One day, Angie and Christine asked a question that set off a chain of events that would impact the lives of thousands of children and families, “Who do these women go home to?”
Nothing would have happened if Angie and Christine hadn’t taken the time to find out the answer to their question and, more important, if they had not had the passion to respond to the answer. So Angie and Christine began offering the women rides home and found the answer to their question. Many of the women were going
home to quiet houses with drawn curtains that shut out natural light. And in these houses lived children who had learned to adapt to their mother’s depression by being quiet and withdrawn.
With the question asked and answered, Angie and Christine responded. Without funding, a business plan, furniture, or staff, they started a non-profit agency named PB&J (that’s right, peanut butter and jelly) devoted to helping children live to their fullest potential. And 34 years later the agency continues to thrive and impact children and families throughout New Mexico. All because of the faith Angie and Christine had, and the unwavering belief that this was just simply the right thing to do.
It is these essential fundamentals of having faith and doing what is right that continue to be the cornerstone of PB&J’s approach to helping children and families thrive. It is also these same fundamentals that have created a culture that wholly engages PB&J employees in the incredible work that they do day in and day out.
For many non-profits, PB&J’s story rings true. The non-profit world is about keeping faithful to compelling missions and doing what is right to make the world a better place. The causes of non-profit organizations are almost always universally admirable and usually on behalf of constituents, human or otherwise, who are unable to fight their fight completely by themselves. Non-profits advocate for and help the hungry, the impoverished, the sick, the disadvantaged, children, animals, the environment, and a seemingly never-ending list of other entities in need. To achieve the mission of the non-profit, a special cadre of individuals is needed: engaged, passionate, and compelled by their hearts more powerfully than by their wallets.
To reside in the non-profit world as a leader, board member, employee, or supporter is to reside in a different world. Organizational rules and internal policies and roles are often fuzzy. There is often a sense of looseness or apparent lack of structure. Relationships are typically more critical than processes. Interactions are informal. Furniture rarely matches. Money is raised and not made. Administrative costs (especially staff salaries) are frequently discounted by financial supporters who are impassioned by the cause but suspicious of the non-profit’s “cost of doing business” – that is paying a living wage to the people actually doing the work. Outcomes are hard to measure; successes are hard to identify (successes in preventative initiatives are by their very nature often invisible). And in all cases, the cause reigns supreme. Those working toward the cause often exhibit a selfless sense of engagement beyond that of those in the for-profit world.
It’s about the money … isn’t it?
In a for-profit world, where the business of business is to generate revenue, it is okay and strongly encouraged to focus on what it will take to make money and achieve specified financial goals. Most often instead of using words like “let’s make money,” leaders will talk about “delighting the client,” “developing a winning product,” or “meeting the world’s need.” But still the ultimate aim is to do better and make money.
Money is a touchy subject in the non-profit world. By the very fact of its nonprofit classification, money has a completely different role or focus than it does with a for-profit organization. Money is something that is required in order to continue the pursuit of the cause. Money is a need, not an objective. The process of obtaining funding and gaining financial support becomes akin to doing dishes. The chore is always there, it is seldom done, and you can’t eat without clean dishes. Ironically, the fact of the shortage of money in the nonprofit world makes money loom even larger in the minds of those associated with that “business” than perhaps it would to the for-profit enterprise that can afford to provide free coffee and high-end ergonomic desk chairs.
Since money becomes a necessary evil, those involved with non-profit agencies enter the world with some preconceived ideas. Funders expect a large percentage of their support to go toward the cause and not toward frills like technology, employee recognition programs, and operating expenses. Board members understand that fundraising and money management require constant vigil. Leaders know that much of their role centers on motivating others to pursue the cause and to do so in less-than-glamorous work environments. And employees know that to be involved with a non-profit means putting mission before money. They know that the pay scales are lower, furniture won’t match, the location of their workplace might be in an uncharming part of town, and there likely won’t be gourmet coffee brewing every morning.
Still the non-profit world is growing, even with the so-called War for Talent back in full-swing, with for-profit companies competing mightily against each other for the best potential employees. According to the 2007 Nonprofit Almanac published by The Urban Institute, the number of non-profits in the United Stated grew by 27 percent from 1994 to 2004. There are now approximately 1.4 million nonprofit organizations registered with the IRS. In addition, the nonprofit sector accounts for 5.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.3 percent of wages and salaries paid in the United States.
The question then becomes, "Why is the non-profit world so compelling to some as a career path?" With such an increase in the number of non-profits in the United States (and the growth in the staffing needs that go along with it), what is it that non-profits are able to offer employees? Why are more and more people willing to work under such conditions and still remain engaged and committed to the cause? What is in the non-profit environment that offers an intrinsic level of motivation driving employees to say an emphatic yes to the mission and pass on fair-market pay - especially when their friends are bulding wealth in the tight job market?
Note: Above is a partial chapter to a 3 volume book series entitled: Building High-Performance People and Orgnizations. For a complete copy of this chapter click on the following link:
Building High-Performance
For more information on the book series go to Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Building-High-Performance-Organizations-volumes-Perspectives/dp/0275992713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424887650&sr=8-1&keywords=martha+finney+building+high+performance.
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