Consulting

What to do with all that space?


Vacant retail space in malls and shopping center is being converted into temporary attractions. Opportunities seem abound to land prime retail/high traffic space at little or no cost as a way to help fill-in the gaps that retailers are trying to make dissappear. What could the nonprofit sector be doing to maximize this opportunity? I have seen arts & crafts festivals promote community/nonprofit booths to fill-in stalls when artists cannot attend. Real estate firms loan moving trucks to community organizations when they are not is use by their clients. Gala fundraising events fill open tables with volunteers and strategic partners. Marketing opportunites are abound. The NCAA Final Four basketball torunament has an official ladder sponsor so the winning team can climb-up to cut down the nets. Clearly there are opportunities to make your presence known. Keep us posted if you have found a creative ways to address these opportunities.

Project 39


Launching a new initiative focused on serving movements and enterprises that are innovating new ways of addressing opportunities and challenges. Combining the resources of What if Concepts with the tribe of followers the intention is to be a collective force for good. To reach out and provide our unique talents in a collective effort to launch and grow movements and organizations that need to succeed. What does this look like:

Common Ground/The Momentum Group: This organization is providing assistance to refugees and displaced internationals in Boise, Idaho through a job training and placement initiative. This grassroots efforts is being launched from an existing nonprofit organization that has launched projects internationally. The training is being lead by other refugees with assistance from a volunteer leadership team and the organization has become the ‘talk of the community.’
Project 39 has donated and dedicated consulting resources and talents to this enterprise because the success of this program provides a template that has the potential for an exponential impact. Communities in other states are seeking to replicate the Boise version because it has already accomplished something significant- Common Ground has taken the refugee and an unemployed international population in the community and helped refine their existing professional skills so they can be employed in job opportunities that are desperately seeking employees. It is the ultimate paradigm shift of taking a group who is being handed fish on a daily basis to teaching them how to fish.

Much more to follow on Common Ground and other movements with profound impact. Tell us what you are working on.

A New Life


Watching Charlie Rose on PBS last night with his guests who were discussing the recent renaissance of the High Line in New York City. This abandon elevated railway had been slated for demolition. Built in the 1930’s at the same time as the West Side Drive it had become a artifact of another generation. Developers were keen to get access to the private land that was constrained by the railways platform. The Friends of the High Line was formed and raised enough public awareness and support that the High Line is now prepared to open its first renovated section as a public park. Taking a cue from the vegetation that had taken hold of the railroad bed, the winning design is a blended paver system that seems to meander through the grasses and landscape. And the developers and realtors are now using the High Line as a community amenity to sell their adjoining real estate listings. What had once been a forgotten decaying relic is now the talk of the town.

What exists in our own communities that may be a greater asset than we ever imagined? What liability is suddenly a valuable treasure? It reminds me of the baseball card collection that sits in the shoe box collecting dust and just before it is tossed away somebody realizes that there is a card within its collection that is highly valuable. Suddenly we put the card in a plastic sleeve and treat it like a fine bottle of wine with attention to its condition.

It’s All About Scale & Balance


So Spring Break is over and it is time to get back to the ‘real world’. It is time to focus on the important issues of the day. To fill my schedule with appointments instead of taking the moments as they comes. To be aware of time instead of waking when the first person lazily rolls out of bed in the hotel room. It is time to start the day with the news and stay connected throughout the day instead of taking a subtle glance at the complimentary paper sitting outside the hotel room door. It is time to work through the ‘to do’ list on my computer instead of the ‘to ride’ list at the amusement park. It is time to regain my perspective and take back the serious issues at hand. It is time to understand the nature of our economic condition. So I start my post Spring Break blog with this tremendous graphic that needs no words to bring my life back into focus. Take a peak at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/31/opinion/20090331_schott.html

Wow- perhaps I need another Spring Break.

Virtual Philanthropy

Just read on Twitter that the NY Time found that many first-time donor who complete a transaction online do not return. Questions that come to mind:

  • What moved them to donate in the first place? What was their motivation?
  • What did the organization do to keep them engaged?
  • What was the extent of the ‘relationship’?
  • What opportunities exists to make a first-time donor a repeat donor?
  • Was this a ‘test gift’ or was it in response to PR, media coverage, a campaign, special occurrence, etc.?

