David La Piana

The UK nonprofit sector is served by the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations or ACEVO.  This group sponsors workshops, master classes, networking, and other resources for the UK’s nonprofit leaders.

Unlike American institutions such as Independent Sector or the various state nonprofit associations, members of ACEVO are chief executives, from every subsector and every size organization. With more than 2,000 members nationwide, ACEVO is a professional association of leaders, not an organization of organizations.

I marvel at the breadth of their work and the seriousness of their purpose. Most of the ACEVO people I have met are under 40, many closer to 30, and the energy in their crowded offices is palpable. I think the U.S. sector could learn from this group, and perhaps it is time we formed a similar sector-wide leadership association.

I opened the Times (London not NY) to find that David Cameron, the Conservative party’s candidate for Prime Minister, is about to become a father again. This led to the cute headline that his wife, Samantha, known as SamCam, is “moving toward Labour,” which of course is the British liberal party. Nice pun.

But the really interesting piece was a serious discussion of whether, if elected in the fall polls, David will take paid paternity pay, which is his right. Apparently, even Tony Blair took a paltry (by British standards) two weeks paid leave when he was prime minister, appointing someone else to hold the fort while he bonded with his family.

Can you imagine an American politician taking paternity leave – paid no less – right after winning the White House? “Sorry folks, I have to take the 4AM feeding, the world will have to wait.” The UK seems just a little bit more civilized than my own nation every day I am here, as things which would be anathema at home are a matter of course in Britain.

In another article, lauding Obama’s health reform success and trying to explain to a British reader just how strong opposition to it is, the paper writes “Europeans may struggle to grasp how health insurance subsidies could be seen as an assault on freedom. . .but they are part of a battle for the soul of America.”

As I continue my sojourn in the UK, I learned an interesting fact about the nonprofit sector here: There is a national government department devoted to “third sector affairs.” Even more amazing, this entity has created a multi-million pound fund to support capacity building among the nation’s 200,000 charities.

When I heard this today, from colleagues at a meeting, the only thing I could think to say was, “My God, it sounds like socialism!” When the laughter died down, I discovered that my work here, with UK organizations ACEVO and Capacity Builders, is being financed out of this fund. I always did love socialism.

Seriously, it is inconceivable that America would allow its government to take such an active role in supporting a large portion of the nonprofit sector economy, or is it? Until recently, it was equally inconceivable that our government would bail out the private sector’s financial institutions.

The closest thing the US has to this arrangement is the IRS oversight function. But that is really a policing responsibility, ensuring our sector is obeying the law. There is no unified federal (or state for that matter) effort to ensure the health of our nonprofits.

I am in London to offer a series of workshops on strategic restructuring for UK nonprofits leaders. While riding into town in a traditional London black cab and chatting with the driver, the topic of US health reform came up (he raised it). The cabbie had expressed fairly conservative views on other topics in our hour-long, traffic clogged, drive. But when it came to health care he just could not understand how the US tolerates our current health care “system.”

I couldn’t help him, there is no defense. In the UK, health care is a right, and is not generally the political football we use it for in the US. Brits across the political spectrum support their national health insurance arrangement as the only sane manner to address a nation’s health needs. Everyone here is covered, and everyone pays in, along with their contributions to the UK equivalent of Social Security, charmingly referred to as Old Age Pensions. Premium amounts vary with income and circumstances, not age, gender and health condition.

As a part-time semi-retired cabbie, my new friend pays the equivalent of $20 a month for his coverage. As an American, it was both refreshing and embarrassing to compare health care systems. If health reform dies, it won’t get easier.

The recent blizzards hitting the Eastern parts of our country led to shutdowns of federal operations in and around DC, Baltimore, and other major government centers. Thousands of federal employees were told to stay at home. Hooray, snow day! But wait a minute. Most of these folks, I would bet, have a computer, Internet connection, and telephone in their house. The government should realize natural and other disasters will from time to time make commuting to the megalith office blocks of the bureaucracy impossible, but why can’t most government workers just telecommute?

There are two principal reasons for this obvious solution not being embraced and implemented. The first is culture. An office-based culture finds it hard to define work as anything that can happen outside the four walls of the building. Work is both a job and a place. But large corporations and nonprofits of all sizes have long embraced this cultural change, enabling people to work from home or the road. The government can do it too.

The second reason is technology. Many government departments have old computer systems and high security concerns, which makes logging in remotely difficult, if not impossible. It is time for those system to be upgraded, allowing our public servants to do their work, without necessarily commuting, and even during a blizzard.

Does your organization have a “snowmaggedon” plan that the Feds could learn from?  How would your organization continue to provide vital services in the face of a commuting disaster?