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Daniel Newman, president and co-founder of MapLight, joins to discuss how their technology improves government transparency and direct democracy. MapLight builds software for state and local governments to provide easy public access to campaign finance data, e-signatures for petitions, and other services. Their goal is to counter the undue influence of money in politics by empowering citizens and journalists to hold officials accountable. Newman argues digital petitions could enable more grassroots, people-powered ballot initiatives. However, institutional resistance and polarization often block reforms, even those that would help voters across the political spectrum. Newman wrote the book Un-Rigged to explain major democracy reform issues in an accessible, solutions-oriented way.

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Maplight.org

Un-Rigged Book

Daniel on LinkedIn

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60 Years after a Dream

August 28th marks sixty years from Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1963. To remember the event, tens of thousands gathered again at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday to declare that King's dream of racial equality was still unfulfilled.

Speakers like Rev. Al Sharpton called for an end to systemic racism, hate crimes, police brutality, gun violence, voter suppression, and other civil rights abuses that they said have persisted or worsened in recent years.

Although the crowd was smaller than the original 250,000, attendees carried "Black Lives Matter" signs and wore "I Have a Dream" shirts to continue the push for justice and progress that King began decades ago. Many voiced disappointment at how much work remains to fully achieve King's vision of liberty and justice for all.

Sadly the weekend also saw a racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville that left 3 people dead. The attacker orginally tried to target a historically black college before getting noticed by campus officers. The Florida Governor has pledged $1m to increase security at HBCUs in the state. This moves the U.S. past the 470th mass shooting attack this year.

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• Nonprofit Health System Says It Is Ending Policy That Denied Care to Indebted Patients | nytimes.com
• Morning Report: A Nonprofit that Doesn't Exist Is Raking in Major ... | Voice of San Diego

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Our interview with Anthony Chin-Quee covers episodes from the book, his experience after publishing and insight into his experience with imposter syndrome. There are also many lessons for leaders in how they prepare the next generation.

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Brief Summary

Anthony Chin-Quee's 'I Can't Save You' tells the struggles of a Black physician Anthony Chin-Quee captures the space between medicine's all-consuming demands and its practitioners' fallibility in a cautionary tale of his own mental and physical struggles as a Black physician.

Anthony Chin-Quee, M.D., is a board-certified otolaryngologist with degrees from Harvard University and Emory University School of Medicine. An award-winning storyteller with The Moth, he has been on the writing staff of FOX’s The Resident and a medical adviser for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. Google Books

Books: I Can't Save You: A Memoir

Anthony on social: https://www.instagram.com/wheyouat/

Rough Transcript:

[00:00:00] just tease this first time , the pager goes off. Yes. And you're sitting there like, oh, I'm going in coach. And you're like, I'm going to your likeube. I was like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? It is not, it is not a joke. So just to set the scene, , it's the begin, the first couple of days in July and new.

[00:00:20] Doctors straight outta med school, start in the hospitals July 1st. They're just a couple weeks outta med school and they know absolutely nothing. Okay. But we're supposed to start taking care of So I have been reading this book nonstop at night, and I, frankly, I am, I'm like, I skate to one song only and it's non-fiction. This is, I think, firmly the most exciting non-fiction book that I have picked up in a very long time, written by an old friend of mine. I can't save you. Is the book and we have Anthony Chin-Quee here.

[00:01:18] I know him by Tony. How's it going, Tony? It's going great man. It's so good to see you. It's been a while. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a while. We went to high school together and so part of this book I was there for and it's been really incredible to hear how you've become a board certified auto laryngologists with degrees from Harvard university, Emory university school of medicine. And by the way, an award-winning storyteller with the moth and writing staff of foxes, the resident, and a medical advisor for ABC's Grey's anatomy.

[00:01:50] Just just awesome. And building all of those parts into this. Memoir.

[00:01:56] I mean, quite a journey. And so maybe I can start with a cliche. A book really isn't therapy cheaper. We could have gone that route. Right? Well, I mean, I. I mean, I feel like I've always, I've always been a storyteller. I mean, you know, I was in all the plays and stuff like growing up and I loved playing music and singing, dancing, all that sort of thing.

[00:02:20] And so, telling stories is my favorite way of trying to express myself. And, you know, it's something that I thought I'd lost in the, in the journey, imposterthrough medicine and, you know, luckily found it partway through and realized, you know, telling the story of, of how I went through it. Thought I thought that might resonate with some folks.

[00:02:42] And I just did my best to do that journey justice and kind of give voice to some thoughts and experiences that we may be uncomfortable saying out loud a lot of the time. And see if I could start some, you know, reflection and conversation with, with folks who are, are reading it. I mean, the story combines so many narratives in a poetic, in a fun, in a painful, in a like, frankly page turning way.

[00:03:10] You know, we have elements of racism. We have elements of the, violation of the Hippocratic Oath, right? Like what it means to be a doctor in this country through like, you know, we just went through a little thing, the pandemic and, and then also, frankly, very intimate. Relationships that begin with your parents, with your father as a, as a figure throughout this and then mm-hmm.

[00:03:31] Trickle into your relationship with women. Mm-hmm. imposterthat frankly just make for a good read. Yeah. But also you're just , wow. He said that. What has been some of the more interesting feedback? You know, I was reading just on like npr, no big deal, like NPR doing a little summary. What has been some of the most interesting feedback you've gotten here?

[00:03:56] Yeah, I think the most interesting feedback has come from people who I've known throughout the journey who've, imposterchimed in to, to kind of share how it made them feel. And this is people from, folks I grew up with and back in Brooklyn to, folks who I was in training with in med school with, um, have met afterwards.

[00:04:18] It's been interesting seeing the feedback from physicians. Especially kind of marginalized physicians, like female physicians and physicians of color. And they've just been so, it's been so gratifying that, you know, me sharing some of my experiences have kind of given voice to experiences they've gone through and experiences they've tried to.

[00:04:40] Tell themselves, weren't as crazy as, as they thought they were. And it just, seeing that, some of these stories really validated people's experiences has been really wonderful. And, some of the folks who show up in the book, Actually reached out to me. And I, I mean, there's plenty of folks I, I don't expect to hear from.

[00:04:59] impostercause not, not everybody I think I know where like the one star rating, like I was looking at the ratings. I was like, I think I know who that is. But yeah, some of those I don't expect earned You earned it. Yeah. But I mean, some of, some of the folks you know, even who I've had complicated relationships with, reached out to really kind of.

[00:05:20] Show appreciation and, and kind of, mend some, mend some bridges sometimes, which is, which is always really, really wonderful. That's not, that wasn't my intention, but it's been, it's been really nice to kind of, get close to some folks that I thought I'd lost, forever. So it's been really a wonderful reception so far and I've been so, so happy about it.

[00:05:42] Have you. Have you thought about charging for absolving white people of guilt? That seems to be a theme. Is it? Like, what's the fee? Can I Venmo you? , yeah. So talk to me about this as a business. I think that, imposterthere are probably some people who might take you up on that. I'm not that guy, but I think that, it's, you know, I talk about.

[00:06:12] A lot of stuff in this, in this book, especially, you know, my relationships with, with white folks as I've, I've, as I've gone through different and more elite circles with my professional development. And as you do that, the, the diversity gets a lot scarr. And I've just learned how to navigate in those, in those circles.

[00:06:33] But, there's, there's so much that I've learned that, white allies should be doing or can do, but just choose not to because it's the path of least resistance. , white people don't have to think about racism if they don't feel like it. You know what I mean? Um, which is different from how I experience the world where I have to think about it and experience it every day.

[00:06:57] And so, I would like for, for lots of white folks to, to do the work and be, be a little more courageous, imposterwith their position of privilege. But I'm not gonna be the one to teach you how to do that. I think there's a, a world full of books that can set you on the right path. And then if you've done the work and the research and, and the put in the time, then I'm happy to chat, um, and, if, if it's for a low, low fee of, there it's 20 bucks a minute on the phone like that, you know. That's fine. I'll, I'll, I'll take that. But, you know, we'll, we'll work out the model and I'll, I'll of course credit George with, with the, with the idea. Um, that's white guy over here came up with it.

[00:07:38] Oh, God. Yeah. Just like there's a, there's a white guy behind all this that'll go Well, the fyi. Cut that. Cut that. Cut that.

[00:07:51] I, yeah. Look I think the, black Lives matter of movement of George Floyd. We, we've, we've lived through this and I think in the nonprofit sector especially, there is a danger of that, allyship leading to like, oh, Great. Every, let's say black employee, black or brown employee I have is now the, the expert is my teacher is my, mm-hmm. How do I get my white guilt absolved? And you really drive a truck right at this again. Mm-hmm. And again, in the book, you know, we have a lot of social impact leaders that have, I will say, their hearts firmly and. The right place, but execution is lacking. Mm-hmm. Um, not so much advice, but I think this book and reading it with that perspective, just, it, it puts you just in your head, frankly, which is a weird place.

[00:08:42] Mm-hmm. Yeah. There, it's a very strange, very strange place to be. But I think that, I mean, that can be, if that's my gift, To, imposterto the movement, then, then that's great. Because I just, like in the, in your sector, in, in, in medicine, you know, we ha we do have a lot of well-meaning white people there who are trying their best to You know, be allies.

[00:09:07] But, ultimately it ends up just, just like it does in your sectors with, diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders who are the, one black person on your staff who gets this responsibility to educate everybody on how to deal with their, the racism that they've just lived with and embraced without really knowing it a lot of the time.

[00:09:29] And then it's our responsibility once again. And most of those positions are not positions that get you more salary. They just get you more work, which is, awesome because we're kind of, we're kind of propping up some systems there that need breaking. But, I think that there's so much.

[00:09:54] Work that white people can do with their position and their privilege if only they were energized and motivated to do so. You don't need a black person to teach you that you've been messing up or that you, I mean, or that you walk through the world with blinders on. I mean, there's so many resources for you to understand that on your own.

[00:10:17] And then, Once you've done the work of understanding that, then, then we could talk, and like, you know, I'll let you into my head and, and help with, impostersome of the vocabulary that might be lacking. I mean, I've done this with, there's a, there's a character in the book who I went through medical training with who is just, we were the two guys in our year.

[00:10:39] He was a white guy. I was a black guy, and I, He, there were so many spaces in which he could have stood up for me or done the right thing, or, or, or, or made a difference. And he chose not to cuz he was nervous, he was scared. And we actually, after training, and this is post book, became really good friends because he finally, we sat down one day and he actually told me about all those moments that people were talking trash about me at work and he just thought, you know, the best thing for me would be to protect me from that.

[00:11:15] And so he didn't say anything but just didn't tell me. Mm-hmm. And meanwhile, I'm thinking I'm a lunatic. That I'm completely nuts because I think people are talking about me and I think this is going on behind closed doors, but there's no way I can prove it and it's making me lose my mind. And. You know, only several years after did I learn the truth and was validated in realizing like, oh, I wasn't crazy.

[00:11:39] This was really happening and it's really shitty. And so, he, I think he felt a lot of guilt about that, and I think he was looking for me to help absolve that, and I didn't, and I just told him $20 a minute. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't getting the check, so I was like, listen, listen man, like here's the work.

[00:12:01] That I expect of you now that you're, you're finally awake, , this is the work I expect of you. This is the work I expect you to do with your children, that you're, you're raising white men in America. That's a massive responsibility if you're gonna make the world a better place like you would like to.

[00:12:21] And so, you know, we had those conversations and we still do. But It took, it took a long time for him to awaken to the dangers of like silent allyship. Yeah, I think that's, that, that phrase, silent allyship. It's sort of the first word, betrays the second part. I feel like a, a, a touch. Yeah, it does.

[00:12:46] And that's, that's like silent applause. Like if I'm getting silent applause. Am I getting applause? Exactly. What is the sound of one hand clapping Tony? That's e That's exactly what it is. I mean, you know, are you an ally? If I can't see it or if I can't feel it, you gotta figure that out. So we dip into, okay, we dip into that stuff in the book, which is super fun.

[00:13:12] This book, you mean? Right here? That book, that book that everybody that can be purchased on Amazon as I speak. imposterthere are some ridiculously intense medical moments. And if you're watching this on your likeube, I want you to know if you simply search for how to like fix a finger and adjust, that could be considered medical training.

[00:13:34] I don't know if you could just tease this like the first time you were like, the pager goes off. Yes. And you're sitting there like, oh, I'm going in coach. And you're like, I'm going to your likeube. I was like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? It is not, it is not a joke. Like so just to set the scene, set the scene scene, you know, it's the begin, the first couple of days in July and new.

[00:13:57] Doctors straight outta med school, start in the hospitals July 1st. They're just a couple weeks outta med school and they know absolutely nothing. Okay. But we're supposed to start taking care of patients, right? And so I had my first day on call, which means I was the only representative for my service in the entire hospital for 12 hours.

[00:14:20] Um, and I'd been a doctor officially for like 72 hours. So I totally knew. You know, everything. Right. And then I, I got a call from the er to, to help fix a dislocated finger. And I was the expert on call in the hospital. I was the expert, right? And so had to weigh some things, you know, what are the chances I could really do permanent damage to this finger?

[00:14:45] Oh God. imposterif I just try, you know, um, You know, and, and other people had tried, maybe I should just try or maybe I should call and ask for help. So I decided to try which is a position lots of young doctors understand, and I went on your likeube and just looked up some stuff on how to do it and then, you know, to find out how that worked out.

[00:15:10] You can buy the book.

[00:15:15] Yeah. Spoil alert, you're no longer a doctor. But actually, imposterI'll, I'll say through 75% of the book I was like, Anybody who's gonna become or is thinking about becoming a doctor should not read this book. And then I got to, I think it's the fatherhood chapter. Mm-hmm. And it, it was just fascinating because it is clear that you had gone through this sort of absolute valley of darkness and come out and suddenly were watching this next generation rise in.

[00:15:44] And knowing that I'm like, if. There are doctors like that, that are reading it. I was like, oh God, that is how to do your job because you saw how not to do your job. I don't know if there's anything that, you know, you can talk to about, like, all right, you're about to go into this industry, especially if you were a black or brown person that, you know, this book can bring them.

[00:16:04] Yeah. And I, I, you know, thanks for, thanks for saying that because I, I, I don't mean. With this story to discourage people from going into medicine. I don't, I, I don't want less doctors. I want more doctors who are taking care of themselves and, um, are taken care of by the system. And so when I think about the doctors like coming up behind me you know, all, and even in residency and training All I wanted was for them, not just to not go through what I went through, but to feel at just maybe a little more empowered with their, with their lives and their position, with their identity.

[00:16:43] Because it's, it's imperative that. Black and brown faces, women, folks of all genders, coming into medicine and really any of these high powered you know, industries where you are the other by a significant margin, it's imperative that, you know, going in, that that world that you're entering was not built for you.

[00:17:07] It wasn't built to be hospitable for you. And, In many cases, it's kind of built to be hostile towards you. And so how do you navigate that? And how do you maintain your own identity in the process? Where are there opportunities to change that culture and where are you going to take losses in the fight that.

[00:17:30] You know, are gonna hurt. You know, like there's just, you know, there's so many peaks and valleys to the journey, but, um, I felt so strongly about empowering the next generation to understand that stuff upfront so that they could decide how they wanted to fight a theme in here. Also, I think that probably disproportionately affects.

[00:17:54] Brown and black people is the imposter syndrome element. Mm-hmm. This imposter syndrome, like you were, I mean you were, I did a terrible job on the intro. Maybe I'll try again. Maybe not. But Harvard, I've heard of it. Mm-hmm Medical school pretty good. And it just seems like there is an imposter monster following you around constantly.

[00:18:15] And I, I think that also exists a lot for, you know, many nonprofit leaders that are asked to take on. Incredibly difficult and dynamic problems without necessarily the like, mountain of training. Mm-hmm. And saying like, like, why do I deserve to be in this room? Why do, why can I apply for this, X hundred thousand dollars grant?

[00:18:35] Why do I deserve X? Like, I don't know. Can you unpack your relationship with imposter syndrome a little bit? Yeah. I mean, I think it was, it was really kind of, A deep theme throughout the book and really throughout my life. But I think the deal with imposter syndrome and just, and just kind of taking the medical journey for example, is that I reali like, I felt like an imposter because I wanted to be doing the best I could at my job, but I knew I didn't have the tools to do it.

[00:19:13] And nobody around me. Was making me feel like they were having the same doubts. We're all, we are all conditioned, especially in medicine to. Show each other how bulletproof we are and how, I mean, I'm sure I looked to other people like I was fine. You know what I mean? Just like they, they appeared to me.

[00:19:37] And so, you know, even though we're struggling and we want to be better, we just don't quite know how to do it. And then once you get that in your head, then you feel like you don't belong there. And then, you know, anytime you make any mistake, you're just like, well, this is evidence that I, I shouldn't have this position.

[00:19:52] You know, that's very real. And so how do we navigate through that esp. Like for people in any industry, I know anybody worth their salt who is running a company or in any position, any leadership position has those feelings. You have those feelings when you care about what you're trying to do. And so getting through that, I think.

[00:20:16] A great, a great first start is, is communicating it and talking with people about it. You don't, you don't have to be an island in any of these positions, and you should be able to share these feelings because they betray just how passionate you are about what you do and how well you want to do it.

[00:20:33] And I think that eventually, the more time you put in You know, the more expertise and experience you gain, you know that that pit of insecurity that initially was imposter syndrome can evolve. And you stop asking, you start asking yourself different questions. So instead of asking yourself like, am I supposed to be here?

[00:20:53] Once you gain the experience, you're, you're asking yourself, okay now why am I here? Am I do, and do I still love what I'm doing? Am I doing this to the best of my ability? Is am I making the impact that I want to make in order to be great in this position? And I think that stems from the same place as imposter syndrome.

[00:21:13] It's just, you know, you're 20 years down the line and you kind of know what some of what you're doing. But I think ultimately, It's something that we shouldn't run away from. It's something we should embrace, we should discuss and communicate about. Um, and I think it ultimately makes people better at, at leadership.

[00:21:31] There were incredible moments of vulnerability shown in this book, and as you grow into your position as a doctor and it's clear that, there are moments where you're just not scoring what you need to. The incredible pressures of hit this number or you're done like, All that investment done like off a cliff.

[00:21:50] Yeah. And you have this inner monologue going that is also, by the way, dealing with a dormant racism that just sort of pops up like a little a-hole throughout the book. And you're like, oh, that thing, ah, we're already doing this other stuff. But this imposter motrum, imposterit also seems like when you walked into like just really intense parts of this book of.

[00:22:13] Like life or death. I think a lot of people use the life or death. You, you can not figuratively, literally say that you know, you're performing, you know, tracheotomy type work. Mm-hmm. And actually that, you know, moment, you're like, where did that imposter go? Like, you come in like a boss and you're like, if I show doubt, if I don't assess this situation, if the people on this team right now.

[00:22:34] Don't have faith and can't follow in. Like, it was amazing to watch that sort of like snap moment. I was like, oh shit, that's a doctor. Mm-hmm. That's not the scared college kid. Can you tell me what that, you know, was like, is that sort of what that looks like? You know, moments of leadership, moments of vulnerability?

[00:22:50] There's time for both. Yeah. I think there's, I think there's absolutely time for both. I think that in those moments, kind of those high pressure moments even though I wasn't always a hundred percent sure what to do or, or how exactly to do it I knew that dis no matter how loud the room is, no matter how many alarms are going and people yelling, you know, there's always time.

[00:23:17] To slow yourself down. There's always time to take a breath and just be like, okay, I'm not gonna get caught up in the panic of all this because it is panic that's going on around you. And if I can just slow myself down and don't join in the fray of yelling and screaming and rushing and dropping things then the people around me will slow down too.

[00:23:38] And they'll, they'll, they'll see that, We have this under control. There will be a plan. imposterwe can, that, we can try and, on the inside, of course, I'm just freaking out. But I know, you know, I've seen enough stuff in my life to know that if you show people you're freaking out, then they're gonna freak out.

[00:23:56] And then it's just gonna all go, go to hell. So, even in those early days when just the crunch was on and I was definitely in over my head I knew the value of. Of calm in a storm. And I tried to fake it until I believed it.

[00:24:14] Part of me hates fake it till you make it. Mm-hmm. It just, it rhymes so humans say it, but it was more than that. You know, there's, it's like, it's like courage until you make it is what I saw in your book. It wasn't faking it, it was showing up responsibly, being like, my pager went off. I'm the person doing this.

[00:24:37] And actually one of the more, there's a lot of powerful points, but one of the more impressive points was when actually you were standing in the back of the room having previously coached. Somebody reporting to you. Mm-hmm. I'm using layman language, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. It's perfect. Yeah. You're doing great.

[00:24:55] I don't write for Grey's Anatomy. Sorry. I think doctors should always have a stethoscope around their neck, because that's how, you know they're doctors, Tony. Mm-hmm. But the, the, there's this beautiful point as you're, you're moving and you have coached somebody, and I wonder if you can talk to, Leaders that are trying to get that next generation, that a player to show up in the room, and you just, you stood back and you just watched it unfold, and you're like, she's nailing it.

[00:25:22] She's nailing it, and you got her head in the right place. And I was just like that. If I could just bottle the, that I would pay $20 a minute for that shit. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, it's really, it's really about Building, building folks confident, build, just building them up. Because so much of training is being torn down and being told what you don't know and that your answers are wrong and all that sort of stuff.

[00:25:49] But you need opportunities to shine and show what you can without, without knowing how much of a safety net you have behind you. I think. In an educational scenario, you should always have a safety net. And that's what I was trying to be for the folks who I watched from the other side of the room.

[00:26:09] Like I knew the extent of their abilities. Like I knew when it would get too much for them. Mm-hmm. But I needed them to get up to that point. And so, in a life or death situation, like to be able to get to the point where you can watch it unfold and you can know that, okay, they're nailing everything that they're supposed to do, but also know like if this patient is a lost cause and they're gonna die anyway.

[00:26:39] You know the outcome. And, and I think, you know, in one of the, in the story you're talking about, like I knew what was gonna happen, what had already happened. But I needed, oh God, that's devastating the next generation to have that experience to both know that they were doing the right thing and know that sometimes that's just not gonna be enough and know and then learn how to process.

[00:27:04] Those moments because we're not taught how to do that either. I think that's just part, I mean, I love teaching. I love education. I was a teacher at some point in my journey, um, and I take that stuff really seriously. And, those, those moments, I'm not just, you know, making Guinea pigs out of, out of my junior residence.

[00:27:22] It's just, they're doing their job. They're doing their best. They're doing a great job, and it's my job to be there to support them, protect them when necessary. And, be, be a counselor, afterwards when it's time to decompress,

[00:27:37] you know, as a leader. I think at the top of my list is never put somebody in a no win situation. My job is always to put somebody in a position to win, put the team in a position to win. Mm-hmm. And to think of it in the inverse of like, if there is a scenario where it is no win, cuz we're dealing in the real world.

[00:27:57] Mm-hmm. I think a lot can be learned, but it's tough. It's, it's really tough. And that's like I had to. You know, in those scenarios where, I knew the outcome for the patient was gonna be poor. I was thinking, okay, but how, how is this gonna be formative? How, how do, where's the, how, how does this mean something?

[00:28:18] Yeah. Going to happen? How does this, we gotta understand that there is a win in, in having had this experience, and how do we get to the core of that afterwards and not just have you walk around with the trauma of losing It's a tough, it's, it's a, it's a tough question. I think it's something that, we as leaders should be asking ourselves.

[00:28:37] I don't think there's a sing, maybe one medical scene that might make it into Grey's Anatomy, but I was like, well, that wouldn't make the cut. That wouldn't make the cut. There's like, I'll just look, here's the disclosure. Like, don't read this directly before bedtime. Some part's fine, but Oh gosh. Mm-hmm. No, George had, George had bad dreams.

[00:28:58] Cause it's, imposterthere's not, there's a little bit of nightmare fuel in it. Like, that's that's absolutely true. Yeah. But, you know, we've talked about, so if you're, you're looking in the medical profession, it's just interesting. It's there, right? If you're, be a leader, if you're moving into a, a world that your work impacts.

[00:29:15] Others in the social impact sector, like there were elements for you. And then the other big one for me as, as a parent, and now I know that you are a parent after, and, you know, writing this book, I wouldn't mind have seen an extra epilogue on, on that, but I'm sure the, the ink was dry by that point. But, you know, your final line, and this is not a spoiler, but is is a bit of a forgive or an understand for your father.

[00:29:38] And now as you are a father. I wonder as you look at this book, As a dad how does, how does that change at all the, the narrative that your father plays throughout this? Hmm. I think that,

[00:29:54] I mean, I.

[00:29:56] I think my father you know, he's a, he is a big figure in this book. And I think that his, my experience with him who he is, how he affected me, it, it looms large in, in, in every decision I make and thought I have, you know, as regards my family and, impostermy child. And, you know, I spent, you know, a lifetime.

[00:30:19] Getting to the point where I can understand that his mistakes didn't have to be my mistakes. And the fact that I think so hard and, and work so hard to be. Someone who others can depend on and can express love in a very clear and, and nont transactional and non-toxic way. The fact that I a, am constantly asking my myself those questions, I think means that I'm on the road to, to, to doing it, doing it well.

[00:30:54] Even though I didn't have that, that example Throughout my life. And so, you know, getting to that point where I could just appreciate my experience, my experience with my father for what it was and how formative it was for me in the end. It took a, a long, a long time to get to the point where I wasn't just angry all the time.

[00:31:19] Well, it took the entire book. It was like it took the, yeah, it took the entire book and the book spanned some time, but like, yeah, you know, it's just, just to, to let go of anger and let go of the desire that, that he'd, he'd suddenly someday act the way I always wanted him to and put myself. imposterin the driver's seat of that relationship for the first time, you know, instead of just reacting to what he does and doesn't do, you know, you realize the power that you have yourself to define your experience and define that that, that sort of to define that relationship as well.

[00:31:53] So. You know, I, I don't think like the ghost of my dad has ever gone, it's kind of with me a lot, but it's on my terms now. And, and it's in a way that I think makes me a lot more powerful and a lot more positive and a lot more effective in my own family. And I think, reading this also as a, a.

[00:32:16] Parent or any parent has high expectations for your child, and you, you sort of map those out. You're like, yeah, no, I, it was clear that my family expected we go either go become a, a doctor or a lawyer, or a, you know mm-hmm. Fill in the achievement blank. And that's like, you're like, why did you become a doctor?

[00:32:34] You're like, I could give you many answers. Like, yeah, well, let's be clear why I became a doctor here. Yeah. Yeah. That The pipeline, especially when, it's, it's West Indian immigrants. But, imposterfor a lot of first gen kids of immigrant parents you know, it's so funny, like they, like I said in the, in the book, your pa you have these parents who.

[00:32:54] We're risk takers who went, took the biggest risk, took the biggest adventure of their lives to leave their home and come someplace else and carve out something new. And they did all that in hopes that you would never have to take risks like that. And so, you know, if you can achieve, they're gonna kind of funnel you into these, these occupations that are, you know, prestigious but safe ultimately.

[00:33:19] But the thing is, We're a parent's children and that adventure gene doesn't go away. You know, they gotta know it's gonna come out at some point. Remember how, how we got here? You remember that part? Yeah, exactly. So, you know, I don't think they should be super surprised when we kind of have our own ideas about the adventures that we want to go on.

[00:33:38] So I thought that was a realization I came to, as it was Ryan, that I thought was, that I thought was pretty fun. The other thing that was definitely put in, in the back of my mind, as you can see, like we've touched on so many different topics, because this book just, and it goes and you're like, suddenly like, oh, I'm reading spoken word poetry.

[00:33:57] Oh, I'm reading like I. A modern day Grey's Anatomy. Oh, I'm reading. Like, it just, it was just so interesting. I was like, well, what are we getting tonight? Um, kind of for me going through it though, from what I remember in high school, like you, you were, it was like, just sort of like the idea of perfection.

[00:34:18] I was like, well, that's perfection. I'm glad I can see that. It was just, everything was so buttoned up, perfect execution of, head of the play, super athletic perfect grades. It was just, I think the, the wind was always at your back somehow. I was like, well, that's delightful.

[00:34:34] And it was amazing that you're like, your inner monologue is like, it has to be perfect. It has to be tight. It has to like, because of that echo of your father in the background. But, you know, I, I just sort of now put in the back of my mind, wow. It'll be a bit of a note, I think when I see people that are putting that.

[00:34:52] Version of themselves on nonstop that, like, I may, it's worth having a second conversation. And then I don't know if you could roll back the clock and have a coaching session with yourself, if anything would change, or if you're just like, no, I, I survived and that's what I had to do. I had to put on that version of me.

[00:35:08] Mm-hmm. I think if I had this talk with myself you know, back then, I wouldn't have listened. And I would, I would, I would get it, you know, I don't think it's healthy to, to live that way. But I understand why folks do it and I understand why I did it. It's how I understood the world to be at the time that, failure on my part wasn't.

[00:35:33] Wasn't an option because I could just, you know, everything could just go away. I was just on a tightrope is how I felt all the time. I was just nervous all the time, and, yeah, you can manage to achieve, in that way. But holy cow, when you. You take a minute to stop and, and, and allow yourself all the, all the feelings that you've been hiding away.

[00:36:00] You know, there's so much pain there, there's so much fear. You're so scared all the time. And I would encourage myself, I think, to try to feel those things. Just to, just so that you have some sort of balance. The world may not be fair, and if you feel like this is the face you have to put on, I hate that the world makes you feel this way, but I understand.

[00:36:22] But please take care of yourself. And that is, that's a lesson that a lot of us, I think. Would do well to learn. And it's hard to listen to. It's hard to believe that, that, that taking care of ourselves in that vulnerable way is, is one of our most important jobs. But it, it really is. It was a real gift to get to read this.

[00:36:45] And I feel like I, um, at the end I was like, I kept turning the pages. I was like, all right, next, where's the next chapter? Where's the next part? Although something tells that the next chapter of fatherhood will be different, but more interesting. I you know, I'm sad we're coming to an end here.

[00:36:58] I'm, I'm curious, how do people find you? How do people help you? Give us the, give us the rundown. Where can we get this book? Mm-hmm. How can people contact you for what you're doing? Yeah, absolutely. So once again, books called, I Can't Save You. I'm Anthony Chinwe, and it's available anywhere you get books.

[00:37:17] If you do it on Amazon, Barnes Noble, or you know, imposteror, imposteryour local independent bookstore, which I say always try to support. You can get it anywhere. You can also get it as an audiobook. If you'd like to hear me narrating it. Oh, I, oh, I'm excited. I, I got the first copy of I'm gonna have to have that happen.

[00:37:38] Yeah. I, I've heard, I mean, I can't listen to, I can't listen to myself talking for 11 hours, but I've, I've heard from folks that it's, that it's a good experience. So, definitely do that. If that's your vibe. You can find me on. On Twitter, you can search for my name or I'm at, imposterCQ underscore underscore md, and I'm also on Instagram.

[00:37:57] imposteryou just type in, you know, Anthony Chin-Quee, you'll find me. And feel free to chime in, tell me how you like it, share with, with other folks everything you can. Well, there's a lot of conversations that come from it. Thank you for taking the time with us and, and talking through the, the points. imposterwhat a gift.

[00:38:17] Thank you, Tony. Thank you.

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PETA Issues Strong Statement Re: Kentucky Derby Horse DeathsAnimal rights activist group PETA offered a strong statement as the news of now 7 horse deaths leading up to the Kentucky Derby made waves. PETA’s Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo issued the following statement: “Churchill Downs is a killing field. Freezing Point is the latest casualty. He’s the second horse to die today at the track, making it an appalling seven deaths in advance of the Kentucky Derby.” Bleacher Report says that two horses were euthanized on Saturday, adding to the five that were put down earlier in the week. While PETA is often criticized for aggressive marketing stunts and extreme points of view, the conditions that lead to the deaths have been roundly criticized in the mainstream sports world.

Summary

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• What Chat-First Search Means for Organic & Ad Grant Traffic for Nonprofits? | Whole Whale
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We interview Libby Hikind, CEO and founder of GrantWatch.com and GrantWriterTeam.com about what nonprofits need to know about applying for grants.

