BrownBag. Lisa Samuelson of ParkerLePla presented thoughts on Integrated Branding for nonprofits. Integrated branding is more than a promotional or design tool such as an ad campaign, logo, or slogan. It touches every aspect of the organization: it includes what your board members say in public, how you design your facility, and what is in your mission statement. It is the promise you keep in all actions, all communications, and all decisions.

Branding is important in the non-profit world because you are competing for donors, dollars, volunteers, and loyalty. Any organization must meet the needs of its customers. Integrated branding allows you to identify what is most valuable to your customers so they can build and maintain your relationship with them, and create a compelling and consistent customer experience. Customer includes but not limited to: potential board members; people served by the organization; donors; volunteers.

Integrated branding is all about finding your promise and how that is carried through. Having a focus on what your organization is, what it does, and what it does well. It should be based on the organization's strength and what the customers value in it. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Focus on what you do now those works and build from there.

Values and Mission are a big part of brand loyalty. It is an emotional attachment. Your brand must appeal to the emotions. Grab them by the head and the heart. Incorporate it into the decision-making process in every way. Then deliver on brand promise with every interaction.

Finding your organization's branding should not be a guess! Start with research. Interview all your constituencies. When conducting brand research it is best conducted on phone vs. e-mail contact. This allows for follow-up questions and open-ended questions.

Search for what is commonly held as valuable among your customers. What do customers see as benefit, It might be a different aspect of what you do than you what you thought. You may know what you do well, but you may find some disconnects. Do you find constituents value you in the same way? What is the intersection of your different constituent communities? If you find confusion, lack of consistency-it is a red flag.

Notes by Sunny Speidel.

ParkerLePla is brand consulting company in Seattle.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue

Schmoozefest. The Featured Nonprofit was Northwest Bookfest. Elenore Mason, director of the Bookfest, talked about their upcoming ninth annual Literary Arts Festival that will take place October 18th and 19th at Sand Point Magnuson Park.

The event features:

• 180 book related exhibits
• New Author forum
• Young Reasers and Writers Area
• Word of Mouth Teen Area
• Teachers Resource Area
• More than 200 local and national authors

For more details see their website at www.nwbookfest.org or the Thursday, October 16, Seattle Times.

The guest speaker was Maria Marsala, president of Elevating Your Business. Maria has experience in both the business and nonprofit world. She shared the importance of creating a Vision Statement for individuals, businesses, organizations and groups. Vision Statements help clarify where you or your organization want to be in the future. They help you to decide what is most important to you or your organization or what you or your organization are best at doing.

For more information on Maria and her thoughts on Vision Statements, visit her website at www.coachmaria.com.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time

Civil Society in Everyday Life. The difference between school board or city council work and being in the legislature, Fred Jarrett said, is accountability.  On a board or council, you can usually point to one or two people who are responsible for each decision.  In contrast, "the legislature is the most effective organization for diffusing responsibility I've ever seen."

Jarrett, who is in his second term representing Mercer Island in Olympia, ought to know.  He has done all three, plus serving as mayor of Mercer Island, chair of the Municipal League, and leader in many other civic efforts during a long career in public service. (His full bio is on the House of Representatives' website.)

The conversation September 16 ranged widely -- from candidate Al Rosellini's promise to build the 520 bridge in six months if elected Governor to the prospects for passage next year of the Regional Transportation Improvement District proposals now being hashed out by local officials.

Jarrett described his efforts to change the way the legislature deals with higher education.  "Some people want to 'reform' the HEC Board," he said. "I want to give the universities and colleges some stretch goals and then negotiate compacts that define clearly what they will do to meet them and how the state will support the effort." An example of what he's looking for might be seen in the "Goals for Higher Education" released earlier this year (and revised in September 2003 for posting online in a .pdf file.)

Jarrett is troubled by repeated evidence that "we live in a cheap society; when we make public investments, we worry about cost, not about value."  A business-school principle he remembers from his days at Seattle University is "you get what you measure."  "Well," he quipped, "the current system measures spending very carefully, so we get very good spending.  If we want results, maybe we should measure results."

