The Rundown - March 4, 2022
The latest news and notes from the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors
Welcome to March! We can dust off the cold and snow of February (hopefully!) and look forward to longer days and warmer temperatures. Ideally, we would be thinking about the beginning of the baseball season and Spring Training. Well, this year, Major League Baseball and their players union is in the middle of some less than pleasant labor issues. Honestly, at this point, if there was no baseball season, would anyone really miss it?
This week, we see the philanthropic sector’s response to the war in Ukraine as we look back in history, how the great resignation is hitting the nonprofit sector and a Michigan city starts a new nonprofit with cannabis on the top of the agenda. Buckle up, this edition is going to be a wild ride!
If you like what you have read, feel free to share this with friends and colleagues by simply clicking the link below!
Philanthropy Goes To War - And a Lesson in History
This article in Fast Company, is one of many that has been hitting the internet lately. There is no shortage of information on the ways that people are being asked to give help to the Ukrainian people after the full-fledged ground invasion started by Russia. The philanthropic response going to a war zone is heavy and is somewhat reminiscent of the rallying cry heard to help Syrian refugees after years of civil war has torn that Middle Eastern country apart.
All of this reminds of me a book report I had to do in sixth grade. It was a tradition for students in that year to do a book report on a past President and the assignment was made by the teacher. As luck would have it, I was assigned Herbert Hoover.
I didn’t know much about Herbert Hoover other than he was the President during The Great Depression, a sure low-water mark in American history. To make matters worse, most of the material I found on Hoover talked about the Depression. I was challenged to find something good about him.
Well, unbeknownst to me, I found out that Herbert Hoover was actually one of the world’s first well-known philanthropists. During World War I, Hoover gave to and managed an effort, the Commission for Relief in Belgium that pretty much fed the entire Kingdom (roughly 11 million people between 1914 and 1919).
Why do I bring this up? Well, war-response philanthropy is nothing new. It’s been around for at least 100 years. And this type of philanthropy is fraught with challenges; Hoover was faced with logistical nightmares, negotiating with hostile players and supply shortages.
Our collective response to the ongoing war in Ukraine could easily become one of the largest mobilizations of giving we have ever seen on a worldwide stage; especially if this conflict drags on and the images coming out of the country become more stark and more horrific.
Our development role should be to have open and frank conversations with our donors and our teams about what is happening in Europe and encourage those that are called to give to give to reputable organizations that are on the ground doing work of helping those ravaged by this war.
The Great Resignation hits the Non-Profit Sector
This story from WESA in Pittsburgh is highlighting a reality that is all to familiar to us in the non-profit field, the fight for labor to do the jobs that we are commissioned to do. A couple pieces of information in the article really hit home:
6 out of 10 non-profits reported existing vacancy rates between 10 and 29%
An additional 16% of non-profits reported existing vacancy rates greater than 30%
Non-profit work was the third largest employment sector in the economy prior to the pandemic.
If you are feeling the pinch of fewer people doing more work in the non-profit sector, don’t feel alone. It’s a problem being faced throughout the sector.
So, what can that sector do to help turn back the tide? Well, we can rely on our advantages. Many of the positives of working in this sector is that we can provide our workers many times with flexible schedules or perhaps work-from-home opportunities. While I will be the first to admit, I am not a big fan of the work-from-home world, I do understand that there are important work items that can be done just as effectively from home than from the office. Non-profit leaders should explore those items with their teams and determine if a work-from-home opportunity could exist.
The sector also has to get real about employee wages. There are still a fair number of non-profits that do not pay commensurate wages for the talent that they are getting; especially when the job requires education beyond a high school diploma. Not only are there simply too many opportunities for individuals to earn a living doing something else, those leaders in the sector have to realize that if wage schedules don’t keep up with current times, there is no way we can fill upcoming vacancies when our current incumbent workers leave.
Our shops might have someone on staff happy making $12 an hour, but if they leave there is little chance we are going to attract someone to that position at that rate.
A Local Government Creates a Non-Profit
When I read the headline, “City to create nonprofit to advance social equity in cannabis industry”, I had to a double take. A city did what?….to do what?…..huh The story can be read here from the Grand Rapids Business Journal.
Having local governments create nonprofit organizations is not something new. Back in the Johnson Administration, many nonprofits were created to deliver critical services that were part of the “Great Society” program; most notably Head Start programs come to mind. The Carter Administration saw the creation of non-profit organizations that were commonly referred to as Community Action Partnerships or Community Action Councils that helped with public services from transportation to home weatherization. These locally managed and operated non-profit organizations, with federal funding as a backstop, were seen as a way to more efficiently and effectively deliver critical public services, especially in places that were under resourced.