About Libby HikindFind on LinkedIn

Libby Hikind is the Founder and CEO of GrantWatch.com, the leading grant funding search engine for nonprofits, businesses, and individuals. Libby holds a post master’s degree in Educational Administration and Supervision and is a wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother.

Libby is often referred to as the "Queen of Grants." Libby opened GrantWatch in 2010 after retiring from her 29+ years as a teacher with the New York City Department of Education. While teaching, Libby wrote grants for her special education classroom, mainstream education and business careers, computers, and entrepreneurship classroom. For two years, Libby worked as a grant writer for an NYC Dept of Ed Brooklyn school district raising $11 million.

After which time, Libby returned to teaching and opened her own grant writing agency in 1994. Libby Hikind is a national grants expert. From 1999 to 2001, Libby created NYCGrantWatch, a faxed grant newsletter publication for her nonprofit client organizations. Libby took a sabbatical to run for city council and is well known for her successful primary election campaign for New York’s City Council (2001) for which she received an endorsement from The New York Times. Following September 11th, Libby volunteered at Ground Zero, where she gained recognition as a FEMA Project Liberty Crisis Counselor and Team Leader. Libby is credited for more than 46,000 children receiving health insurance, as a result of her coalition building of nonprofits and writing the first Staten Island Child Health Plus proposal.

Rough Transcript:

[00:00:00] Well, this week on the podcast we have Libby hn, the C e o and Founder at Grant Watch and grant writer team. So Grant watch and grant writer team, and I came across them because frankly, , you have to, if you are looking in and around the grant world, you run into, uh, these organizations. And Libby, thank you for taking the time to sit down with us and just talk to us about all things grant writing, grant trends, because even though it says nonprofits at the head of everyone's organization, we care a lot about profits when it comes to making money.

[00:01:02] And grants are a big funding source. Thank you for joining. Thank you for inviting me. Appreciate it. Well, maybe in your own words, can you explain what Grant Watch does? Well, grant Watch is a grant search engine that lists the grants that are available for non-profits, municipalities, businesses, and individuals.

[00:01:30] We have over 60 categories of grant. That the way we categorize grants on, on the right side of the website, you can use a keyword search and find them as well. And we add new grants every week and we archive the grants as they come do. So really Grant watch is all about currently available grants and that's great.

[00:01:53] And you, um, looks like founded it in 2010. So you have . Successfully survived over a decade of operation, which is rare air and certainly has my respect for anyone who can, uh, build for that long. Thank you. We've been through many economies.

[00:02:11] I think that's important too, because I think if you have a short timeframe, you're like, oh, times have only been good. And then you have covid and you're like, times have only been bad, and you're like, times are gonna do what times do. I'm curious though, you're, you're mentioning, you know, what's going on in the economy.

[00:02:26] How do you see that impacting the grant market in general? Well, I think more and more people are gonna be looking for grants. Uh, they're gonna be looking for funding. And with what happened over the weekend with the, the banks, uh, I got a lot of notices that some good funders had their money in that bank in, well, s s uh, Silicon Valley, right?

[00:02:53] And yeah, svb, right? So that's, you know, that would've affected a lot. And now it seems like, uh, everything's gonna be paid. Let's just hope it doesn't happen, you know, to many more. . Yeah. Well, you know, something like that is pretty terrifying. Haven't seen that since 2008, where you've got actual depositors losing their funds.

[00:03:13] But more importantly, like you said, that has a direct impact on funders, grant makers. Right? They, that's, if that's where their funding is, then they're not gonna be able to be give, they're not gonna be able to give it out. So that's, that's a big issue at a larger level. I wonder if you see when markets kind of get scared.

[00:03:34] You see something like, oh, the Dow is down, whatever that actually means. Does that, as far as you see impact folks that are writing checks, or is that money already sort of allocated into the, the grants at least that, that you all list and find for nonprofits? Well, first of all, the government grants, once they're announced, the money's.

[00:03:57] So that's there. Mm-hmm. , uh, what happens is when we see new bills being passed and then there's new initiatives, so then there's new funding from the government, and then you have from state and local as well. The same thing when it comes to the foundations that can affect it, of course, if their money's tied up somewhere else.

[00:04:17] But once they've announced the grant, they generally come. . So I don't, I don't see that impact. We may see less grants being announced from foundations if something like that happens, but you have to understand that a foundation has to spend a certain, they have to give out a certain amount of their money over, uh, certain period of years.

[00:04:40] That's how that money goes into the foundation. So it, it doesn't impact it as much. What we did find over covid. That as soon as money was announced, it got used up very quickly.

[00:04:54] Yeah. And maybe, I guess, do you get data, uh, year over year? So right now we're, we're sitting here and we're in the spring of 2023. Do you ever look at saying like, oh, we are, you know, up 10% for a number of grants being issued, or, Amount of of dollars being put out or is it does not work that way? ? Well, I could tell you that as far as grant watch goes, in 2019, I remember having a, a meeting and we had 3,500 grants on the website, and now we have hit 8,500 at different times.

[00:05:32] Uh, right now we're about, I think 7,300 and we will be moving upward every time we do a new initiative on grant. , it takes the staff's energy and puts it into the new initiative. And so we slow down a little bit. It's like, you know, the bunny hop one step forward, two steps back, , you know, we're always juggling like that.

[00:05:53] Uh, but we believe that we will, uh, be back up to 8,500 and the goal is 9,000, uh, in a short time. , and I know you have a lot of different types of grants. You know what percent, roughly speaking are government versus private foundations say, oh, well, that we keep right there on the front on the homepage of the website.

[00:06:18] Uh, so how many are, so we know that we. , four nonprofit organizations. We have right now, 5,700 for individuals. We have close to 1900. Mm-hmm. and for small businesses, 1100. And that it, these numbers change every single day, and sometimes a grant is available for all three of these. Now as far as where the grants come from, you know, what percent or foundation grants, I mean, that's also something that changes, but, uh, at this moment, 5,000 of our grants happen to be foundation grants.

[00:06:56] And that is Oh, that's interesting. Currently available. Yeah. Well, I mean, you can on, on the navigation bar, on grant watch, all the way to the right it says grants by type. And you can click that and then there's a total number that lets you know, and that's, you know, it's super helpful to see, I wanna come back in and, you know, it's actually nice to see that you haven't, haven't seen a, oh my gosh, we're at like, half the amount of grants have stopped.

[00:07:24] You know, cuz I think we are, like you said, coming down off of a very high period. grant making in the aftermath of Covid and that money. I think, you know, when we were talking about private foundations, the fact that they have that, as you mentioned, 5% mandatory must be distributed in a 12 month timeframe.

[00:07:43] Uh, it can be tough when maybe your overall endowment or, you know, frankly, holdings have decreased because the overall market's going down. But it doesn't seem like that, at least from grant watches standpoint. Uh, Affected the number of grants available to organizations, which, good thing, yeah, we, goodness, we don't see that we, we see us chasing it all the time.

[00:08:06] I mean, we can't keep up with it. Some days it's just coming in nonstop. Mm-hmm. , I wanna pivot a little bit because I know you also have the grant writer team. Service, which has, you know, it pretty, pretty clear in the url saying like, Hey, do you need some help writing an actual grant? I have, I guess like a, maybe a, a personal assumption based on my own experience writing grants, that if I'm writing a grant but I have not talked to the issuing organization or somebody on that team there, my chances of winning that grant are, you know, kind of like snowball's chance on a beach situ.

[00:08:47] Well, so this, remember I just mentioned we have a new initiative. So on grant watch right now, when you look at a grant, if you're a paid subscriber, you'll see, uh, if it's a foundation grant, most of them, uh, because we're getting the data, constantly getting new data have a, a button that says C view nine 90 report.

[00:09:10] Now, when you click that, you get to. The nine 90 report that they filed with the IRS and all the data. So if we have an XML of it, uh, which is like an ex, it's like all coding, right? And we've taken that and we've put it into pie charts and graphs and bar graphs, uh, tables to give you that information.

[00:09:35] And we let you know the website where the. , the funder is, and their phone number , you know, so you can really get in touch with the funding source. You can take a look who did they fund before we give you a list of the grants they gave money to. How much did they give? What states did they fu, you know, put the money into?

[00:09:54] So now you look at it and you go, Hmm, I'm looking, I'm, I wanna apply for this grant. And it says it's for general support of non. But I'm looking, and all their money really went into preschools, and I'm looking to run an afterschool program for high school youth. Now, it may be a long shot for me because I see every single grant went to preschools.

[00:10:21] So even though they're saying this, that's where their money is, that's their focus. So you get to look at that and through grant watch and what if you need a hundred thousand dollars? But you see that every grant they gave, they gave a lot of grants, but they were all 3000, 5,000, 10,000. It's nowhere near what you need.

[00:10:40] So now are you gonna take your old, you know, when you write a grant, if you're a nonprofit, your entire organization is involved because there are parts to the grant that have questions and somebody's gotta answer those questions. , it's constant back and forth. There's all this interactive work that goes on when you're writing a grant.

[00:11:00] Do you wanna spend your resources on a grant that's, first of all, isn't gonna give you enough money. It's not going to give you, uh, it doesn't, it doesn't seem likely that they're going to fund you. So why are you gonna go there? I mean, let's say your organization is politically conservative and it's well known that it's politically conservative and.

[00:11:22] Foundation funds more left and or vice versa. You don't wanna go there. So, or your, um, your organiz nonprofit is a certain religion and they say that this money is for faith-based organizations, but they have never funded your religion. They've always funded a different religion. You don't wanna go there.

[00:11:43] So, like you said, if you haven't spoken to anyone, you don't even wanna make that phone call. If you see that you're really, this is not for. But what if you see it is you have so much information you, you understand there's in the xml we are pulling and we're displaying what was the purpose of the grant that they gave the money for.

[00:12:04] Like we have lots of grants for climate change and some grants are so specific of that O Oceanic grants, right? So you know where you're going when, when you're looking at the nine 90. So we've worked on this and we're still working. and we're still refining it. Uh, it's ready, uh, press release is gonna go out about it and people are able to use it already, and I can see that they're using it and that makes me very happy.

[00:12:32] But that, you know, we do this, we slow down there, but we're catching up. I think it's. Really helpful to understand like where you can go to get more information. And frankly, the, the nine 90 is publicly available. It could be hard to parse though, I'll say, you know, going through, but the, the points you're making are excellent.

[00:12:49] Saying like, what is the average grant size? What is the average organization look like? And frankly, if you don't look like those organizations, you know, take a pause and ask yourself, is this the, the grant for me? Maybe a, a different way of asking this question is, You are playing the grant writing game.

[00:13:07] Would you ever submit a grant to a foundation if you had not talked to talk to them in some respect? , like zero personal connection and you're, you're firing off a blind grant. Right? So there's two different ways to work with the foundations. One is if you're going to just con, you're gonna write these, um, generic grant applications, a letter of inquiry, and you're gonna send them out to all these foundations.

[00:13:33] So there's a certain percentage that people will say won't land in the garbage can, right? Hmm. It's kind of like a fundraising letter. You get a. And you send it out. And there's a few people that I don't know, the kid was in the hospital recently. They wanna give charity. They, uh, they believe that it, you know, giving charity will help them.

[00:13:54] And so you'll get a check, right? And, and that they'll give charity, you know, the, it's like the, the, um, the boomerang effect. You know, you, the, you throw things out to the universe and thing. Good things come back to you. And so that's how those fundraising letters work. Somebody has pulled your hearts. And it happens to me many times I get it letter and I never thought of this organization before, and I, it's just that time that I really feel, I wanna say thank you to the universe, to God, and so I'm giving something to somebody else.

[00:14:29] That's, that's basically what your letter of inquiry to these foundations that have never said that they're giving money does. If you wanna do. , it's a waste of time, uh, for the effort. But people do it if you wanna do the phone calls. The communication, that's the other way. People used to apply to foundations.

[00:14:52] They would go to sit in the foundation center building, you know, for a full day and sit there and make lists and lists and lists and photocopies and come home with a list and then they'd start making phone calls. I would. I was guilty of it also, I'd look in who's who in America for that name. I'd see if I have any connection whatsoever to that person or some family member of mine.

[00:15:13] Uh, were they in the same high school? Did they graduate the same year? Did they, did we have, uh, a hobby in common? How can I approach them? I tried that. That's why we built Grant Watch . We deal with currently available grants, and so you don't need to make that phone. You need to apply. You need to follow the directions in their grant application.

[00:15:36] That's the difference of Grant watch and just going through foundations. Now we're offering it now. If you want, it's there. Right? But we are taking it a different way. You found a grant on Grant watch that is being offered from by a foundation and now you can see all the nine 90 information. You wanna make that phone call.

[00:15:57] You can, sometimes it may give you an. Sometimes it may get the person upset with you. They put out an application, can't you follow directions? You know, you know, you have to know what's going on. And so we take it from a different point of view.

[00:16:12] Yeah. I do remember, I actually, uh, I, I know the foundation center. I grew up in New York and I have, uh, I have been in the, in the office and gone through that cold approach and it definitely felt like a massive waste of. And from the sort of like smile and dial, but like for what? And it seems like you actually have a decent amount of faith that when you have a grant that you find and you follow the directions that, you know, while it may seem like a black hole, it is actually the a, a fair enough process to, as long as you're matching the, the size of the grant, the type of the organization that you, you will hear back from them.

[00:16:51] Is that your feeling? But Right. But. The first thing if you ask me for a tip is check the eligibility. Do you meet that eligibility? They're gonna say in the grant application, who they wanna fund. And oftentimes they'll say what they will not fund. And if you don't meet all the criteria, if you can't check off all the boxes, don't apply.

[00:17:16] If you say, well, maybe, you know, they said if you have to be in business, uh, the nonprofit has to be up for at least five years. Well, we're at three and a half. Maybe they'll let it slide. Don't apply. They made the rules. , you know, this is it. And so somebody at the foundation is receiving everything and she has, or he has the list of rules.

[00:17:39] What's the eligibility? And then there is a stack that is passed onto the board members. The ones that don't meet eligibility criteria never get there. So why bother? . Yeah. Maybe you just really like paperwork . Right? You're like, I, I Real hall. Gotta take those shots. Yeah. I don't believe in that and especially with a government grant, you really better match.

[00:18:07] Yeah. What is the big difference you see between government grants and foundation grants? Well, government grants are generally much larger. mm-hmm. than a foundation grant. Uh, most often they're multiple years. They have, uh, an evaluation criteria that you need to put in, uh, much more strict in what they're asking.

[00:18:32] A federal grant can take you 60 hours of work that they tell you it will take you when it might take you 120. It's just much more strict. , it's generally a lot more objective, whereas a foundation has people sitting on the board. They may have somebody that they know is applying, that they're waiting for that particular application.

[00:18:55] Everybody might have their favorite kind of situation. But when I went to, uh, DC to score grants for the federal government, I was a peer reviewer. We sat in a. , they took, uh, they take apart a hotel and they take the beds out of the room and they put tables and you're there with, uh, three other people and we get 10 grants and they're quite thick.

[00:19:21] Uh, they're about a hundred, 150 pages. And you sit there and you read and you score according to all the criteria. And then if we are too far apart, we discuss it. If we are all on the same mark, then that's the. and there's usually somebody else that is there to break the tie. And that's even that as objective as that is, because if I know one of those organizations, I'm not gonna allowed to score it and have to sign that I don't.

[00:19:48] But even with all that, if there's chocolate on the table, I might be in a better mood. Eating my Hershey's kisses, uh, then the, the room next door. So my, our, our scores might get a little higher than the other room. And then, so that batch of 10 could be a little bit lower than ours and hours might fly above.

[00:20:09] You know, it's just we're not computers where human beings and things happen. Yeah, we, uh, I, I had experience as well, sort of scoring grants as part of the nonprofit coordinating committee. And there's, you know, it, it can be frustrating looking at like, I wish all systems were perfect, but the truth is that yeah, if you're hungry, you're gonna get a longer prison sentence.

[00:20:32] Uh, from a judge, right? And those, uh, those reports, those research is, is out there. So I think the lesson that everyone should take away is obviously send chocolate with your grant submission, shov it into the machine and just right over the fence. , I mean, I think you point to another facet of this, which is that there is, uh, human on the other side and.

[00:20:55] you know, how you present your numbers is one thing, but how you present your story seems like another, because you end up needing an internal champion. Know when it comes down to it because you, you are having subjective scores, but then conversations. So there is somebody who you are trying to pull onto your side as you do this grant.

[00:21:15] No, it could be, you can try to make that call. You can try to reach out. Sometimes you get there and sometimes they don't wanna hear from. , you know, so it, it is, it is a tactic. Uh, but you can't do that with the federal government. You're really not allowed to. Uh, and the people that you might talk to on the phone will not be the ones that are scoring the grants.

[00:21:39] Mm-hmm. . So, yeah. How do you, yeah, that makes sense. That's what I'd hope from the government. But you know, what I used, used to do, my last set of grants that I wrote, . I used to make the organization charts very colorful. I'd actually put a little picture on the side, a cartoon that represented what we were trying to do.

[00:21:59] Uh, I just wanted to make them smile. I would add some bar graphs and pie charts and in color now, depends how it was copied, if it was copied on black and white or color. Now everything's copied in color anyway, so it's not a. , but understand that if you're reading 10 pages of one section in a federal grant and there's nothing in between all these paragraphs, somebody's gonna be really bored.

[00:22:25] But if you can squeeze a chart or a table in, it looks a lot better.

[00:22:29] the, the sort of, the, the craft of trying to break up. You know, the, the daunting layers of text that, that are involved here, right, is, um, is a real art. Mm-hmm. , um, I like shorter paragraphs. The, however, sometimes you have a grant that says the page limit is five pages. The paragraph, uh, each section has a character count.

[00:22:57] That's it. You have to follow that, and those are the hard ones because you really have a lot to say and you have to. very concisely. Yeah. Well, I actually kind of respect the, the word count limit when they're giving you an idea of like what it is that they're actually after. Mm-hmm. . Um, it's actually kind of nice.

[00:23:16] Uh, I would say I'm curious about seasonality. Is there, you know, a standard fiscal year that you see? Does it change? Uh, what is your, well, you know, you have nonprofits of January. , you know, their fiscal year could be January to December and it could be um, June to July, right? Or July to June. Uh, so it really depends on the, the foundations.

[00:23:45] Uh, we see that deadlines often happen either mid month or end of month for grants. And that's really, that's a very interesting thing. You know, if you miss a deadline, that's it. You can, you can have the most wonderful grant, but you miss the deadline. You, you need to hold it for the next, you know, the next application.

[00:24:07] And so Grant, we are working on our grant calendar. That's the next thing where we, when we, when I feel like I've done enough with the nine 90 s, even though we have a grant calendar, I'm working, I have ideas to make it even. . That's, that's great. And I know of other things you're working on. You mentioned before I pressed record here that you're working on a book Yes.

[00:24:29] Which is exciting. Can you, can you share anything about that? Well, it's titled the Queen of Grants from teacher to CEO to grant writer to CEO, . It's about my journey, uh, from starting out as a teacher all the way into grant watch and what I'm doing now.

[00:24:48] I want to leave a legacy so people can realize that the decisions, every decision we make in life and every fork in the road we take, leads us back, leads us somewhere either back to where we started with something we wanted to do or beyond. And you know, just things happen. And that's. , so I'm hoping.

[00:25:13] Well, it sounds, you know, like still something that will be hyper relevant to, to organizations as long here. Here's the thing, as as long as super wealthy organizations and governments need nonprofits to fill the gap of service to each other, there is going to be a process. That process is gonna involve grants.

[00:25:32] And you're gonna have to write them. So, uh, I, I'd say, you know, at least the topic is, is fairly future-proofed. Well, I wanna take, I wanna take them through my journey. I wanna take people through my journey, but I also want to show them how to write a grant. I want to give them my knowledge. I wanna pass it, pass it on so that people learn what I've learned throughout the.

[00:25:57] I was going through your, your bio here, and I was just sort of curious on your, your, your total amount of, of grants won. And by my rough math, it looks like while you were a grant writer at NYC Department of Education, uh, in Brooklyn which is actually also where I'm from in good old Brooklyn, uh, you raised 11 million.

[00:26:17] And then on top of that, your awarded grant history seems to total up to about 6.5 million. So, I mean, , you're coming in at a close 20 million in terms of, uh, total, if I'm getting these numbers right, for winning grants, that's, and I retired. It's strong, and I retired from grant writing and people were throwing money at me.

[00:26:36] Libby, please write this grant, please. This grant. And I said, I just couldn't do it anymore. I opened the business and it was just too much. You either running a, running a company, or now it's companies or you're a grant. and we built grant writer team because the realization is that if you have to go out there and look for jobs, you can't write grants.

[00:27:02] So you need to have the, the projects flowing into you, not you going out and searching. So we built it and it's, it's working. There are always grant writers looking for work. They come to us and they, they're fed constant. . Yeah. No, it's, it's uniquely different too, in terms of, oh, I need someone to write this, you know, you know, blog post or resource article, this generic, go find a writer versus like, we need our story told in the right way, in the right word count based on this grant, you know?

[00:27:36] Mm-hmm. , I, I think it is uniquely different, isn't it? Yeah. And you also need your story told with your passion. So if, if you are, if you hire a grant writer, And they have no connection whatsoever to what you wanna do. You sh that's the wrong person for you. I always tell my grant writers if there's a job out there, and hypothetically, let's just take a Alzheimer's, and that's what it's for, what the grant is for.

[00:28:06] If you have an uncle, and hopefully not, but if you have an uncle who has it and suffered from it, or a best friend and you. Then you should write that grant because you can speak in the same passion as the nonprofit you're representing, but if you've never seen it, if you have no connection to what it is, that's not your job.

[00:28:29] And that's how we want the grant writers to apply. We want them to look at the look at what the nonprofit is saying and see if you have any background whatsoever in that, because otherwise you can't speak to that passion. . That makes sense. I'm curious, I think I know what your answer will be, but let me just map out something.

[00:28:49] I, I'm not sure if you've seen the many articles that have been coming out about AI tools that can write, like people, uh, tools like, uh, chat, G B T and others. I'm, I'm curious because one of the concerns I see is, is that with the proliferation of just general writing, Computers. I am afraid that it's gonna be creating a lot more things like grant submissions and has this, you know, one unintended consequence maybe of saturating certain foundations and application processes with just tons of generically written grant submissions, which could make it harder for folks playing by standard rules.

[00:29:38] I, I don't know if you. . So a hot take on this or not, my take is that we use what's available, right? I mean, I wrote my first grant on, uh, Commodore 64, right? I had one of those Dynamite Machine. . Okay. So what, what's available we use, however, the chat bot is a language. a good English language writer. So if you want to answer a question to that's posed in the grant application and you write your answer now, you can give it to chatbot and say, edit this, and then paste your paragraphs in and they'll spit it back out to you with all of your information.

[00:30:28] And now you have better English language. Right? But you, you wrote. , it's just being edited. So you may have saved the editor, but if you say, Hmm, I, uh, chatbot, I need, um, a paragraph on the statistics of car steps in KSI, right. , that's not good. You didn't do any of the research and you shouldn't use it that way.

[00:30:58] First of all, because you don't know what it's looking at. You don't know what the primary or secondary source was. You have no idea. It's not quoting anything. And the one that's out there is based on 2021. That was the last time it was updated. So anybody using that for that kind of research is making a big mistake.

[00:31:17] And a lot of it can be. from somebody else's article or whatever. But if you are giving the information, you already wrote it and all this chatbot is doing is rearranging your paragraph a little bit, a little better. I don't see the problem with that. It's, uh, it's interesting. I, I think absolutely, it's, uh, it's an addition to nu instead of, and frankly, not ignoring it might.

[00:31:43] At your own peril because I think it can accelerate and improve when used correctly. I'm not sure how many people actually understand the nuance that it's going to, uh, lie about facts, but actually be decent about what it's supposed to do, which is predict the next word that should come in the sentence and follow directions, uh mm-hmm.

[00:32:03] So what I hope is super important note, right? But I hope it's not taking my information and giving it to somebody. Am I teaching the chatbot? Yes, you are. Okay. So I might be causing myself some competition if I'm a grant writer. You are. It's, uh, it's so hard because it is unfortunately, like, you know, this catch 22 where certainly you could hold back, but you know, the, the fact that you're writing a book and.

[00:32:34] You know, pieces that you have done writing on in terms of your approach and strategy like that. You know, has been hoovered up by the trillions of data points that this thing has been trained on, and I'm, you know, curious and, and how that impacts the, the ecosystem of grant writing. And also, like, I, I mean it from the foundation side, I'm, uh, I'm worried about humans trying to keep up with robots on one side of it because you need a human to evaluate it.

[00:33:02] You can't fake that. Can you have a lazy grant written by, uh, chat G P t? Yeah, you can. Yeah. But you have, you still have to have a plan, a grant, there's a program. I need money. What do I need the money for? Yeah. Well, I need the money for I always go back to preschool. I love that or, you know, raising reading scores and I'm going to teach, uh, reading through the arts.

[00:33:29] That's my program. And because of that, I need this much money in supplies and, and th these are the supplies I wanna buy. I don't see chat. Um, doing that, I see chat, taking my opening paragraph and making it, and beefing it up and giving me some alternatives to what I wanna say. I write three sentences and I don't think it's really punchy enough.

[00:33:52] And I say to Chad, you know, edit this, make it more exciting. And they give me three different version. and it's all my words, and now I have it and it sounds a little better. That's how I see it. You can't, you can't. Chad's not making me a budget for my proposal. Not a good one, . No. I mean, no, it's not right.

[00:34:10] It'll guess that I need to know the salaries of the people that I wanna hire. I need to know what, uh, percentage of the, their full-time equivalent is going to be used for this program. I mean, if I have a supervisor in a. And that supervisor is going to supervise the afterschool program, but they also supervise the adult education program.

[00:34:31] There's a percentage of their time that's allotted for my program. Chad's not doing that, so I think that those, those grants are gonna be spotted right away. . Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Uh, I have one more question before we go to, to rapid fire cuz I'm just kind of curious about, uh, another pitfall I'd say of frankly what happens when a nonprofit that you know, helps preschool, but then also sees a tempting grant, but would have to extend their programs to go get it.

[00:35:07] Such as, let's just say like gardens in schools and they're like, well, I guess we could create a whole gardening program because we see this grant, this, you know, tail wagging the dog sort of thing. How, how do you view it given your history with the relationship of the grant making process and when we're trying to fit our new program together, we get money.

[00:35:30] Well, if that garden is going to enhance their preschool program, that's great. They just never thought of it before, are they? But you know, how are they going to use it? And now they really have to show how. The children may be learning to identify plants, how they're going to learn the colors because of the garden.

[00:35:51] If they're going to take all of that and include it in the gardening and they're really committed to doing it, that's great. If they're not committed to doing it, you know, a foundation can say, Hey, we wanna come visit. because they wanna do some press and they never even started the garden. They're gonna have to give all that money down.

[00:36:07] Show me some carrots. Yeah. Now those carrots take a while to grow . Right? Right. And some foundations wanna get pictures because they wanna put it up on their website. So you know, you can write a great grant, but if you don't really plan to implement it, you're gonna have to give the money back. Yeah. I'd say other cautionary tales include sort of when you see, hey, we.

[00:36:31] A program developed in a city where you aren't and you're like, oh, we can, you know, create a footprint here and develop, develop our services. And the problem is when that grant runs out, you still have an obligation to that community, employees and a foot footprint. And I have seen that happen. And that's, uh, that's disastrous actually.

[00:36:49] Right? Well, the, a good organization gets a grant and immediately starts applying for. . You don't get one grant and say, oh, we're done. We don't have to do this anymore. That's what happened in, uh, community School District 18. We had to constantly write grants. It wasn't, you get one pat on the back and that's great.

[00:37:12] You just keep writing and writing

[00:37:14] Oh gosh. It sounds, sounds like a lot of fun. Um, yeah. Well, I learned it was a great learning. . All right. Let's jump into the rapid fire questions and hopefully, uh, give you a quick response to, to some of these. Uh, let's just kick it off. What, uh, tech tool or website, uh, have you started using in the last year?

[00:37:39] Well, we used SIM Rush, and that is very helpful. A lot of people in the organization use it for different things. The developers use it to look at. links that are not, that are giving 4 0 4 errors. It identifies that the marketing people use it for seo. So it's very versatile. What tech issues are you currently battling with inner joining tables?

[00:38:06] That, that is something I'm, I'm battling with because I wanna inter joinin three tables for the nine 90 reports, and that's giving me a little trouble. But hopefully we'll get through it every time we, we want to do something, we find a way. Uh, what is coming in the next year that has you the most excited?

[00:38:25] Well, I'm really excited about the nine 90 report. The next is the calendar to make it much more interac. And at the same time, my book finishing it up. Can you talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things today? Well, early in my career we, in my career in Grant watch, you can, you can choose, so you can say earlier in grant watch, or you can go back

[00:38:59] Okay. In Grant watch. I knew we could build a website, but I didn't know anything at all about code. So we had hired somebody and he was right out of school and he was like leading us, but we knew what, we knew what we wanted Grant watch to do, and it was then called NYC Grants watch to show you how my dream was so small that it was just NY.

[00:39:27] and then it went to New York State and then it went to all the states around it, and then it went throughout the United States. Then it became International Israel, Canada, and kept growing. Now, you know, when you build, you build small. You keep having to do things and add, and add and add. You know, since then we've now we changed our, our server just.

[00:39:48] In November and we went from a small ser, you know, a smaller server to a very large humongous server. So I think the mistake was not seeing all that. It could be how great it could be. I was just focused on NYC and it just kept going. So I, I think that's pretty much it. And I, if we say a mistake, I should have gone back to school and learned to code.

[00:40:12] Do you believe nonprofits can successfully go out of business, can go out of business successfully? I How do you successfully go out of business? I mean, go out of business, you close your doors because you, you can't provide services anymore. So how do you successfully go out of. Well, hypothetically in the case where you were tasked to solve a social problem and you solve it such as, you know, we did it polio solved, we can close the door successfully would be one example.

[00:40:47] Okay. I guess they could, um, , but if I, if I was that same nonprofit, I would say, Hey, let's take on another disease and let's go further. We, we have the recipe. for success. So why, why close the doors

[00:41:03] if I were to put you in a hot tub time machine? And I think I'm, I know what you're gonna say, but we'll go through it anyway. A hot tub time machine. Back to the beginning of your work with Grant watch, what advice would you give yourself? Well, I said I probably learned to code. What advice would I give myself?

[00:41:20] I think I would, my biggest problem. Today is finding my successor. That's, that's my problem. Within my family, I have you know, people in the business, but because the business has grown so much, we each take a different leadership role and there's nobody to take my leadership role at this point. And so that's my greatest.

[00:41:48] And if anybody's out there listening and you think you can be me, let me know.

[00:41:53] That's that. I think that is a first for our podcast. Well, there you go. We'll see who gets back to you. What, what is something you think that you should stop doing? Well, I have been in development from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Every day since Grant watch began, and that's, it's time to move that over to somebody else.

[00:42:18] Um, I've worked hand, you know, right, with the developers many times just on shared screen, directing every single color, every single letter and word on the website. And that's something that I need to be able to pass over to someone else. If I were to give you a magic wand to wave across the social impact sector, or maybe we can say the philanthropic sector, what would it do?

[00:42:46] Uh, I would tell them to not react to everything going on in the, in the chaos and follow your gut. The nonprofits just keep reinventing, reinventing what their focus is because of what's going on in the world. And I think that we know who we need to provide services for and why and how, and we should stay the course.

[00:43:22] What advice would you give college graduates looking to enter the social impact sector? I would tell them to take a grant writing. And go and volunteer at a nonprofit and write grants for them. And even if you don't win immediately, you will because you'll be persistent and you will have a career.

[00:43:47] What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or did not follow? Well, I was supposed to go to. , I got accepted to Pratt. I had a portfolio and my parents did not want me in an art school during the time of the hippies. Uh, so I didn't go. I went to Brooklyn College, minored in fine arts and, uh, majored in education.

