seinfeld, silence of the lambs and some new thinking about nonprofit measurement

Note:  I've included this post here and in Nonprofit Now Today! as I typically put the longer posts here - just want to be sure you get to read this wherever you end up on the site

There are no small parts, only small actors....
-Constantin Stanislavski

I started my day by learning that this quote, which I had identified with an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Burning", originated with Constantin Stanislavski, a prominent Russian theater practitioner.  I had actually been mistaken about the quote; in the episode George riffs on this and says "I guess there are no small diseases, only small actors".    He's referring to Kramer and his buddy making some extra money acting out diseases for medical students at a local university.  I guess this gives you a sense of where my cultural references come from - I need to do some work on that.

So, what in the world does the above have to do with nonprofits or my coaching work?? Actually quite a bit....

I had been speaking with a nonprofit yesterday that's been around for nearly three decades.  They do groundbreaking preventative work on a health issue for which there is no cure.  They've raised anywhere between $500,000 and nearly $1 million annually.   And yet during our introductory conversation, the individual I was speaking with noted that "We're just a small nonprofit."  

Beyond the fact that size in general is always a relative, I'd like to suggest new thinking around this idea, particularly for nonprofits.  And the reason it's relevant to the quote above?  Small is a state of mind.  Small is a choice you make.  To go back to our acting connection, the literal meaning of this (as I see it) is that an actor who chooses to do so, can take a small part and make it big.    One great example (and more fun trivia): Anthony Hopkins only appeared in Silence of the Lambs for sixteen minutes out of a run time of two hours and eighteen minutes - he was on there for just 12% of the movie...Talk about an actor taking a small part (in terms of screen time) and making it big! 

So, back to nonprofits.  I'd suggest that nonprofit organizations start to look at and in fact, measure themselves in new ways.  And even more so, move away from labels like Big and Small that diminish (both internally and externally) the value they bring to their communities and the world.  Here's a start:

• Measure yourself by vision and creativity:  Is your organization developing new solutions to problems?  Are you being creative in your thinking.  Sad to say, many of the so-called "Big Charities" got so caught up in maintaining their existence, structure and processes that all the genius of new approaches, creativity and drive are sucked out in their need to maintain their reason for existence.  
• Measure yourself by connection:  Is your nonprofit operating in a vacuum or creating alliances, coalitions and bringing other organizations in around solving related challenges.  While yes, there is competition for money (I'm realistic), there are partnerships and opportunities to combine forces which can equate to impact and funding.  Really...
• Measure yourself by impact on your cause:  And the true bottom line...If you're an organization dedicated to working on a particular problem in a particular community, how effective have you been?  Whether your focus is a block, a business improvement district, a state or the nation, how has your work impacted those you want it to?  Raising lots of money but being ineffective doesn't make you big - it just means you raised a lot of money.  Raising the right amount of money needed to create the result you want means you're doing what you set out to do.

I hope you were at least mildly amused by the pop references - I think a little lighter thinking serves as well when we're all amped up about well, you know that thing that happens in a few days.   In the meantime,  I hope next time you're thinking about a nonprofit, forget about size and consider measuring them in some of the ways above.  ​