SINCERELY, SHARON
from the desk of SHARON R. SMITH, Executive Director
 OUR UNIQUE ORGANIZATION
I recently attended a Seminar on Social Economy (basically a fancy way to describe organizations where success is measured by meeting mission rather than by making money). Although most of the day amounted to 8 wasted hours of my life that I will just never get back, there were a couple of high points:
Lunch was included and since they did not put the runny vegetables on the same plate as the entrée, it was actually quite tasty.
Dr. Wes Mueller of the Garthson Leadership Centre
(It’s located in Canada, hence the “r” BEFORE the “e”)
Dr. Mueller is a Social Economist and he presented on the three types of organizations that make up the Social Economy:
The community sector - active on a local level, modestly funded, member-driven, with few (r no) paid employees.
The voluntary sector – formalized with an official charter and By-Laws, self-governing, with a high degree of volunteer involvement.
The social enterprise sector - businesses with social objectives, where the earned income is principally reinvested for that organization’s primary purpose, rather than being driven by the need to maximize profit for the owners.
It is common, Dr. Mueller said, for a non-profit to be part of one, or even two of these sectors. It is extremely uncommon for a non-profit to be part of all three sectors. In fact, he could not give an example of any such organization that he personally knew existed and said he doubted it would be able to sustain itself successfully. I (of course) asked why he had this doubt.
Dr. Mueller said that it would be possible to balance three such divergent composites in the short term but virtually impossible to do so for an extended period of time. He felt that, over months and years, the inevitable growth and change would force an organizational evolution into just one – or maybe two – of the identified sectors.
Well, to make a long story short, I sat with Dr. Mueller at lunch (he actually ate his runny vegetables) and told him about our member-owned, Senior Center and Cumberland Café. Wes (that’s what I called him by then) asked a lot of clarifying questions and, when I’d answered all but one of them, said he might have found his first organization that did exist in all three Social Economy sectors. His final question was this: “Do your members know how truly unique their organization is?” Since that was the only one I couldn’t answer, he suggested that I tell you so at the very next opportunity.
I invite you all to the Annual Membership Meeting and Breakfast on
April 17th at 9 a.m. and look forward, with the Board of Directors,
to telling you how truly unique you are.
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