[00:44:13] So I did follow. My parents were active in the community wherever they lived, so, and I learned that. You know, the impact that people could have on social organizations. So I think I followed everything. I, I was always a good kid, . All right. Final question. How do people find you? How do people help you? Well, grant watch.com.

[00:44:42] G R A N T W A T C H. Our phone number, uh, our contact information is there. We have a chat, uh, that's open during office hours. If you leave us a mess, a message on the chat, we'll get back to you. We return phone calls, uh, we're right there and we, we answer the phones.

[00:45:05] Well, I appreciate the resource you've created for the sector and for sharing, uh, for sharing some strategies with us today. Uh, thank you so much. Thank you. It was fun going down memory lane with you, .

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Alex Wirth, Co-founder & CEO of Quorum.us - a leading public affairs software that helps map, track, change, and report on policy landscape, shares insights into advocacy approaches that will work in 2023.

Alex ranks: Twitter, IRL meetings, calling, letters, videos, Meta, and billboards as just some of the methods advocacy organizations can be using to get the attention of representatives.

He shares why buying Donor Voter files may be obsolete in the new advocacy landscape.

About Alex

Alex Wirth is the Cofounder and CEO of Quorum, a public affairs software platform that enables organizations to launch grassroots advocacy campaigns, manage stakeholder engagement, and monitor dialogue in Washington, Brussels, all 50 states, and thousands of cities around the U.S.

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] audio1717820249: Today on the podcast, we have a returning guest, a returning guest that we had on a few years ago. His name is Alex Worth, the co-founder and c e o at Quorum. Uh, quorum is a public affairs software helps you work smarter, move faster. Thousands of public affairs officials use quorum and their work to Congress.

[00:00:44] My short hot take on it is it helps you connect with Congress and has an amazing database and functionality prior. To that, uh, he did happen to graduate from Harvard, as I understand it, and he was an intern at , the White House. Uh, and the office of the Chief of staff, uh, has also spent time as a global shaper.

[00:01:04] And a board member on the Economic Club of Washington, among other things. Uh, but Alex is also one of the folks that I've known since back in the day, and I respect his work and his persistence in, in staying with, uh, staying with the organization and building it over time. So, Alex, welcome and, and thanks for coming back.

[00:01:25] Awesome. Thanks for having me. Well, I hopefully didn't confuse people too much about Quorum, but what is your elevator pitch and explaining what Quorum does in the world of political advocacy? Yeah, so we're a public affairs software platform, uh, that is used by public affairs professionals at major companies, trade associations, nonprofits, uh, little bit of federal government work to track everything that's happening on Capitol Hill.

[00:01:56] All 50 state legislatures help communicate up to members of congress. Um, we collect both the official and staff contact information and have the tools to be able to get email messages to those staff. And then also we have a whole series of grassroots advocacy technology to help individuals write their member congress, tweet their member, call their member, run massive mobilization campaigns.

[00:02:18] And we are currently working to bring a brand new pack product to market to help, uh, third party packs, both collect and raise. Manage their individual bank accounts and records and then issue disbursements to lawmakers to participate in the political process. So the quick way to think of us and our goal is to be the one stop shop for all the efforts that an advocacy team needs to engage on Capitol Hill in Brussels or in any of the state capitals across the country.

[00:02:45] Yeah. It's pretty impressive. And before we, we pressed record, you were telling us, um, about Capital Canary. Right? You were, you were able to, to pull them into your. Feature suite and what has that capability? Yeah, so this has been the really exciting update for us, uh, from the last year is that we did acquire Capital Canary, which is the new name for the phone to action business, which sends more messages to Capital Hill than any other technology platform out there.

[00:03:15] Uh, phone to Action on average sends about 25 million messages a year to Capitol Hill, and so we combine forces with them, uh, at the end of September of this past fall. And overnight both doubled in size for the number of clients we serve and that we're working now with 2000 organizations, including hopefully some listeners, uh, on this call, but also as a result of that, have been able to double the size of our research and development team.

[00:03:41] So we're incredibly excited to be working combined as we think about innovations with advocacy and advocacy technology rather than against each other, taking the same teams to build the same features on multiple different platforms. And we're pretty excited about what the future's gonna be able to bring from.

[00:03:58] Well, last time we talked, I feel like you were really opening my eyes, our audience's eyes, to the impact that Twitter was really starting to have. And mind you, we were pre pandemic, we were PreOn Musk coming into Twitter town, and I felt like you really were helping us understand that there are, you know, I guess a hierarchy.

[00:04:21] A hierarchy of ways that elected officials and you know, really their staff. Are are listening to constituents and I'm, I'm wondering, maybe we could just revisit that. What is your current hierarchy of high to low attention? No attention for messaging, elected officials, representatives. Yeah, so to start with the Twitter piece one, you were spot on.

[00:04:49] Twitter has taken off since we last talked, and a lot of that was as a result of the pandemic of you had members of Congress, state legislators, mayors who are used to being out with people in their constituents, stuck at home, not able to meet everyone, anyone. And wanting to show that they are being relevant and share as much information as they can with constituents.

[00:05:10] And so we saw the number of social media messages from elected officials skyrocket in 2020. I mean, just a full jump, um, as the pandemic and lockdown hit. Um, and so there's been more definitely usage of the platforms. I think the other component to it is, I do agree with Elon Musk's comments that Twitter really is a digital town square, and I think you see that very significantly in the policy influence participation journalism and advocacy worlds that exist on Twitter and that many of us, including me, follow along, but that we see members of congress, journalists, policy, influencers, actively participate in.

[00:05:51] And the example that I think is helpful to share is that almost every state legislature in the country, Has a given hashtag for the individual legislative session. I was born and raised, uh, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. My dad happens to be a state legislator so I know it well. Uh, and in New Mexico the hashtag is hashtag nm ledge.

[00:06:09] And the best way to get information about what's going on in the State House during session is following on the hashtag nm ledge. Cause you have people that are in the gallery. You have reporters sharing what the information they have. You've got leadership sharing, Hey, we're gonna be on the floor of the House of Senate.

[00:06:24] This bill is moving, party's sharing what's up next. And you can't get information that quickly, that accurately and from that many people anywhere else. And so that same level of conversation that's happening, New Mexico is happening in all 50 states. But also then it's happening on key issues here in Washington DC and it presents a really significant opportunity for advocacy organizations to participate in.

[00:06:48] Stuff. Yeah. Because frankly, it's, you know, love it or hate it. We're not here to litigate the, you know, week by week changes that Musk is putting out there. The, the truth is that it's, uh, an open, trusted platform to the extent that identities and we understand the identities of representatives and people that have been able to burnish their reputations with consistency on the platform are able to report on things like bills progress, uh, and political means, and.

[00:07:18] And one of the questions I actually had for you is around the fact that, you know, recently, you know, we were recording this in January of 2023, uh, change of allowing political ads in political organizations to, to run ads. Now on, on Twitter has, you know, the, the ban has been lifted. What are your thoughts on the, the implications of that or opportu.

[00:07:41] Yeah, so I think there's huge opportunities you think about reaching policy makers and their staff in that it is possible to geofence state capital, the US Capitol, a given agency, and run publical or public policy related Twitter ads to those organizations. I think that is some of the biggest opportunity and impact.

[00:08:03] and the Great Washington story that I, I've heard over the years is there was an official at the Department of Transportation that was needed to approve an airline route from one country in Europe to the us and it was held up with a singular individual official, and the public policy firm in DC figured out where the official lived.

[00:08:23] Figured out the exact direction that their apartment window faced out of, found the billboard that they look at every day, and went and bought just that one billboard and talked about the benefits of opening up this airline . And literally the official had to stare at it for a month or a month and a half, and then suddenly the approval came through.

[00:08:42] And so that's obviously like the really old school way of doing things. And that story is probably from 10 plus years ago. But that is now possible again on Twitter with public policy and political advertising. And it makes a difference because these elected officials are looking at it. They're watching and seeing what's happening and going on, and so you wanna be at the platform that they're on.

[00:09:02] And it's a lot more cost effective to do than that, than try and advertise to everyone that's gonna be watching Super Bowl Sunday and like hope you get the elected officials that are also gonna be watching as well. So I want to come back to my question about hierarchy. So at the top of the hierarchy, Billboards in front of the windows of representatives, number one.

[00:09:23] What is number? In person meetings. Um, and I think that that is something that very much got lost in Covid. Um, members of Congress did love to do zoom meetings cuz they could be many more places at once, much more efficiently. But there is something about sitting next to someone in person explaining your story, saying, I traveled to Washington or the state capitol from whatever county or state it may.

[00:09:51] And giving that pitch and, and giving that conversation. I think the third one that I would put out there is video. Uh, and this is something that we're seeing much more cutting edge within the last year and a half, is video story banking. So pulling in and having individual advocates or members or donors record, what does the organization mean to you?

[00:10:11] Why is this policy issue important? How are you being impacted? Buy this change or buy a covid lockdown. And then organizations stringing that together to be able to play to an individual legislator or lawmaker or appointed official and say, let me show you how your constituents are having an impact.

[00:10:28] And it feels really raw when someone's sitting in their car with a cell phone video and sharing that. And that's been pretty impactful. I've probably put Twitter, um, close to number four. And the reason for that is that we have seen an increase in members of Congress who are personally tweeting themselves on the platform.

[00:10:47] Um, and that's one of the big things that we've expected to happen just as we've had both, you know, more younger members of Congress become elected, but also more members adopted. And one of the interesting things from our annual social media report, Is that some of our most prolific tweeters in Congress are actually the older members themselves.

[00:11:04] Um, and so we're seeing, you know, individuals look towards that example and realize this is the way that you communicate with constituents. And let me tell you, we've all used the Twitter app. You know, when you're mentioned and you know, when you're talked about. And it's a little bit along the lines of, you know, what people are saying about you, not behind your back, but on a public town square.

[00:11:22] Like, you're gonna click on that and see how you're mentioned and see how you're being discussed. And so I think that has a huge impact that oftentimes can go overlooked as a way to be able to reach and, and get to a member of Congress. That's a sort of self-aware sentiment that I'm sure they're all using tracking applications.

[00:11:41] And last time I dug into this, there are very, you know, smart apps that are, that can be used to track these things and manage messages. And so that's up there. So it's interesting because it feels like it, it's moved up the rank, you know, looking back, we were talking about calls and letters, you know, where, where does that communication medium fall for?

[00:12:01] Yeah, so calls are still key, um, and certainly have an impact. I mean, if you can have a hundred people call a legislative office in a given day, that's really big. Now the challenge is that staff picks that up, not the member. There are some great stories, a members that'll occasionally do a little time phone banking and someone calls and suddenly, if they're a member of Congress on the phone.

[00:12:22] But you know, that's one in a million um, calls that it happens. And so members do, and I was a congressional intern, you know, get a sheet every day of here are the top issues that we're called about. And the key piece there is doing it all in one day so that you're at the top of the list. Because having a hundred people call over a month, you're gonna have five, six calls a day.

[00:12:40] It's not gonna be as effective as everyone in one given day. Um, I still think that personalized letters really do have a pretty big impact. Um, and the key piece of it is making sure that they are differentiated and on, you know, slightly different subjects than all form letters on the same thing.

[00:13:00] Because what happens behind the scenes is that members of Congress have constituent management software platforms and they can both pull and collect similar messages together and highlight that. If a message is 50% the same text, batch it all together, write, write one response, and send it. . And yes, the numbers matter, but it's different than if somebody takes the time and writes a completely customized note.

[00:13:21] You can't send a form letter to a customized note, and so then you actually have a staffer customizing a message in response, getting that approved and having that happen. Uh, and I really do believe that that starts to change some of the conversation in a congressional office because it can take an issue that no one was previously aware about and suddenly raise it to be top of mind for the office because they're spending time writing and customized and thoughtful.

[00:13:45] Mm-hmm. . So you would still put Twitter above calls and differentiated, we'll call them custom letters. So I, the handwritten letter is what might give that a little bit of a run for the money. If you can deliver a handwritten letter to a member, um, that's pretty valuable. But again, the opportunity with Twitter that exists is you've got a chance to reach that elected official or policy influencer directly themselves and differentiate and also catch them in a little bit of downtime.

[00:14:13] Um, and I think that's the key thing that I would encourage and you know, it helps with both my parents being local elected officials, is they're people just like, And so members of Congress the same way they're sitting, waiting for that flight to take off to go home, do they really wanna be sitting there, you know, powering through email?

[00:14:26] No, they're probably scrolling on Twitter. And are they gonna click on the notifications tab? Of course they are like, we're all human. Um, but you know, that's a different experience than if you're a state legislator and you're trying to go through email as fast as possible. Like it may not have that same component or piece to it.

[00:14:43] Um, that getting the direct in front of and, and on the Twitter platform. . All right. Any other honorable mentions out there? You know, the, the case for Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, fill in the blank. You know, I won't talk about Mastodon because I feel like that is a moment in time. Yeah, we're cer We certainly see some members that are active on Facebook at the congressional level that use it even more than Twitter.

[00:15:10] Um, I think, you know, anecdotally we'll see more form posts or posts that it feels like come from staffers and are a little less personalized. Um, than Twitter. We, interestingly enough, see more state legislators have Facebook accounts, uh, than Twitter accounts. It's about 75% have a Facebook account and little over 50% have a Twitter account.

[00:15:33] Uh, and that's where they do end up using it a little bit differently. But the medium of the platform is just harder of saying, oh, you're gonna comment on an. Uh, in, you know, sending someone a Facebook message to page, it just doesn't work the same way that Twitter does. And, and that's part of, I think, you know, the relevance of Twitter and also where I have to say long term, you know, I am bullish on Twitter continuing to be around because you have all the users and people on it, and it's designed in a way.

[00:16:03] that is very user friendly and also very personal. That is a, you know, way for an individual to communicate. Whereas I think when you look at some of the other platforms, there are many more uses for them. And so as a result things become harder where, you know, TikTok is not gonna be the best way to, to reach your legislator.

[00:16:19] I mean, are they allowing government officials on TikTok anymore? I know there's certain bands talked about for, uh, government employees on the platform. Um, namely because China is literally probably used to spy, manipulate popul. Yeah. So I know certainly that's been talked about for federal, uh, executive branch employees.

[00:16:39] Um, I am not as familiar, um, with the rules that are currently happening in Congress, but realizing is a different branch of government. Oftentimes we will see different rules, um, that are applied to congressional staff. Um, but I don't have the answer top of mind. Gotcha. Alrighty. I wanna talk about what you're seeing.

[00:16:59] 2023. In terms of tactical trends, there's an organization listening right now saying we are, you know, going to be gearing up. There's the, you know, the new elected officials in office. We're trying to get our, you know, lobbying and advocacy straight for 2023. What are the types of activities that you see being planned for, that you think are going to be.

[00:17:22] Yeah. So first off, it's state level, state level, state level, state level. And the reason for that is we now have a divided government here in Washington with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House. And so the general mood in town is that not a whole lot is going to happen here over the course of the next two years.

[00:17:41] Uh, and where are things gonna happen? Things are gonna happen at the state level because you've got state houses. Both on the democratic side and the Republican side, where you have either Republicans or Democrats in complete control of both chambers as well as the governorship that wanna enact policy and want to go, and Bills can move fast and they're able to do things.

[00:18:01] And so it is incredibly important to have a state level advocacy strategy because there's both an opportunity for a lot of wins, but also there's an opportunity to, that you need to be aware and be playing defense because any of your opponents are gonna be really active. on that state level as well. Um, so I think that's part one.

[00:18:20] Um, part two of that is thinking a little bit about how do you build a thoughtful and engaged advocacy program to succeed in Washington in the long term. Uh, and it's a pretty exciting time because we're about to. Start thinking about the 2024 presidential election cycle and also what does Congress look like in 2025 during the next cycle.

[00:18:42] And there's a world that, you know, we could be back with one party control. There's a world, we could have a new president and a new administration, and there's a world that we could still be in divided government, but that as we are ramping up for that, now is the time to be planning those strategies in.

[00:18:56] For 2024. And when talking about strategy, I'm talking about things like voter education. What are the campaigns that you're gonna be running when everyone's talking about the presidential election cycle, and how are you helping your advocates and your donors and your employees and your members register to vote, find their polling places?

[00:19:11] There are some super innovative programs that I've seen nonprofits do targeting campaign staff. Targeting individuals who are running for president and making sure that they are very known. So one of the most simple ones is just simply to go wear your nonprofit's t-shirt and go volunteer for a presidential or congressional candidate and make sure they know that on that given day the phone bank is 50 people from this organization.

[00:19:35] They're gonna notice, and these elected officials and presidential candidates are gonna be way closer to the voters than they are during most times of the year. And then figuring out bigger picture, like how are you gonna position your issues both in the election cycle, but as well as in the presidential cycle?

[00:19:51] So that they're top of mind when either, you know, the administration is reelected or new congress comes in so that you're off and running in 2025. And I think it's really about playing the long game at the federal level. Um, that becomes so important. And then the last thing that I'll share, Just on thinking about 2023 and the advocacy side is it's all about integration.

[00:20:11] I think in the past we've seen a lot of very siloed efforts and siloed technology platforms. So you use one thing to send things out and you use another thing to do advocacy, and you use another thing for tracking. Um, and it ends up with data being lost, really clunky, lot of time doing downloads and uploads and what we're seeing both with Quorum as well.

[00:20:34] Other platforms out there is that integration so that you have more one-stop shops and that your data lives together connects together, um, and that you're able to leverage the full benefits from it.

[00:20:56] I have a random question. Can you explain data, data voter files to me as though I were a seven year?

[00:21:06] Yes. So when you are 18 and you get to register to. You go and give information to your county clerk about where you live, who you are, your age, and that information is compiled in a publicly available record that you are registered to vote, and then that record is accessed by campaigns candidates.

[00:21:37] Policy organizations and advocacy groups, and they can use that very simple information, most notably your home address, to attach a whole series of additional information to you based sometimes on algorithms and sometimes on other anonymized data. So for example, if you give your home address to go. For a hunting magazine, they can tag you as likely interested in hunting.

[00:22:07] And so when you get a mailer from your candidate or uh, elected official that's talking about the work that they're doing on access to guns and hunting. You can bet that the person that cares about environmental issues or cares about gun control is not also getting that same mailer, and so it lets a series of both hyper targeting from mail, but also from digital ads occur in an anonymized fashion that protects an individual from being exposed by, or being known for the fact that they subscribe to a hunting magazine and may care about.

[00:22:47] I was wondering, I've seen some organizations, you know, when it's time to jump into the advocacy fray, think that like, step one is I buy this absurdly expensive donor file and then I do the advocacy. I, I, um, I'm curious of what your thoughts are on where that fits in the strategy versus, you know, looking at it from a different lens.

[00:23:14] Yeah, I, I love this question. So I've spent this morning with, um, two Quorum customers as we've started off the year and done just strategic planning around their advocacy campaigns. And one of the comments from breakfast this morning was that 2015 was the era of buying big lists. And this organization bought a massive list of.

[00:23:37] Suddenly had all these people on their contact program, and now five years later, what they're seeing is these people aren't active. Their sending domain and reputation is going down. People aren't engaging because they never signed up and never wanted to be a part of it. And so that era of big list buying and just adding people in is over.

[00:23:57] It is all about having a trusted brand or trusted network of communication of someone that you know. And getting individuals to take action through that. And one of my favorite examples of this, uh, is American Airlines, uh, a company that I am, uh, quite a big fan of as being a frequent flyer. Uh, but they're also phone to action customer.

[00:24:21] And about four or five years ago when they were facing some of the challenges with air traffic control staffing and the f AA funding and where we gonna have enough air traffic controllers, they sent out an advocacy alert to all their frequent flyers, myself included saying, You don't wanna have longer waits on the tarmac.

[00:24:38] We need to fully fund the f a and expand the number of controllers. And so suddenly you have all these frequent flyers saying, of course I'm in. Take action, write my member of Congress. And it elevates that issue. And so for organizations out there, My encouragement for you is you have to start by looking at who's on your existing list, who are your most engaged donors, advocates, event participants, individuals who are involved, and use that list to start your advocacy program and then slowly recruit people beyond that because it's about the quality that matters and not the quantity.

[00:25:10] And it goes back to behind the scenes of what the Congress. To see if you have a ton of people that don't really care, just sending and clicking a form letter, it has nowhere near the same impact as someone who really does care, taking even just two minutes to write what they personally care about. And so that's where, you know, unlike 2015, you shouldn't feel this pressure that, oh my God, I need to send 10,000 messages because 10,000 messages that say the same thing.

[00:25:34] ops is just shrug. And I'm like, yep, I've seen this before. But sending a hundred messages that are all different and super customized, like that's really impactful at the end of the day. And then ideally, you're having your in-person advocacy team go up and talk to the members and re-share those messages and say, let me tell you about your constituent who's facing this issue.

[00:25:54] Yeah. I think that's, that's helpful. I love you saying it was such a 2015 moment. It's clearly burned into your mind as you led up to the presidential elections. I. , you know, the, the expenditure on that. And the interesting thing is, you know, you're, I, I dunno what the going rate is, but it's tens of thousands of dollars depending on what you're getting, but you're not getting the permission to communicate.

[00:26:14] And, and I think that's what you're hinting at. And when you burn through that list, you are also hurting your digital reputation. You know, ending up on, on many, uh, do not send lists and ultimately the goal was missed. Um, and so what, what are some int. Planning in terms of spending, like, you know, clearly everyone will get quorum, , uh, right.

[00:26:38] But, you know, in terms of the, the outreach, what, you know, is it buying Twitter ads? That seems like, uh, an opportunity, is it spending to build up my list? Am I trying to do petitions, promote petitions? What is the, the tactic then if, if you're not buying. but earning it. Yeah, so the most easy one that we go to is Facebook Lead Ads, because Facebook still has a series of targeting that you can get pretty specific in terms of individuals with interest that you're looking for, as well as individuals that are in a given region or area that you can then connect.

[00:27:14] Through to an advocacy webpage. Uh, and so that by far is the default for organizations that are really actively looking to grow their lists and looking to invest. But I will also just go back to my big challenge is before you look externally, look internally and what are the options with your internal events and internal lists to be able to grow your pool of advocates.

[00:27:38] And what I often see happen with nonprofits is the advocacy team. Siloed in a given area that says, oh, well that's your database, that's your list. You figure out how to grow it. And the organization is sitting on a list that is way bigger and way larger for their major trade association or major individual impact summit or movement.

[00:27:57] But it says, oh no, you can't use that list to do advocacy. And I think one of the key message. To share and highlight is that advocacy can be helpful in building a more robust relationship with your members, donors, individual participants, because they're looking for ways to be involved. And I think so often what you get is fundraising teams who go, oh, well, don't even ask our donors for anything.

[00:28:19] We're already asking them to give money every year. But if you're just asking, give money, you're sitting there saying, well, what's my connection? Why am I here giving resources and dollars to it? I don't feel like I'm helping. I want to be more. And so as you can have a donor who gives money and say, oh, thank you for it.

[00:28:35] Would you be willing also help us out and take action? There's more of an attachment, more connections, and so you can build on the ladders of engagement and actually end up with, you know, larger donations, more frequent donations, and people who see the work and connection that they're funding. Rather than just get hit up for a check every single year.

[00:28:53] I think the inverse of that too is also your grassroots advocates are the best people to identify future donors from. Because asking someone to go and write a hundred dollars check, like that's a big ask. Asking someone for two minutes of their time to click a couple buttons and write their member of Congress, that's easier.

[00:29:09] And so the challenge that I would give to any of the organizations listening, Is what percent of your grassroots advocates are donating and how do you help increase that percentage? And what I think you're gonna find is, is that very few organizations turn around and actually solicit the grassroots advocates because the advocacy teams are sitting in their silos saying, oh, well we don't wanna ask them to donate money.

[00:29:28] Like we're trying to get them to do advocacy. And really what we're seeing is the best organizations are connecting the two and making it part of a cohesive engagement.

[00:29:40] final. Uh, thank you for sharing that. It's, you know, helpful to see your framing on it. I'm now curious, you know, we're talking about grassroots advocacy communication, and it's not one size fits all. I feel like when we last talked, we were in peak moments of what I will call rage politic, right? Ra ra rage messaging was all the rage.

[00:30:04] I, I, I'll go out on one and say, what? , what do you look for in terms of tactics, guidance, advice, approaches for getting people to care when clearly, uh, we are, we're even postig of political messaging at this point, so I think one, you have to make it relevant to them. Uh, people are not as interested to be stirred up or responded in, uh, Aggravated per se based on whatever the issue is on left or right, because certainly there are people there that feel that way and feel really passionately.

[00:30:44] But you also have a whole series of people that just wanna go about their lives that aren't thinking about what's happening. The state capitol aren't thinking about what's happening in Washington, and honestly probably don't even know the names of the individuals that represent them. And so the challenge for most organizations, Is, how do you phrase the messaging in a way that gets at those people who are in the middle, who and are, who are often on the sidelines.

[00:31:08] And I go back to that American Airlines example, and there's many others. If you have to make it directly relevant to them of, Hey, your life is going to be impacted because of this. And that's how you get some of the most passionate and engaged stories. Because what you end up hearing is saying, Hey, if I'm sitting on the tarmac for another three hours, I'm not home playing with my kids and I already have to travel.

[00:31:28] X number of days a week. This is the personal impact that it has on me. That's the story that you want to tell the member of Congress, not the story around government funding and whether we should spend more money or less money on the f aa and how that impacts the federal debt. Um, because it comes down of that.

[00:31:43] They wanna hear the personal stories and that's what moves. And so making clear that individuals know, you know, what is the impact for them, and making that as hyper-relevant as possible, I think leads to both the best advocacy outcomes and also the most effective. . Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Making it practical, bringing it to your backyard, you know, the sort of act local and is what you started off by saying, which is , the state.

[00:32:08] The state, state, you know, is acting in your backyard. Um, super helpful. Anything else that you wanna share regarding Quorum Cool Tactics, uses of the platform that are. I, the big one I just go back to is this is the year of integration, the year of one stop shop, and it's time to get your data working for you.

[00:32:31] Um, and both, some of that runs through the work that we're doing is we work to string together, pack information, advocacy, legislative tracking, and have that sync. But it also comes to just simply donor databases and is your donor database talking to your email platform, talking to your fundraising tools, talking to your grassroots advocacy tools, and getting all the information from those back in a, you know, circular motion so that you can learn from it and apply more analytics and information.

[00:32:55] This is something that was really probably cutting edge as we think 5, 6, 7 years ago. But now is the time to make it happen. And we're seeing a lot more organizations make changes to their technology stacks to reflect that we're in 2023 and the technology is out there. It is possible to do, but it's really comes down to a matter of having both the willpower.

[00:33:20] As well as the encouragement to know that now is the time and that you don't have to be a trailblazer to go and, and make that happen. Um, and so I would just encourage folks to really think about that because as you think about 2024 and the advocacy opportunities coming presidential election cycle, like that's the time when you need your tools to be the most effective they possibly can be.

[00:33:40] And so take the time this year to go make those investments and make those changes, uh, to be your, put yourself in a position, uh, for. . Well, thanks for that. All right, we're gonna move into some rapid fire here. Please keep your responses brief and interesting. , what is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in last year?

[00:34:04] So we finally started using a chat bot on our website to engage with people who were coming to the website. Uh, we were late on this, um, from a B2B perspective, and many of you have probably been to websites looking to buy and see the little chat bot pop up. But we've seen a whole new series of engagements, conversions, and people that wouldn't normally just fill out a form on the website that we've captured through the chatbot.

[00:34:29] And so my kind of out there challenge to the listeners on this podcast is what would it look like to put a chatbot on your website? Who would you wanna try and engage with? What information would you wanna capture and can you get more people added to your organization's list or engaged than you could from just a standard email sign up?

[00:34:47] I think we've seen a lot of B2B uses for it, but I don't think we've seen as many advocacy nonprofit and even B2C uses for it, and that there's a lot of low hanging fruit there, especially with the new AI coming out. As you know, as much as you wanna trust a pre-trained AI to answer on behalf of your organization, uh, is a good point though.

[00:35:07] tech issues. You are battl. Yeah, so we just bought Capital Canary, doubled in size overnight and literally had two of every system. Now, sometimes they were the same system in that we had two instances of Salesforce. Sometimes they were totally different. We had an instance of churn zero and an interest of Gainsight.

[00:35:25] For our customer software, uh, we have HubSpot and we have Marketo. And so we are currently in the middle of a major, major push to both select go forward systems and integrate so that we're operating as a combined business. And the advice and kind of mandate that I gave our team is that we don't wanna be Southwest Airlines.

[00:35:45] When you look at the challenges Southwest ran into at the end of December of 2022, they have not upgraded their technology yet the way that they need to. And so you saw a massive meltdown as a result of it. And I think that all organizations need to take a moment and just look within and say, do we have the technology infrastructure that we need to scale as we look to grow and expand our operations, or even keep the operations going right now?

[00:36:09] Because the, you know, if Southwest Airlines is culpable of not having the technology, I know that there's a lot of organizations out there that may be looking and saying, yeah, my tech really isn't working for me, so we're up to our next, just because of combining two businesses together and doing it. But I'm really excited because I know we're gonna come out stronger with more advanced tech than if we hadn't done the combination.

[00:36:32] What is coming in the next year that has you the most? Yeah, so we're launching a brand new pack product to help pack professionals run, manage, and distribute contributions from their pack. It's gonna be the first new software in the market in 20 years, and so we both have an incredible amount of excitement to come into a market that just has not seen a whole lot of innovation.

[00:36:56] And also we have customers that are really. Excited about for what that's going, uh, to bring. And then for us, it's the last leg of the stool on the integrated product strategy of finally putting together federal and state legislative tracking, grassroots advocacy, impact management at one place. So that's certainly gonna be, uh, a highlight for us.

[00:37:16] Can you talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things? So the biggest business mistake that I've made is signing a new office lease in downtown DC where I sit now. Uh, and I share this because I think organizations really need to think differently about both their office space and their work strategy.

[00:37:39] We signed this lease three months into Covid, so probably. Uh, probably a year or so after we last talked and, um, you know, we were focused in betting on a rebound of coming together and coming back to the office. We now have a fully remote development team, and about 35% of our team is fully remote and lives outside of dc And even for the folks that live in DC people are not coming into the office the same extent that they normally do.

[00:38:05] Now, luckily as a company we doubled in size, and so the amount that we're paying is a small percentage of our overall budget each year. But still, when you sit in 28,000 square feet of office space and have 30, 40 people coming in, you realize that is this really the best use of money? And is this also no longer is the way that you engage, retrain, uh, at attract and, you know, help, uh, skill and motivate team members, uh, because it's a whole new world.

[00:38:35] Uh, and so I really think that both has changed the way that I look at the world, both of how we operate as an employer in an organization. But also, you know, I was even in a board meeting, um, earlier this week of folks that are planning to renew their office and, you know, thinking really is that the best sentence?

[00:38:52] And looking at what are the other options? What can you do with less space? Can you do more flexible working? And that the way of working as much as I loved it or others may have that we've done for the last 50 years has completely changed with the pandemic and that we've gotta adapt our strategies to that.

[00:39:10] do you believe that nonprofits can successfully go out of. . Absolutely. So one of the things that we initially met through do something.org, uh, which is just an incredible organization, uh, working on efforts and getting more young people engaged in making a difference. And one of the things that I think do something really framed for me is this ideal of social impact and doing it in a way that.

[00:39:38] Funded by organizations that are looking to make a difference or by donors, um, that are looking to achieve a particular outcome that's clearly measured. And I think the same way that businesses can go out of business, if they're not consumers that are willing to pay for it or customers that are interested in the service.

[00:39:56] Uh, nonprofits should be able to successfully go out of business either because, one, they've solved the problem and so there's no more need to pay for that individual code or service. Or two. I think it's also okay to. And look at the number of startups out there that have tried to do successful things and the number that fail as a result of that.

[00:40:15] Um, and even with that, it's clear that hey, there's not a market or need to it. And I think the trap sometimes that, uh, smaller organizations, even larger organizations, can fall in of what, we're a big institution. We're here, the donors keep funding it, and so let's keep finding things that we can keep getting more donations.

