Juggling, Balancing, and walking the tightrope

Considering what you have read so far, as well as your own experiences in nonprofits, what organizational and operational challenges would you anticipate and why? Conversely, what organizational and operational opportunities might you anticipate, especially vis-à-vis the public and market sectors?

So much of the effect of the organizational and operational challenges that could be anticipated as affecting me in a nonprofit depend upon my position within the organization. For instance, I already know that as Executive Director, I would be very dependent on the relationship of myself with the Board of Directors and staff in a team oriented relationship. I would be concerned in regard to both internal and external factors related to negotiating common hurdles such as organizational impressions, economics, etc. However, I would also be concerned that we are doing our best job in regard to using best practice methods in all that we do. The problem is that some of the best practice method is so theoretical in nature and some is in fact contradictory.

I reflect upon the readings from Frumkin, and chapter 6 in particular, and think "Yeah right, like how am I going to balance all 4 dimensions of the sector (ie instrumental verses expressive and demand verses supply) within one organization whose mission and purpose may be more in line with 1 or 2 of these dimensions, but not all 4.

In such a position, I would want to be prepped with the best tools possible, including nonprofit research, a co-director to help handle some of the aspects of the organization (for example - the dynamic duo of an Executive Director supplemented by a internal staff/administrative director - sometimes called a Deputy Director), and staff who are professional in nature but go about that professionalism in such a way that each and every client, no matter their diverse backgrounds are high priority.

Depending upon the sector my organization is in, I would be exposed to varying degrees of public and market sector opportunities. For instance, if I am running a LGBT Health Clinic in downtown Metroplex, there will be public opportunities which will be for the taking. And yet, those grant streams will come with costs that may detract from our ability to serve clients. For instance, how can we compassionately serve a transgender man (female bodied person living socially as a man) who needs an insurance negotiated hysterectomy to bring his body in alliance with soul without 1) flying in the face of any sort of arbitrary statistical grant measure that overly narrowly define sex/gender. 2) Protecting his identity 3) Preserving our mission which may be focused on the highest quality, one stop shopping of care - when that job is going to require referral to an outside agency that is going to need to be educated in and of itself.

Similarly, there may be marketing schemes such as logo merchandise sales that our patrons would like to support, but carry administrative overhead that may detract from doing the work of health care and insurance negotiation.

And, how do we negotiate care for the client when insurance code is already stacked against us in regard to providing life sustaining care to transgender people or that believes that gay men are at a higher risk for certain conditions (despite academic research which might say otherwise).

It is a daunting process to manage a nonprofit focusing on a disenfranchised population alone - and in empowering that population through advocacy and smart negotiation with "powers" such as insurance, government, etc. Add on top of that the expectations of "Best Practice Methods" that want us to strike some theoretical balance of operations while being pulled in multiple directions just to secure our funding.

It makes me wonder why I want to be in nonprofits.

Oh yeah, I am really passionate and feel a calling to work with LGBT people to make life better one person at a time. I just hope I am compensated to a degree that I can go home and "detox" from a day filled with juggling and balancing. Moreso, I hope that I would be on a team which would enable me to do that.