THE CITIZEN BLOG
THE CITIZEN BLOG
3 Lessons Learned from Nonprofit Fails
As a nonprofit and community leader, I’m not supposed to admit when I fail. It’s my job to share stories of success, so that you become inspired by our work and continue to support our efforts, right? But let’s be honest. The truth is, nonprofit leaders (I more than most) fail all the time. Grant requests are denied; evaluation reports show poor results; team diversity doesn’t reflect the community we serve; meetings go sideways. And, that’s just the start.
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
There’s nothing quite like a healthy dose of reality every now and again. Just weeks after Hands On Atlanta received the biggest gift in our 30 history, I was quickly dealt a KO punch that still stings to this day.
All was good. And honestly, I was riding that high of an all-time win, so I decided to double down by scheduling a meeting with one of the most influential foundations in Atlanta. I walked into the pitch overconfident and admittedly, ill-prepared. After a pretty brutal conversation, I walked out with a “No” for the record books and big dent in my ego. They were blunt, honest and to the point…“We don’t believe in your strategy and aren’t interested in funding your work.” Not to humblebrag or anything, but this was my biggest fail as CEO of Hands On Atlanta to date. Go me.
So, why am I telling you about my big fail? As a nonprofit and community leader, I’m not supposed to admit when I fail. It’s my job to share stories of success, so that you become inspired by our work and continue to support our efforts, right? But let’s be honest. The truth is, nonprofit leaders (I more than most) fail all the time. Grant requests are denied; evaluation reports show poor results; team diversity doesn’t reflect the community we serve; meetings go sideways. And, that’s just the start.
We don’t ever talk about failure. But I think we should.
I’m a firm believer that failure is our best teacher. That’s why I founded FuckUp Nights Atlanta, an event where we ask leaders from all sectors to do the bold and brave thing, and talk about their biggest failure. If we’re going to move the needle on some of Atlanta’s most intractable problems, we have to share our failures. More importantly, we have to learn from them.
My experience coaching leaders through their FuckUp Nights talk, and as CEO of a lean nonprofit has taught me 3 things about failure:
First, things are often more complex than they appear - Be wary of leaders who throw stones. I have learned the hard way that leading is… well, it’s hard. Start at a place of humility.
Second, be careful of hidden assumptions. Most failures happen because we bring bias and assumptions into our work, which often undermine our best intentions.
Third, trust and communication are paramount. My favorite quote is from Mike Tyson (yes…that Mike Tyson) who said it best, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” The question isn’t “if” things will go sideways, it is just a matter of “when”. And when they do, your ability to pivot and preserver has everything to do with trust and communication.
I could go on to share stories and examples about volunteer projects that have gone off the rails, fundraising events that didn’t raise any money, or fails (large and small) in just about every aspect of our work to make Atlanta the most civically engaged and equitable community in the world. The truth is, I’d love to learn from your fails. So, take a deep breath and get ready. Add your biggest failure and what you learned from it in the comments below.
Oh, and before I forget, if you’re in Atlanta and want to hear more stories of failure, join the next F*ckUp Nights Atlanta event on March 19th. You’ll hear from an entrepreneur turned community leader, a CEO with a side hustle as a UGA adjunct professor, an Airforce veteran running a consulting firm, and a chief marketer with a passion for people.
This post was inspired by a talk I gave at Emory University for a Philanthropy Labs course led by Brian Goebel and Wes Longhofer. Students in their class are given the opportunity to invest $50K in the Atlanta community over the course of a semester.
Hot Projects: Week of March 2
Check out this week’s Hot Projects that include awesome volunteer opportunities with Kashi Atlanta, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Your Community Food Pantry and more!
DISCOVERY PROGRAM @ SCOTT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Saturday, March 7 From 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (NW Atlanta)
The Hands On Atlanta Discovery program is a volunteer-led Saturday tutoring and enrichment program. The program reinforces weekday learning through academic assistance, educational games, service-learning projects, and other enrichment activities. Our goal is to have a one-on-one volunteer to student ratio, allowing for individualized attention and the building of relationships between students and volunteers.
