Christmas tree vs. Julia Set

At the Scrollworks staff meeting last night we had a long discussion about letting the students guide the curriculum. There will be required learning and required progress, but we will let the students' interests and needs shape what we offer. We would also like the passions and strengths of the adults involved shape the organization. We would like to look less like a Christmas tree and more like a Julia set. Same for fund raising. We would like to cut the process to the bone. Everything we're doing will be open for examination. Look at what we're doing. If you like it, please donate.
From the Donor Power Blog:

"...nonprofit scandals have made many donor suspicious and untrusting of the nonprofit sector, and they aren't willing to leave their giving to chance.

The easy old days of trusting, duty-driven donors are fading away. Every day elderly old-style donors are passing away and being replaced by new donors who want proof that their giving makes a difference, and simply aren't going to give without it."

We are feeling our way and looking for examples. In the New York Times review of Gary Hamel's book, “The Future of Management”, William Holstein provides some reassurance that we might be on to something:

As insightful as Mr. Hamel’s book is, it’s surprising that it has attracted so little attention since being published in October. One part of the explanation is that it represents an assault on business schools, which obviously specialize in training managers who go on to enjoy rich salaries. Mr. Hamel has the audacity to point out that some of the best, most innovative ideas in business these days are not coming from business schools, but from people who never went to B-school. Every hierarchy, it seems, scorns fresh thinking.