Many opportunities exist to retain first-time donors, especially when other organizations are not meeting their needs.

It All About People


Today I was thinking about my relationship with different organizations. Why are there nonprofit organizations that I remain involved with by volunteering and contributions and others that I just drift through? There are so many good causes and great programs. What attracts my time and resources? I think the deciding factor is my relationship with the people involved within the organization.

It can be a connection with a staff member who does extraordinary work. A meaningful line of communication with an Executive Director. A personal relationship with a board member or volunteer who takes their passion for the cause and engages mine as well. Or it is a customer of the organization who is a walking megaphone and is spreading the latest and greatest news.

I have come to realize that it is when one of these connections leaves the organization or stops communicating that I start drifting away. It is not always intentional. A void is created and my attention shifts elsewhere. That is why I see new Executive Directors or CEO’s spend their first one hundred days meeting people, forming relationships and calibrating their strengths with the organization’s culture.

During a capital campaign when a change in the staff or volunteer leadership is made I find myself being less certain about the multiple year pledge I had previously made. If the Executive Director was my link to the organization and they move to another job my connection to the nonprofit has lessened significantly. It does not mean that I am not going to continue to donate and be supportive of the mission but I find it much easier to attach a face to the mission instead of words.

People matter. They impact relationships. You are the reason that somebody else is a member of a nonprofit, buys a certain brand, attends religious services on a regular basis. It is an interconnected web and you play a critical role (often unknown).

Who influences your choices and loyalty?

How Important is Your Organization’s Vision?


I spent the past two days serving on a search committee interviewing candidates for a Executive Director position. It was an energizing experience since each interviewee was dynamic and brought a wealth of information and talent that would clearly help the organization succeed. Each potential leader has unique attributes that would clearly benefit the nonprofit organization.

Being blessed with a great pool of candidates, the real question for the search committee becomes which of these leaders will best guide the organization towards its vision. The foundation of the search committee’s final recommendation to the board will ultimately be grounded in the organization’s vision.

How well do you understand your organization’s vision? What are you ultimately trying to achieve through your programs and services? A great vision provides a tremendous advantage, especially when making critical decisions.

The Demise of the School Board

In today’s Wall Street Journal:

“More U.S. cities are considering scrapping a longstanding tradition in American education, the elected school board, and opting to let mayors rule over the classroom.

Dallas and Milwaukee are currently mulling mayoral control of the city’s schools, and Detroit is under pressure to try it — for the second time. A dozen major school systems, including New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., already have a form of mayoral control.”

What will become of school boards? Is deferring oversight to the Executive a good thing? Is it no longer possible to find local representatives to serve as public guardians for the school district? What is wrong with the current system- the people or the structure?

Sharing Our Competitive Advantage


I attended a meeting for an educational institution the other day. One of the items on our agenda was to discuss our competitive advantage as a school compared to other educational institutions. There was a variety of opinion initially on how transparent we should be about publishing what we believed to be our ‘secret sauce.’ Should we openly share those qualities and programs that make our approach to education more uniquely positioned to be successful than similar schools. The dialogue was collegial and then the Headmaster of the school stated that he would lean towards letting it all out in the public’s view. Why not? We are in the field of education and enhancing the learning process is a core priority. Why not share with our students, parents, community, and even competitors? When completed we will publish our curriculum map and put details behind our course work. If another institution wishes to adopt the exact curriculum map then there will be no security breach.

In reflection, I realized that we are always sharing our competitive advantage on a constant basis. Out customers and fans have an on-going opportunity to evaluate our organizations in action. Word will get around. Think about the airline industry. There are very few differences between the carriers. We all have our favorite (or perhaps it is easier to think of our least favorite). The options are very similar across the board. So far the biggest difference is that the non-legacy carriers have been able to build platforms and business models that allowed for more uniformity (same type of aircraft, fewer fare classes, fewer unions). Our best customers walk around with a megaphone on as Seth Godin says in his book Small is the New Big. They shout about our competitive advantage to everyone who will listen. So perhaps taking a lead from educational institution- being transparent is the new math.