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U

BrownBag. There are many reasons for a nonprofit to be interested in investments and financial markets. "The ability of foundations and other grantmakers to support the work of nonprofits is strongly influenced by the performance of their investments," Roy Hamrick of Hamrick Investment Counsel pointed out on August 28, 2003.  For this reason if no other, nonprofits need to understand how these things work. (His slides are available online as a .pdf file.)

Many organizations, though, have a more immediate reason for looking carefully at investments.  These are the organizations that have "excess money on hand that can be used to generate a financial return."  Some of the occasions nonprofits may have for wanting to understand investing are:

• Managing operating reserves and cash flow
• Honoring the conditions on restricted gifts
• Building an endowment
• Generating income to make grants
• Conducting capital campaigns
• Accounting for building funds

The board of directors is ultimately responsible for the stewardship of any investments a nonprofit may have. When the amounts of money are relatively small, the board may meet this responsibility as it coducts its regular business.  But if the amounts involved are larger, then there may be an investment committee of board membes and other volunteers, staff members with investment management duties, and outside investment counsel.

The most important thing for a nonprofit to do when thinking about investments is to develop (and update frequently) an investment policy. An investment policy will specify the goals for the investment program, outline any limits or preferences the organization wants to observe, specify management tasks and standards, schedule reports and reviews, and define the schedule and scope of audits. The investment policy should be adopted by the board with a commitment a schedule for revisiting it as needs and conditions change.

There are many, many options nonprofits can consider for investments.  Roy Hamrick presented a brief overview of the principal kinds of debt and the principal forms of equite that nonprofits use today. Choosing among these options requires a definition of the investment goals of the organization and careto assess the match of assets to needs.

Roy Hamrick suggested Winning the Loser's Game by Charles D. Ellis and Pioneering Portfolio Mangement by David E. Swensen as resources for anyone who wants to explore the many questions that exist about nonprofit investment basics more deeply.  (Buy these books by clicking on the links above; a royalty will be paid to The Evergreen State Society for every book purchased.)

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue

Civil Society in Everyday Life. David Brewster: Why a Two-Newspaper Town Matters Politicians, arts organizations and department stores like it, of course, when there are two strong metropolitan newspapers in a town. Further, the differences in news coverage and editorial opinion help to shape the debate about politicians' performance and public policy questions.  On the other hand, the wide variety of other sources for news and opinions has made the daily newspaper less central; it is no longer true that stories from this morning's paper provide a common starting point for conversations at work or among acquaintances. David Brewster cited commentary in Atlantic Monthly by James Fallows contrasting the "old view" that newspapers have both special privileges and special responsibilities with a "new view" that news is a commodity like any other an the key to success is to find out what news people want to get and then find a way to sell it to them.

20+ years ago, David Brewster led the fight against the joint operating agreement as chair of POINT (People Opposed to a 1 Newspaper Town).He is now the President of Town Hall ; he was founder and, for many years, publisher of the Weekly.

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U

BrownBag. Social Entrepreneurship includes three broad types of activities according to Mark Pomerantz:  "Affirmative" programs designed primarily to secure employment for participants; "Mission Driven" programs generating funds by calling on an organization's core capacities and meeting clients' needs; and "Unrelated" efforts to generate income by extending the organization's work into appropriate activities that can help support its work.

This BrownBag seminar illustrated these three types through brief presentations by Megan Karch of FareStart, Susan Koeller, formerly of the NW Center, Sarah Thomssen, who worked on the plans for the King County Cultural Development Authority, Ray Coleman of Rehabilitation Enterprises of Washington, and Jim Diers, Delridge Neighborhood Association. 

Mark Pomerantz is the Editor/Publisher of Social Enterprise Magazine-Online.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue

Schmoozefest. "Our ratings aren't like other organizations' endorsements," Rebecca Cooper of the Municipal League observed. "If we found a race where we could rate all the candidates 'outstanding,' we would think the community was being very well served."

