"Have to..." versus "Want to..."
"Have to..." burns up a lot of energy, money, and time. "Want to..." generates limitless resources. "Have to..." waits until the last minute to do something and then only to get it over with. "Want to..." can't wait to take action. "Have to..." gives as little as it possibly can. "Want to..." always wants to give more than it reasonably can. "Have to..." hates to see you coming and eventually stops coming around. "Want to..." always shows up and wants to know about next time.
Is your small nonprofit trying to get in with the cool kids?
This is embarrassing. Back in college, Friday nights were a big deal to me. Something fun was happening somewhere and my mission to find it started around Tuesday. Now, here's the embarrassing truth: What was happening on Friday night was not nearly as important to me as with whom. That meant getting the "coolest" kids to invite me to hang out with them. SMH. I developed a little system I used each week to get with the coolest crowd on Friday night. I called it "keeping my op

Three ways your small nonprofit can lead the free world now
Your small nonprofit has a crucial role to play in the chaos and conflict of American politics. I recently wrote about how nonprofits bridge the divisions in our country. I believe our traditional "public square"--civic organizations, houses of worship, and public schools--are increasingly homogenous and protective of their homogeneity. Homogeneity, however, is deadly to small nonprofits. It takes people of surplus means and privileges to source the mission of a nonprofit tha