It's Complicated.

I could spend all my time writing the perfect grant - crafting each word as though there would never be an opportunity for revision. I could do that, but it would be a very poor use of time.

So much of this work is about building relationships. Simply having conversations to see where they lead. The last few weeks have shown that to be true. We regularly call it networking, but networking has a negative connotation in my mind - it implies that we're all simply out to find people that can help us. When you network, you might get an introduction. When you build relationships, you gain advocates.

In recent weeks, we've seen true advocacy. And, as I reflect on how we got to this place, I see that those relationships were built in three ways.

Our Board: When considering nonprofit work, there's often talk about what the Board of Directors should do. Recently, I believe my board has gone beyond what I expected of them. Our board members have actively given their resources, and they have actively pursued discussions with others about doing the same. Their work played a significant role in our recent fundraising successes. As we prepare to submit proposals to The Gannett Foundation and The Replogle Foundation, our board members have used their contacts to ensure that these local foundations are already familiar with our work.

Our Supporters: Those that have supported our work have also gone to bat for us in recent weeks. Previously, I've mentioned Josh Friedman's work in raising $800 through Akin Gump's Jeans Day. Additionally, Dianne Samuelson, a graduate school classmate of mine, made the introduction (and the sell!) that led to a recent $10,000 donation from ARPC. Lastly, it was a Reach supporter, Francine Serafin, that encouraged Manfred Macx to support Reach, Inc. through their site launch.

Our Partners: The type of advocacy that excites me the most occurs when another justice-seeking organization states their belief in your work. We were recently invited to submit a grant proposal to The New York Avenue Foundation. We received this invitation solely because Free Minds Book Club thought highly enough of us to use their relationship with the foundation to provide a recommendation.

I remain Reach's only employee, but I certainly no longer work alone.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Learning

As I sat in Gutman Library at Harvard's Graduate School of Education on Friday, I took the time to reflect on what I had learned during my year (2008-2009) as a HGSE student. Above all, I was hit with the realization that it is incredibly difficult to actually apply the lessons learned in lectures and discussion groups. How often do I actually have time to think about the three concepts listed in this entry's title - and, are they even distinct concepts? Considering the last year of work, I discovered two themes that emerge from the most difficult challenges of Reach's first year.

First, I discovered how much I consider learning to be part of leadership and entrepreneurship - and organizational management. Speaking with Monica Higgins, a favorite HGSE professor (whose course shares the title of this entry), I tried to explain the most intense pressure I experience when speaking with people about Reach. Mostly, that pressure centers on the idea that we should already have it figured out. The goal, in my mind, is to create an organization that operates effectively, measures outcomes, reflects on impact, and makes improvements that build on new knowledge. Speaking as though I should have a perfect program model before launch assumes that organizations are stagnant and rigid. The goal is to create an organization that learns and grows, not one that assumes to be perfect at launch.

Second, and closely connected to the first theme, is the idea of depersonalization of work (a topic covered more closely in Richard Elmore's class). Discussions about reform efforts often closely resemble investigative interviews - poking holes and identifying weaknesses. It is easy for me to assume that I am doing something wrong when I find myself unable to answer a question. Depersonalizing the work forces us to consider that Reach (the organization) being unprepared to answer a question does not mean that I (the individual) am unprepared for the discussion. There are things we don't know now - so much learning occurs in the actual implementation of ideas. It's our ability to learn and adjust that will predict our future success. However, it is exceedingly difficult to avoid feeling like a student staring at an empty pop quiz about an unread chapter. Reach's growth as an organization now exists as an entity larger than me - there are things I can not know right now.

Reform efforts are not finished products, especially before they are existing products. I will only be successful in leading this entrepreneurial endeavor if I never stop learning - to do so, one need not know all the answers.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

This Week

Monday: Karin Johanson, a member of our board, called to inform me that she had secured commitments totaling $12,500.

Tuesday: At a business dinner, I secured a $10,000 gift from ARPC.

Wednesday: We learned that Jeans Day at Akin Gump raised $800 for Reach. We also secured a future $500 commitment from Venture II. Finally, Reach supporter Francine Serafin helped us create a corporate partnership with soon-to-launch e-book publisher, Manfred Macx.

Thursday: We secured our first car donation. Jack Werner will be donating his car, through which we hope to gain $5,000 - $7,000.

Friday: Tomorrow, I will be up before dawn to travel up to Boston to observe a summer reading program that uses high school interns. In the afternoon, I will be meeting with some of my former Harvard Ed School professors.

What a week!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Keeping The Faith.

Social entrepreneurship is often a lonely endeavor. For many months, I've spent time trying to inspire confidence in Reach's unique program model. Regardless of who I'm speaking with, I do my best to give a complete and accurate representation of our plans. In such a connected world, you never know when these conversations may lead to material or financial support. Basically, every time I'm given the opportunity to tell someone about Reach, I act as though the person has $10,000 in his or her back pocket or has some specific skills that could greatly benefit the organization.

My first social work supervisor always used to tell me that life comes in waves. You weather the tough times knowing that good times will come. Last week, it was getting tough to weather the storms. It had been so long since we had received any significant financial support, and I was starting to worry that we might not be able to raise the money necessary for program launch. For the first time, I was legitimately considering the possibility of failure. This week, a positive wave came through - the result of so many months of hard work done by so many Reach supporters.

