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This was published last summer, but I just came across it today. I have experienced many of the pieces identified below – from founders and others. So, one piece that I would add is that the basic premise (openness to others’ expertise etc) is critical – but not limited to NGOs that are still being run by the founder. It can happen in that case, but it can also happen in other organizations.

https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2017/apr/12/founder-syndrome-personality-crippling-charity 

Doing a bit more digging, I came across a few articles referencing a recent NGO study in India, which suggests a heavy over-reliance on founder-CEOs, even 10-20 years or more after the organization was founded. It also indicates weak interest in building leadership capacity among non-CEO staff, both within the organization and among donors.

https://www.livemint.com/Industry/UdIacbXtoqojHsrQq4lcZM/NGOs-lack-leaders-to-succeed-current-management-study.html

“Ingrid Srinath, director, Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Ashoka University, attributes this mindset to Indian CSOs being “personality driven with the CEO/founder as the key element when it comes to raising money and setting agenda. This is a handicap when it comes to building sustainable organizations. In the event of discontinuity of service by the leader, the impact is often severe and it takes years to recoup.” (Bold mine).

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/ngo_leadership_development_in_india_from_pioneer_founders_to_homegrown_lead

“As the trailblazers who built India’s nonprofit sector begin to step aside, a new study shows that NGOs face a significant gap in next-generation leadership. There are barriers to bridging this gap and building blocks to surmount them, but progress depends on founders and funders viewing leadership development as mission critical.” (Bold mine)

Although this study was based in India, these are certainly not region-specific challenges. Thoughts?

https://www2.fundsforngos.org/featured/why-do-donors-hate-me/

“Why Do Donors Hate Me?”

OK – so this isn’t me personally asking the question. That’s the title of the article, so that’s where I’m starting from here. I see a lot here that I have observed in many organizations, and I think that it’s an important discussion to have.

I will highlight just a couple here.

1. You have low capacity to fundraise. 

“If you don’t know the basic techniques of fundraising like proper donor research, engaging and networking, and developing high-quality proposals, you will not succeed.”

I would add here that mechanisms around data collection, donor relationships, communication, volunteer recruitment/utilization/retention and others all have been low in various organizations that I have seen recently. Fundraising is not just writing a proposal – it’s having systems in place to show donors what you are doing, seeking feedback, regular communication and other things.

2. You are not putting in the hard work.

Fundraising is not rocket science, but it does require constant effort. You may be tempted to take the easy way out or focus more on other things. There are no shortcuts in fundraising and you will have to allocate significant time and effort to it to get a grant. You can also not outsource the hard work to someone else/

I think that this is a critical piece. Shortcuts (eg “please fund us because we are a nice organization doing good work and we are nice people”) has left great organizations falling seriously short of what I think that they are capable of in terms of fundraising capacity.  Somewhat unfortunately, because this works some of the time, organizations seem to be discouraged from doing the hard work to improve their systems, which perpetuates the problems, leaving them with a bit of funding, and weak systems.

How can a small organization be encouraged to make changes, if taking shortcuts works some of the time, and they don’t realize what they are missing out on by not changing systems and structures?

Thoughts?

Glad to see a bit more coverage on this issue on CBC. It’s an important discussion, and particularly timely, I think, with winter and the holidays coming up. 

Food production is responsible for up to a third of greenhouse gas emissions around the world. A recent blog post from the World Resources Institute, a global sustainability think-tank, warns that agriculture alone could raise the Earth’s average temperature more than 1.5 C above that in pre-industrial times if we don’t change our eating habits. (Bold mine)

So, here are a few of my additional thoughts.

• The article points out that these are options that “do not involve going vegan.” I appreciate that they are looking for additional options – however, going plant-based (either partly or completely) is a really important part of the discussion. Let’s see this as “more options in addition…” instead of and either-or discussion. 
• Protein (See quote below): Only thing I would add is that, in my experience, most people who eat plant-based are doing just fine for protein, even though it wasn’t noted in this study.
• Agree that those of us in cold-winter climates do not need to be eating green salads in winter.  Potatoes and other winter veggies make great soup!

Veeramani’s research found that people eating all non-vegan diets in the study — including vegetarians — were consuming 150 per cent to 250 per cent of the recommended level of protein, and 60 to 80 per cent of it was dairy, eggs, fish and meat. (Bold mine)

That’s been backed up by other studies. According to the World Resources Institute, the average person in more than 90 per cent of the world was eating more protein than they needed in 2009, and the proportion of animal-based protein in people’s diets has been growing dramatically.

This is a problem, because animal-based proteins consume more resources and generate more greenhouse gases than beans, nuts and other plant-based proteins. Producing beef uses 20 times the land and generates 20 times the emissions as producing beans, per gram of protein, the World Resources Institute reports. (Bold mine)

Here is one of the legumes that is common in our household (which I started using when I was first in the Middle East). 10 grams of protein per 1/4 cup dried. 18 grams of protein per 250 mls/1 cup cooked.

http://www.phoeniciagroup.com/en/Prod.aspx?ProdSubCatid=11&ProductID=161 

Happy sustainable eating! Thoughts?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_godfather_of_fake_news
Starting from the agreed premise of the high cost of fake news, this BBC article takes an interesting approach to meeting and interviewing fact checkers and others involved in trying to keep news truthful and fact based.
Well worth reading. 🙂

Following up on my earlier post about some organizational struggles I have observed, here are some more thoughts. Unwillingness to talk about failure is definitely something that I have observed in a number of organizations, and it is a key piece that I think needs to change.  None of us are perfect, and no project is perfect either. How can we all genuinely learn, improve and create better projects if there is not open conversation about what worked and what didn’t work?
I’m hoping for lots of great conversations about all of the varied aspects of NGO program development – the good, bad and everything in the middle – as a path towards greater success for everyone. 🙂
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/smarter-living/talking-about-failure-is-crucial-for-growth-heres-how-to-do-it-right.html 

Great news from a couple of days ago. There is a long ways to go on reducing pollution (plastic and other) – this is a bit step in the right direction. Hopefully this is the start of many other, big changes in the right direction. 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/24/european-parliament-approves-ban-on-single-use-plastics-uk-eu-brexit?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_WordPress

Glad to see that the federal government is starting to move on climate action. I admit that I am shocked at how many provinces are resisting, including some that I thought were more progressive than what they have shown in this process.   This is not enough, and much more will need to be done, but it’s a start. 🙂
Trudeau promises rebates as Ottawa moves to levy carbon tax on provinces outside the climate plan
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-carbon-tax-plan-trudeau-1.4874258
Shared via the CBC News Android App

Great news! I hope this passes, and I would love to see it spread further. I believe that there are countless more sustainable options to single use plastic – straws, for example, when needed could be made from something other than plastic.  Hopefully North America will follow soon after. 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/22/ban-on-plastic-straws-stirrers-and-cotton-buds-pollution-could-come-into-force-by-2019?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_WordPress

Great ideas! I especially like the idea of restaurants offering reusable containers which can be returned at any time. Doesn’t count on customers always having reusable dishes with them when they want to pick something up, so it should have a much higher success rate than other options.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/zero-waste-takeout-1.4867042
Shared via the CBC News Android App

The pledge founder wants to encourage more medical professionals to learn about the power of a plant-based diet.
I love this idea! I would love to see it spread further! 🙂
https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/500-doctors-plant-based-one-week