HBH Consultants

It was my pleasure to be one of the hundreds of people in the audience to hear Robert Egger, Founder of DC Central Kitchen, speak at the 2011 Annual Forum of the Charities Review Council.  Although Egger covered several topics, the one that struck me was the impact that nonprofit transparency has on volunteers of two very different generations.

Robert Egger, founder of our country's first "community kitchen," DC Central Kitchen

By engaging in transparency, nonprofit organizations have the potential to effect change by harnessing the power of millions of people from the two generations who make up today’s volunteers:

• Those who are now in their 60s who have a wealth of experience they want to share to effect change
• Those now in their 20s and 30s who grew up engaged in voluntary service as an educational requirement

Here’s what they share:  Both generations want to effect change and realize that giving dollars isn’t the only solution to global problems.  The older generation is effecting change through the power of the respect they’ve earned through their life and work experience; the younger through, among other things, the power of being able to transmit a message around the world in seconds.

Younger generations are especially tuned in to giving to charities everyday using the power of everyday spending to help others.  They are well acquainted with businesses that sell them a bottle of water and provide safe water for someone in another country or sell them a new pair of shoes and give a new pair to someone in another country who is barefoot.   They make strategic philanthropic investments in charities that understand and promote this marketing model.

More and more, volunteers understand that everybody in the organization is involved in marketing and fundraising.  Those leaders who see and march out to meet the future will be linked arm-in-arm with these powerful volunteers.

For more about nonprofit transparency and accountability, visit the Charities Review Council website.

How do you demonstrate transparency to your stakeholders?

-Dianne

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 at 3:10 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.