[DDN] I make no profit, therefore I suck

[tom abeles]

hi taran

1) i agree that nfp's should try to make themselves obsolete but I don't 
know of one that does that intentionally. Even organizations that work for 
the elimination of a medical problem, such as polio, in the US, reinvent 
themselves

2) if the corps and gov'ts were so bad in making their decisions, then it 
would be interesting to figure out how bad their decisions are when they 
fund the nfp community. There are plenty of nfp's that have less than a 
stellar record in the field and suffer, often, from the same human foibles 
that those in gov't and corps do.

Humans are imperfect wherever they sit, in gov't, corps and nfp's  Judging 
results is a hind sight occupation.

tom

tom abeles


>From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>Reply-To: The Digital Divide Network discussion 
>group<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>To: The Digital Divide Network discussion 
>group<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>Subject: Re: [DDN] I make no profit, therefore I suck
>Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:38:40 -0400
>
>tom abeles wrote:
> > Its not that the funders don't understand. Its the nfp's that need to
> > understand
> >
> > thoughts?
> >
>I don't know. Consider that the reason non-profits exist is because of
>perceived failures in governments and companies - which include the
>group, 'funders'. So while representatives of these organizations are
>given options as far as which nfp to support, is it a little strange to
>expect them to make the 'right' decisions after they may have made the
>decisions which created the conditions which made the nfp necessary in
>the first place. We expect them to be inconsistent? To suddenly make
>choices in line with an nfp out of some 'Christmas' sort of giving
>spirit? That seems kind of strange to me (but that is almost exactly
>what we do). Using the same tools that these same organizations use and
>not expecting them to recognize them seems a bit strange too - but we do
>that as well.
>
>I don't really have a better answer. I wish I did. But whenever I look
>at an nfp, I wonder when they intend to make themselves obsolete -
>because I believe that this is an important aspect of any nfp. Unlike
>for profit businesses, which seek to continue themselves - I believe
>nfps should be trying to actually solve the problem(s) that they were
>created to solve. There is, and/or should be, an inherent difference in
>'values' - and subsequently, there will be a difference in what is
>considered to be a success. Perhaps the answer is sharing the value(s)
>and concept of what success is.
>
>--
>Taran Rampersad
>Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
>cnd at knowprose.com
>http://www.knowprose.com
>
>
>Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>
>"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo
>"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - 
>Nikola Tesla
>
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