• Through Josh Friedman's advocacy, Reach became the beneficiary of "Jeans Day" at Akin Gump's DC office on Friday. Any employee of the firm could pay $5 for the right to wear jeans to work. All proceeds will benefit Reach. The MoFo Foundation is also considering supporting Reach's work, due in large part to more of Josh's advocacy.
• Two Reach supporters, Brian Hecker and Katie Franklin, encouraged friends to support Reach's work at private events over the weekend. Through creativity and advocacy, these individuals multiplied the financial support they could have provided as individuals.
• Today, I received a phone call from a member of Reach's Board of Directors informing me that she had secured two pledges worth a combined $12,500 in support for our upcoming pilot program.

This win streak may continue. Tomorrow morning, I have a meeting with Deals for Deeds to discuss ways that we can maximize the potential funds created through next month's partnership (see July 12th's blog post). Tomorrow evening, I have a dinner to discuss our plans with a potential donor. I will go into tomorrow's meetings knowing that so many of Reach's supporters are confident in our ability to do good work for DC's kids. The waves will come, but we will succeed.

Thank you for all that you do. I look forward to sharing further good news as we build on this week's momentum.

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Mark

Stay Tuned...

I will be traveling through Sunday evening. The blog will return on Monday, July 19th.

Thanks for checking in!

Mark

Deals for Deeds

Reach got some great news today. We've been selected to be one of three featured organizations on Deals for Deeds for the month of August!

While many of you out there may have heard of Groupon or LivingSocial, Deals for Deeds offers a similar model with a twist. Like these other websites, Deals for Deeds offers great discounts at local businesses; however, they also contribute a portion of the purchase to local nonprofit entities. Reach's selection allows you to take advantage of great deals while supporting our work. Additionally, many new supporters will learn about our work through this unique website.

Beyond checking out the daily deals during the month of August (they often last for 6 months, so even frequent visitors should check out the bargains!), you can help in another way. The minds beyond Deals for Deeds provide nonprofits with incentives for recruiting participating businesses. If you know of any owners or managers at local businesses that might be interested in supporting local nonprofits while recruiting new customers, please let us know so we can tell them about this exciting opportunity.

We'll be sure to remind you again at the beginning of August!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

To DC, With Love

Last week, I told everyone that Reach had been selected to participate in an innovative street festival: To DC, With Love. Tickets are now on sale, so if you're interested in learning about the DC nonprofit community (while enjoying food, drink, and fun), then come join us for this exciting event at Howard University! And, of course, when you buy your ticket, select Reach so that we will get a portion of the ticket sale.

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. We'd love to have lots of people come meet us on July 31st!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Competition: The Wrong Word.

I'm often asked about which organizations will be our greatest competitors. The base assumption - one I don't assume to be true - is that there is a finite amount of money to be given to nonprofit organizations. This assumption sets up a spirit of competition between organizations, like animals in the wild seeking the same prey. Through the perpetuation of this mindset, nonprofits miss the opportunity to support new entities doing similar, but slightly different, work.

I was once told that the finite resource is great ideas, not money. For this reason, I generally respond to the competition question in the following manner: There are many organizations that successfully use a similar model, but we are taking the next step by engaging disconnected students instead of working with those that are already highly motivated. Two such programs - Heads Up (local) and Breakthrough Collaborative (national) - have developed strong reputations. Given that they use highly motivated high school and college students as teachers, Reach brings a new dimension to the world of cross-age tutoring. Each organization can succeed without negatively impacting the others.

Intelligent funders often hope to develop strong portfolios. It is rarely desirable to fund a single strong organization in a program area. Cross-age tutoring can create positive outcomes for both highly motivated youth and those that have previously experienced failure. I don't consider Heads Up and Breakthrough Collaborative competitors. Rather, these organizations serve as support for Reach's model - they are similar programs that have proven effective for all participants. At Reach, we are simply tweeking a known model to the benefit of a different student population.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

This Is What We Get To Do.

Atul Gawande recently delivered the commencement address at Stanford University's School of Medicine. Many of you will notice that this is not the first time that I use talk of medicine to discuss education - the parallels are striking.

Two sections, in particular, stick out.

Gawande speaks about the need to develop an effective system rather than simply developing effective components of a system. We all can understand that having a great Neurologist isn't that helpful when you have a heart attack. However, we don't often recognize the corollary in education: having wonderful early intervention programs is great, unless you're a struggling high school student - in that case, it doesn't much matter. Geoffrey Canada is the man best known for trying to develop an effective system - cradle to college, as he calls it - but much more needs to be done. We need to think about the entirety of the system. Gawande offers this example:

"[There's a] famous thought experiment in which an attempt is made to build the world’s greatest car by assembling the world’s greatest car parts. We connect the engine of a Ferrari, the brakes of a Porsche, the suspension of a BMW, the body of a Volvo: What we get, of course, is nothing close to a great car; we get a pile of very expensive junk.”

The work ahead of us will be very difficult, and we will be forced to think creatively in order to effectively harness our constantly evolving knowledge. To conclude, we return again to Gawande:

"This will take science. It will take art. It will take innovation. It will take ambition. And it will take humility. But the fantastic thing is: This is what you get to do."

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark