The primary focus of Good Work Done Better is local and regional organizations that directly provide hands-on help and care to vulnerable people groups. It calls into question many of the practices of a variety of “charitable organizations,” as well as the donors and stakeholders that support them.
Key quotable sentences from the book:
Key quotable sentences from the book:
Poverty, discrimination, disenfranchisement, disconnection, and addiction are like thieves. They leave a trail of victims and create collateral damage.
Every person is valuable, even if they have been robbed of their dignity or if they have made a series of suboptimal choices.
Community-based non-profit organizations tend to work in the middle of the problem, rather than on the problem. Nineteenth-century solutions are frequently being cheerfully offered to respond to 21st century needs.
Good intentions do not always translate into appropriate actions. Noble efforts do not necessarily result in improvements. Well-meaning people who are under-equipped or unqualified can do a lot of damage while trying to help.
It makes no sense to create a massive response system to address a problem that could be fixed further upstream.
The impact of community-based non-profits has frequently been limited to patchwork because they struggle to keep up with the demand for patches.
The accepted historical practice has been to dismiss any failures or inefficiencies in community-based non-profit organizations as inevitable or completely forgivable. Once it becomes okay to be a bit mediocre in one area, it is easier to become convinced that mediocrity is all that there is.
Significant amounts of donors’ money and resources are being applied to the wrong activities, and some of the outcomes have not been ideal. More activity is not a sign that objectives are being met or that an unacceptable situation is improving.
Donors should not donate because an organization has needs; they should give because the organization is able to meet unmet needs of the people they serve.
A real leader has to be prepared to serve the cause. They are not the cause.
For change to happen in any organization, it needs to include the board. Sometimes it needs to start with the board. The transformation of community-based non-profits must include important changes in the approach to board selection and governance.
This book is an invitation to community-based non-profits to move away from merely doing the right things and consider doing the right things in the right way. What would happen if CBNPs aimed to put themselves out of business?
Strategic partnerships, mergers and corridors of referral can help community-based non-profit organizations gain traction via increased capacity. Working together contributes to the achievement of better outcomes. This is not about being big or small, it is about becoming more effective and innovative.
Donors & funding agencies must be encouraged to begin to envision their donation as a partnership that aims to support a solution rather than as a bit of cash that aims to sustain an activity.