YCFP - MOBILE FOOD PANTRY (FA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH LOCATION)
Friday, March 13 From 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM (Lithonia)
Your Community Food Pantry (YCFP) mission is to eliminate hunger and to improve the overall sustainability of communities. Volunteers are needed for the following positions: Food Pantry Table Distributor, Food Pantry Product Handler, Food Pantry Traffic Manager, and Client Assistant, etc.
TEAMWORKS! KICKOFF
Saturday, March 14 From 9:45 AM - 12:00 PM (NW Atlanta)
Hands On Atlanta TeamWorks! is a program that betters metro-Atlanta through meaningful service projects. Kick-off is the first meeting of every round. It is an orientation - a chance for volunteers to meet, form teams, and learn about the projects planned for that round. We are switching up this round and adding a mini-service project that will benefit one of our nonprofit partners.
WEST ATLANTA WATERSHED ALLIANCE 2ND SERVICE SATURDAYS
Saturday, March 14 From 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM (N Atlanta)
This program facilitated by the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance provides the opportunity for youth 10 years and older to participate in meaningful activities encouraging conservation, stewardship, and experiential learning on the second Saturday of every month. Volunteer tasks are: Trail building and maintenance, Invasive Plant Eradication, Habitat Restoration and other activities needed to manage the facility and grounds of this unique urban resource!
KASHI ATLANTA KIDS ART PROGRAM AT EGLESTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
Sunday, March 15 From 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Druid Hills)
Share your art with a child! Kashi Atlanta educates and provides relief to all members of the community based on the yogic principles of health and healing, meditation and inner growth, and compassion and community service. Volunteers are needed to assist hospitalized children as they create arts & crafts projects.
Our 2020/21 AmeriCorps applications are now live! Learn more about what you'll do, what you'll get, why students and nonprofits across metro Atlanta need you, and how to apply for this meaningful year of service!
Look Who’s Talking - Talk With Me Baby @ Delta
Across Georgia, third grade reading scores have been consistently low. In fact, 58% percent of students are not reading at grade level. Learn about how Hands On Atlanta and our community partners are working together to ensure a bright future for all the children living in metro Atlanta.
Across Georgia, third grade reading scores have been consistently low. In fact, 58% percent of students are not reading at grade level. This is just one of the many alarming challenges students face across metro Atlanta.
At Hands On Atlanta, we’re focused on solving this public health crisis through our impact programs and strategic partnerships. A prime example of both, is the roll out of our Talk With Me Baby @ Work program. Since April 2018, we’ve been spreading the importance of language-rich interactions between parents or caregivers and their children. This work directly supports the research that indicates the number of loving words a baby hears in the first 3 years can make a huge difference.
The hope is that putting more of an emphasis on the first few years of life will improve kindergarten readiness, third grade reading scores, and life trajectory. Hands On Atlanta offers this program to companies and businesses as a free lunch and learn series as a way for organizations to support their working families. The Talk With Me Baby @ Work program consists of three, one-hour sessions:
Session One: Responsive Interactions, Brain Development and Developmental Milestones
Session Two: Becoming your child’s conversational partner, Serve & Return, Parentese, and Tier 1 & Tier 2 Words
Session Three: Interactive Storybook Reading
Delta and Talk With Me Baby @ Work
One of our early adopters and biggest supporters of our Talk With Me Baby @ Work program has been Delta Air Lines. Their passion to provide their staff the opportunity for stronger family dynamics and literacy nutrition led to a full-time employee volunteer facilitator, Kamaria Morgan, to lead the 3 Talk With Me Baby @ Work sessions.
““I thought that this was an excellent opportunity to incorporate this literacy program here at Delta because even as we were going through the sessions, I felt like I messed up on a couple of things. I wish I had this program when I was raising my children, and at Delta, this literacy nutrition program is very beneficial to all parents who attend.”
The program and trainings were led by our Family Literacy Programs Manager, Amanda Bisgaard, and the Delta facilitator was given all the resources for success. Resources include easy and innovative ways parents and caretakers can help end the word gap. And you guessed it, there’s even an app for that!
