essay
talking to statues
what do you do when you get to the party and everyone's staring at you and also they want to take away people's rights?
power
essay
the future of food banks
and the people who serve themselves first
essay
evolving our DNA
How do organizations change? Why is it that most organizations can set goals for racial justice and then never achieve them? What’s so difficult about doing things in different ways? Equity filters can be clunky. They can be hard to integrate into an existing decision-making process. I want action
working
just once
Last week I was in Yakima for the annual Washington Food Coalition conference. I spent three very full days learning, talking, laughing, and (of course) eating well. On the last day, I ran into a friend/former coworker of mine. I think of him like a little brother in the
working
the preacher and the choir
It’s not easy being among the workers angry about the decisions people at the top are making every day. Some leaders think that decision-making at a nonprofit can be hard to understand. Often the people protesting their decisions do understand. In fact, they are often protesting because they understand.
essay
power and the harm of “we”
Another heatwave hit Seattle last week. It was mild compared to so many places in the world. I complained as the heat and smoke descended, a regular marker now for the end of summer. But we were fine. Around the united states, people felt temperatures well into the 100s (+37℃
walkthroughs
noticing injustice
My husband and I have a joke we tell each other before parties. “How long before we make the conversation about oppression?” It’s kind of a joke (we’re really fun at parties!) but there’s still some truth to it. Once you start to notice the racial injustices
essay
gentlemen's disagreements
Throughout his term, Barack Obama had a call for the activists agitating for change. He recalled what Franklin Roosevelt told his activists pushing for their own reforms. FDR said, “I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.” Then-President Obama met with members of the
walkthroughs
a task force with oomph
I’ve written about the advice process many times since I started this blog. It’s one of the most thrilling discoveries I made after I entered senior leadership. The advice process upended everything I hated about hierarchy and top-down decision making. In most companies major decisions fall to the
working
the right stuff
A lot of nonprofits collect more data than they know what to do with. We might have a cool idea for a survey question. Or a foundation that’s giving us money asks us to collect it. Sometimes an off-hand request from the ED sends the staff down a data
essay
what does it mean to put community first?
Some articles get my goat and don’t let go. Last year I read an interview with a roundtable of CEOs at major food banks around the country. The headline quote was, “we have power, let’s use it wisely.” I want to unpack that! The panelists, well-meaning or well-intentioned,
working
getting started
“Hooray! Our non-profit organization is ready to use its power for change. The status quo won’t stand a chance against us. Let’s see, we’ve got ourselves a fifteen-point plan to end racism. We’ve got our diagrams, our power analyses, and our group agreements. We’ve got
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