Friends, SEEDing Stronger Together is seeking $10,000 to provide evaluation services for this stellar, start-up story-telling program, offered for the immigrant community in Maine this summer. If you’d like to help us capture their life-giving impact on individuals, organizations and systems, please donate whatever you can as soon as you can. Thank you!
The Power of Partnership: From Scarcity to Abundance By Caroline Rex-Waller
It’s easy to feel as if we live in a world of scarcity–one in which there’s never enough time nor resources to go around. That’s how I felt when I first started in my role as Executive Director of Documentary Songwriting (DocSong), a small arts-based nonprofit in Maine. DocSong has a budget of less than $50,000. We have one part-time employee. How could we even compete? But what if it’s not a competition? What if, instead of viewing the world through the lens of scarcity, I saw the other non-profits in my community as a source of abundance and potential collaboration? When I first started dreaming of a songwriting program for recently-arrived immigrants in Portland, ME, I wasn’t sure it would be possible. How could we do this alone? But then we connected with the Immigrant Music Connection, a community-based group that provides free music lessons and instruments to Maine’s immigrant community. They offered space and identified staff and volunteers to facilitate. They linked us with Mayo Street Arts, who offered to host public concerts. Then Portland Adult Education volunteered to refer their students. All of a sudden what had looked impossible was within reach. When we feel overwhelmed, it's natural to question how small nonprofits, like DocSong, can make an impact. Shifting our perspective allowed us to access the incredible power of collaboration. Our project officially launches in July. We are grateful for a $10,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation, a $7,000 grant from the Onion Foundation, and for the enthusiastic generosity of our partners. At the end of the day, we’re all in this together. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Melinda Lackey is Co-founder and Director of SEED Impact, which has coached hundreds of nonprofit initiatives to communicate and coordinate action more efficiently, sustain higher performance and report greater social impact. SEEDing Stronger Together strengthens partnerships.