Haiti: Lessons in racialized language

This post is part of the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance’s response to the situation in Haiti. We encourage other Millennials to get informed and get involved.

It happened after Hurricane Katrina, too. No obvious Canadian example is coming to mind, but I’m sure one (or many) exists.

I’m speaking of the racialized language that media and public commentary use to describe the actions of black people in the midst of a devastating catastrophe.

Take the verb “loot”. Media are using it to describe what is happening as Haitians access food, water, and other materials necessary for survival.

Some recent examples from my local paper:

• Haiti police open fire on looters, killing one, as tensions mount (Vancouver Sun)
• Bodies pile up, fears of riots loom in Haiti (Vancouver Sun)

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines looting as:

1 a : to plunder or sack in war b : to rob especially on a large scale and usually by violence or corruption
2 : to seize and carry away by force especially in war

Firstly, this isn’t war. Inciting language relating situations to war is a strategy used to increase approval of war-like tactics, often by governments – “war on drugs” and “war on terror” are two recent examples. I personally don’t want to see war-like tactics used on a devastated country without the infrastructure to defend itself.

Secondly, survival isn’t criminal. I hope that you and I would share an instinct to protect our own lives and those of people close to us by accessing basic supplies needed for life. I don’t know exactly what’s happening on the ground in Haiti. I’m really grateful I don’t have to experience and I hope I never do. But I’d be pretty pissed if anyone described my survival instinct criminal.

Some related headlines that criminalize the situation in Haiti:

• Security fears mount in lawless post-earthquake Haiti (Washington Post)
• Looting raises tension in Haiti (Globe and Mail)
• “As fear and frustration spread across Haiti’s shattered capital, The Star is witness to a scene of lawless horror.” (Mob justice in Haiti, Toronto Star)

Post-Katrina behaviour was similarly criminalized. Sarah Kauffman notes that “for the first days after the hurricane, news outlets focused on what we now know to be greatly exaggerated individual acts of crime and violence (Dwyer and Drew, 2005).” In addition to magnifying the actions of a few, language used was blatantly race-based. The loot vs. find photo controversy demonstrated that black and white people exhibiting the exact same behaviour were reported on differently by the media.

Fellow Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance member Rosetta Thurman shared some discussion about this on Friday…

and more…

So, what do we do about it?

My small part was a workshop on interpersonal communication I facilitated on Friday to a group of youth volunteers from a local hospital, many of whom intend to enter the health field as doctors, etc. I facilitate a similar one in my work at SFU (developed by the lovely Wendy Norman) as part of a Passport to Leadership series of workshop.

While the workshop starts off fairly predictably (e.g. importance of listening) I soon veer into the intersection of power and words. How language and word choice can further marginalize people who face barriers. How intent doesn’t matter when perception of word choice is harmful. We did an exercise where I gave them fairly controversial statements and asked them what assumptions were made by the speaker, how power was embedded in the words, who benefits if people agree with the statement, and if a positive intention might exist behind the statement.

These youth are going to be on the front lines, dealing with a diverse public coming to them in vulnerable situations. Interpersonal communication isn’t just about being nice and listening closely. It’s about checking your language and critically examining that of others.

Like the media currently isn’t as it criminalizes black people.

Other Haiti-relevant posts by the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance:

• Longterm Help for Haiti (Social Citizen)
• One-off or a way of life? (Nonprofit Periscope)
• Lessons from Haiti: Mobile Giving in 2010 (Know Your Own Bone)

Haiti earthquake donation options for Canadians

Canadians can donate to Canadian organizations in order to support emergency relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

Please give money, not in-kind donations of clothing and supplies. Professionals with experienced nonprofit organizations know what’s needed best and how/if supplies can be distributed. Give money. If you want to donate something other than money, Aeroplan miles to an organizaton like Medecins sans Frontieres is another option.

Also, please consider making undesignated donations (donations given to the general organization, not to one specific campaign) to organizations like the Red Cross and Medecins sans Frontieres, as they know best where to direct needed funds.