The Municipal League of King County has been rating candidates for public office in King County for 92 years.  This year, over 150 people running for city councils, school boards, county-wide offices and judicial positions will be rated by four volunteer committees.  Cooper came to the Schmoozefest to encourage people to sign up for these committees.  "You'll be amazed at how your view of politicians changes -- for the better, and sometimes for the worse -- when you see them up close and personal in this candidate evaluation process," she said. To find out more about the League and to learn how to sign up for this and other volunteer activities, Cooper invited people to visit http://www.munileague.org

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time

Civil Society in Everyday Life. "I remember the first time I remodeled a house," recalled Dwight Gee. "If I'd known what I was getting myself in for, I probably never would have started.  The same could be said for the adventure of working with people in Mongolia to help them set up an Arts Council for their country."

Dwight, the Vice President for Community Affairs of ArtsFund, and Bob Ness, an organizational development consultant, have visited Mongolia three times now on this project, working with the Soros Foundation staff in the country and other leaders to provide increased support for the arts and greater stability for arts organizations in this country that was, until recently, part of the Soviet Union. (The snapshot shows Dwight in the foreground, with Bob to his right; listening are Leonard Garment of MOHAI and fundraising consultant Jean Leed.)

"The infrastructure we expect simply does't exist," Bob Ness reported. "There is no law for nonprofit organizations, no idea of a tax-deduction for charitable contributions, no traditions of transparency or grant-making.  Under the Soviet system, all arts activities were controlled by the government and, all too often, 'success' in the arts meant being good at finding the best way to gain the favor of the bureaucrats in the party apparatus."

The goals for the Arts Council include creating structures for individuals and businesses in Mongolia to give support to the arts plus setting up channels for people who want to help from outside the country to make contributions and experience Mongolian arts.  Progress to date can be viewed on the Arts Council's website at http://www.artscouncil.mn/.

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U

NPower "helps nonprofits use technology to better serve their communities." Erica Mills and John Smith from NPower-Seattle described the way NPower works and described some of the resources available on the website.  The conversation turned to a lively exchange comparing the approaches of different membership management, event registration and donation processing software and online services; John Smith steered people to the discussions of these topics on NPower's website (at http://www.npowerseattle.org/tools/npowertoolsindex.htm) and the other presentations linked from there.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time
 

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

BrownBag. Rick Lynch impressed upon his listeners that "an effective volunteer program enables a nonprofit organization to escape from financial constraints" by drawing upon resources from the community that would not be available to it in any other form.  He led participants in the seminar through an exercise identifying the unnecessary ways organizations can make volunteers feel like "outsiders" and then brainstormed with the group practical solutions to these barriers to good management practices.  "'Volunteer' is a payrate, not a species" he pointed out.

Rick Lynch is the author (with Steve McCurley) of  Volunteer Management: Mobilizing All the Resources of the Community. You can order this book through this link to Amazon.com; The Evergreen State Society will receive a royalty based on this sale.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue.
 

Featured Nonprofit: Delridge Neighborhood Development Association (http://www.DNDA.org) with Jim Diers, the ED (helped create the Department of Neighborhoods and is an internationally recognized authority in community-building), described two of DNDA's current Social Enterprise ventures. One is a housing and economic development project involving a renovation of the Cooper School which will create 37 affordable live/work housing units for artists and an arts and cultural center. The second venture aims to employ at-risk youth in a coffee shop created by DNDA and the school-based group called WIL working with Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle in order to make a measureable impact in crime and violence reduction in that neighborhood.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time
 

WIN211 is a campaign to establish the number 211 as a direct link to Information and referral agencies throughout Washington state. Tom Page has the assignment of putting the system in place...dealing with the regulators and the potential content providers. Join him for a conversation about this case study on building stronger connections to community resources.

