This is a good article from Stanford Social Innovation Review, touching on an important resource and fortunately, it is one available in Sacramento at the Nonprofit Resource Center ED Network, and here is their October meeting agenda.
An excerpt from the article
“We recently conducted a focus group with nonprofit CEOs in New York City. Given all the recent research that points to the value of peer-to-peer support for nonprofit leaders, we wanted to know why so little of this is done online. One CEO immediately responded, “We don’t have time.”
“The facilitator of the focus group was taken aback. “How do you have time to come to this two-hour focus group but don’t have the time to go online?”
“The leaders in the room saw the return on investment for a well-organized meeting with their peers to be much greater than anything they could do in the digital commons. They were more confident that they would get actionable insight into management techniques. But perhaps more importantly, the meeting provided an emotional and psychological benefit that is rarely met: a space for candid conversation about successes and failures in a safe, supportive environment. (highlighting added)
“Face-to-face conversations with other leaders—commercial and nonprofit—remind us that failure is, in fact, the norm and does not preclude success.
“If [CEOs’ successes] were graded on a curve, the mean on the test would be 22 out of a 100,” Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz recently wrote on TechCrunch. “This kind of mean can be psychologically challenging…because nobody tells you that the mean is 22.”
“If the buck stops at the CEO, every failure in our organization ends up piled on my desk—whether it’s a typo on the website, a bad hire, or a missed market opportunity. After just a week, the failures stack up so high that it is hard to see past the mountain of complaints.”
Showing posts with label Solidarity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Solidarity. Show all posts
Friday, October 7, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Service Program Clients on Program Board
It is a sound principle, virtually a mandatory one for any program involving the transformation of individual behavior to actually have long-term credibility, and it is what this group of homeless are asking for, as reported by the Winston Salem Journal.
An excerpt.
“Decisions about the homeless have, for years in Forsyth County, been made mostly by well-meaning people who have never spent a night on the street.
“Today, a group of homeless and formerly homeless people will try to change that.
“The Homeless Caucus, a group formed by the community-organizing group CHANGE, called a public meeting tonight to ask for two voting seats on the executive board of the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.
“The council is a coalition of nonprofit and government representatives who do an annual count of homeless people in Forsyth and help distribute federal grant money to agencies that deal with the homeless.
“David Harold, executive director of the Homeless Council, could not be reached Monday.
“The caucus wants the homeless representatives to be paid, said Ryan Eller, lead organizer of CHANGE.
"Everyone else on the executive council is being paid by their respective employer to be at those meetings," Eller said. "The caucus, it was really humbling. They said, 'We don't care about the amount. We don't really care if it's five bucks. We just want to not be treated differently from everyone else.'"
“The caucus also will ask Mayor Allen Joines to commit to having homeless or formerly homeless people serve on boards and committees that deal with the issue.
“Joines said he will listen to what the caucus has to say. "I can certainly see the merits of having someone with those experiences on the council," Joines said Monday.
“Richard Cassidy, a Davidson County native who spent several years homeless in California, said those who have lived without a home have a perspective that others don't.”
An excerpt.
“Decisions about the homeless have, for years in Forsyth County, been made mostly by well-meaning people who have never spent a night on the street.
“Today, a group of homeless and formerly homeless people will try to change that.
“The Homeless Caucus, a group formed by the community-organizing group CHANGE, called a public meeting tonight to ask for two voting seats on the executive board of the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.
“The council is a coalition of nonprofit and government representatives who do an annual count of homeless people in Forsyth and help distribute federal grant money to agencies that deal with the homeless.
“David Harold, executive director of the Homeless Council, could not be reached Monday.
“The caucus wants the homeless representatives to be paid, said Ryan Eller, lead organizer of CHANGE.
"Everyone else on the executive council is being paid by their respective employer to be at those meetings," Eller said. "The caucus, it was really humbling. They said, 'We don't care about the amount. We don't really care if it's five bucks. We just want to not be treated differently from everyone else.'"
“The caucus also will ask Mayor Allen Joines to commit to having homeless or formerly homeless people serve on boards and committees that deal with the issue.
“Joines said he will listen to what the caucus has to say. "I can certainly see the merits of having someone with those experiences on the council," Joines said Monday.
“Richard Cassidy, a Davidson County native who spent several years homeless in California, said those who have lived without a home have a perspective that others don't.”
Monday, August 15, 2011
Client-Centric vs Service-Centric
It is a very old paradigmatic struggle for grassroots programs working to transform behavior, which is well addressed in this article from Bridgespan.
From my perspective, the best approach is the mentor model with linkage to needed client services—whether from single-service programs or multi-service ones— determined through the mentoring relationship.
An excerpt from the Bridgespan article.
“Jared is 15 years old. He doesn’t know who his father is; his mother is a heroin addict who bounces in and out of temporary recovery. For four months last year, Jared lived in a dorm for homeless teens.
“Now he is back in an apartment with his mother, three younger brothers and a pregnant older sister, but he is thinking of moving out because there is only one bedroom and his mother has started using again. He doesn’t want to go back to the shelter though, because it’s too restrictive. For the moment, Jared is in summer school, trying to make up classes he failed during the school year. But he’s not sure he is going to go back in the fall; he’s been held back twice, and at 15, he’s embarrassed about starting eighth grade again.
“Jared is on an anti-depressant, and visits a psychiatrist each week, taking a 40-minute bus ride to get there. His social worker’s office is a short walk from his mother’s apartment and he sees her regularly also. Through the social worker, Jared received referrals to see a dentist and a doctor, but their offices are also more than 40 minutes away by public transportation, and since he doesn’t live in the group home anymore, he doesn’t have a ride and keeps cancelling appointments.
