Knowledge of the Forest & the Trees

Perusing a recent article (Building Programmatic Capacity at the Grassroots Level: The Reaction of Local Nonprofit Organizations to Public Participation Geographic Information Systems) in the Journal, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, the publication of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) — an association I have found to provide valuable information over the years — I was struck by the importance of system thinking combined with mission thinking.

Though they seem incompatible, being able to understand and work effectively within the advocacy environment — including needs of funders — most grassroots survive or die in, while remaining true to mission and serving clients at the highest level of expertise and heart, is fast becoming mandatory.

Here is the first paragraph of the article.

“The philanthropic and charitable underpinning of social service nonprofit organizations creates a unique environment in which these entities function. In the past, contributors assumed that nonprofit entities spent funds in an accountable and efficient manner and trusted that public good resulted from their activities. As a result, contributors commonly expressed fewer expectations in terms of reporting requirements or measures of accountability. Not so today. The effects of government downsizing, devolution, and new public management now require nonprofits to explain, if not justify, their financial decision making to contributors. As nonprofit organizations struggle to serve more clients with static or declining resources, they too realize that sound management practices have become critical to their success.” (Volume 39 Number 6 December 2010. pp. 992)