Nonprofit AF

Exploring the fun and frustrations of nonprofit work

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Annual performance reviews suck. Here’s how to make them better. Or maybe we should just ditch them.

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[Image description: A black and white lemur, with orange eyes, staring directly at the camera, their hands on a wooden pole. Image by Stephen Hickman on Unsplash]

In my several decades as a nonprofit professional, there are a couple of harrowing occasions that have seared themselves into my soul, causing me to wake up in the middle of the night, filled with rage. One of these occasions involved cryptocurrency, some sock puppets, and 12 gallons of bleach, but that’s a story for another time.

The more relevant occasion for this topic was when I sat facing several grim-looking board members as they chewed me out during my annual review. I came into the meeting so proud of what the team and I had accomplished that year, and left feeling like garbage, a mixture of confusion, shame, and sadness. I was seriously thinking of quitting and finding a new job. Or possibly becoming a hermit. A hermit with reliable Wi-Fi to watch Game of Thrones (It was still a great show at that time).

Annual reviews are done so horribly in our sector, because they’re often done thoughtlessly, taking toxic processes and philosophies from white corporate models. What works over there in a competitive, profits-oriented environment doesn’t mean it’ll work here in a sector where a lot of people are trying to make the world better while being underpaid, wearing “multiple hats,” using Mesozoic-era printers, and burning out. Throw in the shitstorm that is our socio-economic-political situation, and people are barely hanging on by a gossamer thread.

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Brutally honest answers to 15 pointless questions our sector keeps asking itself

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[A small fluffy round gray bird, standing on a ledge, staring at the camera, looking kind of grumpy. Anyone knows what bird this is? Image by Shridhar Thorat on Unsplash]

***Vu’s new book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy: Unlocking the Full Potential of a Vital and Complex Sector, comes out October 14th. Pre-order your copy***

Hi everyone, I’m on a plane heading to Tokyo. It’s been several hours and I’m tired and grumpy and hallucinating a little, which might affect the tone of this piece. Last week, I had a speaking engagement in Canada. While I was there, the president of the US abruptly left the G7 summit. Apparently to start World War 3 until his boss, Putin, told him to back off.

Before my speech, I was making conversation with a colleague at my table, who brought up a problem she sees with our sector: The term “nonprofit.” This is a common discussion we have from time to time over the years. Why define our sector by something that it’s “not”? It’s so confusing and leads to people thinking things like nonprofits can’t generate income.

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It’s time for progressives to be arrogant, messy, and unapologetic

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[Image description: A hyena, which looks kind of like a dog, with golden fur, staring at the camera. This image has nothing to do with the post, except that I think this hyena, using random chance to make decisions, would be more qualified than most of our executive branch. Image by tommileew on Pixabay]

There’s been various articles written on the phenomenon of Imposter Syndrome, such as this one by Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey called “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome” and this one by our colleague Esther Saehyun Lee, titled “You’re not feeling imposter syndrome, you are an imposter: Identity and belonging in nonprofit work.”

I’m glad to see the pushback against the concept of Imposter Syndrome, since it often places the burdens on individuals who are often already marginalized to examine themselves and change their behavior, instead of forcing systems to stop being so inequitable.

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The nonprofit rut, and what we can do about it

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[Image description: Four adorable grey and white kittens, sitting in a tiny four-wheeled wagon with a long pull stick. Image by u_uf78c121 on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, I am writing from Nairobi Kenya, where I am listening to local leaders and engaging in reflections about global aid and the many challenges around it. It has been nice to physically avoid the dumpster fire that is much of US politics, especially over the past few months as most of our politicians have been offering their full-throated support of Israel’s gen0cide of Palestinians. I’ve also been disappointed with our sector, where, with a few courageous exceptions, we’ve mostly been silent as Israel massacres thousands of children and civilians using our tax dollars.

To be honest, I think I’ve reached a point now where I am starting to lose faith in our unicorn magic, and I’m more bitter and jaded and have been randomly mumbling under my breath about the hopelessness and futility of it all. I’ve become an old man yelling at clouds. Is our sector effective? Surely, with so many kind, compassionate, justice-minded individuals in the trenches, we must be. Everywhere there are signs of good, vital work being done.

So why does it always still feel so Sisyphean? Why do we keep having the same conversations, the same challenges, the same grumblings when we get together and can speak our minds freely?

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Funders: Do a better job of protecting and supporting leaders and organizations who take risks in standing up for justice

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[Image description: People marching on the streets, the ones in front holding Palestine flags and a large sign that says “STOP GENOCIDE, FREE PALESTINE.” Image by Janne Leimola on Unsplash.]

Over the past few months, people and organizations who have been public in supporting a permanent ceasefire and an end to Israel’s US-funded genocide of Palestinians have been experiencing consequences. I know colleagues who have faced harassment and intimidation at work for wearing a keffiyeh. Others whose organizations have been losing funding from existing funders because they put out a statement calling for a ceasefire. A colleague told me a donor who had committed to hosting a fundraising event pulled out last minute because one of the org’s founders and board members have been vocal in condemning Israel’s genocidal actions. I’ve lost a few thousand followers, had keynote invitations rescinded, and have had to deal with online harassment since my post on October 17th.

None of this, of course, is going to stop us. The things we face are nowhere near the horrors Palestinians are experiencing right now, and we all need to be even more forceful in speaking up. Israel is now carpet-bombing Rafah, where Palestinians civilians had been ordered to evacuate to. All of us in the US are funding it, as our elected officials get ready to approve sending more than $17B dollars to Israel to continue its genocide of Palestinians. It should horrify all of us in this sector that we could solve homelessness and have universal healthcare and education, but instead, our tax dollars are being used to massacre children and civilians in Palestine every day.

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