Notes from the Left Coast

Drummond Pike’s Blog

There comes a time for every founder to leave the organization he or she began. When you are the founder, it can be difficult to know exactly when that time is. One’s perspective is always skewed at the top of an organization, and this is especially true with one that is as dynamic and diverse as Tides. For a host of good reasons, I’ve decided to initiate the process of stepping down as CEO of Tides. I expect to move onto new things after the search for a new CEO and a successful leadership transition have come to completion within the next year.

For over thirty-three years, I have lived and breathed this organization. I love very inch of it, and every soul who has contributed to its remarkable success over these years. It is a gift to have been able to work with such concentration and focus for such a long period of time. With that gift, we have achieved some remarkable things.

This is not to say I haven’t made my share of mistakes. I’ve made some doozies. But I’ve been blessed with a fabulous group of mentors who have served on our various boards over this time, and we’ve nurtured a frank, truth-telling relationship that has benefited me, and, I trust, the organization. At times, this has been hard on my colleagues, for whom more support and encouragement might have been welcome. But the occasional nudge from on high has inspired us to stretch and, even more importantly, helped us resist complacency.

Tides is, at its core, a collaborative enterprise. Everything we do is a partnership with dedicated people who care about the world around them. They place trust in us, and, in turn, we work from that trust to construct the very best contributions to sustainability and justice that we can conjure. We have also been able to avoid the organizational ‘calcification’ that so often occurs as organizations grow to scale. Taken as a whole, the Tides enterprise ranks as approximately the 95th largest operating charity in the US. It’s truly hard to believe that that is the case, but the numbers don’t lie. That we have been able to do so while remaining deeply committed to purpose and mission – often in ways that make folks with other sentiments blanch – is beyond wonderful. It is a blessing.

By far the most difficult thing about this transition will be leaving behind such a remarkable and talented staff. They have been the very best of colleagues – pushing the envelope, challenging convention, and creating together this thing we call Tides. This is equally true of our many donors, funders, projects, and tenants – the people with whom we partner in so many ways. They have taken us to places and experiences few might have imagined, and they have done so out of their passions for making this world a little bit better for our collective efforts. My gratitude to them is without measure.

I am looking forward to a next chapter in my life, though its prose has yet to be written. I know it won’t be far from the commitments and passions I’ve been following throughout my life, but maybe I’ll have a few extra minutes to rekindle my squash skills, grow a few grapes, or do an extra trip in the Grand Canyon. If the past is prologue, though, (thank you, William), that may be just a pipe dream. Work when mixed with passion demands much, but returns even more. And that is simply irresistible.

My uncle, Roy Pike, Jr., died in his late eighties. My brother and I sorted through his many effects after his passing in the course of which we discovered correspondence between Roy and his “special friend.” It served to confirm what everyone knew, but no one spoke about. Roy was gay. As with many in his generation, he remained steadfastly in the closet all his life, living much of it with my grandmother. He sold jewelry for Shreve & Co downtown, was an avid hiker and superb photographer, going on many Sierra Club trips. But he never openly spoke about his orientation, and he lived quietly ensconced in his generation’s not uncommon role of unattached male dinner partner in San Francisco’s social circles.

I don’t know that Roy was ever unhappy about his choices or his confined existence, but  When Harvey Milk was killed, I would think Roy felt the loss more profoundly than most, even though Milk was clearly at the other end of the spectrum as an “out” and at times flamboyant public figure. In retrospect, I am sad I never had a chance to talk with him about his experience of being gay in a hostile world. As the controversy erupted 17 years ago over “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military, I wonder what he would have said about his own experience in World War II when he met his friend in London. This is not to say he was a tragic figure, for he was not. He was an engaged, productive, and talented man who got a great deal of enjoyment out of life, limited as it was by social convention. But one wonders how it might have been different if he hadn’t been forced to live in the shadows.

Tides sponsors and supports the National Equality March scheduled for this weekend in Washington (http://equalityacrossamerica.org). This event will give voice to the very simple notion that we should all be equal under the law – the 14^th Amendment would appear to provide just that, but despite all the gains we have made, the LGBT community is still legally left out in the cold.

My kids have grown up in a very different world from that of their great uncle. To them, this whole argument is silly on its face. The idea that people should have the freedom to be with who they want is, to them, basic. That gay and lesbian people should be treated differently under our legal system just makes no sense. Clearly, the clock is ticking on those who are stuck in the mental model of my parents’ generation. But it’s going to be a long road with many hazards and obstacles before we arrive at a more generous and enlightened perspective about this very basic human right. Supporting the March seems like the least we straight people can do. Marching with the thousands of others expected, would be even better.

