Resources flow through an organization in much the same way as they do through an ecosystem.

Organizational Ecosystem (ôr'gə-nĭ-zā'shən-al ĭ-kŏ-sĭs'təm) n. - the flow of information and resources in an organization between it's internal stakeholders, it's members, clients and consumers, and the larger body of it's community.

Often times, the mindset of non-profit organizations and activists is rooted in struggle. And although the mission often does involve a struggle for broader social change, the work itself, and the way that work is accomplished, does not have to feel burdensome.

In a healthy ecosystem, resources flow from one organism to the next in a way that is reciprocal: one organism takes resources from another, but then also gives back to the system and the other organisms in a 'closed loop' cycle.

In an organization, and particularly in non-profit organizations, the reciprocal nature of resource flows are often blocked or incomplete - breaking the cycle. This limits the vitality of an organization by straining the relationships between the organization, and the different members of it's ecosystem.

To read a more detailed tutorial of this, please click HERE.

Often the symptoms of those strained relationships show up as:

• an inability to generate enough income to support the organization,
• strained relationships amongst staff and between other internal stakeholders,
• a difficulty making strategic decisions to move the organization forward,
• difficulty supporting and growing different programs within an organization that are central to it's mission,
• inability to mobilize and energize clientèle, members or other consumers,
• and strained relationships with external stakeholders and organizations.

How it Works

Of course, each step has intricacies that are difficult to explain fully here. For example, resources transcend just money or in-kind services or products. They also include things like networking, information, advise, entertainment, etc.. Infrastructure can include anything from adjusting the database for more accurate and specialized reporting, to inserting an extra administrative step in the process of organizing a program or project, to accessing an organization directly as opposed to going through a middleman or third party, etc..

For more information please fill out the contact form or email me directly at ana(at)jellobrain.com.