“Jared’s teachers and the other professionals he sees try to talk to him about the future, and make it sound as if he can someday go to college and become independent. Jared knows they are all trying to help him, but he doesn’t see how that bright future they all talk about can happen for him.
“Many people, like Jared, face complex and interrelated challenges. To overcome those challenges, they require sustained support over time that addresses both the individual problems with which they struggle and their connection to one another. This type of integrated, extended support is becoming more common in the health care arena. There is also a small, but growing body of literature about its application in human services, and emerging evidence that it is a more effective approach to helping individuals facing multiple challenges achieve significant, long-term outcomes.
“Multi-service organizations (MSOs)—nonprofits that provide services across multiple categories such as substance abuse, housing, and education—are uniquely positioned to provide this kind of holistic help. While nonprofits that provide a single service (from mentoring to job training) often draw more media attention, perhaps because they are easier to profile, MSOs have tremendous potential to help people struggling with complex problems transform their lives. Delivering on this potential should be an MSO’s comparative advantage. Should be, but too seldom is.
“The problem is that many MSOs tend to be organized around the services they deliver, not the needs of the clients they serve. Clients receive the service they were referred to, not the full set that they need in order to improve their lives. Staff are focused on providing a high-quality service and achieving a narrow, short-term outcome, which isn’t a bad thing, but they don’t have authority or accountability for helping the client achieve long-term, life-changing outcomes. We call this “service-centric” strategy.
“To realize their full potential, MSOs have to shift from being service-centric to being “client-centric.” Being client-centric means working with a client to set long-term goals, understanding what services the client will need to reach those outcomes, providing those services in a coordinated way, and following up to make sure the client achieves their goals.”
From my perspective, the best approach is the mentor model with linkage to needed client services—whether from single-service programs or multi-service ones— determined through the mentoring relationship.
An excerpt from the Bridgespan article.
“Jared is 15 years old. He doesn’t know who his father is; his mother is a heroin addict who bounces in and out of temporary recovery. For four months last year, Jared lived in a dorm for homeless teens.
“Now he is back in an apartment with his mother, three younger brothers and a pregnant older sister, but he is thinking of moving out because there is only one bedroom and his mother has started using again. He doesn’t want to go back to the shelter though, because it’s too restrictive. For the moment, Jared is in summer school, trying to make up classes he failed during the school year. But he’s not sure he is going to go back in the fall; he’s been held back twice, and at 15, he’s embarrassed about starting eighth grade again.
“Jared is on an anti-depressant, and visits a psychiatrist each week, taking a 40-minute bus ride to get there. His social worker’s office is a short walk from his mother’s apartment and he sees her regularly also. Through the social worker, Jared received referrals to see a dentist and a doctor, but their offices are also more than 40 minutes away by public transportation, and since he doesn’t live in the group home anymore, he doesn’t have a ride and keeps cancelling appointments.
“Jared’s teachers and the other professionals he sees try to talk to him about the future, and make it sound as if he can someday go to college and become independent. Jared knows they are all trying to help him, but he doesn’t see how that bright future they all talk about can happen for him.
“Many people, like Jared, face complex and interrelated challenges. To overcome those challenges, they require sustained support over time that addresses both the individual problems with which they struggle and their connection to one another. This type of integrated, extended support is becoming more common in the health care arena. There is also a small, but growing body of literature about its application in human services, and emerging evidence that it is a more effective approach to helping individuals facing multiple challenges achieve significant, long-term outcomes.
“Multi-service organizations (MSOs)—nonprofits that provide services across multiple categories such as substance abuse, housing, and education—are uniquely positioned to provide this kind of holistic help. While nonprofits that provide a single service (from mentoring to job training) often draw more media attention, perhaps because they are easier to profile, MSOs have tremendous potential to help people struggling with complex problems transform their lives. Delivering on this potential should be an MSO’s comparative advantage. Should be, but too seldom is.
“The problem is that many MSOs tend to be organized around the services they deliver, not the needs of the clients they serve. Clients receive the service they were referred to, not the full set that they need in order to improve their lives. Staff are focused on providing a high-quality service and achieving a narrow, short-term outcome, which isn’t a bad thing, but they don’t have authority or accountability for helping the client achieve long-term, life-changing outcomes. We call this “service-centric” strategy.
“To realize their full potential, MSOs have to shift from being service-centric to being “client-centric.” Being client-centric means working with a client to set long-term goals, understanding what services the client will need to reach those outcomes, providing those services in a coordinated way, and following up to make sure the client achieves their goals.”
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Ancient Exploitation
It is surely that directed towards women—and the prevalence of nonprofits working to help women, even in the advanced culture of the United States, testifies to that—and thankfully, in the regions where the exploitation of women is still pronounced, it continues to be challenged, as reported by Harvard Business Weekly.
An excerpt.
“India is a country where many women struggle for survival from the day they are born. Girls in India are less likely to be breastfed than boys, for instance, and less likely to be immunized.
“But India also has the highest number of elected female representatives in the world. A 1993 constitutional amendment meant to broaden the scope and accessibility of democracy called for the creation of directly elected local councils at the district, intermediate, and village levels, and mandated that one-third of all council seats be filled by women. The amendment is an ongoing policy experiment of sorts, on an epic scale.
“As Harvard Business School professor Lakshmi Iyer and her colleagues discovered, it's been producing encouraging results. Their research suggests that disadvantaged or minority groups in India whose members are elected to local governments have not only more of a "political voice" but also more access to and better results from the justice system.
“In the working paper The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India, Iyer, Anandi Mani (University of Warwick), and Prachi Mishra and Petia Topalova (International Monetary Fund) examine the effect that mandated political representation for women has had on crimes against women.”
An excerpt.
“India is a country where many women struggle for survival from the day they are born. Girls in India are less likely to be breastfed than boys, for instance, and less likely to be immunized.
