Bonnie, I feel one of the obstacles we face in organizing is that we start with the traditional approach of creating a structure to solve the problem. Ususally this means that every participant gives up his/her position of ownership to someone else who assumes the role of leader.
Most organizations are not confortable with this, thus don't do it, or don't participate actively even if their name is on the organization list. My approach is to skip this step. I've been building a network of organizations focused on helping kids to careers, by creating an on-line library of links to organizations that do this work, and by leading an advocacy on my web site that shows how these organizations are related and how they all need funding, not just me. By doing this for the past 12 years I've earned trust and many organizations are now willing to give time to participate in events that I organize to further the goals of building a better operating system. Thus, any intermediary who wants to increase his/her visibility and funding, can build a section of LINKS to every other intermediary that he/she thinks models this same type of thinking. If each group uses their own unique leadership to teach the value of intermediaries and to advocate for a flow of revenue to all of the intermediaries in their LINKS library, each will contribute to building greater visibility and a greater flow of resources to the entire network. As organizations demonstrate this consistently for many years, some will become intermediaries of intermediaries, using their various skills to draw people together, create better understanding, innovate tools all can use, etc. Over time, my hope is that this will lead to a growth in trust, understanding and goal alignment and an increse in resources for all of the organizations in the network, which will enable groups to move closer together in the way they might structure the way the collaborate. It's only when people and organizations say "If it is to be, it is up to me." that they will begin to move in this direction. Dan Bassill Tutor/Mentor Connection http://tutormentor.blogspot.com Original Message: ----------------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 11:30:20 EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [DDN] Cedar Pruitt's departure from DDN In a message dated 9/15/05 7:46:24 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > I think there is a larger issue that we might collaborate on. Funders do > not seem to value the role of intermediaries and of knowledge brokers. I > find many of the same challenges of finding money for the Tutor/Mentor > Connection as DDN is finding for the work it does. > > Dan, I agree. Funders do not understand the perspective of the knowledge workers, brokers and intermediaries, ... Talk about challenges .. I could write a book. Much energy is lost in re-inventing oneself to fit the needs of funders. Bonnie Bonnie Bracey bbracey@ aol com _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
