In sticking with the theme of why NGOs are not better at fostering internal capacity-building, I read the Mckinsey & Company entitled "Effective Capacity Building in Non-Profit Organizations" (August, 2001). The report was commissioned by Venture Philanthropy Partners as part of their analysis of how they can help the nonprofit sector. The report is an interesting look at nonprofit organizations by a for-profit firm.
My favorite chapter is the second one that is entitled " WHY CAPACITY BUILDING MATTERS – AND WHY NONPROFITS IGNORE IT." The authors cite a variety of reasons why NGOs don't do it, but they basically revolve around two points:
* NGOs are too busy implementing their work to think about improving their capacity
* It is very hard to get money for capacity building
Although I agree that both of these reasons are the excuses that we use, I am also a bit baffled by them. Why are we too busy implementing to take the time to improve and why do we give it such a low priority that we don't find the money to fund it? Somehow I don't think that we neglect training because we don't believe that we need it, but that it is hard to justify the investment. I would guess that for the private sector has an easier time justifying the time and expense because they hope to see the impact in their increased sales or profits. For the non-profit sector, perhaps we focus too much on our impact today and too little on our future impact.
My favorite quote on the importance of capacity building comes from the book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey and is found in the introduction to the chapter on the Seventh Habit, "Sharpening the Saw":
Suppose that you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree. “What are you doing?”, you ask. “Can’t you see,” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree.” “You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?” “Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.” “Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire. “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.” “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too busy sawing!”
Why are we always too busy sawing to take the time to sharpen our saw?
