Speech #2 Creative Collaborations by Mala Nagarajan
Imagine a world without nonprofits. Nonprofits are the lifeblood of many communities, serving to fill a hole left by business and the public sector. Most of us here know this. That’s why we’re with the Talk for Change toastmaster’s club.
How many nonprofits are there? How many are big or small? According to a 2010 Urban Institute report, nearly 45% of the 1.6 billion registered nonprofits – that’s 714,000 of them – have annual budgets of less than $25K. Seventy-four percent of all public charities have annual expenses less than $500K. Not surprisingly, most nonprofits struggle to stay afloat.
I didn’t understand the extent to which small nonprofits struggled until my partner became the executive director of one that served South Asian survivors of domestic violence. With an annual budget of $250K, and a small staff of five and many volunteers, the organization had trouble getting the scale it needed to make its infrastructure run smoothly and efficiently. In fact, I’d find myself driving my partner to the store to get supplies and toilet paper, because she was the only one permitted to have a purchase card. No doubt her time could have been much better spent directing the organization than running errands!
Experiencing and observing these types of issues in many of the small nonprofits I volunteered with, I became very interested in using my management, technology, and organization development experience to research and think about ways to alleviate the infrastructure issues experienced by small nonprofits.
A growing number of reports, such as recent report from the Management Assistance Group funded by the Meyers Foundation, have brought attention to the lack of infrastructure to support nonprofits. Unfortunately, these reports have focused on nonprofits that have annual budgets of $1M to $4M or more, nonprofits that already have a considerable amount of resources to work with. Many foundations and management support organizations have suggested smaller nonprofits merge to address the infrastructure problem, but for many reasons, mergers are not always the most appropriate answer. I would like to suggest that improved collaboration and collaboration support could be what makes a difference to many small nonprofits.
I propose four strategies for collaboration that offer a lot of promise in improving nonprofit infrastructure:
- Collaboration through life cycle stage,
- Collaboration through programming,
- Collaboration through constituencies, and
- Collaboration through geography.
Let’s take a look at the first strategy: collaboration through life cycle stage. Susan Kenny Stevens in her book, Nonprofit Lifecycles, outlines seven typical stages of a nonprofit: idea, start-up, growth, maturity, decline, turnaround, and terminal. Each stage has characteristic patterns of behavior and capacities. Nonprofits that have similar budgets or staff size are often at the same lifecycle stage.
Nonprofits who are at the same lifecycle stage have an opportunity to collaborate by sharing their infrastructure systems – a human resources manager, an IT system, or an accountant. Consider this: if 20 organizations pay $500/month for a total of $6K a year for accounting services, then we would have $120K/year to hire an accountant, a bookkeeper, and cover overhead costs for those 20 organizations. Compared to the $12-24K per year that many nonprofit organizations are paying, $6K would represent a considerable savings.
The second collaboration strategy is collaboration through programming. Nonprofits with similar programmatic strategies or programmatic functions can also share infrastructure. Most nonprofits employ one of four programmatic strategies – direct services, public advocacy, public education, and/or community organizing. The skill sets staff and volunteers need to succeed in each of these areas are fairly similar, and conceivably, nonprofit organizations could collaborate on training materials, volunteer manuals, or policy manuals.
Some nonprofits, typically management support or technical assistance organizations, also have similar functions. Some provide information technology services like NPower; others provide media and communications. A simple example, but consider the opportunities to share resources and reduce costs if organizations that produced media campaigns shared a film or sound recording studio.
A third collaboration strategy is collaboration through constituency or identity base. Nonprofits that work with the same constituency have the opportunity to create a web of programmatic services that meet a particular community’s needs through various stages of community development. They can also share infrastructure resources.
If the nonprofits reside in the same location, they have an opportunity to share equipment for similar services they provide. A great example of this in the Pacific Northwest: three organizations that work with immigrants pooled their resources to purchase 100 translation headsets for $10K. They share these headsets amongst each other for their various training programs. If the organizations had purchased them individually, they would have paid considerably more.
If the nonprofits don’t reside in the same location, they can share services that don’t rely on a physical location. For example, 20 organizations across the country that all need their written and audio materials translated into Spanish or Mandarin, could together hire someone to perform fulltime written and audio translation for all their public education materials.
