funders do not invest sufficient funds in our organizations to build capacity because we don’t have enough capacity.
Yet we are constantly asked to do stuff, to sit at various tables, to help with outreach, to rally our community members to attend various summits and support various policies.
Because we don’t have capacity, we can’t get support to develop capacity.
funders provide small grants to nonprofits of color so they can do things like hire a consultant to facilitate a strategic planning retreat, or to send them to workshops on board development, fundraising, personnel policies, or myriad other capacity building topics.
critical missing element. Staffing.
If we value the voice of our diverse communities, we must build the capacity of organizations led by those communities. But we must do it differently than how we’ve been doing it. We must invest strategically and sufficiently.
Capacity Paradox.
capacity of immigrant/refugee-led nonprofits by providing this critical missing element of staffing.
The gap in leadership among the immigrant/refugee communities will widen further because kids are not entering the nonprofit field. Most immigrant/refugee kids are pressured by their families to go into jobs with higher pay and prestige
short video by Kathryn McClendon on many women not seeing themselves as leaders yet have a long list of accomplishments to show that they are. Distills leadership to three actions: Inspire. Persuade. and Influence. 8.5 minutes long.
Talks about her leadership table of women who have touched her life.
Women of courage include her mother who immigrated from Guyana with two year old child (speaker).
Claudette Colvin--an unwed, pregnant teenager who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, ALA months before Rosa Parks emerged.
Marian de Forest--Buffalo, NY woman who became a playwright and journalist. Founded Zonta.
Set a place for yourself at table of four.
blog post by Vu Le, February 2, 2015--reflections on SeaHawks' loss to Patriots and tie-in to nonprofits' lessons
And I found that the greatest thing about this sport where a bunch of dudes throw an egg-shaped ball and shove each other around, is the community it builds. The last two weeks especially have been great. People were nicer to each other. Everyone seemed happier. And the ice at any meeting could be broken with a simple "Go Hawks."
Applied to nonprofits: One of the most important things that nonprofits do is that we build community. This is hard to measure and is not often funded. But we cannot take this for granted. When we do a good job, our organizations and programs instill in people-our clients, staff, board, volunteers, donors-a sense of belonging to a community that cares about them, where they are seen, where they matter. (See "An immigrant kid's reflections on community.")