At Tides, we have long been on the receiving end of rightist critiques of our many activities and programs. Full of innuendo, remarkably bad conspiracy theories, untruths, and half-truths, their theory seems to be that our commitment to sustainability, human rights, and social justice makes us highly suspect at best, and downright anti-American at worst. The latest examples, of course, are these bizarre constructs being promoted by FOX’s Glenn Beck insinuating that Tides is promoting a communist and/or socialist agenda on the unsuspecting public according to a grand plan. It’s all part of the scorched earth approach that Paul Krugman alluded to in his recent column.

We’ve considered various ways of responding, legally and otherwise, and invariably receive the advice that its just better to continue on our way and not get bogged down in a fruitless effort to set the record straight.

While I’ve developed a fairly thick skin as a result of the frequent screed directed at us, and at me individually, I find myself deeply saddened by the condition of current social policy debate in this great country of ours. In all of our years of supporting progressive ideas and organizations, I don’t think we (Tides) ever lost respect for the views of others. And for most of our 33 years, conservatives have held the reins of government, and, until recently, the support of many voters. But in the tradition of a loyal opposition, we have always thought that advancing alternative views was central to the democratic process. It is in this spirit that we hosted the recent Momentum 2009 conference. Videos of all the speakers are available to all to view, consider, and, if moved, comment upon, in the hopes of fostering intelligent dialog about solutions to the difficult problems of our day. There is no secret agenda. We simply invite an open exchange of ideas. The question is, though, is that still possible?

There are many voices, particularly in some corners of the broadcasting world, that seem to believe the best way to prevail is to silence your counterparts by trashing them personally, often without any factual basis. Just bully them out of the way. I’ve been on the receiving end of this, in my small way, as a result of this blog. One recent comment gives a flavor of what one can expect these days: “Hey, Drummond, how’s it feel to be hit on the head with a shovel? Get used to it. There’s more coming.”

I’m too old to have my feelings hurt by such things, but it is a sad thing to see that our political discourse has dropped into the gutter in this way. Much in the tradition of “yellow journalism” practiced in the late 1800’s, the anonymity of the Internet invites extremists to vent. In response, many simply cringe. And, as we have seen recently in Kansas, some resort to violence.

Politics has always been a rough and tumble game, not for the faint of heart. But during most of my adult life, there has always been a parallel experience where rational minds come together to wrestle out where the common ground lies. In the best cases, they try to develop palatable solutions that most can agree upon. Many would argue this has been the source of much human progress. While I’d not argue that progressives start in that middle ground, the gargantuan problems facing us in so many realms suggest that we need to find this path as we seek the solutions we so desperately need to find.

Irving Kristol’s passing reminds us all of the tradition that he founded that many call “neo-conservatism.” In his approach, and that of William F. Buckley and perhaps our generation’s David Brooks, intellectual rigor, rational thought, and facts mattered in constructing conservative positions and proposals. Propaganda and character assassination had no place. Buckley, for instance, would face off against smart people with differing views in the most intelligent exchanges one can imagine. Quoted in a Salon.com article a decade ago, Kristol’s son William said this about Buckley, “Buckley really believes that in order to convince, you have to debate and not just preach, which of course means risking the possibility that someone will beat you in debate.”

Fatalists sometimes argue that the rising seas will put out the fires of human conflict and the few survivors will have no choice but to cooperate or die. Even the figuratively shovel-wielding commenter noted above might agree that civil discussion has some merit in contrast, especially if we can actually begin to work together to solve humanity’s problems.

After a couple of days to recover from Momentum 2009, Tides’ terrific conference on ideas for progressives…

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, on Green For AllJohn A Powell, on Opportunity and Race

