A thought occurred to me today, as I was reading a post from yet another well-meaning business person wanting to donate his skills to a “nonprofit” because those “poor nonprofits” so badly need business skills.Well-meaning. Patronizing. Maddening.
We all see varying degrees of this in individuals and institutions who speak from their self-appointed place of wisdom to teach us “poor nonprofits” how the big kids do stuff.
We know they mean well, but still we feel defensive, angry. We think things like,
“You want to teach us? We accomplish more with a single dollar than you could accomplish with ten times that amount!”
We think, “You think we don’t know what we’re doing? You try this job and see how long you last, Mr. I’ve-Made-A-Million-Bucks-So-I’m-Obviously-Smarter-Than-You.”
We think, “Another savior in a suit? Didn’t we have one of those mess up everything last year? Now we need another one?”
We think all kinds of defensive, how-dare-you, put-upon thoughts.
And what do we say in return? Mostly we say, “Thank you. We would love to have your help. We appreciate everything you are doing for us.”
Time to Look in the Mirror
I learned a long time ago that what I find annoying in others is something I am probably doing myself. The more annoying I find it, the more I’m likely to be doing the same thing.
I learned a long time ago that what I find annoying in others is something I am probably doing myself. The more annoying I find it, the more I’m likely to be doing the same thing.
And so maybe it’s because my podcast interview with Brett McNaught from buildOn is still fresh in my mind.
Or maybe it’s because I’ve been reading The Revolution Will Not Be Funded,
a compilation of unabashedly radical essays that suggest the only road to change is by the people themselves.
a compilation of unabashedly radical essays that suggest the only road to change is by the people themselves.Or maybe it’s because last week’s #NPCons twitter chat was about Working from Abundance. And that for ninety minutes, some of the smartest people I know talked about what it means to build on the strengths of our communities, the strengths of our consulting clients, the strengths of ourselves as consultants.
Or maybe it’s because one of the people in that #NPCons chat was Dan Duncan, a faculty member of the Asset Based Community Development Institute – the organizational heir of Saul Alinsky’s work.
Or maybe it’s the workshop I taught in Phoenix last week, focused entirely on community engagement as the road to sustainability of mission and vision. Maybe it’s the effect of watching 70 people in one of the most conservative cities in the whole U.S.A. - many of them professional fundraisers - become excited, even if only for a moment, about community organizing as the only logical road to lasting community change (and lasting program stability).
Whatever it is, it has hit me that many (most?) organizations treat our communities precisely the way we resent being treated by those well-meaning but glaringly out-of-touch business people.
WordPlay
To test my theory, let’s change just the person speaking in my opening scenario, and see if that shoe doesn’t fit. Imagine that I am not a consultant or the founder of an organization resenting the intrusion of business people who think they know it all.
To test my theory, let’s change just the person speaking in my opening scenario, and see if that shoe doesn’t fit. Imagine that I am not a consultant or the founder of an organization resenting the intrusion of business people who think they know it all.
Imagine instead I am a neighborhood person living in a “low income barrio neighborhood.”
I was reading a note from yet another well-meaning organization wanting to bring their skills to the neighborhood because we “poor people” so badly need help.
I know they mean well, but I got so angry! I thought, “You want to teach me? I accomplish more with a single dollar than you could accomplish with ten times that amount!”
I thought, “You think we don’t know what we’re doing? You try to live our lives every day, and see how long you last, Ms. I-Have-A-Degree-In-Social-Work-So-I’m-Obviously-Smarter-Than-You.”
I thought, “Another savior in a suit? Didn’t we have one of those mess up everything last year? Now we need another one?”
I confess, I thought all kinds of defensive, how-dare-you, put-upon thoughts.
And what did I say in return? I said what we always say. “Thank you. We would love to have your help. We appreciate everything you are doing for us.”
Just as we resent being told by the business world how to do our work, perhaps it’s time we take a good long look in the mirror.
The communities we “serve” – is that what they need? Do they need us to come in and “help” and “serve”? Has that created lasting change?
Or do they instead need someone who can help them see their own strengths – just one among many other resources they use to build their own lives?
For me it comes down to a statement that has haunted me since I read it in The Revolution Will Not Be Funded.
.“Instead of imagining domestic violence survivors who could organize on their own behalf, antiviolence organizations viewed them only as clients in need of services.”
And isn’t this what we resent the business world for?
Again, let’s rephrase and see if the shoe fits:
Instead of imagining Community Benefit Organizations who can effectively work and thrive on their own behalf, business people see only “nonprofits” in need of service.
Physician Heal Thyself
I have written quite a bit about community engagement.
I have written quite a bit about community engagement.
I have written that the tokenism approach boards take regarding “diversity” is really a symptom of a lack of deep engagement – that if the Community were creating the programs WITH an organization, that the issue of diversity would magically disappear, as community members would BE the organization.
I have written about my own personal experience, repeated so many times over the years, where “low income” community members provide financial support for a service they feel is theirs, feel provides them with something they need and want. We saw it when we built and ran the Diaper Bank in Tucson – school kids on the “poor” side of town raising more money in pennies than kids on the “rich” side of town raised in $10’s and $20’s.
Which leads me back to the realization I had long ago – that what I find annoying in others is something I am probably doing myself. As we consider what it feels like to resent the well-meaning but patronizing business person who believes he knows better than we do, perhaps it is time to consider how much of those same assumptions and behaviors we are guilty of ourselves.
Photo: “Do I Do That?” shot at Fleur’s Cafe, Moeraki, New Zealand
