In yesterday’s article, I spent a good but of time ripping up what I thought was an inaccurate comparison between for profit and non profit organization. But there are some rules the for profit industry has to follow that the non profit industry is exempt from; but if managers were required to follow these same rules, nonprofits would be forced to adopt better financial practices and procedures.
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Diminished Philosophy
Andrew Taylor posted a really provocative piece last week about whether or not the nonprofit industry is “overbuilt”.
His piece really got me thinking. Actually, it made me furious at first, but after a few minutes I started into the thinking part. I wasn’t upset with Andrew; I thought he wrote a great piece that should cause any reasonably level headed individual with at least two active brain cells to think about.
Reader Response: Racist Nonsense II
Shortly after publishing the last Reader Response to this article, I received an email from Jerome Harris, a 50-something professional jazz musician: black American, native Brooklynite, working-class background/Ivy League grad/middle-class income, omnivorous listener. He wrote in to comment about some passages in that article as well as the ideas from the original piece.
(Really) Long Term Planning Part 2
To continue where things left off from yesterday, we’re going to examine an imaginary historical scenario and determine whether or not it might supply some possible answers to a variety of long term problems facing the industry today. The BIG Endowment It is reasonable to say that American orchestras can look at their cousins across Europe, Canada, and Australia and see that at least half of their budgets are subsidized by …
(Really) Long Term Planning
Undergoing long term planning sessions are all the rage today with orchestra managers. Attempts to go beyond creating three to six year plans are becoming more common. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra even decided to create a 10-30 year plan complete with their own unique “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals” (go to page 10 of the document). But what about really long term planning, say 50-100 years form now, is it worthwhile …