Manuel Pastor, on Majority-Minority Economics

Jacquette M. Timmons, on the Economic Collapse…I returned from the mountains Sunday to the normal backlog of hundreds of emails, calls, and correspondence – all demanding attention. Somehow, I missed the Fox sting operation (Correction, 9/18/2009: The incident I’ve referred to was not a “Fox sting operation” as I wrote. Fox did not create the video, they broadcasted it. Several individuals unconnected with Fox shot the video) on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) that has been raging through the airwaves. What a story. A couple of “gotcha journalists” posing as a pimp and a prostitute sought financial and housing help from one of ACORN’s many offices around the country that serve the poorest of the poor. And they found one or two where part-time counselors with poor judgment were taken in and supposedly tried to help them game the system. It would be interesting, of course, to see what would happen if they had similarly set up “stings” with payday lenders, tax refund lenders, and other parasites out there who prey on the poor, but Fox, with an ideological agenda to reduce its antagonists to their knees went after ACORN.That the secret taping violated laws and ethics seems overlooked and, to most, irrelevant. The immediate firing of the employees by ACORN also seems unimportant to most. What matters is the smear – very successful, very American. To be associated with a scandal, even one invented for the sole purpose of harming an organization of poor people, not to mention one that is not real, is the door to obscurity in American social and political life, and ACORN, according to some, is headed through that door.I wonder how many nonprofit organizations – even big, well-heeled ones like the Nature Conservancy or the Red Cross – could withstand the kind of media assault and unscrupulous tactics deployed by Fox? I doubt many could. Night after night, the Fox mouthpieces babble on about ACORN. According to them, it’s some incredible scramble of a fascistic criminal enterprise foisting communism and socialism on an unsuspecting public. And people buy this drivel. The Senate yesterday passes a bill to ban ACORN from funding they use to counsel low-income people on housing as a result. One fake prostitute and pimp has managed to do what Bill Riley and Glenn Beck couldn’t do for a decade.

Of course, in the ways of modern media wars, it matters not that ACORN was decrying predatory lending (read subprime insanity) for years before the meltdown. Yes, they believed banks should lend to low income people, but no, they argued strenuously that subprime perpetrators should be prevented from issuing loans that were unaffordable to the low income borrowers. If regulators and Senators had listened to them, we might have avoided the entire mess. But Fox has a better idea: kill the messenger.

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It’s only been a week since we called to order the 2009 Momentum Leadership Conference that began 2 and a half days of non-stop exploration by some four hundred intrepid progressive donors and leaders from across the country. And, no, Stephen Colbert never did show up, the chicken. We’ve been trying to figure out how to superimpose a flapping chicken over his overused, and decidedly undeserved, eagle. Know any video hackers out there?

More seriously, the Conference exceeded our expectations remarkably. People came, people listened, and then people engaged on a panoply of topics from climate change to the economy to the role of race in America. The idea of Momentum is to provide a venue for some of the best, most innovative, thinking emerging from the progressive community. With this in mind, I was asked many times did I think we had succeeded. My answer? It was a simple, “you tell me. Did you meet someone you didn’t know, hear about something new and exciting to you, and did you come away with a different perspective on a topic of interest to you? If the answer was yes to any of those questions, we succeeded. If the answer was yes to ALL of those, then we are happy beyond measure.”

We’re fortunate to have partnered with FORA.tv which has been diligent and quick to post the videos of the 20 minute talks. Here are three of my favorites: Larry Mishel, who heads up the Economic Policy Institute in DC, gave one of the most cogent, coherent analyses of the economic meltdown and what we need to do about it. Just brilliant. Second, Kate Kendall spoke about the freedom to marry in the most compelling way I’ve heard. Finally, Sony Kapoor held forth about the abuses in the international financial sector, and the prescriptions to the problem, in terrific form.

A special evening greeted the participants seven nights ago: Alexis McGill interviewed Congresswoman Donna Edwards and NAACCP President Ben Jealous on the challenges facing young, emerging leadership in the African American community. It was a frank, earthy conversation that had the room buzzing.

We are now beginning to think about the next round. I hope you will suggest speakers, topics, ideas, and tools that you think we should feature at Momentum 2010. Email me at drummond@tides.org or post a comment here.

A LETTER TO VAN…

Dear Van,

Thanks for taking one for the team. It is so unbelievably absurd to experience the power of the rightwing attack machine, especially when what you are doing is so basically decent, and smart, and intended to help everyone, even the morons who went after you.

We know one thing about dealing with these people. Facts don’t matter. Fear matters. Whatever they can do to twist things to make you into a scary force intent on destroying our way of life, they will do. And they will do it in what Charles Blow so aptly describes as “talking in bumper stickers.” These are the same people who deride the President as being racist, who belittle anyone who tries to address global warming or poverty (not to mention healthcare), and who have literally nothing to offer other than wild conspiracy theories of a vast leftwing plot, though a plot to do what is always vague.