“But India also has the highest number of elected female representatives in the world. A 1993 constitutional amendment meant to broaden the scope and accessibility of democracy called for the creation of directly elected local councils at the district, intermediate, and village levels, and mandated that one-third of all council seats be filled by women. The amendment is an ongoing policy experiment of sorts, on an epic scale.
“As Harvard Business School professor Lakshmi Iyer and her colleagues discovered, it's been producing encouraging results. Their research suggests that disadvantaged or minority groups in India whose members are elected to local governments have not only more of a "political voice" but also more access to and better results from the justice system.
“In the working paper The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India, Iyer, Anandi Mani (University of Warwick), and Prachi Mishra and Petia Topalova (International Monetary Fund) examine the effect that mandated political representation for women has had on crimes against women.”
Monday, March 7, 2011
Working with the Homeless
Thoreau is often claimed by those who are homeless by choice, as their patron saint, though his perspective is congruent with that of Saint-Exupery—who would never be claimed as a patron saint by the homeless.
Here is Thoreau on the poor.
“Be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need, though it be your example which leaves them far behind. If you give money, spend yourself with it, and do not merely abandon it to them. We make curious mistakes sometimes. Often the poor man is not so cold and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross. It is partly his taste, and not merely his misfortune. If you give him money, he will perhaps buy more rags with it. I was wont to pity the clumsy Irish laborers who cut ice on the pond, in such mean and ragged clothes, while I shivered in my more tidy and somewhat more fashionable garments, till, one bitter cold day, one who had slipped into the water came to my house to warm him, and I saw him strip off three pairs of pants and two pairs of stockings ere he got down to the skin, though they were dirty and ragged enough, it is true, and that he could afford to refuse the extra garments which I offered him, he had so many intra ones. This ducking was the very thing he needed. Then I began to pity myself, and I saw that it would be a greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole slop-shop on him. There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.
(Thoreau, H. D. (1854). Walden. New York: Book-of-the-Month Club, (1996) pp. 97-98)
Here is Saint-Exupery.
“All too often have I seen pity led astray. But we who govern men have learnt to plumb their hearts, and we bestow compassion only on what is worthy of our concern. No pity waste I on the shrilly voiced afflictions that fret women’s hearts. As I withhold it from the dying and from the dead. And I know wherefore.
“A time there was, in my young days, when I pitied beggars and their sores. I hired physicians and procured balsams for them. Caravans from a far-off island brought me those rare unguents laced with gold that mend the torn skin above the flesh. Thus did I until the day when I discovered that beggars cling to their stench as to something rare and precious. For I had caught them scratching away their scabs and smearing their bodies with dung, like the husbandman who spreads manure over his garden plot, so as to wean from it the crimson flower. Vying with each other, they flaunted their corruption, and bragged of the alms they wrung from the tender-hearted. He who wheedled most likened himself to a high priest bringing forth from the shrine his goodliest idol for all to gape at and heap with offerings. When they deigned to consult my physicians, it was in the hope that the hugeness and virulence of their cankers would astound him. And how nimbly they shuffled their stumps to have room made for them in the market places! Thus they took the kindness done them for a homage, proffering their limbs to unctions that flattered their self-esteem.
“But no sooner were they healed than they found themselves of no account, like barren soil that feeds nothing; and they made haste to revive the ulcers that formerly had battened on their flesh. Then, clad once more in a motley of scabs and sores, they strutted it, begging-bowl in hand, and squatted beside the caravan road where, crying up their noisome gods, they levied tribute of the wayfarers.”
(Saint-Exupery, A. (1950). The Wisdom of the Sands. New York: Harcourt, Brace and company. pp. 3-4)
Here is Thoreau on the poor.
“Be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need, though it be your example which leaves them far behind. If you give money, spend yourself with it, and do not merely abandon it to them. We make curious mistakes sometimes. Often the poor man is not so cold and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross. It is partly his taste, and not merely his misfortune. If you give him money, he will perhaps buy more rags with it. I was wont to pity the clumsy Irish laborers who cut ice on the pond, in such mean and ragged clothes, while I shivered in my more tidy and somewhat more fashionable garments, till, one bitter cold day, one who had slipped into the water came to my house to warm him, and I saw him strip off three pairs of pants and two pairs of stockings ere he got down to the skin, though they were dirty and ragged enough, it is true, and that he could afford to refuse the extra garments which I offered him, he had so many intra ones. This ducking was the very thing he needed. Then I began to pity myself, and I saw that it would be a greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole slop-shop on him. There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.
(Thoreau, H. D. (1854). Walden. New York: Book-of-the-Month Club, (1996) pp. 97-98)
Here is Saint-Exupery.
“All too often have I seen pity led astray. But we who govern men have learnt to plumb their hearts, and we bestow compassion only on what is worthy of our concern. No pity waste I on the shrilly voiced afflictions that fret women’s hearts. As I withhold it from the dying and from the dead. And I know wherefore.
“A time there was, in my young days, when I pitied beggars and their sores. I hired physicians and procured balsams for them. Caravans from a far-off island brought me those rare unguents laced with gold that mend the torn skin above the flesh. Thus did I until the day when I discovered that beggars cling to their stench as to something rare and precious. For I had caught them scratching away their scabs and smearing their bodies with dung, like the husbandman who spreads manure over his garden plot, so as to wean from it the crimson flower. Vying with each other, they flaunted their corruption, and bragged of the alms they wrung from the tender-hearted. He who wheedled most likened himself to a high priest bringing forth from the shrine his goodliest idol for all to gape at and heap with offerings. When they deigned to consult my physicians, it was in the hope that the hugeness and virulence of their cankers would astound him. And how nimbly they shuffled their stumps to have room made for them in the market places! Thus they took the kindness done them for a homage, proffering their limbs to unctions that flattered their self-esteem.
