|
|
|||||
|
|||||
| Path: Main Street : Resources & Library : Research Articles : Feature Article |
Activating new stories
By Pattie LaCroix
July 27, 2009
The impact of the recession on charitable organizations was featured in a July Canadian Press article. While the demand for services that are provided by many organizations continues to increase, individual giving seems to be steadily declining.
The article noted that the average amount of an individual donation has dropped to $120 from $150 so far this year, according to Owen Charters, director of Canada Helps, an online portal for giving that directs money to 84,000 charities. More and more are lining up to access services such as food banks, which have reported a 20% increase in users so far this year. Each month, food banks help 700,000 people across the country and that number is expected to rise.
The over 160,000 charities in Canada have a long tradition of riding through economic downturns. However, what this tradition has lead to is a legacy of "doing more with less" or DMWL. This DMWL default position is so entrenched in nonprofit culture that it has become immensely difficult to see any other way of surviving recessions. Being efficient, transparent and accountable have long been part of the high standards the vast majority of nonprofits continue to meet each year. But the story of DMWL is once again taking root. The seeds of contracting in fear are being planted during times of scarcity; they are drying up innovation, wilting leadership, and leaving organizations struggling on the parched terrain of their own futures.
Annette Simmons, author of Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, makes the connection between the importance of tapping into new narratives that hold the potential to create change. "When you activate new stories you transport people to new points of view, change meaning, behaviour, and in that way you change the future."
Now is the time to invest in leadership, build staff and volunteer capacity, forge new partnerships, leverage past successes in collaboration, pilot new ideas, and create new approaches. The status quo is being strained but we have a choice. We can view this as a time of anxious uncertainty and look to others for the answers, or we can see this as an opportunity to turn the mirror on ourselves, take stock, leverage our expertise and strengths, and play a leading role in our communities in reshaping the conversation of DMWL and changing our future together.
This assumes an active agency within the nonprofit sector, a level of leadership that can transport us to a new point of view, change the meaning of economic recessions and our behaviour in them, and in so doing, change our future. Can you imagine revisiting your strategic plan, recruiting new board members, meeting with elected officials, hosting open community consultations, and building new partnerships to pilot programs?
What is the new story the leadership in the nonprofit sector will create right now during this pivotal time?
Pattie LaCroix has provided strategic leadership in crafting integrated communications and fundraising strategies to nonprofits for more than a decade. As CEO of Catapult Media she is passionate about the power of storytelling in engaging your audience and building support for your work. You can reach Pattie at www.catapultmedia.ca.
|
|||