[00:40:32] The push that I would say is, are you really making an impact at the end of the. And one of the clearest ways to do that is if someone is willing to pay dollars or services or time for what you're doing, even if it's a small amount, because that gives an indication that you know what you're doing is, is successful.

[00:40:48] And then the best ones, uh, you're eventually gonna run it out of that because hopefully you've solved your individual problem. How did you get started in the social impact sector? So I was involved, uh, in local youth advisory boards. Uh, I served on the Santa Fe Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, uh, and eventually chaired it for two years and gave me really a chance to start thinking bigger and broader around the community.

[00:41:13] And then realized that there was a whole series of opportunities to work with organizations that informed youth advisory boards do something. Dot org was one of those, uh, and had the chance to be on the do something youth advisory board. Uh, and then I sat there thinking about it and saying, look, we've got a whole series of governors, a whole series of members of Congress that have youth advisory councils.

[00:41:29] Why doesn't the president, uh, have one? And so I ran a campaign for probably four or five years to try and get a presidential youth council. Uh, we got this close, but ultimately, uh, we're not successful. With it. But what it really taught me was how to start and run an organization. How do you get people signed on?

[00:41:48] How do you delegate tasks? How do you put a website up? How do you send out email updates? Uh, basically everything but a whole ton on the financial side. Uh, and what I realized is that social entrepreneurship was one of the best lessons that I could have ever wished for, for doing actual entrepreneurship because as we were founding and launching the company, it felt really familiar and it was something that I'd.

[00:42:09] You know, a couple of years before, just in the social side for the Presidential Youth Council. Yeah. It's funny, I rare aside that, yeah, it is how we met. I'm getting flashbacks. I don't know if I was directly running it at that point, but I do recall at one point it might do something career, uh, needing to arrange a bunch of kids coming to New York, going to and from hotels to our office.

[00:42:31] I don't know if you were part of that adventure when I was running it, but that was pretty funny. Yeah, I remember it. , I'm glad I didn't lose you in the , the subway. Uh, alright. If I could put you in a hot tub time machine back to the beginning of your work, what advice would you give?

[00:42:54] So I think one of the hardest pieces is you have to be prepared to give things up. And there's a great article called Giving Away Your Legos. Um, but you have to train yourself and learn that you have to constantly be pushing and giving things to other people as you grow and scale. . And that's really hard because when you're a small organization, you have all the Legos and you know, the Legos are super, super fun to play with.

[00:43:20] But as you scale more and more Legos start falling on your plate and you have to start giving away your favorite Legos and that you can no longer send the emails or collect the invoices or spend all the time with customers or do these items and you need a team around that has their own Legos that they're playing with.

[00:43:35] But all those have to start with you. And so I think one of the most challenging lessons is we've scaled. Is learning, okay, how do you give away your favorite Lego set and say, I'm no longer involved in doing that, or I'm not gonna go do X. And that's a really core part of scaling that I think founders definitely struggle with because you care, you're passionate, you're engaged, uh, and I think also applies for individuals, even if you didn't found organizations.

[00:44:00] What are you doing that you can give your new team member that just joined or be able to delegate or give back to someone else to let you really spend time focusing on the things that matter the most? Uh, and that's been one of the most helpful framing things that we've learned over our eight and a half years of doing this.

[00:44:16] That's so funny. There's part of my brain that's saying Absolutely right. , you have to eve away tho those types of things. And the other part of me is saying, I don't want to give away my Legos. I think there is, you know, speaking to somebody who's approaching a decade of work in the organization, I think there are some Legos that I will say you have to hold onto because it fuels you in some part, because otherwise you're just left with all the little gray pieces that don't really match or anything.

[00:44:37] And you're like, these Legos stink. I don't like this Jack. So I'll put an asterisk on that. Alrighty, . Very fair. . What is, what is something you think you or your organization should stop? Uh, the number of meetings that we have. I am a big believer in the book time, talent, energy, and I think the shocking thing that the book starts out of is you have all these organizations, many listeners too, who have large finance departments that are really concerned when you go spend a hundred or a thousand dollars on something and all the approvals that are involved.

[00:45:13] Well, most organizations', largest expense is the salary. For their headcount, and each individual each hour of the day has a cost associated with it. But yet, so often you see, oh, let's put 10 people in a meeting, and suddenly you're looking around and you're running a $500 or a thousand dollars meeting.

[00:45:31] And most organizations, including ours, Don't have a whole series of protocols in place that limit the number of meetings or put standards around meetings the same way that you have to get your expense report approved or a budget approved. And so I certainly would love to see us reduce the number of meetings, reduce the number of people in meetings, and be more intentional about when we get together.

[00:45:52] But it is a fight that I've fought for many years and it is a challenge because we as humans wanna socialize. Wanna see each other and default to that, and also wanna be inclusive, and so add more and more people and suddenly you've got 15 boxes on a Zoom screen and it ends up being a pretty significant cost to the organization.

[00:46:13] What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or didn't follow? I love, I love this question. So, when I first told my mom, uh, that I was going to start a startup at Quorum to track what was happening on Capitol Hill, uh, her immediate response is she goes, oh, well that sounds like a nice thing to do between college and graduate school.

[00:46:34] Rest assured, both my parents are lawyers that would've loved for me to have gone to law school. Um, I did not have the opportunity to go to graduate school. I'm very happy to be here in growing the business. Uh, and so that, uh, immediately comes to mind because look, founding a company, Or a social, uh, impact effort or a nonprofit can be scary and you've gotta jump off and have confidence.

[00:46:56] And if you spend enough time working towards it and iterating, you will eventually get there, even if it's not the idea that you started on. If I were to hand you a magical wand wave across the social impact sector, what would it do? So for us, we're always interested in more government data, more information published online, more information in machine readable form, and more transparency, uh, that happens every day, uh, on both state governments and, and the political process.

[00:47:27] I think there's a ton of opportunities at the state government level of just being able to pull in much more information around the individual proceedings on the floor amendments, agendas, and committee hearings. Some state governments have individual transcripts of what's happening on the floor and committee sessions, and so there is huge opportunity, but oftentimes we'll see government organizations trying to hold it back where they don't want to give too much information to the public.

[00:47:51] They don't want to invite too much participation, and so that's the big area that I would love to take a magic wand and just fix that and make the government more accessible. What advice would you give college grads looking to enter the social impact? So my big advice would be go follow your passions.

[00:48:12] Go do the thing that you are most excited about doing, and that gets you up every day, even if it is not the given chosen path or the one that might be most exciting. And it's really interesting. Well, that most exciting, but most financially rewarding. When I look at my college classmates now, about eight years out, the ones that really went out and followed their passions, did the most risky things that at the time we graduated.

[00:48:38] You said, well, why aren't you going to take the really high paying. Consultant or financial job or going to law school and doing the traditional thing. Um, those are the folks that I think are both most successful and most fulfilled currently in their careers. And that is something that when you are leaving college at a given and current moment, you have this pressure of where everyone else is making high salaries and going to, you know, go work in business or go work in Wall Street or going to go do X or Y and a big encouragement that you will.

[00:49:09] Financial success, you will find fulfillment. You will find what's right. It might take you a little while to get there, but your twenties are the time to do that. And so use that time to explore because you'll end up with just a much more fulfilling career and you'll have more opportunities to pivot within it than say you will, you know, going into one of the more traditional paths.

[00:49:29] Well, Alex, thank you so much. Final question. How do people find you? How do people. Yeah, so we're super easy. Um, quorum.us. My email's just Alex quorum us. Uh, more than happy to be helpful. So if you're looking at your nonprofit technology and just want someone to talk to, certainly happy to bounce ideas off.

[00:49:48] Uh, if you're figuring out your advocacy strategy for next year or looking for advocacy software, we're certainly here. Uh, and happy to talk and in general, you know, looking to be able to give back to the community because I think it's so important that we help each other and realize that there's a lot of advice, uh, and favors and help that we've been given over the years.

[00:50:04] That's let us build the company, uh, and looking to see more people do that with NGOs, social impact movements, uh, and startups. Uh, thanks for the work you're doing in the sector. We appreciate it and good luck this year. Awesome. Thanks so much for having me on, George.

View Details

Alex Wirth, Co-founder & CEO of Quorum.us - a leading public affairs software that helps map, track, change, and report on policy landscape, shares insights into advocacy approaches that will work in 2023.

Alex ranks: Twitter, IRL meetings, calling, letters, videos, Meta, and billboards as just some of the methods advocacy organizations can be using to get the attention of representatives.

He shares why buying Donor Voter files may be obsolete in the new advocacy landscape.

About Alex

Alex Wirth is the Cofounder and CEO of Quorum, a public affairs software platform that enables organizations to launch grassroots advocacy campaigns, manage stakeholder engagement, and monitor dialogue in Washington, Brussels, all 50 states, and thousands of cities around the U.S.

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] audio1717820249: Today on the podcast, we have a returning guest, a returning guest that we had on a few years ago. His name is Alex Worth, the co-founder and c e o at Quorum. Uh, quorum is a public affairs software helps you work smarter, move faster. Thousands of public affairs officials use quorum and their work to Congress.

[00:00:44] My short hot take on it is it helps you connect with Congress and has an amazing database and functionality prior. To that, uh, he did happen to graduate from Harvard, as I understand it, and he was an intern at , the White House. Uh, and the office of the Chief of staff, uh, has also spent time as a global shaper.

[00:01:04] And a board member on the Economic Club of Washington, among other things. Uh, but Alex is also one of the folks that I've known since back in the day, and I respect his work and his persistence in, in staying with, uh, staying with the organization and building it over time. So, Alex, welcome and, and thanks for coming back.

[00:01:25] Awesome. Thanks for having me. Well, I hopefully didn't confuse people too much about Quorum, but what is your elevator pitch and explaining what Quorum does in the world of political advocacy? Yeah, so we're a public affairs software platform, uh, that is used by public affairs professionals at major companies, trade associations, nonprofits, uh, little bit of federal government work to track everything that's happening on Capitol Hill.

[00:01:56] All 50 state legislatures help communicate up to members of congress. Um, we collect both the official and staff contact information and have the tools to be able to get email messages to those staff. And then also we have a whole series of grassroots advocacy technology to help individuals write their member congress, tweet their member, call their member, run massive mobilization campaigns.

[00:02:18] And we are currently working to bring a brand new pack product to market to help, uh, third party packs, both collect and raise. Manage their individual bank accounts and records and then issue disbursements to lawmakers to participate in the political process. So the quick way to think of us and our goal is to be the one stop shop for all the efforts that an advocacy team needs to engage on Capitol Hill in Brussels or in any of the state capitals across the country.

[00:02:45] Yeah. It's pretty impressive. And before we, we pressed record, you were telling us, um, about Capital Canary. Right? You were, you were able to, to pull them into your. Feature suite and what has that capability? Yeah, so this has been the really exciting update for us, uh, from the last year is that we did acquire Capital Canary, which is the new name for the phone to action business, which sends more messages to Capital Hill than any other technology platform out there.

[00:03:15] Uh, phone to Action on average sends about 25 million messages a year to Capitol Hill, and so we combine forces with them, uh, at the end of September of this past fall. And overnight both doubled in size for the number of clients we serve and that we're working now with 2000 organizations, including hopefully some listeners, uh, on this call, but also as a result of that, have been able to double the size of our research and development team.

[00:03:41] So we're incredibly excited to be working combined as we think about innovations with advocacy and advocacy technology rather than against each other, taking the same teams to build the same features on multiple different platforms. And we're pretty excited about what the future's gonna be able to bring from.

[00:03:58] Well, last time we talked, I feel like you were really opening my eyes, our audience's eyes, to the impact that Twitter was really starting to have. And mind you, we were pre pandemic, we were PreOn Musk coming into Twitter town, and I felt like you really were helping us understand that there are, you know, I guess a hierarchy.

[00:04:21] A hierarchy of ways that elected officials and you know, really their staff. Are are listening to constituents and I'm, I'm wondering, maybe we could just revisit that. What is your current hierarchy of high to low attention? No attention for messaging, elected officials, representatives. Yeah, so to start with the Twitter piece one, you were spot on.

[00:04:49] Twitter has taken off since we last talked, and a lot of that was as a result of the pandemic of you had members of Congress, state legislators, mayors who are used to being out with people in their constituents, stuck at home, not able to meet everyone, anyone. And wanting to show that they are being relevant and share as much information as they can with constituents.

[00:05:10] And so we saw the number of social media messages from elected officials skyrocket in 2020. I mean, just a full jump, um, as the pandemic and lockdown hit. Um, and so there's been more definitely usage of the platforms. I think the other component to it is, I do agree with Elon Musk's comments that Twitter really is a digital town square, and I think you see that very significantly in the policy influence participation journalism and advocacy worlds that exist on Twitter and that many of us, including me, follow along, but that we see members of congress, journalists, policy, influencers, actively participate in.

[00:05:51] And the example that I think is helpful to share is that almost every state legislature in the country, Has a given hashtag for the individual legislative session. I was born and raised, uh, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. My dad happens to be a state legislator so I know it well. Uh, and in New Mexico the hashtag is hashtag nm ledge.

[00:06:09] And the best way to get information about what's going on in the State House during session is following on the hashtag nm ledge. Cause you have people that are in the gallery. You have reporters sharing what the information they have. You've got leadership sharing, Hey, we're gonna be on the floor of the House of Senate.

[00:06:24] This bill is moving, party's sharing what's up next. And you can't get information that quickly, that accurately and from that many people anywhere else. And so that same level of conversation that's happening, New Mexico is happening in all 50 states. But also then it's happening on key issues here in Washington DC and it presents a really significant opportunity for advocacy organizations to participate in.

[00:06:48] Stuff. Yeah. Because frankly, it's, you know, love it or hate it. We're not here to litigate the, you know, week by week changes that Musk is putting out there. The, the truth is that it's, uh, an open, trusted platform to the extent that identities and we understand the identities of representatives and people that have been able to burnish their reputations with consistency on the platform are able to report on things like bills progress, uh, and political means, and.

[00:07:18] And one of the questions I actually had for you is around the fact that, you know, recently, you know, we were recording this in January of 2023, uh, change of allowing political ads in political organizations to, to run ads. Now on, on Twitter has, you know, the, the ban has been lifted. What are your thoughts on the, the implications of that or opportu.

[00:07:41] Yeah, so I think there's huge opportunities you think about reaching policy makers and their staff in that it is possible to geofence state capital, the US Capitol, a given agency, and run publical or public policy related Twitter ads to those organizations. I think that is some of the biggest opportunity and impact.

[00:08:03] and the Great Washington story that I, I've heard over the years is there was an official at the Department of Transportation that was needed to approve an airline route from one country in Europe to the us and it was held up with a singular individual official, and the public policy firm in DC figured out where the official lived.

[00:08:23] Figured out the exact direction that their apartment window faced out of, found the billboard that they look at every day, and went and bought just that one billboard and talked about the benefits of opening up this airline . And literally the official had to stare at it for a month or a month and a half, and then suddenly the approval came through.

[00:08:42] And so that's obviously like the really old school way of doing things. And that story is probably from 10 plus years ago. But that is now possible again on Twitter with public policy and political advertising. And it makes a difference because these elected officials are looking at it. They're watching and seeing what's happening and going on, and so you wanna be at the platform that they're on.

[00:09:02] And it's a lot more cost effective to do than that, than try and advertise to everyone that's gonna be watching Super Bowl Sunday and like hope you get the elected officials that are also gonna be watching as well. So I want to come back to my question about hierarchy. So at the top of the hierarchy, Billboards in front of the windows of representatives, number one.

[00:09:23] What is number? In person meetings. Um, and I think that that is something that very much got lost in Covid. Um, members of Congress did love to do zoom meetings cuz they could be many more places at once, much more efficiently. But there is something about sitting next to someone in person explaining your story, saying, I traveled to Washington or the state capitol from whatever county or state it may.

[00:09:51] And giving that pitch and, and giving that conversation. I think the third one that I would put out there is video. Uh, and this is something that we're seeing much more cutting edge within the last year and a half, is video story banking. So pulling in and having individual advocates or members or donors record, what does the organization mean to you?

[00:10:11] Why is this policy issue important? How are you being impacted? Buy this change or buy a covid lockdown. And then organizations stringing that together to be able to play to an individual legislator or lawmaker or appointed official and say, let me show you how your constituents are having an impact.

[00:10:28] And it feels really raw when someone's sitting in their car with a cell phone video and sharing that. And that's been pretty impactful. I've probably put Twitter, um, close to number four. And the reason for that is that we have seen an increase in members of Congress who are personally tweeting themselves on the platform.

[00:10:47] Um, and that's one of the big things that we've expected to happen just as we've had both, you know, more younger members of Congress become elected, but also more members adopted. And one of the interesting things from our annual social media report, Is that some of our most prolific tweeters in Congress are actually the older members themselves.

[00:11:04] Um, and so we're seeing, you know, individuals look towards that example and realize this is the way that you communicate with constituents. And let me tell you, we've all used the Twitter app. You know, when you're mentioned and you know, when you're talked about. And it's a little bit along the lines of, you know, what people are saying about you, not behind your back, but on a public town square.

[00:11:22] Like, you're gonna click on that and see how you're mentioned and see how you're being discussed. And so I think that has a huge impact that oftentimes can go overlooked as a way to be able to reach and, and get to a member of Congress. That's a sort of self-aware sentiment that I'm sure they're all using tracking applications.

[00:11:41] And last time I dug into this, there are very, you know, smart apps that are, that can be used to track these things and manage messages. And so that's up there. So it's interesting because it feels like it, it's moved up the rank, you know, looking back, we were talking about calls and letters, you know, where, where does that communication medium fall for?

[00:12:01] Yeah, so calls are still key, um, and certainly have an impact. I mean, if you can have a hundred people call a legislative office in a given day, that's really big. Now the challenge is that staff picks that up, not the member. There are some great stories, a members that'll occasionally do a little time phone banking and someone calls and suddenly, if they're a member of Congress on the phone.

[00:12:22] But you know, that's one in a million um, calls that it happens. And so members do, and I was a congressional intern, you know, get a sheet every day of here are the top issues that we're called about. And the key piece there is doing it all in one day so that you're at the top of the list. Because having a hundred people call over a month, you're gonna have five, six calls a day.

[00:12:40] It's not gonna be as effective as everyone in one given day. Um, I still think that personalized letters really do have a pretty big impact. Um, and the key piece of it is making sure that they are differentiated and on, you know, slightly different subjects than all form letters on the same thing.

[00:13:00] Because what happens behind the scenes is that members of Congress have constituent management software platforms and they can both pull and collect similar messages together and highlight that. If a message is 50% the same text, batch it all together, write, write one response, and send it. . And yes, the numbers matter, but it's different than if somebody takes the time and writes a completely customized note.

[00:13:21] You can't send a form letter to a customized note, and so then you actually have a staffer customizing a message in response, getting that approved and having that happen. Uh, and I really do believe that that starts to change some of the conversation in a congressional office because it can take an issue that no one was previously aware about and suddenly raise it to be top of mind for the office because they're spending time writing and customized and thoughtful.

[00:13:45] Mm-hmm. . So you would still put Twitter above calls and differentiated, we'll call them custom letters. So I, the handwritten letter is what might give that a little bit of a run for the money. If you can deliver a handwritten letter to a member, um, that's pretty valuable. But again, the opportunity with Twitter that exists is you've got a chance to reach that elected official or policy influencer directly themselves and differentiate and also catch them in a little bit of downtime.

[00:14:13] Um, and I think that's the key thing that I would encourage and you know, it helps with both my parents being local elected officials, is they're people just like, And so members of Congress the same way they're sitting, waiting for that flight to take off to go home, do they really wanna be sitting there, you know, powering through email?

[00:14:26] No, they're probably scrolling on Twitter. And are they gonna click on the notifications tab? Of course they are like, we're all human. Um, but you know, that's a different experience than if you're a state legislator and you're trying to go through email as fast as possible. Like it may not have that same component or piece to it.

[00:14:43] Um, that getting the direct in front of and, and on the Twitter platform. . All right. Any other honorable mentions out there? You know, the, the case for Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, fill in the blank. You know, I won't talk about Mastodon because I feel like that is a moment in time. Yeah, we're cer We certainly see some members that are active on Facebook at the congressional level that use it even more than Twitter.

[00:15:10] Um, I think, you know, anecdotally we'll see more form posts or posts that it feels like come from staffers and are a little less personalized. Um, than Twitter. We, interestingly enough, see more state legislators have Facebook accounts, uh, than Twitter accounts. It's about 75% have a Facebook account and little over 50% have a Twitter account.

[00:15:33] Uh, and that's where they do end up using it a little bit differently. But the medium of the platform is just harder of saying, oh, you're gonna comment on an. Uh, in, you know, sending someone a Facebook message to page, it just doesn't work the same way that Twitter does. And, and that's part of, I think, you know, the relevance of Twitter and also where I have to say long term, you know, I am bullish on Twitter continuing to be around because you have all the users and people on it, and it's designed in a way.

[00:16:03] that is very user friendly and also very personal. That is a, you know, way for an individual to communicate. Whereas I think when you look at some of the other platforms, there are many more uses for them. And so as a result things become harder where, you know, TikTok is not gonna be the best way to, to reach your legislator.

[00:16:19] I mean, are they allowing government officials on TikTok anymore? I know there's certain bands talked about for, uh, government employees on the platform. Um, namely because China is literally probably used to spy, manipulate popul. Yeah. So I know certainly that's been talked about for federal, uh, executive branch employees.

[00:16:39] Um, I am not as familiar, um, with the rules that are currently happening in Congress, but realizing is a different branch of government. Oftentimes we will see different rules, um, that are applied to congressional staff. Um, but I don't have the answer top of mind. Gotcha. Alrighty. I wanna talk about what you're seeing.

[00:16:59] 2023. In terms of tactical trends, there's an organization listening right now saying we are, you know, going to be gearing up. There's the, you know, the new elected officials in office. We're trying to get our, you know, lobbying and advocacy straight for 2023. What are the types of activities that you see being planned for, that you think are going to be.

[00:17:22] Yeah. So first off, it's state level, state level, state level, state level. And the reason for that is we now have a divided government here in Washington with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House. And so the general mood in town is that not a whole lot is going to happen here over the course of the next two years.

[00:17:41] Uh, and where are things gonna happen? Things are gonna happen at the state level because you've got state houses. Both on the democratic side and the Republican side, where you have either Republicans or Democrats in complete control of both chambers as well as the governorship that wanna enact policy and want to go, and Bills can move fast and they're able to do things.

[00:18:01] And so it is incredibly important to have a state level advocacy strategy because there's both an opportunity for a lot of wins, but also there's an opportunity to, that you need to be aware and be playing defense because any of your opponents are gonna be really active. on that state level as well. Um, so I think that's part one.

[00:18:20] Um, part two of that is thinking a little bit about how do you build a thoughtful and engaged advocacy program to succeed in Washington in the long term. Uh, and it's a pretty exciting time because we're about to. Start thinking about the 2024 presidential election cycle and also what does Congress look like in 2025 during the next cycle.

[00:18:42] And there's a world that, you know, we could be back with one party control. There's a world, we could have a new president and a new administration, and there's a world that we could still be in divided government, but that as we are ramping up for that, now is the time to be planning those strategies in.

[00:18:56] For 2024. And when talking about strategy, I'm talking about things like voter education. What are the campaigns that you're gonna be running when everyone's talking about the presidential election cycle, and how are you helping your advocates and your donors and your employees and your members register to vote, find their polling places?

[00:19:11] There are some super innovative programs that I've seen nonprofits do targeting campaign staff. Targeting individuals who are running for president and making sure that they are very known. So one of the most simple ones is just simply to go wear your nonprofit's t-shirt and go volunteer for a presidential or congressional candidate and make sure they know that on that given day the phone bank is 50 people from this organization.

[00:19:35] They're gonna notice, and these elected officials and presidential candidates are gonna be way closer to the voters than they are during most times of the year. And then figuring out bigger picture, like how are you gonna position your issues both in the election cycle, but as well as in the presidential cycle?

[00:19:51] So that they're top of mind when either, you know, the administration is reelected or new congress comes in so that you're off and running in 2025. And I think it's really about playing the long game at the federal level. Um, that becomes so important. And then the last thing that I'll share, Just on thinking about 2023 and the advocacy side is it's all about integration.

[00:20:11] I think in the past we've seen a lot of very siloed efforts and siloed technology platforms. So you use one thing to send things out and you use another thing to do advocacy, and you use another thing for tracking. Um, and it ends up with data being lost, really clunky, lot of time doing downloads and uploads and what we're seeing both with Quorum as well.

[00:20:34] Other platforms out there is that integration so that you have more one-stop shops and that your data lives together connects together, um, and that you're able to leverage the full benefits from it.

[00:20:56] I have a random question. Can you explain data, data voter files to me as though I were a seven year?

[00:21:06] Yes. So when you are 18 and you get to register to. You go and give information to your county clerk about where you live, who you are, your age, and that information is compiled in a publicly available record that you are registered to vote, and then that record is accessed by campaigns candidates.

[00:21:37] Policy organizations and advocacy groups, and they can use that very simple information, most notably your home address, to attach a whole series of additional information to you based sometimes on algorithms and sometimes on other anonymized data. So for example, if you give your home address to go. For a hunting magazine, they can tag you as likely interested in hunting.

[00:22:07] And so when you get a mailer from your candidate or uh, elected official that's talking about the work that they're doing on access to guns and hunting. You can bet that the person that cares about environmental issues or cares about gun control is not also getting that same mailer, and so it lets a series of both hyper targeting from mail, but also from digital ads occur in an anonymized fashion that protects an individual from being exposed by, or being known for the fact that they subscribe to a hunting magazine and may care about.

[00:22:47] I was wondering, I've seen some organizations, you know, when it's time to jump into the advocacy fray, think that like, step one is I buy this absurdly expensive donor file and then I do the advocacy. I, I, um, I'm curious of what your thoughts are on where that fits in the strategy versus, you know, looking at it from a different lens.

[00:23:14] Yeah, I, I love this question. So I've spent this morning with, um, two Quorum customers as we've started off the year and done just strategic planning around their advocacy campaigns. And one of the comments from breakfast this morning was that 2015 was the era of buying big lists. And this organization bought a massive list of.

[00:23:37] Suddenly had all these people on their contact program, and now five years later, what they're seeing is these people aren't active. Their sending domain and reputation is going down. People aren't engaging because they never signed up and never wanted to be a part of it. And so that era of big list buying and just adding people in is over.

[00:23:57] It is all about having a trusted brand or trusted network of communication of someone that you know. And getting individuals to take action through that. And one of my favorite examples of this, uh, is American Airlines, uh, a company that I am, uh, quite a big fan of as being a frequent flyer. Uh, but they're also phone to action customer.

[00:24:21] And about four or five years ago when they were facing some of the challenges with air traffic control staffing and the f AA funding and where we gonna have enough air traffic controllers, they sent out an advocacy alert to all their frequent flyers, myself included saying, You don't wanna have longer waits on the tarmac.

[00:24:38] We need to fully fund the f a and expand the number of controllers. And so suddenly you have all these frequent flyers saying, of course I'm in. Take action, write my member of Congress. And it elevates that issue. And so for organizations out there, My encouragement for you is you have to start by looking at who's on your existing list, who are your most engaged donors, advocates, event participants, individuals who are involved, and use that list to start your advocacy program and then slowly recruit people beyond that because it's about the quality that matters and not the quantity.

[00:25:10] And it goes back to behind the scenes of what the Congress. To see if you have a ton of people that don't really care, just sending and clicking a form letter, it has nowhere near the same impact as someone who really does care, taking even just two minutes to write what they personally care about. And so that's where, you know, unlike 2015, you shouldn't feel this pressure that, oh my God, I need to send 10,000 messages because 10,000 messages that say the same thing.

[00:25:34] ops is just shrug. And I'm like, yep, I've seen this before. But sending a hundred messages that are all different and super customized, like that's really impactful at the end of the day. And then ideally, you're having your in-person advocacy team go up and talk to the members and re-share those messages and say, let me tell you about your constituent who's facing this issue.

[00:25:54] Yeah. I think that's, that's helpful. I love you saying it was such a 2015 moment. It's clearly burned into your mind as you led up to the presidential elections. I. , you know, the, the expenditure on that. And the interesting thing is, you know, you're, I, I dunno what the going rate is, but it's tens of thousands of dollars depending on what you're getting, but you're not getting the permission to communicate.

[00:26:14] And, and I think that's what you're hinting at. And when you burn through that list, you are also hurting your digital reputation. You know, ending up on, on many, uh, do not send lists and ultimately the goal was missed. Um, and so what, what are some int. Planning in terms of spending, like, you know, clearly everyone will get quorum, , uh, right.

[00:26:38] But, you know, in terms of the, the outreach, what, you know, is it buying Twitter ads? That seems like, uh, an opportunity, is it spending to build up my list? Am I trying to do petitions, promote petitions? What is the, the tactic then if, if you're not buying. but earning it. Yeah, so the most easy one that we go to is Facebook Lead Ads, because Facebook still has a series of targeting that you can get pretty specific in terms of individuals with interest that you're looking for, as well as individuals that are in a given region or area that you can then connect.

[00:27:14] Through to an advocacy webpage. Uh, and so that by far is the default for organizations that are really actively looking to grow their lists and looking to invest. But I will also just go back to my big challenge is before you look externally, look internally and what are the options with your internal events and internal lists to be able to grow your pool of advocates.

[00:27:38] And what I often see happen with nonprofits is the advocacy team. Siloed in a given area that says, oh, well that's your database, that's your list. You figure out how to grow it. And the organization is sitting on a list that is way bigger and way larger for their major trade association or major individual impact summit or movement.

[00:27:57] But it says, oh no, you can't use that list to do advocacy. And I think one of the key message. To share and highlight is that advocacy can be helpful in building a more robust relationship with your members, donors, individual participants, because they're looking for ways to be involved. And I think so often what you get is fundraising teams who go, oh, well, don't even ask our donors for anything.

[00:28:19] We're already asking them to give money every year. But if you're just asking, give money, you're sitting there saying, well, what's my connection? Why am I here giving resources and dollars to it? I don't feel like I'm helping. I want to be more. And so as you can have a donor who gives money and say, oh, thank you for it.

[00:28:35] Would you be willing also help us out and take action? There's more of an attachment, more connections, and so you can build on the ladders of engagement and actually end up with, you know, larger donations, more frequent donations, and people who see the work and connection that they're funding. Rather than just get hit up for a check every single year.

[00:28:53] I think the inverse of that too is also your grassroots advocates are the best people to identify future donors from. Because asking someone to go and write a hundred dollars check, like that's a big ask. Asking someone for two minutes of their time to click a couple buttons and write their member of Congress, that's easier.

[00:29:09] And so the challenge that I would give to any of the organizations listening, Is what percent of your grassroots advocates are donating and how do you help increase that percentage? And what I think you're gonna find is, is that very few organizations turn around and actually solicit the grassroots advocates because the advocacy teams are sitting in their silos saying, oh, well we don't wanna ask them to donate money.

[00:29:28] Like we're trying to get them to do advocacy. And really what we're seeing is the best organizations are connecting the two and making it part of a cohesive engagement.

[00:29:40] final. Uh, thank you for sharing that. It's, you know, helpful to see your framing on it. I'm now curious, you know, we're talking about grassroots advocacy communication, and it's not one size fits all. I feel like when we last talked, we were in peak moments of what I will call rage politic, right? Ra ra rage messaging was all the rage.

[00:30:04] I, I, I'll go out on one and say, what? , what do you look for in terms of tactics, guidance, advice, approaches for getting people to care when clearly, uh, we are, we're even postig of political messaging at this point, so I think one, you have to make it relevant to them. Uh, people are not as interested to be stirred up or responded in, uh, Aggravated per se based on whatever the issue is on left or right, because certainly there are people there that feel that way and feel really passionately.

[00:30:44] But you also have a whole series of people that just wanna go about their lives that aren't thinking about what's happening. The state capitol aren't thinking about what's happening in Washington, and honestly probably don't even know the names of the individuals that represent them. And so the challenge for most organizations, Is, how do you phrase the messaging in a way that gets at those people who are in the middle, who and are, who are often on the sidelines.

