She stood at the edge of the abyss, the blinding darkness engulfing her, enticing her. It would be easy to let go, to wither away and join him. Her arms felt numb, and her powerful legs were weak. Violent tremors traveled up and down her body. A small compelling hand, wet with tears, tugged on her arm. “What will we do now?” a quavering voice whispered. She opened her eyes. The sky was a cerulean blue, and the blazing sun was beating on her torn straw hat, casting a slender shadow on the spring green rice fields. Her rapid heart was calmed by a wind that caressed her cheek. To her dead husband, to her children, to Vietnam, she dropped the condolence letter, and with her feet firmly planted on the ground, said, “We will live.”

To say it was easy is an understatement. Raising five kids as a single mother, in a country where women are expected to be docile, seemed infeasible. “I was taught at a young age that men were the head of the household, they were the heroes of the family,” Diep Ngo, aged 80, recalls sadly, her eyes distant. “I felt helpless. My brothers were charting new paths, while I was still, unable to move.” With a suppressed sob, Ngo recounts that at the twilight hour, she would drown with dark thoughts, but every morning when the sun rose, they would be vanquished. The roosters were the reveille that awakened her slumber, her empty stomach was the battle cry, and the last words of hope from her departed beloved, the mantra that carried her on. 

The war took its toll on the civilians of Vietnam; it was a disease that plagued families with deaths and injuries. Young girls were jailbirds, kept busy looking after their younger siblings, torn rags their striped attire and restrictions the bars of their prison. Dreams were locked away, replaced by the basic needs crucial to survival. Even so, when asked if she would take part in the war that claimed her husband, Ngo, her mouth in a straight line and her eyes ablaze, adamantly nodded. Raising both arms until her fists were level with her head, she mustered a grimace. Her nose crinkled and teeth bared, but her eyes sparkled with humor. “Do you think anyone would’ve thought twice about taking me on?”

Scraping bits and pieces of broken memories from her childhood, Ngo recalls that the only freedom she truly had was that from the pressures of education. “I never did well in school. Women were not expected to accomplish anything, so it was highly unusual for a women to achieve higher education.” Now, it seems clear that this supposed freedom transformed itself into another burden upon her shoulders, for she had to take on menial tasks when drafted into the position of “man.” For the first time in her life, she left the cage built by the patriarchal society and refused wealthy suitors. “They were bloated with pride… I would never submit to any man like that.” Ngo was ridiculed by her neighbors as a result, but she felt a strange sensation, absent from her life ever since the fateful, disappointed sigh that accompanied the doctor declaring her gender 80 years ago: the jewel of independence.

“As their father was gone, I had to step into the role of the provider. Oh, what a burden it was, but the power and purpose it gave me fueled the sleepless nights.”

Before the age of 30, her long, black hair turned a platinum gray, and impending wrinkles scarred her face as the war robbed her of youth. A moment to weep or reconcile with memories of loved ones was lost in the present.

“Losing my husband was truly hard, but myself, and other women of Vietnam, had to choke back grief and look to the future,” she remarked. Leaving the house militarily before the sun rose and coming back well after the crescent moon silently loomed in the sky, the only thing Ngo regrets is not spending as much time with her children. But, what she had to do was necessary, as every day was a battle. Even so, how could she explain to them the rough calluses on her hands, which toiled tirelessly, tending the infested wounds left after the hungry bullets pierced the heart of Vietnam? How could she explain yet another outline of a large palm on her red cheek, this time from an angry customer, unsatisfied by the knee-length trousers she had spent all night mending?

Through it all, she remained an eternal warrior, whose struggles rivaled those of men fighting raging wars. Diep Ngo battled gender inequality and injustice, all while leading her family through desperate times. An old poem by Xuân Diệu filled her thoughts as America, the land of rebirth and opportunities, slowly emerged on the horizon: “Your feet have hardly tread round this way… Open your arms to clasp the spring, then from your hand let there be light” (translated by Thomas D. Le). And for the first time since her husband’s death, she welcomed the moist tears, for the valiant soldier’s burden had been lifted. Her dauntless mission was complete. 

I’m forever grateful for her valiant decision to bypass social stereotypes and become a sort-of soldier, leading her family to survival, to new opportunities, to an education, to happiness, to America. It’s a natural, humane feeling that is respectful of the wisdom, the strength, and the sacrifices of the old. Every evening, after the tiring cycle of school, I retreat back into my place of comfort: my grandmother’s arms, and for the past 17 years, her past life was but a false, beautiful painting, rid of pain and hardships and suffering. That one night, under a blanket of softly twinkling stars, I retraced her hands, touching them, caressing them, tracing her old, calloused, scarred fingers and her bulging veins, to finally realize the truth: that there was so much I didn’t know about my hero.

