The one-wo/man band…or the ‘business model of one’
A lonely player is often seen in nonprofit scenarios. For some strange and convoluted reasons, funders don’t seem to apply standard business practices when it comes to nonprofits. This is particularly striking when it comes to investing in people. To make sure that they have the tools of the trade, to ensure employment security and supports, somehow have escaped many.
As a result, too many nonprofits are run by a single person. I have seen this in many organizations and have personal experience from it. At the moment, I am assisting several nonprofits that has exactly this setup: ONE person knows everything, does everything, and if anything happens to that person the entire organization will disintegrate. And, eventually, if there is no parachute, disappear completely. Even if there are others, they are often not on the same level, or are part time employees, who are not invited in or paid enough to shoulder any of the systems that make the organization run. Voilá, the one-wo/man band.
Institutional knowledge is clearly underrated in this industry. To have the ability to share and spread the running and the operations of an organization is in the interest not only of the organization itself, but for funders, who then are ensured that if one person goes, their investment will still remain and be utilized and hopefully, produce results.
Clearly, this is not entirely the funders fault. The board has a huge responsibility in perpetuating this behavior. But the sector has a common trait – not valuing people WHO WORK in the sector enough; and, to a fault, valuing people WHO ARE HELPED by the sector more.
So, too often, funders fund programs but are not willing to fund the people who run them. I have always been baffled by the restriction in some funders RFP’s (if they even put these out, but that’s for another blog), stating that we don’t sponsor people or staff. Clearly, there is a misconception at work here, because how is a company that produces, say, phones, able to produce anything without people making and selling those phones? How is a nonprofit supposed to serve people without having people serving them? To me, a program is nothing without people.
Boards and funders have an obligation to ensure the viability of the nonprofit they are put to run. Due diligence includes making sure that there is a life after… whatever that may be and assure that there are sufficient safeguards to keep going. Many organizations do not take this charge seriously. Instead, when there is a change of the guard, they start from the beginning, with subsequent loss of time, resources, and momentum.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Organizations are living organism that need nutrition on many levels and in many nooks and crannies, not only to the top bee, who often finds her or himself without a hive; or never had one to start with!
In my next blog I will tackle exactly how to proof against situations of the one-wo/man band – general funding and the deployment of this valuable resource, and the production of value overall.
Photo: George Arthurt Pflueger
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