[00:31:08] And I go back to that American Airlines example, and there's many others. If you have to make it directly relevant to them of, Hey, your life is going to be impacted because of this. And that's how you get some of the most passionate and engaged stories. Because what you end up hearing is saying, Hey, if I'm sitting on the tarmac for another three hours, I'm not home playing with my kids and I already have to travel.

[00:31:28] X number of days a week. This is the personal impact that it has on me. That's the story that you want to tell the member of Congress, not the story around government funding and whether we should spend more money or less money on the f aa and how that impacts the federal debt. Um, because it comes down of that.

[00:31:43] They wanna hear the personal stories and that's what moves. And so making clear that individuals know, you know, what is the impact for them, and making that as hyper-relevant as possible, I think leads to both the best advocacy outcomes and also the most effective. . Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Making it practical, bringing it to your backyard, you know, the sort of act local and is what you started off by saying, which is , the state.

[00:32:08] The state, state, you know, is acting in your backyard. Um, super helpful. Anything else that you wanna share regarding Quorum Cool Tactics, uses of the platform that are. I, the big one I just go back to is this is the year of integration, the year of one stop shop, and it's time to get your data working for you.

[00:32:31] Um, and both, some of that runs through the work that we're doing is we work to string together, pack information, advocacy, legislative tracking, and have that sync. But it also comes to just simply donor databases and is your donor database talking to your email platform, talking to your fundraising tools, talking to your grassroots advocacy tools, and getting all the information from those back in a, you know, circular motion so that you can learn from it and apply more analytics and information.

[00:32:55] This is something that was really probably cutting edge as we think 5, 6, 7 years ago. But now is the time to make it happen. And we're seeing a lot more organizations make changes to their technology stacks to reflect that we're in 2023 and the technology is out there. It is possible to do, but it's really comes down to a matter of having both the willpower.

[00:33:20] As well as the encouragement to know that now is the time and that you don't have to be a trailblazer to go and, and make that happen. Um, and so I would just encourage folks to really think about that because as you think about 2024 and the advocacy opportunities coming presidential election cycle, like that's the time when you need your tools to be the most effective they possibly can be.

[00:33:40] And so take the time this year to go make those investments and make those changes, uh, to be your, put yourself in a position, uh, for. . Well, thanks for that. All right, we're gonna move into some rapid fire here. Please keep your responses brief and interesting. , what is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in last year?

[00:34:04] So we finally started using a chat bot on our website to engage with people who were coming to the website. Uh, we were late on this, um, from a B2B perspective, and many of you have probably been to websites looking to buy and see the little chat bot pop up. But we've seen a whole new series of engagements, conversions, and people that wouldn't normally just fill out a form on the website that we've captured through the chatbot.

[00:34:29] And so my kind of out there challenge to the listeners on this podcast is what would it look like to put a chatbot on your website? Who would you wanna try and engage with? What information would you wanna capture and can you get more people added to your organization's list or engaged than you could from just a standard email sign up?

[00:34:47] I think we've seen a lot of B2B uses for it, but I don't think we've seen as many advocacy nonprofit and even B2C uses for it, and that there's a lot of low hanging fruit there, especially with the new AI coming out. As you know, as much as you wanna trust a pre-trained AI to answer on behalf of your organization, uh, is a good point though.

[00:35:07] tech issues. You are battl. Yeah, so we just bought Capital Canary, doubled in size overnight and literally had two of every system. Now, sometimes they were the same system in that we had two instances of Salesforce. Sometimes they were totally different. We had an instance of churn zero and an interest of Gainsight.

[00:35:25] For our customer software, uh, we have HubSpot and we have Marketo. And so we are currently in the middle of a major, major push to both select go forward systems and integrate so that we're operating as a combined business. And the advice and kind of mandate that I gave our team is that we don't wanna be Southwest Airlines.

[00:35:45] When you look at the challenges Southwest ran into at the end of December of 2022, they have not upgraded their technology yet the way that they need to. And so you saw a massive meltdown as a result of it. And I think that all organizations need to take a moment and just look within and say, do we have the technology infrastructure that we need to scale as we look to grow and expand our operations, or even keep the operations going right now?

[00:36:09] Because the, you know, if Southwest Airlines is culpable of not having the technology, I know that there's a lot of organizations out there that may be looking and saying, yeah, my tech really isn't working for me, so we're up to our next, just because of combining two businesses together and doing it. But I'm really excited because I know we're gonna come out stronger with more advanced tech than if we hadn't done the combination.

[00:36:32] What is coming in the next year that has you the most? Yeah, so we're launching a brand new pack product to help pack professionals run, manage, and distribute contributions from their pack. It's gonna be the first new software in the market in 20 years, and so we both have an incredible amount of excitement to come into a market that just has not seen a whole lot of innovation.

[00:36:56] And also we have customers that are really. Excited about for what that's going, uh, to bring. And then for us, it's the last leg of the stool on the integrated product strategy of finally putting together federal and state legislative tracking, grassroots advocacy, impact management at one place. So that's certainly gonna be, uh, a highlight for us.

[00:37:16] Can you talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things? So the biggest business mistake that I've made is signing a new office lease in downtown DC where I sit now. Uh, and I share this because I think organizations really need to think differently about both their office space and their work strategy.

[00:37:39] We signed this lease three months into Covid, so probably. Uh, probably a year or so after we last talked and, um, you know, we were focused in betting on a rebound of coming together and coming back to the office. We now have a fully remote development team, and about 35% of our team is fully remote and lives outside of dc And even for the folks that live in DC people are not coming into the office the same extent that they normally do.

[00:38:05] Now, luckily as a company we doubled in size, and so the amount that we're paying is a small percentage of our overall budget each year. But still, when you sit in 28,000 square feet of office space and have 30, 40 people coming in, you realize that is this really the best use of money? And is this also no longer is the way that you engage, retrain, uh, at attract and, you know, help, uh, skill and motivate team members, uh, because it's a whole new world.

[00:38:35] Uh, and so I really think that both has changed the way that I look at the world, both of how we operate as an employer in an organization. But also, you know, I was even in a board meeting, um, earlier this week of folks that are planning to renew their office and, you know, thinking really is that the best sentence?

[00:38:52] And looking at what are the other options? What can you do with less space? Can you do more flexible working? And that the way of working as much as I loved it or others may have that we've done for the last 50 years has completely changed with the pandemic and that we've gotta adapt our strategies to that.

[00:39:10] do you believe that nonprofits can successfully go out of. . Absolutely. So one of the things that we initially met through do something.org, uh, which is just an incredible organization, uh, working on efforts and getting more young people engaged in making a difference. And one of the things that I think do something really framed for me is this ideal of social impact and doing it in a way that.

[00:39:38] Funded by organizations that are looking to make a difference or by donors, um, that are looking to achieve a particular outcome that's clearly measured. And I think the same way that businesses can go out of business, if they're not consumers that are willing to pay for it or customers that are interested in the service.

[00:39:56] Uh, nonprofits should be able to successfully go out of business either because, one, they've solved the problem and so there's no more need to pay for that individual code or service. Or two. I think it's also okay to. And look at the number of startups out there that have tried to do successful things and the number that fail as a result of that.

[00:40:15] Um, and even with that, it's clear that hey, there's not a market or need to it. And I think the trap sometimes that, uh, smaller organizations, even larger organizations, can fall in of what, we're a big institution. We're here, the donors keep funding it, and so let's keep finding things that we can keep getting more donations.

[00:40:32] The push that I would say is, are you really making an impact at the end of the. And one of the clearest ways to do that is if someone is willing to pay dollars or services or time for what you're doing, even if it's a small amount, because that gives an indication that you know what you're doing is, is successful.

[00:40:48] And then the best ones, uh, you're eventually gonna run it out of that because hopefully you've solved your individual problem. How did you get started in the social impact sector? So I was involved, uh, in local youth advisory boards. Uh, I served on the Santa Fe Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, uh, and eventually chaired it for two years and gave me really a chance to start thinking bigger and broader around the community.

[00:41:13] And then realized that there was a whole series of opportunities to work with organizations that informed youth advisory boards do something. Dot org was one of those, uh, and had the chance to be on the do something youth advisory board. Uh, and then I sat there thinking about it and saying, look, we've got a whole series of governors, a whole series of members of Congress that have youth advisory councils.

[00:41:29] Why doesn't the president, uh, have one? And so I ran a campaign for probably four or five years to try and get a presidential youth council. Uh, we got this close, but ultimately, uh, we're not successful. With it. But what it really taught me was how to start and run an organization. How do you get people signed on?

[00:41:48] How do you delegate tasks? How do you put a website up? How do you send out email updates? Uh, basically everything but a whole ton on the financial side. Uh, and what I realized is that social entrepreneurship was one of the best lessons that I could have ever wished for, for doing actual entrepreneurship because as we were founding and launching the company, it felt really familiar and it was something that I'd.

[00:42:09] You know, a couple of years before, just in the social side for the Presidential Youth Council. Yeah. It's funny, I rare aside that, yeah, it is how we met. I'm getting flashbacks. I don't know if I was directly running it at that point, but I do recall at one point it might do something career, uh, needing to arrange a bunch of kids coming to New York, going to and from hotels to our office.

[00:42:31] I don't know if you were part of that adventure when I was running it, but that was pretty funny. Yeah, I remember it. , I'm glad I didn't lose you in the , the subway. Uh, alright. If I could put you in a hot tub time machine back to the beginning of your work, what advice would you give?

[00:42:54] So I think one of the hardest pieces is you have to be prepared to give things up. And there's a great article called Giving Away Your Legos. Um, but you have to train yourself and learn that you have to constantly be pushing and giving things to other people as you grow and scale. . And that's really hard because when you're a small organization, you have all the Legos and you know, the Legos are super, super fun to play with.

[00:43:20] But as you scale more and more Legos start falling on your plate and you have to start giving away your favorite Legos and that you can no longer send the emails or collect the invoices or spend all the time with customers or do these items and you need a team around that has their own Legos that they're playing with.

[00:43:35] But all those have to start with you. And so I think one of the most challenging lessons is we've scaled. Is learning, okay, how do you give away your favorite Lego set and say, I'm no longer involved in doing that, or I'm not gonna go do X. And that's a really core part of scaling that I think founders definitely struggle with because you care, you're passionate, you're engaged, uh, and I think also applies for individuals, even if you didn't found organizations.

[00:44:00] What are you doing that you can give your new team member that just joined or be able to delegate or give back to someone else to let you really spend time focusing on the things that matter the most? Uh, and that's been one of the most helpful framing things that we've learned over our eight and a half years of doing this.

[00:44:16] That's so funny. There's part of my brain that's saying Absolutely right. , you have to eve away tho those types of things. And the other part of me is saying, I don't want to give away my Legos. I think there is, you know, speaking to somebody who's approaching a decade of work in the organization, I think there are some Legos that I will say you have to hold onto because it fuels you in some part, because otherwise you're just left with all the little gray pieces that don't really match or anything.

[00:44:37] And you're like, these Legos stink. I don't like this Jack. So I'll put an asterisk on that. Alrighty, . Very fair. . What is, what is something you think you or your organization should stop? Uh, the number of meetings that we have. I am a big believer in the book time, talent, energy, and I think the shocking thing that the book starts out of is you have all these organizations, many listeners too, who have large finance departments that are really concerned when you go spend a hundred or a thousand dollars on something and all the approvals that are involved.

[00:45:13] Well, most organizations', largest expense is the salary. For their headcount, and each individual each hour of the day has a cost associated with it. But yet, so often you see, oh, let's put 10 people in a meeting, and suddenly you're looking around and you're running a $500 or a thousand dollars meeting.

[00:45:31] And most organizations, including ours, Don't have a whole series of protocols in place that limit the number of meetings or put standards around meetings the same way that you have to get your expense report approved or a budget approved. And so I certainly would love to see us reduce the number of meetings, reduce the number of people in meetings, and be more intentional about when we get together.

[00:45:52] But it is a fight that I've fought for many years and it is a challenge because we as humans wanna socialize. Wanna see each other and default to that, and also wanna be inclusive, and so add more and more people and suddenly you've got 15 boxes on a Zoom screen and it ends up being a pretty significant cost to the organization.

[00:46:13] What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or didn't follow? I love, I love this question. So, when I first told my mom, uh, that I was going to start a startup at Quorum to track what was happening on Capitol Hill, uh, her immediate response is she goes, oh, well that sounds like a nice thing to do between college and graduate school.

[00:46:34] Rest assured, both my parents are lawyers that would've loved for me to have gone to law school. Um, I did not have the opportunity to go to graduate school. I'm very happy to be here in growing the business. Uh, and so that, uh, immediately comes to mind because look, founding a company, Or a social, uh, impact effort or a nonprofit can be scary and you've gotta jump off and have confidence.

[00:46:56] And if you spend enough time working towards it and iterating, you will eventually get there, even if it's not the idea that you started on. If I were to hand you a magical wand wave across the social impact sector, what would it do? So for us, we're always interested in more government data, more information published online, more information in machine readable form, and more transparency, uh, that happens every day, uh, on both state governments and, and the political process.

[00:47:27] I think there's a ton of opportunities at the state government level of just being able to pull in much more information around the individual proceedings on the floor amendments, agendas, and committee hearings. Some state governments have individual transcripts of what's happening on the floor and committee sessions, and so there is huge opportunity, but oftentimes we'll see government organizations trying to hold it back where they don't want to give too much information to the public.

[00:47:51] They don't want to invite too much participation, and so that's the big area that I would love to take a magic wand and just fix that and make the government more accessible. What advice would you give college grads looking to enter the social impact? So my big advice would be go follow your passions.

[00:48:12] Go do the thing that you are most excited about doing, and that gets you up every day, even if it is not the given chosen path or the one that might be most exciting. And it's really interesting. Well, that most exciting, but most financially rewarding. When I look at my college classmates now, about eight years out, the ones that really went out and followed their passions, did the most risky things that at the time we graduated.

[00:48:38] You said, well, why aren't you going to take the really high paying. Consultant or financial job or going to law school and doing the traditional thing. Um, those are the folks that I think are both most successful and most fulfilled currently in their careers. And that is something that when you are leaving college at a given and current moment, you have this pressure of where everyone else is making high salaries and going to, you know, go work in business or go work in Wall Street or going to go do X or Y and a big encouragement that you will.

[00:49:09] Financial success, you will find fulfillment. You will find what's right. It might take you a little while to get there, but your twenties are the time to do that. And so use that time to explore because you'll end up with just a much more fulfilling career and you'll have more opportunities to pivot within it than say you will, you know, going into one of the more traditional paths.

[00:49:29] Well, Alex, thank you so much. Final question. How do people find you? How do people. Yeah, so we're super easy. Um, quorum.us. My email's just Alex quorum us. Uh, more than happy to be helpful. So if you're looking at your nonprofit technology and just want someone to talk to, certainly happy to bounce ideas off.

[00:49:48] Uh, if you're figuring out your advocacy strategy for next year or looking for advocacy software, we're certainly here. Uh, and happy to talk and in general, you know, looking to be able to give back to the community because I think it's so important that we help each other and realize that there's a lot of advice, uh, and favors and help that we've been given over the years.

[00:50:04] That's let us build the company, uh, and looking to see more people do that with NGOs, social impact movements, uh, and startups. Uh, thanks for the work you're doing in the sector. We appreciate it and good luck this year. Awesome. Thanks so much for having me on, George.

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Elyse Wallnutt, Founder & Principal at Agility Lab Consulting shares how nonprofit fundraising professionals need to adapt to the removal of 3rd party cookies, dealing with evolving donor privacy laws

Resources on GDPR, SHEILD, and CCPA for nonprofits.

About Elyse Wallnutt"I specialize in assessing and helping you right-size your internal solutions portfolio – including current-state approach to financial projections, tech stack integration, media investments, and user experience design – and using findings to build an integrated vision that refines KPI targets and breaks down channel silos.

I’ve had the privilege of helping to scale the brands below from both in-house and agency settings. You can find my portfolio here. As the marketing landscape changes, I'll come alongside you to help you prepare. See how I can help.

Outside of work, I design snarky greeting cards, coach [solidcore] pilates, chase my dogs, and battle my brothers in Wordle daily."

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] audio1299811408: Today on the Whole Whale podcast, we have somebody who was referred to Whole Whale by none other than a, a frequent guest and teacher on whole whale, uh, Josh from Round Table. And we, uh, we tend to pay attention when he says this person knows what they are doing, knows what they're doing with regard to data privacy and fundraising.

[00:00:48] So I was, I. To Elise, the founder and principal at Agility Lab Consulting, uh, agility Lab Consulting. And that's, uh, I believe Agility Lab Consulting. Uh, agility lab.io. Agility lab.io is their website. And we're excited because Agility Lab has just founded and starting their work. And I will say Elise comes with an incredible background, previously senior director marketing advertising at World Food Program.

[00:01:17] Yeah, you might have heard. In the us I also spent time director and strategy at the Center for American Progress. Uh, spent time at Media cause for a year and of course, uh, a little organization called The Nature Conservancy as a senior Associate director, uh, digital acquisition. So safe to say, you know, your stuff.

[00:01:37] I'm excited. I'm excited to learn from you. Thank you for coming on. Anything I, I missed, Elise? No, thanks George. It's, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, well, you caught my eye immediately because you started speaking my language before we turned on record by talking about the sort of like cookie apocalypse.

[00:01:58] The cookie apocalypse. So I don't know if that's the right place to start, but things are gonna get weird in 2023 for fundraisers. Why? Yeah, so you're probably all aware as consumers about how much more aware we've become about how our data is being used. I think that that's been a much more popular topic of conversation in the last couple of years, and audience demand for privacy has really picked up.

[00:02:28] We saw the EU adopt privacy laws with GDPR in 2016, which really set the standard and us. Uh, legislators have taken note as well. So there are five states in the US implementing privacy laws this year. And with that, uh, big tech is really paying attention to how they need to protect their reputations, um, and stay in compliance.

[00:02:53] So they are eliminating what's called third party cookies, and that's a, it's a little piece of code. , that is what allows marketers to stand up ads that, uh, essentially follow you around the internet. So those, you know, that pair of pants or shoes that you can't stop seeing, it's, it's that pixel or that, that third party cookie that allows for that.

[00:03:15] So, um, the reason it's. It's troublesome is most people consider it not consented data use. So what we're moving toward with the elimination of third party cookies is marketers are only gonna be able to use. Consented information. So the information that you provide to them. So we're looking at things like what you provide in a form, when you donate, what you provide, when you fill out that petition, um, and, and things of that nature.

[00:03:46] So that's really gonna require us to be a lot more thoughtful about our targeting strategies. You caught my attention here with saying that there are five states. I was only aware of the New York Shield and C C P A in California, but it's feels like, can I just summarize saying like where one goes all must follow it.

[00:04:06] It's essentially like I love how am American states are like so futile when it comes to internet laws and even like registration. So I. nonprofits have to register in each state for fundraising, even though you have one donation form on your site, is this is where data privacy, third party cookies are going?

[00:04:29] Like how do you advise, because obviously you're offering like consulting advice on how to approach this. How do you advise folks of being like, oh no, no, you gotta do this here, here, here, here. What is the approach? So the good thing about the, uh, five states that are implementing this right now is that the laws are, are pretty similar.

[00:04:46] Um, what it allows for is audience members to request that their information, um, can be deleted from your file essentially, so they can. Call you up and say, Hey, I wanna know everything you have on record about me. I want to view that information, and if I want you to get rid of it, you have to. So most of the states are, are pretty aligned on where they're falling with that.

[00:05:10] And to your point, George, I think most of the states are probably gonna have to. Fall online eventually based on, uh, demand from constituents, that's not going to stop. And there's actually, um, a bipartisan supported federal bill that's pending. Um, it's gotten a little bit stalled up, but may make progress in 2023.

[00:05:33] And if that comes to fruition, that will create that federally supported framework. So my advice for nonprofits is to start treating this like it. Already a reality and to start getting prepared for something you can put in place operationally across the board. There's not really a point in standing up, you know, a set of operations for Colorado versus California, um, because they're, they're pretty similar.

[00:06:00] So GDPR is the most aggressive and luckily we already know what that looks like, uh, from the eu. And if you use that as a framework, you're pretty much guaranteed to be in compliance with what the states stand up. and just to play it out more practically, let's say you get, cuz it's a, a rite of, rite of removal, I think for your data.

[00:06:23] Mm-hmm. . What if that's not followed in, what is it, 30 days or 90 days? What are the kind of penalties you're seeing for this? Uh, so what we just saw actually, um, Facebook got hit with a really large fine by the EU for not following privacy compliance. Um, so when you're out of compliance, you can get hit with fines.

[00:06:44] Um, you, you will have more of that, uh, legal eye on you and it really could impact you in. In terms of audience trust more broadly. Um, so that's where I've been encouraging people to think of this as more of an opportunity rather than a slap on the hand. Um, when we're showing audiences that we care about respecting their rights and how their data is used, you can really build your brand and make sure that you are front and center of building that trust conversation.

[00:07:16] And just to be clear, let's say there's a, a privacy@myorganization.org. Mm-hmm. , I George email them saying, you know, I'm sort of invoking my right for removal. Right. To be forgotten. Yep. Uh, please present and remove any and all data. This is an official notice, let's say that goes to that email and the organization's like, this is the first time we've ever seen it.

[00:07:40] Like, what does that actually. So it means that you're gonna have to go through your C R m present everything that you know about, but you also need to have a handle on how you've been releasing data to third parties. So you know when you're uploading a person's. Email address into Facebook so that you can serve ads to them.

[00:07:59] You're also releasing some of that data to Facebook. So there are things that you can implement, like Facebook's conversion API that allow you to self-select some of those fields and get your third party options in, uh, better compliance being more risk averse there. But really it involves you being able to tell people what you have on them.

[00:08:23] Um, You know, your own spare, but also how you've been using their, their data externally. So the idea is that you don't want it to take you three weeks to execute one of these requests. You wanna be able to make sure that your staff knows how to, uh, turn this over and make sure that it is, you know, scalable and your approach is able to be right sized.

[00:08:48] Um, and also that your privacy policy reflect. What people can expect. So if you have 45 days to, to do this, is it gonna take you all 45 or can people expect to see something in 10? So you really need to be able to set the tone for, um, what audiences should get from you. And when

[00:09:08] I see a lot of headaches in the future here, I mean clearly, unfortunately, my mind goes toward. More of a predatory attack potentially, um, where you could sort of deluge an organization with, um, hundreds of these requests, um, and really bog down a technical team. So certainly I think having a plan in place for how do you do this in, in batch and do it efficiently, uh, especially if you are on the front lines of organizations that dance on contentious issues, we'll say.

[00:09:39] Is that a, is that a fair. Yeah, we're actually seeing whole companies, uh, being stood up just to provide for that. Um, you know, it's flooding businesses with requests from consumers, you know, as the consumer you can hire them to go and do this for you and they'll hit everything you know, you've ever email subscribed to.

[00:10:01] So that is where you need to be able to make sure you have your operational process in line and, you know, um, what. fair game to be released and, and what's not, um, and, and how you're gonna treat that. Yeah. Sounds like, um, a lot of work. I I, I don't wanna spend too much more time here unless there's something I'm maybe missing on the, the right to be forgotten and those policies coming up.

[00:10:26] I think really the most important thing, well, not the most important thing, but another important thing for, uh, marketing teams to also consider here is that, Data minimization is going to be your legal team's recommended approach. So it's really important for you to get a good handle on what the states consider, uh, personal information, what those fields look like, and also for you to know the business reason that you're ingesting certain data fields and what you want your retention period to be, and what fields you're willing to.

[00:11:02] You know, forego. So if you know that you're going to lose some of that third party tracking, what do you need to know on a first party level in terms of, you know, person's age and their interest categories and, and all the other things that make us understand what makes a person tick? You need to have a good handle on that so that you can sit at the table with the legal team and, uh, engage with them productively on what can stay and what can.

[00:11:28] I mean, I don't even know how you would go about finding that individual's third party cookie that you're using to track them around the internet and delete it. I mean, I think you acknowledge it, but is there a way to like signal out that one, you know, unique identifier inside of the walls of Google and, and others?

[00:11:47] Uh, no, I, well, you, so what most people are approaching this as, and, and again, this needs to come through in the privacy policy, is there are services that will let a person like you or me, George. Gotcha. Yeah. Go wipe my, yeah. Yeah. Um, so. An organization can say, Hey, we're gonna recognize signals from those types of services or not.

[00:12:10] Uh, and that's what you need to make clear in your privacy policy cause you're not technically, legally obligated to do that yet. But in the future, when third party cookies are wiped, that's gonna go away for all of us. It's not gonna exist as a capability. And when is the, is the deadline for removing third party?

[00:12:28] So they, you won't have to do anything to remove them. Uh, Google's gonna do it for you supposedly. Uh, Firefox already doesn't support third-party cookies. There's several other browsers that don't, um, but Chrome is, owns 64% of the market share when it comes to browsers and they. Google is saying that 2024 is the year they're gonna make good on this promise.

[00:12:54] And it's notable, this timeline has shifted a lot because Google hasn't quite figured out how they're gonna make up the revenue loss on their end, is my guess. Uh, so they are, they keep extending it, but 2024 is, is what they say. Uh, the deadline. And we've already seen, you know, thank you for explaining a bit about cookies and kind of how they're used and the, the apple fallout, I feel like is still coming.

[00:13:19] So maybe you can talk a bit about how fundraisers are needing to adapt to the reduction in tracking ability in email and maybe marketing with regard to Facebook Advertis. . Yeah. So the question I get asked, um, often is, why is Facebook acquisition struggling and what are we gonna do to replace it? And I think what people are missing is that Facebook is just the first, because they were hit so hard with apple's changes when Apple forced web developers to say that, um, they had to ask users for permission to track them.

[00:13:57] N 94% of those users said, no, I don't wanna be tracked. Facebook lot lost a lot of capabilities to target people outright and also to create lookalike models based on what they knew about people's behaviors. So what you're saying from Facebook is just representative of the struggle you're going to also have on Google via paid search ads and the like when third party cookies are wiped out.

[00:14:23] So it's really the time to take stock. Understanding what's working on your file, doing some contextual audits to get a sense of. What you know about your audiences and what you'd want to know so that you can collect those inputs. And also so that you can do more one-to-one media buying. If it came to it.

[00:14:45] Um, you might wanna understand, hey, we, we stood up ads on this site and they worked, but not this site. So we're gonna play more toward that type of content category. And we're also going to take that one step further and build our, our content strategy so that it focuses more on that type of topic. Uh, so you might think about those pieces now while you still have the capability to see into, uh, your Google results.

[00:15:14] So the other thing that is really important to understand about third party cookie elimination is that there will be analytics implications. GA four coming into play. Um, and with third party cookies wiping out, you know, Facebook and other advertising capabilities to see a pixel fire, you're gonna have to feed that information more manually.

[00:15:39] And you're also going to need to adjust your attribution model potentially to, uh, make changes so that you understand the state of play and how things are converting or.

[00:15:52] I think the way I'm kind of trying to position this is less moving forward about who people are with regard to their cookie footprint. Mm-hmm. and more about what they do. This is gonna be a behavior first environment. And you know, you mentioned GA four. I have the feeling. based on numbers, conversations, and what I'm seeing, I have the feeling a lot of folks are not ready for the hard transfer from Universal Analytics.

[00:16:24] The number one used web tracking analytic on the interwebs. Mm-hmm. stopping in July, like done, done like dinner, gone not until November, but until gone. Won't work and then suddenly everyone's gonna have to use GA four, which is very clearly Google's response to cookie apocalypse gdpr rising concerns of the way the fundamentals of universal analytics work don't work in this new environment, which is why this is happening.

[00:16:54] Yeah. Uh, what is your take? How are you positioning this transfer and thinking? So in terms of my advice for people, I would. Operating like it's happening tomorrow and taking stock of what you've learned and the benefits of having all these tracking capabilities in place now, uh, by creating and documenting all of those insights so that you can say, , Hey, you know, right now I'm on this really sophisticated attribution model that lets me see all of the touchpoints that led up to a conversion.

[00:17:32] But if those go away tomorrow, and if I never had them at my discretion, how would I make different decisions? So if I am only able to see that a person gave on this donation form and I know nothing else about their path, how, how would I apply some of the learning? From the past to, to get to that. So, um, I would look at what you've learned about, you know, when I was at the Nature Conservancy, we were finding that it took an average of 16 touchpoints for a per person to decide to give.

[00:18:02] And those were the ones that we could track. So knowing that, how many emails do you need to get in front of them? How many, you know, direct mail placements do you need to, to hit them with? What are the more creative outlets that you. Uh, apply with influencer marketing and, um, more of that thought leadership lens that parn back to, you know, a decade ago before we had all these, uh, capabilities at our hands and had to operate, you know, more like creative marketers, , and getting to that touchpoint model.

[00:18:34] And thank you for, for sharing that, having to be top of mind for your audience. Losing. , the tool of remarketing hurts. Mm-hmm. , I don't know. I like, I think that's the technical word hurts. . What? Help is my question. Yeah. So I, that's where I think that piece of the contextual auditing is gonna be really important.

[00:18:59] So that, you know, I think the word persona is overused and it means so many different things, but really getting that fine-tuned understanding of what makes people tick. Um, and like you said, based on their behaviors, what they're doing. So qualitative, Data is one thing. You can ask people in a survey how they feel, what they think, but we've seen the downfall of qualitative data, uh, with, you know, election polls and, and whatever else.

[00:19:29] So we know that we have to take that with a grain of salt. So understanding quantitative data and, and what's working, I think, will help you make those decisions about the content that you're standing up. Your forward path to creating, uh, what's called a first party data acquisition strategy, um, and making sure that you're creating content that's going to give people a reason to give you their email address so that you can do that more manual retargeting with, with emails and, and other services.

[00:19:58] So you mentioned email. You know, when Apple flipped the, the switch there, we started to see some wonky things in our mm-hmm. open rates, confusing numbers of being like, we're doing great, but are we, can you explain a little bit more? Because so much of I'll, I'll say, , the digital fundraising tactics that whole whale pushes forward, rely on those email data.

[00:20:23] Can you explain what's going on, why we may not be able to trust our open rates and what we can do as, uh, you know, moving forward in this environment? Yeah. So that goes back to the same iOS update, um, that impacted. Mobile app developers on the advertising side, and it'll also hit email. So the metric to watch now is, is click data.

[00:20:47] That is what allows you to understand if a person actually engaged or not. And everything before that is a bit amiss because of the tracking capabilities that are missing now. So the, the metric you wanna watch, Um, engagement, and that is because you know that that information is visible on your side and it's, you know, considered your data.

[00:21:11] So, Paying attention to all of those content insights is what I would focus on right now. And, you know, there's never been a more important time to make sure you have really good, um, reasons for a person to click through and engage so that you can factor in at that email engagement rate. It's so difficult because sometimes the purpose of an email is to deliver that experience.

[00:21:41] in that platform, in that medium and not click through. Mm-hmm. not lose that extra step. When you do that though, you're getting less data. So, you know, we know that that strategy has worked in the past, but it's tough to also say like, oh, we're not saying only send like two words and be like, click to see the rest.

[00:22:00] Right. We're holding your content hostage until you give us data in the form of clicks. Uh, . I mean, I don't know. Are you recommending that? Is that the trade off or are you just like, no, what you're not getting. Yeah, I think there's, so one of the things that I've been playing with in my own email strategy is encouraging people to reply to an email or do something that's other engagement, um, and reply to say, Hey, this is why I signed up for your email list, whatever, whatever type of content that you think, um, might be engaging and might give you some information that you can scale.

[00:22:34] That's another mechanism for people to. Really show interest and, and give you data that is consented that you might be able to gain some, some insights from. Um, but yeah, otherwise, I, I would not recommend sending a two word email that just says click. But I would say that you should start, um, optimizing.

[00:22:54] Content in the way that we used to optimize for subject lines to get that open. You know, you still need a good, you still need a reason for people to open, but that's not your primary focus. Your primary focus and your metric basis should be on, um, what you're doing to, to get the engagement in those insights.