Wolf (1999) notes that a nonprofit organization is neither in the profit sector nor in the public sector but sits somewhere between the two. This position allows the nonprofit great flexibility in its operation but requires great skill in its management. Nonprofit organizations have characteristics of profit and public organizations. Wolf defines nonprofit organizations as “those legally constituted, nongovernmental entities incorporated under state law as charitable or not-for-profit corporations that have been set up to serve some public purpose and are tax exempt.” All nonprofit organizations must have the following characteristics:

• They must have a public service mission-their main goal must be to serve others, not themselves.

• They must be organized as a not-for-profit or charitable corporation-they must formally claim to be non-profit.

• Their governance structure must preclude self interest and private financial gain-this goes back to the first characteristic in that the organization’s main goal is to serve people.

• They must be exempt from paying federal tax.

• They must possess the special legal status that stipulates gifts made to them are tax-deductible.

It is obvious that the nonprofit sector has expanded dramatically over the past few years, so has public scrutiny over the sector. Governance is needed to ensure that the organization is providing services that are permitted within the legal system and the bylaws and to ensure that the organization does not permit fraud, potential abuse, and violations of the expectations of the public. Governance of a nonprofit can be defined as the ultimate authority, accountability, and responsibility for an organization (Ott 2001). Leadership, such as the board, is important in the nonprofit sector because it is governed through a complex set of functional roles and procedures that are defined in laws and tax codes that differ from those for the public and for-profit sector. The board is responsible for policies, procedures, financial outcomes, and ensuring that the mission of the organization is being implemented and accomplished to the best of the organization’s ability to serve its target population or general public.

There are some challenges that nonprofit organizations face in our modern societies. The first major challenge for a nonprofit organization is articulating a clear public service mission. A nonprofit organization is required by law to limit its activities to those articulated in the mission statement, so the mission statement must be broad enough to cover all possible activities. The mission statement must also guide the direction of the organization’s programs, services, and activities. In addition, a mission statement may require review and revision over time. For example, an arts council can begin with a mission to develop, foster, and promote the arts, and then develop a stronger mission statement that provides detailed plans for programs and activities, such as working with the school district to develop art education programs, and seeking funds from state, federal, and private sources.

The second major challenge is risk/survival analysis: the search for the proper balance between organizational extension and risk-taking, and organizational security. Engaging in risk/survival analysis means having an understanding of what should and should never be compromised, always being cognizant of the mission and whether or not daily activities or decisions are in harmony with that mission. This challenge identifies a great dilemma for nonprofit organizations: whether it is more important to ensure survival of the organization or to stay true to the mission. There is no easy answer. To meet this challenge, the organization must continually plan, analyze future options (both practical and idealistic), and debate the pros and cons of each option.

The third major challenge facing a nonprofit organization is constituency identification and involvement. Identifying and involving the constituency entails having a working knowledge of the clientele you desire to serve. This must not be too narrow or too broad. The nonprofit organization must establish a concise identification of its constituency in order to avoid problems in this area. The organization must identify the group that it seeks to serve, and then must create a structure that supports a commitment to that group. To meet this challenge, the organization must have a well-defined understanding of its constituency, seek to involve the constituency at all levels of the organization (particularly at the trustee level), and provide programs and activities that reflect a commitment to the constituency.

The fourth major challenge is testing for organized abandonment: that is, disbanding that is the result of careful deliberation, rather than unplanned events, such as financial crisis or management problems. In order to meet this challenge, the organization must have a clearly defined mission, establish criteria for evaluation of the mission, and have a formal system to determine whether or not the mission is relevant and effective. The organization must examine whether or not its mission is obsolete or if other organizations are more effective in achieving its mission.

In conclusion, nonprofit organizations go where other organizations fear to tread. Nonprofits eagerly work with the most disadvantaged members of society-the homeless, the hungry, the ill, and the befuddled. Nonprofits fill the gaps in society-consider the thousands of charter schools that have sprung up to provide a genuine alternative, most frequently for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Nonprofits extend and even function as government service-providers: how would most governmental social service agencies function if not by contracting out to tens of thousands of nonprofit service providers. Think too of the thousands of neighborhood associations that knit together their communities, and sometimes act indistinguishably from chartered governments. Nonprofits help people find meaning-both through quiet worship and organizing millions of people to do “good deeds.” People who want to “do something, to give back to society” sometimes do so through governments, but most do so through nonprofits. Millions of volunteers contribute and share in the nonprofit sector. Finally, unlike the other sectors, the nonprofit sector does not start out by asking how much money can be made, or where the money is going to come from; no, the nonprofit sector asks what the need is and how to fulfill the need. Only then does it seek strategies to support the social needs it discovers. Although by nature humble, it is the nonprofit sector that makes our complex and frequently materialistic and even selfish society, humane, purposeful, and cohesive. The private sector may provide the engine of growth and a quality of life; the public sector may organize us and keep the private sector in line; but it is the nonprofit sector that is our heart, our soul, and our spirit as a society.

References

• Ott, J. Steven (ed.), Understanding Nonprofit Organizations: Governance, Leadership, and Management, Westview Press, Boulder, CO: 2001.
• Wolf, Thomas, Managing a Nonprofit Organization in the Twenty-First Century, Simon & Schuster, New York: 1999.