This year has been a roller coaster ride with the Presidential election, bad news of the economy, and more bad news about the economy.  As of yesterday, it became official that the United States economy is in a full blown recession, and this is not news to those of us who’ve been feeling the cost in our pocketbooks on Main Street.  Even with all of this doom and gloom in these hard economic times, I do see a silver lining here for nonprofits.  This is the time, more so than ever, that nonprofits and the leaders of those nonprofits need to make a case to society about the nonprofit’s role in keeping our community alive, vibrant and healthy.  Not only do nonprofits need to make a case about the importance of the role of nonprofits in society, but nonprofits need to come together and figure out how they are going to work together across activity areas and geographic areas.  Nonprofits will need to figure out how to work with even less resources to serve more people as communities and familes get impacted by the economy.  Here are a couple of recommendations on how to do this:

• Let’s build partnerships with local government and business leaders to address issues that facing families and communities in need.  Nonprofits can’t do it alone, and neither can local governments and businesses.  Nonprofits will need local government and business leaders to be a partner is helping find solutions to critical issues that face familes and communities.  In the words of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, We all do better, when we all do better. 
• Nonprofits need to be talking to each other and sharing information.  It’s time to put aside our differences in opinion and competition for resources to really talk about how nonprofits can learn and share from each other.  It is a given that the nonprofit sector will be hit really hard by the recession in 2009.  It is up to us to talk to each other and ask questions about streamlining services, sharing costs, and bettering service delivery.  We can not afford to do our work in our own silos and think that we are being effective.

I hope that this inspires you as we look toward this new year of challenges and opportunity.

The much anticipated guidelines for the student loan forgiveness program, College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007,  for people who work in the nonprofit sector for 10 years is now available.  As a current college student, this will help me when I graduate 4 years from now.  This will be a great tool for nonprofits to recruit fresh new talent graduates straight from college.  The caveat is that you have to work for 10 years in the public sector and pay your student loan on time for 10 years before you can submit for the rest of your student loan to be forgiven.  I will be working on making sure that Minnesota colleges and their career service offices are also aware of this information.  Thank you to Stephen Bauer of The Nonprofit Workforce Coalition, American Humanics, National Council of Nonprofits (formerly National Council of Nonprofit Associations), and the many others who worked on getting this legislation passed.

Today has been an amazing day for the first day of the International Leadership Association Conference.  It’s their 10 year anniversary to the day!  I was very fortunate to be able to participate in a pre-conference session to go visit the Getty Museum.  If you have never been to this museum in Los Angeles, make sure you take the time to go visit it.  The views are spectacular and the have some very awesome paintings on display such as: Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and some other very historic 19th and 18th century painters and sculptures.  The Getty Museum is actually a certified Green building.  I even took the picture of the seal so I could show co-workers.  I took some pictures on my camera phone and hope that the quality of the pictures will be good enough so you can also enjoy the classic paintings that I was fortunate to see in person.

Later in the day, the opening session of the conference was interesting.  I didn’t realize that two of the people who were going to be receiving life time achievement awards from the ILA were actually in my pre-conference group.  It’s quite refreshing to be with people who take leadership development, theory, and practice very seriously.  There are mostly academics, some consultants and businesses, and very few nonprofits.  I think this would be the right stage to present MCN philosophy about nonprofit leadership.  I’m really looking forward to making some really get connections and networks from this conference.  Also, a HUGE plus for MCN:  Ron Heifetz will be coming to present on Saturday.  I hope to grab him and have him sign my book as well as to talk to him about a potential speaking opportunity (send me your good karma!!).  Enjoy the pictures!

The main fountain at the Getty Museum.

One of the few Monet’s on display….

Another Monet

The Van Gogh

The view from my room…(I can see the MGM tower because it’s right behind the hotel)

 Watch Carlos explain why it’s so important for citizens from the Westside of St. Paul to vote. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSSD9zQzueI 

I’m at WSCO today doing GOTV (Get Out The Vote).  Here are some pictures of what we’ve been doing during the day. 

Wow! Only one day left until Election Day.  I am going to go vote absentee later this afternoon.  If you don’t know where you should be going to go vote, go check out the MN Secretary of State’s website’s election center: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp?page=4  Also, if you need a ride to the polls, the Minnesota Participation Project is coordinating rides and is providing Election Protection at this phone number:  1-866-OURVOTE (687-8683).  See you at the polls tomorrow! 

