Power and Complicity: Bystanders and The Need To Be Braver

Explicit content warning

04/10/23 • 26 min

The nonprofit world is not exempt from the every day realities of racism, tax schemes, and even sexual assault. However, considering the mission and values of these organizations... you’d hope that behavior would at least be called out and appropriately dealt with when it appears within a nonprofit.

In today’s episode, we’re discussing why that is unfortunately not always the case, the culture of complicity that pops up in many nonprofit organizations, and how even other nonprofit consultants can contribute to this issue of complicity.

We also acknowledge that this is complex, because while bravery does play a part in standing up to bad actors, many nonprofit workers are also dealing with oppressive power dynamics and biases that make speaking out even riskier. It’s time to take a hard look at ourselves and ask how we can be an ally to those in more vulnerable positions and break this cycle of complicity.

What’s in this episode:

[03:52] How complicity allows toxic board members and staff to continue patterns of abuse, from financial crimes to innuendos to more extreme examples like sexual assault

[10:38] Why staff and board performance reviews need to be more robust and more frequent

[13:05] The power dynamics that perpetuate complicity in toxic behaviors within nonprofits

[16:17] How racism and sexism shut out women and BIPOC individuals from leadership, which also contributes to a culture of complicity

[23:13] How other nonprofit consultants can also contribute in a culture of complicity (looking at you, Joan Garry)

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s in this episode:

[03:52] How complicity allows toxic board members and staff to continue patterns of abuse, from financial crimes to innuendos to more extreme examples like sexual assault

[10:38] Why staff and board performance reviews need to be more robust and more frequent

[13:05] The power dynamics that perpetuate complicity in toxic behaviors within nonprofits

[16:17] How racism and sexism shut out women and BIPOC individuals from leadership, which also contributes to a culture of complicity

[23:13] How other nonprofit consultants can also contribute in a culture of complicity (looking at you, Joan Garry)

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Why Religious Human Services Programming Is Problematic

Religious organizations that provide human services programming can be incredibly problematic and Nia is fired up about it. Without oversight, these organizations can require religious participation in order for people to receive their services, among other issues. Talk about messed up.

In today’s episode, we’re chatting about the different types of religious organizations, why the ones providing direct resources are problematic, the damage of discriminatory religious doctrine, and funding implications.

What’s in this episode:

[04:07] Why religious organizations that provide direct human resources programming can be problematic

[12:14] How an organization like this in Nia’s hometown is likely receiving federal funding

[17:27] How damaging it is for organizations that provide humans services to be discriminatory (whether religious or otherwise) and why we need regulation for these organizations

[24:18] How taxpayer money and dark money contribute to religiously-specific human services

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

The Survey Results Are In: Americans Don’t Know Much about Nonprofits

We live in the nonprofit world, day in and day out, so naturally, we know quite a bit about how it operates. But how much does the average American know? Not so much, it turns out.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the results of a survey put out by Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, “What Americans Think about Philanthropy and Nonprofit.” We learned some very interesting things, such as how much people trust the giving transparency of religious charitable organizations (oof) and where Americans think the philanthropic sector is headed.

What’s in this episode:

[01:33] Information on Eli Lilly and the Lilly family (for anyone else like Brittny who isn’t familiar)

[05:34] The results of a survey the Lilly School put out to get Americans’ perceptions of nonprofits and where they put their trust

[11:22] How Americans feel about the transparency of giving among charitable organizations (whew, this one is really something) and what activities charities should be able to support

[17:24] Whether or not Americans think the philanthropic sector is headed in the right direction

[21:26] Our thoughts on how to educate the public on nonprofits (because, based on this survey, they do not know much)

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.