{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreicmq7kezghfhxhzihle6fzaurepnjuvpg2t2f7cxmqqar6yjfmime",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:fe6ydbick5alf7u56zhirzmz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdqihccktn72"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreiepwr3iww6itthoerxttec6gceswfq27acfvac67wzgdw2csxoyne"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/png",
    "size": 115487
  },
  "description": "A board member recently started calling our organization \"scrappy.\" They meant it as a compliment, they assured me. And I do think there's something to celebrate there—we're resourceful, persistent, rough around the edges in all the right ways.\n\nBut I've been sitting with that word. And the more I sit with it, the more I wonder what it's actually saying.\n\n\nFraming: The Power of a Single Word\n\nLet's start here, because naming things matters. When someone calls you \"scrappy,\" they're framing your ",
  "path": "/scrappy-what-a-board-members-word-choice-reveals/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-01-31T18:53:17.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.emilybc.com",
  "textContent": "A board member recently started calling our organization \"scrappy.\" They meant it as a compliment, they assured me. And I do think there's something to celebrate there—we're resourceful, persistent, rough around the edges in all the right ways.\n\nBut I've been sitting with that word. And the more I sit with it, the more I wonder what it's actually saying.\n\n## Framing: The Power of a Single Word\n\nLet's start here, because naming things matters. When someone calls you \"scrappy,\" they're framing your organization in a particular way.\n\nScrappy can mean resourceful, creative, willing to do more with less. I'll take that.\n\nBut scrappy also carries weight: cheap. Uncouth. A little annoying. Unsophisticated. The thing you use when you can't afford the real thing. The approach that works  _for now_ but won't scale. The scrappy startup that will eventually need to \"grow up\" and do things the  _right_ way.\n\nThat's a framing choice. And it matters.\n\n## Questioning: What Assumptions Are Embedded Here?\n\nWhen someone calls your nonprofit \"scrappy,\" what assumption are they making?\n\nThey're assuming that there's a \"right way\" to do this work—probably the way well-funded organizations do it. They're assuming that scrappiness is a phase, not a feature. They're assuming that constraints are creative problems to be solved, not creative catalysts.\n\nBut here's what I want to question: Is more money the answer? Is the \"real\" version of our work sitting somewhere in a well-funded future where we finally have enough resources to stop being scrappy? Or is scrappiness sometimes just... how good work gets done in the world?\n\nSome of the most innovative organizations I know operate on constraint. They have to. And they're not waiting to be \"real\" someday—they're being real right now, with what they have.\n\n## Observing: What's Actually Happening\n\nLet me observe what we're actually doing, separate from the word someone else chose.\n\nWe're solving problems with limited budget. We're calling in favors. We're doing things in unconventional ways because conventional ways cost money we don't have. We're moving fast. We're learning as we go.\n\nAnd it works. Our impact metrics are solid. Our team is engaged. We're growing.\n\nSo when that board member calls us scrappy, are they observing resourcefulness? Or are they observing underfunding and translating it into a word that makes them feel better about it?\n\nMaybe both.\n\n## Reflecting: What Am I Actually Uncomfortable With?\n\nLet me be honest about my own reaction.\n\nPart of me is proud of being scrappy. Part of me bristles at it. And I think the bristling comes from this: There's a whiff of condescension in the word. A \"isn't it cute how they're making do\" quality. Like we're doing well  _for a scrappy nonprofit_ , which implies there's a higher tier we're not quite reaching.\n\nAnd maybe that's unfair to the board member. Maybe I'm reading into it. But that's also exactly why language matters. Because even well-intentioned words can carry subtle messages about hierarchy, professionalism, and whether someone is seeing you as you actually are or as a diminished version of something else.\n\n## Grounding: What Values Are We Actually Living?\n\nHere's where I want to push back on the framing.\n\nIf we ground ourselves in our actual values, what's the honest assessment? We're operating with limited resources because we're mission-driven, not profit-driven. We're making strategic choices about where money goes. We're lean by design, not by accident.\n\nThat's not scrappy. That's disciplined.\n\nBut the word \"scrappy\" lets everyone—including the board member—avoid the real conversation:  _Does our organization have the resources it needs to do this work well?_\n\nScrappy is easier to say than \"underfunded.\" It's more flattering. It implies scrappiness will eventually give way to a more \"professional\" version of ourselves.\n\nBut what if we don't want that version? What if lean, resourceful, unconventional  _is_ who we are?\n\n## What's Really Being Said\n\nSo what did that board member actually mean when they called us scrappy?\n\nMaybe just what they said: you're resourceful and persistent.\n\nBut maybe also: I notice you're doing a lot with a little, and I'm not entirely sure how sustainable that is.\n\nOr: You're succeeding despite constraints, which is impressive, but I'm not sure you're  _really_ a professional organization yet.\n\nOr even: I like what you're doing, and I'm rooting for you to eventually become what I think a \"real\" nonprofit should be.\n\nNone of those conversations are bad to have. But they're worth having explicitly, not just embedded in a single word.\n\nThe next time someone calls us scrappy, I think I'll smile, accept the compliment, and then ask a question: \"Thanks—I'm curious what you mean by that. What are you observing?\"\n\nBecause the answer will tell me whether we're seeing ourselves the same way. And the more we are the same page, the better we will be able to manage everything.",
  "title": "\"Scrappy\": What a Board Member's Word Choice Reveals",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-01T03:16:00.609Z"
}