Nonprofits: It's time to get off the merry-go-round

A colleague forwarded the following quote:

"Non-profits are like gerbils sometimes, running around the wheel and not getting anywhere. Part of the reason you are churning so hard is our fault: Foundations aren't working strategically either. All of us have to change what we are doing and how we are doing it. It will take a while, but you will see a change in impact."

- Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Wow.

More than a few words leapt off the page and burned through my eyes into my psyche: running around the wheel…aren’t working strategically…all of us have to change…

Intellectually, I know this. But it doesn’t stick until I process it emotionally.

Are you impacted by the quote? If you are a funder, can you agree? If you are a nonprofit, can you relate?