Children will now be prepared to start school, parents have direct access to the knowledge needed and the resources readily available, and the Working Families Resource Group reinforces their commitment to their members and extended families. It’s a win-win for the parents at Delta.
““The culture here at Delta, we’re all one family, always helping each other out, which is one of the many purposes of the Working Families Business Resource Group. We try to bring in those additional resources that employees may not have access to or aren’t aware of. We do this to help the parents and families faced with different dynamics in their lives, like raising young children and taking care of older parents or it’s a single mom needing resources or a family with a recent diagnosis of autism or cancer in their family. We bring in those additional resources for them.””
The “train the trainer” model is working, and not only at Delta, but at companies and organizations across metro Atlanta. The program is something parents and caregivers want, and with Hands On Atlanta offering this as a free service, there’s nothing to lose for companies!
Ready to bring Talk With Me Baby @ Work to your company or organization? Reach out to Amanda (contact details below) or click here for more information on how to get started.
To learn more about bringing TWMB@W to your office or organization, reach out to:
Amanda Bisgaard, Family Literacy Programs Manager
p: 404.979.2800 e: abisgaard@handsonatlanta.org
Hot Projects: Week of February 24
Check out this week’s Hot Projects that include awesome volunteer opportunities with Livable Buckhead, InCommunity, Breakthrough Atlanta and more!
2020 U.S OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS CHEER ZONE
Friday, February 29 From 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM (NW Atlanta)
ATLANTA, let’s get HYPED! The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials will be held in Atlanta and thanks to our pals at the Atlanta Track Club, Livable Buckhead has been selected to host an Official Cheer Station! Don’t miss your chance to see Olympic-level competition on the streets of Atlanta as the greatest distance runners in the country vie for spots on the Tokyo Team. Livable Buckhead will need a host of volunteers to cheer on the runners in the country during the marathon trials!
INCOMMUNITY DAY PROGRAM BEAUTIFICATION
Saturday, February 29 From 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM (Marietta)
InCommunity partners to enrich and sustain the lives of individuals who have developmental disabilities, their families, and their communities. Volunteers help us accomplish the tasks our staff cannot carry out and help connect our individuals with the greater community. Volunteers will be painting and creating an indoor garden that the individuals at the day program can use for horticultural therapy.
DISCOVERY PROGRAM @ CLAY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Saturday, February 29 From 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Mableton)
The Hands On Atlanta Discovery program is a volunteer-led Saturday tutoring and enrichment program. The program reinforces weekday learning through academic assistance, educational games, field trips, service-learning projects, and other enrichment activities. Students are engaged in a variety of subjects depending on the needs of their particular schools. Our goal is to have a one-on-one volunteer to student ratio, allowing for individualized attention and the building of relationships between students and volunteers.
BREAKTHROUGH ATLANTA SUPER SATURDAYS VOLUNTEERS
Saturday, February 29 From 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM (N Atlanta)
Breakthrough Atlanta equips aspiring, economically-disadvantaged youth to become the first in their families to attend and graduate college. Our programs include a six-week summer school, as well as Saturday sessions throughout each school year that increase students' academic, social and college-readiness knowledge and skills. Caring and consistent volunteers are needed to provide group mentoring and academic enrichment to seventh through ninth grade students.
TEAMWORKS! KICKOFF
Saturday, March 14 From 9:45 AM - 12:00 PM (NW Atlanta)
Hands On Atlanta TeamWorks! is a program that betters metro-Atlanta through meaningful service projects. Kick-off is the first meeting of every round. It is an orientation - a chance for volunteers to meet, form teams, and learn about the projects planned for that round. We are switching up this round and adding a mini-service project that will benefit one of our nonprofit partners.
Hot Projects: Week of February 17
Check out this week’s Hot Projects that include awesome volunteer opportunities with EcoAddendum, Partners in Action for Healthy Living, Blue Heron Nature Preserve and more!
