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Yes We Are Lazy Idiots . . . Editor's Notes issue #53
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The most listened-to radio show in America got it wrong again last week. Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh said about nonprofit staff: "Bunch of lazy idiots. Many of them don’t want to really work. Nonprofits siphon contributions . . . these people are rapists, in terms of finance and economy."
We like what Robert Egger had to say on the subject [click here for his video response], but maybe Rush is right for once. We nonprofit staff are so lazy we would rather follow environmental regulations than create huge amounts of work for ourselves trying to cap mismanaged oil wells. We're so lazy we'd rather advocate for preventive care than suffer from chronic illness and expensive treatments. Many nonprofit staff are so lazy they don't even bother to collect paychecks: they're volunteers.
And talk about idiotic: we're such idiots we thought we could get the vote for women, Medicare for the elderly, and regulations against unsafe toys. We thought it was okay for kids in wheelchairs to go to regular schools. We thought we could overturn apartheid in South Africa.
If we're accomplishing this much being "lazy idiots," maybe by working a little harder we could get rid of hateful, inaccurate radio hosts?
* Less than a week after we ran the story on the demise of the Vanguard Foundation, a principal character -- "Mouli" Cohen -- was arrested in Los Angeles and indicted on 19 counts of wire fraud and 13 counts of money laundering. Cohen (no relation to Blue Avocado writer Rick Cohen) had convinced donors and investors connected with the Vanguard Public Foundation to invest nearly $30 million of the foundation's funds and their own monies in a get-very-rich-quick stock scheme.
In the next issue of Blue Avocado (September 14), we will return to the story, but shift the focus away from Mouli and the apparent con and -- with the help of many former Vanguard staff, donors and board members -- explore how it was possible for Vanguard to collapse, especially with so many red flags over such a long period of time.
* In this issue foundation executive Pam David has some startling things to say about fleas and elephants and philanthropy. Plus we have a practical guide to Advisory Boards, Ask Rita on domestic violence in the workplace, and a First Person Nonprofit story about the Rotary Club.
Oh, and have a lazy, idiotic end-of-summer. -- Jan Masaoka read more »
Foundations: Fleas or Elephants?
Pam David is Executive Director of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, a private foundation in San Francisco. She has worked extensively in local government (Director of the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Community Development) and nonprofits (community organizer). She is former Chair of Northern California Grantmakers, and currently serves on the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Pam, what have you learned about philanthropy since coming to it from government?
When I first came to work in philanthropy my first impressions were "No accountability, no urgency." Particularly compared to the multiple layers of public oversight and transparency in my old job, the differences were striking. And, although I'm no longer a philanthropy novice -- in September I will have been at the Haas Sr. Fund for eight years -- I remain struck by the lack of external accountability, urgency, and transparency in the field.
What I've found in this arena is there is tremendous accountability to the trustees, and rightly so, but the only external accountability is . . . read more »
> Read moreProtecting Staff from Co-worker's Violent Boyfriend
Q: Help, we have a wonderful staff member who is involved in a domestic violence situation and her boyfriend has threatened to come to our office to harm her . . . what should our nonprofit do to protect her and the other staff?
With one in four women in the United States experiencing domestic violence during their lifetimes (reference), this situation may arise at some point for many nonprofits. It's good that you are paying attention before an incident occurs. As just one example of what can happen, just last month three employees were killed in a workplace shooting in Albuquerque that was sparked by a domestic dispute.
Before we get to steps you should take immediately, let's start by defining domestic violence in the workplace: "violent behavior perpetrated against an employee while the person is working or . . . read more »
> Read moreWhat is an Advisory Board and Should We Have One?
Recently several Blue Avocado readers have written to say their organizations are considering creating advisory boards or advisory committees of one kind or another. At the same time, others write to ask how to disband troublesome or obsolete advisory committees. Here are some guidelines for advisory committees, as well as a sample letter inviting an individual to join such a group:
The board of directors of a nonprofit organization is its legal, governing body. In contrast, an advisory board does not have any formal legal responsibilities. Rather, an advisory board is convened by the organization to give advice and support.
Probably the most common experience nonprofits have with advisory boards is that they invite people successfully onto such a board, and then fail to have that board accomplish much of anything. So it's worth a few minutes to consider the options for doing it right, and even whether to do it at all.
There are four common types of nonprofit advisory boards, illustrated in the following examples:
Fundraising: Organization W wants to invite prospective donors onto some kind of official body, but it doesn't think these individuals would be good board members. In some cases the individuals probably don't have the time or interest, and others are not seen as being appropriate (for a variety of reasons) for the board. By creating an advisory board, W hopes to . . . read more »
> Read moreThe Board Told Me I Had to Join Rotary
If you've wondered how to break into the traditional civic leadership networks, Joan Dixon of the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois explains why the Rotary may be the unexpected solution:
At one point I was the PR director for a large clinic in Champaign with 135 doctors, and my boss was a big time Rotarian. Another fellow suggested I join the Rotary, but my boss said I wasn't highly placed enough. Now that's old school thinking.
So when I started in 2002 at the Community Foundation, our president said I had to join Rotary. Rotary was limited to men until 1989 when the Supreme Court said . . . read more »
> Read moreQueries & Announcements 8.23.10
Where can I meet (and heckle) Blue Avocado writers?
- Kim Klein: Five Things You Must Know & the Five Things You Can Do to Riase the Money You Need, Blue Avocado, September 8, 2010. Don't miss being interactive and live with the legendary Kim Klein, moderated by Jan Masaoka!
- Steve Zimmerman: CompassPoint Nonprofit Day, "Matrix Map -- A Tool for Decision Making," Aug 31, 2010, San Francisco
- Rick Cohen, "Nonprofits in the Age of Obama," Community Action Partnership, Sept 2, 2010, Boston
- Jan Masaoka: Kansas Conference on Poverty, keynote, Sept 24, 2010, Topeka
- Dennis Walsh: "Alternatives to Financial Audits," North Carolina Center for Nonprofits Conference, Sept 30, Durham
- Susan Ellis: "Evolution of Volunteering in the 21st Century," Oct 21, 2010, Pt. Edward, Ontario
- Ellen Aldridge & Pamela Fyfe (Ask Rita): "Nonprofit Labor & Employment Risk Management Workshop," Nov 4, 2010, Sacramento
For a future article, we are seeking a First Person Nonprofit story: "I Was/Am A Nonprofit Tele-marketer." If you are interested in writing this story or being interviewed for it, please click here to let us know your name, phone number, and time zone so we can contact you.
Next issue of Blue Avocado: Reporting on the Impact of the Just Awards, Male in a Female-Majority Nonprofit Sector, Inside the Vanguard Foundation's Fall read more »
