posted on: Monday, June 08, 2009

Gary Snyder

The financial and leadership crisis we face is resulting in a crumbling charitable world. If handled correctly, these troubling times will be looked upon as a terrific learning experience in years to come. We have a unique opportunity to reset our standards in a very positive way.

The most important thing that we must restore is the confidence of the general public and our contributors. Donors must believe that we are husbanding their resources in a thoughtful and competent manner. Unfortunately only a little over 20% believe that we are vigilant watchdogs of their donations.

We can earn the public’s trust by also being totally transparent, and accountable, with each agency showing that it’s governance is deliberative. The current ‘anything goes’ mindset is unacceptable to stop the sector from spinning out of control.

Those in positions of responsibility must retune our institutional and person goals and values. The focus of this endeavor lay in leadership ---national, local directors and management. The current status quo is unacceptable. The outmoded models of directorships have produced profoundly negative consequences.

There is no silver bullet to guide us out of this quagmire. All roads lead to the need for change. Our donors don’t trust us, the regulators don’t believe us, and our stakeholders doubt we are delivering the goods.

All believe that beneficence, forethought, and self-discipline of our forefathers have gone by the wayside. Part of the problem is the current dysfunctional training apparatus. It must be updated. While we should adhere to the some of the best practices of yester-year; many of the old-fashioned policies and practices must be revamped. We must encourage innovation in order for us to see our way out of this crisis and to restore trust and grow the nonprofit world. At the outset our mentors and teaching institutions must condemn self-enrichment at the expense of those we serve.

In order to avoid controversy, the sector leadership has sat on the sidelines on critical issues and failed to assist in managing the sectors destiny. That has lead to the excesses and abuse in philanthropy. Hiding behind a publicist just has not worked.

It is our responsibility to clean up our own mess and not continue to prevail on the government to regulate out us out of our bad behavior. The charitable sector went hat in hand to ask the government to clean up our house with little consideration for 70% of the sector---the small and medium agencies. With some leadership, the charitable sector is uniquely positioned to restore trust with better board oversight and vastly improved management practices, all of which will instill stakeholder confidence.

We must act swiftly. We must show that we are capable of governing on our own. We must develop our own internal audits that show that the sector leadership is attuned to the new realities. We must show that boards are no longer tone deaf and spineless and that they are attentive to the needs of those we serve.

When that is accomplished we must use our bullhorns and tell our stakeholders, regulators and Congress that we are worthy of their trust and that we have come to terms with the fact that transparency and accountability are laudable roads to travel.



Gary R. Snyder is the author of Nonprofits: On the Brink. He is a frequent lecturer and author of articles in numerous publications and blogs. His email is gary.r.snyder@gmail.com; website: www.garyrsnyder.com, phone: 248.324.3700.