ROUND EIGHT: Perturbed

An open and off-the-cuff letter to anyone who's "in the know" about the innermost workings of any of the following: 

• One Mind 4 Research 

• The New York Stem Cells Foundation 

• Institue for Community Inclusion 

• The Allen Institute for Brain Science 

• American Brain Coalition 

• Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation 

•  American Association of People with Disabilities

• Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center* 

*  *  *  *  *

Dear Sir or Madam:

Whenever I visit your organization online -- either at your site or on Facebook or Twitter -- a part of me gets perturbed. 

Irked. 

The reason being? 

I'm either a constituent or would-be constituent of yours. And you're not asking me to help. 

You're not: 

• gathering demographic info about me, having me take surveys, funneling me into focus groups, or designing your processes around me; 

• building online platforms that might enable me to help you address your key challenges and opportunities; 

• taking advantage of whatever professional skills I may be able to share (for little or no remuneration) in service to your cause. 

What you are doing, on the other hand, is asking for money. And telling me about your accomplishments. 

Me and at least 14 million others like me.**

What should I make of all this? My getting perturbed -- is this just a me thing or could it be that you:

• have a more inside-out than outside-in perspective, and "being digital" in, say, the Mark McDonald or John Seely Brown sense isn't your m.o.? 

• are already hitting your goals and accomplishing all you want or need to accomplish?

• want to hit home runs and the one- or two-base hits you believe could result from more fully engaging with constituents isn't worth it? 

• see us only as walking wallets? 

• are the expert and you intend to keep doing the same things that got you there? 

• don't possess the know-how you'd need to move your organization in these directions, or the time to learn? 

• are managing under a board of trustees that's asleep at the wheel? 

I hope to find the answers in 2014. The earlier the better. Until then, I'll "make of all this" an opportunity to: 

• keep learning 

• raise more questions like the ones above

• encourage the leaders of our neuro disorders /special needs organizations to think about delivering more value this coming year.  

I want things to go faster. 

I want all us to solve our problems -- pronto. But by the same token I'm with Dan Pallotta when he says:

Our problems are massive in scale. Our organizations are tiny up against them. And we have a belief system that keeps them tiny.

He has his own interesting ideas about how nonprofits might scale up and become less tiny. 

What's my answer-in-the-making?

I happen to believe that there's a lot of latent talent, creativity, and energy out there, i.e., brainpower, that our organizations could and should put to productive use to amplify their impact. Marketers of basketball shoes, online booksellers and reality TV shows do it. Shouldn't our community be able to do the same?

So, specifically to the leaders of the above mentioned orgs: 

I hope you'll be mindful of the fact that you /we need to do more, and be open to the possibility that you /we may actually be able to deliver it. I challenge you to look at your own management-belief systems. These are management challenges I'm talking about. These are management answers I'm alluding to.

*  *  *  *  *

*The list could go on and on.

**According to Children's Neurobiological Solutions Foundation, there are "more than 14 million children living in the US with one of more than 600 different neurological conditions."