ATLANTA SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2020
Friday, February 21 Multiple Events (NW Atlanta)
Join the Curious Corp, the volunteer team that makes the annual Atlanta Science Festival possible! From March 6-21st, 50,000 children and adults will celebrate local science and technology at more than 100 events throughout metro Atlanta. Volunteers are needed for every event and in the weeks leading up to the Atlanta Science Festival. We will need greeters, tweeters, ushers, wayfinders, schleppers, lifters, marketers, and more.
LIONEL HAMPTON BEECHER HILLS STEWARDSHIP WALK/INVASIVE PLANT REMOVAL
Sunday, February 23 From 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (W Atlanta)
Eco-A, Co-Host James Tyler, and Friends of Lionel Hampton Beecher Hills Nature Preserve invites you to learn more about one of Atlanta's largest parks and help with light forest restoration. Volunteers will spend a little time removing a few "upstart" invasive species in a few key locations before they have a chance to expand into an area that is, so far, mostly free of invasive species.
BEAVER-INSPIRED WETLAND RESTORATION VOLUNTEER EVENT
Saturday, February 22 From 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Sandy Springs)
Come join us as we work to restore an important urban wetland for our community using an innovative, natural restoration technique. The project will restore the function of the Mill Creek waterway by reconnecting it to the adjacent floodplain using a technique that mimics beaver dam-building activity. You will be preparing the materials to be used for the project to build the Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs). This involves removing and storing the plant material for later use. We will also be planting willow stakes to help stabilize the creek bank.
PAHL - BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB AT PEACHCREST LEARNING GARDEN WORKDAY
Saturday, February 22 From 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Decatur)
Partners in Action for Healthy Living installed and maintains a learning garden at The Boys and Girls Club at Peachcrest right across the street from Peachcrest Elementary. The garden allows children at the club to learn how to grow food from seed to market and learn leadership skills along the way. We prepare food in their wonderful kitchen and give lessons on nutrition and plant-based food. We will finish the herb garden, remove invasive plants along the border fence, move wood chips, plant additional pollinator plants and weed the beds if necessary.
HIS LOVE EXTENDED - PRAISE BEAUTY SALON VOLUNTEER
Saturday, February 22 From 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM (Decatur)
We encourage and uplift our clients by providing hair services to women, men, and children. The Praise Salon seeks to remove outward physical barriers that limit personal/professional growth and success in employment, continuing education, and securing permanent housing by providing beauty and confidence-building tips to those experiencing financial hardships. Those with skills to serve as stylists, braiders/loc specialists, and shampooers. We also need child care teachers/helpers – and people who can assist with administrative tasks. Orientation is provided, and shampoo and stylist training sessions are offered.
Hot Projects: Week of February 10
Check out this week’s Hot Projects that include awesome volunteer opportunities with Southwest Ecumenical Emergency Assistance Center, Partners in Action for Healthy Living, Action Ministries and more!
CLIENT MEAL PACKING
Wednesday, February 12 From 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (NW Atlanta)
At Open Hand, people from all walks of life come together to touch the lives of thousands of others who are not as fortunate. The Morning Meal Packing event involves portioning food into individual containers and snack bags on the packing assembly line. With over 5,000 meals to package every day, your help is essential. This is a great project for individuals and families, and a great team-building exercise for school, business, and church groups!
SWEEAC JOSHUA’S MARKETPLACE
Thursday, February 20 From 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (W Atlanta)
Southwest Ecumenical Emergency Assistance Center (SWEEAC) provides assistance to southwest Atlanta residents in the form of monthly food distribution. SWEEAC serves more than 50,000 families & distributes over 1,000,000 pounds of food to the families in Atlanta. Volunteer tasks include: set up and breakdown of distribution area, unpacking and organizing food to be distributed, bagging or boxing of food for recipients and assist recipients to their vehicle or help them carry food.