See http://www.win211.org

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

The Nonprofit Leadership Conference is held each spring in Seattle.
For information about the 2004 conference, check
http://www.evansforum.org/nonprofit early in the year.
 

How do you communicate with your peers, your boss and others in your organization in a way that benefits everyone? Exploration of typical horizontal and vertical communication channels, how they can vary between organizations, and how you can tailor your messages and delivery for maximum impact.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue.
 

“What Makes a Decision Effective?” This topic was discussed in small groups, with answers then shared with the whole group:

Who Made the Decision? Examples: committee, manager, Board, “do-er”/member, everyone who showed up.

With what information? Examples: prior experience, crisis, previous barrier solved/put aside, opportunity for funding, consistency with organization’s mission, referral from committee, profitability.

With what results? Examples: worse/unanticipated outcomes, better use of resources, new way of opportunity, provided needed cash flow.

Models of Decision Making

In the "Rational Model," you look at current state (call it "A"), list reasonable options and examine probability of success for each of them;  then choose one and follow it toward the desired state (call it "B").

How Realistic is the Rational Model?

• Often there is no clear consensus on what current state is (A, A1, A2, etc.)
• Usually there are more options than are immediately apparent, and the information you need to find the best path is much greater than what you have.
• The real set of goals of where people want to go can be very disparate (B, B1, B2, etc.)
• Rational model tends not to introduce determinants about how people feel about work and options. People may have varying emotions about “facts”.
• The decision making process is, in fact, heavily influenced by mood, culture, trends, existing consensus, etc. within an organization.
• There are limited resources (time, energy, etc.) to spend on each stage of the decision making process. The rational model requires a great deal of work; often the investment may be greater than the value of any possible decision that might be reached.

There are a wide variety of different appropriate styles of decision making for different decisions and scenarios. A careful leader will adjust the model employed to the character of the organization and to the nature of the decision that needs to be made.  The "rational model" may often lead people astray, just because it is widely accepted but little examined.

A key test of effective decision making assesses the degree of compliance within the organization, the ease and breadth of implementation realized after a decision is made.

 Comments/Questions raised by attendees:

• Difficult to change organizational culture to have more group decision making.
• Some organizations need more centralized decision making within their culture; current structure is too loose and diffuse among many decision makers
• There needs to be stability within the organization for people to feel free to take part in the decision making process.
• Differing opinions about how much time to invest in decision making can be difficult. Possible solution is to have subcommittees with members who want more time to discuss options and come back to group with two or three options for the whole group to decide on.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue.
 

Judy Hedden focused on two observations in her work as a career volunteer. She talked about how the organization has changed over the years with volunteers having an important role to play. It was often said in the 60s that volunteerism was a way of not paying women for their work. Currently, Judy has found that she is extremely invested in the work that she’s doing with the League, following a very successful career in technology which has allowed her to solely be a community volunteer at this stage in her career. Though, now, the challenges with volunteers are that it is difficult to find enough of them and to rely on them for time and quality yet tough to ask them to leave.

Her second observation concerned trust in the community and in the government. She made the point that we should not expect perfection from our public officials, after all, they are representative of us and our views, and therefore are fallible. Candidates sometimes even run based on platforms that criticize government as the problem and not just the current leadership. She advises us that we’re all in this together, and that we should be thanking our public officials. To learn more or to become a member of the League of Women Voters, please go to: http://www.lwvwa.org.