Donate Now

By text

• Bell, Rogers, Telus: Text HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 to The Salvation Army Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund
• Rogers and Fido: Text HELP to 1291 to donate $5 to Partners In Health: Haiti and other Haitian relief organizations
• Most carriers:  Text HAITI to 30333 to donate $5 to support Plan Canada’s emergency relief efforts

Online

• Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders Canada
• Canadian Red Cross
• Humanitarian Coalition (consists of CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Quebec and Save the Children Canada)
• Aeroplan miles donations to MSF/Doctors without Borders
• Plan Canada
• The Salvation Army Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund
• Unicef Canada
• World Society for the Protection of Animals
• Save the Children
• HOPE International Development Agency
• World Vision Canada
• Mennonite Central Committee
• World Vision Canada
• SOPUDEP School via the Sawatzky Family Foundation

The Canadian government will match donations to eligible organizations. As reported by the CBC:

The federal government is earmarking up to $50 million to match Canadians’ donations to charities aiding relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda said Thursday morning the government will match the contributions of individuals to eligible Canadian charitable organizations in support of humanitarian and recovery efforts in response to the earthquake, up to a total of $50 million.

The money contributed would be managed through the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, run by the Canadian International Development Agency, said Oda.

My blog as it was in 2009

As I rush off to get ready for a low key New Years Eve, I reflect. Here’s my blog as it was in 2009. Happy New Year everyone.

Top read posts of 2009

• Extroverts vs. introverts in the workplace
• ‘Best practice’ is a lie…and boring
• Twitter: An engagement tool, not a fundraiser ticket seller
• Connection to mission: proposing a new org chart
• A Young Nonprofit Professional’s Guide to Vancouver
• Leading from the (outside): can kind-but-tough louve strengthen our organizations?
• Social movements, institutions and the Millennial generation

Posts I wish more people read, and commented on

• Social impact and mission myopia
• Volunteer intersectionality – grassroots vs. big image

Blog achievements in 2009

• Started the blog
• Wrote 28 articles (a surprising average of 1x week considering I started at the end of June)
• Article featured in Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Give and Take
• Got listed in Alltop Nonprofit
• Two articles featured by Brazen Careerist
• Got asked to join the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance and did!
• e-met an amazing and inspirational group of people through my blog and twitter who teach and challenge me

Blog goals for 2010

• Figure out a way that suits me to keep up with my favourite blogs in a more timely manner so I  can comment and engage with others more
• Post a minimum of 2x per month
• Migrate blog to WordPress.org and include a travel/photography stream
• Meet 2 people in person that I communicate with through Twitter/blogging

Until 2010…

No need to get me a Christmas gift

Image/Gift Tag Credit: Sarah Parrott

Instead, will you donate to the Take a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation? I’ll match every dollar you donate to double your impact if you donate before Dec 25. Even $5 or $10 makes a difference.

Donate here.

I’m attending a fundraising moonlight snowshoe event for an at-risk youth high school program that combines academics with adventure-based learning, counselling, and community service. Due to the success of the program, the graduation rate of Take a Hike students is higher than the provincial average.

Find out about the event here.

Your donation will help fund a 4 day winter trek for 40 students. These trips prove to be very therapeutic learning experiences for the youth.

Read about the impacts of these trips on the youth here.

“While I was at Take a Hike, I made a decision to change, and to take life seriously; I strived to become a better person. Being given this gift – to be picked up off the ground when I was at a low point in my life –it seems fitting to now be in a role in society where I can help others.”

Andrew*
2004 Take a Hike graduate and
2009 scholarship recipient to become a paramedic

*name has been changed

Thanks for your support!

How NOT to do corporate social responsiblity

Image Credit: zaveqna

I got an email today from a company looking to support nonprofit organizations.

Their first question of me:

Do you have suggestions about how I could go about finding non-profit groups in British Columbia that are looking for new funding sources?

Uh, toss a rock and you’re likely to hit one.

