Lessons for Nonprofitteers from Majora Carter
This is more notes from last weekend’s Craigslist Foundation’s Nonprofit Bootcamp.
Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx, gave the afternoon keynote (I think the afternoon speech of a conference should be called a plenary). She spoke from experience in designing socially and ecologically sustainable projects. I think she covered some good points in her speech, but overall I felt like she was pitching to investors more than having an intimate discussion with peers—the latter being a tone I think Nancy Lublin nailed at last year’s Bootcamp ( audio; my notes). Also, I felt that her points were somewhat antagonistic (though perhaps reasonably so) but left out a sense of reality-check: yeah, you’re pissing off The Man, but does that mean that you’re changing society, or just being a nuisance?
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Take neither a vow of poverty nor stupidity
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Fight for something, not against something.
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Help can come in man forms
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Groundbreaking solutions abhor orthodoxy
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If nobody knows what you are doing, how are people going to care?
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Build on sucess and momentum. Why reinvent the wheel?
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If you feel like you have a target on your head, you are probably doing something right
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Be part of alliances that make sense for your organization
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When the time is right, don’t be afraid to move on
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You will know who your real friends are when you are doing well (I may have written this down wrong)