Criticizing the critic.

I've been sort of busy since Hurricane Katrina struck, so I really haven't been monitoring the blogworld to see if anyone is commenting on what I write here.

However, today I ran across a blog called To The People, with an article titled "Save My Job!" that was posted in response to something what I wrote here.

Cicero writes:

"Yes, victims of floods and hurricanes shouldn't be helped so that white, upper middle class liberals at nonprofits can keep their jobs. And god damn those selfish Americans that are saving hurricane victims for their own emotional satisfication when they could be saving the spotted owl!"

It's humbling to think that nonprofit professionals have little or no grounds for claiming that they have a clue when it comes to coping with the enormity of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. I've been critical of the nonprofit sector's shortcomings for a while, and I'm not planning to argue that the criticism levelled at me here is entirely misplaced.

At the same time, it's amusing to see that Cicero assumes that I'm white, upper middle class, liberal, and more loyal to my job than to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. (Oh, and male as well. Cicero refers to me as "he.") I may have to revise my self-concept a little.

Did I say "mediocre?" What was I thinking?

Yesterday, I wrote:

"It's not that agencies such as the Red Cross and FEMA are above criticism in the ways that they handle disasters and humanitarian crises - but those clueless idealists should wake up and smell the coffee! It takes years to establish the funding, training, and infrastructure needed to do even a mediocre job."

If the reports I've been hearing and reading are accurate, some agencies that are responsible for responding to the Katrina emergency can't even dream of attaining the relatively high standard implied by the term "mediocre." This tragedy has turned into a scandal and a source of shame.

To do today: 1) Get in canoe. 2) Deliver clue.

This morning I was scanning a new website that was created as a place for bulletins about Hurricane Katrina, and I saw that someone had posted a message along these lines: "Hi from New Orleans! We're creating a new foundation to help victims of Katrina. Here's our phone number, give us a call if you need anything."

I wish that someone would hop into a canoe, and paddle over to these well-meaning but ignorant people, and give them a few clues:

1. New Orleans is under martial law right now. This is not the moment to attempt to incorporate a nonprofit agency, open a bank account, apply to the IRS for tax-exempt status, etc.


2. Not even the American Red Cross, a well-established agency with trained personnel and steady funding, dares to offer a carte blanche such as "give us a call if you need anything" during a major disaster.
   


3. If the reports I read are reliable, two of the many things that most people in New Orleans lack right now are phone service and transportation. They won't be able to call you, and you won't be able to deliver services to them.

It's not that agencies such as the Red Cross and FEMA are above criticism in the ways that they handle disasters and humanitarian crises - but those clueless idealists should wake up and smell the coffee! It takes years to establish the funding, training, and infrastructure needed to do even a mediocre job.

Creating a disaster relief agency actually requires forethought.

I love the smell of crisis in the morning.

I suppose that most of us get drawn into the nonprofit sector because we want to save the world.

Or some corner of the world.

Or at least postpone the end of the world for another week.

Or maybe hold it off for just for today.

Even though saving the world is a very noble goal, does it ever occur to you that you shouldn't try to do it on a crisis-by-crisis basis?

Remember a couple of years ago, when the big buzz words were "strategic planning?" Well, even though strategic planning is so 2002, it's not such a bad idea. Going from crisis to crisis in your nonprofit is not the best way to effect long term change, and it's not the best context for making financial decisions.

If we could all manage to do without the adrenaline rush of coping with an emergency, maybe we'd actually have fewer emergencies.

A tsunami is an emergency. The departure of a key staff member, the breakdown of mission-critical equipment, the shortfall in a fundraising campaign....none of these things is an emergency. These are things that will probably happen at some point in every nonprofit agency. Deal with it.

You know how people sometimes say, "get a life?" Well, I say, "get a contingency plan." Get it long before an alleged crisis occurs, and keep it up to date.