Local governments got on the bandwagon creating all sorts of nonprofits such as community improvement corporations, downtown development corporations, economic development corporations…the list can go on. In these nonprofits, local governments found a way to secure private funding and ways to bypass traditional government regulations to better serve the public and deliver services, that might be a bit beyond what governments traditionally provided.
This effort from Grand Rapids seems to fit within a model that might be coming to a small city near you; city created nonprofits to deal with more human service and social concerns. The article goes in depth in how Grand Rapids will use the nonprofit to help address concerns that came from drug enforcement, most notably ideas such as business incubation, entrepreneur training, job and wealth creation strategies, economic incentives, and criminal expungement assistance could be offered.
The new nonprofit will also look into ways to make the emerging marketplace of cannabis products more equitable. From the article:
“Forming this nonprofit will help us achieve our goals in the areas in which the city does not have direct regulatory control,” Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said. “It gives us flexibility in the execution and advancement of certain types of initiatives related to advancing equity in the cannabis industry and assisting members of our community (who) currently do not have access to enter this emerging field.”
I am not exactly sure how this nonprofit will help advance equity in the cannabis industry in Grand Rapids; I certainly don’t know the local context enough to have a grasp on whether this is a difficult issue or not. I will be interested to see how this plays out. I will agree with the Mayor, nonprofits, when used correctly, can help give more flexibility than traditional governmental structures when it comes to advancing some programmatic elements of a strategy.
Now Hiring!
The Wright State University Foundation (Fairborn/Dayton, OH) is looking for a new Assistant Director of Annual Giving. You can look at the job announcement here. I am a proud graduate of Wright State and have fond memories of my town there. I am sure it is a wonderful place to work.
The YWCA of Dayton is looking for a new Vice President of Development. You can check out the job announcement here!
The combined Miami and Shelby County Chapter of Habitat for Humanity is currently looking for a new Development Director! Check the job out here on LinkedIn!
The Springfield (OH) Foundation is looking for a new executive director! Take a look at the job posting on LinkedIn here!
If you have a position you are hiring for, please feel free to email pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com and we will run an announcement for three weeks!
Ready to Learn Something New?
Spring is a wonderful time to visit Indianapolis and it opens a perfect opportunity to sharpen your skills and meet new professionals in the field. I would encourage you to look at some of the offerings of The Fund Raising School at the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University’s campus in Indianapolis. The professional development school has great programming both on-line and in-person both in Indianapolis and at other sites across the country. Take a look at their course offerings here!
What Can We Work on Together?
Did you know that Pinnacle Strategies works individually with nonprofit and public sector leaders to help them solve problems, achieve goals and gain confidence in their roles?
Why?
Because, this work is hard and it’s often a lonely road. Our nonprofit and public sector leaders need people that they can talk to to get solid advice and encouragement to do the work that is in front of them. If you feel that this can be of value to you, or a member of your team, please reach out to pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com and let’s talk.
An Excerpt from the “Tools, Tips and Tricks” Newsletter
The Pinnacle Strategies, “Tips, Tools and Tricks” newsletter comes out every Tuesday and is available for a paid subscription for as little as $7/month. And with our paid newsletter, we are trying something new here at Pinnacle Strategies!
The Substack platform now allows videos and after the first week, the response has been really, really good! This week, our video discussed the impact matrix! If you aren’t sure what an impact matrix is, well, you will just need to subscribe to find out!
If you haven’t signed up for the paid version of the newsletter…what are you waiting for? Especially when each subscription receives a free gift!
A Quick Note of Thanks!
Thank you readers! I am not sure how it happened, but ever since the first of the year, this newsletter has taken off, subscriber growth has more than doubled this past month! And many of you have reached out to me and it’s amazing to see that this newsletter has readers in Canada, Italy, Kenya, the United Kingdom and all over the United States. To say that we have an international newsletter, is not an exaggeration!
I know many of you have shared this with your friends and colleagues and I am very grateful. Thank you!
Other Ways to Connect
Our coaching practice has openings starting here in 2022. If you are interested in working with me to get your nonprofit organization on a track to achieve the big missions you have for your organization, please reach out to me at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.
Here are some other ways you can keep in contact with Pinnacle Strategies!
Check us out on our LinkedIn Page
and Check out the Celebrating Leadership Facebook Group for almost daily content and interaction with other leaders!
If you like enjoyed this newsletter, please feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues. It would be greatly appreciated!