“But no sooner were they healed than they found themselves of no account, like barren soil that feeds nothing; and they made haste to revive the ulcers that formerly had battened on their flesh. Then, clad once more in a motley of scabs and sores, they strutted it, begging-bowl in hand, and squatted beside the caravan road where, crying up their noisome gods, they levied tribute of the wayfarers.”
(Saint-Exupery, A. (1950). The Wisdom of the Sands. New York: Harcourt, Brace and company. pp. 3-4)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Generous People of Faith
More research, as reported by Belief Net, indicating what has been known for some tine, that people who attend church regularly are very generous, to their church and charity in general.
An excerpt.
“(RNS) Houses of worship and other charities often aren't in competition for dollars but instead tend to reap donations from similar donors, a new study shows.
“Slightly more than 50 percent of people who financially supported congregations also gave to at least one charitable organization in the last year, according to a study conducted by Phoenix-based Grey Matter Research Consulting.
“Researchers also found that the more Americans give to a house of worship, the more they donate to other groups. And the trend continues with the generosity of the donor.
“For example, donors who gave less than $100 to a house of worship also donated an average of $208 to other charities. Those who gave between $100 and $499 to a congregation gave an average of $376 to others. Donors of between $500 and $999 to places of worship gave an average of $916 to others.”
An excerpt.
“(RNS) Houses of worship and other charities often aren't in competition for dollars but instead tend to reap donations from similar donors, a new study shows.
“Slightly more than 50 percent of people who financially supported congregations also gave to at least one charitable organization in the last year, according to a study conducted by Phoenix-based Grey Matter Research Consulting.
“Researchers also found that the more Americans give to a house of worship, the more they donate to other groups. And the trend continues with the generosity of the donor.
“For example, donors who gave less than $100 to a house of worship also donated an average of $208 to other charities. Those who gave between $100 and $499 to a congregation gave an average of $376 to others. Donors of between $500 and $999 to places of worship gave an average of $916 to others.”
Generous People of Faith
More research, as reported by Belief Net, indicating what has been known for some tine, that people who attend church regularly are very generous, to their church and charity in general.
An excerpt.
“(RNS) Houses of worship and other charities often aren't in competition for dollars but instead tend to reap donations from similar donors, a new study shows.
“Slightly more than 50 percent of people who financially supported congregations also gave to at least one charitable organization in the last year, according to a study conducted by Phoenix-based Grey Matter Research Consulting.
“Researchers also found that the more Americans give to a house of worship, the more they donate to other groups. And the trend continues with the generosity of the donor.
“For example, donors who gave less than $100 to a house of worship also donated an average of $208 to other charities. Those who gave between $100 and $499 to a congregation gave an average of $376 to others. Donors of between $500 and $999 to places of worship gave an average of $916 to others.”
An excerpt.
“(RNS) Houses of worship and other charities often aren't in competition for dollars but instead tend to reap donations from similar donors, a new study shows.
“Slightly more than 50 percent of people who financially supported congregations also gave to at least one charitable organization in the last year, according to a study conducted by Phoenix-based Grey Matter Research Consulting.
“Researchers also found that the more Americans give to a house of worship, the more they donate to other groups. And the trend continues with the generosity of the donor.
“For example, donors who gave less than $100 to a house of worship also donated an average of $208 to other charities. Those who gave between $100 and $499 to a congregation gave an average of $376 to others. Donors of between $500 and $999 to places of worship gave an average of $916 to others.”
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Our America & Valentines Day in Iran
As Tocqueville noted almost 2 centuries ago:
“Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fetes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools….Thus the most democratic country on earth is found to be, above all, the one where men in our day have most perfected the art of pursuing the object of their common desires in common and have applied this new science to the most objects. Does this result from an accident or could it be that there in fact exists a necessary relation between associations and equality?”
(Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2000 translation by H. C. Mansfield and D. Winthrop. pp. 489-490)
With that as a backdrop, consider this article in the Wall Street Journal discussing Iran’s attempt to ban Valentines Day.
An excerpt.
“In another sign of its ever more improvisational approach to governance, the Iranian regime has outlawed Valentine's Day. "Symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses, and any activities promoting this day are banned," announced state media last month. "Authorities will take legal action against those who ignore the ban."
“Some 70% of Iran's population is said to be under the age of 30, so it seems natural that Valentine's Day has caught on in a country where the young keep trying to find non-state-mandated rituals to call their own. The state, for its part, continues to respond with a Whack-a-Mole approach to any social ripple not dreamt of in its philosophy.
“Theocratic regimes invariably suffer from the same besetting sin: As the world evolves, they must either revise their antiquated doctrines or try to hold the world rigidly in stasis. Iran's ruling mullahs keep choosing the latter option. And with mosque and state firmly conjoined, there's no stray detail of daily life so arcane that the scriptures can't be mobilized to rein it in.
“The Iranian state has pronounced against unauthorized mingling of the sexes, rap music, rock music, Western music, women playing in bands, too-bright nail polish, laughter in hospital corridors, ancient Persian rites-of-spring celebrations (Nowrooz), and even the mention of foreign food recipes in state media. This last may sound comically implausible, but it was officially announced by a state-run website on Feb. 6. So now the true nature of pasta as an instrument of Western subversion has been revealed.
“The regime's posture turns the smallest garden-variety gestures into thrilling acts of subversion. Slipping a Valentine card to a girlfriend takes on the significance of samizdat. Every firecracker set off during Nowrooz diminishes the police state's claims to omniscience. The mullahs have appointed themselves the enemy of fun; as a result, wherever fun herniates into view, it is a politicized irruption of defiance….
