A blog by any other name.

It recently occurred to me that "Deal With It" would make an even better name for my blog than "Nonprofit Curmudgeon," since the former is turning out to be the underlying theme here.

Most of us have trouble with some area of nonprofit operations. For example, just about anything related to finance or accounting evokes in me a complicated mix of anxiety, irritation, terror, and boredom. I try to compensate for this by being especially nice and respectful to colleagues who are experts in this area. If I calm down and show an interest, they might teach me something I need to know, or even bail me out of trouble.

However, I've run into more than my share of executive directors who do not cope well. They do not just deal with it. Fortunately, I happen to be living in a culture where commodification of concepts is the norm, and it is now possible to purchase a range of products emblazoned with the slogan, "put on your big girl panties and deal with it." Oddly enough, I haven't been able to find this printed on a pair of real underpants, but there are at least a dozen other products, such as tote bags, t-shirts, and key chains available.

I can think of a number of nonprofit professionals who need to put on their big girl panties, and many of them are boys. Perhaps this will turn out to be the season's trendy anonymous gift?

But first, I'd like to edit the slogan a little. Since so many of my frustrations stem from the technophobia of nonprofit executive directors, I'd like it to be, "put on your big girl panties and deal with I.T."

You know what? You don't have to like it.

Feelings seem to be running high about a full-time nonprofit staff member creating a private email distribution list so that he and others in his position can have frank discussions about vendors, products, and services.

Naturally, some vendors don't like this. They have the right to say so, but it's not up to them to refuse (or grant) nonprofit professionals the right to hold in camera conversations.

My only concern about the new "nptechhelp" group is that the individual wisdom of of full-time nonprofit professionals (when making technical decisions) is not always remarkably good. And what about the collective wisdom of full-time nonprofit professionals? Although it's currently fashionsable to praise "the wisdom of crowds," I'd rather bet on Gustave Le Bon's thesis than James Surowieki's.

Nevertheless, those of us who work in the nonprofit sector sometimes need to blow off steam and tell war stories - at a safe distance from the reprisals of vendors, supervisors, funders, and lawyers. Why else would I be publishing this blog anonymously?

What century is this, anyway?

This one comes through the grapevine.

A colleague reports a rant from the executive director of a small nonprofit organization. Something along the lines of...

I should not have to think about databases. This is the 21st century. My staff doesn't need to go to any database trainings. Donors should give us the money to hire an in-house technical person, and that person will handle it all for us.

Wrong. Right. Wrong. Right. Wrong.

1. Sorry, but every executive director needs to make strategic decisions about databases. In order to do this in a non-random fashion, you need to use your #@$&*% brains.


2. Score one for you - you know what time it is.
   


3. This is not unlike saying that your staff doesn't need to know how to use a telephone.
   


4. Yes, you should have have the money to hire an in-house technical person. And can you guess who your organization's chief fundraising officer is?
   


5. See #3. Do you have one person in your nonprofit who picks up the phone and dials every time a staff member needs to make a call?

Yes, this is the 21st century. And there's a reason they call it the information age. When you've finished having your tantrum about what the world owes you and what you shouldn't have to think about, there will still be a gaping hole in your organization. Deal with it.