Elizayo Blog

An email pings. It’s an alert for a massive grant focused on an 'Advanced Blockchain AI Data-Internet Gadget.' Suddenly, your director is wide-eyed and foaming at the mouth with excitement, actively rewriting your NPO's entire mandate just to qualify for this shiny new tech grant. Welcome to Shiny Object Syndrome

The "explosion" of new NPOs is largely a myth of numbers. We aren’t seeing a surge of new ideas; we are seeing a massive formalization of old ones.

Ever wonder why "helping people" became "catalyzing agency"? An investigation into why donors and policymakers develop buzzwords to de-risk investments and drive the funding cycle.

At Elizayo, we believe that a strong, independent civil society is the heartbeat of South Africa’s democracy. For nearly 30 years, our sector has operated under a framework of transparency and collaboration. But right now, that foundation is under threat. A new draft amendment Bill, recently published by National Treasury, marks a radical and alarming shift in how the state intends to "govern" non-profit organisations (NPOs). If passed in its current form, it won’t just regul

Most organizations view policies as a set of "no's"—rules designed to prevent trouble. While risk mitigation is essential, a document focused solely on restriction is reactive

Sabbaticals are commonly seen as an employment perk in the academic world, but sabbaticals are gaining ground in the social service sector, as way to help both the nonprofit leaders and the organization experience revitalization and reinvigoration. There is a cluster of funders who are committed to the art of talent-focused grant making as a dynamic and innovative opportunity for growth and renewal of present and potential leadership, as well as that of the organization. What

s your non-profit board debating napkin colors instead of the $5M budget? Learn how to cure Bikeshedding Syndrome and improve your NPO board governance.

The role of NGO’s in world and country politics has always been vibrant and widespread and has grown in importance since the 1990’s.

Many Non Proifts quite often have protectionist visioning and are not prepared to make tough decisions when it comes to strategy.

When this incredible individual becomes and remains the pivot of the organisation, or becomes the person who has a stranglehold on organisational development and maturity, you are left with Non Profit founder syndrome.

The term “Social” in the Non-Profit field is the prefix for a plethora of different concepts - Social Entrepreneurship, Social Responsibility, Social Solutions, Social Sector, Social Value, Social Change, Social Problems, Social Responsible Business, Social Investments and Social Innovation etc. (To a certain extent the wide use of the term “Social” can be linked to the application of Corporate and business practices and applications to the Non-Profit field.) Social Innovatio

We need to ensure that our services are relevant, and determine whether interventions should bestrengthened or discarded.

[repost of 2015 post]I have written about the frustration of fundraising for nonprofit, community based organisations in South Africa before and feel the need to once again touch on this subject. My frustration level has not decreased. Some of the frustrations include NLDTF: Where the “bleep” is the lotto of SA. Why is there no annual call for proposals, why – if they have to sporadic call for proposals does it take so long to pay out to organisations? They seem to have a hi

Competent and passionate leadership has always been considered vital in every civil society organisation. However who is the best person to lead an organisation is not always so easy. Due to lack of funding and the subsequent lack of supportive management structures, leaders in the civil society field are quite often a person who is appointed on the basis of balance of various prospects. The leaders are expected to be inter alia financial managers, fundraisers, high level s

Around 10 000 New NPO's are registered annually in SA. Why?

Leadership is one of the most talked about, but least understood concepts in the Non-Profit field.

NPO’s and civil society organisation by nature inhabit a world of relationships. Whether between NPOs and beneficiaries, local NPOs and their partners, NPOs and donors, governments, the private sector, relationships are foundational to everything the sector does. However the term ‘partnership’ has been diminished by misuse and is applied to a range of relationships and at this stage is quite often a devalued term. In addition Network’ and ‘networking’ have become something o

When I was at university (some 35 years back) I had to write a paper on the differences between a For-profit and Not-for-Profit organisations. Suffice it to say it was not a great success- my approach was that there was no difference in method and routines – only a difference in what you do with the end result. (Profit). Since then much has changed and a business approach to NPO management is mostly accepted by all, with the qualifying difference that where a Business/For Pro

Risk is inherent to the life in general and in the NPO field in particular. In the NPO field risks cannot be avoided and are part of our everyday organisational life. This has always been the case - The future is always uncertain and the outcomes of events unpredictable. Why then the perpetual surprise in the NPO field when these risks pop up. Why then the resistance in developing plans to address the risks and the tendency to year after year raise the negative impact of th