The last collaboration strategy is collaboration through location or geography. Nonprofits that work in the same community can, for example, share infrastructure such as office space, kitchen or training facilities, and IT or phone service. The growing number of nonprofit centers is a good example of this strategy.
The four strategies I’ve outlined – collaboration through lifecycle stage, through program, through constituency, and through geography – I believe can make a significant difference for small nonprofits and their struggle to stay afloat. I’m interested also in applying these strategies not just across nonprofits, but also across all three sectors – nonprofit, business, and government. Studying and exploring these strategies has been the nexus of my work, and I look forward to continuing to develop these creative collaborations.
10 Habits of Highly Organized People
(Oprah.com) – 1. Walk away from bargains
Just because you can buy a cashmere sweater for $20 or three bottles of ketchup for the price of one doesn’t mean you should. “Ask, ‘Do I have something similar?’ and ‘Where am I going to store it?’ before making a purchase,” advises New York City professional organizer Julie Morgenstern, author of “Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life.”
2. Make peace with imperfection
Efficient people give “A-level effort” to the most important projects (say, work assignments or a kitchen redesign), and for the rest they do just enough to get the job done, says Renae Reinardy, PsyD, a psychologist who specializes in hoarding disorders. Maybe you give yourself permission to bring store-bought cookies to a school bake sale or donate a bag of stuff — unsorted! — to Goodwill. “Trying to do every task perfectly is the easiest way to get bogged down,” says Reinardy.
Oprah.com: How to stop trying to be perfect all the time
3. Never label anything “miscellaneous”
You put a bunch of things into a file or box and write this catchall across the front. “But within a week you’ve forgotten what’s in there,” says Morgenstern. Instead, sort items into specific groups — “electric bills,” “lightbulbs,” and so on.
4. Schedule regular decluttering sessions
Rather than wait until an industrious mood strikes (we all know where that leads), have a decluttering routine in place — whether it’s spending 15 minutes sorting mail after work or tackling a new project every Sunday afternoon.
Oprah.com: Peter Walsh’s 3 rules for getting organized this summer
5. Stick with what works
“I have clients who will try every line of makeup, every cell phone — it’s exhausting,” says Dorothy Breininger, president of the Delphi Center for Organization. Don’t waste time (and money) obsessively seeking out the best thing.
6. Create a dump zone
Find a space to corral all the stuff that you don’t have time to put away the moment you step in the door, says Breininger. Once you’re ready to get organized, you won’t have to hunt all over the house for the dry cleaning or your child’s field trip permission slip.
7. Ask for help
“The organized person is willing to expose herself to short-term embarrassment and call for backup,” says Breininger. Which is to say, that elaborate four-course dinner you planned? Change it to a potluck.
Oprah.com: When to ask for help — and how to do it
8. Separate emotions from possessions
It’s healthy to be attached to certain items — a vase you picked up in Paris, your grandmother’s pearls. But holey concert tees or cheap, scuffed earrings your husband gave you years ago? Just let them go.
9. Foresee (and avoid) problems
You wouldn’t leave the house on a gray day without an umbrella, right? People who appear to sail through life unruffled apply this thinking to every scenario, says Breininger. Have a cabinet packed with leaning towers of Tupperware? Organized folks will take a few minutes to short-circuit an avalanche before it happens. (In other words, rearranging that cupboard now is easier than chasing after wayward lids as they scatter underneath the fridge.)
10. Know where to donate
It’s easier to part with belongings if they’re going to a good home. Identify a neighbor’s son who fits into your child’s outgrown clothes, or choose a favorite charity. “It will save you from searching for the perfect recipient every time you need to unload something,” says Morgenstern.
When Your Mind Goes Blank
At a recent Talk for Change meeting I gave my 6th speech. The objective of the speech was to research your topic. I spent weeks combing facts and statistics about early childhood education, something I’m very passionate about.
My big moment finally came and I started off the speech with a bang. I really had the audience going, but then my mind went blank. The rest of the speech was an endless blur of me rambling and trying to get through my important points. It was so disappointing because I prepared for the speech, but I didn’t get my full message across.
Once I finished, my fellow Toastmasters rallied around me with support and encouragement. In fact, they even inspired me to try the speech again. For you see great Toastmasters know that, “Winners Never Quit, and Quitters Never Win.” ~ Vince Lombardi
Should you ever find yourself in my predicament, be prepared with the following tips on What to Do When Your Mind Goes Blank:
23 Traits of Good Leaders
By Rachel Farrell (from CNN.com)
Leadership is one of those nebulous terms — you hear it all the time but it has various definitions. The traits that make up a good leader can vary depending on the organization, team, manager and work environment.
Leadership can also vary in style — are you someone who dictates the group and doesn’t listen to anyone else’s opinion? Or do you lead with a more bureaucratic or democratic style?
“Every leader has a particular style of leadership that is innate. However, the behaviors, attitudes or methods of delivery that are effective for one staff member may in fact be counterproductive for another,” says Michael Burke, account supervisor, MSR Communications, a public relations firm.
“Great leaders are aware of their own style and make the effort to learn how their style actually comes across to their team. They learn to flex their leadership style to individual team members so that they communicate and behave in ways that motivate and inspire.”
Here is what five leadership professionals consider to be traits that make up a good leader:
Rachael Fisher-Layne, vice president of media relations, JCPR, a public relations agency
1. Honesty. Always do the honest thing. It makes employees feel like they know where they stand with you at all times.
2. Focus. Know where you’re going and have a strong stated mission to lead people on. If you’re not sure, how can your people be sure? You have to have strong focus and stay the course.
3. Passion. Whatever it is, you must have passion for what you’re doing. Live, breathe, eat and sleep your mission.
4. Respect. Not playing favorites with people and treating all people — no matter what station in life, what class or what rank in the org chart — the same.
5. Excellent persuasion abilities. People have to believe in you and your credibility. Image is everything and the belief people have in you, your product, your mission, your facts or your reputation are key to being a great leader. You have to persuade people of this — it doesn’t just happen.
An, Uh, Er, Um Essay: In Praise of Verbal Stumbles
By Michael Erard (reposted from Slate.com)
Modish public speaking coaches will tell you that it’s OK to say “uh” or “um” once in a while, but the prevailing wisdom is that you should avoid such “disfluencies” or “discourse particles” entirely. It’s thought that they repel listeners and make speakers appear unprepared, unconfident, stupid, or anxious (or all of these together). Perhaps the biggest foe of “uh” and “um” is Toastmasters International, which charges speakers a nickel for every “filled” pause (that is, for every pause that’s not silent). Each of their 12,500 clubs around the world has an official “ah” counter.
But “uh” and “um” don’t deserve eradication; there’s no good reason to uproot them. People have been pausing and filling their pauses with a neutral vowel (or sometimes with an actual word) for as long as we’ve had language, which is about 100,000 years. If listeners are so naturally repelled by “uhs” and “ums,” you’d think those sounds would have been eliminated long before now. The opposite is true: Filled pauses appear in all of the world’s languages, and the anti-ummers have no way to explain, if they’re so ugly, what “euh” in French, or “äh” and “ähm” in German, or “eto” and “ano” in Japanese are doing in human language at all.
In the history of oratory and public speaking, the notion that good speaking requires umlessness is actually a fairly recent, and very American, invention. It didn’t emerge as a cultural standard until the early 20th century, when the phonograph and radio suddenly held up to speakers’ ears all the quirks and warbles that, before then, had flitted by. Another development was the codification of public speaking as an academic subject. Counting “ums” and noting perfect fluency gave teachers something to score.
What’s more, “uhs” and “ums” do not necessarily damage a speaker’s standing. Recently, a University of Michigan research team turned their attention to phone survey interviewers. They found that the most successful interviewers—the ones who convinced respondents to stay on the line and answer questions—spoke moderately fast and paused occasionally, either silently or with a filler “uh” or “um.” “If interviewers made no pauses at all,” the lead researcher, Jose Benki, told Science Daily, “they had the lowest success rates getting people to agree to do the survey. We think that’s because they sound too scripted.” Speaking with a certain number of “uhs” and “ums,” it seems, may actually enhance a speaker’s credibility. Read more…
Webinars and teleconferences are similar to standard public speaking in many ways, but they also require some significant adaptation. Due to technological limits and the nature of long-distance communication, the speaker is harder to understand and usually lacks a very important public speaking tool: body language. To compensate, speakers have to focus more on clarity and audience engagement, and rely even more on some tried and true public speaking basics, such as vocal variety, organization, and of course practice.
Clarity
The purpose of webinars and teleconferences is to get your message across. Use these tips to overcome the technical and distance challenges:
Avoid this...
Housekeeping: Start with a solid introduction that explains your purpose and format, outlines your agenda, and introduces all the presenters. Go over all relevant technical instructions, such as muting, volume controls, asking questions, raising hands and using other webinar features, several times.
Eliminate distractions: Speaking from your desk is often harder, not easier. Have a colleague run teleconference tools or webinar software while you speak. If possible, go to a different room where no one will disturb you. To eliminate background noise, ask callers to mute themselves or do it for them right after your introduction.
Supporting materials: Well ahead of your teleconference, send participants all documents, visuals, and any other information they will need. On webinars, make sure the same items are displayed clearly and slowly enough for everyone to follow. When you are finished, send participants all supporting materials and items for follow-up, reiterating your main points and requests in the email body.
Frequent and specific referencing: When referring to documents, visuals, and other information, guide participants to the exact place you want them to look. Mention specific page numbers, paragraphs, and even sentence beginnings. Whenever speakers begin or answer questions, have them state who they are so participants can follow. State clearly when you are moving on to the next part of the agenda.
Pace, volume and length: These basics of clarity hold true on webinars and teleconferences as well. Speak slowly and clearly enough that people listening over a bad connection can follow. Speak loudly for the same reasons. Keep your points and answers to questions succinct. Read more…
Brunch at Bread and Chocolate!
L-R: Tanya, Joe, Susan, Jackie, Travis, Brandi, Dianne, Laura
Thanks to all who came out for brunch at Bread and Chocolate. We had a lot of fun learning about our fellow toastmasters over Pfannkuchen (fan-koo-he-n). Topics at Brunch ranged from multilingual members, adventures travelling abroad, to where to buy the best cupcakes in DC. Look out for more fun outings throughout the year, please join our new mailing list and be sure to check the option for “Events”.
Debate has always been far more than a structured discussion in a room that comes with two teams and a jury. We see it each day in a multitude of forms. Some are more hostile, others are just for fun. Some are organized and some come as uncoordinated banter over wine late on a weekend night.
These five tips are for the kind of debate that we are most likely to see in nonprofit professional life: a cooperative team discussion where the goal is to identify merits and drawbacks rather than to “win.”
The Great Kitchen Debate
Concentrate on clarity. Many terms can be interpreted differently by different people. “Conservative” and “liberal,” for example, can both mean different things based on perspective. Cliché terms and jargon can easily be interpreted incorrectly, especially by people who disagree with the speaker.
Use evidence. To make an argument believable, cite concrete, objective evidence. Your own opinions, theories and gut feelings are not evidence, nor are those given by experts or authorities. To back up your argument well, use objective facts. Similarly, make sure these facts come from a reputable resource and use more than one source where possible. While you may support certain interest groups, religious groups or individuals, their publications are designed to promote their views and should not be used to support your arguments.
Brunch at Bread&Chocolate
Join Talk for Change Toastmasters this Sunday for brunch!
Yum!
When: 12pm-2pm, Sunday 4/10
Where: Bread&Chocolate, 2301 M Street, NW *Location Change*
http://www.breadandchocolate.net/index.html
Why: Have fun with your food!
Please RSVP to: adrienne.austin@gmail.com by Saturday April 9, 2011
Impromptu Speaking Tips
At some point in our careers or personal lives, we have to give an impromptu speech. The next time you’re put on the spot, be ready with these handy tips…
What do I say?
- Decide quickly what your one message will be – Pick one message and focus on that main idea
- Do NOT try to memorize what you will say – Think about the message, not the words
- Start off Strong & with Confidence – Try to plan what your first sentence will be
- Maintain eye contact with the audience – Focus on their forehead if you can’t look them in the eyes
- Have a good conclusion
Just remember, keep it conversational and think of the audience as a group of friends.
Talk For Change Toastmasters is a public speaking club in Washington, DC. We meet downtown twice a month. Founded by Teach For America alumni, many of our club's members work in the non-profit sector.
