Allllrrright…because it’s Friday, and I’ve been ripping the non-profit industry for the past couple of weeks now, I decided that today’s article was going to be on a positive aspect on the industry that I so love to hate. Dare I say, even a useful bit of content? Unfortunately, right after I had decided on the topic, I came across a little article called Non-Profit Horror Stories. The tag line read, “Because everyone has at least one…”. After squealing with delight and scaring the crap out of my two little black panther cats I decided that I’m going to have to change gears back to being a jerk. I’m sorry, but it’s too good to pass up.
Obviously I opened up the page with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning but tragically my hopes were quickly dashed when I discovered that the writer had hidden the eight comments that she had received. Perplexing, I thought. One, that there were only eight comments and two, that she had hidden them from public view. Isn’t that the entire purpose of the title, to bring these horror stories to light?
I investigated a little further (obviously not going to give up so easily on this little nugget) and found a message from a gentleman who berated the writer and told her that she was being counterproductive and if she really cared about the non-profit industry that she should offer solutions, not highlight it’s problem’s. Bingo.
Now, I’m not sure which pissed me off more…the writer for backing down, agreeing with and apologizing to the guy for her “possibly flippant” attitude towards non-profits or this gentleman for trying to shame this person for her views and experiences which led her to write an article about it. I should also mention that the gentleman revealed, at the time the article was written, that he was on the board of a very well known national non-profit.
Ahem, I hate to be master of the obvious but isn’t it YOUR job, Mr. Non-Profit Board Member, to find solutions? She clearly did her time and owes you nothing. I can’t for the life of me understand why someone would berate this woman for her own and very personal experiences with this sometimes very defunct industry. Especially when there are a slew of people experiencing the same things. Now, if she were involved in this organization in any way, I contest that there may be a point.
I think this just falls right back in to the category of these organizations trying to pass the responsibility buck right off on to someone else. It seems there’s always someone to blame for things going wrong whether it’s your board, staff, the economy, your interns for screwing up your database, your vendors for not delivering what they promised for an extremely discounted price or a writer who merely encouraged an amusing conversation for non-profit survivors that has nothing to do with you.
So in honor of this board member, I’d like to resurrect the original conversation and hear YOUR non-profit horror stories! I promise that we’ll post them (okay, only if they’re funny) and we’ll never hide them from public view. If a board member chooses to berate me, I’ll gently remind them that their time could probably be spent a bit more wisely by actually doing their job and governing their organization rather than picking on someone they’ve never met. And then finally, I can stop being counterproductive and write the useful articles that I really want to write. TGIF!
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