tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614581.post7020656373964438389..comments2024-03-28T03:11:22.839-07:00Comments on PHILANTHROPY 2173: The customer is always rightLucy Bernholzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09253941214286179394noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614581.post-77137683079768328942008-09-04T11:44:00.000-07:002008-09-04T11:44:00.000-07:00JohnThanks for your thoughts. And your point is we...John<BR/>Thanks for your thoughts. And your point is well taken - I intentionally paint with a broad brush, perhaps even more often than I care to admit, though my goal is to provoke new thinking so the broad brush seems to work best. <BR/><BR/>With 75000+ foundations and 1.5 million+ civic institutions in the US alone - and readers from around the world - it is hard for me not to use the broad brush to make the point. <BR/><BR/>I'd love to hear about more organizations that do listen well, that do rely on feedback and improve their services accordingly - I don't know too many of any kind of enterprise - commercial, nonprofit, public sector or blended - that don't have lots of room for improvement at this...me, my company, and this blog included! Thanks for the Feedback!Lucy Bernholzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09253941214286179394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614581.post-9647786438350747462008-09-02T07:58:00.000-07:002008-09-02T07:58:00.000-07:00LucyI appreciate your academic analysis of foundat...Lucy<BR/>I appreciate your academic analysis of foundations and philanthropy in general. I worry however that you tend to make broad judgements about how foundations function. You assume that civic groups do not listen well. In my ten years as director of a medium sized family foundation I have not found that to be as rampant as you allege. Could you define civic institutions a little better.<BR/><BR/>On another point, I think nonprofits and foundations in general are very bad at making use of social software tools, which if used properly, could avoid perceptions that they do not listen well.<BR/><BR/>JohnJohnmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12344254136696569579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614581.post-81497006788772369082008-08-23T11:12:00.000-07:002008-08-23T11:12:00.000-07:00Thanks for your comment. What is interesting about...Thanks for your comment. What is interesting about this particular post, and the customer feedback loops that are described, is that not one of them has a regulatory root. They are all industry generated, enterprise created solutions to self-identified shared challenges. I do agree that regulation is a blunt sword - often causing new problems as it seeks to solve old ones. This post makes no calls for regulation - I am simply pointing out what are evolutionary moments from other industries revealing themselves within philanthropy. Which I do, by the way, absolutely see as a regulated industry (definition: tax code driven set of enterprises selling similar sets of products). It is already regulated - I'm not calling for more or less, simply that the enterprises within the industry recognize the ways in which their behavior, incentives, practices are already prescribed by the codes which make the enterprises possible. <BR/><BR/>That said, if one wanted to create massive change across philanthropy or nonprofits, regulation is the tool with which to do it (Again, I'm not advocating this, simply pointing to what history has shown, both in philanthropy and most other industries).Lucy Bernholzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09253941214286179394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614581.post-50448296628234585362008-08-23T10:35:00.000-07:002008-08-23T10:35:00.000-07:00I read your posts and worry that what you are call...I read your posts and worry that what you are calling for is regulation and standardization of an "industry" that by its nature should remain free to explore, try out ideas and social programs and be open to failure. Overregulation will take away much of the innovation that is inherent and/or implied in the nonprofit sector.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com