NICE Vision ... the plan whose time has come

[Debra J. Berg]

People have been asking me what my vision for NICE is, so here goes (hang with me, it's pretty painless ...)

Problem Statement: The growth in the large volume of start-up human service nonprofits each year in the United States poses three challenges to the industry which are not being addressed effectively:

1. The success stories of human service nonprofits created by U.S. social and civic entrepreneurs are not typically known outside a given non-profit’s city or region. Few research institutions have taken on the task or mission to document the history of organizations that could act as models for start-ups or who could create a body of knowledge to guide existing nonprofits.
2. A large percentage of successful human service nonprofits are willing to replicate their solutions at little or no cost into other communities. Many are willing to assist new start-ups and help them short-cut the learning curve required to build a similar initiative. However, it’s not uncommon for new human services nonprofits to be unaware of similar initiatives already in existence in their community or across the country.
3. Mentoring is not readily available to those in the human services nonprofit arena due, in part, to this lack of data and nonprofit history. Without a central data-gathering resource in place to facilitate cross-communication between human service nonprofits, mentoring for start-ups on any given human services topic is limited.

Proposed Solution: The National Institute for Civic Enterprise (NICE) is a project that 1) researches and catalogues the histories of successful U.S. human service nonprofits, 2) recognizes and promotes them, and 3) provides networking options and mentoring opportunities for social and civic entrepreneurs to help grow their initiatives.

This is the basic outline I gave to a grantwriter recently who is also the head of a nonprofit in Boston. Her reaction was: "It gives me goosebumps.This is so needed!"

I think so, too. After reading Sean Stannard-Stockton's opinion column in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, "It's Time to Share More Information About Worthy Charities" (Mar 2009), I was encouraged that I was on track. Donors don't have a very good idea of "what's out there" right now nor what's working, short of a basic profile on Guidestar. In this country, there is very little comprehensive research in any university or institute of which nonprofits are offering proven, efficient, and effective solutions which donors, business, and communities can support and replicate into their cities.

I see people going off in corners right now just doing their own thing. Or they're duplicating what someone else has already done. Rather than reinvent the wheel, why not offer a place on the Internet that provides a short-cut for them. We teach how businesses grow and fail, why not nonprofits.. by category... at-risk youth, crime, housing, etc? We need examples and civic-franchised models.

Short of a top-down government strategy that piles on overhead and layers of low-compassionate bureaucracy, isn't it time that we put something in place that brings people together to share what already works? Or am I too much of a Pollyanna? Surely, in the nonprofit world there are people with lesser egos who want to chronicle their successes to support those in need for future generations.

But then I read "Reality Check" by Jill Muehreke at the Society for Nonprofit Organizations this month and she warned me not to plan much beyond 18 months or too rigidly since planning works but the "plan rarely does." I can be flexible. I know I don't have all the answers, but I can find the experts I need, stick with the vision, and revise the plan as I go.

With the advent of social media, I'm highly encouraged about engaging people who understand the vision and are willing to share their successes and failures. And several new steps are already in motion at NICE that we'll be revealing in the very near future. If you want to get on board with the vision, do let us know. It's exciting and WE NEED YOU!

I know NICE is an idea whose time has come. Please contribute to these discussions or add a new one because your input here gets everyone closer to helping more people today and tomorrow!

[Debra J. Berg]

You've certainly hit the proverbial nail on the head when it comes to funding such an effort, Dan. But I am in the throes of doing that right now with an excellent grants person in Boston who is working hard for me. I'm always talking up the concept wherever I am. It's a huge endeavor, but I also know that there are people like you out there who are doing what you do and that gives me great hope. What you're doing is exactly what we need in every area of human service. While people will obviously disagree on various aspects of how to implement best practices in their niche, I've met humble people who will collaborate.

On a radio show I did on VoiceAmerica.com in 2007, I had an experience I'll never forget. Herb Lusk, founder of People for People in Philadelphia was scheduled on my show during the same hour that I was interviewing Chris Mangum, founder of Jobs for Life in Raleigh. Herb said to me offline after the interview hour was over... "Deb, I am always a student, and I would really like to have Chris' contact information if that's ok." In this case, both Herb and Chris were (and still are) motivated to replicate their solutions to erradicate homelessness and poverty across the nation. Chris was already highly successful at it. Just writing and researching and promoting my book, The Power of One, has introduced people to each other who are now collaborating on furniture bank intiatives for those in transition... Chicago and Mpls. They would otherwise never have met.

That's the model I want to create in every area of human service. There are several ways to provide the forum to do just that ... online is actually the least expensive such as this Ning site. But not all founders use the internet frequently. Live events and online radio interviewing are others. Maybe a little like the "connector" in The Tipping Point I want to bring the right people together so that we can find the successful working solutions to self-reliance for the disadvantaged and "needed" as you say. These social issues are old, tired, and should be solvable with the speed of communication we have available to us.

I'm spending 6 weeks in an intense social media university through SelfGrowth.com. It's excellent and I would recommend it to anyone. That knowledge, with a lot of practice :-), will hopefully put me in greater touch with the right people and potential funders.

Thanks, Dan. I greatly appreciate your support!

[Daniel Bassill]

What you're describing is what the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been building for the past 16 years, While the narrow focus of volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring, the information on the T/MC web site is "everything we can learn about how adults can help inner city youth move through school and into jobs and careers".

Everything is a lot, and my site is only nibbling the surface. There's lots more to be done, and other people in every other city need to be duplicating some of the effort, particularly the work of building a master database of tutor/mentor programs, and making this available in on-line maps and directories so that people can find existing services, and so that leaders can build an understanding of how well (or poorly) distributed these programs are.

Collecting a wider range of human service information would provide some of the same values as what our collection of tutor/mentor information offers.

The challenge, is finding the on-going operating dollars to not only collect the information, but to maintain it, share it, and help people understand and use it. If not found many foundations willing to fund intermediaries or knowledge networking. And if they do, they don't do it year after year.

I'd love to see some benefactors come into this forum and become interested in what you're launching and what we're doing.

Good luck to you.

Dan