May 2009 Archives
By Aaron Hurst on
May 19, 2009 11:50 AM
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EcoAmerica, a nonprofit marketing firm based in the nation's capital, has found that we need new language to save the environment. The firm accidentally released their findings to the media which resulted in more likely media attention that the report would have garnered normally.
The New York Times published an
article about the report on May 2nd which outlined some of the recommendations.
According to the
Times, the old language of global warming is no longer effective. It has too much baggage and doesn't align well with the motivations of the American people. The nonprofit suggests that we move to a discussion of "our deteriorating atmosphere" and speak about our efforts to "move away from the dirty fuels of the past."
Karl Rove would be proud. The progressive front has finally learned how to use language as a tool for social change just as he did a dozen plus years ago for the Republican machine.
This new eco-language is right on. It moves beyond radicalism or boomer politics and makes a critical issue easy to consume. Now, we need to do the same thing for the whole progressive platform--starting with the word "progressive".
Taproot Foundation works with hundreds of nonprofit organizations across the country every year and find that we continue to see the same old language, which is ineffective in most cases, being recycled. It is old and tired. Perhaps more importantly, it just doesn't resonate with a new generation.
There needs to be a whole new framing of a wide range of issues from foster care to homelessness, from volunteerism to vegetarianism. These issues also need to be designed to fit together into a broader ethical frame that can hold them all together.
The work of getting this new language defined is significant but doable. The hard part is working with all the nonprofit organizations, politicians and community organizers (hate that term) to adopt the new language and framing. This requires real leadership and influence.
How can the Taproot Foundation use our network of hundreds of nonprofit clients to be a part of this change?
By Aaron Hurst on
May 12, 2009 1:08 PM
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I am at my wits end and need some advice.
I am working with a nonprofit that just selected a terrific new name and now needs a URL to use as the address for their website. There are two great domains that would work but are already owned by other folks.
Neither of these owners are using the domains. They are just sitting there unused. The nonprofit is willing to pay real money for the rights, but they simply won't respond. Based on a little research, it looks like one of the owners may be in jail. The other one is just stubborn (we assume).
URLs are real estate, and people have rights to own real estate without being forced to sell. What makes this different is that the domain name is ".org" and that the real estate is not being used. It is like having a nonprofit that is willing to build low-income housing on an abandoned lot, but the owner won't take the fair market value for it. Criminal.
Should there be an eminent domain law about .org URLs that are vacant lots? They are needed to serve the public, and it is in the public's interest that they not remain as vacant lots if there is a buyer willing to pay the market value as defined by a third party.
While we wait for Obama to pass this new law, does anyone have a suggestion for how to address this frustrating situation?
By Aaron Hurst on
May 8, 2009 2:52 PM
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In an earlier
blog post I wrote about an
article in the
New York Times that described the change in the prestige of careers and how careers in the public sector may have surpassed jobs in consulting and on Wall Street as being at the top of the list.
Upon further reflection, it brought me back to a conversation that I had with my father when I was still in college and he was in graduate school at the University of Michigan getting his PhD in Higher Education Administration. What occurred to both of us in the conversation over a dozen years ago was that professional schools are not organized effectively.
MBA programs are the ones that offer the best education and training in management. It is really rare to find a program in health care management, higher education administration, nonprofit management or related fields that comes even close to providing the training as an MBA.
The curriculum in these areas simply isn't as evolved -- it is in business that management has been studied tirelessly because it is where the skills have been economically rewarded.
The other issue is that other degrees for nonprofit leadership are harder to sell as relevant to other fields if you decide, like most people, to switch careers at some point down the road.
An MBA provides the best education and a degree that is valued in almost every profession. I counsel professionals seeking a master's degree that going with any option other than an MBA will result in fewer practical skills, a less valuable network and may prove worthless in five years when they decide on a different career path.
So, why I am singing the praises of the MBA degree in a post about its demise?
We need professionals in every field that can manage people, projects, programs and organizations. The specifics for each field are secondary to these core management skills. As more and more of our top talent seek careers outside of corporations, the MBA schools need to adapt to recognize that their value lies not in teaching business but instead in teaching management. The Harvard Business School needs to become the Harvard School of Management.
This should also become the organizing principle for professional schools. Management should be the common curriculum and the specialized fields should be secondary (not the other way around as it is today).
You could get your MM (Master's in Management) and then get a "minor" (or have a track) in a specific field of interest like health care. It could also be designed so that every 5-10 years you could return and add an additional minor to reflect a career switch or new interest.
This model would better meet the needs of professionals today and therefore make professional schools more effective.
