Moravian Collage

It's a rainy morning in Prague. I am just back to my favorite alter-hometown from Moravia - spent two days in Olomouc which is two hours east of Prague, near Brno, in the heart of Moravia (a part of the Czech Republic that is fiercely committed to its Moravian roots). In prior travels I had visited other cities in the area - Zlin, Kromeriz,, Boskovice. But this was my first time in Olomouc.

I have been traveling with a team from Seimans and from neziskovky.cz (nonprofits.czech) conducting training on marketing and team building for Czech NGO's of all kinds. Met some 100+ creative, resourceful nonprofiteers over the past two days and was grateful that I had great interpreters for my communication. One of the interpreters - Vojtech - had the most beautiful English/American accent. He explained that he'd spent a year at Moravian College in Pennsylvania -- the only Moravian there!

Czech nonprofits are different from US nonprofits. For example, we have many food pantries - that function is not needed in CZ. We have many nonprofit museums - in CZ museums are usually state run. The many advocacy and human rights/social justice groups that we see in the US and in many other countries don't appear on the radar in the workshops I was conducting.

On the other hand, programs for the handicapped or disabled and programs addressing "social exclusion" are prevalent in CZ. And there are a growing number of volunteer centers and environmental groups.

Same issues plague us all - how to focus on marketing, people, money, and impact. How to be visible, how to be effective. How to help the government with tax laws and regulations that promote philanthropy.

So what's Moravia like? Your typical magical small town - old town square, 3 hotels, sweetshop and restaurants on the square, traditional train station, large university presence. Olomouc's town square stood out because of the fountain with a turtle holding up the world, a wonderful 3-d map of the town, and the Communist era clock that is alot like the Prague Orloj, but with communist symbols.