Now that you have stepped down, I wonder whose turn it will be next for the sick game of character assassination directed at pretty much anyone advancing ideas of social justice or sustainability. I agree with many of the voices responding to your resignation – it’s time we stand up against the McCarthyism and hateful speech that’s being thrown our way – and especially yours. It is un-American and anti-democratic.

Anyway, here’s to you and all you stand for in this world. I know you will land somewhere very soon doing critically important work. In the meantime, sleep, rest, and play with the kids. While we all know you didn’t leave to “spend time with the family”, it’s not such a bad idea.

All the best, my friend
Drummond

I sit here watching two high performance sailboats getting ready to race on this crystal clear day in San Francisco. It’s a wonderful time of year in the late summer, when the fog retreats and the people come out to the shore. Absolutely glorious. But me? I’m hunkered down in front of my screen trying to sort through my opening remarks for Momentum, our fourth conference highlighting the best of new ideas to advance progressive public policy.

Don Hazen, the character who conceived of and has built AlterNet, the wonderful aggregator of progressive news and commentary, has asked me a couple of provocative questions about Momentum. Several revolved around the idea that progressives are confused about how to speak to the new Administration. Are we supporters or critics? Have we already been so burned by the healthcare debate that we are ready to turn on the new team, or what? He wanted to know if our conference, very nearly sold out, much to our surprise in this most difficult of years, was going to answer some of these questions.

As I told him in response, that’s not really our role. First, the progressive community is larger — much larger — than the 300 plus folks who will assemble on Monday afternoon at the W (SF). One would have to be seriously delusional to think we might speak for the entire progressive community, although to hear Glenn Beck talk about us, well maybe we do! However, I digress.

News people, like Hazen, want a story, and they are very good at getting them. At Momentum, though, we are looking for what might become a story in the future. All good political stories begin with ideas that somehow take flight, get traction, and sometimes become policies, or at least political fights about policy, that really are newsworthy. At Momentum, we concentrate on the ideas. Last year, for instance, Jacob Hacker held forth on the transition from our current broken healthcare system and argued brilliantly for an approach that saw a "public option" as a pivotal tool that would help move the chances for change forward. Little did he know that his "compromise" position might so quickly have become the lightning rod for the debate we see this year.

One voice on this year’s program that should be galvanizing is Sony Kapoor from Europe. He will be talking in very direct and compelling ways about the critical need for international financial reform, picking up from last year’s speaker Rob Johnson who sharply depicted an "oligopoly" comprised of 6 firms that traded derivatives among themselves while telling all it was a "marketplace." Some of us, of course, wish we’d paid just a tad more attention to Johnson. We could have avoided much of the meltdown, but that’s another story. Kapoor, who worked in the belly of the beast, will describe how the problem is really much bigger than the U.S. Solving it, needless to say, will take more than reforms in Washington. And speaking of that fair city, we’ll also be hearing from Laura Quinn about Catalist, one of the most important new tools for progressive advocacy and voter engagement groups in a generation. Then, early Wednesday, we’re delighted to have John Kao (author of Innovation Nation) talk about what is needed to truly foster imagination and innovation in society. It’s all going to be quite a ride.

So, this all is probably not a very good answer to Mr. Hazen, but what I can assure him is that if he spends a couple of days next week with us, he will likely take away more than a few ideas that he probably hasn’t heard before. For change really to happen, isn’t that where it all begins?

I came to Yokohama, the historical port for Tokyo, to give a talk about our new GreenSpace enterprise to support development of new green, Nonprofit Centers. The occasion is the “TBLI” (Triple Bottom Line) Conference that occurs regularly each year in Europe and Asia.

The trip turned into a wonderful opportunity to reprise my time in Japan nine years ago, lecturing to those active in the nascent movement to create a nonprofit sector in Japan. A new law was passed in 1998 creating the possibility for these corporate structures which hadn’t previously existed in Japan. Since, there have been three refinements in the law, and there is much work being done to expand the applicability for tax deductibility. Only some 300 NPO’s are deductible out of the 36,000 that have been formed, and there are other aspects to the question of establishing clear boundaries for appropriate NPO activity in the advocacy sphere. It’s a vibrant time in this small sector of Japanese social landscape, and it holds so much potential.

One of the most interesting conversations I had was with Professor Kanji Tanimoto and a small seminar group at Hitotsubashi University (in Tokyo) comprised mainly of executives with multi-nationals and banks (Microsoft, HSBC, etc.). We spent a good deal of time talking about Katherine Fulton’s premise that the for-profit and nonprofit sectors are converging toward each other. The old paradigm where business really ONLY cared about the bottom line is giving way to a new paradigm where success in business may in fact be more linked to practices that incorporate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) aspects into HOW businesses do business. In Japan, it would seem, the NPO sector can play a role in working with businesses to embrace this emerging awareness.

