A West Virginia University professor of social work known for encouraging dialogue between groups in the Mountain State is now the talk of the nonprofit world.
Dr. Roger Lohmann, professor of social work and WVU Benedum Distinguished Scholar, has been named to the NonProfit TimesNPT Power and Influence Top 50list along with top leaders in fundraising and nonprofit management throughout the U.S. Others named to the list in past years include Melinda Gates, wife of software mogul Bill Gates; James Dobson, founder and chairman of the conservative group Focus on the Family; U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa; and other leaders of national associations and foundations.
Lohmann and the other winners of the10th annual award are highlighted in the Aug. 1 edition of the publication.
Lohmann, who directs the WVU Nova (Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action) Institute, said that while the recognition is a tremendous honor, he doesnt necessarily feel at home in the neighborhood of high-profile, marquee names that are on the list with him.
I dont wield great power. I dont have a staff of 1,000 people or millions of dollars to hand out like some of the people on the list, but I would like to think my ideas have challenged others in the field,Lohmann said.If Ive had any impact at all, its because Ive been an instigator of new ideas.
WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. agrees.
Roger Lohmann is a thought leader in the not-for-profit world,”Hardesty said.”His work reflects both theoretical understanding of the work of not for profit organizations and considerable practical experience. All of us at WVU are very proud of this most recent recognition of his many contributions in service to others over the years.
Lohmanns career spans 40 years in the nonprofit world beginning in early adulthood with his involvement in several community organizations.
I learned about community service as a child in 4-H,”Lohmann said.”Then early in my career, I had an unexpected opportunity to become the youngest community action agency director in the war on poverty at the age of 23. That experience shaped my interest in nonprofits and has been an important foundation for almost everything Ive done since then.
Lohmann has developed a reputation as a leading-edge thinker in his field. His work has helped develop new theories and approaches to social services and nonprofit management. His 1980 book,Breaking Even,was the first published book on nonprofit financial management and in 1992 his bookThe Commonslaid out a completely new theory of how and why people associate for reasons other than profit-seeking.
The view behind much of Lohmanns work involves the importance of communication and dialogue between parties as the most effective method to forward new ideas and break down barriers. He suggests that open dialogue between groupsregardless of their size and powercan result in the generation of ideas, solutions and understanding.
Im concerned that from the big areas like foreign policy to the little issues of daily life we are forgetting one of the most important lessons weve learned in the last centurythe importance of open communication,”Lohmann said.Just look at the Internet. If it shows anything, it shows that people have a tremendous hunger to express their views andwe hopeto listen to the views of others. If people can simply talk to each other, they can begin to reach conclusions about problems they may face and generate ideas about how to handle those issues.
Encouraging public deliberation and sustained dialogue has been one of many projects of the NOVA Institute, which Lohmann founded in 2004. Members of the Institute focus their efforts on deliberation, mediation, nonprofit management and community service through projects such as training workshops, research conferences and publications. Many projects expand beyond the confines of the organization itself and involve graduate students, community practitioners, faculty members and other institutions.
One NOVA Institute project that he is currently promoting is a series of statewide, community forums called West Virginia Deliberation Day. Occurring on Patriots Day (April 19) each year, Deliberation Day recruits several hundred graduate social work students to organize small, community meetings that enable citizens throughout the state to engage each other and discuss the issues facing them.
His international interest resulted in his creation of a number of on line discussion lists to create global dialogue. His largest discussion list has nearly 1,300 subscribers in 40 countries and includes researchers, students and nonprofit leaders. The ideas shared have resulted in many partnerships being formed between nonprofit organizations resulting in improved communication, idea sharing and grant development.
For the past seven years, Lohmann has served as editor of Non-Profit Management and Leadership, a quarterly journal considered by many to be the leading journal of its kind in the world.He has remained active in the journal as he feels that nonprofit studiesa relatively new area of research and theoryhas a crucial role to play and needs to be further developed through such publications.
With this broad range of activities and projects Lohmann feels he has maintained a good balance of theoretical academics and real-world practice in his communityreferring to himself and others like him aspracademics.
It comes down to a matter of practicing what you preach,he said.Sure, its important to think outside the box sometimes, but you also need to pay attention to whats in the stack of boxes in your own backyard.
His lifetime of efforts have resulted in several other prestigious honors including a lifetime achievement award from the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration and two Distinguished Service awards from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.
This years members of the”NPT Power and Influence Top 50”will be recognized at a black-tie event Sept. 18 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.