BEAVER-INSPIRED WETLAND RESTORATION VOLUNTEER EVENT
Saturday, February 22 From 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Sandy Springs)
Come join us as we work to restore an important urban wetland for our community using an innovative, natural restoration technique. The project will restore the function of the Mill Creek waterway by reconnecting it to the adjacent floodplain using a technique that mimics beaver dam-building activity. You will be preparing the materials to be used for the project to build the Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs). This involves removing and storing the plant material for later use. We will also be planting willow stakes to help stabilize the creek bank.
PAHL - BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB AT PEACHCREST LEARNING GARDEN WORKDAY
Saturday, February 22 From 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Decatur)
Partners in Action for Healthy Living installed and maintains a learning garden at The Boys and Girls Club at Peachcrest right across the street from Peachcrest Elementary. The garden allows children at the club to learn how to grow food from seed to market and learn leadership skills along the way. We prepare food in their wonderful kitchen and give lessons on nutrition and plant-based food. We will finish the herb garden, remove invasive plants along the border fence, move wood chips, plant additional pollinator plants and weed the beds if necessary.
ACTION MINISTRIES FOOD BOX BUILDING
Saturday, February 22 From 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (East Point)
Be a part of ending hunger for families across Georgia! Action Ministries' hunger program supplies over 40,000 food boxes to help thousands of families each year, provides 2,500 kids in Georgia with meal packs that help end hunger over the weekend, and delivers lunch and enrichment activities to over 7,000 kids during extended school breaks and summer! We invite you to join us at our next service event, where we will have fun and make a difference at the same time. Volunteers will assemble flat food boxes, fill food boxes with a pre-determined box menu following overhead instructions and more!
Hot Projects: Week of February 3
Check out this week’s Hot Projects that include awesome volunteer opportunities with Aglanta, Margie’s House, Bridging the Gap Community Outreach and more!
SATURDAY DATA ENTRY (CLIENT INFO/NON-FOOD NEEDS)
Saturday, February 8 From 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (Newnan)
The mission of Bridging the Gap is to provide assistance to hungry, homeless, and hurting people by feeding, serving, and restoring guest. The Data entry volunteer will be responsible for registering clients for a box of food on Saturday mornings. This person answers directly to the Director of Operations. This position allows the BTG staff to be able to assist clients in a timely manner, while giving them greater opportunities to determine the needs of our clients.
MARGIE’S HOUSE INTAKE GIVEAWAY
Saturday, February 15 From 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Fairburn)
Margie’s House mission is to bring food and assistance to the communities around South Fulton. Assistance with serving our clients is needed on Saturday. Client assistance includes being posting in a distribution area to make sure the clients receive the correct items as it appears on their intake form, assisting clients taking items to their form of transportation, and provide directions to clients when needed. Other duties that may be required is taking out trash, set up, break down and clean up before leaving for the evening.
VOLUNTEER WEDNESDAY: URBAN FOOD FOREST AT BROWNS MILL
Wednesday, February 5 From 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM (NW Atlanta)
The Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill team is a member of the AgLanta Grows-A-Lot program. This site will become Atlanta's first Community Urban Food Forest, as well as a new model for a City of Atlanta park. The food forest will produce a wide variety of fresh, flavorful, and healthy nuts, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and mushrooms, which will become available for public consumption. Volunteers will help with building the soil, weeding, planting, watering, harvesting and site beautification projects. Tools will be provided.
YCFP - MOBILE FOOD PANTRY (FIRST AFRICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH LOCATION)
Tuesday, February 11 From 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM (Lithonia)
Your Community Food Pantry's (YCFP) mission is to eliminate hunger, and to improve the overall sustainability of communities. In partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, FACDC has distributed over 2,000,000lbs of food to more than 100,000 persons. Volunteer positions include: Food Pantry Table Distributor, Food Pantry Product Handler, Food Pantry Client In-Take Coordinators, Food Pantry Traffic Manager and Client Assistant.
DISCOVERY PROGRAM @ PARKLANE ELEMENTARY
Saturday, February 8 From 9:45 AM - 12:00 PM (East Point)
Parklane Elementary Discovery is a Saturday morning tutoring program that offers one-on-one and small group enrichment activities for at-risk children. Volunteers lead activities and help with reading and math skills for students in kindergarten through 5th grades. Volunteers who speak Spanish are especially needed.
