Nonprofit Congress

“It’s time for us to realize that democracy is not a spectator sport.”
Sam Daley-Harris, founder of RESULTS

What kind of day was it that turned on 18 diverse nonprofit leaders from Montana? Lit a fresh fire in the heart of a missionary reverend from Connecticut? Created bright eyes and smiles on the faces of young women from one of Pennsylvania’s largest foundations? It was a day when over 100 people from 28 states called on approximately 110 of their Members of Congress. Indeed, it was Lobby Day, the concluding day of the Nonprofit Congress National Meeting here in Washington DC. What better way to end our own congress than taking our message about supporting and partnering with America’s nonprofits to the Hill.

Chuck Bean is the Executive Director of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and works with Rosetta. This entry is cross-posted at the Roundtable Blog.

When the idea of the first Nonprofit Congress was first floated - I can still visualize a meeting back in 2005 with Audrey Alvarado and Robert Egger - I admit, I was one of the people who probed, "What's the value-added here? What distinguishes this from other national convenings? Will it be worth the effort?"

Well, all my questions were answered and I added my two cents to the planning and preparation for the 2006 Congress. As part of the preparation, the Roundtable co-sponsored a Town Hall meeting along with the Center for Nonprofit Advancement - one of 117 Town Halls convened in 43 states.

NCNA is offering the world a unified vision and collective voice for many who serve their communities. The vehicle for this vision and voice is the Nonprofit Congress. Our motto: "many missions, one voice."

The Nonprofit Congress' mission is to inspire more confident and effective advocacy for our vision of an American society that is quietly and caringly devoted to providing for those who are experiencing hardship and contributing to our culture. We will do this by restoring, to all, productive and dignified roles in communities and helping provide opportunities for all American citizens to realize their dreams of making contributions to their communities through social service, the arts, or any nonprofit endeavor of their choice.

As in the movie The Wizard of Oz, our dreams appear in both depressing black and white and in vivid Technicolor. Many nonprofit leaders today are subject to subtle hostility, or worse, dreary neglect. These leaders confront challenges in the form of shrinking financial resources, increasing demands for services, mounting organizational complexities, growing fatigue, sweeping misunderstandings, and lack of a powerful and dignified identity.

*UPDATE 4/1/08: I'm in the Carnival this week! Yay! This is not an April Fools' joke! Check out the other fab posts on inspiring your audience at the Sea Change Strategies blog.*

When I found out that the theme for this week’s Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants is “How can nonprofits inspire their audiences?”, let’s just say it didn’t grab me. I think I’ve built up a tolerance to inspiration. I know that for nonprofits, money is tight, and so is time and staff. Yet we’re supposed to have passion and inspiration in spades. We’re helping people! We’re saving the world! Isn’t our work fabulous?

But even inspiration gets stale sometimes. Elisa can tell you that when I draft email alerts or newsletters, I constantly complain about the feeling that I’m about to barf up exclamation points. The messaging is always inspiring until the 297th time I hear it. I feel like I’m sliding into an inspiration rut. And if I'm not inspired by my work, why should anyone else be?