“In the end, Iran's rulers face an impossible task. Their genesis myth of a society based on a codified schema of sacred laws looks neither codified nor sacred. It convinces no one. Instead, the regime seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidentally arise—a sour, paranoid struggle against irrepressible forces of nature, change, the seasons, music, romance and laughter. The Iranian people can take comfort: No earthly authority has won that particular contest for long.”
“Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fetes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools….Thus the most democratic country on earth is found to be, above all, the one where men in our day have most perfected the art of pursuing the object of their common desires in common and have applied this new science to the most objects. Does this result from an accident or could it be that there in fact exists a necessary relation between associations and equality?”
(Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2000 translation by H. C. Mansfield and D. Winthrop. pp. 489-490)
With that as a backdrop, consider this article in the Wall Street Journal discussing Iran’s attempt to ban Valentines Day.
An excerpt.
“In another sign of its ever more improvisational approach to governance, the Iranian regime has outlawed Valentine's Day. "Symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses, and any activities promoting this day are banned," announced state media last month. "Authorities will take legal action against those who ignore the ban."
“Some 70% of Iran's population is said to be under the age of 30, so it seems natural that Valentine's Day has caught on in a country where the young keep trying to find non-state-mandated rituals to call their own. The state, for its part, continues to respond with a Whack-a-Mole approach to any social ripple not dreamt of in its philosophy.
“Theocratic regimes invariably suffer from the same besetting sin: As the world evolves, they must either revise their antiquated doctrines or try to hold the world rigidly in stasis. Iran's ruling mullahs keep choosing the latter option. And with mosque and state firmly conjoined, there's no stray detail of daily life so arcane that the scriptures can't be mobilized to rein it in.
“The Iranian state has pronounced against unauthorized mingling of the sexes, rap music, rock music, Western music, women playing in bands, too-bright nail polish, laughter in hospital corridors, ancient Persian rites-of-spring celebrations (Nowrooz), and even the mention of foreign food recipes in state media. This last may sound comically implausible, but it was officially announced by a state-run website on Feb. 6. So now the true nature of pasta as an instrument of Western subversion has been revealed.
“The regime's posture turns the smallest garden-variety gestures into thrilling acts of subversion. Slipping a Valentine card to a girlfriend takes on the significance of samizdat. Every firecracker set off during Nowrooz diminishes the police state's claims to omniscience. The mullahs have appointed themselves the enemy of fun; as a result, wherever fun herniates into view, it is a politicized irruption of defiance….
“In the end, Iran's rulers face an impossible task. Their genesis myth of a society based on a codified schema of sacred laws looks neither codified nor sacred. It convinces no one. Instead, the regime seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidentally arise—a sour, paranoid struggle against irrepressible forces of nature, change, the seasons, music, romance and laughter. The Iranian people can take comfort: No earthly authority has won that particular contest for long.”
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Democracy & Nonprofits
So much of the organized effort to ensure freedom arises and is sustained in the world comes from the nonprofit sector, and that effort is inspired by great ideas, a foundational one of which is explored by the seminal 2004 book by Natan Sharansky, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny & Terror.
Against the background of what is now occurring in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reports on Mr. Sharansky's current perspective.
An excerpt.
“If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy, read Natan Sharansky's book, 'The Case for Democracy.'" With that comment in 2005, George W. Bush created a best seller, impelling hordes of statesmen, policy wonks and journalists to decode this Rosetta Stone of the "freedom agenda."
“In the book, Mr. Sharansky argues that all people, in all cultures, want to live in freedom; that all dictatorships are inherently unstable and therefore threaten the security of other countries; and that Western powers can and should influence how free other countries are. Rarely have these arguments been dramatized as during the past weeks—in Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen and especially Egypt. So late Wednesday night I interviewed Mr. Sharansky to hear his explanation of our current revolutionary moment.
"The reason people are going to the streets and making revolution is their desire not to live in a fear society," Mr. Sharansky says. In his taxonomy, the world is divided between "fear societies" and "free societies," with the difference between them determinable by what he calls a "town square test": Are the people in a given society free to stand in their town square and express their opinions without fear of arrest or physical harm? The answer in Tunisia and Egypt, of course, has long been "no"—as it was in the Soviet bloc countries that faced popular revolutions in 1989.
“The comparison of today's events with 1989 is a common one, but for Mr. Sharansky it is personal. He was born in 1948 in Donetsk (then called Stalino), Ukraine, and in the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the most famous dissidents in the Soviet Union—first as an aide to the nuclear physicist-turned-human rights activist Andrei Sakharov, then as a champion for the rights of Soviet Jews like himself to emigrate. His outspoken advocacy landed him in the Soviet Gulag for nine years (including 200 days on hunger strike).
“Mr. Sharansky was released from prison in 1986, after his wife Avital's tireless campaigning earned his case international renown and the strong support of President Ronald Reagan. He moved to Israel, where he eventually entered politics and served until 2006 in various ministerial posts and in the parliament. Throughout, he preached and wrote about, as his book's subtitle puts it, "the power of freedom to overcome tyranny and terror."
“This idea is the animating feature of a worldview that bucks much conventional wisdom. Uprisings like Tunisia's and Egypt's, he says, make "specialists—Sovietologists, Arabists—say 'Who could have thought only two weeks ago that this will happen?'" But "look at what Middle Eastern democratic dissidents were saying for all these years about the weakness of these regimes from the inside," and you won't be surprised when they topple, he says.
“And yet policy makers from Washington to Tel Aviv have seemingly been in shock. Many of them—on the right and the left—look upon the demise of Hosni Mubarak and the potential rise of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood with dread.
