We've gotten to the point where we now have more than 1 million 501-c-3's in our country. In fact, Giving USA reports that in 2005 we had 1,045,979 organizations registered under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. That reflected an increase of 35,584 organizations from just the previous year! Think of it: 35,000 new, fresh ideas of how to serve humankind; 35,000 individuals who have the courage and the fortitude and the personal resources to found a new charitable organization; 35,000 boards that must be formed; 35,000 new funderaising mailings per year (if we're lucky they only mail once a year!); and 35,000 more auctions, golf outings and awards dinners for us to go to! What an opportunity!
It seems good ideas abound everywhere! Well, need abounds just about everywhere, too, doesn't it? It's part of the human condition. Especially if a person finds they are close to or involved in some personal tragedy. A good friend has children who can't read; the family member died of a rare illness; the people in the next section of town don't have enough for Christmas; the artist is not properly supported and recognized; the driver was drinking and killed someone. And there are always the hungry, the homeless, and the ever-present poor.
Not that I'm a heartless person. My heartstrings vibrate with human needs, misery and want just as much as those of the next person. But maybe I'm jaded because I've seen too many innocent attempts to put together nonprofits that are designed to bring short-term, band-aid solutions to situations that are by nature systemic and complicated, and causes that have been and remain intractable problems of human existence. If you want to make a significant difference in these kinds of problems, you'd better get prepared to go fight Goliath!
The story I hear most often has to do with the fact that the founder of the organization saw a need, looked around at his/her own experience, training, talents, and resources and said "I can/should/would/could help that situation." That person then decides to act on that impulse and get started alleviating the need: putting together Christmas baskets, advocating for more research to be done, planning the exhibition, teaching people to read or whatever needs to be done.
"I can help the situation," turns into "I can do this and this and that." which turns into "Let's get going and get it done," which leads to "let's go through whatever it takes to set it up so people can give and get a tax deduction," and so forth. There's a kind of reflexive movement from the personal in-touchness with need, right over to taking action on the problem, doing something about it. In the rush, people tend to skip over a lot of thinking and planning steps that will make the charity more effective down the road.
That's the American way, of course, and a lot of charities that exist today wouldn't be here if it weren't for that kind of direct logic train that isn't stopped by the need to think through and plan, but just moves ahead to action and results. This is nothing if not a direct reflection of how we tend to handle a lot of things in our society. American business has been built largely on that kind of model. We have the saying "build it and they will come."
So, if we have a good idea about alleviating human need, we're not going to sit around and "ponder the imponderables," we're going to act on impulse, see what happens, see if we get results, see if we can make a difference in people's lives. And, if we can, then we feel such a tremendous sense of personal self-satisfaction that our next step is to make the effort to institutionalize it We want to feel that sense of achievement and satisfaction more often! It feels good. Let's have more of it!
It's a great start; the echo of many a business, many a charity, that has produced good results from which all of us benefit. No doubt about it. But the problem I want to point to here is what I and others have called "Founder-itis" in nonprofits. These are situations where the founder continues, often as the executive director, long past the point when the time has come to step aside and let others take over. It's a condition that, eventually, brings the effectiveness of these organizations to a standstill, wastes a tremendous amount of good effort and intention, and produces nothing in return but heartache and headache.
Founder-itis doesn't plague every nonprofit by any means. But in my practice I've had numerous opportunities to view firsthand the problems it causes. I certainly will admit that in my work I see and help those whose organizations are in trouble more often than I am in touch with the organizations that deal with their founders successfully. So this is my bias based on experience. But I think there are helpful lessons to be learned here about the growth and governance of nonprofit organizations, thus the new direction of this blog.
More this afternoon…
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