Creating Humane Systems in Nonprofit Work
His name is Kyndal Ray Edwards, and he is walking across the U.S. This is not a performative lark. It is his recovery.
His purpose is simple: “To tell everybody that You Matter and We Do Recover!” As he meets people on his journey, he doesn’t ask for money; he asks for a hug or a handshake, or perhaps even to join in song. That most basic of needs — to be human with each other — is at the heart of his recovery.
Kyndal Ray wears a t-shirt with 180 names of people who have died of suicide or overdose. He has overdosed several times himself, has attempted suicide several times as well. And so he has designed dozens of those shirts, each with a different set of 180 names. It is a sobering acknowledgement of our need to be there for each other and importantly, the consequences when we fail to do so.
Studies repeatedly show that connecting with our fellow humans is perhaps the most important pathway out of depression and other mental health issues. That is not surprising, given that connecting is as chemically hard-wired into the reflexive areas of the human brain as fight-flight-flee. It is what makes us involuntarily cry at movies, or feel an almost physical hurt when a loved one is in pain. We are wired to care about and for each other.
And yet, our culture continues to double down on systems that fail us.1
Both nonprofits and businesses are horrible at treating their people humanely. Instead we expect people to bring their A-game to the cause under conditions that are 180° counter to what humans need to survive and thrive.
And all of that stems from a system that values money and stuff over people.
In nonprofits, we may argue that that is not true, that we are all about people. But the reality shows itself in a million ways, from how we treat employees to how we treat recipients of our services to how we treat donors.
Employees:
The list of how we mistreat employees is too often repeated to spend much time on it here. Burnout, turnover, morale, the need for team building. The “nonprofit workforce crisis” we keep hearing about. Doing more with less. One person doing the work of 3 people, but still not getting paid enough for that one person to live their life with confidence. “Human resource” departments whose job is not at all about providing resources for humans, but is instead to protect the organization from those troublesome creatures.
Recipients of Service:
As for recipients of our services, from qualifying systems to protocols for receiving service, those systems are rooted in mistrust. How do we know if you’re really deserving? How do we know you won’t double dip — get food from our food bank and then go to one of our affiliates and get more food? What application process and set of rules will keep you from screwing us? Here are our rules if you fail to show up for your appointment…
Donors:
And yes, it applies to how we treat donors. Treating donors like royalty actually proves the point that money matters more than anything else. Sadly, what we’re actually doing is DE-humanizing, because we only value those people for their money, and they know it. We say we are ‘friend-raising,” but if we treated our real friends the way we treat donors, they wouldn’t be friends for very long. Why? Because we are only nice to donors when a) they are giving us their money, or b) we believe they will give us their money in the near future. Even the term “donor centric” is proof, stating openly that we will center the people who give money over those who do not. This is not a reflection on people who are great at fundraising. It is the reality of a system that values money over people.
We do not choose these situations consciously. They are part of the water we swim in, the air we breathe. That’s what systems are — just the way we do things. Just the way it is.
In nonprofits, “just the way it is” includes failing to budget and fundraise for living wages, educational subsidies, paid-time-off and sick pay, family leave, healthcare benefits, flex-time. And to repeat, living wages. We proclaim, “We are only as strong as our people,” but beyond the words, we don’t do much to support them.
Even worse, we believe we can’t do more.
And that’s where it all starts — our thoughts about what is possible.
We can do better.
We know we can do better, simply because unless something is physically impossible, it is possible. It just takes reprioritizing.
We see so many examples of companies and organizations that do so — some famously (Costco, Patagonia), others simply and quietly. And yet, instead of seeing those organizations as examples of what is possible, we turn them into superheroes. Much as what happens when we diefy people like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, we believe we could never be like them.
But of course we can. If those organizations can create systems that bring out the best in their people, your organization can do it. What it takes is simple.
In every single decision, ask this:
“What would this look like if we prioritized the health and joy and power of our people?
And what would need to be in place for that to happen?”
We can create conditions that bring out the best in each other. Right now in your organization, you can start asking these questions about your volunteers, your employees, your board members, your donors.
What does everyone need to be at their very best?
What needs to be in place for possibility and humanity to prevail over scarcity and fear?
And what systems can we create to uphold that?
It may take reworking your budget. The beauty of the non-profit world is that we do not have to raise prices or sell more widgets in order to raise money. We just need to budget it, talk to our funders, make the case, and make it happen. We can replace “It’s not in the budget” and “We don’t have the money” with putting it in in the budget and getting the money.
From there, it’s up to funders. As you review the budgets organizations send you, you can send those budgets back to the organization, saying, “We will fund you, but only if you pay your people more. You asked for $50,000 and we will give you $75,000, only if that additional $25,000 goes to supporting your people.”
Most importantly, it will take including in the decision-making the very people who will be affected by your decisions. Because the opposite of inclusion is EXclusion. If the rallying cry of the disability rights movement is your guide, your decisions will de facto be more humane: Nothing about us without us.
We humans created these inhumane systems. We humans can change them.
It isn’t hard. It just takes asking and answering different questions, to rewire our thinking. When we do so, we realize this simple truth:
We can absolutely be the humane, equitable world we want to see.
To learn to ask more powerful questions in your own work, subscribe to Creating the Future’s free enewsletter.
Here is just a sampling of studies on the power of connection to assist with depression.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10437064/ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230110103424.htm https://www.mhanational.org/help-others https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/201710/how-helping-others-can-relieve-anxiety-and-depression
And here is a sampling of studies about the rise in depression and suicide.
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/why-are-us-suicide-rates-so-high/https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/02/15/suicide-rates-us-are-rise-new-study-offers-surprising-reasons-why
https://www.health.com/depression-rates-higher-than-ever-things-to-change-7501286
https://www.kff.org/mental-health/issue-brief/a-look-at-the-latest-suicide-data-and-change-over-the-last-decade/