Not Reinventing the Wheel through Complementary Partnerships

Throughout my 30 years in the NYC non-profit world, funders periodically would launch efforts to "reduce duplication of services" and "increase collaboration" among non-profits.  Most fizzled out with limited impact.

I think there are 3 main reasons it failed:

1. There are so many people who need particular services that there can almost never been enough service providers.
2. Some services are best suited to being delivered on a small scale, and you would not find efficiencies or improve effectiveness by merging organizations.
3. People who found non-profits are heavily invested in the idea that they can provide a better service and do it better than whoever is already out there.

This last point also applies to current leadership of non-profits.  Executive Directors, CEOs, Boards of Directors, Presidents, Chairs - all are invested in believing their organization is the best.  If the Board doesn't have confidence in the management, their first inclination is to replace management rather than to find another organization to take over their programs.

The one area where funders did have an impact is in helping organizations resist "mission creep."  This occurs when it becomes clear that an organization's clients need more services than they are currently getting.

Typically, organizations used to develop a new program to meet those needs.  And many still do.  Now they call it "holistic" or "comprehensive" service models.

Another option was one we adopted at City Harvest when I was the Executive Director.  I called it "complementary partnerships" - where City Harvest did what we were best at and we engaged other organizations to provide services they were best at.  Here's what we did.

City Harvest began a Mobile Market, where we distributed free produce to residents of NYC Housing Authority buildings.  The brainchild of Val Traore (now the ED of the Food Bank of South Jersey), the Mobile Market was based on the farmers' market model, where it's possible to bring in a range of sellers and products.  In this case, we decided to bring in a range of services, offered by a variety of providers.  We knew that free food distribution would attract many people.  So what else could we help them with, once they were present?

• Many public housing residents were eligible for food stamps, yet most were not receiving them.  We decided to bring in an organization expert in signing people up for food stamps. They were eager to get access to this audience. 
• We realized that some produce would be unfamiliar to residents, so we brought in a chef funded by Share Our Strength who did demonstrations of recipes using the produce and we passed out recipes.  We also recruited some of our celebrity chefs who were on our Food Council, to do demos. They were eager to use their skills to benefit lower-income New Yorkers. 
• We also realized that residents lacked health care, so brought in community health organizations to do medical screenings and even dental care.  Again, they were eager to have access to a critical mass of people. 
• To get volunteers who would help staff the Mobile Market, we turned to New York Cares, the expert in volunteerism. It was eager to have a project that needed regular volunteers on the weekend.

The idea was to offer way more than we alone could provide, and to find organizations that had a mission-based interest in working with us.  It simply didn't make sense for City Harvest to develop expertise in every area. It would have been "mission creep" and put us in competition with organizations already doing that work - creating conflict, potential ill will, and difficult choices for funders.

Today, the challenge to use dollars wisely continues.  Perhaps complementary partnerships are a way to really collaborate and best serve clients.

Dine Out for No Kid Hungry September 16-21, 2013

Over 8,000 restaurants have signed up to participate in the Dine Out For No Kid Hungry from coast to coast. Now we need your help in making sure that you, your friends, and your family make the event a success by visiting participating restaurants during the month of September, especially during the week of September 16-21.

To start the week with a bang, we’re holding a TwEAT OUT all day on Monday, September 16. Join in the fun and help spread the word about Dine Out For No Kid Hungry on Twitter and Facebook!

Visit http://www.nokidhungry.org/ for details on where to dine in your community.

Hunger relief is a cause near and dear to my heart, particularly since I spent 11 years as Executive Director of City Harvest in New York City.  And ending childhood hunger is key to so much that could happen in our world.

Imagine a world where every child had enough of the right food to eat, from pre-natal to adulthood.  What kind of human potential would be unlocked?

Growing Pains in Becoming a Leader

I noticed growing pains as I transitioned from a do-er to a thinker - otherwise known as a leader.

The growing pains manifested as my frustration that other people weren't stepping up to the plate in terms of

• seeing things that needed to be done and doing them instead of waiting to be asked
• doing things without asking for permission
• thinking through the consequences of their actions
• understanding the impact of their work on other people in the organization
• figuring out how to work with other people
• creating a plan for their work
• owning the organization instead of just their individual silo

and myriad similar ways of relieving me of the pressure of having to always be present to direct, answer questions, solve problems, resolve conflict, strategize, and generally be on top of everything.

I have clients who are experiencing the same frustration, especially with someone they hired early on in their tenure - who just isn't meeting expectations.

I applaud this situation, uncomfortable as it is, because it indicates that the person is stepping into the leadership role with both feet.  I applaud it because the person is finally ready to share the organization, finally ready to let other people do things, finally ready to let go of control of every little thing that goes on.  And I applaud it because the person is now enough of a leader to want more leaders around in the organization.

That person they hired completely met expectations when they joined the organization.  What's changed is the expectations.

I always wanted people to grow, and seek to become leaders. I count many such people among my former colleagues and employees, including a few Executive Directors of non-profits.  Yet there also were those people who either weren't cut out to be leaders or just didn't want that responsibility.

I learned that it is kinder and more beneficial to the organization to help them leave.  I called it managing people out of a job.  It was pretty simple: redefine the expectations of the job, based on the changed organizational and environmental circumstances.  Discuss the new expectations with the person, explaining the rationale and what they now would be called to do.  Wait and see what they want to do.  If someone wanted to grow, I gave them training and support and coaching - that included some tough talk and direct feedback.  If not, they left with their heads held high.  It's not their fault the job changed!

Then I could use the new job description to hire someone who could meet the current job expectations, and assume the leadership responsibilities I needed to share.

My discomfort and frustration was a wonderful sign that I had grown as had my organization.  We were raising more money, delivering more food, helping more people.  With that growth came an increase in staff and a shift in my responsibilities.  It was when my expanded responsibilities conflicted with my old expectations - of myself and my team - that the growing pains emerged to tell me it was time to make a change.