Doug Honig of the American Civil Liberties Union gave an overview presentation about the secret to ACLU's fundraising success of late. Their longstanding challenge has been to inform people that the ACLU is a membership organization and to help people understand the ACLU's mission is to serve as watchdog for the Bill of Rights. Therefore, they may not take a stance that reflects the majority view of the country, but it will always be the one that follows the Bill of Rights. The key to their fundraising success has been to take a long-term approach, which can be seen in two aspects of their work: 1) their major gifts campaign, which has aimed to cultivate ongoing relationships with donors able to contribute $1,000 or more annually & 2) maintaining a visible! presence in the community, which they accomplish by being readily available to the press and accepting numerous invitations to speak before community and school groups. Local efforts have been helped by a new nationwide ACLU advertising campaign, featuring both TV and print ads.  The ACLU of Washington has information on its website at http://www.aclu-wa.org

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time
 

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time
 

"But Greg had many challenges as took office as Mayor. This was his first executive level position and Seattle was facing a $60 million budget deficit. "

"On the King County Council, Greg had been the Council's budget chairman and was well versed in dealing with significant budget deficits. He immediately got to work to re-establish the Mayor's office as the manager of City government and chose a few priorities to focus on -- public safety, transportation, economic development and building strong communities."

"The Mayor regularly articulates his goals through public forums, neighborhood tours, weekly press conferences, the city's website, appearances on the city's public television channel, and frequent conversations with reporters from all the media."

"The goals for this administration," she said, "are transparency and directness in presenting the public a clear vision of the challenges the City faces, and the Mayor's responses to them."

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time

"We welcome people of all races and backgrounds to our programs;" she continued, "we want to bring the artistry and intellectualism of African-Americans to audiences citywide."

For a schedule of upcoming offerings, visit the Forum's website at http://www.cdforum.org/ .

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

December 10, 2002

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue.
......

November 20, 2002

Frank Chopp represents the 43rd Legislative District in the House of Representatives and is Speaker of the House.  He is also the president of the Fremont Public Association.  He spent his time at the Schmoozefest recounting success stories of good work he has seen nonprofit do and answering questions about every sort of issue from the lively group of nonprofit people who attended that evening.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time
 

November 19, 2002

When you look more closely, though, the kinds of organizations that are called NPOs have only a limited amount of overlap with the "nonprofit sector" in the United States. It has been possible to created such organizations for less than 15 years, and the full body of necessary regulations and laws has not yet been published.  Many social service organizations have chosen to register as small businesses rather than try to work through the problems connected with recognition as nonprofits.  Because small businesses generally have not had to pay taxes, and are relatively easy to form, this approach works well for community activists.  But it creates challenges for people, like Put Barber's hosts the China NPO Network, who are working to develop a strong and effective nonprofit sector to serve the communities of China.

Put Barber's  trip to Beijing was part of a campaign the China NPO Network has undertaken to create an accountability system for Chinese nonprofits.  The leaders of the network fear that the nonprofit form will be exploited by people with shabby motives and want to put in place ways for donors, community members and the government to identify with confidence organizations that are committed to helping communities. The two days of talks in September brought together leaders of significant NPOs, academic researchers who have been studying the emergence of a nonprofit sector in China, and representatives from the key government agencies.

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

November 12, 2002

Bill Grace, founder and Executive Director of the Center for Ethical Leadership, responded to the attendees' preference with a few words about morality and ethics. He then turned to how they're reflected in our lives, especially recently, and the gap.

If morality is a territory, an island seen only in many subtle grays, ethics are the tools we use to navigate and explore that island. Ethics are all about behavior. That's why he suggested that a look at his calendar and checkbook would be a good way for someone to check his ethics.

"Human" is from the same root as "humility," Bill Grace said, and he spoke with humility about the gap between who he intends to be and who he ends up being, usually by noon everyday. He also spoke with conviction about how naming that gap is an act of leadership, and, in a civic sense, an act of patriotism.

Intent on modeling moral courage, he gently alerted attendees that he was going "out on a limb" several times. When will America ever have the courage to turn 9/11 into a window on the world's pain, a world in which three-fifths of the world goes to bed hungry ever night? How much security can we expect in a world that is so grossly unjust?

Believing there's a universal morality, Bill Grace encourages others to see the moral territory he sees. There's a 75% probability that a black man with a learning disability will be incarcerated, he said, and that's a moral problem. National security and easy access to goods seem to be this country's foreign policy values. What if they were human rights, democracy and environmental stewardship?