"Why is there such a big danger that if now there will be free choice for Egyptians, then the Muslim Brotherhood can rise to power?" Mr. Sharansky asks. "Because they are the only organized force which exists in addition to Mubarak's regime." Mr. Mubarak quashed almost all political dissent, with the general acquiescence of his American patrons. But he couldn't stop the Brotherhood from spreading its message in mosques. Meanwhile, he used the Brotherhood as a bogeyman, telling the U.S. that only he stood between radical Islamists and the seat of power.”
Against the background of what is now occurring in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reports on Mr. Sharansky's current perspective.
An excerpt.
“If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy, read Natan Sharansky's book, 'The Case for Democracy.'" With that comment in 2005, George W. Bush created a best seller, impelling hordes of statesmen, policy wonks and journalists to decode this Rosetta Stone of the "freedom agenda."
“In the book, Mr. Sharansky argues that all people, in all cultures, want to live in freedom; that all dictatorships are inherently unstable and therefore threaten the security of other countries; and that Western powers can and should influence how free other countries are. Rarely have these arguments been dramatized as during the past weeks—in Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen and especially Egypt. So late Wednesday night I interviewed Mr. Sharansky to hear his explanation of our current revolutionary moment.
"The reason people are going to the streets and making revolution is their desire not to live in a fear society," Mr. Sharansky says. In his taxonomy, the world is divided between "fear societies" and "free societies," with the difference between them determinable by what he calls a "town square test": Are the people in a given society free to stand in their town square and express their opinions without fear of arrest or physical harm? The answer in Tunisia and Egypt, of course, has long been "no"—as it was in the Soviet bloc countries that faced popular revolutions in 1989.
“The comparison of today's events with 1989 is a common one, but for Mr. Sharansky it is personal. He was born in 1948 in Donetsk (then called Stalino), Ukraine, and in the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the most famous dissidents in the Soviet Union—first as an aide to the nuclear physicist-turned-human rights activist Andrei Sakharov, then as a champion for the rights of Soviet Jews like himself to emigrate. His outspoken advocacy landed him in the Soviet Gulag for nine years (including 200 days on hunger strike).
“Mr. Sharansky was released from prison in 1986, after his wife Avital's tireless campaigning earned his case international renown and the strong support of President Ronald Reagan. He moved to Israel, where he eventually entered politics and served until 2006 in various ministerial posts and in the parliament. Throughout, he preached and wrote about, as his book's subtitle puts it, "the power of freedom to overcome tyranny and terror."
“This idea is the animating feature of a worldview that bucks much conventional wisdom. Uprisings like Tunisia's and Egypt's, he says, make "specialists—Sovietologists, Arabists—say 'Who could have thought only two weeks ago that this will happen?'" But "look at what Middle Eastern democratic dissidents were saying for all these years about the weakness of these regimes from the inside," and you won't be surprised when they topple, he says.
“And yet policy makers from Washington to Tel Aviv have seemingly been in shock. Many of them—on the right and the left—look upon the demise of Hosni Mubarak and the potential rise of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood with dread.
"Why is there such a big danger that if now there will be free choice for Egyptians, then the Muslim Brotherhood can rise to power?" Mr. Sharansky asks. "Because they are the only organized force which exists in addition to Mubarak's regime." Mr. Mubarak quashed almost all political dissent, with the general acquiescence of his American patrons. But he couldn't stop the Brotherhood from spreading its message in mosques. Meanwhile, he used the Brotherhood as a bogeyman, telling the U.S. that only he stood between radical Islamists and the seat of power.”
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Faith & Money
Being true to belief is always admirable, and as reported by the Catholic Sentinel, that is what an Oregon nonprofit organization has done.
Bravo!
An excerpt.
“EUGENE — Catholic Community Services of Lane County will no longer accept money from United Way . That's because the secular charity clearing house also funds Planned Parenthood.
“Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Portland made a similar decision more than a decade ago in Portland.
“Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon, though it says it does not offer surgical abortions, recently began offering RU-486, a drug that terminates a pregnancy, taking a nascent life.
“Planned Parenthood has eight centers in Southwest Oregon and dispenses RU-486 in Eugene and Ashland.
“Archbishop John Vlazny advised the Catholic Community Services board to tell United Way about the objections to funding the nation's largest abortion provider.
“United Way chose to continue funding Planned Parenthood, so the Catholic Community Services board voted to unlink itself for moral reasons.”
Bravo!
An excerpt.
“EUGENE — Catholic Community Services of Lane County will no longer accept money from United Way . That's because the secular charity clearing house also funds Planned Parenthood.
“Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Portland made a similar decision more than a decade ago in Portland.
“Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon, though it says it does not offer surgical abortions, recently began offering RU-486, a drug that terminates a pregnancy, taking a nascent life.
“Planned Parenthood has eight centers in Southwest Oregon and dispenses RU-486 in Eugene and Ashland.
“Archbishop John Vlazny advised the Catholic Community Services board to tell United Way about the objections to funding the nation's largest abortion provider.
“United Way chose to continue funding Planned Parenthood, so the Catholic Community Services board voted to unlink itself for moral reasons.”
Saturday, November 20, 2010
The Future & Reason
In times of great uncertainty, words of wisdom are always appreciated and this short excerpt in today’s Wall Street Journal, written in 1953, is timeless.
An excerpt.
“When I was a younger man, I believed that progress was inevitable—that the world would be better tomorrow and better still the day after. The thunder of war, the stench of concentration camps, the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb are, however, not conducive to optimism. All our tomorrows for years to come will be clouded by the threat of a terrible holocaust.
“Yet my faith in the future, though somewhat shaken, is not destroyed. I still believe in it. If I sometimes doubt that man will achieve his mortal potentialities, I never doubt that he can.
“I believe that these potentialities promise all men a measure beyond reckoning of the joys and comforts, material and spiritual, that life offers. Not utopia, to be sure. I do not believe in utopias. Man may achieve all but perfection.
