is anyone really afraid of them?) So, the question for nonprofit leaders today is this: Do the people you serve need pitbulls or poodles?

In other words, does your cause need more Courageous Advocates? Probably yes.

Who Are Courageous Advocates?

Courageous Advocates are those staff, board members and volunteers who live by the motto “by any means necessary” when it comes to the mission. They may or may not have a hidden tattoo of a raised fist somewhere on their body. Courageous Advocates know that for nonprofits, service is not enough. They believe that organizations must serve AND advocate for policy changes to improve the system for everyone, especially the least fortunate. They are willing to fight for what they believe in, even if it involves sticking it to The Man (strategically, of course). Courageous Advocates can be frightening to many nonprofits who are afraid of pissing influential people off, because they don’t blindly follow or respect people in positions of influence – their only agenda is social change. Many Courageous Advocates have the following quote (or a similar one) memorized or embedded in their email signature:

 Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary. - Dr. Martin Luther King

Some examples of Courageous Advocates I’ve seen in the Washington DC, area include the “Think Twice Before You Slice” campaign bringing together nonprofit associations to urge elected officials to think more deeply about the needs of residents in how the budget gets put together as well as a community group called Save Our Safety Net DC. Nonprofit leaders putting their necks on the line to join with community activists for collective action toward real change!

Courageous Advocates Are Not…

• Afraid of telling the truth (they realize the importance of speaking truth to power)
• In it for the limelight or media attention (they don’t go out and start a ruckus just because they think it will help their run for office in the future)
• Satisfied with merely putting a band-aid on bigger issues (they want real, lasting solutions and are willing to work for them)

How Do You Find Your Courageous Advocates?

• Notice which of your staff, volunteers, or board members come up with outreach ideas that scare you. The ones who want to lobby and plan rallies and sit-ins to get the attention of elected officials? They can be essential to your mission.
• Recruit people with a background in activism or social justice. Many young people or Boomers come to nonprofits to bring back their youthful fire for massive change. Seek them out.
• Expand your network to engage with longtime grassroots volunteers and nonprofit leaders. Ones who work in the communities you serve. They will have unique insight on what really needs to happen to improve the system in which you work.

How to Support Courageous Advocates

 
You can find the rest of the articles in this series here: New Leadership for a New Nonprofit Sector.

This is the fourth post in a series exploring new leadership for a new nonprofit sector. Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss future articles!

What kinds of nonprofit leaders do we need now in order to effect social change? Real social change? High on my list are people who understand the value of diversity and want to leverage it for ruthless innovation. We’ve been talking about diversity for awhile, but have yet to lift up the real issues involved in using it as a tool for change.

First off, I should point out that for most conversations about diversity in the nonprofit sector, diversity is actually the wrong word. Many dialogues are really about social or racial justice (why are there so many white people serving communities full of people of color) versus talking about how organizations can utilize diversity as a path toward greater impact in the community.

So before we go any further, let’s get clear on what I mean by about diversity, guided by the following definitions from Joe Gerstandt:

1. Diversity means difference.
2. Inclusion is a system’s capacity to include difference.

When you strip diversity down to the barest and most literal of all definitions, it just means difference. Nothing more, nothing less. There are different types of difference (like race, age, gender, etc.) but the word diversity itself simply means difference.

And the thing about difference? Where there are two or more people gathered, we already have it. What organizations need to do now is consider which types of differences really matter to the work.

We need Ambassadors of Diversity. Why? Look at the facts, Jack.

Nearly 90% of employees believe that their organization values diversity. However, more than 70% believe that their employer does not do enough to create a diverse and inclusive work environment.

Who Are Ambassadors of Diversity?

Ambassadors of Diversity are your staff and board members who are always asking questions in meetings like: “Who else needs to be at the table?” or “Whose voice is not being represented here?” and “Who have we not heard from?” They see difference as a positive attribute in organizations, not a negative force to be stamped out. Ambassadors of Diversity feel that it’s important for everyone’s voice to be heard, even if those voices are not all in agreement. They can be annoying because their questions make everyone take time to sit back and think, or even change course, which slows down decisionmaking. Ambassadors of Diversity go beyond the quota mindset and understand the power that different perspectives can have in helping your organization truly fulfill its mission.