Starbucks Foundation Service Fellows: A Mission Put Into Action
There is no doubt that hunger and poverty plague all parts of the world, but here at Hands On Atlanta, we make it our mission to mobilize the Atlanta community to tackle our city’s most pressing needs - providing opportunities to help serve the thousands of families who are in need of food and other essential resources. Each year, an estimate of 755,400 (1 in 7) people in Georgia turn to Food Bank partner agencies for food. 1 in 5 kids in Georgia live in food-insecure households. While we can’t solve all of the hunger problems facing our community, thanks to an impactful partnership with the Starbucks Foundation, Points of Light, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank, we’re now able to get more food to those in need.
There is no doubt that hunger and poverty plague all parts of the world, but here at Hands On Atlanta, we make it our mission to mobilize the Atlanta community to tackle our city’s most pressing needs - providing opportunities to help serve the thousands of families who are in need of food and other essential resources. Each year, an estimate of 755,400 (1 in 7) people in Georgia turn to Food Bank partner agencies for food. 1 in 5 kids in Georgia live in food-insecure households. While we can’t solve all of the hunger problems facing our community, thanks to an impactful partnership with the Starbucks Foundation, Points of Light, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank, we’re now able to get more food to those in need.
Towards the end of May 2019, The Starbucks Foundation and Points of Light announced the expansion of the Starbucks Foundation Service Fellow Program, following a successful six-month pilot in 2018. As a result of the good news, we were able to welcome two new members to the Hands On Atlanta team, Shelly Banks and Steen Stuckey in September of 2019!
““I’ve always been interested in community service, and Starbucks continues to create new opportunities to stay within the company and get involved in new ways like this program, and I felt like it was a perfect fit!” ”
Here’s how the program works.
The goal of the Starbucks Foundation Service Fellow Program will do 2 things:
Enable local food pantries to provide more food to those in need.
Provide the Starbucks Foundation Service Fellows a unique opportunity to address a pressing community need.
The Starbucks Foundation Service Fellows work 20 hours in their store, while spending another 20 hours with Hands On Atlanta, helping build volunteer capacity at Atlanta Community Food Bank affiliate food pantries.
Shelly and Steen will provide training and consultation on volunteer management to 8 food pantries around metro Atlanta. Stretching from Lithonia to Newnan, more people will have access to more food, thanks to the help of their work! By helping the food pantries better engage volunteers in serving more food to their clients, our amazing fellows (Steen and Shelly) are tackling one of Starbucks’ global social impact priorities: hunger.
“The ultimate goal, from the Starbucks lens, is that these partners [Starbucks employees] are truly catalytic in their communities and that they inspire more partners to get engaged” ”
Thanks to the program that the Starbucks Foundation and Points of Light have delivered, we can now strengthen our storied partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank by providing customized 1:1 support to their food pantries.
Meet the 2020 Hands On Atlanta Starbucks Fellows
Shelly Banks
“And now I’m doing this service fellowship, so it’s truly a great experience to work for a company that lets me explore so many different possibilities.””
Shelly has been a partner at Starbucks since 2013, and enjoys working for the company because they provide so many different opportunities that she’s been able to be apart of. She went to college through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan program and obtained her degree. Shelly also completed the Coffee Master program, which provided her with a higher level of coffee knowledge and a cool black apron!
Steen Stuckey
“I think one of the best things about working at Starbucks is how much we focus on helping people develop professionally. And I think this is a very, very cool opportunity for that. I hope that more people get to take advantage of it.””
Arkansas native, Steen, moved to Atlanta about 2 ½ years ago with her wife of three years. Since the big move, she has been apart of the Starbucks family. After hearing about the Starbucks Service Fellows Program, she was excited to be apart of the fellowship since it aligned with her idea of a fulfilling life: giving back to the community. In the future, Steen hopes that the program continues to expand so that more opportunities are created for those interested in becoming a service fellow.
Learn more about this unique partnership happening in 20 cities across the country!