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 Tell-a-friend! | Bankers’ Sleight Of Hand Robbing The Charitable SectorBy Paul Clolery Perhaps the charitable sector should start promoting itself as an all-purpose scrubbing cleanser or palate-neutralizing sorbet. Judges have long sentenced those before them to wash their societal sins clean by “volunteering.” The financial industry is now taking its cue from those imposed acts of indentured servitude by working to mandate top executives give more of their record paychecks and bonuses to charity. There’s nothing wrong with giving to charity -- if it’s your money to give. Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street financial giant bailed out with federal tax dollars, is the latest to announce it will require as yet #ff0000 “top” executives to give more to charity. Perhaps if all of the taxpayer Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout money were given back, charities wouldn’t need the funding. TARP allows the United States Department of the Treasury to purchase or insure up to $700 billion of “troubled assets.” Banks and financial institutions can’t recoup losses incurred on those packaged troubled assets. The idea is that once trading of the sour assets resumes, prices will stabilize and ultimately increase in value, bringing gains to the financial institutions and taxpayers. Don’t hold your breath. With unemployment at more than 10 percent and projected to be more than 8 percent through 2012, taxpayers are going to waiting for a long, long time. It’s theatre of the absurd at its finest, just as Samuel Beckett imagined in his Waiting for Godot, when Estragon announces he is hungry and Vladimir produces an unsatisfying carrot.
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| | Management …
Getting a comparative advantage If, as Woody Allen contends, much of success is just showing up, then for nonprofits a great deal of showing up lies in spreading awareness that the organization exists and that it offers something unavailable elsewhere. In his chapter “Market Engagement and Competition,” which appears in the book “Wise Decision-Making in Uncertain Times,” published by the Foundation Center, Kevin P. Kearns writes of having a comparative advantage, that is, having an edge over rivals in securing customers and defending against competitive forces.
Kearns takes that concept, seen in for-profits, and explains how it can be applied to nonprofits by answering a few questions: - Does the organization possess certain demonstrable strengths that can help it seize an existing or emerging opportunity in the external environment? If yes, the organization enjoys a comparative advantage with respect to that opportunity.
- Does the organization possess certain demonstrable strengths that can help it avoid or mitigate existing or emerging threats in the external environment? If yes, the organization should try to mobilize those strengths as quickly as possible.
- Does the organization have certain weaknesses that are preventing it from seizing existing or emerging opportunities in the external environment? If yes, the organization can try to turn its weaknesses into strengths, divest them or seek an alliance in order to compensate.
- Does the organization have certain weaknesses that make it especially vulnerable to existing or emerging threats in the external environment? If yes, the organization must try to identify a damage-control strategy.
| Grants …
Collaboration can help win fundingGetting a grant can be a rewarding, if extremely complicated, achievement. Just filling out the paper work correctly can be an arduous task. So, why bring in extra baggage when trying to secure a grant? In their book “The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need,” Ellen Karsh and Arlen Sue Fox offer advice on finding partners and building coalitions in seeking grants. Getting a grant involves having the right people with the right attitudes and the right expertise and knowledge at the table. And, “at the table” is supposed to mean many different organizations support an idea, but in fact they might be doing nothing to demonstrate that support. True collaboration, they say, means coming in with an open mind and a commitment to solving a problem in an honest way. They address the following questions: - Why is collaboration so important? First, the more people with expertise and diverse viewpoints, the more likely that a high-quality solution will be developed. Second, the more individuals involved, the more individuals who will support the cause.
- What makes collaboration so difficult? Leaving behind preconceptions or long-held beliefs is difficult. Tested views can be especially hard to adjust.
- The money I'm seeking is barely enough for my program. Why share it? Remember that collaboration min the sector must be a way of life, not just a grant response.
- We provide all the services called for. Why do we need a partner? You need one because often funders are looking for results that a single entity cannot provide..
| Finance …
Here are the real economic indicators
While the Jobless Recovery hums along at a rapid clip, people look and wonder where it will end. Trying to make ends meet, gets tougher as those ends seem to move farther apart.
Everybody’s selling, nobody’s buying, but it’s a bull market for people writing about the politicians’ inability to order lunch for more than two people. Where will it all end?
Some retailers report slightly brighter news, but until people feel confident and secure, happiness is much further than just around the corner. Meanwhile, talking heads will babble about the economic indicators. Interestingly, several areas of the nonprofit sector offer their own versions of economic indicators, as mentioned in the January-February issue of “AARP Bulletin.” The organization polled several random individuals to get a look at when they will know the recession is over. Several answers were offered tongue in cheek, but they give interesting insights. I’ll know the recession is over when: - “The line at the church for assistance at the food bank is shorter.” -- Robert Bogan, volunteer church administrator, Fort Washington, Md.
- “We don’t receive 75 job applications for one open position.” -- Alicia Munnell, executive director, Center for Retirement Research, Boston College.
- “I become first in line at the stroke of noon at our local thrift shop and the pickin’s are more like they were two years ago.” -- Joy Cadden, handbag designer, Millville, Del.
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