What's the point?

So I've been thinking, what's the point in this blog? What I'd really like to accomplish is just general access and awareness.

Right now I'm back in school and was asked to work on a personal philosophy of leadership. And for most, including me, this is truly a challenge. Most of us have not really thought about putting our thoughts to paper in terms of how we view our leadership skills or our philosophies - and trust me, I had not either!

So in terms of the nonprofit world and how I view my "leadership" within it, I thought I would share some of what I worked on for the assignment, as I think it will give you insight as to where I plan on going with these Chronicles:

From part of my assignment: Critical types of knowledge (and means of acquiring this knowledge) necessary to effective leadership

For many years, to be effective in the nonprofit sector meant knowing who your clients were, their needs and what services you provided that served their needs – and for most, that is all the knowledge that was necessary. But over the years, the knowledge level for someone to succeed as a nonprofit leader has grown exponentially. This has been driven, for the most part, by outside forces such as the federal government and the IRS, state governments, the private sector, and the general public as clients, volunteers, and donors. The nonprofit leader has to understand the basics of business management, financial controls, board development, fundraising, program development and evaluation, marketing and public relations, and if in specific fields of providing service, there are additional laws and regulations that have to be followed.

And I feel I have been no exception, especially as I have recently become a nonprofit consultant. Clients look to me and my colleagues to be able to provide this knowledge and access to information; access being a key word to this analysis.

While professionally I have not been paid staff of very small (by budget) nonprofit organizations, I have worked as a volunteer, consultant and partner with many small nonprofits, especially in eastern Kentucky. For them to be able to compete for funds, volunteers and leaders, this broad knowledge base is particularly critical for success and providing the best for those in need. But as we can all imagine, this access is key to gaining knowledge. And while there is the great world of the internet that we all rely on now, the vast part of rural Kentucky and other states don’t even have access to anything other than dial-up internet or expensive satellite internet. Even to pull up a 20 page PDF request for grant proposals may take several hours, let alone the resources to make the responsive proposal competitive.

I don’t ever consider myself to be the holder of all nonprofit information by any means, but I feel I have the responsibility, consultant or volunteer, to bring as much information and resources as I can to the table for an organization, particularly the small, rural ones. I think, regardless of discipline, we sometimes take for granted most of us in urban communities have the ability and means to gain critical knowledge needed to achieve the organization’s mission at the tips of our fingers.

I feel that over the next few years, as nonprofit management and nonprofit leadership programs at higher education institutions continue to increase, it will be incumbent upon those in key leadership positions of the programs to conduct outreach efforts. Students in these programs can be a conduit of knowledge to those who have limited access and in turn, giving the students opportunities to engage in hands on work.

So, you might ask, "What is a Causehead?"

Well, this is an interesting story.

Because of all the causes/organizations/nonprofits that I'm involved with, I'd always be talking about them at the dinner table with family. "Poverty this, Homeless that, Get donations for them, These people are slighted"....the list could go on.

But my mom and sister, who are very loving people, never the less, liked to take "advantage" of these moments. Knowing how I would react to stereotypical or blatantly ignorant/bigoted statements, they would intentionally say something off color to get my reaction (note: they truly don't mean the things they say, they just say them to get me riled up). Needless to say, I would start talking about a law that would unfairly limit benefits to those who were in need, how an organization was working so hard to meet demands on services but still falling behind or describe the plight of a particular group.

One night, after a particularly passionate 'rant' of mine, my sister blurts out, "God Ericka, you're such a causehead". Thus I must give credit to her for this word that I so affectionately use in reference to myself.

I didn't think too much about that word until about a year ago. Many friends and colleagues were hinting here and there that I should do some sort of consulting or at least hang my shingle out there to help others, whether I got paid for it or not didn't really matter to me. I tried for weeks and weeks to think of what I would call such an organization or business. I was driving through downtown Lexington one day after work and at the corner of Main and Newtown, it hit me - "Causehead". It is still a work in progress. And while life, work, school and volunteering everywhere does put a hamper on time, I'm sure you will see something with it eventually.

So until my next post, go out and be a "causehead" yourself. Someone wil be very thankful you did.

A grassroots goodnight,
E.