Progressive Self Destruction

A friend of mine over at Cognitive Policy Works is doing fantastic work around getting Progressives to have a unified strategic plan on how to bring about the change that is needed in our modern day politics.  The problem that has been holding him and fellow Progressive organizations back has been a shocking amount of selfishness and close sightedness from fellow Progressives and an overwhelming sense of ownership of missions that deny other organizations that are closely related to find any purchase.

Progressives are good people who wish for social justice, equality and equal access to services and opportunities for all those who wish it.  However, the organizations that claim this mission are often not practicing what they say is their beliefs.  Numerous organizations still have an "us vs. them" attitude even towards fellow organizations whose missions align with their own.  The ownership of missions almost always comes with a sense of exclusivity.  The mission needs to be accomplished in this particular way by us and no other.

The fact of the matter is that many organizations spend too much time taking actions or making plans that other organizations already do better, more efficiently and with a longer history of accomplishment.  It is almost as if some organizations do not ever come out of their small circle of friends to look at some of the impressive work that other like minded organizations are accomplishing.

For instance in the world of green or sustainable certifications there are numerous accrediting agencies doubling and tripling up on the same relevant areas of sustainability.  There are literally dozens of agencies or organizations that provide certifications and reviews with the same basic standards.  Why is this the case?  Instead of many organizations doing the same work, why not have the organizations that do the work the best do it and the other organizations can then focus on a specialty of their own?

Too many nonprofits do not understand that over saturation of services is in the long run hurtful to those very same nonprofits that we claim to want to assist and see thrive.  Nonprofits need to learn from each other and use each other as resources, collaborators and experts.

In order for non profits and progressive organizations they must first have a realignment of their goals and missions to include collaboration and shared responsibility.  Organizations must use the expertise offered in the nonprofit world in order to supplement their own expertise.  Too many nonprofits and progressive organizations feel the need to do their own version of project or program when their are others that are much better and provide better results.

The nonprofit world needs to start thinking like the for profit world in one major way.  What makes your nonprofit special?  What is its major product that is unique either in an original way or additive to another product or service already in existence?  Why does this nonprofit need to exist?  What is its niche?

The other major point that is holding back the Progressive movement is the idea of scarcity.  Progressives have fallen for the oldest trick in the marketing world and that is the idea that their is not enough to go around.  Whatever that enough is, oftentimes Progressives feel that they only have enough to support themselves and they fail to see that in the long run by supporting other organizations that have aligned missions and focus, the overall society will be positively effected.

The nonprofit world cannot afford to be a competitive one as the work we do inherently requires people working together to make a real difference.  We cannot rely on a product or service to bring in consumers without the aid of others in marketing, awareness or reputational help.  We are unique in that we wish to serve others through our work, but we must also be willing and able to assist others who have a similar mission.  There is enough.  There is more than enough and it is through our actions of collaboration and sharing that we can together ensure that there is a safety for ourselves when we fall on leaner times.