Bill Grace believes in creating environments where we can feel safer, environments that help us to be morally courageous. That, too, was modeled at the end of the luncheon when participants partnered to discuss two questions: What is a gap that really exists in your institution, and if you were to challenge your institution about that gap, how could you point toward hope?

Dr. Bill Grace is the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Ethical Leadership and recipient of a 1998 Evergreen Award for outstanding contributions to Washington State.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue.
 

October 24, 2002

Schmoozefest. "When good people get together, good things happen" was the explanation Dan Kessler of Idealist.org gsve for his enthusiasm for the Nonprofit Schmoozefest.  Dan was the coordinator of the project for a while, before his job with Idealist took him to Philadelphia.

He was in Seattle again as part of the team pulling together an Idealist Career Fair at Seattle Central Community College on October 25.  (Idealist organizes Career Fairs throughout the year in many communities; for more information, visit the Idealist website).

He and his colleagues had some advice for job seekers with an interest in careers in public service:

• If you have other sorts of experience (especially in business), don't expect to be able to translate it into nonprofit-related job skills instantly; show the people who might hire you how you have been studying to adapt the high points of your resume to the nonprofit world.
• The job market for nonprofit careers is very fluid.  Be sure to ask potential employers about future openings and don't hesitate to contact an organization where you think you have a good fit every few months, just to see if something new has come up.

Brenna Langabeer a student at the Evans School of Public Affairs of the University of Washington made an appeal for the grant fund her "Teaching Philanthropy" class is creating to support organizations that serve immigrant and refuge populations.

Carol Walter, the Director of the Schmoozefest, presented its founder, Drew Tulchin, with "every schmoozer's essential accessory" (a business card case) as a farewell gift.  Drew is leaving Seattle to follow his work with Latin American microcredit organizations to Boston.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time
 

October 15, 2002

The book is available through its publisher's website: http://www.civitaspress.com/.

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

October 8, 2002

• Sign up for good email (or fax) legislative alerts on the subject you care about.  Organizations active in the field can tell you how to do this; they often provide legislative alerts of their own.
• Learn how to use the telephone -- especially Washington's Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000.  At that number, trained operators will take your message for your representatives in the Legislature or for the Governor
• Offer other people ways to get involved themselves that are easy, that just "take five" minutes but can have a real impact.  Don't just say "Please do something."  Offer envelopes with stamps on them, the addresses of the key legislators or other officials, clear information about the bill numbers or other ways to identify the issue, and a direct statement (maybe based on an action alert) of what you want your new allies to ask for
• At every public forum or other setting where it might have an impact, wear a conspicuous button or badge that identifies you with a clear position on the issue (not your name, or the name of some organization, but a statement about what you want done)

"Advocacy," she began by saying, "just means speaking up.  We in America prize our freedom of speech, and we have a long tradition of vigorous political activity.  In spite of those deep values, though, there are many people who think that, for some reason, nonprofit organizations can't be advocates, can't speak up for the causes they work on and care about, can't lobby. It's just not true."

"There are some limitations in the tax code that limit how much lobbying nonprofits can do.  And getting involved in an election is simply prohibited.  But the real point of the limits in the tax code is to make it perfectly clear that any lobbying activities that are within those limits are completely ok Plus, once you look at the regulations, you'll see that "lobbying" is a special form of speaking up, one that is very narrowly defined.  It would be hard for most organizations to do enough lobbying to bump up against the limits in any but the most unusual circumstances."

She suggested Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest as a good website with lots of information for nonprofit boards and staff about the subject.  See http://www.clpi.org.  She also mentioned the Alliance for Justice (http://www.afj.org) as the source of many helpful publications for organizations that want to be sure they understand and follow the rules completely.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue.
 