[00:23:12] And so you mentioned that in 2024, Google Chrome is gonna be making this change. Does this also extend to Android and Gmail? in terms of that tracking. Will open rates put another way, be completely null and void as we get into 2024 of that change? Or do not? I under do, am I misunderstanding this? Uh, so Chrome.

[00:23:37] So safari has already been hit by this with Apple. Um, so anything that's happening on your iPhone right now is, is not really trackable in terms of third party cookies. Um, in the Android land, I, what is the primary browser for Androids, it's chrome. Yeah. Yeah. So, so Chrome, yeah, everything will stop being supported there.

[00:24:04] So yeah, unless you're using some device that none of us are aware of at this moment, , it's, it's really going to be hurting, I guess if you are opting into some browser that's, that's very small and market share. Um, effectively this is really just gonna need to be the wholesale change, so. I think this all comes back to the same thing, which is that this is just kind of the way of the world now where audiences, they're not gonna get less aware of how their, their data is being used.

[00:24:36] So you should probably adjust for that and, um, take the opportunities that you have to be a leader in the space and. You know, let people know how their data is being used. Be upfront about what you'll do to, to respect their space and their privacy, and make proactive changes so that you're not caught off guard.

[00:24:56] We saw a really good example of this actually. Um, the New York Times in 2020 became the first major publisher who went to a first-party data only model. So they completely stopped using third-party supported, um, information. And the way that they were able to scale that is they came up with a really creative content tagging strategy where, you know, they're tagging their content based on a range of different things, whether.

[00:25:23] You know, emotion evoked author, topic, et cetera. But with those insights, when an advertiser comes to them and says, Hey, I wanna place an ad on content that has this type of feel, the New York Times can offer that with. Completely consented data because it's based on what people are doing on their site in a logged in state.

[00:25:46] So the New York Times is a great example of a content publisher doing that, and obviously it's not completely replicable for the, those of us who are not, uh, you know, news outlets. But I think that there are things that we can learn from them in terms of giving people a reason to log in. , which is easier said than done, but is a case for brainstorming what some creative product development might look like, and also thinking about the context of the content that you're putting out and how you might, uh, do it differently in terms of both tagging and the, the actual content within, so that you are setting yourself up to, to get good data insights from it and, uh, to make sure that you are setting your data or setting your content up in a way that.

[00:26:32] Clear funnel toward monetization. It's a move kind of back toward the old school intent driven ads. Mm-hmm. , what is the, uh, user intent, and it's more clear on Google's search than probably any other platform at this point. If I'm searching for ways to support the environment, it's pretty clear. I care about a couple things.

[00:26:55] I have a desire to take action, and that action is revolving around learning more about the. , guess what? That might be a good moment to introduce yourself as the nature conservancy. Yeah, and what's interesting is that, uh, last year was the first year in recent memory that the total combined ads, as I understand the stat, um, being spent total ad spend of Google, Facebook, who used to dominate pretty much the entire market fell, um, fell below 50%, which means there's like a rise of the rest coming.

[00:27:29] and I wonder if you can talk about how we'll have our own data of emails, but then we'll be like shopping around in a much larger marketplace and needing to make a lot more decisions than ever before. Uh, as it relates to data opportunity, however you want to take this, uh, this fly ball. Yeah. Yeah. You, uh, in terms of things like co-op partnerships, I think those are some of the options that are at.

[00:27:58] Discretion. Um, and I think that's where knowing third party data terms is gonna be really important so that you're making really practical decisions to understand how, um, those partnerships are working. You know, I think that there are some organizations that can offer up. Email addresses at scale, and you wanna make sure that they're also GDPR compliant and following cans, spam rules, and doing things in a way that aren't gonna get you into hot water.

[00:28:30] Uh, so that's, I think, point number one is you're going to need to be newly. Aware of and deeply aware of as a marketer, the decisions you're making on that front. Um, and also you're gonna need to consider efficiency. So I think when it comes to the efficiency question, obviously the third party. Data pieces are what allowed us to scale so quickly.

[00:28:58] Um, but I would test a range of different publishers who are not so much reliant on, um, third party cookies and start getting those insights now so that you get a sense of how things are gonna perform and you can scale that later. So there are publishers who are exploring this in a pretty forward thinking way, you know, Spoke with Basis Technologies last week, just as a, as an example, but, um, they're already exploring how they can garner, uh, marketing techniques that put advertising out there in a way that isn't, um, illegal.

[00:29:34] as it will be later. . Yeah. Well, it's gonna get pretty interesting. Any other points you wanna make before we move into our rapid fire about coming data privacy changes? What organizations need to be prepared for? I think really just making sure that, as you know, a marketer or a fundraiser, wherever it is, you sit on that spectrum that you consider.

[00:29:58] The implications in a forward thinking way. Um, and don't think of privacy as something that's just for the IT and legal teams. I think it's going to impact your job in a way that it just didn't previously, and that's gonna be the state of play from here forward. So it would make sure that you understand, you know, what your privacy policy says.

[00:30:18] Make sure it's covering you. Make sure your legal team knows what you're up to so that, um, you are protecting your organization and ultimately your brand, which is your job. So that's the big piece that I would hammer home there. That's super helpful. Alright, rapid fire time, roughly 32nd responses. And just to kick it off, what is one tech tool or website that you've started using in the last.

[00:30:44] Uh, so I have been using. Kajabi, that's how I built my site and I really enjoy that. If you are looking to build a website, which is probably a, a small number of people, um, I'm also exploring notion, um, I'm late to the game there, but that is a tool that's. . Um, I need a replacement forever Evernote, because my Evernote syncing has gotten very bad, uh, between my devices.

[00:31:11] So I'm looking for a, a replacement note taking app. Maybe that follows into tech issues you're currently battling with ? Yeah. Yeah. I would say data sync issues between devices has been a big one for me, uh, where I'll write myself a to-do on my phone and it's not showing up on. My desktop app version. So that is a big problem.

[00:31:35] What is coming in the next year that has you the most excited? What's coming? Yeah, what's coming up? Uh, personally, professionally, does it matter? Oh, let's do one, one professional and one personal. Now that you ask, uh, I would say professionally, you know, this is my first year in business by myself, so I am excited to, um, be able to know what to predict for 2024.

[00:32:02] Uh, no. What I can scale and um, how things need to pivot. I think entrepreneurship has always been something I've been very intrigued by and I'm excited to be, you know, taking the plunge personally. Um, I am going to Greece for the first time in March, so that should be a great time. Awesome. Talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things.

[00:32:28] this is a good question. I think one of the most valuable insights I've learned over the years is when it's important to have at least a verbal conversation, if not an in-person conversation, rather than trying to make it work over email, slack, et cetera. Um, I think sometimes people rely on the efficiency of.

[00:32:52] email and, and written coms. Um, and I know I certainly over relied on that in the past, and sometimes it's really important to just take the time to take somebody to coffee and recognize that that's gonna do more service to what you're trying to get done than hammering home a deadline will.

[00:33:08] Do you believe that nonprofits can successfully go out of business successfully? Go out of business? . Yeah, I do. I think that it is, there are a lot of solvable problems. You know, when I was at World Food Program, we called Hunger, the world's most solvable problem. I think it's a matter of building the operational infrastructure to be able to ingest the money that would allow you to go out of business.

[00:33:37] If you got. A huge donor, are you gonna be able to scale your operation that quickly and think about the components that would need to go into that? So I think, um, nonprofits need to be able to operate in a way that allows them to have those overhead pieces taken care of, and the sound operational infrastructure that allows for that.

[00:34:00] if I were to put you in a hot tub time machine back to the beginning of your nonprofit work, what advice would you give yourself? Hmm. Um. I would say to be unafraid, to, to speak. I had a mentor early in my career who made clear that if you were invited to a meeting, it was for a reason and your voice needed to be heard.

[00:34:26] And I think especially as, uh, a female in this industry, you can, can take a step back from that at the beginning of your career. You, there's some, I think, imposter syndrome among all of us, but especially among young women. So I would. Speak.

[00:34:41] If I were to give you a magical wand that you could wave and change something in the industry, what would it do? Hmm. I think we'd be a lot further ahead on diversity initiatives and understanding how they come into play in every facet of what we do. I think nonprofits. Just catching up to this conversation.

[00:35:04] And we still think of it as, you know, we need a diverse hiring pool and we don't necessarily understand all of the things that go into building that, that talent pool. So making sure that we have cultures that diverse communities would want to work within and, uh, that, that respect, um, the difference standpoints that we all come from.

[00:35:22] That's what I would change would be further along. What is something that you think you should stop doing? I should stop doing, I should stop drinking more than one cup of coffee a day. , I, uh, I'm playing with my, my workflow for the day and the optimal time to make sure I'm, I, I used to exercise first thing in the morning, and I'm pivoting that more toward, toward the, the mid-afternoon, which I, I guess, are the luxuries of being an entrepreneur.

[00:35:52] But, um, playing with the caffeine intake, um, has not been great. So produced. How did you get started in the social impact sector? So I grew up in a very conservative area of Colorado. Um, Colorado's a very interesting state in terms of politics, but I grew up in the area of Colorado Springs, um, that's very focused on religion, military, et cetera.

[00:36:17] Um, and I was about nine when my Uncle Keith passed away, uh, from AIDS and. at that time, we weren't allowed to talk about why he passed and what happened and, uh, his sexuality and I, as I have gotten older, always think about what that must have felt like for him to not even be able to talk to his family about, um, you know, this terrifying illness that he had and.

[00:36:48] The, where he was in life. So that's, that's been the event in my life that I've always come back to. That drives me to make sure that no one else feels like that or is in that place. What advice would you give college grads looking to enter the social impact sector? You co oh, I guess your college graduated by that point.

[00:37:07] Um, I was gonna go the internship route. I, I think just start. I think there's a lot of trepidation around diving in and, um, finding, you know, the perfect job description to apply for, or the perfect service to offer. And I think just getting out there and seeing, um, Casting a wide net is, is very useful in those beginning stages.

[00:37:34] And also not being afraid to say yes when you get invited to, you know, that networking session or the happy hour, that might seem useless. Just building your army of, of friends and contacts. What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or did not follow?

[00:37:55] Um, my parents gave me lots of advice, advice that I, I did not follow. Um, . One thing that I did follow, my parents, uh, grew up in, um, a very small area of Ohio, former mining town that, um, was not well to do. We did not grow up, um, super well off money wise, and my dad really wanted me to focus on a business degree, uh, because it was practical and I did do that.

[00:38:24] Um, but I will say that I've, I've tried to pivot it in a way that's become my own. Um, and that is, is focused on. Yes, the business side and the practical sides of that, but also the social impact side that is, is my own mark. Well thanks for sharing all of that. How do people find you? How do people help you?

[00:38:44] So my website is agility lab.io. Um, and I have on. That's a, uh, you can contact me for a quick informational consult or I have a couple of, uh, checklists that will help you think through your risk diversification strategy. And if you're interested in pursuing a project together, you can reach out to me one-on-one through the site, um, or join my email list.

[00:39:10] Yeah, I'd say just add, if you're looking for that digital privacy tuneup that doesn't just stop at privacy, but also looks. How your fundraising and comms team are approaching a different landscape. It sounds like you know what you're doing. I enjoyed the conversation and thank you for all that you've shared with our audience.

[00:39:27] Thank you, George.

View Details

Elyse Wallnutt, Founder & Principal at Agility Lab Consulting shares how nonprofit fundraising professionals need to adapt to the removal of 3rd party cookies, dealing with evolving donor privacy laws

Resources on GDPR, SHEILD, and CCPA for nonprofits.

About Elyse Wallnutt"I specialize in assessing and helping you right-size your internal solutions portfolio – including current-state approach to financial projections, tech stack integration, media investments, and user experience design – and using findings to build an integrated vision that refines KPI targets and breaks down channel silos.

I’ve had the privilege of helping to scale the brands below from both in-house and agency settings. You can find my portfolio here. As the marketing landscape changes, I'll come alongside you to help you prepare. See how I can help.

Outside of work, I design snarky greeting cards, coach [solidcore] pilates, chase my dogs, and battle my brothers in Wordle daily."

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] audio1299811408: Today on the Whole Whale podcast, we have somebody who was referred to Whole Whale by none other than a, a frequent guest and teacher on whole whale, uh, Josh from Round Table. And we, uh, we tend to pay attention when he says this person knows what they are doing, knows what they're doing with regard to data privacy and fundraising.

[00:00:48] So I was, I. To Elise, the founder and principal at Agility Lab Consulting, uh, agility Lab Consulting. And that's, uh, I believe Agility Lab Consulting. Uh, agility lab.io. Agility lab.io is their website. And we're excited because Agility Lab has just founded and starting their work. And I will say Elise comes with an incredible background, previously senior director marketing advertising at World Food Program.

[00:01:17] Yeah, you might have heard. In the us I also spent time director and strategy at the Center for American Progress. Uh, spent time at Media cause for a year and of course, uh, a little organization called The Nature Conservancy as a senior Associate director, uh, digital acquisition. So safe to say, you know, your stuff.

[00:01:37] I'm excited. I'm excited to learn from you. Thank you for coming on. Anything I, I missed, Elise? No, thanks George. It's, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, well, you caught my eye immediately because you started speaking my language before we turned on record by talking about the sort of like cookie apocalypse.

[00:01:58] The cookie apocalypse. So I don't know if that's the right place to start, but things are gonna get weird in 2023 for fundraisers. Why? Yeah, so you're probably all aware as consumers about how much more aware we've become about how our data is being used. I think that that's been a much more popular topic of conversation in the last couple of years, and audience demand for privacy has really picked up.

[00:02:28] We saw the EU adopt privacy laws with GDPR in 2016, which really set the standard and us. Uh, legislators have taken note as well. So there are five states in the US implementing privacy laws this year. And with that, uh, big tech is really paying attention to how they need to protect their reputations, um, and stay in compliance.

[00:02:53] So they are eliminating what's called third party cookies, and that's a, it's a little piece of code. , that is what allows marketers to stand up ads that, uh, essentially follow you around the internet. So those, you know, that pair of pants or shoes that you can't stop seeing, it's, it's that pixel or that, that third party cookie that allows for that.

[00:03:15] So, um, the reason it's. It's troublesome is most people consider it not consented data use. So what we're moving toward with the elimination of third party cookies is marketers are only gonna be able to use. Consented information. So the information that you provide to them. So we're looking at things like what you provide in a form, when you donate, what you provide, when you fill out that petition, um, and, and things of that nature.

[00:03:46] So that's really gonna require us to be a lot more thoughtful about our targeting strategies. You caught my attention here with saying that there are five states. I was only aware of the New York Shield and C C P A in California, but it's feels like, can I just summarize saying like where one goes all must follow it.

[00:04:06] It's essentially like I love how am American states are like so futile when it comes to internet laws and even like registration. So I. nonprofits have to register in each state for fundraising, even though you have one donation form on your site, is this is where data privacy, third party cookies are going?

[00:04:29] Like how do you advise, because obviously you're offering like consulting advice on how to approach this. How do you advise folks of being like, oh no, no, you gotta do this here, here, here, here. What is the approach? So the good thing about the, uh, five states that are implementing this right now is that the laws are, are pretty similar.

[00:04:46] Um, what it allows for is audience members to request that their information, um, can be deleted from your file essentially, so they can. Call you up and say, Hey, I wanna know everything you have on record about me. I want to view that information, and if I want you to get rid of it, you have to. So most of the states are, are pretty aligned on where they're falling with that.

[00:05:10] And to your point, George, I think most of the states are probably gonna have to. Fall online eventually based on, uh, demand from constituents, that's not going to stop. And there's actually, um, a bipartisan supported federal bill that's pending. Um, it's gotten a little bit stalled up, but may make progress in 2023.

[00:05:33] And if that comes to fruition, that will create that federally supported framework. So my advice for nonprofits is to start treating this like it. Already a reality and to start getting prepared for something you can put in place operationally across the board. There's not really a point in standing up, you know, a set of operations for Colorado versus California, um, because they're, they're pretty similar.

[00:06:00] So GDPR is the most aggressive and luckily we already know what that looks like, uh, from the eu. And if you use that as a framework, you're pretty much guaranteed to be in compliance with what the states stand up. and just to play it out more practically, let's say you get, cuz it's a, a rite of, rite of removal, I think for your data.

[00:06:23] Mm-hmm. . What if that's not followed in, what is it, 30 days or 90 days? What are the kind of penalties you're seeing for this? Uh, so what we just saw actually, um, Facebook got hit with a really large fine by the EU for not following privacy compliance. Um, so when you're out of compliance, you can get hit with fines.

[00:06:44] Um, you, you will have more of that, uh, legal eye on you and it really could impact you in. In terms of audience trust more broadly. Um, so that's where I've been encouraging people to think of this as more of an opportunity rather than a slap on the hand. Um, when we're showing audiences that we care about respecting their rights and how their data is used, you can really build your brand and make sure that you are front and center of building that trust conversation.

[00:07:16] And just to be clear, let's say there's a, a privacy@myorganization.org. Mm-hmm. , I George email them saying, you know, I'm sort of invoking my right for removal. Right. To be forgotten. Yep. Uh, please present and remove any and all data. This is an official notice, let's say that goes to that email and the organization's like, this is the first time we've ever seen it.

[00:07:40] Like, what does that actually. So it means that you're gonna have to go through your C R m present everything that you know about, but you also need to have a handle on how you've been releasing data to third parties. So you know when you're uploading a person's. Email address into Facebook so that you can serve ads to them.

[00:07:59] You're also releasing some of that data to Facebook. So there are things that you can implement, like Facebook's conversion API that allow you to self-select some of those fields and get your third party options in, uh, better compliance being more risk averse there. But really it involves you being able to tell people what you have on them.

[00:08:23] Um, You know, your own spare, but also how you've been using their, their data externally. So the idea is that you don't want it to take you three weeks to execute one of these requests. You wanna be able to make sure that your staff knows how to, uh, turn this over and make sure that it is, you know, scalable and your approach is able to be right sized.

[00:08:48] Um, and also that your privacy policy reflect. What people can expect. So if you have 45 days to, to do this, is it gonna take you all 45 or can people expect to see something in 10? So you really need to be able to set the tone for, um, what audiences should get from you. And when

[00:09:08] I see a lot of headaches in the future here, I mean clearly, unfortunately, my mind goes toward. More of a predatory attack potentially, um, where you could sort of deluge an organization with, um, hundreds of these requests, um, and really bog down a technical team. So certainly I think having a plan in place for how do you do this in, in batch and do it efficiently, uh, especially if you are on the front lines of organizations that dance on contentious issues, we'll say.

[00:09:39] Is that a, is that a fair. Yeah, we're actually seeing whole companies, uh, being stood up just to provide for that. Um, you know, it's flooding businesses with requests from consumers, you know, as the consumer you can hire them to go and do this for you and they'll hit everything you know, you've ever email subscribed to.

[00:10:01] So that is where you need to be able to make sure you have your operational process in line and, you know, um, what. fair game to be released and, and what's not, um, and, and how you're gonna treat that. Yeah. Sounds like, um, a lot of work. I I, I don't wanna spend too much more time here unless there's something I'm maybe missing on the, the right to be forgotten and those policies coming up.

[00:10:26] I think really the most important thing, well, not the most important thing, but another important thing for, uh, marketing teams to also consider here is that, Data minimization is going to be your legal team's recommended approach. So it's really important for you to get a good handle on what the states consider, uh, personal information, what those fields look like, and also for you to know the business reason that you're ingesting certain data fields and what you want your retention period to be, and what fields you're willing to.

[00:11:02] You know, forego. So if you know that you're going to lose some of that third party tracking, what do you need to know on a first party level in terms of, you know, person's age and their interest categories and, and all the other things that make us understand what makes a person tick? You need to have a good handle on that so that you can sit at the table with the legal team and, uh, engage with them productively on what can stay and what can.

[00:11:28] I mean, I don't even know how you would go about finding that individual's third party cookie that you're using to track them around the internet and delete it. I mean, I think you acknowledge it, but is there a way to like signal out that one, you know, unique identifier inside of the walls of Google and, and others?

[00:11:47] Uh, no, I, well, you, so what most people are approaching this as, and, and again, this needs to come through in the privacy policy, is there are services that will let a person like you or me, George. Gotcha. Yeah. Go wipe my, yeah. Yeah. Um, so. An organization can say, Hey, we're gonna recognize signals from those types of services or not.

[00:12:10] Uh, and that's what you need to make clear in your privacy policy cause you're not technically, legally obligated to do that yet. But in the future, when third party cookies are wiped, that's gonna go away for all of us. It's not gonna exist as a capability. And when is the, is the deadline for removing third party?

[00:12:28] So they, you won't have to do anything to remove them. Uh, Google's gonna do it for you supposedly. Uh, Firefox already doesn't support third-party cookies. There's several other browsers that don't, um, but Chrome is, owns 64% of the market share when it comes to browsers and they. Google is saying that 2024 is the year they're gonna make good on this promise.

[00:12:54] And it's notable, this timeline has shifted a lot because Google hasn't quite figured out how they're gonna make up the revenue loss on their end, is my guess. Uh, so they are, they keep extending it, but 2024 is, is what they say. Uh, the deadline. And we've already seen, you know, thank you for explaining a bit about cookies and kind of how they're used and the, the apple fallout, I feel like is still coming.

[00:13:19] So maybe you can talk a bit about how fundraisers are needing to adapt to the reduction in tracking ability in email and maybe marketing with regard to Facebook Advertis. . Yeah. So the question I get asked, um, often is, why is Facebook acquisition struggling and what are we gonna do to replace it? And I think what people are missing is that Facebook is just the first, because they were hit so hard with apple's changes when Apple forced web developers to say that, um, they had to ask users for permission to track them.

[00:13:57] N 94% of those users said, no, I don't wanna be tracked. Facebook lot lost a lot of capabilities to target people outright and also to create lookalike models based on what they knew about people's behaviors. So what you're saying from Facebook is just representative of the struggle you're going to also have on Google via paid search ads and the like when third party cookies are wiped out.

[00:14:23] So it's really the time to take stock. Understanding what's working on your file, doing some contextual audits to get a sense of. What you know about your audiences and what you'd want to know so that you can collect those inputs. And also so that you can do more one-to-one media buying. If it came to it.

[00:14:45] Um, you might wanna understand, hey, we, we stood up ads on this site and they worked, but not this site. So we're gonna play more toward that type of content category. And we're also going to take that one step further and build our, our content strategy so that it focuses more on that type of topic. Uh, so you might think about those pieces now while you still have the capability to see into, uh, your Google results.

[00:15:14] So the other thing that is really important to understand about third party cookie elimination is that there will be analytics implications. GA four coming into play. Um, and with third party cookies wiping out, you know, Facebook and other advertising capabilities to see a pixel fire, you're gonna have to feed that information more manually.

[00:15:39] And you're also going to need to adjust your attribution model potentially to, uh, make changes so that you understand the state of play and how things are converting or.

[00:15:52] I think the way I'm kind of trying to position this is less moving forward about who people are with regard to their cookie footprint. Mm-hmm. and more about what they do. This is gonna be a behavior first environment. And you know, you mentioned GA four. I have the feeling. based on numbers, conversations, and what I'm seeing, I have the feeling a lot of folks are not ready for the hard transfer from Universal Analytics.

[00:16:24] The number one used web tracking analytic on the interwebs. Mm-hmm. stopping in July, like done, done like dinner, gone not until November, but until gone. Won't work and then suddenly everyone's gonna have to use GA four, which is very clearly Google's response to cookie apocalypse gdpr rising concerns of the way the fundamentals of universal analytics work don't work in this new environment, which is why this is happening.

[00:16:54] Yeah. Uh, what is your take? How are you positioning this transfer and thinking? So in terms of my advice for people, I would. Operating like it's happening tomorrow and taking stock of what you've learned and the benefits of having all these tracking capabilities in place now, uh, by creating and documenting all of those insights so that you can say, , Hey, you know, right now I'm on this really sophisticated attribution model that lets me see all of the touchpoints that led up to a conversion.

[00:17:32] But if those go away tomorrow, and if I never had them at my discretion, how would I make different decisions? So if I am only able to see that a person gave on this donation form and I know nothing else about their path, how, how would I apply some of the learning? From the past to, to get to that. So, um, I would look at what you've learned about, you know, when I was at the Nature Conservancy, we were finding that it took an average of 16 touchpoints for a per person to decide to give.

[00:18:02] And those were the ones that we could track. So knowing that, how many emails do you need to get in front of them? How many, you know, direct mail placements do you need to, to hit them with? What are the more creative outlets that you. Uh, apply with influencer marketing and, um, more of that thought leadership lens that parn back to, you know, a decade ago before we had all these, uh, capabilities at our hands and had to operate, you know, more like creative marketers, , and getting to that touchpoint model.

[00:18:34] And thank you for, for sharing that, having to be top of mind for your audience. Losing. , the tool of remarketing hurts. Mm-hmm. , I don't know. I like, I think that's the technical word hurts. . What? Help is my question. Yeah. So I, that's where I think that piece of the contextual auditing is gonna be really important.

[00:18:59] So that, you know, I think the word persona is overused and it means so many different things, but really getting that fine-tuned understanding of what makes people tick. Um, and like you said, based on their behaviors, what they're doing. So qualitative, Data is one thing. You can ask people in a survey how they feel, what they think, but we've seen the downfall of qualitative data, uh, with, you know, election polls and, and whatever else.

[00:19:29] So we know that we have to take that with a grain of salt. So understanding quantitative data and, and what's working, I think, will help you make those decisions about the content that you're standing up. Your forward path to creating, uh, what's called a first party data acquisition strategy, um, and making sure that you're creating content that's going to give people a reason to give you their email address so that you can do that more manual retargeting with, with emails and, and other services.

[00:19:58] So you mentioned email. You know, when Apple flipped the, the switch there, we started to see some wonky things in our mm-hmm. open rates, confusing numbers of being like, we're doing great, but are we, can you explain a little bit more? Because so much of I'll, I'll say, , the digital fundraising tactics that whole whale pushes forward, rely on those email data.

[00:20:23] Can you explain what's going on, why we may not be able to trust our open rates and what we can do as, uh, you know, moving forward in this environment? Yeah. So that goes back to the same iOS update, um, that impacted. Mobile app developers on the advertising side, and it'll also hit email. So the metric to watch now is, is click data.

[00:20:47] That is what allows you to understand if a person actually engaged or not. And everything before that is a bit amiss because of the tracking capabilities that are missing now. So the, the metric you wanna watch, Um, engagement, and that is because you know that that information is visible on your side and it's, you know, considered your data.

[00:21:11] So, Paying attention to all of those content insights is what I would focus on right now. And, you know, there's never been a more important time to make sure you have really good, um, reasons for a person to click through and engage so that you can factor in at that email engagement rate. It's so difficult because sometimes the purpose of an email is to deliver that experience.

[00:21:41] in that platform, in that medium and not click through. Mm-hmm. not lose that extra step. When you do that though, you're getting less data. So, you know, we know that that strategy has worked in the past, but it's tough to also say like, oh, we're not saying only send like two words and be like, click to see the rest.

[00:22:00] Right. We're holding your content hostage until you give us data in the form of clicks. Uh, . I mean, I don't know. Are you recommending that? Is that the trade off or are you just like, no, what you're not getting. Yeah, I think there's, so one of the things that I've been playing with in my own email strategy is encouraging people to reply to an email or do something that's other engagement, um, and reply to say, Hey, this is why I signed up for your email list, whatever, whatever type of content that you think, um, might be engaging and might give you some information that you can scale.

[00:22:34] That's another mechanism for people to. Really show interest and, and give you data that is consented that you might be able to gain some, some insights from. Um, but yeah, otherwise, I, I would not recommend sending a two word email that just says click. But I would say that you should start, um, optimizing.

[00:22:54] Content in the way that we used to optimize for subject lines to get that open. You know, you still need a good, you still need a reason for people to open, but that's not your primary focus. Your primary focus and your metric basis should be on, um, what you're doing to, to get the engagement in those insights.

[00:23:12] And so you mentioned that in 2024, Google Chrome is gonna be making this change. Does this also extend to Android and Gmail? in terms of that tracking. Will open rates put another way, be completely null and void as we get into 2024 of that change? Or do not? I under do, am I misunderstanding this? Uh, so Chrome.

[00:23:37] So safari has already been hit by this with Apple. Um, so anything that's happening on your iPhone right now is, is not really trackable in terms of third party cookies. Um, in the Android land, I, what is the primary browser for Androids, it's chrome. Yeah. Yeah. So, so Chrome, yeah, everything will stop being supported there.

[00:24:04] So yeah, unless you're using some device that none of us are aware of at this moment, , it's, it's really going to be hurting, I guess if you are opting into some browser that's, that's very small and market share. Um, effectively this is really just gonna need to be the wholesale change, so. I think this all comes back to the same thing, which is that this is just kind of the way of the world now where audiences, they're not gonna get less aware of how their, their data is being used.

[00:24:36] So you should probably adjust for that and, um, take the opportunities that you have to be a leader in the space and. You know, let people know how their data is being used. Be upfront about what you'll do to, to respect their space and their privacy, and make proactive changes so that you're not caught off guard.

[00:24:56] We saw a really good example of this actually. Um, the New York Times in 2020 became the first major publisher who went to a first-party data only model. So they completely stopped using third-party supported, um, information. And the way that they were able to scale that is they came up with a really creative content tagging strategy where, you know, they're tagging their content based on a range of different things, whether.

[00:25:23] You know, emotion evoked author, topic, et cetera. But with those insights, when an advertiser comes to them and says, Hey, I wanna place an ad on content that has this type of feel, the New York Times can offer that with. Completely consented data because it's based on what people are doing on their site in a logged in state.

[00:25:46] So the New York Times is a great example of a content publisher doing that, and obviously it's not completely replicable for the, those of us who are not, uh, you know, news outlets. But I think that there are things that we can learn from them in terms of giving people a reason to log in. , which is easier said than done, but is a case for brainstorming what some creative product development might look like, and also thinking about the context of the content that you're putting out and how you might, uh, do it differently in terms of both tagging and the, the actual content within, so that you are setting yourself up to, to get good data insights from it and, uh, to make sure that you are setting your data or setting your content up in a way that.

[00:26:32] Clear funnel toward monetization. It's a move kind of back toward the old school intent driven ads. Mm-hmm. , what is the, uh, user intent, and it's more clear on Google's search than probably any other platform at this point. If I'm searching for ways to support the environment, it's pretty clear. I care about a couple things.

[00:26:55] I have a desire to take action, and that action is revolving around learning more about the. , guess what? That might be a good moment to introduce yourself as the nature conservancy. Yeah, and what's interesting is that, uh, last year was the first year in recent memory that the total combined ads, as I understand the stat, um, being spent total ad spend of Google, Facebook, who used to dominate pretty much the entire market fell, um, fell below 50%, which means there's like a rise of the rest coming.

[00:27:29] and I wonder if you can talk about how we'll have our own data of emails, but then we'll be like shopping around in a much larger marketplace and needing to make a lot more decisions than ever before. Uh, as it relates to data opportunity, however you want to take this, uh, this fly ball. Yeah. Yeah. You, uh, in terms of things like co-op partnerships, I think those are some of the options that are at.

[00:27:58] Discretion. Um, and I think that's where knowing third party data terms is gonna be really important so that you're making really practical decisions to understand how, um, those partnerships are working. You know, I think that there are some organizations that can offer up. Email addresses at scale, and you wanna make sure that they're also GDPR compliant and following cans, spam rules, and doing things in a way that aren't gonna get you into hot water.

[00:28:30] Uh, so that's, I think, point number one is you're going to need to be newly. Aware of and deeply aware of as a marketer, the decisions you're making on that front. Um, and also you're gonna need to consider efficiency. So I think when it comes to the efficiency question, obviously the third party. Data pieces are what allowed us to scale so quickly.

[00:28:58] Um, but I would test a range of different publishers who are not so much reliant on, um, third party cookies and start getting those insights now so that you get a sense of how things are gonna perform and you can scale that later. So there are publishers who are exploring this in a pretty forward thinking way, you know, Spoke with Basis Technologies last week, just as a, as an example, but, um, they're already exploring how they can garner, uh, marketing techniques that put advertising out there in a way that isn't, um, illegal.

