By Paul Rogers, Director NVWP
The mathematical formula for acceleration
Last November I took part in a conference sponsored by the George Mason University Center for Social Entrepreneurship (MCSE) http://masoninnovation.org/ called “Accelerating Social Entrepreneurship in the Age of Austerity”. The conference brought together leaders from government, non-profit, business, and universities to explore strategies for moving forward in these increasingly tight financial times. Highlights of the conference included keynote talks by Billy Shore, Chairman and CEO of Share our Strength (ending child hunger is their mission) and Senator Mark Warner, as well as a lunch time conversation between George Mason University President Alan Merten and Venture Philanthropy Partners CEO Mario Morino. As Faculty Director for the MCSE I was also privileged to present an award to Diana Wells President of Ashoka:Innovators for the Public www.ashoka.org. (If you don’t know about Ashoka or Diana, you should take the time to find out more. Their work will absolutely inspire you with it’s emphasis on impact, systems change, innovation, ideas, empathy, teamwork, and leadership.)
Below I share a couple of take aways from the conference I feel have relevance to my fellow leaders in the National Writing Project.
In his dialogue with GMU President Alan Merten, Mario Morino made the case that solving pressing global challenges in sustainable ways (accelerating social entrepreneurship) will require greater support for nonprofit executives who will need to be more disciplined, focused, and information-based in how they manage their organizations. Upping our collective and individual knowledge about non-profit leadership stands out to me as one of our most important challenges. President Merten said it succinctly in describing his work at Mason: “We don’t run Mason like a business, but we run it in a business-like fashion.” We need this same discipline as sites of the Writing Project if we are to continue to improve writing, learning, and teaching in schools. There is a kind of charm in a low-key approach to directing a Writing Project, but given the new landscape we all find ourselves in, there is real urgency in upgrading virtually every aspect of what we do operationally. The model of teachers teaching teachers, our core principals, and our culture remain our strengths, but to communicate our message effectively, to gain buy-in from University leaders, principals and school district curriculum leaders, and from community members, foundations, and other stakeholders we need to draw on the deep research and experience of non-profit leaders and organizations like Guidestar and the Aspen Institute from across all sectors.
Mario has a blog post I want to recommend to every site Director and to the Board of Directors of the NWP. It’s called “Saving the Ship by Rocking the Boat.” In it you will find six detailed questions he challenges all non-profit leaders and board members to consider.
Question 1: What conditions could change precipitously, endangering our mission and those we serve?
Question 2: Within current constraints, what can we do to improve the outcomes of our programs?
Question 3: What is our organization’s “baseline” budget for providing the minimum acceptable level of service to clients?
Question 4: Who would be our “knight in shining armor” if we needed one? In other words, who could we turn to if we were at risk of having to fold our tent?
Question 5: What are the “one-step away” opportunities? In other words, how can we change our prospects by building off what we already know?
Question 6: What can we do to strengthen our revenue base?
One thing I’ve become acutely aware of since becoming the Director of the NVWP in May of 2011 is the difference between successfully leading and managing a non-profit–the Northern Virginia Writing Project and the culture of K-12 schooling. The learning curve has been steep. The language of discipline, focus, and managing to outcomes is not the language of warmth we associate with our Invitational Summer Institute experiences, where we became Teacher Consultants for the National Writing Project. While we have a solid knowledge base in educational research, education policy, and human development, and teaching methods, we are much less familiar with creating advisory boards, managing multiple projects, fund raising, pricing, marketing, and branding.
Our site leadership is however embracing these challenges and working to identify and clarify our core mission, to improve our processes, and communicate more effectively to all of our stakeholders. This is really hard work. It has taken us a year to redesign all of our print publications, relaunch our website, establish a social media presence, get our budgets in shape, develop an ongoing plan for funding, and many other practical activities that must be in place if we are to flourish going forward.
Another highlight of the conference was the opening session, a conversation between Sen. Mark Warner, and Share Our Strength CEO Bill Shore. After pointing out that 85 percent of the federal budget cuts are coming from the 14 percent of the budget that is made up of non-security discretionary spending, Sen. Warner urged nonprofit leaders to recognize that the “age of austerity” is real and will require leaders to innovate. Both speakers emphasized the crtitical importance of getting good information for innovation and achieving meaningful impact. In many ways we are in denial about what’s happening financially. The time is upon us when we need to be crystal clear about our strategy and how that will translate into the choices we make every day.
The NVWP is actively seeking partnerships with community, business, and educational leaders throughout Northern Virginia. We welcome your input and participation.
