East of Congo may have the most non-profits per area in the world at the moment and I don’t care enough to debate or research if that’s the case, but even with such an extreme claim, there are definitely lots of non-profits over there.
Having grown up there, I used to feel shame for the poverty, anger at the government and awe at the wonders of Nature around that area. Nowadays I feel mostly grief and ask God jusqu’a quand?
Living here in Portland, Oregon and working in one of the most populated nonprofits areas, I also work in a nonprofit where I am starting to sense the philosophical principles of the nonprofit world. I will be exploring polyvagal theory, system thinking and popular education principles upcoming blog posts, but for today, I will explore the mystery aspects of nonprofit labor.
Despite the attempts to have metrics and precise outcomes for every nonprofit activity, there are more unknowns than knowns that keep frustrating funders, executives and community members, recipients of the funds. I will leave aside the past or present politics of funds for chronic issues in society for those who breathe the academic musty air.
Mystery feels like a foreign concept to a world inundated with information at their fingertips, and yet the soul’s questions about meaning, connection and nuances are still hidden deep in our bones.
Some questions I still don’t have answers for:
• How are mistakes I have made as a nonprofit executive been useful to the community?
• How are the successes my organization has had been detrimental to the community?
• If the voiceless, invisible, marginalized ones are the priorities, why should my visible, privileged and educated voice speak on their behalf?
• How much humility is enough to labor alongside community members whose socio-economic environments are the products of generational and governmental decisions?
I know I just barely scratched the surface of mystery pain points in the nonprofit industry, but I just wanted to shake a little bit the wild flowers of this nonprofit field.(These sentences are weird and I’m mixing so many metaphors, but it’s late at night so time for my beauty sleep 😊)