You’ve heard it before: two heads are better than one. I say, two heads are ALWAYS better than one.
Last fall, I bought my daughter a playhouse for our backyard. It was one of those huge wooden structures that the store had to roll to my car on a hand truck. I had to figure a way to fit it into my vehicle and, when I arrived home, get creative dragging it around to the back of my home. I opened the box excited to assemble the house. I organized all the parts and pieces, grabbed the directions, and my excitement grew when I saw it would take only two to three hours to put this whole playhouse together.
Three days later, my enthusiasm was nonexistent. I was still working to complete the project. I reviewed the directions again to see where in the world things went wrong. Underneath the suggested timeframe, the fine print noted: “with at least two people.”
Art Taylor, President and CEO of BBB Wise Giving Alliance (WGA), challenges the charity and social sector to ponder this concept: How grand of a transformation can take place when two minds come together to solve the complexity of a great mission? How much more can be done? How much more extraordinary can the impact be?
“I think that we would have exponentially more innovation and solutions to our problems—exponentially greater outcomes,” Taylor shares.
Taylor’s passion fueling this conversation on collaboration stems from the fact that there isn’t a nonprofit in existence today whose charge doesn’t entail working tirelessly to solve critical issues and accomplish a mission that will alter life as we all know it. The undertakings of these organizations are so massive, their influence, in comparison, is minute.
However, imagine what can take place when nonprofits join forces, combine their efforts, and come together with a common purpose for a common good. If they are moving mountains today, with collaboration we can expect them to shift entire continents with their impact.
WGA has launched an incredible movement called Advancing Collaboration. Taylor is asking organizations in the charity and social space to go beyond agreeing with him about collaboration being a smart strategic move to pledging to be active participants in the movement. In partnership with incredible charities and nonprofits, WGA hosts the Advancing Collaboration series, offering up wonderful content to help leaders in this sector understand what collaboration looks like, how to identify and overcome barriers, and what to consider when leaping into this pool.
Visit WGA’s Advancing Collaboration website to become familiar with this movement and learn how your organization can participate.
It is essential to collaborate with others. In my solo effort to do good by surprising my daughter, I failed to accomplish my mission in time because I had only my two hands and one mind. If the world around us today is teaching us anything, it’s that it is more fun and most impactful when we erase dividing lines and come together to do our life’s work.
We want to make this world a better place. Let’s not attempt to do so alone!
Enjoy the full interview with Art Taylor in our latest issue of TRUSTED.