Their (not-so-mindblowing) plan is for nonprofit organizations to promote this companies members, and when the nonprofit’s supporters frequent these businesses, the nonprofit gets 3% of the value of the transaction. However, in order to get the 3%, the supporter would have had to print off and bring in a special form or make a booking with the companies through a special website.

Here was my response to their inquiry. Was it even worth a response?

Hi <name>,

I would say all nonprofit organizations in the province are looking for new funding sources. If there is a nonprofit in your community that you think is worthwhile, ask them.

However, having reviewed your site, I would not recommend this program to nonprofit organizations, as efforts directed to promoting the <member businesses> (which only give a return of $15 per person per year as per your estimates) would not be as valuable as efforts directed to promoting the organization itself, resulting in donations directly to the organization.

While supporting the nonprofit sector could be commended, requiring specific actions like printing a form from the website or booking through a unique website will likely result in people bypassing the fundraising requirements – resulting in business for your members, but not money for the nonprofit. If you want to truly support community organizations, don’t add strings. When you do [add strings], it’s a very thinly disguised effort to just make money for your own company.

Trina

‘Best practice’ is a lie…and boring

Image Credit: drp

Best practice is a lie; but if true, best practice is boring. What is best for any situation depends on many factors within the context.

Once all factors are established and certain, sure, I’ll submit to best practices existing. If the stakeholders, time, place, operating environment, leadership, and what people had for breakfast that morning are all set, I’m sure best practices could be identified. But then the world would be solved and we’d all be drones with exact plans of action for any scenario.

But otherwise, there is no best practice, only good practice.

Good practice depends on good leadership

Can the leader inspire a shared vision around the good practice? Can they motivate and encourage creativity around the practice? Can the model the good practice rather than just preaching it?

Good practice depends on stakeholders and place

Every community is unique. Every organization is unique. Every individual is unique. The uniqueness lies within history, interrelationships, culture, social norms. Best practice is not an ointment to be applied as directed in the instructions on the tube.

Good practice depends on the external operating environment

What works in boom times doesn’t always work in a recession. What works in times of emergency doesn’t work in time of peace. What’s going on in society – are people leaning left or right, looking out for themselves or others, recycling or wasting, etc. etc. Even so, I would say (of the top of my head without any direct evidence) that what often exists as a norm today came out of something radical and “bad” practice in the past.

In closing…

Best practices in one specific context can be useful beyond that context. They can give you ideas. They can build the literature around principles of good practice. They help with community, organizational, or individual praxis. But they aren’t a holy grail.

Social impact and mission myopia

Image Credit: Sam Catchesides

The origin of this post first came out of reading Marketing Myopia, a Harvard Business Review classic from 1960, for my MBA Venture Analysis course. But the theme comes up over and over again for me. Good drill bit companies don’t sell drill bits, they sell holes.

Focus on the purpose, not the product.

An aside: Yesterday was the final day of the third core course in the Certificate in Dialogue and Civic Engagement program I’m taking. The course, Citizens Engaging Citizens: Issues and Practices, was facilitated by Charles Dobson, author of The Troublemaker’s Teaparty: A Manual for Effective Citizen Action and The Citizen’s Handbook, both great resources for social changey types, especially Canadian ones.

Part of our work today revolved around ideas that people had for citizen to citizen engagement in their own lives. We were outlining goals, objectives/campaigns, strategies, tactics and actions. The hard part was the objectives bit.

People were often inclined to describe a project output (product) as an objective. For example, “the objective of this project is to create a community asset map/hold a conference for animal rights activists/make Trina chocolate cupcakes.”

However, the true objectives were often related to a change in attitude, a change in relationships, a change in state: some sort of social impact.

Social impact ≠ output

Social impact does not occur because a video gets produced, an art project is implemented, a conference happens, or Trina gets her chocolate cupcakes. Social impact occurs and is measurable because change happens.

If organizations frame their mission, or plan their projects, around an output, measuring success is a check box. Did the the conference happen? Check. Did the asset map get created? Pat on the back. Did the resource get published? Can I has some more funding puleez? Did Trina get her cupcakes? Where are my bloody cupcakes?

