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Powering Nonprofit Success Through Participatory Processes:

Did you know that organizations prioritizing participatory processes and deliberately decreasing barriers see a significant increase in program effectiveness? This Fall, I’m excited to delve into how this framework powers real-world success through our three-part webinar series, Insights for Impact!

On September 18th, Dr. Inderjit Vicky Basra, President and CEO of the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, and Jessica Raymond, former Chief of Staff of the YWCA, joined Sharity Global Expert Anne Miskey to offer real-world examples of ways participatory processes elevated their organizations’ mission and impact. Dr. Basra emphasized the importance of including direct and indirect experts in decision-making conversations. She noted, “…layered communication makes the change.” When those in the community who experience the challenges your organization strives to address work alongside those with academic or professional experience in key areas, your organization can begin to affect systemic change. Jessica added, “When we talk about advocating for people and engaging their voices…here is the mic! You sit at this table, you tell me what you need from us, you make the decision…”

Key takeaways from the conversation included:

  • Write equity into your policies and procedures.
  • Avoid “tokenizing” the community you serve. Ensure that if you ask something of your community members, such as asking them to share their stories, you are developing and strengthening a mutually beneficial relationship with them.
  • Identify ways your organization may connect direct experts, those with lived experience, with donors, elected officials, and other community leaders and influencers.
  • Engaging all voices allows you to review and evaluate the impact of your programming with an open mind and heart.
  • Give credit to all the experts helping you execute your mission. Whenever possible, compensate and recognize direct experts, those with lived experiences, for their work on behalf of your organization, just as you would an indirect expert with academic or professional experience. 

Dr. Basra summed up the importance of engaging all voices when she described the success her organization has had with connecting survivor mentors with the recently rescued. “[Survivor’s] concepts around hope look very different because they’re sitting across from somebody, that at some point, was in the same space that they are in…Their survivor-mentor becomes a beacon of hope!” Anne added, “The little ways you can connect your donors in real ways to people” will bring about transformation.

Watch The Full Video Now

From Carol’s Desk:

I am still catching my breath after the last several weeks. There were tragedies. Lives were lost and significant changes to laws were made, many of which set back rights and regulations that many nonprofits fought decades to win.

There also were triumphs. In response to the Uvalde shooting, President Joe Biden signed a new federal gun law which intends to keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous people. The best part of this law: It closes the “boyfriend” loophole, which previously allowed abusers convicted of domestic abuse to continue to own a gun if they no longer were married to, lived with, or had a child with their abuse victim.

Each year, more than 1,000 women die at the hands of their partner or former partner, and more than half of those are killed by unmarried partners ⎼ most with a gun. In fact, abusers with firearms are five times more likely to kill their victims. The NRA fought for years to keep guns in the hands of abusers, but now, regardless of marital status, if you abuse your partner, you lose your guns. Finally.

Regardless of the communities we serve or the work we do, every client and potential client with whom I have spoken openly admits that these current events have impacted them. Some were compelled to change the way they deliver certain services, while others were forced to eliminate some services altogether. One underlying theme rings true to all of them, though. Nonprofits must begin rethinking how we are going to address critical components of our missions in the face of these egregious social changes.

While many of us just adapted to the changes thrust upon nonprofits by the COVID-19 pandemic, we now face another set of environmental changes, and it is time to understand we are operating in a new normal. Whether a global pandemic, political changes, civil unrest, or whatever it might be, if our nonprofits are not positioned to expect the unexpected, then we and the communities we serve will be left behind. Prepare. Plan. Operate. This is our new mantra.