I really appreciate everyone who tells us how much they enjoy Henderson County Now, our podcasts and my Top 5 lists. We live in an amazing community and should be very thankful. Here’s my Top 5 problems for nonprofits like the Cain Center, Keep Athens Beautiful, the Arboretum and a few others in town.

1. A business set up as a nonprofit will always have funding issues. When there is not a profit module, good-minded people that like to make a few sheckles will not completely engage and there will be a void. We can call the void lack of money if you want. The void can also be made up of failing to have a plan in place, failing to have the right people on a board, failure to appreciate the mission, failing to communicate effectively to your audience and the almighty failure to have enough money.

2. Giving money to a nonprofit is a luxury item. I know that in order to help the community, I need to make financial contributions to organizations that do great things. However, when I see that the nonprofit is somewhat befuddled, I think my money probably could be utilized better somewhere else. Telling me that you are going raise millions of dollars from a community that doesn’t have millions of dollars doesn’t lead me to believe that you are with the real world.

3. Sometimes it’s OK to say the way we have done things over and over has not been successful and it is simply time for a change. Am I scared of change? Absolutely. Is change inevitable? Absolutely. Time to buckle up, strap in and strip down the old way that isn’t working and bump through it until we find the procedure that works.

4. We may just have too many good-minded organizations. We’ve said for several years that we need a central depository of all the nonprofits. Setting up an email chain that allows each and every nonprofit to coordinate with each other throughout the county would be a huge first step. Most of us are on Facebook already, so it would not be that difficult.

5. This is where I show that I am the Master of the Obvious. If you read about the financial problems of the Cain Center, Keep Athens Beautiful or the Arboretum – commenting on Facebook without taking any action is not going to fix anything. You must take some action that fits in with the goals of the organization or at least be productive. Having a meeting after the fact to complain about a decision already in the books is a waste of time.

I enjoy being part of our community and being the publisher of HCN. I’m still optimistic that we can do some great things here. We just need to be on the same page.