Let's Talk About Stupid

If you've come back for more inspiration, I hope you understand that this one is a little less "we can do it" and more about "Stay away from this."

So let's talk about stupid as we try to change the world. The biggest travesty in attempting to change someone else's life is simply the fact that IT'S NOT YOUR LIFE! You don't understand what they need, like, seriously. I don't care how much you know, how much you've studied, and what all the statistics in the world are saying, it's not your life and you don't understand it as well as they do. So don't try to change their life.

Let them try to change their life and be willing to help. What most people don't like about this is that it is time intensive. It takes time for the organization to sit down and understand why the community doesn't get fresh water. It takes time for the consultant to interview individuals. IT TAKES TIME! Any quick fixes that are thrown into a community rarely stick, and even if they do, it has as much of a chance hurting the community as it does helping them. So that is stupid.

It's stupid to give shoes to African children. No, I'm not against them having shoes. I'm saying that it's stupid to give them shoes. Are all African nations so out of the loop that they've never heard of/seen shoes? I highly doubt that. So instead of saying "They don't have shoes, give them shoes," we need to ask "why don't they have shoes?" If there are no shoe stores around, it might be better to help build one and train individuals in the community to sell shoes. If they can't sell them, ask why! 

We need to stop telling and start asking. The best part of asking questions means that you have to SHUT UP to hear the answer. When you shut up and listen, you begin to value understanding their issue more than expressing your solution. For those of you who haven't heard the beautiful TED talk by Ernesto Siroli, I invite you to do so now.

It's stupid to help someone without trying to understand them. It takes time, it takes patience, it takes love. But doing that makes the biggest difference.

Shamelessness

Hey, you came back! Well,

When my friend looked at me and said "so do something about it," I knew that I had to actually get something done. The hardest part was knowing where to start. I starting talking to people about what I wanted to do, even though I didn't understand it at that moment. I didn't understand precisely how I wanted to help the world, but that didn't stop me. That shouldn't stop you.

I talked with one friend from my freshman year of college and she told me about a "nonprofit management minor" that BYU offers. I looked at it and knew that I'd be studying that. I talked to a family friend who helped out with the Four of Hearts Foundation based in Utah. Not only that, but she also runs the Lifting Hearts Foundation. I pelted them with questions asking what they did, how they did it, and many other questions.

I heard the inspiring stories of Ellie Johnson and Kara Herron. These foundations, first and foremost had their "why." This was the heart of the organization that gave the rest of it the belief and inspiration that coursed through every individual. I loved seeing how those stories were the seeds that sprouted into groups of people working together to make something better.

I devoured those stories, loved those stories, and wanted to hear more about those stories. And I still do. Now I just have enough knowledge to know what makes a good nonprofit and what makes a poor nonprofit (and yes guys, those definitely exist. I don't care if you have a bleeding heart, if your solution sucks, the organization sucks).

Now as I've made connections with many nonprofits, I continue to reach out to others and I do so shamelessly. Revive Humanity, H2O International, HEFY, and Humanitarian Expeditions are just a few that I have met with. They all have their center, their drive, and their reason for doing what they do.

Now I've begun reaching out to the Tyler Robinson Foundation (look them up and their connection to Imagine Dragons), United Way, and Centro Hispano. The scary part, I want to do a lot of this with corporate involvement. I'll be working with United way and Centro Hispano in behalf of Google. So I'm discovering there is a corporate end to nonprofit work. And guys, this is where the future of humanitarian service lies.

So now I'm reaching out to managers and executives of large companies to understand what they think about nonprofit partnerships, HOW they think about nonprofit partnerships and WHY they think of nonprofit partnerships. I think I more fully understand my place in this work, and it's on the corporate end of nonprofit work.

So this is shameless. Talk to who you WANT to, not just who you need to. And don't be afraid to get big money involved, you never know how it's going to help.

The Starting Line

Hi friend.

I would love to take a walk with you and discuss what I'm doing to start the one man difference, but to understand that, we need to understand how I was changed. It's a cold winter night in Vineland, NJ. I'm walking around with my mission companion visiting homes of those kind enough to receive us. We were specifically requested to meet with individuals who spoke Spanish as their primary language.

Now for those of you who don't know what it is to live in a 2 bedroom house with 3 families, (yes, 3 FAMILIES) you will have a hard time relating. I know I did. Not only that, but I heard the stories of why they felt so happy to be living in that condition because it was better than what they had before. And it hit me, it rocked me so hard and struck at me so deep that I still ponder on that night when I finally broke and exclaimed to my companion "IT SUCKS! THEY ARE SUFFERING AND I'M HERE JUST DOING WHATEVER! I WANT TO DO MORE." And he just nonchalantly looks at me and says "so do something about it."

I haven't talked to him about that incident since, and he may have a little idea of how deeply that affected me, but even if he doesn't, it doesn't matter. It made me look at something I wanted and told me that it was within my power to reach. I can do more, I can help more, I can play more, I can serve more, and I be more. So I was changed that moment, that minute for the better.

So now I'm studying nonprofit management. It's a passion of mine. Not only that, but I'm shameless in approaching foundations, organizations, and even corporations that serve the community. I'm currently working at Wayfair.com and just sent one of our executives an e-mail wanting to know more about nonprofit-corporation relations. I'm not stopping, and I'm not planning on stopping. The revolution of the nonprofit world will happen, and I hope to be at the forefront of it, because the world needs change.

I'll keep you updated on my work with Google (an internship my parents pushed on me until I actually did the smart thing and listened to them) and my Wayfair.com journey.