Hi everyone, I’m having a virtual book launch event on February 25th at 10am Pacific Time. It’s free, open to everyone, and auto-captions will be enabled. There will be giveaways, quick interviews with a few leaders featured in the book, and a reading by brilliant and hilarious drag artist Viper Fengz. Details and registration here.
This week is Valentine’s Day, truly one of the worst holidays ever. Single people feel like crap; partnered people feel pressured to make the day special. The only good thing about Valentine’s Day is the chocolates that will be on sale the day after, which I have set calendar reminders for. Love and romance, however, are important, so here’s a blog post I wrote a while ago with “12 Dating Tips for Nonprofit Professionals,” including Tip 4: Be the easel paper, not the sticky dots; aka, be the hummus, not the pita chips.
I’m thinking about love and relationships because there are parallels to our sector. Recently a colleague sent a message to ask me:
“Is the nonprofit model outdated? In an industry flush with passionate and hard-working professionals, clearly something isn’t working for us, and I just wonder if it’s structural. If it is, what comes next?”
This is a question that many of us ask ourselves from time to time. And who can blame us. The sector is rife with challenges: Lack of funding, poor compensation, few benefits, burnout, office rat problems, crappy chairs, annoying donors, horrible reimbursement rates from government, funders’ shenanigans, and so on.
I love our sector, AND I think it is easy to get into an unhealthy co-dependent relationship with it, where identities are merged, and we’re unable to set boundaries or see clearly and objectively.
I think a part of the problem is that we romanticize the sector too much. I’m still arguing with people, for instance, who are adamant that it is ok for nonprofit professionals to be asked to donate to the same organizations that employ them. I argue that this practice is gross and unethical, due to the power dynamics involved, and I get the push back that everyone should be “passionate” about their work and their organization, and if one is “passionate,” then why wouldn’t one want to help as much, and in every way, as possible?
The romanticizing is also done by funders, donors, board members, and the public, who insist that those who do this “noble” work should do so out of the goodness of their hearts, and thus should be OK with poor compensation, because the work itself is so intrinsically “rewarding.”
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