This discussion was a wonderful connector back to the TBLI Conference that had brought me to Japan in the first place. More on that in another blog post.  Let it suffice to say that while our friends on the right continue to see Tides and progressives in a very limited light, there is an expanding and fascinating world out there in the business community that ties together strands of creative private enterprise and deep commitments to addressing social justice and global sustainability. The inanity – and occasional tragedy (witness the assassination of Dr. Tiller) – of the right / left divide simply must give way to a new synthesis.

Japan has unique characteristics as a society – a very different and non-western society – that may enable it to make significant contributions to this evolving possibility. A more homogeneous society, Japanese have the ability to forge a new consensus and move quickly to pursue implications of a changing awareness.

As we celebrate the dawn of a new day in Washington, change is happening in other places as well. One – Vancouver, BC – elected a new mayor just days after President Obama was elected. I think you will find his Inaugural Address, copied below, deeply inspiring.

Gregor Robertson stepped down two years ago from the Tides Canada Board before running for the Provincial Legislature, prior to the Mayoral race, but he is an honored friend and great supporter. Like Obama, he is a confirmed and deeply committed family man, and he shares an openness to new ideas, many traditions, and fresh approaches. It’s really worth a read….

“Deep Local

Welcome. We’re gathered today in the traditional territory of the Coast Salish people, and I want to begin by thanking them.

As we honour one tradition, we renew another: bringing the inauguration out of City Hall and into the community.

I want to thank the residents of South Vancouver for welcoming us all to the Sunset Community Centre. This is one of my favourite places in the city, beautifully designed by Vancouver architect Bing Thom. His design draws on our farming history, as well as our cultural diversity and the grid of our streets and avenues today. But it’s also open: to the people, to the community, to the future. It’s one of Vancouver’s greenest buildings. I can’t imagine a better place to begin this new chapter in our city’s story. (more…)

As I reflect back on this past week, realizing it will rest in history in ways we probably can’t fully imagine at present, I notice that I haven’t written about the emotional dimension of the experience of Obama’s election. In large part, that is because Wednesday morning’s glow was shattered by a tragedy here at Tides, and as buoyant as one might feel about the election of the first African American to the presidency, the passing of an honored colleague had a deeper, more resounding tone for many of us.

Like the President-elect, Helen Carter Lee was African American, and like him, she was born in the mid-west to good stock and an extended family that is mourning her deeply even as they may feel uplifted by the election. But unlike Mr. Obama, Helen didn’t lead a life of privileged education followed by an ascending ladder of leadership opportunities. But she acquired skills by dint of will and became an accomplished accountant. She worked for Tides tirelessly for 15 years or more – so long, I can’t recall where she came from before signing on. But from the day she showed up at 1388 Sutter Street, she put her head down and did the work. She was one of those critical people in any organization who simply do the work, whatever is asked of them.

In most organizations, the finance office is where the glory never is but any problems, if they occur, inevitably start. So, Helen was one of those who didn’t seek attention, but instead worked tirelessly to make sure those inevitable problems were few and far between.  We’d never have experienced the growth we have over the years without Helen and her peers.

Helen made me smile, virtually every time I saw her. More often than not, she’d say, “You need a hug!” and I never turned her down. Somehow, she always knew that I did, and she also knew that CEO’s can never ask. No, she’d just do it, roles be damned. She was a woman of great compassion, which I suppose explains why she and Tides fit together so well and for so long. Our work is to support others working for social change. We believe we can make the world a better place, and even in the dark times of recent years, we just kept on trying. Helen’s attitude kept us aware of the half full glass of promise that defined our work.

As President Obama prepares to take office, there will be a great deal of jostling and sharp elbows as those that want to help steer the ship angle for positions of influence. He will need many of those people to help bring about the change that has been the theme of his campaign. But he will also need people like Helen. People who don’t need position or title, but who just want to work to help things be better out there, especially for people in need. He will need people like Helen who just put their heads down and get the work done. And he will need people like Helen who won’t be intimidated by his office, who will speak to him honestly and directly about things he may not want to hear, and who will give him a hug that he needs, but cannot ask for.

Helen departed on the day Barack Obama was elected. We will miss her more than these or any other words could say.