If organizations frame their mission, or plan their projects, around an output, they risk becoming irrelevant to their clients. Times change. People change. Needs change. Focusing on the output, the program, the product, is what I call mission myopia: Losing sight of what is really important, and not adapting to the needs of your clients.

Does your organization sell drill bits, or holes?

Instead of the product, think of the need of your clients, your community, that you are satisfying. If you want to create a community asset map because you want to increase community connectivity (which would be important to define before you get going, btw), success should not be defined by the creation of the map.

I would challenge the above in this manner:

1. If you created the map, but community connectivity didn’t increase, would that be success?
2. If you increased community connectivity, but the map didn’t get done, would that be success?

Organizations that sell holes would agree with #2.

Practical Implications for the BC Society Act

Making sure your organization defines itself by its clients’ interests rather than a specific program description is incredibly important when writing out the purpose of the organization in your consitution as a part of registering under the Act. If your purpose is related to selling drill bits instead of selling holes, you may find yourself operating outside of the realm of your constitution as times change in the future. Find out more about appropriate purposes in Appendix A of Information for Incorporation of a British Columbia Society (pdf).

Read more on social impact

Other Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance articles on social impact:

• Measuring Social Impact (James C. Elbaor): On issues of defining “social” and “impact”
• Measuring Social Impact (wait…what is social impact?) (Onward and Upward): On assessing one’s own social impact (or lack?)
• What is social impact? (Nonprofit Periscope): On how the phrase “‘Social impact’ is so overused that it means nothing.”
• The Meaning of Social Impact (blackgivesback): On why measuring social impact is important to financial sustainability
• Five Problems with How We Measure Social Change (Entry Level Living): Pretty self-explanatory
• Weighing Outputs: Measuring Social Impact in Museums and Nonprofits (Know Your Own Bone): Assessing the use of outputs as a measure of success
  
• Working at a Nonprofit Does Not Equal Social Change (Rosetta Thurman): More self-explanation
• “How do you define and measure social impact?” (A. Lauren Abele): An overall review of social impact factors
• How do we define and measure social impact? (Nonprofit SOS): Adding impact maps, social impact assessment, and social return on investment into the mix
  

Tongue tied and the Next Leaders Network

Image credit: Tim Ellis

I was interviewed recently for Charity Village article on an initiative of Vantage Point (formerly Volunteer Vancouver) for the next generation of nonprofit leadership in Vancouver, for which I am a steering committee member. The Next Leaders Network.

You know there are some days when the words you want to say roll off your tongue exactly as you intend, and others when you can’t believe how or what you’re saying? This interview was on one of the latter days. When I hung up the phone with Karl, and even throughout the conversation, in my head I was thinking, “I can’t believe I just said that.” Nothing bad or controversial, just silly phrases like “betterment of the global family”. Did I really just say that?

Anyway, you can read the article here, and find out more about the Next Leaders Network here.

The next learning/networking session in the Next Leader’s Network is coming up…

Leading with Direction

December 1, 2009
4:00pm – 6:00pm

Join 3D Visioning expert Gary Ansell for an experiential workshop designed to help you achieve a greater sense of gratification and fulfillment in everything you do – by defining your purpose and having a clear goal in sight.  

• Click here for further information
• Register for this event

$50,000 in creative services on offer for Vancouver/Calgary nonprofits

Near the end of my time at YWCA Vancouver, the organization was undergoing rebranding. A very expensive and time intensive endeavour. YW had most of the services donated, but it was still not cheap. And it was a bit of a pain (and I wasn’t even in the thick of it), but the results seemed pretty nice in the end.

One of the things I learned from the process is that it is VERY important for your creative company to “get” you. While they have experience and knowledge with marketing/branding, etc., your organization has experience with and knowledge of your organization, its clients and supporters. Don’t forget that.

So, if you organization could help further its mission through some donated creative services, read more below. I touched base with the previous two Vancouver recipients and they each seemed incredibly pleased with the process, though each year the recipients obviously go through some media training by Karo and stick to key messages (yawn).

