Keep it ‘simple”
"Well, it's complicated."
One challenge administrators face is that their answers are often a lot more complicated than the simplistic stories that are peddled by those that would mislead and deceive. This is true for many non-profits doing important work.
We're not going to have a lot of luck persuading masses of semi-interested people to seek out and embrace complicated answers, but we can take two steps to lead to better information exchange and responses.
1. Take complicated overall answers and make them simple steps instead. Teach complexity over time, simply.
2. Teach a few people, the committed, your volunteers, your best staff, to embrace the idea of complexity. That's what a great college education does. That's what makes someone a statesman instead of a demagogue. Embracing complexity is a scarce trait and worth acquiring. But until your donors/board/employees/volunteers do, I think the first strategy is essential.
You can't sell complicated to someone who came to you to “buy” simple
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