I recently made the difficult decision to leave my job at Feeding America to be a full time strategic consultant. I am extremely excited to take what I have learned working in one of the largest nonprofit networks in the world to other nonprofits, companies, universities, and generally anyone who will listen. Especially because I get to do that work through a partnership with my longtime friend and colleague, Stacy Van Gorp and See What I Mean. See What I Mean provides facilitation, research, and design for organizations changing the world.
That said, leaving my job at Feeding America was extremely hard. I have been committed to the mission of ending hunger in America for over twelve years, and the passion I have brought to the work feels like the level that I give to raising a child. Actually, after Eloise was born we discussed a third child, and I said I didn’t feel like I could dedicate enough time to a third child because of the emotional energy I was giving to Feeding America. For that reason, I am also very energized by the next stage of my life.
Being able to bring the learning of my time in the Feeding America Network to other organizations and networks looking to do good in the world is a great honor to me. Also, I am excited to be able to take back some of the passion I gave to Feeding America, and focus it on my family.
A while back, we made an attempt to engage families in a conversation about creating family strategic plans. We called it Raising Purpose, and you can read that story on this website that has laid dormant for some time. That idea was based on wanting to focus our family on a positive mission, focus on the great things we have to offer, and utilizing those assets to create positive change in the world. I realized that I was doing this REALLY well…AT WORK.
My entire role in the Feeding America Network has been encouraging and challenging people to think differently about the work of ending hunger in America. To focus on the people facing hunger, understand all the great things each member of the network brings to the table, and maximize those resources to have the biggest impact on food insecurity in our country. My colleagues and I came up with 6 practices to put this into action, with real life activities to get members of the Feeding America Network to shift their mindset. I am REALLY good at this…AT WORK.
I was recently asked to present these practices to a masters course in philanthropy at the University of Northern Iowa. As I was presenting to a group of college students, I wanted them to see how these 6 practices could work in any network setting. To be cute, I said they even work in your family or friend group! The cuteness set off a light bulb, and brought me back to the idea that sparked Raising Purpose.
What are the 6 practices? In a business or nonprofit setting they are stated as follows:
- Center the Network on the Mission
- Focus on Assets not Deficits
- Build Organization and Network Capacity
- One Size Does Not Fit All…Use Personas
- Co-Create and Prototype Together
- Build a Shared Network Mindset
And with a few simple tweaks, they can be relatable to families (or friend groups, churches, any group you can think of):
- Center Your Family on a Mission
- Focus on the Great Things about Each Family Member
- Grow as Individuals, and as a Family
- Validate How Each Family Member is Different
- Try New Things Together, and Reflect
- See Your Family as a Powerful Force for Good
I will be honest, after creating our strategic plan, life got busy, and it went in a closet (You would normally say on shelf, but it is a tri fold poster board so it takes a closet). Every once in a while my son, Gabriel, says, “Dad, we should look at that poster we made about what our family should be doing.” I say, “great idea,” and it never happens (Sound familiar to those who have done organizational strategic plans?) So, over the next few months I will both dig in to each of these practices with you all, at the same time as I try them out with my family. I am sure we will fail, over and over, but guess what, that’s what that what Trying New Things Together, and Reflecting is all about, and we are in this together. I will share activities you could do as a family, or friend group, and would love to hear your successes and failures.
So, welcome back to Raising Purpose. Glad to have you here.
For a while now, we have been doing workshops in the non-profit sector on these practices, and plan to continue this work. It helps networks understand how to utilize their assets to best serve their mission. We teach on things like how to write a mission statement, how to prototype and co-create, or how to understand the unique differences among members of a network and what that means for how we work with one another. If you are interested in a similar workshop or coaching for your family, friend group, church, or your organization, reach out to me at jordan@seewhatimean.com.
Raising Purpose 