[00:29:34] as it will be later. . Yeah. Well, it's gonna get pretty interesting. Any other points you wanna make before we move into our rapid fire about coming data privacy changes? What organizations need to be prepared for? I think really just making sure that, as you know, a marketer or a fundraiser, wherever it is, you sit on that spectrum that you consider.

[00:29:58] The implications in a forward thinking way. Um, and don't think of privacy as something that's just for the IT and legal teams. I think it's going to impact your job in a way that it just didn't previously, and that's gonna be the state of play from here forward. So it would make sure that you understand, you know, what your privacy policy says.

[00:30:18] Make sure it's covering you. Make sure your legal team knows what you're up to so that, um, you are protecting your organization and ultimately your brand, which is your job. So that's the big piece that I would hammer home there. That's super helpful. Alright, rapid fire time, roughly 32nd responses. And just to kick it off, what is one tech tool or website that you've started using in the last.

[00:30:44] Uh, so I have been using. Kajabi, that's how I built my site and I really enjoy that. If you are looking to build a website, which is probably a, a small number of people, um, I'm also exploring notion, um, I'm late to the game there, but that is a tool that's. . Um, I need a replacement forever Evernote, because my Evernote syncing has gotten very bad, uh, between my devices.

[00:31:11] So I'm looking for a, a replacement note taking app. Maybe that follows into tech issues you're currently battling with ? Yeah. Yeah. I would say data sync issues between devices has been a big one for me, uh, where I'll write myself a to-do on my phone and it's not showing up on. My desktop app version. So that is a big problem.

[00:31:35] What is coming in the next year that has you the most excited? What's coming? Yeah, what's coming up? Uh, personally, professionally, does it matter? Oh, let's do one, one professional and one personal. Now that you ask, uh, I would say professionally, you know, this is my first year in business by myself, so I am excited to, um, be able to know what to predict for 2024.

[00:32:02] Uh, no. What I can scale and um, how things need to pivot. I think entrepreneurship has always been something I've been very intrigued by and I'm excited to be, you know, taking the plunge personally. Um, I am going to Greece for the first time in March, so that should be a great time. Awesome. Talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things.

[00:32:28] this is a good question. I think one of the most valuable insights I've learned over the years is when it's important to have at least a verbal conversation, if not an in-person conversation, rather than trying to make it work over email, slack, et cetera. Um, I think sometimes people rely on the efficiency of.

[00:32:52] email and, and written coms. Um, and I know I certainly over relied on that in the past, and sometimes it's really important to just take the time to take somebody to coffee and recognize that that's gonna do more service to what you're trying to get done than hammering home a deadline will.

[00:33:08] Do you believe that nonprofits can successfully go out of business successfully? Go out of business? . Yeah, I do. I think that it is, there are a lot of solvable problems. You know, when I was at World Food Program, we called Hunger, the world's most solvable problem. I think it's a matter of building the operational infrastructure to be able to ingest the money that would allow you to go out of business.

[00:33:37] If you got. A huge donor, are you gonna be able to scale your operation that quickly and think about the components that would need to go into that? So I think, um, nonprofits need to be able to operate in a way that allows them to have those overhead pieces taken care of, and the sound operational infrastructure that allows for that.

[00:34:00] if I were to put you in a hot tub time machine back to the beginning of your nonprofit work, what advice would you give yourself? Hmm. Um. I would say to be unafraid, to, to speak. I had a mentor early in my career who made clear that if you were invited to a meeting, it was for a reason and your voice needed to be heard.

[00:34:26] And I think especially as, uh, a female in this industry, you can, can take a step back from that at the beginning of your career. You, there's some, I think, imposter syndrome among all of us, but especially among young women. So I would. Speak.

[00:34:41] If I were to give you a magical wand that you could wave and change something in the industry, what would it do? Hmm. I think we'd be a lot further ahead on diversity initiatives and understanding how they come into play in every facet of what we do. I think nonprofits. Just catching up to this conversation.

[00:35:04] And we still think of it as, you know, we need a diverse hiring pool and we don't necessarily understand all of the things that go into building that, that talent pool. So making sure that we have cultures that diverse communities would want to work within and, uh, that, that respect, um, the difference standpoints that we all come from.

[00:35:22] That's what I would change would be further along. What is something that you think you should stop doing? I should stop doing, I should stop drinking more than one cup of coffee a day. , I, uh, I'm playing with my, my workflow for the day and the optimal time to make sure I'm, I, I used to exercise first thing in the morning, and I'm pivoting that more toward, toward the, the mid-afternoon, which I, I guess, are the luxuries of being an entrepreneur.

[00:35:52] But, um, playing with the caffeine intake, um, has not been great. So produced. How did you get started in the social impact sector? So I grew up in a very conservative area of Colorado. Um, Colorado's a very interesting state in terms of politics, but I grew up in the area of Colorado Springs, um, that's very focused on religion, military, et cetera.

[00:36:17] Um, and I was about nine when my Uncle Keith passed away, uh, from AIDS and. at that time, we weren't allowed to talk about why he passed and what happened and, uh, his sexuality and I, as I have gotten older, always think about what that must have felt like for him to not even be able to talk to his family about, um, you know, this terrifying illness that he had and.

[00:36:48] The, where he was in life. So that's, that's been the event in my life that I've always come back to. That drives me to make sure that no one else feels like that or is in that place. What advice would you give college grads looking to enter the social impact sector? You co oh, I guess your college graduated by that point.

[00:37:07] Um, I was gonna go the internship route. I, I think just start. I think there's a lot of trepidation around diving in and, um, finding, you know, the perfect job description to apply for, or the perfect service to offer. And I think just getting out there and seeing, um, Casting a wide net is, is very useful in those beginning stages.

[00:37:34] And also not being afraid to say yes when you get invited to, you know, that networking session or the happy hour, that might seem useless. Just building your army of, of friends and contacts. What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or did not follow?

[00:37:55] Um, my parents gave me lots of advice, advice that I, I did not follow. Um, . One thing that I did follow, my parents, uh, grew up in, um, a very small area of Ohio, former mining town that, um, was not well to do. We did not grow up, um, super well off money wise, and my dad really wanted me to focus on a business degree, uh, because it was practical and I did do that.

[00:38:24] Um, but I will say that I've, I've tried to pivot it in a way that's become my own. Um, and that is, is focused on. Yes, the business side and the practical sides of that, but also the social impact side that is, is my own mark. Well thanks for sharing all of that. How do people find you? How do people help you?

[00:38:44] So my website is agility lab.io. Um, and I have on. That's a, uh, you can contact me for a quick informational consult or I have a couple of, uh, checklists that will help you think through your risk diversification strategy. And if you're interested in pursuing a project together, you can reach out to me one-on-one through the site, um, or join my email list.

[00:39:10] Yeah, I'd say just add, if you're looking for that digital privacy tuneup that doesn't just stop at privacy, but also looks. How your fundraising and comms team are approaching a different landscape. It sounds like you know what you're doing. I enjoyed the conversation and thank you for all that you've shared with our audience.

[00:39:27] Thank you, George.

View Details

Amazon Sunsets AmazonSmile Amid Cost-Cutting The AmazonSmile will be ending by February 20th, according to a statement from the company, as reported by NPR and others. While the program dispersed nearly $449 million to nonprofits globally, the company says that the donations were spread too thin, minimizing impact. Amazon pointed to other efforts, such as its Housing Equity Fund, which supports affordable housing efforts near its headquarters, as an example of a social impact program receiving investment. However, smaller nonprofits that received AmazonSmile donations say that the donation were helpful and would be missed. The move comes after Amazon announced 18,000 layoffs, amid a winter defined by tech layoffs across the industry.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Time's Up to halt operations, shift resources to legal fund | ABC News
• People are only just realising what happens to the money IKEA makes - and it’s blowing their minds | The US Sun
• Founder of Seattle West African immigrant nonprofit accused of embezzling millions | king5.com
• What if school was all outside, every day? N.J. ‘nature schools’ take class outdoors, rain or shine. NJ.com
• The Eagles thought their Christmas album would fund a toy drive. It ended up doing much more. | https://www.inquirer.com

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed. Well, we are talking about turning that Amazon smile upside down. I was first off, really happy to be able to come up with that subject line. Um, not as happy that this program is ending. Uh, Nick, how's it going?

[00:00:42] Nick: It's going good. George, this is, I think, gonna be one of those weeks where we are just focused on, on one-liners and, and puns. But alas, I'll take us into the top story, which you alluded to, which is that Amazon Smile. The program that donated a PORs, uh, portion of the proceeds from purchases on Amazon to nonprofits will be coming to a close on February 20th.

[00:01:07] This comes via reporting from NPR and other outlets. And in the history of the program, it dispersed nearly 449 million to nonprofits globally. However, the company says that the donations were spread too thin, minimizing impact. That's in quotes. Um, Amazon pointed in their statement to other efforts such as its Housing equity fund to support affordable housing.

[00:01:34] Here its headquarters as an example. Of a social impact program it was investing in. However, in the articles, smaller nonprofits said that Amazon SMILE donations were helpful and would be missed. And this comes amid broader economic headwinds that the industry is facing. Amazon has announced 18,000 layoffs.

[00:01:57] Tech layoffs are now commonplace across the board. Amazon Smile more like a frown these days.

[00:02:06] George: I'm sad to see a CSR corporate social responsibility program of this magnitude get sunset in this way in short order. I've been looking on LinkedIn, um, the reactions, and some folks are saying, you know, good riddens, this was a distraction for nonprofits because it sort of baits an organization into becoming an affiliate marketer.

[00:02:30] Meaning you get a portion of the sales based on a trackable link and you're pushing product as opposed to your purpose. , I hear that. I also see 449 million, uh, across nonprofits being something meaningful now. Yeah. You spread peanut butter too thin and it turns into nothing. Right. If I were to donate that, but like, that's still just, that's a lot of money.

[00:02:55] You know, there's, um, 1.5 ish million nonprofits, so I don't, I don't know that I buy that full narrative of like, it was too small to make a difference. , it was part of, for some organizations, a balanced fiscal diet. It was a diversification of revenue streams. You know, it was something that they, they got and ideally didn't have to push too hard for.

[00:03:19] So bad thing too bad. You know, I, I, I don't think that, I'm curious why, and, and I'll maybe never know the reason of like the actual, like, is this a cost cutting? Is there just a change in csr? Did they not get enough, uh, from it? Because on the same token, it actually served them as well because guess what?

[00:03:42] Somebody was buying something from them. You know, it was the affiliate marketing strategy. It was actually pretty darn clever, and it worked so sad to see it. And hopefully there'll be a, another solution that arises, an opportunity that shows up for, for those organizations.

[00:04:02] Nick: I agree. I. It can't have cost them that much money to run though. Like that's the thing, right.

[00:04:11] George: Well, the the other thing is like you can just sign up for an affiliate link and sell things, but I think the difference also with Amazon Smile is that, You could have your supporters put Amazon Smile on their purchasing. So I had it for, for my nonprofit, and it was just, anytime I buy, I had something on Amazon.

[00:04:27] A point went that way. So I, I, maybe you need to backtrack on like affiliate marketing versus actually it was adding a layer that said, for these customers, a portion of your proceeds go back to this organization. So that is uniquely different.

[00:04:43] Nick: That's fair. That's fair. We'll continue to see if we hear more about this, maybe they'll roll out something different or new. Alas, we move along to our next story, and this one is from a ABC News and others that the Times Up organization, the Me Too, the organization born out of the Me Too movement, particularly the that one in Hollywood, um, has Hal.

[00:05:13] Operations and is shifting remaining financial resources to the Legal Defense fund. So Times Out has had a. Go of it. Fallout from associations with Andrew Cuomo and that scandal, um, and has been something of an EM battered, uh, embattled organization rather, um, over the past couple years and is now closing doors and, and shifting that money to the legal defense fund, which does, uh, provide, uh, resources for women in, in specific industries. This is kind of a weird one because it's such a high profile organization that came up very quickly. I think there's probably some lessons to be learned here. George, what are those lessons and what is your take on this?

[00:06:03] George: I wish I was smart enough to actually understand the, the full implications of of this. The different narratives that I see here, one, are the types of organizations that pop up in these. Cultural moments have a lot of headwinds. Later they start off with a disproportionate amount of attention and funding upfront, which certainly times updated and they did remarkable work, certainly around if we're looking at victims of Harvey Weinstein, and then the way that they were able to, I'd say, update the way that victims were dealt with.

[00:06:44] In these cases from a legal standpoint and a lot of achievements there, but there's a certain type of what feels like immutable. What goes up must come down type of physics here, where the speed at which with which you rise to fame. also seems to all but guarantee the fall from Grace. That is kind of like the inverse Lindy effect.

[00:07:15] The Lindy effect is if you have been here for this long, you'll probably continue to be here. Uh, coming from the. Run of show for Broadway, uh, productions that if a Broadway production had been on, you know, it's a, it's a wonder that cats ever stopped being on Broadway. Cause cats had been forever on Broadway.

[00:07:32] And it was this, this joke of like, once you're in the line cafe, you'll sort of never be removed. Um, I've gone far from the topic, I'm gonna come back to it. So the first thought, the speed with which something rises probably dictates the speed with which it falls the next. Looking at organizations that need to sort of spin up with all of the overhead, with all of the infrastructure and hiring staffing, like to create a new organization takes a lot of, of work and wealth.

[00:08:08] And the fact that now at the end of it, you know, they, they talk about, and even in this quote, very simply, the Legal defense Fund really reflects who we were, not only at our inception, but really at our core. And that's a quote from, uh, Schultzer. And that's why, you know, the, the remaining 1.7 million, which is, is quite small, uh, in the grand scheme of the size of the organization, uh, is going back to that fund.

[00:08:33] And the question I guess in my mind is, you know, the fund administered by the National Women's Law Center in Washington? Which has provided and provides legal administration help to, to workers that identify as low income and 40% of people of color. I, I'm, I'm curious as to what the world would've looked like, had times Up simply been a branch of that organization, how much more could have been applied to it and the, the learnings and the staff and that ability rolled into an existing organization rather than saying, we need a new organization.

[00:09:08] You know, could this have. A campaign or a program of that legal defense fund. Those are just questions in my mind, and it's, it's tough with an organization under this level of scrutiny. I, I have a hard time getting behind some of those decisions they made with, you know, Andrew, Andrew Cuomo and, and consulting, allegedly consulting with them behind closed doors that was then later revealed by reports.

[00:09:33] Uh, It's tough. I think nonprofits are under, uh, a much, much greater microscope and it doesn't take much to set the, set the tide in the wrong direction because you exist at the public's. Will you rely on funding and funders and if those funders are then effectively being shown. as public donors because nine 90 s are all public.

[00:09:59] We can see donors and donations. Are you then saying, oh, a large donor has to then reconsider like, wait a minute, am I supporting an organization that supported Andrew Cuomo? Not saying that that is a direct line, but all things being equal, it doesn't take much to hurt in that reputation, and it's tough for organizations that are in that frontline type of work.

[00:10:17] Nick: George, I, I think that's, that's a great point. You bring up a lot of different nuances and the threads there, and it makes me think that your nonprofits have to play by different rules than businesses, right.

[00:10:33] George: They do. You can't just go on an apology tour being like, Hey, sorry, we fired him. We're all back to normal. Like, nevermind that our news station. Maybe let this kind of go by the wayside.

[00:10:44] Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Um. Yeah, I guess we'll, we'll continue to keep an eye on this story. It'll be interesting to see how that legal defense portion of it, which is still administered by, um, that, uh, the other organization, the, the woman's um, uh, legal organization, how that all pans out. Um, so we'll keep our listeners updated, but to that end, I will take us to our next story.

[00:11:12] And this one comes. From King five.com and the founder of a Seattle West African immigrant nonprofit is accused of embezzling millions. Um, so. Uh, the, the gentleman in, in question, Issa I apologize cause I know I'm mispronouncing. That was the founder and longtime executive director of the West African Community Council or W A C C, which is based in Seattle.

[00:11:44] Um, and after decade of service, um, he was ousted, uh, on December 16th. Accused of embezzling, which is, which is, you know, terrible, terrible, um, especially, you know, people who really, really need help. And then this long article kind of goes into it, it goes into, uh, in DA's started of the story, um, as well side of the story rather, and it kind of a complicated one.

[00:12:11] But, uh, George, what's your takeaway on.

[00:12:16] George: I look. Board members for this, and this is a reminder for the fiscal responsibilities that your board members take on. And I'm not saying send this article to your board members, but if you are on a board, if you are building a board, fiscal stewardship and hiring and firing the c e o, those the primary jobs and roles of a board.

[00:12:38] And so I see this and I don't look at, you know, in the D and say, oh, what a bad actor. Like there are bad actors. One out of a thousand people, one out of 10,000 people are not the, you know, folks that you should be trusting. The job of the board is to hire and fire and make sure the right people are in there.

[00:12:56] And the fact that this was an extra bank account started in 2014, like a secret bank account, and like hundreds of thousands of dollars going through there, you know, I'm looking at auditors, I'm looking at board members looking at that, and so paying attention to those things like, oh, it can't happen. . Um, it, it is just a function of odds and, uh, again, I wouldn't have put this in here actually if it had not been for the size of the, the embezzlement.

[00:13:25] We have millions of dollars. It's, it's brutal. Uh, so it's a reminder to, to board members out there that, uh, while those finance meetings may be boring, and also the people preparing them, like, here's, here's what you're actually doing. Um, you're making sure money gets to the. The right places and you're avoiding, um, tragedies like.

[00:13:45] Nick: Absolutely. I think that's a fantastic point and we always like to keep our listeners on their toes to protect themselves from this happening at their organization. I have our next story is an interesting one. Um, Georgia. Did you know that IKEA is owned by a nonprofit?

[00:14:11] George: Here's the thing. I didn't know that Ike. Was owned by a nonprofit. Frankly, this is like a non-story story, but it's fascinating because, uh, you know, in the , the rep reputable, the US Sun , and this title says no Ikea, uh, people are only just realizing what happens to the money IKEA makes, and it's blowing their minds.

[00:14:32] I mean, first off, a plus on a hook title. But it's funny because there is a nonprofit involved and owner of the main entity. So IKEA is actually a nonprofit organization. So the money made from those, uh, you know, fund to assemble wardrobes, uh, you know, beyond paying is, is put away into, um, a nonprofit. And the charity's big mission is to further the advancement of interior design.

[00:15:01] Nick: Novo, Novo.

[00:15:03] George: uh, They're putting it out there further, the advancement of interior design. I mean, you've gotta believe in that mission, I suppose. Um, I did. I didn't have anything else here. Just I thought it was funny.

[00:15:17] Nick: it's really funny. So the detail is I e Ikea store stores are franchised by a company called, Inga Holdings, which is fully owned by a nonprofit organization called Stitching Inga Foundation. Um, yeah, I , it's kind of funny. I wanna do a deep dive on this. We need like a little mini documentary on what the hell's happening, but.

[00:15:45] Uh, I am willing to bet there is some criticism in the wonderful Scandinavian world about, uh, whether this is truly because people are passionate about, um, easy to assemble interior design pieces, or whether this is some kind of, uh, super duper clever, uh, tax loophole that is being taken advantage of.

[00:16:09] George: Yeah, I mean, look, there's some definitive, like this is a tax play very clearly. They pay according to online mba, 33 times less taxes than the average business. The Economist, the overall setup of IKEA minimizes taxes and disclosure handsomely, rewards the founding camra Cam Prad family, and makes IKEA immune to takeover.

[00:16:32] So it's interesting. That when you're saying like, this is a strategic reason, like frankly as a business owner, now you have me thinking, should a nonprofit own whole whale and suddenly we don't have to pay taxes. We have, I'm gonna go ahead and say a loftier mission then to improve, I'm sorry, I want to get it accurately to, uh, to further advance, uh, the advancement of interior.

[00:17:00] Further the advancement of interior design. So I would say ours has built a healthier, more just and sustainable world as an agency. I, uh, I don't know. One of the funnier quotes here is, uh, no wonder why you gotta put everything together yourself at Al Okaya, because they rely on a bunch of volunteers to put their stuff together.

[00:17:20] So, you know, they have a lot of volun, big volun. I have volunteered for Ikea on more than one occasion,

[00:17:29] Nick: Volunteering on for IKEA is a, a family pastime. Um, That's funny. Here's another one for you, another light story. We're, this is a good week. There's nothing too traumatic in

[00:17:42] George: I mean, just, you know, massive embezzlement, half a billion dollars of CSR stopping at Amazon. This is a good week,

[00:17:49] Nick: Yeah, this is,

[00:17:50] George: on

[00:17:51] Nick: this is a good week for

[00:17:53] George: this. Okay, you're classifying Good week on this. Okay.

[00:17:55] Nick: I, you know, maybe it's just because it's sunny out. But that is a perfect segue into our next story, where one New Jersey school asked What if school was outside all the time? Every day. So New Jersey Nature schools are taking class outdoors, rain or shine. Um, and this article talks about bundled up kindergarten students at a Star Child Nature School in Medford, New Jersey, outside collecting tree sap to make glue.

[00:18:28] Four handmade ornaments. So this is an immersive, you are outside, you are learning, you are one with nature type situation at this school. And that brings us to, uh, the relevant question of making, uh, the question of nature versus nurture ever. The more salient.

[00:18:46] George: Wow. It's, it's all, it's all nature school here. Uh, and I know some are nonprofits, some are for-profits, but there's a number of them, and I'll call out one quote here From the South Mountain Nature School, our programs promote social and emotional development and instill confidence and foster independence.

[00:19:01] Said Mary Claire Solomon. Who also in other news happens to be my sister. And so I'm incredibly proud of my sister for starting one of these nature schools, pushing through the pandemic and growing to the size that they have, uh, in New Jersey. And, you know, I get to see the, the pictures and the approach that they take in.

[00:19:23] There's, you know, that question that comes up, well, what about when it snows? And it's like, you know, there's no bad weather, just bad apparel. So they, they are out there, rain or shine. I think this is a, a really healthy way for, for young people who are inevitably going to wander into the world of screen first learning and engagement and work to realize that, you know, food comes from the ground.

[00:19:52] SAP is fun and it's, uh, it's great to see. I'm very proud of my sister, though. In other news,

[00:20:00] Nick: That's super. George did you know that's mine, hometown, A South Mountain Reservations with in walking distance from where I grew up.

[00:20:07] George: He can go over and say hi.

[00:20:09] Nick: Go over, say hi. Maybe a little too old for, uh, the Nature School thing,

[00:20:14] George: you could volunteer perhaps.

[00:20:17] Nick: love it. All right. How about a feel good story?

[00:20:21] George: Yeah. What do we.

[00:20:22] Nick: This one comes from the Philadelphia Inquirer, uh, and it's about the eagle. The team, not the group, uh, thought that their Christmas album would fund a toy drive and it ended up doing so much more. So the Philadelphia Eagles of a football and. Sports fame can tell.

[00:20:44] I follow football. Uh, thought that they were just raising a mere $30,000, um, for this charity toy drive, when in fact they raised

[00:20:59] George: Quarter million 250,000 I believe.

[00:21:02] Nick: million. Wow. Wow. Good for.

[00:21:07] George: Yeah. What it's nice is also going to be funding not just one, but two toy drives and a summer camp, uh, which. Objectively I, while I respect toy drives and I like those moments, it's great to also say, what about dealing with, uh, the summer learning gap and supporting communities when, um, when you are needing a potentially even more.

[00:21:29] So, uh, congratulations. Also, full disclosure here. Nick thought that this wasn't the team, the Eagles, but the band, uh, the Eagles. And it took him a couple of reads to realize that it was a fact about the sports ball. So Nick, I think we all learned something today.

[00:21:49] Nick: We've learned a lot.

[00:21:51] George: Have we, well, before I give you a terrible joke, I have a bit of a sponsored post here and it. A note that we are opening up our, as far as I know, we only do it once a year and it's the ad grant cohort and we're teaching. Organizations how to run the ad grant, the Google Ad grant, the thing that you get 10 K a month in in-kind ads for placing ads that drive traffic and value to your organization.

[00:22:20] We're doing a five week live cohort. This isn't pre-recorded. This is hands-on and we're sharing exactly how we run this ad grant to maximize the ROI for your organization. And so we're gonna help, uh, only I think it's limited, 25 organizations. It always sells out. Registration is now open. Uh, and you can find that link in the show notes or wander around whole whale.com/university and you'll find it there.

[00:22:47] Alrighty, question Nick, for you.

[00:22:52] Nick: Uh oh.

[00:22:53] George: Why, why did the clown donate his salary?

[00:22:57] Nick: Hmm. I don't know about the clown thing, but why did the clown donate his salary?

[00:23:02] George: Uh, it was a nice gesture.

[00:23:05] Nick: Ah, ah, ah.

[00:23:09] George: He, he laughs sometimes he doesn't know. And then we like, go off, Nick, did you actually get this one or is this gonna be the one where you like pause and you're like, I didn't get it. Explain it to

[00:23:17] Nick: I, I got this one. I'm a huge Shakespeare Stan. I, I'm very familiar with a court gesture and this was, yes, but offering to explain was as well a nice gesture. Um, cuz

[00:23:30] George: I just wanted to do it cause I feel like I cut off. I'm like, this would've been much funnier if he didn't understand it. He was like, I laugh, I don't get it. Alright. Thanks for humoring me and this is what you get for staying to the end of the podcast. Leave us a review. Thank you. Bye.

[00:23:46] Nick: Bye.

View Details

Amazon Sunsets AmazonSmile Amid Cost-Cutting The AmazonSmile will be ending by February 20th, according to a statement from the company, as reported by NPR and others. While the program dispersed nearly $449 million to nonprofits globally, the company says that the donations were spread too thin, minimizing impact. Amazon pointed to other efforts, such as its Housing Equity Fund, which supports affordable housing efforts near its headquarters, as an example of a social impact program receiving investment. However, smaller nonprofits that received AmazonSmile donations say that the donation were helpful and would be missed. The move comes after Amazon announced 18,000 layoffs, amid a winter defined by tech layoffs across the industry.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Time's Up to halt operations, shift resources to legal fund | ABC News
• People are only just realising what happens to the money IKEA makes - and it’s blowing their minds | The US Sun
• Founder of Seattle West African immigrant nonprofit accused of embezzling millions | king5.com
• What if school was all outside, every day? N.J. ‘nature schools’ take class outdoors, rain or shine. NJ.com
• The Eagles thought their Christmas album would fund a toy drive. It ended up doing much more. | https://www.inquirer.com

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed. Well, we are talking about turning that Amazon smile upside down. I was first off, really happy to be able to come up with that subject line. Um, not as happy that this program is ending. Uh, Nick, how's it going?

[00:00:42] Nick: It's going good. George, this is, I think, gonna be one of those weeks where we are just focused on, on one-liners and, and puns. But alas, I'll take us into the top story, which you alluded to, which is that Amazon Smile. The program that donated a PORs, uh, portion of the proceeds from purchases on Amazon to nonprofits will be coming to a close on February 20th.

[00:01:07] This comes via reporting from NPR and other outlets. And in the history of the program, it dispersed nearly 449 million to nonprofits globally. However, the company says that the donations were spread too thin, minimizing impact. That's in quotes. Um, Amazon pointed in their statement to other efforts such as its Housing equity fund to support affordable housing.

[00:01:34] Here its headquarters as an example. Of a social impact program it was investing in. However, in the articles, smaller nonprofits said that Amazon SMILE donations were helpful and would be missed. And this comes amid broader economic headwinds that the industry is facing. Amazon has announced 18,000 layoffs.

[00:01:57] Tech layoffs are now commonplace across the board. Amazon Smile more like a frown these days.

[00:02:06] George: I'm sad to see a CSR corporate social responsibility program of this magnitude get sunset in this way in short order. I've been looking on LinkedIn, um, the reactions, and some folks are saying, you know, good riddens, this was a distraction for nonprofits because it sort of baits an organization into becoming an affiliate marketer.

[00:02:30] Meaning you get a portion of the sales based on a trackable link and you're pushing product as opposed to your purpose. , I hear that. I also see 449 million, uh, across nonprofits being something meaningful now. Yeah. You spread peanut butter too thin and it turns into nothing. Right. If I were to donate that, but like, that's still just, that's a lot of money.

[00:02:55] You know, there's, um, 1.5 ish million nonprofits, so I don't, I don't know that I buy that full narrative of like, it was too small to make a difference. , it was part of, for some organizations, a balanced fiscal diet. It was a diversification of revenue streams. You know, it was something that they, they got and ideally didn't have to push too hard for.

[00:03:19] So bad thing too bad. You know, I, I, I don't think that, I'm curious why, and, and I'll maybe never know the reason of like the actual, like, is this a cost cutting? Is there just a change in csr? Did they not get enough, uh, from it? Because on the same token, it actually served them as well because guess what?

[00:03:42] Somebody was buying something from them. You know, it was the affiliate marketing strategy. It was actually pretty darn clever, and it worked so sad to see it. And hopefully there'll be a, another solution that arises, an opportunity that shows up for, for those organizations.

[00:04:02] Nick: I agree. I. It can't have cost them that much money to run though. Like that's the thing, right.

[00:04:11] George: Well, the the other thing is like you can just sign up for an affiliate link and sell things, but I think the difference also with Amazon Smile is that, You could have your supporters put Amazon Smile on their purchasing. So I had it for, for my nonprofit, and it was just, anytime I buy, I had something on Amazon.

[00:04:27] A point went that way. So I, I, maybe you need to backtrack on like affiliate marketing versus actually it was adding a layer that said, for these customers, a portion of your proceeds go back to this organization. So that is uniquely different.

[00:04:43] Nick: That's fair. That's fair. We'll continue to see if we hear more about this, maybe they'll roll out something different or new. Alas, we move along to our next story, and this one is from a ABC News and others that the Times Up organization, the Me Too, the organization born out of the Me Too movement, particularly the that one in Hollywood, um, has Hal.

[00:05:13] Operations and is shifting remaining financial resources to the Legal Defense fund. So Times Out has had a. Go of it. Fallout from associations with Andrew Cuomo and that scandal, um, and has been something of an EM battered, uh, embattled organization rather, um, over the past couple years and is now closing doors and, and shifting that money to the legal defense fund, which does, uh, provide, uh, resources for women in, in specific industries. This is kind of a weird one because it's such a high profile organization that came up very quickly. I think there's probably some lessons to be learned here. George, what are those lessons and what is your take on this?

[00:06:03] George: I wish I was smart enough to actually understand the, the full implications of of this. The different narratives that I see here, one, are the types of organizations that pop up in these. Cultural moments have a lot of headwinds. Later they start off with a disproportionate amount of attention and funding upfront, which certainly times updated and they did remarkable work, certainly around if we're looking at victims of Harvey Weinstein, and then the way that they were able to, I'd say, update the way that victims were dealt with.

[00:06:44] In these cases from a legal standpoint and a lot of achievements there, but there's a certain type of what feels like immutable. What goes up must come down type of physics here, where the speed at which with which you rise to fame. also seems to all but guarantee the fall from Grace. That is kind of like the inverse Lindy effect.

[00:07:15] The Lindy effect is if you have been here for this long, you'll probably continue to be here. Uh, coming from the. Run of show for Broadway, uh, productions that if a Broadway production had been on, you know, it's a, it's a wonder that cats ever stopped being on Broadway. Cause cats had been forever on Broadway.

[00:07:32] And it was this, this joke of like, once you're in the line cafe, you'll sort of never be removed. Um, I've gone far from the topic, I'm gonna come back to it. So the first thought, the speed with which something rises probably dictates the speed with which it falls the next. Looking at organizations that need to sort of spin up with all of the overhead, with all of the infrastructure and hiring staffing, like to create a new organization takes a lot of, of work and wealth.

[00:08:08] And the fact that now at the end of it, you know, they, they talk about, and even in this quote, very simply, the Legal defense Fund really reflects who we were, not only at our inception, but really at our core. And that's a quote from, uh, Schultzer. And that's why, you know, the, the remaining 1.7 million, which is, is quite small, uh, in the grand scheme of the size of the organization, uh, is going back to that fund.

