With regard to Medicaid in Missouri, we end 2014 where we began: no expansion, and no plans to do so. No matter the people left uninsured, the jobs left uncreated, and the jobs wiped out, the opponents of expansion refuse to budge. So continues our race to the bottom.
In fact, the entire Affordable Care Act is yet again in judicial jeopardy. Millions may lose coverage if the ACA is derailed, and there are no plans with which to replace it, but what the heck: it's just poor people, right?
To my mind, the current situation in the United States parallels climate change. In the same way that we've been able to pound the earth with our excesses and get away with it because of the planet's strong mechanisms for maintaining equilibrium, so too have our nation's strong institutions protected us against our political pettiness. But there will come a point where we overwhelm the earth's ability to overcome the harm we are causing, and we will reach the moment where our willingness to set aside the social contract and use our politics as a cudgel against the weak will wash away the levees created by the Founders to preserve the nation.
DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this blog are solely my own. They are not
to be construed as reflecting the views or carrying the endorsement of
my employer, its supporters, or its staff.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Sunday, December 28, 2014
In Search of Sustainability
I read a blog entry that really got me thinking on this topic. I have been writing grant requests for six years, and I have yet to encounter one that does not demand to know what my plan is for future sustainability. Sometimes I am tempted to write the truth: I have no idea.
That doesn't mean my organization is not doing good work, nor does it mean that I don't have a development plan. However, non-profits are just that: not for profit. That means that the only product we create is social good. Now, that is a great product. But you can't sell it (certainly my clients will never sustain the organization), and it can be very difficult to measure (if thanks to my organization someone only gets somewhat sick instead of very sick, how does that get quantified?).
What does that leave me with? I can do a fund raiser (check), I can start a young professionals group (check), I can personally cultivate donors (check - please, write me a check), and I can write more grants (triple check).
Of course, I could start some kind or revenue generating enterprise as an earned-income strategies for which my organization has no expertise in, but what sense does that really make? It takes me off mission and diverts resources that should be going towards making us the best in our chosen area. And anyway, God forbid that I would actually be too sustainable, which would lead some to question if we're really a non-profit.
So how would I really like to answer the sustainability question? Like this. My staff and I are gong to do everything in our power to have as much impact and effect as much change as possible. We are going to contain costs, mitigate risk, maximize efficiency, and do highest quality work possible with the talent we have. After that, our sustainability is up to you. My part of the bargain is to make the world better today than it was yesterday, if only by a bit (which some days represents a triumph of great proportions). Your part, dear supporters, is to reward our ingenuity, passion, and results with the funds to make us sustainable. Otherwise you'll find yourselves back at square one, wondering why these darn non-profits never seem to stick around.
DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this blog are solely my own. They are not to be construed as reflecting the views or carrying the endorsement of my employer, its supporters, or its staff.
That doesn't mean my organization is not doing good work, nor does it mean that I don't have a development plan. However, non-profits are just that: not for profit. That means that the only product we create is social good. Now, that is a great product. But you can't sell it (certainly my clients will never sustain the organization), and it can be very difficult to measure (if thanks to my organization someone only gets somewhat sick instead of very sick, how does that get quantified?).
What does that leave me with? I can do a fund raiser (check), I can start a young professionals group (check), I can personally cultivate donors (check - please, write me a check), and I can write more grants (triple check).
Of course, I could start some kind or revenue generating enterprise as an earned-income strategies for which my organization has no expertise in, but what sense does that really make? It takes me off mission and diverts resources that should be going towards making us the best in our chosen area. And anyway, God forbid that I would actually be too sustainable, which would lead some to question if we're really a non-profit.
So how would I really like to answer the sustainability question? Like this. My staff and I are gong to do everything in our power to have as much impact and effect as much change as possible. We are going to contain costs, mitigate risk, maximize efficiency, and do highest quality work possible with the talent we have. After that, our sustainability is up to you. My part of the bargain is to make the world better today than it was yesterday, if only by a bit (which some days represents a triumph of great proportions). Your part, dear supporters, is to reward our ingenuity, passion, and results with the funds to make us sustainable. Otherwise you'll find yourselves back at square one, wondering why these darn non-profits never seem to stick around.
DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this blog are solely my own. They are not to be construed as reflecting the views or carrying the endorsement of my employer, its supporters, or its staff.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Cuba
Cuba has gained more attention in the past seven days than in the past seven years. I've expressed my opinion in public already through the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (link here) and talked about a piece written by the daughter of another Cuban ex-pat that I thought was excellent (link here). For now, I will only add that those who think that Cuba will return to its Hemingway-esque days any time soon are as wrong as can be (just one example, this piece from my Eisenhower Fellowships colleague, Amy Wilkinson).
DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this blog are solely my own. They are not to be construed as reflecting the views or carrying the endorsement of my employer, its supporters, or its staff.
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