Ambassadors of Diversity Are Not…

• People who shy away from talking about touchy subjects like race, age or gender
• Staff members who do everything they can to minimize difference in the organization
• People who are tied to rules, policy and tradition (they understand that diversity disrupts the status quo)

The Biggest Source of Untapped Nonprofit Leadership

For a while, there was a lot of buzz and energy around the idea of a leadership crisis in our sector. But I think most of us are realizing that the crisis is not that we don’t have enough people to lead, but we’re not actively supporting the people who do want to take on leadership roles in nonprofits, no matter what their age, race, etc. So we’re moving from crisis to action in many respects, which is great. But the biggest action step for current nonprofit leaders is that they need to be strong enough to honor diversity and give different types of people the space to lead.

The biggest source of untapped leadership in nonprofits today? Young people. Generation Y. Millennials. The largest generation alive in America today. Those blasted kids.

Right now, though, there’s not a whole lot of age diversity in the top rungs of nonprofit leadership. BoardSource’s 2010 Nonprofit Governance Index found that only 2 percent of board members (2 percent!) were under 30 years old. In fact, according to Boardsource, 86 percent of board members are over the age of 40. These stats are really important to note because the under 40 age bracket encompasses all of Generation Y, the largest generation behind the Baby Boomers at over 100 million strong. Which means that there are a LOT of young people out there who could be recruited (but are not being recruited) for board service!

Also interesting to note is a follow-up Boardsource report that shed more light on the lack of age diversity on nonprofit boards. Next Generation and Governance Report on Findings showed that nonprofit boards understand the many benefits of having younger members:

• Passion for the mission
• Results-oriented thinking
• Access to new networks and donors
• Fresh perspective on old problems

The coming leadership deficit will force us to hire more and more young people at a time when we need more experience dealing with greater competition and uncertainty. Although every generation fears for the future and thinks that younger leaders won’t be able to take the stress or understand the complexity, somehow they always do.

So, nonprofits need to recognize that young people have always done great things to change this country. Dr. Martin Luther King became an activist at the age of 26, when he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In most nonprofits, there are young, educated, passionate people who are waiting for the chance to prove themselves, but the problem is that the sector does not always see their incredible potential beyond stuffing envelopes or setting up Facebook pages. Ambassadors of Diversity, however, see their possibility and are willing to give younger leaders the chance to make a difference.

The new generation of nonprofit leaders is younger (as well as more racially diverse) than current leaders. And to harness all of this juicy talent, the nonprofit sector will have to learn how to tap into different networks and promote difference (not suppress it) within their organizations.

How Do You Find Your Ambassadors of Diversity?

• Recruit staff, board members and volunteers who maintain an open-minded worldview. People who don’t speak in absolutes, but who are curious about what the future may bring.
• Ask everyone involved with your nonprofit to help you find new voices for the board or new talent to bring on to your staff. The ones who step up to help you expand your organization’s networks are likely Ambassadors of Diversity.
• Join conversations about diversity in the nonprofit sector. Seek out forums where young people, people of color, etc. gather to discuss these issues. Tap them to help you figure out how to honor difference in your own organization.

How to Support Ambassadors of Diversity

You can find the rest of the articles in this series here: New Leadership for a New Nonprofit Sector.

This is the third post in a series exploring new leadership for a new nonprofit sector. Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss future articles!

What kinds of nonprofit leaders do we need now in order to effect social change? Real social change? A report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies gives us another clue.

Their 2010 report, Nonprofits, Innovation, and Performance Measurement: Separating Fact from Fiction describes the record of innovation and performance measurement in the nonprofit sector as well as what obstacles stand in the way of even more effective activity in this area. The report found that while most nonprofits had been able to implement innovation in the past year (over 80 percent), organizations also reported significant challenges, including:

• More than two-thirds of the organizations reported having at least one innovation in the past two years alone that they wanted to adopt but were unable to.
• The vast majority of all respondents attributed their inability to adopt a proposed innovation to lack of funding.
• Especially problematic was respondents’ inability to move promising innovations to scale due to lack of “growth capital,” narrow governmental funding streams, and the tendency of foundations to encourage innovations but then not sustain support for them.

Here we go with the funding again. Using lack of money as an excuse for not being able to make progress is an age-old cop-out that it’s time to finally put to bed. There will NEVER be enough money. Never. And if money could truly fix all of our problems, Warren Buffet would be a hero yes? Bill Gates, too. The truth is, in an increasingly crowded nonprofit environment where competition for resources and community support seems fierce, donors are looking at what kinds of leaders and organizations can fix the problem the best BEFORE they give out the money. And not just individuals, but other philanthropic initiatives like the Social Innovation Fund and crowdsourced funding models. Funders, especially are already hungry for new approaches to social change since clearly the techniques we’ve been using for a hundred years haven’t made enough of a dent on the issues so far.