There was a great piece about getting out the vote, Hmong style on PRI’s The World.  Tou Saiko Lee, from Delicious Venom was profiled on The World, at around 7:50 p.m. last night.  Tou Saiko uses hip hop music to encourage new and young Hmong voters to go vote on November 4.  I’ve never heard Tou Saiko Lee perform, but I do know he has a great following in the Hmong community, especially in the younger generation.  I’m glad that he’s using his music to bring a message about the Hmong community to the world, as well as using his music to encourage Hmong voters to go vote.  How are you using your talents to inspire others? 

I’m back!  October was a rough month for me.  Three Fridays in a row of big events and this Friday was the first one that I was back in the office.  MCN had a great Annual Conference on October 2 -3 at the St. Paul RiverCentre.  The second Friday consisted of the Strategic Connector Nonprofit Leadership Institute.  The session ended with a difficult and complicated conversation about fundraising, nonprofits, and mission creep.  Even though the day ended in ambiguity, it was a great conversation.  The following Friday was the final session for 2008 Senior Manager cohort.  That day was probably the most intense and emotional day that I’ve experienced in my nonprofit career.  The Senior Managers shared their This I Believe statements to the whole group and reported on their leadership projects.  I am amazed and will continue to be amazed at the breadth and depth of nonprofit leaders that we have here in Minnesota.  I will be submitting many of the This I Believe essays to National Public Radio.  Maybe someday one of our submissions will get read aloud on the radio. 

On another note,  Gran Torino, the much anticipated movie by Clint Eastwood, movie trailer came out today.  This will be the first major motion picture with Hmong
American actors in main roles.  I’m super excited because my aunt (my mom’s younger sister) is in the movie.  The Hmong community will be thrust into the national spotlight with this movie.  We’ll see how the American public welcomes and reacts to this movie in December 2009.

Hello blog-o-sphere!  It’s been awhile but I certainly haven’t forgotten about you.  Summer is over and now it’s time to buckle down and get ready for fall, cooler weather, school starting, and the beginning of conferences galore.  MCN is holding it’s Annual Conference in two days at the RiverCentre in beautiful downtown St. Paul.  The theme this year is “Nonprofits and Government:Partnerships and Policies in a Time of Retrenchment”.  I think this theme is very appropriate with current economic times and impending fiasco in the financial industry.  I think the financial and economic times are going to hurt everyone.  If you’re like me, you’re wondering how this government bailout is going to affect Main Street.  I hope to see many of you in about 48 hours.  If you are not registered, you still have time to register at MCN’s website!

Besides the Annual Conference, I’ll be attending the Center for Integrated Leadership’s Conference on October 5 - 7 at the Humphrey Institute.  Then that following Friday is the Strategic Connector’s session at Northwest Area Foundation.  The Senior Managers will be meeting for their final sesion on October 17 at the McKnight Foundation.  I’m sad that this cohort is done already but I look forward to continued and strong relationships with all of the participants. 

As for the future, I’m working on the 2009 Nonprofit Leadership Institutes and already looking ahead to 2010.  Keep your eyes and ears on the lookout for a new leadership luncheon series that will be part of the Alumni Network for the Nonprofit Leadership Institute participants.  And of course, I haven’t looked so far ahead that I’ve forgotten that there is only 35 days left until November 4.  If you haven’t registered to vote, you can find more information about that at the Minnesota Particpation Project’s website. 

Today is the first day that I get to spend in my new office.  MCN has expanded to the first floor level of our office building.  There are 5 staffers (2 from the MN Budget Project, National Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, and Nonprofit Leadership Program) who are moving downstairs: Steve Francisco, Katherine Blauvelt, Bridgette Rongitsch, Robynne Curlee, and myself.  It will take some time getting adjusted but I was excited to get a bigger and brighter office. 

The beginning of this week was filled with conferences and then going out of town to Duluth, MN to meet with Senior Manager Nonprofit Leadership Institute participants.  I was at the Nonprofit Risk Management Center’s National Conference and was congratulated by a couple of people about getting on some top 50 influential nonprofit leaders list.  I was thinking that Jon Pratt was named on the Nonprofit Times’ Most Influential Nonprofit Leaders Top 50 list but I how did I get put on some top 50 list.  Come to find out that Heather Carpenter from the West Coast created her own Top 50 list of the Next Generation leaders in the nonprofit sector.  I was honored to have been named on that list and to see the list of other young leaders who will have a hand on shaping what the nonprofit sector will look like in the future.