Sept 25, 2002

The rest of his brief talk followed this outline:

• Because the work nonprofits do is important, it is important to do it well.  Accountability helps NPOs stay on track.
• And there are a few people who try to exploit nonprofit status for personal gain or other unsavory reasons.  Accountability helps to limit the damage they can do.
• Nonprofit accountability is difficult because of the great variety that exists among the large number of nonprofits.
• It is also difficult because of the central role gifts play in the success of nonprofits.  Because making a real gift means that the donor loses control of what happens, holding recipients to account is complicated.
• And there are still - even after 200 years of successful development of NPOs in the US - deep disagreements about what the goals of accountability should be.
• Nonprofits can help advance accountability by being fully accountable themselves - practicing openness and completeness in communications.
• They can also support organizations that work to improve accountability systems.
• And they can participate actively in discussion of how to make needed improvements.
• Expect more use of the Internet to make information about nonprofits more widely available.  Both information NPOs post themselves and observations by others.
• Expect more stringent and carefully specified accounting rules and disclosure requirements.
• Expect as well that the power of government agencies and watchdog organizations to punish misdeeds by nonprofits will become stronger.

He also circulated pictures taken during his trip to Beijing in September 2002.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
4th Wednesdays at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford
 

Sept 17, 2002

For Lester Salamon (see America's Nonprofit Sector: A Primer -- click on this link to order from Amazon.Com), the functions of the nonprofit sector are:

• Service provision
• Values guardian
• Advocacy and problem identification
• Community Building

In Partners, Not Rivals: Privatization and the Public Good (click on this link to order), Martha Minow sees nonprofits as:

• Vitalizing Civil Society
• A counterpoise against excessive public- or private-sector power
• A vehicle to build skills of self-government
• And inculcate habits of tolerance and civility
• A source of goods that the public and private sectors cannot or will not provide
• And of knowledge and cultural activities that private markets cannot sustain
• A resource to forge social bonds and defend liberties through service, advocacy and civic association
• And mattering because they achieve
• social provision of needed services
• freedom
• pluralism
• democracy
• division of labor
• accountability

Jan Van Til, in Growing Civil Society: From Nonprofit Sector to Third Space (this link goes to Amazon.Com to order the book), proposes that there are four (not three) sectors, giving attention to family and individual activities as well as organizations.  For him, the key role of nonprofits is to serve as an intermediary, bridging and linking across the boundaries between the sectors.

Robert Putnam's widely quoted observations appear in Making Democracy Work (this link will order) and Bowling Alone (this link will order).  In the former, he traces the strength of democratic institutions in some parts of Italy to the long tradition of civic association in those communities (which his research showed was lacking in other parts of the country where democratic practices were hard to establish and sustain).  In the later book, he assembles statistics suggesting a troubling decline in civic engagement in the US and ends by citing some limited evidence that "bonds of trust and generalized reciprocity" may be emerging from new forms of association in our society.

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U
 

Aug 28, 2002

The positive things about networking, though, Cowan pointed out, include the opportunity to help many people connect with the people and opportunities they are looking for, the chance to meet and talk with a wide variety of people, and a comfortable way to develop your own career and interests.

Keys to successful networking include:

• Have business cards.  Even if you're looking for work.  Don't scribble on the backs of envelopes.
• Make a point of introducing yourself to the "big guys" in the room: elected officials, senior company officials, journalists and others.  Don't expect to talk for long, just make a positive contact with them.
• Touch base with your peers and people you already know, but don't talk only to them; introduce your acquaintances to each other when they haven't met
• Make sure to thank the staff and organizers.
• If you follow up with someone, make sure you do it in a way that will make it easy for them to welcome your next call as well.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
4th Wednesdays at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford
 

Aug. 13, 2002

1. Narrow and articulate your passion to focus your energies and others' advice.
2. Identify transferrable skills on a clear concise resume.
3. Acquire experience, knowledge and affiliations that can help you.

For resources on looking for a nonprofit job in the Seattle area,
see http://www.tess.org/support2.html#jobs.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue
 

July 29, 2002

July 26, 2002

July 24, 2002

July 16, 2002

June 18, 2002