We need Ruthless Innovators. Not just for the funders. But to serve the world.

Albert Ruesga eloquently states the case for ruthless innovation on a partly tongue-in cheek post on White Courtesy Telephone, Occupy Philanthropy:

WHEREAS TAKEN TOGETHER THE COLLECTIVE ACTIONS OF 90,000+ FOUNDATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE FAILED TO ELIMINATE THE MOST BASIC INJUSTICES IN OUR SOCIETY.

WHEREAS AFTER DECADES OF WORK, FOUNDATIONS HAVE FAILED TO ALTER THE BASIC CONDITIONS OF THE POOR IN THE UNITED STATES.

WHEREAS UNDER THE WATCH OF THESE 90,000+ FOUNDATIONS:

• THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR IN THIS COUNTRY HAS WIDENED
• RACISM, SEXISM, HOMOPHOBIA, AND OTHER FORMS OF BIGOTRY HAVE CONTINUED TO HARM WHOLE COMMUNITIES OF PEOPLE
• THE SAFETY NET FOR THE POOR HAS BEEN SHREDDED
• URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN LEFT TO ROT
• MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE FAILED TO ACQUIRE ACCESS TO QUALITY HEALTH CARE
• LAX LOBBYING AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS HAVE ENCOURAGED INDIVIDUALS AND CORPORATIONS TO BUY POLITICIANS AND MAKE A MOCKERY OF DEMOCRACY IN OUR COUNTRY
• GLOBALIZATION HAS LED TO THE INTENSIFIED DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET, THE EXPLOITATION OF CHEAP LABOR HERE AND ABROAD, AND WEAK LABOR UNIONS

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT THE 99% SHOULD ASK: “WHAT THE **** Y’ALL BEEN DOIN’?” 

WE WANT SOCIAL CHANGE.  BUT ALL AROUND US THERE ARE MOVEMENTS LED BY AVERAGE CITIZENS—IN WISCONSIN, TUNISIA, EGYPT, SYRIA, YEMEN, WALL STREET, BOSTON, NEW ORLEANS!  WE SHOULD BE FALLING OVER OURSELVES TO LEARN FROM THEM!

WHERE ARE OUR VOICES?

WHAT ARE WE GRANTMAKING FOR?

Indeed, it seems like the much of the nonprofit and philanthropic sector has been doing things pretty much the same way for decades with little to no long-term progress in terms of tangible social justice in this country despite the billions of dollars that come into the sector each year.

It used to be popular to say that nonprofits should act more like businesses. But, given what we’ve seen from the for-profit sector over the past few years, we may want to pump the brakes on that and instead look at what works, instead of blindly copying what the corporate world is doing. We’ve been out there looking for “best practices,” when some of the very best ideas can be found right within the people we have in our organizations if we just LET THEM experiment with new ways of doing the work.

We need Ruthless Innovators. 

Who Are Ruthless Innovators?

Ruthless Innovators are those people who are always coming up with new ideas for how your organization might be able to do the work better. They are often among the youngest staff or the newest hires. Ruthless Innovators see the power and possibility in using new technology and networked models for change. They come to your organization to make a difference and are ready and willing to take action outside of their job descriptions to support the work. Ruthless Innovators bring not only a fiery passion for the cause, but a sincere curiosity about how the work gets done and why. They resent being told “we’ve always done it this way” as a tactic for shutting their ideas down. Ruthless Innovators are willing to learn new things as well as teach others, especially if they believe it will benefit the organization or cause.

Ruthless Innovators Are Not…

• Afraid of change (they are OK with disruption)
• Too proud to admit when they’ve made a mistake (they embrace failure as well as success)
• Fans of the status quo (their motto is “if it’s broke, let’s fix it”)
• People who use the phrase “that’s not my job”

How Do You Find Your Ruthless Innovators?

• Notice which of your staff, volunteers, or board members ask the most questions. Curiosity breeds new ideas.
• Recruit people who know they don’t have all the answers. Lifelong learners. Try the people who go to conferences all the time. They likely have a commitment to staying on top of changes within the industry.
• Test the “talkers.” The ones who are always whining about why something isn’t working. Ask them to share their ideas for what could work instead. These conversations can separate the complainers from the innovators. Innovators are willing to do.

How to Support Ruthless Innovators