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Never let a crisis go to waste.
Find the opportunity in the chaos.
Look for the connections to make things better.
Find a new way to see what is happening by joining together.
Find our own ground and help others find theirs.
These are the things I have been thinking about as we create ways to keep you informed, keep you connected, and keep us moving forward during these incredibly turbulent times. We are leaning all the way in with trusted tools, new data turned to action, lots of communication, and a bunch of tried and true ways to help you feel less isolated.
In a few weeks, we present again one of our signature opportunities to draw you together – The Foraker Leadership Summit. This is the largest gathering of nonprofits in the state, and we welcome as many of our tribal administrators and council members as can attend, too. We are stronger together.
Every two years, we come together around a specific theme and dive deeply through an interactive two days. No talking heads, no “tracks” to get you sidelined, just plenty of engagement and connection with people from across our state, from every mission, and from varied backgrounds, all looking to learn their way forward.
We draw our theme and inspiration each time from our Foraker Nonprofit Sustainability Model. We didn’t have a crystal ball back when we picked the theme, but we simply could not have picked a more timely topic than the essential nature of collaboration and partnerships.
We believe that our strength as a sector is our ability to work with others – as mission is ALWAYS bigger than a single institution. We believe that these relationships can be simple and personal – the sharing of ideas and information or be deep in complexity, bringing multiple sectors and groups together from vastly different points of view to create something better than any one entity could do alone. Sometimes, I refer to this latter idea as 1+1=12 because it is the magnification of possibilities rather than the smooshing together of ideas that does so much good for the people and places we aim to serve.
The way that Alaska’s nonprofits and tribes are centered in our communities means we are poised to be the nexus of these essential relationships and federal, state, and municipal governments, for-profits, and donors are in our orbit as we find new and long-standing effective ways to make Alaska work.
Of course, in the last six weeks, our federal partners have been deeply shaken, and the sector has become a target, not an ally, to too many. We know that this is neither efficient nor practical as Alaska’s economy and whole ecosystem rely on each partner to do its part.
So, what next? Will attending the Summit solve it all? No, of course not. But we do know that our future will look differently going forward, and we need to be ready to know ourselves and our larger goals more clearly. We know we will need to adapt our thinking about how we can achieve what is right and needed, even if the way that we do it has to change. This is a space to make the time for these conversations and considerations.
Our facilitators are all ready to meet the moment with you and consider our way forward together.
Now more than ever, I hope to see you at the Leadership Summit, and if you can’t attend, we will keep finding new ways to share ideas as we navigate with each other.
We are standing with you.
Laurie