Born in India and educated in England, Mohandas K. Gandhi traveled to South Africa in 1893 as a young Indian lawyer. During a one-year contract to practice law, Gandhi was exposed to racism and subjugated to South African laws that restricted the rights of Indian workers. In a moment he would later recall as his “moment of truth,” Gandhi was removed from a first-class railway compartment and ejected from a train after he refused to comply with racial segregation rules. Upon the expiration of his work contract, he decided to remain in South Africa—determined to fight injustice and defend his rights as an Indian. Gandhi went on to launch a campaign against legislation that would deny Indians voting rights and form the Natal Indian Congress. These actions helped to shine a global spotlight on the plight of Indians in South Africa. But when the Transvaal government sought to further restrict Indians’ rights, Gandhi was compelled to organize his first act of mass civil disobedience—satyagraha—on June 7, 1893. After seven years of protest, a compromise with the South African government was finally made. In 1914, Gandhi returned to India where he lived an abstinent and spiritual life. Always nonviolent, he was revered for his philosophy of peaceful and passive resistance. Known as Mahatma—the great-soul—his persuasive methods of civil disobedience influenced and inspired leaders of human rights movements around the world. Are you feeling inspired? We wouldn’t blame you! But check out these five nonprofit headlines from the news this week before planning your next peaceful protest.
1. Want to Change the World? You'll Need These Two Things:
The world we live in today is nearly unrecognizable from that of past generations. To keep up with the times, nonprofit organizations are ever-evolving in their efforts to facilitate change. But advancements in society do not arise from disconnect and lack of insight. According to Forbes, sweeping change and large-scale progression depend on two components—a big vision and effective collaboration. As both are essential to tackle the difficulties faced by nearly every sector, merging multidisciplinary efforts can help to implement organizational visions. Is your nonprofit’s vision hindered by a disjointed team? Click on the link above to discover how your organization can leverage collaborations in order to advance your mission.
2. Want to Start a Nonprofit? Read this:
After battling an eating disorder, ADD and other learning disorders as well as meth addiction, Concetta Mantinan got sober and devoted herself to starting her first business—now, she is launching her third. A recent article from Entrepreneur focuses on the story of this social entrepreneur and the lessons she’s learned regarding how to establish, fund and run a nonprofit organization. Are you contemplating turning your passion into a nonprofit? Check out the link above to read more about Mantinan’s journey and three tips for a successful business strategy.
3. Nonprofit and For-Profit: Can They Work Together?
Public for-profit companies and private nonprofit organizations have always behaved as rivals. Treating the other as polar opposite in both composition and intention, for-profit and nonprofit sectors are constantly competing for attention, recognition and funding. Because both have such distinct characteristics, is it possible to align the two sectors on a path toward mutual success? According to Forbes, both sectors can generate great, lasting change through collaboration. Want to know how your organization can achieve mutually beneficial success with a for-profit collaborator? Follow the link above to learn how to form partnerships for a greater cause!
4. White Space in the Nonprofit Sector
In the days of viral videos and social media newsfeeds, the narrative and counter-narrative with regards to race in the United States is becoming increasingly predominant and hard to ignore. Nonprofit organizations, acting as overseers of the public space, should examine the ways in which “white space” plays out within its own sector. According to the Nonprofit Quarterly, our country is experiencing a shift from implicit bias to explicit violence—this shift is crucial to the nonprofit sector as its own narrative, for the most part, echoes a narrative of racial inequity. How are your organization’s leaders approaching and addressing the issue of race? Check out the link above to read more about the nonprofit sector as white space and its role in bringing systems change.
5. Is Your Collaboration on the Outs?
Successful collaborations between organizations accomplishes more than either entity could on its own. But because power is the “secret sauce” of nonprofit collaborations, a power imbalance left unaddressed could result in an ugly and counterproductive situation. According to Stanford Social Innovation Review, collaborations fail when collaborative parties don’t discuss power and its implications. If you’re considering walking away from a collaboration because the other entity is seemingly too uncollaborative, consider whether power is the underlying problem. Click on the link above for suggestions on how to properly address power dynamics and leverage strengths for successful collaboration.
That’s it for this week’s Friday Five! We’re feeling grateful for another reminder that lasting change is possible. See you next week!
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