Changemakers are used to hearing about strength-based work, building on the assets of a community, often in circumstances where the community members themselves feel “We have nothing.”
Unfortunately, when we hear those stories, many of us feel, “That can work for them, but we really don’t have anything to build upon.”
We hear this a lot. We hear it from organizations who seek strength from external saviors like major donors and foundations. We hear it from communities where leaders court large corporations from outside their community as their economic development saviors.
This feeling of dependency and fear is even stronger right now. Groups who have relied on funding from the US government, both inside the US and around the world, are scrambling to replace that funding. Other organizations are afraid of economic uncertainty even if their work is not being directly targeted.
In the nonprofit world, weakness is built into the fabric of our budgets. Zero-based budgeting starts each year at zero, requiring that our organizations figure out how to fill that hole. Zero-based budgeting embodies the assumption that WE. HAVE. NOTHING. From there, deficit and scarcity become the way we think about pretty much everything.
Given Catalytic Thinking’s roots in brain science, we know that scarcity can lead us to the most twisted of logic.
In an organization, that can look like this: A recovery organization’s huge annual fundraising event was a Kentucky Derby watch party. Their promotions for the event highlighted “Beer, Wine, and Mint Juleps” as the very first line of their flyers and posters. A drinking event. For a recovery organization.
In a community, we can just look at the many sports arenas that now stand vacant around the world. Once touted as the economic saviors of those communities, those arenas are now massive eyesores that continue to cost their communities thousands of dollars – if not millions of dollars – to maintain every year. (There is actually a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to those shuttered arenas(opens in new tab)!)
That is what scarcity does to our brains. Reason is replaced with desperation. Because we start at zero and have to fill that hole.
But strength builds upon our strengths, not our weaknesses. And Radical Strength begins with recognizing the 4 types of assets and resources that every organization (and every community) has in some form.
Instead of starting each year at zero, that means asking, “What do we have to build upon?” and then leveraging those assets to build strength into our work from the beginning.
That may mean a new way to look at raising money, or it may mean sharing resources that don’t require cash. In all cases, it is a path to building strength into our efforts, while building community along the way.
The 4 types of assets are:
- People assets and resources
- Mission assets and resources
- Stuff assets and resources
- Community assets and resources
People assets are the people you know, and the people those people know. We used to think we were six degrees of separation away from people we want to know. These days, it is more like two or three degrees.
The simple exercise of listing everyone you know often leads to all sorts of ideas about how to build upon that strength. Suddenly you realize the sources you already have for volunteers, possible donors, allies, people who can make connections for you – just by listing all the people you already know. (The Life List Generator(opens in new tab) is a great free tool for this.)
Mission assets are about what you do – the work you do, the lessons you’ve learned, the expertise you’ve gained.
We have seen environmental organizations develop ecotours of their region, building on their knowledge of their unique ecosystem, and charging locals and tourists to come learn with them – increasing revenue while accomplishing their education mission.
We have seen music education groups form ensembles that play at local events, spreading their mission and raising money via fees. We have seen a food bank where, faced with a shortage of tomato sauce during the pandemic, they used their expertise to start canning and selling their own tomato sauce at local supermarkets.
When we think of our missions as an asset to build upon vs. an expense line item, all sorts of possibilities open up!
Stuff assets are literally the stuff you have. Buildings and parking lots and cars and computers.
We’ve seen an after-school program with a whole room-full of computers that are not used until 3pm when the kids arrive, contracting with a seniors group to have their folks use the computers in the morning. We’ve seen housing developments lease out their rooftops for cell towers. And of course buildings with extra space, that have rented out their offices.
And then there are community assets. Those assets are the stuff assets, the people assets, and the mission assets of everybody else in your community.
We’ve seen so many examples of this! Sharing vehicles, office space, and expertise. We’ve seen organizations share their volunteer managers – and their volunteers – when other organizations had a special event.
There is so much we can share with other organizations! This is at the heart of Collective Enoughness, the economic theory that together we have everything we need.
The simple act of identifying all the resources you have to build upon is empowering. Brainstorming ways to leverage those assets is inspiring and energizing. Within moments you will find yourself moving from “We’ve got nothing,” to “We have so much. Where do we start?”
That’s why the final question in the Catalytic Thinking framework(opens in new tab) is simply this:
What strengths do we have to build upon?