What's in a name?

What do a Canadian backpacker traveling abroad and the non-profit sector have in common? Besides sharing the deserving reputation as being general do-gooders, they both spend a lot of time identifying themselves in terms of what they aren't. 

Canadian backpacker - Not American. Being mistaken for an American while trekking through Europe, well that's a far greater concern than losing your Eurorail pass while in an Amsterdam-induced altered state of mind. 

Like the Canadian traveller sporting a maple leaf on his backpack, the sector is defensive - proclaiming its definite state of (not)being right up front with the bland and uninspired non-profit moniker. While there are a few variations on the theme (including voluntary, not-for-profit, third-sector and other permutations) they are all diametric in nature - standing in opposition of something else.  

Here's my theory: Instead of trying to reconcile the many areas of activity that make up the sector under one collective descriptor, we settled on non-profit as the proverbial "other" category to catch everything from national environmental organizations to local community health clinics.  

While it's often easier to define ourselves in terms of what we're not, it's not as simple as black or white anymore. Government services are delivered by community organizations. Social enterprises are increasingly blurring the line between the for-profit and non-profit spheres, turning a profit while paying more than just lip-service to social responsibility. Today, non-profits are running businesses and businesses are running non-profits. 

So what's the alternative?

It seems that trying to pick a better term to describe the sector collectively is no easy task. Given the great variety of organizations, missions and areas of activity that currently fit in the "non-profit" category, are alternative descriptors like the social sector or the community sector good enough? Could they better convey the meaning of the sector's work to our clients, funders and stakeholders? Can one word really define who we are and what we do? 

Perhaps we need to carry that maple leaf flag with us for a little while longer...

From the mouths of babes

The other night as I was getting my four-year-old son ready for bed, I asked him what story he wanted me to read. We'd been festering in a Walter the Farting Dog phase for a little while, so I was hoping for a reprieve from the rhyming tale of canine flatulence...even if only for one night. 

Leaning over the bookshelf in the playroom across the hall, I began offering up titles of other stories from which my discerning heir could make a selection: 

 "What about Where the Wild Things Are?" 

"F*cking Sucks" he replied from under the covers in the other room. 

Did he just say what I think he said? No…I must have misheard him. Where could he have picked that up? I offer up another choice.

"Ok, what about The Paperbag Princess?" 

"F*cking Sucks!!" he repeated...now clearly annoyed with me. 

Thinking that my kid has picked up some choice vocabulary at daycare, I made my way across the hall to his bedroom and asked him to repeat what he just said...

"F*cking Sucks," he said again – only this time he said it while holding out a book over his head with both hands. It took less than a second for me to recognize the cover of one of our favourite bedtime stories, Fox in Socks by Doctor Suess. 

Putting pen to paper

It's been almost two years now since I've jumped ship as a communications professional for a large (read: soulless) multinational (read: American) financial institution (read: Republican fundraising machine) and started working for a small national non-profit organization.

Tired of overly rigorous approval processes, micro-management mindsets and suffocating creative limitations (Apparently the status quo in most large corporations and government departments) I found myself yearning for something more than just a paycheque and the promise of a potential bonus at the end of the year. So I took a leave of absence, buggered off to the pristine wilderness of Lake Temagami to work at a summer camp and came back to the city in the fall of 2006 reinvigorated and ready to change the world, or at least fix it a little bit.

While I'm still far from that lofty goal of changing the world, I like to think that I'm close to fixing it a little bit. In addition to my new role as the communications manager for a national non-profit organization, I've started working with other organizations, community groups and individuals interested in engaging people, sharing knowledge and driving social change through the written word. Whether it's an effectively designed and implemented communications strategy, meaningful campaign messaging, a thought-provoking public address or the introductory text on a webpage, words are at work. And let's face it: well-chosen words, well they work even better.

My intent is to use Social Semantics as an online discussion and forum for deliberation on the power of words and their meaning. Whether anecdotally or more profoundly, I hope to contribute posts at least on a monthly basis, zeroing in on a particular idea or theme and hopefully sparking a dialogue with like and not-so-like minded people. So please, feel free to put pen to paper, or fingers to keypads as it may be, and share your ideas, thoughts and perspectives.

Regards,

Lee