“Paradise is not for this world. All men cannot be masters, but none need to be a slave. We cannot cast out pain from the world, but needless suffering we can. Tragedy will be with us in some degree as long as there is life, but misery we can banish. Injustice will raise its head in the best of all possible worlds, but tyranny we can conquer. Evil will invade some men's hearts, intolerance will twist some men's minds, but decency is a far more common human attribute, and it can be made to prevail in our daily lives.
“I believe all this because I believe, above all else, in reason—in the power of the human mind to cope with the problems of life. Any calamity visited upon man, either by his own hand or by a more omnipotent nature, could have been avoided or at least mitigated by a measure of thought. To nothing so much as the abandonment of reason does humanity owe its sorrows. Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life, have been the consequence of action without thought.”
An excerpt.
“When I was a younger man, I believed that progress was inevitable—that the world would be better tomorrow and better still the day after. The thunder of war, the stench of concentration camps, the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb are, however, not conducive to optimism. All our tomorrows for years to come will be clouded by the threat of a terrible holocaust.
“Yet my faith in the future, though somewhat shaken, is not destroyed. I still believe in it. If I sometimes doubt that man will achieve his mortal potentialities, I never doubt that he can.
“I believe that these potentialities promise all men a measure beyond reckoning of the joys and comforts, material and spiritual, that life offers. Not utopia, to be sure. I do not believe in utopias. Man may achieve all but perfection.
“Paradise is not for this world. All men cannot be masters, but none need to be a slave. We cannot cast out pain from the world, but needless suffering we can. Tragedy will be with us in some degree as long as there is life, but misery we can banish. Injustice will raise its head in the best of all possible worlds, but tyranny we can conquer. Evil will invade some men's hearts, intolerance will twist some men's minds, but decency is a far more common human attribute, and it can be made to prevail in our daily lives.
“I believe all this because I believe, above all else, in reason—in the power of the human mind to cope with the problems of life. Any calamity visited upon man, either by his own hand or by a more omnipotent nature, could have been avoided or at least mitigated by a measure of thought. To nothing so much as the abandonment of reason does humanity owe its sorrows. Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life, have been the consequence of action without thought.”
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Organizations as Environment
Echoing the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a great Catholic thinker, Gareth Morgan writes about the holistic way to view organizations.
“Many biologists now believe that it is the whole ecosystem that evolves and that the process of evolution can really be understood only at the level of the total ecology. This has important implications because it suggests that organisms do not evolve by adapting to environmental changes or as a result of these changes selecting the organisms that are to survive. Rather, it suggests that evolution is always evolution of a pattern of relations embracing organisms and their environments. It is the pattern, not just the separate units comprising this pattern, that evolves. Or as Kenneth Boulding has put it, evolution involves the “survival of the fitting,” not just the survival of the fittest.
“Organizations and their environments are engaged in a pattern of cocreation, where each produces the other. Just as in nature, where the environment of an organism is composed of other organisms, organizational environments are in large measure composed of other organizations. Once we recognize this, it becomes clear that organizations are, in principle, able to influence the nature of their environment. They can play an active role in shaping their future, especially when acting in concert with other organizations. Environments then become in some measure negotiated environments rather than independent external forces.” (Morgan, G. (1998). Images of Organization: The Executive Edition. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. (p. 61)
“Many biologists now believe that it is the whole ecosystem that evolves and that the process of evolution can really be understood only at the level of the total ecology. This has important implications because it suggests that organisms do not evolve by adapting to environmental changes or as a result of these changes selecting the organisms that are to survive. Rather, it suggests that evolution is always evolution of a pattern of relations embracing organisms and their environments. It is the pattern, not just the separate units comprising this pattern, that evolves. Or as Kenneth Boulding has put it, evolution involves the “survival of the fitting,” not just the survival of the fittest.
“Organizations and their environments are engaged in a pattern of cocreation, where each produces the other. Just as in nature, where the environment of an organism is composed of other organisms, organizational environments are in large measure composed of other organizations. Once we recognize this, it becomes clear that organizations are, in principle, able to influence the nature of their environment. They can play an active role in shaping their future, especially when acting in concert with other organizations. Environments then become in some measure negotiated environments rather than independent external forces.” (Morgan, G. (1998). Images of Organization: The Executive Edition. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. (p. 61)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Why Give?
A marvelous book I’ve been reading, Giving Well, Doing Good: Readings for Thoughtful Philanthropists, has many excellent thoughts to ponder, and one comes in the discussion of the different levels within the reasons for giving; and the third level relates to the best reason.
An excerpt.
“The third level—which might be described as the most mature form of giving—is a way of participating in the life of others, or an expression of gratitude. Here the key element is the other, the recipient; not the self, the giver. The giver wishes to be, and becomes a genuine participant who shares in an achievement by facilitating it. This giving also has the reward of a beneficent return, although the benefits are primarily for others than oneself.” (p. 129)
An excerpt.
“The third level—which might be described as the most mature form of giving—is a way of participating in the life of others, or an expression of gratitude. Here the key element is the other, the recipient; not the self, the giver. The giver wishes to be, and becomes a genuine participant who shares in an achievement by facilitating it. This giving also has the reward of a beneficent return, although the benefits are primarily for others than oneself.” (p. 129)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Cultural Diversity
Sacramento has long been known as one of the most well-balanced and diverse cities in the country—with Time Magazine making it official in 2002—and that is a very good thing for a city, and very good for those of us lucky enough to live here.
What this means for the nonprofit world has been long studied and most recently written about by a local nonprofit leader, Janice Gow Pettey, in—among other works on the subject—her recent book Cultivating Diversity in Fundraising.
