Anyone who has known me for more than a minute knows I love donkeys so much that I have five of them. Real live donkeys. They’re fabulous, and donkeys and nonprofits share a lot in common.

Donkeys and Nonprofits

Donkeys and nonprofits are very similar. First of all, they are completely misunderstood. They’re incredibly hardy, intelligent, affectionate, sometimes opinionated, relational animals. Thinking of them as inferior versions of horses is like, well, thinking of nonprofits as inferior versions of commercial enterprises. Frustrating and ridiculous.

Donkeys, like nonprofits, do a lot more for a lot less. They carry loads disproportionate to their size. They are desert animals, used to scraping by and seeing scrub brush as a delicious asset when it seems like a prickly bush to most others. And whew, can they stretch a calorie — even though they don’t want to — just like nonprofits are generally excellent at making do with less money than their corporate equivalents might need.

True, donkeys are sometimes stubborn (as am I), but they’re also aware. Those great big ears pick up on a lot that mine miss. Donkeys can even use their eyes separately to watch two different things, or use them as humans do — like binoculars. They see foxes in the field and hear coyotes behind the barn when I don’t. I’ve learned to watch where they look and where they point their ears if I want to know what’s going on way down at the edge of the woods. They also pick up on my mood, watching me and sensing what I need. Being with them can tell me a lot about what’s going on inside me, and what’s going on in the larger context — if I am ready to listen.

When a Donkey Shows You She’s Sick, Act Fast

Donkeys have made it to my Medium at this moment because they are incredibly stalwart animals. They keep going under often challenging — even cruel — circumstances. They make do and adjust, even when we would assume they’d kick or run away (they rarely do). Perhaps because they’ve been creatures at the margins of deserts and human endeavor, they are survivors who are loyal and don’t want to leave jobs undone. We can think of the humans who provide food and shelter for these donkeys as funders in this little metaphor1. Some are over-controlling, some indulgent, some neglectful, some attentive, attuned and responsive. After 5,000 years of donkey domestication, there’s an enmeshment that human caretakers can afford to underestimate but that donkeys really can’t.

Read the full article about donkeys and nonprofits by Katya Fels Smyth at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.