Maybe we need a reformation , not a revival. Keep the rituals of care, but embrace the tools of now. Keep the long-term faith, but report honestly on short-term stumbles.
Here’s a draft post that explores the concept of "Gamla NP Religion" — a reflective, slightly analytical take for a forum, blog, or social media thread. The Old NP Religion: What We’ve Lost (and Gained) Since the Golden Age of Non-Profits
So, what was the Old NP Religion?
The gatekeeping. The unspoken rule that you had to be wealthy to intern. The slowness that sometimes became paralysis. The resistance to any data that made us uncomfortable.
Gamla — old, in Swedish and other Nordic languages. Not ancient, but not new. Something that belonged to a previous era of non-profit work, roughly pre-2010, maybe pre-COVID. And religion — because it wasn’t just a job. It was a doctrine. gamla np religion
What about you — do you remember the “Gamla NP religion”? Do you still practice it? Or are you glad it’s gone?
There’s a quiet nostalgia creeping into conversations among long-time fundraisers, program directors, and NGO workers. We’re starting to whisper about what I’ve started calling the Maybe we need a reformation , not a revival
Not entirely. But it’s in diaspora. You see fragments of it in community foundations, in small rural NGOs, in fundraisers who still insist on birthday cards to every monthly donor.