The Leadership Learning Community exists to strengthen the work of those dedicated to developing leadership that can address a range of significant social issues. LLC connects a diverse group of leadership development practitioners, grant-makers, and thought leaders who identify successful practices, conduct research, evaluate current leadership efforts, and exchange information and tools. Through its website and regional and national meetings and learning opportunities, LLC generates and disseminates publicly accessible knowledge to promote effective leadership support and development.

Yes we can! ....But how? *

Posted December 11th, 2008 by Deborah Meehan
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* the election-specific responses are the personal opinions of Deborah Meehan and not of the Leadership Learning Community or The Tides Center (the 501c3 charity, which is by definition non-partisan).

I found myself completely swept up in the election fervor this year. It was contagious and I know where I caught it, my daughters! I was curious, hopeful and undecided over a year ago when my daughter talked me into attending an Obama rally in San Francisco. I was immediately hooked. I wouldn’t be the first person to say that Obama was an amazing speaker and while that was quite inspiring, what really grabbed me was his message of hope and his reminder that it was not up to him but all of us. Okay, I watched the “Yes We Can Video” at least a dozen times.

For as long as I can remember, I have longed in my soul for a candidate who would actually expect the best of us and call us to our better selves . . . our unselfish selves with a concern for the well being of others in this country and around the globe . I was deeply heartened to see a massive response to Obama’s message of hope after eight years of fear- based politics. Since the elections, my happiness threshold is just a little bit higher . . . every day seems a little bit better, well to be more precise, hopeful! Of course I am happy that Obama won, and I am elated that at least the majority (and we should not forget that it’s a slim majority) of people in this country responded to a challenge that we can do better as a country and nation and must cross many lines of difference to deliver on this promise.

This election has a great deal to teach all of us, and especially those of us who believe in leadership and change. I began working on this election in my off-time in my living room with a computer in my lap and cell phone in hand. I was able to call other voters when I found myself with 15 minutes here or there. I have never given to a national election campaign before because I never felt that what I could afford to contribute could matter in how things played out. I found myself on numerous occasions responding to the $25 ask, and not doubting that my $25 could connect with the contributions of thousands of other small donors to actually make a difference.

By the time the election neared, I was eager to connect more personally with other supporters and on my vacation went with my daughters to do GOTV (Get Out The Vote) in the swing state of Virginia where I was born. The day we arrived, in one small office of many throughout the state, we were part of a team of 200 volunteers that canvassed over 3,000 homes in one afternoon! The day before the election we attended Obama’s last rally on the campaign trail. The event, announced two days before, drew over 100,000 people who stood in packed fairgrounds, waiting until 10:30 PM on Monday night for Obama to arrive.

So what does this all have to do with leadership?  read more »

A New Culture for the Non Profit Sector: The Culture of Impact Brokers

Posted November 19th, 2008 by Janice Epstein
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Janice Epstein

In an online article titled “ Are Nonprofits Terrible Tech Clients?,” Holly Ross responds to the complaint that non profits are hard for technology providers (read: for-profits) to work with because they demand more and want it for less:

"Most funders won't pay admin costs. Donors expect increasingly large percentages of every dollar to go straight to program. We're not supposed to spend money on rent, phones, or, god forbid, computers. We're not supposed to hire the staff that keep our nonprofits humming -- the bookkeepers and admin folks. And we're not supposed to pay very much to anyone. That's the culture we live in. I don't like it. I wish our culture believed that nonprofits should be well-staffed and have adequate infrastructures. But that's not where we're at right now."

Ross sums up nicely many of the realities that make up the nonprofit culture, but there’s more. Many nonprofits are:

  • Behind the eight ball on cultural diversity
  • Afraid of discussing some organizational and sector truths
  • Competitive rather than cooperative
  • More focused on fundraising than mission
  • Slow decision-makers
  • Change averse

Why is it this way? Some possible reasons for these aspects of the nonprofit culture include: low resource availability; serving multiple constituent groups with varying motivations (service recipients; funders; board of directors); having oversight vs. partnership relationships with funders; having resources earmarked for program delivery not for building programs; being stuck in funding cycles (read: change can’t come until the next grant cycle).

Impact Brokers- a cooperative of nonprofits, investors, consultants and community partners coming together to improve our collective capacity to tackle complex social challenges- is providing a space for a different nonprofit culture to emerge. Impact Brokers circles are, for one thing, removing the stereotypical nonprofit competition from their tables. In Constellation Collaboration: A model for multi-organizational partnership, Tonya Surman writes about a collaboration model in which “self-interest is harnessed, valued and balanced with common interest.” Impact Brokers agrees with Surman’s idea that “coordinated mutual self-interest…[is] the best way to secure resources and goals.” (1)

Currently, the Impact Brokers Boston circle is pursuing resources collectively to fund the technology needs of all the members. As a non-program cost, IT infrastructure is already difficult to fund. We are hopefully making it easier by making partners of organizations that could otherwise have been competitors. We are also organized to help organizations stay mission-focused. In addition to having the Impact Brokers consultants work on identifying, applying and managing the funding process, we have also identified IT projects that can yield time and resources to be redirected to mission-related issues!

Care to share?

  • What issues are your organizations struggling with?
  • What could help to alleviate those struggles?
  • How is your organization keeping up with technology advances?

Do you have questions about what Impact Brokers is? For more information, read our Impact Brokers Introduction and Boston Circle Member and Partner Biographies . We will gladly answer specific questions and please know that we are still discovering it for ourselves.

1. Surman, Tonya. Constellation Collaboration: A model for multi-organizational partnership, Centre for Social Innovation, June 2006.