My grandson and I were climbing the little fence into a park the other day while my three year old granddaughter ducked under it and of course she beat us in and had time to spot a small stick in the stump of a tree. Stirring it around in there as I was still approaching her resulted in a cloud of angry hornets which punished both of us as we shrieked and slapped at ourselves and my grandson watched in wonder. I had to literally peel one off of the butt of poor little Ruthie’s sweat pants.

Anyway – she cried for a while more out of the immediate pain and trauma of it all while I stayed stoic and developed a huge red welt on my foot that stayed with me for two weeks. But I survived and have a fabulous memory of the whole of that day – hornets and all.

So it is with the sting of things. We all handle it differently.

I have noticed that too many people in nonprofits and philanthropy are allergic to the sting of conflict especially when it is with those we perceive to have power over us but that can lead to the equivilant of our sitting alone in a padded room. We really have to get out there and brave those hornets once in a while.

Anyway, Here is a little hornet stirring by Prentice Zinn who is a colleague at the long standing and august shop of Grants Management Associates in the form of an article entitled “Strategic Philanthropy: Who Wins and Who Loses?” It is one of those pieces that has been recirculated many times already by readers so we wanted to make sure you saw it also.

And, look, maybe my metaphor is a little thin but let it go because I had to use the story!