Resolved

A new year begets resolutions.  Promises to ourselves that the experts all tell us will most likely not come to fruition.  One explanation that I appreciated and hated at the same time is the notion that our will power is, indeed, a zero sum game:  we only have so much; too many resolutions mean we dissipate the will power we can apply to each so we achieve none.  Better to go with one and do it, than five and break them all.

So, I’d like to propose the one resolution to nonprofit employees who see themselves as the answer, the only one who can do it (whatever the it is), the only one who can keep the organization afloat and/or save it, the only one who is really vested in the organization and mission—you get my drift.  My suggested resolution for you:  take off the hair shirt, wake up and see that you don’t have the answer, you aren’t the only one, you can’t keep the organization afloat or save it, and definitely you are not the only vested in the organization and mission—if you would just give others room, they will show you.

The “Woe is me, I’m the only one who can…,” mantra gets old very quickly for those around you.  And though many of you who make this chant your refrain claim not to like it, your continued performance and decrying speak louder than your words.   The fact that you reject every suggestion, often with the statement that “it would take too long to teach (the suggested party, be it a staff member, board member, volunteer), and then I’d have to supervise him/her/them,” reinforces the message.  The saying, “You love the problem more than the solution,” always pops immediately to mind.

And while I have always feared for the future well-being of organizations managed by such leaders, the 2013 horizon is what has made me go public with this suggested new year’s resolution.  The prognosis does not seem good.  Patrick Rooney, head of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, has said that it could be as late 2022 before we see giving get back to pre-recession 2007 levels.  Ask anyone experienced in the nonprofit sector and they will tell you that even in robust times, successful fundraising is never a one person band.  And while we now know what has become of the charitable tax donation, we do not know what its impact will actually be.

The predicted increase in the number of hybrid organizations—for-profits doing “social benefit” work–will increase the competitive field within the nonprofit arena.  Since 2008 when Vermont became the first state to pass legislation allowing for low-profit, limited liability corporations–L3Cs–eight other states and two federal jurisdictions (Indian tribes) have passed similar legislation, and at least 15 other state legislatures have considered such legislation or have it pending.

Over 700 L3Cs now exist in those states recognizing this type of corporation.  And while a for-profit organization—albeit a low profit one—foundations may make program-related investments (PRIs) to nonprofits and PRIs count towards a foundations mandatory 5% giveaway.  Since 2010, 12 states have passed legislation allowing for benefit corporations, otherwise known as B Corps, which are for-profit companies required by law to reap benefit for both their shareholders and the public, providing the latter with a report on the social and environmental benefit they have created.  Competition is getting much, much steeper.

Change seems to be on everyone’s lips in talking about what 2013 will bring.  Change in organizational leadership as more and more feel as if the worst of the economic struggles are behind us, for now, and it is okay to move on or retire.  Change in funder priorities as the battle to be more and more strategic continues and change in what is asked of applying charities.  Change in how individuals may give—give to fewer but more, more but less, fewer and less all around.  Each is predicted.  Change in the demand for our services, which for most will mean continuing to serve more with fewer dollars.  It is pretty much a guarantee that if you are a nonprofit today, you will experience at least one of these forms of change in 2013.

Those of you who believe that you are the solution don’t generally do well with change; that’s why you keep doing it your way, won’t risk training someone else or letting someone else blossom.  You haven’t responded well as a one-person brigade to the challenges of the past and you won’t be successful on your own to the challenges ahead.  Not only are you not the only one who can, you shouldn’t be the only one, for your sake, your organization’s sake and your mission’s sake.  The proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” was around long before Hillary Clinton borrowed it as the title of her 1996 book.  If the nonprofit sector is to survive its challenges, we must equally come to accept the fact that it takes a community to raise a nonprofit.  No one individual can do it along.  Take off your hair shirt and join a community.  Your mission depends on it.