Accountability for the Future

At Help 4 NonProfits and the Community-Driven Institute, we view our work as the highest purpose life can hold - doing everything in our power to ensure an amazing future for our children’s grandchildren and beyond.

We therefore hold ourselves accountable for doing whatever we can to bring about that future. And we hold ourselves accountable not only to our clients, and to the communities they serve, but to the generations who come after us.

Creating the Future

We know we are creating the future right now, whether we do so consciously or not.

Future Context for Today’s Actions
The Institute will always be conscious of how today’s decisions may affect the future of the individuals involved, their communities, and our world.

Moving Towards Vision vs. Moving Away From Problems
The Institute’s decisions will aim towards our vision for the future, rather than away from the negative realities of today (problem-solving). We will encourage others (and remind ourselves) to avoid problem-solving approaches. And we will encourage the potential in others (and ourselves) to instead aim our efforts at the vision beyond those symptoms, eliminating that symptom as one among many steps towards building health and strength.

Short Term Results vs. Long Term Impact
At the Institute, the best decisions will favor long term improvement for our communities, over short term expediency for the Institute or our clients.

Asset-Based Approaches

To build something amazing, we must build it upon a strong base. We know that our communities and our organizations have an abundance of gifts, talents and strengths upon which to build the future we envision - resources that may be overlooked in the quest for dollars and high-profile allies.

The Wisdom of Our Clients
At the Institute, we will encourage our clients and program participants to draw on their own wisdom and experience, acknowledging that most often, those community members have the answers inside them, waiting to be tapped.

Seeing All Our Resources and Gifts
The Institute will encourage our clients and program participants to see the abundance of resources they already have at their fingertips, helping them identify ways to build upon that asset base.

More than Money
The Institute will encourage our clients and program participants to think beyond money, as money is just one of many tools our sector uses to accomplish great things.

The Assets of the Sector
In doing our own internal work, the Institute will be mindful to seek the best tool for the circumstances, regardless of whether we have developed those tools ourselves.  We will encourage clients, program participants, and others throughout the sector to use and build upon those existing tools, to expand the strongest asset we can have - the sector’s overall knowledge base.

Interconnected and Interdependent

We know that none of us exists in a vacuum - that individuals, organizations, communities, and countries are all interconnected and interdependent. None of us can create significant impact on our own; our potential is greatest when we work together.

Non-Competitive Approaches
At the Institute, our approaches and actions will discourage competition, as competition precludes working together with those who care about the same things we care about. We will seek to do our own internal work in a way that is as cooperative and open as possible, and we will encourage our clients and the leaders in their communities to do the same.

It’s Not About Us
At the Institute, the best decision will be the decision that provides the best end result for the highest number of our clients, customers and program participants, and the communities they serve. If it is not good for everyone affected, it is not good for the Institute.

"Customer Joy"
Any action taken at the Institute will treat all parties involved with respect, compassion, generosity, humanity, grace... and fun!

Everyone Working Together
The Institute will encourage all strata of the Social Sector to work side by side, to share in each other’s wisdom, and effect greater change. The Institute will further encourage reaching beyond the sector, to ensure the whole community shares ownership of and responsibility for the future we are creating.

Systems vs. Individuals

We believe systems fail before individuals fail, and that blame is often mistakenly aimed at individuals rather than at faulty systems.

Proactive Systems Aimed at Success
At the Institute, our approaches will aim beyond individual people and individual symptoms, identifying the systemic roots of those "problems," and working to change those systems.

Sustainability vs. Fear of Survival
The Institute’s efforts will focus on building sustainability into the Sector’s systems, to prevent the ongoing concern for short term survival that prevents individuals, organizations and communities from focusing on the future they want to create.

Programs with Lasting Impact
Because the purpose of the Institute’s programs is community transformation, each of those programs, regardless of its duration (even a 1-hour keynote address) will be developed to ensure it provides the most long-lasting impact and extended learning as possible.

Always Practical

We know that people become engaged when they believe change is possible, and when they believe their individual actions can indeed bring about that change. We further know that without practical tools for accomplishing those tasks, individuals are likely to downplay their vision for the future as little more than a pipe dream.

Always Practical
As the Institute presents practical approaches for creating the future of our world, we will always be mindful to ensure those approaches can easily be understood and adopted by average community members sitting on average boards. We will further be mindful of developing and presenting approaches that do not require hiring outside consultants to figure out how to implement them.

Go Where the Work is Being Done
For the greatest likelihood of success, every individual in the Social Sector must be aware of his/her potential for creating significant impact. The Institute will therefore make its work as accessible as possible, for as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible.

Always Learning
And finally, because the Social Sector is still young, and the efforts to enhance the sector’s potential are even younger, we will always encourage a culture of ongoing learning and evolution of ideas, for ourselves, for our clients, and for the communities they serve.