Man…I love the road. But the road has been hard over the past few weeks, with tons of back to back to back adventures that have left me super weary.
But I really just wanted to make a few simple points.
I was just out in Bismarck, ND (another first time visit for me) giving the opening keynote at the annual meeting of the ND Association of Nonprofit Organizations. This was my third trip up north in the last 365 days, having hit Montana and Wyoming a few months back. Coming from the East Coast, it’s hard to get your head around the kind of traveling it takes for nonprofits in these states to come together. Long distance travel…man, it’s in their blood, but still…can you imagine strapping yourself in for a 6 hour drive, just to attend a meeting. And they do it all the time.
People who work with battered women….they will drive that far to help a woman get to a court date.
People who provide food to pantries…..they will drive that far to deliver food.
People who are involved in advocacy….they drive that far to register people to vote.
But…even though it’s routine for them, I did not want that to interfere with my desire to really…REALLY….deliver a top shelf talk to them about nonprofits–what we do, why we do it, and what we could achieve it we worked together.
I must admit….I do a V3 pitch just about every other day, and I’m pretty damn earnest about each of my talks, but I was truly impressed by the energy and passion I encountered up in ND.
Maybe it’s that they are more in touch, up there, with the reality of what is coming. Maybe they are just more acutely aware of what an ever increasing price of gas will do to the budget of the average American. Maybe it’s because many, if not most, of the nonprofits up there are truly all alone in their towns. Maybe they are ahead of the curve up there.
Whatever the reason, I had a ton of folks sign up for V3 on this trip….more, in fact, than I do in a lot of the major cities where I speak.
Maybe you should.
Share on Facebook
R
Robert is the Founder and President of L.A. Kitchen, which will open in 2013. The L.A. Kitchen will professionally recover fresh food, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, which it will use to fuel a culinary arts job training program for men and women coming out of foster care, or older men and women returning from incarceration.
Robert pioneered this model during his 24 year tenure as the President of the DC Central Kitchen, the country’s first “community kitchen”, where food donated by hospitality businesses and farms is used to fuel a nationally recognized culinary arts job training program. Since opening in 1989, the Kitchen (which is a $10 million a year, self-sustaining, social enterprise) has produced over 26 million meals and helped 1,000 men and women gain full time employment. The Kitchen operates its own revenue generating business, Fresh Start Catering, as well as the Campus Kitchens Project, which coordinates similar recycling/meal programs in 33 colleges or high school based kitchens.
In addition, Robert is the Founder and President of CForward, an advocacy organization that rallies employees of nonprofits to educate candidates about the economic role that nonprofits play in every community, and to support candidates who have detailed plans to strengthen the economy that includes nonprofits.
In Washington, Robert was the founding Chair of both the Mayor’s Commission on Nutrition and Street Sense, Washington’s “homeless” newspaper. He was also the Co-Convener of the first Nonprofit Congress, held in Washington DC in 2006. Currently, Robert serves on the Board of the national addiction recovery program, Back On My Feet, the Philanthropic Collaborative, and Chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen.
Robert’s book on the non-profit sector, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All, was released in 2004 by HarperCollins. It received the 2005 McAdam Book Award for “Best Nonprofit Management Book” by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.
Robert was included in the Non Profit Times list of the “50 Most Powerful and Influential” nonprofit leaders from 2006-2009. He was the recipient of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s 2007 “Lifetime Achievement” award and the 2004 James Beard Foundation “Humanitarian of the Year” award. He has been named an Oprah Angel, a Washingtonian of the Year, a Point of Light and one of the Ten Most Caring People in America, by the Caring Institute. He is also a 15-gallon blood donor to the American Red Cross.
Robert speaks throughout the country and internationally on the subjects of hunger, sustainability, nonprofit political engagement and social enterprise. He writes blogs and editorials to share his ideas about the nonprofit sector and the future of America. To check out Robert’s most recent speaking schedule, blogs, and editorials, please visit www.robertegger.org.
Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts
Related posts:
- On the Road Again
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
and is filed under Blog.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Subscribe to this blog
