What’s Next? – 5 Trends Reshaping the Social Sector

According to a recent research done by La Piana Consulting and the James Irvine Foundation based in California, the landscape of the social sector will dratically change in the next five years.

Research identified five key trends converging to reshapre the social sector. While each dynamic has profound implications for how nonprofits will do business in the future, it is their convergence that will transform the sector. These trends include:

• Demographic Shifts Redefine Participation
• Technological Advance Abound
• Networks Enable Work to Be Organized in New Ways
• Interest in Civic Engagement and Volunteerism Is Rising
• Sector Boundaries Are Blurring

Click here to read more on the Research Report titled “Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector”

In order to survive and thrive, we the non-profits, the funders, the capacity builders alike must become futurists - to understand and be prepared to embrace the changes!

Are you ready?

How do you tell your story?

Michele and I, along with 3 other Partners attended the SVPI Conference 2009 in Dallas just this past week, and I want to share with you one of my favorite moments in these three days.

Andy Goodman, a keynote speaker at the Conference was truly an inspiring individual. In his presentation and workshop on Storytelling, he shed light on how we can tell our story better. Especially in the non-profit industry where jargons, models and perspectives are always being thrown around, his few rules of thumb of telling an appealing story that resonates with your audience was just simply powerful! Do you tell your story with a PowerPoint presentation? With numbers? With names of dedicated donors and supporters from the community? With challenges along the way?

Storytelling has been with us for thousands of years. They shape our history, identity, memory and our relationships with others. The same story can be told many times from different angles depending on who your audience is. A good story can change people’s understanding and behaviours. Below is an example of good storytelling from Andy’s workshop.

So, how do you tell your story?

The Philanthropist, according to NBC

The philanthropic sector has been buzzing since the airing of The Philanthropist pilot on NBC.  You may not spend your summer watching TV, but you may want to set your PVR to record an episode or two and see what you think.

Next week (July 21), the Hudson Institute is sponsoring a debate between the Tom Fontana, Executive Producer of the show, Sean Stannard-Stockton of Tactical Philanthropy.com, and Ian Wilhelm of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  The debate is in Washington DC, but transcripts and video will be available afterwards.

Here’s a bit of what I’ve written previously – along with some others’ thoughts:

The hero’s British accent, his American company, and the African music accompanying the intro, commercial breaks, and credits lay it on quite thick.  He’s successful in his mission and the hour show wraps up with a warm fuzzy feeling – except for that awkward neocolonialist pang in your stomach. 

Philanthropy is hard work – and yes, it is exciting and no, it doesn’t have to be colonialist (though that could be an entirely separate blog).  The complexities of philanthropy are much more than this series acknowledges – or are at least much more mental, than physical.  But if the show at least gets folks talking – about what Philanthropy is and isn’t, then  perhaps it will have been a worthwhile show to have watched.

There are likely to be many opinion on the show.  For other’s check out these:

• Round up of Media commentaries:  from good to worse
• Steve Gunderson, Council on Foundations – “The Philanthropist is to charitable giving as The Pink Panther is to police work.”
• Jeff Trexler, Uncivil Society – “It’s empire. It’s racial supremacy. And it’s something we should not indulge.”

Visiting SVP Tokyo

It is always encouraging to meet friends who share common passion and sense of mission regardless where you are in the world. Across half of the globe, I had the opportunity to meet with Hideyuki Inoue and Ken Ito, the founding Partners of SVP Tokyo. Hide has been named one of the Young Global Leaders in 2008, and Ken has been helping to set up similar organizations (if not affiliates) in Singapore, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia. Talking with them made me realize how different SVP affiliates can be, yet, how similar our common interest and goals are that can bring us so close together to learn from each other’s experiences.

Although socialism and the community spirit has always been deeply embedded in the Japanese culture, it was not until 1998 that the Japanese government has passed formal regulations on non-profit organizational status and practices. In comparison to the heavy reliance of non-profits on the Canadian government and the level of support, the Japanese government seems to be a regulating body more than anything. SVP Tokyo works closely with organizations such as Keio University, Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities (EITC.) and Global Links Initiatives (GLI). While the culture and population affects the demographic of Partners, and methods of doing things, my conversation with SVP Tokyo brought new possibilities to life.

What fascinated me the most is the on-average-35-person roundtable, in a two day stretch, to choose an array of Investees. Just imagining the sheer amount of participation, opinions and discussion on reaching mutual agreements (let alone on such complicated matters), amazes me! While keeping the potential of building capacity and skill fit in mind, the only requirement to qualify for an Investee of SVP Tokyo is innovation and its uniqueness in the community. The rest is entirely up to what appeals to the Partners, and what they agree on in the end!! Not sure if it’s the right fit for us, but definitely an eye opening idea!

With more than 35,000 officially incorporated non-profits and thousands of community based activity groups, the non-profit sector in Japan is flourishing.  A 3 1/2 hr dinner and discussion went by in a blink of an eye. We were amazed at how different and interesting each other’s affiliate is. I truly enjoyed sharing our experiences and thoughts; and of course, appreciated the traveling and site-seeing recommendations!

Worse than unfair? Irrelevant.

If you have read Peter Singer’s book, The Life You Can Save, and have not adjusted your giving (increased it) – I’d love to hear from you.

Singer writes from a ethics point of view (i.e. think philosophy and logic models) – and throws in some emotional arguements for good measure.  Are we giving enough?  Are you giving enough to the right causes?  To the right organizations?  What is enough?  Enough can mean different things to different people.  How do you determine enough?

Singer does.  Generally, its 5% of your pre-tax income.  He’s specific about where he’d like us to give – to alleviate global poverty.

What’s not as simple is why people don’t give.  Among many reasons, “fairness” stole my attention.  Singer asks us how we’d feel if we just gave our first big 5% donation, and then visited our neighbors back from vacation – tanned, relaxed, and with tales of adventure.  Or look at it this way:

Imagine you came upon a pond where there were 9 other people standing there and 10 children were going to drown. You wade into to help a child and on your way back you realize that only 2 other people are helping, while one is just standing there watching and the other 6 have wandered off.

Once you’ve saved one child, do you just leave? Probably not, you’d probably go in to get another. And what about a third child? You’d probably want to go yell or hit the person just standing there watching, but once you realize that a child will drown if you don’t save it, you will probably help.

In this instance, your action is what matters.  The inaction of others wouldn’t stop you from trying to save the children.  You’d probably try to save as many as you could.

Singer writes, their inaction simply makes them irrelevant.

Perhaps, its a tough word, a tough concept to swallow.  But it sticks with me.  I do this work because I don’t believe in being irrelevant.  It’s not about fairness; it’s about action.

Read the book.  Let me know what you think.

Want to find your suggested contribution?  Give it a go.