Taking it Further
Hildy and Dimitri saw even further where this model could go. Hildy says,
"With the Diaper Bank, we realized that we must address the need right now because the need is so critical and it makes such a horrific difference in people's lives. But we also must create a community that is compassionate and wants to ensure that people's basic needs are met. As you start to move forward, you say 'How do we create legislative change that creates a more compassionate community, that says we're not going to create programs that cut off our noses despite our face?' We're not going to create a WIC program that says you can have formula, but you can't have diapers. How can we do that? You can only do that if you create a massive movement for that."
Hildy and Dimitri changed their approach entirely. Hildy explains:
The work that we do at Help 4 Nonprofits, which is evolving into becoming the Community Driven Institute, is different than the standard kinds of things that you find in a nonprofit consulting firm. We did work as all nonprofit consultants do for the first five years of our work. We did strategic planning the way everybody does it. We did fund development the way people do it. We did board development. And then we had this epiphany after working with a Food Bank. We had done this incredible strategic plan for them and they were implementing it. Yet, we looked up two years later and the community was no closer to ending hunger.What that led to was our reinventing literally every aspect of how the internal work of community organizations happens.
We reinvented strategic planning to focus more on community change. We reinvented governance to focus boards on holding themselves accountable for creating community change first and then accountable for the means, which is the reverse of what folks are currently told to be accountable for.
We looked also at how does one create programs that build such strength into the infrastructure and such community support for the mission that there's no question as to whether this mission succeeds because the community is the infrastructure and is making it happen.
We're in the process of building the Community Driven Institute, which will actually teach consultants how to do this work, and teach academics who teach nonprofit management, so that the work of this sector is more aligned behind the change we want to see rather than, for instance, teaching organizations how to compete for dollars and then complaining that they compete for dollars.
The Diaper Bank Today
The Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona today has its own executive director, Kirsten Grabo, and has provided 5,481,002 diapers since it was founded 15 years ago. In addition, another diaper bank has been set up in Phoenix, using all the lessons learned in Tucson.
Grabo says, "We have not created another social service agency, but a truly unique non-profit that utilizes community partners to distribute diapers. Most that need diapers need additional services, and diapers are just a way in the door."
For its founders, engagement of lots and lots of people was the key to success. Hildy puts everyone to work, including local legislators. She says, "Our congressmen have been at volunteer events. I’ve got so many pictures of Jim Kolbe taping up open packages of diapers. We’ve always just engaged everybody. If you want to be engaged, I don’t want your signature and your check. I want your hands to get to work."