Deadline: November 30, 2009 5pm

Forwarded message:

Karo Group, a branding agency with offices in Vancouver and Calgary, is giving away $100,000 in creative services to two non-profit organizations  - one based in Vancouver and another in Calgary ($50,000 each). This is the third consecutive year that the company has donated the services as part of its initiative, Karo Kaus.

Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) won Vancouver’s 2009 Karo Kaus grant. The rebranding transformed the company’s logo, website and communications materials while creating a unified brand that previously had not existed. Without the $50,000 grant, TUTS could not have afforded to do such a makeover. The 2008 Vancouver Karo Kaus recipient was Potluck Café and Catering.

For full details, visit http://www.karo.com/about/kaus.

James Cronk, TUTS ED was so excited about the experience he used all capitals.

WE RECEIVED MANY COMMENTS FROM OUR GUESTS AND SUPPORTERS THAT THEY HAD NEVER SEEN SO MUCH TUTS MARKETING – BUT THE FACT IS THAT WE DID THE SAME AS PREVIOUS YEARS – IT WAS JUST NOTICED MORE!

Granting timeline

• Deadline: November 30, 2009, 5pm
• Shortlist made by Karo employee committee: Early December, 2009
• Shortlisted candidates present to the Karo committee: January 12, 2010
• Winning recipients notified: January 21, 2010
• Creative work complete: End of 2010

Volunteer intersectionality – grassroots vs. big image

Image Credit: wili_hybrid

Well, I’ve been a bit AWOL for the past few weeks – busy @work, crazy sick with lots of vomiting, final MBA papers due, and a recent death in the family. Let’s just say I’m glad to be moving forward from here.

So a few weeks ago a young woman set up an interview with me to help her with a paper she was writing about volunteers and why they volunteer where they volunteer. She wondered what made some people work with small organizations, and others work with large organizations, like for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. It sounded like someone else that she interviewed thought that those volunteering with smaller organizations were more interested in social and environmental justice, whereas those volunteering with large organizations and events like the Olympics are interested in getting the name on the resume, checking off the experience on list of things to do.

Why not both?

I do both.

I’ll be volunteering with the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in February. I’m incredibly thrilled and am so wrapped up in the spirit that’s been demonstrated along the torch relay in communities across the country. I’m proud to represent my country as a volunteer (because I am never going to be a world-class athlete) and be a part of something bigger.

I also currently volunteer with the Take a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation which does great work supporting youth in grades 10-12 who face a multitude of barriers, providing a mix of adventure-based learning, academics, therapy, and community service with great results. I volunteer with Volunteer Vancouver (recently rebranded as Vantage Point, which I’m not sure I get, but I digress) on a steering committee for a young professionals network and have done curriculum development and delivery for them in the past.

Maybe these last two aren’t social or environmental justicey enough to cut it for the hard cores out there. Sure, I don’t happen to currently volunteer at my local farmers markets, but I shop there and think they do great work. No, I don’t happen to currently volunteer with Pivot Legal Society, but I buy the Hope in Shadows calendar, and think Pivot does great work. Maybe I will in the future, but I’m a little tapped out at the moment.

Are volunteering for brand name organizations and small grassroots groups mutually exclusive? I hope not.

Volunteer Intersectionality

I often perceive that certain causes and passions are not visually marriageable. I guess what I mean by that is that they don’t fit together by first glance. And if you are involved with one, you must be against the other. For example, if you support homeless rights, you must be anti-Olympics and vice versa. People make assumptions about you based on one characteristic. By voicing that viewpoint,  you risk excluding potential supporters (i.e. me). Why define the boundaries of supporters? Maybe it’s just my introvert self perceiving and overthinking something that’s not reality, but I don’t think so.

I’m lucky to have great friends that share this awareness. They may personally disagree with Olympics, but they ask me how my training is going and don’t chastise me for my involvement. They’ll tell you I’m not uneducated or unaware. I’m just a passion-diverse person. And if you want my support, you’re going to have to accept that.