Underlying much of the success of our country over the past several decades and stretching far into the future, is this same diversity, which continues to build upon the historic vision of the solidarity of America, always welcoming everyone.
From that welcome, great power is growing, and Joel Kotkin at New Geography writes about this.
An excerpt.
“When Americans think of our nation's power (or our imminent lack of it) we tend to point to the national debts, GDP or military prowess. Few have focused on what may well be the country's most historically significant and powerful weapon: its emergence as the modern world's first multiracial superpower.
“This evolution, after centuries of racial wrangling and struggle, will prove particularly critical in a world in which the power of the "white" race will likely diminish as power shifts to China, India and other developing countries. By 2039, due largely to immigrants and their offspring, non-Europeans will constitute the majority of working-age Americans, and by around 2050 non-Hispanic whites could well be in the minority.
“But this should not be seen so much as a matter of ethnic succession as multiracial amalgamation. The group likely to grow fastest, for example, will be made up of people, like President Obama himself, who are of mixed race. Theirs is no more demonstrable evidence of the changing racial attitudes of Americans. As recently as 1987 slightly less than half of Americans approved of interracial couples. By 2007, according to the Pew Center, 83% supported them. Among the millennial generation, who will make up the majority of adults in 2050, 94% approve of such matches.
“Today roughly 20% of Americans, according to Pew Research Center, say they have a relative married to someone of another race. Mixed-race couples tend to be younger; over two-fifths of mixed-race Americans are under 18 years of age. In the coming decades this group will play an ever greater role in society. According to sociologists at UC, Irvine, by 2050 mixed-race people could account for one in five Americans.
“The result will be a U.S. best described in Walt Whitman's prophetic phrase as "the race of races." No other advanced, populous country will enjoy such ethnic diversity.”
What this means for the nonprofit world has been long studied and most recently written about by a local nonprofit leader, Janice Gow Pettey, in—among other works on the subject—her recent book Cultivating Diversity in Fundraising.
Underlying much of the success of our country over the past several decades and stretching far into the future, is this same diversity, which continues to build upon the historic vision of the solidarity of America, always welcoming everyone.
From that welcome, great power is growing, and Joel Kotkin at New Geography writes about this.
An excerpt.
“When Americans think of our nation's power (or our imminent lack of it) we tend to point to the national debts, GDP or military prowess. Few have focused on what may well be the country's most historically significant and powerful weapon: its emergence as the modern world's first multiracial superpower.
“This evolution, after centuries of racial wrangling and struggle, will prove particularly critical in a world in which the power of the "white" race will likely diminish as power shifts to China, India and other developing countries. By 2039, due largely to immigrants and their offspring, non-Europeans will constitute the majority of working-age Americans, and by around 2050 non-Hispanic whites could well be in the minority.
“But this should not be seen so much as a matter of ethnic succession as multiracial amalgamation. The group likely to grow fastest, for example, will be made up of people, like President Obama himself, who are of mixed race. Theirs is no more demonstrable evidence of the changing racial attitudes of Americans. As recently as 1987 slightly less than half of Americans approved of interracial couples. By 2007, according to the Pew Center, 83% supported them. Among the millennial generation, who will make up the majority of adults in 2050, 94% approve of such matches.
“Today roughly 20% of Americans, according to Pew Research Center, say they have a relative married to someone of another race. Mixed-race couples tend to be younger; over two-fifths of mixed-race Americans are under 18 years of age. In the coming decades this group will play an ever greater role in society. According to sociologists at UC, Irvine, by 2050 mixed-race people could account for one in five Americans.
“The result will be a U.S. best described in Walt Whitman's prophetic phrase as "the race of races." No other advanced, populous country will enjoy such ethnic diversity.”
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Solidarity and Equity
1) Reading an article, “Social Charity: A new virtue for moral theology”, from the May 2008 issue of the magazine Homiletic and Pastoral Review—available by subscription from Ignatius Press—I came across this regarding solidarity, a foundational concept within the nonprofit sector and Catholic social teaching:
“..solidarity also represents a moral relationship between man and his fellow man…Even if the downfall of one’s fellow man were to one’s advantage, one is not permitted to wish for this [if one accepts the principle of solidarity] let alone help bring it about.”
“The essence of an awareness of this interdependence throughout society, up to and including the international level, constitutes solidarity as explained by Pope John Paul II in Part V of Sollicitudo Rei Socialis [On Social Concern] “When interdependence becomes recognized in this way, the correlative response as a moral and social attitude, as a "virtue," is solidarity.” (# 38)
2) The corresponding concept in the field of public administration is equity, and it is one of the administrative tools that Grover Starling (2005) notes asks the following questions in terms of the distribution of public resources:
“Are benefits distributed equitably with respect to region, income, sex, ethnicity, age, and so forth? To what degree do those using the service pay directly for its benefits?” (Managing the Public Sector, 7th Edition. p. 256)
“..solidarity also represents a moral relationship between man and his fellow man…Even if the downfall of one’s fellow man were to one’s advantage, one is not permitted to wish for this [if one accepts the principle of solidarity] let alone help bring it about.”
“The essence of an awareness of this interdependence throughout society, up to and including the international level, constitutes solidarity as explained by Pope John Paul II in Part V of Sollicitudo Rei Socialis [On Social Concern] “When interdependence becomes recognized in this way, the correlative response as a moral and social attitude, as a "virtue," is solidarity.” (# 38)
2) The corresponding concept in the field of public administration is equity, and it is one of the administrative tools that Grover Starling (2005) notes asks the following questions in terms of the distribution of public resources:
“Are benefits distributed equitably with respect to region, income, sex, ethnicity, age, and so forth? To what degree do those using the service pay directly for its benefits?” (Managing the Public Sector, 7th Edition. p. 256)
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