March 22 1987  The Mobro 4000 left Islip, NY, with 3,000 tons of trash, on the way to a dump in Morehead City, North Carolina.  First a TV new crew in Morehead City, then local politicians, raised a fuss, and the barge was sent further south.  Various ports on the east coast of the US said, "No."  The Mexican Navy denied it entrance to their waters. The barge made it as far as Belize, and was again rejected, before turning around.  When it got back to New York, it was greeted by a temporary restraining order and a heated legal battle. In October, the trash was finally incinerated in Brooklyn and the resulting ash was buried in Islip, where it originated.

Isn't this a great morality tale about the difficulty of getting rid of garbage? Mental, as well as physical, garbage, tends to come back and bite.

Here are some examples of mental garbage that I have heard from non profit executives. Actual, verbatim quotes. 

• "Our founder is not interested in building an organization, she is interested in the mission."
• "If I am going to prostitute myself, I sure want to get more than $500 out of a visit."
• "We don't raise money from individual donors - we get money from events."
• "I can't ask for money.  In my family you might ask your brother how much he paid for a car, but you certainly wouldn't ask your first cousin."
• "Rich people wouldn't be interested in our mission." 
• "We need to hire a fund raiser -- someone who can walk on water."

The barge-worthy attitudes range from "Fund raisers are a super-human race," to "Fund raisers are a sub-human race."  Just as the available space for physical garbage is diminishing around the world, the possibility of finding a place to stash mental throwaways is shrinking as well.  The garbage is going to come back, and it is going to smell even worse.

If your organization's horizons are cluttered with refuse, give me a call.  Let's start a compost pile.