[00:08:33] And the question I guess in my mind is, you know, the fund administered by the National Women's Law Center in Washington? Which has provided and provides legal administration help to, to workers that identify as low income and 40% of people of color. I, I'm, I'm curious as to what the world would've looked like, had times Up simply been a branch of that organization, how much more could have been applied to it and the, the learnings and the staff and that ability rolled into an existing organization rather than saying, we need a new organization.

[00:09:08] You know, could this have. A campaign or a program of that legal defense fund. Those are just questions in my mind, and it's, it's tough with an organization under this level of scrutiny. I, I have a hard time getting behind some of those decisions they made with, you know, Andrew, Andrew Cuomo and, and consulting, allegedly consulting with them behind closed doors that was then later revealed by reports.

[00:09:33] Uh, It's tough. I think nonprofits are under, uh, a much, much greater microscope and it doesn't take much to set the, set the tide in the wrong direction because you exist at the public's. Will you rely on funding and funders and if those funders are then effectively being shown. as public donors because nine 90 s are all public.

[00:09:59] We can see donors and donations. Are you then saying, oh, a large donor has to then reconsider like, wait a minute, am I supporting an organization that supported Andrew Cuomo? Not saying that that is a direct line, but all things being equal, it doesn't take much to hurt in that reputation, and it's tough for organizations that are in that frontline type of work.

[00:10:17] Nick: George, I, I think that's, that's a great point. You bring up a lot of different nuances and the threads there, and it makes me think that your nonprofits have to play by different rules than businesses, right.

[00:10:33] George: They do. You can't just go on an apology tour being like, Hey, sorry, we fired him. We're all back to normal. Like, nevermind that our news station. Maybe let this kind of go by the wayside.

[00:10:44] Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Um. Yeah, I guess we'll, we'll continue to keep an eye on this story. It'll be interesting to see how that legal defense portion of it, which is still administered by, um, that, uh, the other organization, the, the woman's um, uh, legal organization, how that all pans out. Um, so we'll keep our listeners updated, but to that end, I will take us to our next story.

[00:11:12] And this one comes. From King five.com and the founder of a Seattle West African immigrant nonprofit is accused of embezzling millions. Um, so. Uh, the, the gentleman in, in question, Issa I apologize cause I know I'm mispronouncing. That was the founder and longtime executive director of the West African Community Council or W A C C, which is based in Seattle.

[00:11:44] Um, and after decade of service, um, he was ousted, uh, on December 16th. Accused of embezzling, which is, which is, you know, terrible, terrible, um, especially, you know, people who really, really need help. And then this long article kind of goes into it, it goes into, uh, in DA's started of the story, um, as well side of the story rather, and it kind of a complicated one.

[00:12:11] But, uh, George, what's your takeaway on.

[00:12:16] George: I look. Board members for this, and this is a reminder for the fiscal responsibilities that your board members take on. And I'm not saying send this article to your board members, but if you are on a board, if you are building a board, fiscal stewardship and hiring and firing the c e o, those the primary jobs and roles of a board.

[00:12:38] And so I see this and I don't look at, you know, in the D and say, oh, what a bad actor. Like there are bad actors. One out of a thousand people, one out of 10,000 people are not the, you know, folks that you should be trusting. The job of the board is to hire and fire and make sure the right people are in there.

[00:12:56] And the fact that this was an extra bank account started in 2014, like a secret bank account, and like hundreds of thousands of dollars going through there, you know, I'm looking at auditors, I'm looking at board members looking at that, and so paying attention to those things like, oh, it can't happen. . Um, it, it is just a function of odds and, uh, again, I wouldn't have put this in here actually if it had not been for the size of the, the embezzlement.

[00:13:25] We have millions of dollars. It's, it's brutal. Uh, so it's a reminder to, to board members out there that, uh, while those finance meetings may be boring, and also the people preparing them, like, here's, here's what you're actually doing. Um, you're making sure money gets to the. The right places and you're avoiding, um, tragedies like.

[00:13:45] Nick: Absolutely. I think that's a fantastic point and we always like to keep our listeners on their toes to protect themselves from this happening at their organization. I have our next story is an interesting one. Um, Georgia. Did you know that IKEA is owned by a nonprofit?

[00:14:11] George: Here's the thing. I didn't know that Ike. Was owned by a nonprofit. Frankly, this is like a non-story story, but it's fascinating because, uh, you know, in the , the rep reputable, the US Sun , and this title says no Ikea, uh, people are only just realizing what happens to the money IKEA makes, and it's blowing their minds.

[00:14:32] I mean, first off, a plus on a hook title. But it's funny because there is a nonprofit involved and owner of the main entity. So IKEA is actually a nonprofit organization. So the money made from those, uh, you know, fund to assemble wardrobes, uh, you know, beyond paying is, is put away into, um, a nonprofit. And the charity's big mission is to further the advancement of interior design.

[00:15:01] Nick: Novo, Novo.

[00:15:03] George: uh, They're putting it out there further, the advancement of interior design. I mean, you've gotta believe in that mission, I suppose. Um, I did. I didn't have anything else here. Just I thought it was funny.

[00:15:17] Nick: it's really funny. So the detail is I e Ikea store stores are franchised by a company called, Inga Holdings, which is fully owned by a nonprofit organization called Stitching Inga Foundation. Um, yeah, I , it's kind of funny. I wanna do a deep dive on this. We need like a little mini documentary on what the hell's happening, but.

[00:15:45] Uh, I am willing to bet there is some criticism in the wonderful Scandinavian world about, uh, whether this is truly because people are passionate about, um, easy to assemble interior design pieces, or whether this is some kind of, uh, super duper clever, uh, tax loophole that is being taken advantage of.

[00:16:09] George: Yeah, I mean, look, there's some definitive, like this is a tax play very clearly. They pay according to online mba, 33 times less taxes than the average business. The Economist, the overall setup of IKEA minimizes taxes and disclosure handsomely, rewards the founding camra Cam Prad family, and makes IKEA immune to takeover.

[00:16:32] So it's interesting. That when you're saying like, this is a strategic reason, like frankly as a business owner, now you have me thinking, should a nonprofit own whole whale and suddenly we don't have to pay taxes. We have, I'm gonna go ahead and say a loftier mission then to improve, I'm sorry, I want to get it accurately to, uh, to further advance, uh, the advancement of interior.

[00:17:00] Further the advancement of interior design. So I would say ours has built a healthier, more just and sustainable world as an agency. I, uh, I don't know. One of the funnier quotes here is, uh, no wonder why you gotta put everything together yourself at Al Okaya, because they rely on a bunch of volunteers to put their stuff together.

[00:17:20] So, you know, they have a lot of volun, big volun. I have volunteered for Ikea on more than one occasion,

[00:17:29] Nick: Volunteering on for IKEA is a, a family pastime. Um, That's funny. Here's another one for you, another light story. We're, this is a good week. There's nothing too traumatic in

[00:17:42] George: I mean, just, you know, massive embezzlement, half a billion dollars of CSR stopping at Amazon. This is a good week,

[00:17:49] Nick: Yeah, this is,

[00:17:50] George: on

[00:17:51] Nick: this is a good week for

[00:17:53] George: this. Okay, you're classifying Good week on this. Okay.

[00:17:55] Nick: I, you know, maybe it's just because it's sunny out. But that is a perfect segue into our next story, where one New Jersey school asked What if school was outside all the time? Every day. So New Jersey Nature schools are taking class outdoors, rain or shine. Um, and this article talks about bundled up kindergarten students at a Star Child Nature School in Medford, New Jersey, outside collecting tree sap to make glue.

[00:18:28] Four handmade ornaments. So this is an immersive, you are outside, you are learning, you are one with nature type situation at this school. And that brings us to, uh, the relevant question of making, uh, the question of nature versus nurture ever. The more salient.

[00:18:46] George: Wow. It's, it's all, it's all nature school here. Uh, and I know some are nonprofits, some are for-profits, but there's a number of them, and I'll call out one quote here From the South Mountain Nature School, our programs promote social and emotional development and instill confidence and foster independence.

[00:19:01] Said Mary Claire Solomon. Who also in other news happens to be my sister. And so I'm incredibly proud of my sister for starting one of these nature schools, pushing through the pandemic and growing to the size that they have, uh, in New Jersey. And, you know, I get to see the, the pictures and the approach that they take in.

[00:19:23] There's, you know, that question that comes up, well, what about when it snows? And it's like, you know, there's no bad weather, just bad apparel. So they, they are out there, rain or shine. I think this is a, a really healthy way for, for young people who are inevitably going to wander into the world of screen first learning and engagement and work to realize that, you know, food comes from the ground.

[00:19:52] SAP is fun and it's, uh, it's great to see. I'm very proud of my sister, though. In other news,

[00:20:00] Nick: That's super. George did you know that's mine, hometown, A South Mountain Reservations with in walking distance from where I grew up.

[00:20:07] George: He can go over and say hi.

[00:20:09] Nick: Go over, say hi. Maybe a little too old for, uh, the Nature School thing,

[00:20:14] George: you could volunteer perhaps.

[00:20:17] Nick: love it. All right. How about a feel good story?

[00:20:21] George: Yeah. What do we.

[00:20:22] Nick: This one comes from the Philadelphia Inquirer, uh, and it's about the eagle. The team, not the group, uh, thought that their Christmas album would fund a toy drive and it ended up doing so much more. So the Philadelphia Eagles of a football and. Sports fame can tell.

[00:20:44] I follow football. Uh, thought that they were just raising a mere $30,000, um, for this charity toy drive, when in fact they raised

[00:20:59] George: Quarter million 250,000 I believe.

[00:21:02] Nick: million. Wow. Wow. Good for.

[00:21:07] George: Yeah. What it's nice is also going to be funding not just one, but two toy drives and a summer camp, uh, which. Objectively I, while I respect toy drives and I like those moments, it's great to also say, what about dealing with, uh, the summer learning gap and supporting communities when, um, when you are needing a potentially even more.

[00:21:29] So, uh, congratulations. Also, full disclosure here. Nick thought that this wasn't the team, the Eagles, but the band, uh, the Eagles. And it took him a couple of reads to realize that it was a fact about the sports ball. So Nick, I think we all learned something today.

[00:21:49] Nick: We've learned a lot.

[00:21:51] George: Have we, well, before I give you a terrible joke, I have a bit of a sponsored post here and it. A note that we are opening up our, as far as I know, we only do it once a year and it's the ad grant cohort and we're teaching. Organizations how to run the ad grant, the Google Ad grant, the thing that you get 10 K a month in in-kind ads for placing ads that drive traffic and value to your organization.

[00:22:20] We're doing a five week live cohort. This isn't pre-recorded. This is hands-on and we're sharing exactly how we run this ad grant to maximize the ROI for your organization. And so we're gonna help, uh, only I think it's limited, 25 organizations. It always sells out. Registration is now open. Uh, and you can find that link in the show notes or wander around whole whale.com/university and you'll find it there.

[00:22:47] Alrighty, question Nick, for you.

[00:22:52] Nick: Uh oh.

[00:22:53] George: Why, why did the clown donate his salary?

[00:22:57] Nick: Hmm. I don't know about the clown thing, but why did the clown donate his salary?

[00:23:02] George: Uh, it was a nice gesture.

[00:23:05] Nick: Ah, ah, ah.

[00:23:09] George: He, he laughs sometimes he doesn't know. And then we like, go off, Nick, did you actually get this one or is this gonna be the one where you like pause and you're like, I didn't get it. Explain it to

[00:23:17] Nick: I, I got this one. I'm a huge Shakespeare Stan. I, I'm very familiar with a court gesture and this was, yes, but offering to explain was as well a nice gesture. Um, cuz

[00:23:30] George: I just wanted to do it cause I feel like I cut off. I'm like, this would've been much funnier if he didn't understand it. He was like, I laugh, I don't get it. Alright. Thanks for humoring me and this is what you get for staying to the end of the podcast. Leave us a review. Thank you. Bye.

[00:23:46] Nick: Bye.

View Details

Nonprofits Energize & Give Back To Communities On MLK DayNonprofits across the country worked to engage and give back to communities this MLK Day. Virginia nonprofit Rise Against Hunger worked to fill 50,000 bags of food to serve communities in need. The article notes that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke often about hunger, and was a catalyst for this organization to focus on emergency food relief. In Charlotte, communities are finding assistance from nonprofits like Promise Youth Development, which serves to educate youth about Dr. King’s legacy while advocating for social justice. In addition to providing kids with education and exposure to Dr. King’s teaching, the nonprofit also fosters healing and relationship-building between students and police.

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Summary

• Allegations that the charity George Santos claims to have run was fake highlight how scams divert money from worthy causes | yahoo.com
• Anchorage nonprofit’s use of $750K in federal funds investigated | alaskasnewssource.com
• 118th US Congress most racially and ethnically diverse in history | Pew Research Center
• Greta Thunberg detained by police at German coal protest | Axios
• Local nonprofit celebrates helping black entrepreneurs on MLK day - KLAS | 8 News Now

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] audio1555325285: This week on a nonprofit newsfeed. We're talking about some of the events that went on during M l k day as we're recording this the day after. And Nick I hope you had a great weekend and we're able to celebrate in your own way. , yes, it was a brisk but lovely weekend here in New York. We hope you're staying dry and safe out in California.

[00:00:27] But to your point, yes, we want to talk about nonprofits giving back to communities on MLK Day. So yesterday it was MLK Day in Peas, United States and nonprofits across the country are. To give back to communities. One nonprofit in Virginia named Rise Against Hunger Work to fill 50,000 bags of food to serve communities in need.

[00:00:50] Noting that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Himself spoke frequently about the issue of hunger which catalyzed this organization to focus on emergency food relief and in Charlotte. Communities were finding assistance from organizations like Promise Youth Development, which serves to educate kids and young people about Dr.

[00:01:11] King's lead legacy while advocating for social justice. And recently they started providing kids with healing and relationship, building support between students and police during the ongoing conversation. Police and community relations in America. So I think that M l K Day is a point of reflection, a catalyst to service, and an opportunity for nonprofits to show how they are making their communities safer, more inclusive, and more just.

[00:01:46] Yeah, it's great to see how the holiday evolves with the times and how it. Be used to spark those types of conversations and social impact activities. And just knowing that people are more primed to, to volunteer and have have those dialogues around this time. And of course moving into, in, in short order Black History Month coming up next month.

[00:02:09] It is good to see also the amount of coverage in the news that we saw.

[00:02:15] Absolutely. All right. Shall I take us into the summary? Yeah. What do we got? All right, George, I'm so excited for this story, not because the main antagonist of this story shares your name, no relation. , but we are talking about . George Santos, famed Republican congressperson from Long Island. Parts of Queens, but , his, George Santos has been in the news recently for as it turns out, fabricating almost the entirety of his resume, professional and personal background.

[00:02:52] But the reason we are talking about him on this podcast is that Santos claimed to have started a animal welfare nonprofit called Friends of Pets United, and apparently, This nonprofit, which was listed as such on an early version of his campaign website in fact, did not exist. Apparently, the only inkling of.

[00:03:17] Any evidence that such an organization existed is a now defunct Facebook page. But the nonprofit was never registered under the i r s never made donations to organizations it claimed to, and as Santo said, the group rescued 2,400 dogs and 280 cats between 2013 and 2018. However, there is absolutely zero evidence at all.

[00:03:43] That such activities happened. This is a ghost organization and I. Leads into a broader narrative about how fake charities are, in fact a real problem. The article we link out to in the newsfeed@nonprofitnewsfeed.com goes through why this is such a problem because it diverts donations away from legitimate organizations as well as undercuts donors confidence in giving.

[00:04:10] So George, what's your take on this? And then I'm gonna follow up and ask you what's your favorite, George Santos? . God, it's so hard to choose. Not really, no, nothing proud here about how there was failings, I think on several different levels. And if your immediate reaction here is to be angry at George Santos just acknowledge that there are many people creating many fake charities.

[00:04:34] There are also many folks that look to take advantage by lying. Their accomplishments, resume in order to get ahead. And so where does the onus fall? If you're applying to a job, the hiring manager should check on these things, maybe call a reference. And I suppose if the United States Congress is hiring somebody, voters are hiring somebody, the news outlets, one of the branches of anything that we rely.

[00:05:06] should maybe do background checks. And so I'd say there are a cascade of failures that led to this. And they're on both sides, really. D nnc opponents that did literally nothing in terms of researching their opponent. Journalists that put that name down without calling a single thing whatsoever, checking anything in IRS records, something that would've taken the amount of time.

[00:05:31] a brewing, a cup of coffee would've revealed. And then the r n c, which is in an unenviable situation now, of letting someone in who is a categorical liar. And then you can see nonprofits here because nonprofits are frequently used to burnish the reputations of those that need that work done and that.

[00:05:55] Story is on repeat. I would say one of those things, this is in the back of my mind, is whenever I hear now that the specificity of of work, right? You're out there counting that me number of cats, like there's a certain, like we've helped a lot, we've helped over hundreds to say 280 cats. Also why fewer cats than dogs?

[00:06:16] 280 cats versus 2,400 dogs that, I, I don't know if those numbers would. and then released 3000 cats. Yeah, there's a lot of numbers here. They're too specific for me. , this is what I'm, it's. It's such a mess. , I can say that in addition to apparently creating a fake nonprofit and not going working at any of the jobs he claimed to have worked or going to school where he claimed to work Santos is in the unenviable position of being under county.

[00:06:54] State and federal investigation in the United States, as well as under a case that was reopened in the lovely country of Brazil. Apparently they've been looking for him for a long time, and there he is in the US Congress. So yeah, hold on. Here's where allegedly, I wanna go back to the cats and dogs though.

[00:07:15] Okay. So in the US approximately 4.1 million shelter animals are adopted each. , you wanna guess the breakdown?

[00:07:26] I don't know. 50 50 precisely. 2 million dogs. 2.1 million cats. Okay. So going back to those numbers, this is why it's off, right? How are you that far off in terms of the rescue numbers? 2,400 dogs, 280 cats. I don't think this guy likes. I think there's a cat a bias against cats that you should look out for.

[00:07:52] That's really, that's a spicy thing. He's not numbers, right? He's making up numbers. I will say his compatriot for the New York City mayoral election Curtis Sliwa is famously a cat person and has nine cats and is very pro catt. Maybe just many layers of division and rife and just bizarreness in this story, but, This does take us to our next story.

[00:08:20] Both sad and fun as this one is about a nonprofit organization in Alaska which used $750,000 in federal funds improperly. So the Revive Alaska Community Services Food Pantry is very saying serious questions about how the group. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds throughout the pandemic.

[00:08:45] Anchorage itself received a hundred million dollars to distribute to various organizations and. For various reasons. But nobody seems to know where this money goes and how that $750,000 helped feed families in Anchorage. There seems to be some just sketchy what happened here in the saga, and there's more details you won't get into, but it's important to be accountable.

[00:09:16] Yeah. And sadly, I think we're seeing a lot of the, where did the money go now that the, pain of the pandemic has mainly passed from the peak periods and it's it's a reminder to, to be documenting these types of things and in your accounting. But this was, this seems pretty question.

[00:09:36] Because they were given three quarters of a million dollars to rebuild a barn that was a food pantry . Instead, the structure was torn down. So you're like wait a minute. Little different. Not great. But we will go now from not great two. I think is great. George, you threw this article in from the inevitable Pew Research Center that the 118th US Congress, our current Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse Congress in history.

[00:10:09] So according to Pew Research This is actually the seventh Congress to break that record set by the one before it. And overall, 133 Senators and representatives today identify as black, Hispanic, Asian-American, American Indian, or Alaskan native. According to this analysis. And this is increasing in every Congress.

[00:10:35] Interestingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly I think 80% of these members caucus with the Democrat Party. But that being Said Congress is becoming more representative of America as a whole. Approximately now Congress is approximately 75% white which is, brings it closer in line with the overall US population which is now at 59% white.

[00:11:03] And will soon actually be minority white if demographic trends continue. I'm all for it. Representative Congress, representative democracy, let's go. Yeah. And the Republicans are making a couple ticks toward the right direction. Previously it was, 17%, 83%. A distribution for non-white lawmakers in terms of the breakdown of diversity in Congress.

[00:11:27] Slight increases there, but overall, it's just great to see over the past two decades to see this number nearly double. And, clearly tracking US population and you see it in that way. And it's also a good reminder for what representative democracy will hopefully become as the people representing representatives representing communities will will reflect them.

[00:11:53] Absolutely. All right we will take us now to our last story in the summary. And this comes from Axios and others, and the headline of this article is Greta Thunberg has been detained by police at a German coal protest, and the article comes with a pretty dramatic photo of Greta being. Whisked away by some scary looking cops and riot gear.

[00:12:21] It turns out that climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained today protesting a coalmine expansion in the German coal mining town of. Rath where she was physically removed from the site. Apparently Tomberg was participating in a sit-in near the edge of the mine. A pretty hands-on approach to activism from fellow climate activists.

[00:12:48] But George, I can't help but being struck how similar this photo seems to the photos of activists. Protesting for clean water particularly adjacent to Native American reservations and communities in the United States, not just a couple years ago. It seems strikingly similar and real interesting to see such tactics taken by activists and protestors.

[00:13:36] I think it's a Huff one. I like the activism angle here in terms of you have a young person able to command such a powerful presence and message, right? And on the other hand, you have, I think Germany and some other countries making. energy decisions that actually cut off the bridge to sustainable energy.

[00:14:02] And you feel that, especially when you're dealing with the conflict in Russia, and I'm cutting off various pipeline resources and pieces that, it's one thing to say you're going to go on a carbon neutral path, but if you don't have the plan to get there, all you've done is. Given disproportionate power to Russia and other coal generating areas.

[00:14:25] Cause that energy has to come from somewhere. And I think there's there was a lack of planning and a lot of promising shutting down nuclear power plants of reducing the production without the plan. And so I think the next phase that I honestly hope to see from Thunberg and others are the planned part, not the, just the protest and stop this because the truth is when.

[00:14:46] Drastically increase energy prices overnight, and you create dependencies on governments such as Russia to give them disproportionate of power in the region. You hurt large swaths of humanity and indirectly directly hurt the environment. And protest, but have a plan. And I, I. The green movement can easily have that critique going back 30, 40 years of evolving.

[00:15:11] Hopefully it's approach to the industry and how you get a path rather than a protest to to green energy. It's complicated. When I see these types of things, it's easy to celebrate. Yeah. Close it down. On the other side, like with regard to coal mining you're not gonna solve this winter's problem with gold taken from the ground right now.

[00:15:30] has to be processed, has to be pushed through. And so like how, how you're planning this is also confusing to me. I don't know a lot of thoughts I have. Yeah, George. I think that's right. It's interesting. I was actually recently talking from someone to talk to someone from Germany. And she was saying, By far and away the energy crisis.

[00:15:52] There is the most talked about issue and has been for well over a year now in central Europe. So it's interesting to get a glimpse into that world. And I think similar in, in other countries, particularly the UK as well. Yeah, an interesting look across the pond into how these issues play out in the public sphere.

[00:16:15] All right. How about a feel good story? Yeah, what do we got? All right. This is from eight news now.com, and it is reporting out of Las Vegas where a local nonprofit is celebrating helping black entrepreneurs on MLK Day. The organization is called Global SoCo, which is a nonprofit dedicated to helping black-owned businesses like the one mentioned in the article, get a boost.

[00:16:43] I think it's really cool to see community organizations like this working to support black entrepreneurs and black community members. And I think really coincides with the legacy and desire of M L K to see the, that community work together. Real cool stuff. Shout out to them.

[00:17:01] Yeah, absolutely. Love the angle of entrepreneurship and actually helping folks. A leg up in the industry and a good excuse again to, to use m l k to evolve to the needs of the community and where we are in the world. So thanks Nick. I appreciate you giving the summary. Always. Thanks George.

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Nonprofits Energize & Give Back To Communities On MLK DayNonprofits across the country worked to engage and give back to communities this MLK Day. Virginia nonprofit Rise Against Hunger worked to fill 50,000 bags of food to serve communities in need. The article notes that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke often about hunger, and was a catalyst for this organization to focus on emergency food relief. In Charlotte, communities are finding assistance from nonprofits like Promise Youth Development, which serves to educate youth about Dr. King’s legacy while advocating for social justice. In addition to providing kids with education and exposure to Dr. King’s teaching, the nonprofit also fosters healing and relationship-building between students and police.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Allegations that the charity George Santos claims to have run was fake highlight how scams divert money from worthy causes | yahoo.com
• Anchorage nonprofit’s use of $750K in federal funds investigated | alaskasnewssource.com
• 118th US Congress most racially and ethnically diverse in history | Pew Research Center
• Greta Thunberg detained by police at German coal protest | Axios
• Local nonprofit celebrates helping black entrepreneurs on MLK day - KLAS | 8 News Now

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] audio1555325285: This week on a nonprofit newsfeed. We're talking about some of the events that went on during M l k day as we're recording this the day after. And Nick I hope you had a great weekend and we're able to celebrate in your own way. , yes, it was a brisk but lovely weekend here in New York. We hope you're staying dry and safe out in California.

[00:00:27] But to your point, yes, we want to talk about nonprofits giving back to communities on MLK Day. So yesterday it was MLK Day in Peas, United States and nonprofits across the country are. To give back to communities. One nonprofit in Virginia named Rise Against Hunger Work to fill 50,000 bags of food to serve communities in need.

[00:00:50] Noting that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Himself spoke frequently about the issue of hunger which catalyzed this organization to focus on emergency food relief and in Charlotte. Communities were finding assistance from organizations like Promise Youth Development, which serves to educate kids and young people about Dr.

[00:01:11] King's lead legacy while advocating for social justice. And recently they started providing kids with healing and relationship, building support between students and police during the ongoing conversation. Police and community relations in America. So I think that M l K Day is a point of reflection, a catalyst to service, and an opportunity for nonprofits to show how they are making their communities safer, more inclusive, and more just.

[00:01:46] Yeah, it's great to see how the holiday evolves with the times and how it. Be used to spark those types of conversations and social impact activities. And just knowing that people are more primed to, to volunteer and have have those dialogues around this time. And of course moving into, in, in short order Black History Month coming up next month.

[00:02:09] It is good to see also the amount of coverage in the news that we saw.

[00:02:15] Absolutely. All right. Shall I take us into the summary? Yeah. What do we got? All right, George, I'm so excited for this story, not because the main antagonist of this story shares your name, no relation. , but we are talking about . George Santos, famed Republican congressperson from Long Island. Parts of Queens, but , his, George Santos has been in the news recently for as it turns out, fabricating almost the entirety of his resume, professional and personal background.

[00:02:52] But the reason we are talking about him on this podcast is that Santos claimed to have started a animal welfare nonprofit called Friends of Pets United, and apparently, This nonprofit, which was listed as such on an early version of his campaign website in fact, did not exist. Apparently, the only inkling of.

[00:03:17] Any evidence that such an organization existed is a now defunct Facebook page. But the nonprofit was never registered under the i r s never made donations to organizations it claimed to, and as Santo said, the group rescued 2,400 dogs and 280 cats between 2013 and 2018. However, there is absolutely zero evidence at all.

[00:03:43] That such activities happened. This is a ghost organization and I. Leads into a broader narrative about how fake charities are, in fact a real problem. The article we link out to in the newsfeed@nonprofitnewsfeed.com goes through why this is such a problem because it diverts donations away from legitimate organizations as well as undercuts donors confidence in giving.

[00:04:10] So George, what's your take on this? And then I'm gonna follow up and ask you what's your favorite, George Santos? . God, it's so hard to choose. Not really, no, nothing proud here about how there was failings, I think on several different levels. And if your immediate reaction here is to be angry at George Santos just acknowledge that there are many people creating many fake charities.

[00:04:34] There are also many folks that look to take advantage by lying. Their accomplishments, resume in order to get ahead. And so where does the onus fall? If you're applying to a job, the hiring manager should check on these things, maybe call a reference. And I suppose if the United States Congress is hiring somebody, voters are hiring somebody, the news outlets, one of the branches of anything that we rely.

[00:05:06] should maybe do background checks. And so I'd say there are a cascade of failures that led to this. And they're on both sides, really. D nnc opponents that did literally nothing in terms of researching their opponent. Journalists that put that name down without calling a single thing whatsoever, checking anything in IRS records, something that would've taken the amount of time.

[00:05:31] a brewing, a cup of coffee would've revealed. And then the r n c, which is in an unenviable situation now, of letting someone in who is a categorical liar. And then you can see nonprofits here because nonprofits are frequently used to burnish the reputations of those that need that work done and that.

[00:05:55] Story is on repeat. I would say one of those things, this is in the back of my mind, is whenever I hear now that the specificity of of work, right? You're out there counting that me number of cats, like there's a certain, like we've helped a lot, we've helped over hundreds to say 280 cats. Also why fewer cats than dogs?

[00:06:16] 280 cats versus 2,400 dogs that, I, I don't know if those numbers would. and then released 3000 cats. Yeah, there's a lot of numbers here. They're too specific for me. , this is what I'm, it's. It's such a mess. , I can say that in addition to apparently creating a fake nonprofit and not going working at any of the jobs he claimed to have worked or going to school where he claimed to work Santos is in the unenviable position of being under county.

[00:06:54] State and federal investigation in the United States, as well as under a case that was reopened in the lovely country of Brazil. Apparently they've been looking for him for a long time, and there he is in the US Congress. So yeah, hold on. Here's where allegedly, I wanna go back to the cats and dogs though.

[00:07:15] Okay. So in the US approximately 4.1 million shelter animals are adopted each. , you wanna guess the breakdown?

[00:07:26] I don't know. 50 50 precisely. 2 million dogs. 2.1 million cats. Okay. So going back to those numbers, this is why it's off, right? How are you that far off in terms of the rescue numbers? 2,400 dogs, 280 cats. I don't think this guy likes. I think there's a cat a bias against cats that you should look out for.

[00:07:52] That's really, that's a spicy thing. He's not numbers, right? He's making up numbers. I will say his compatriot for the New York City mayoral election Curtis Sliwa is famously a cat person and has nine cats and is very pro catt. Maybe just many layers of division and rife and just bizarreness in this story, but, This does take us to our next story.

[00:08:20] Both sad and fun as this one is about a nonprofit organization in Alaska which used $750,000 in federal funds improperly. So the Revive Alaska Community Services Food Pantry is very saying serious questions about how the group. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds throughout the pandemic.

[00:08:45] Anchorage itself received a hundred million dollars to distribute to various organizations and. For various reasons. But nobody seems to know where this money goes and how that $750,000 helped feed families in Anchorage. There seems to be some just sketchy what happened here in the saga, and there's more details you won't get into, but it's important to be accountable.

[00:09:16] Yeah. And sadly, I think we're seeing a lot of the, where did the money go now that the, pain of the pandemic has mainly passed from the peak periods and it's it's a reminder to, to be documenting these types of things and in your accounting. But this was, this seems pretty question.

[00:09:36] Because they were given three quarters of a million dollars to rebuild a barn that was a food pantry . Instead, the structure was torn down. So you're like wait a minute. Little different. Not great. But we will go now from not great two. I think is great. George, you threw this article in from the inevitable Pew Research Center that the 118th US Congress, our current Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse Congress in history.

[00:10:09] So according to Pew Research This is actually the seventh Congress to break that record set by the one before it. And overall, 133 Senators and representatives today identify as black, Hispanic, Asian-American, American Indian, or Alaskan native. According to this analysis. And this is increasing in every Congress.

[00:10:35] Interestingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly I think 80% of these members caucus with the Democrat Party. But that being Said Congress is becoming more representative of America as a whole. Approximately now Congress is approximately 75% white which is, brings it closer in line with the overall US population which is now at 59% white.

[00:11:03] And will soon actually be minority white if demographic trends continue. I'm all for it. Representative Congress, representative democracy, let's go. Yeah. And the Republicans are making a couple ticks toward the right direction. Previously it was, 17%, 83%. A distribution for non-white lawmakers in terms of the breakdown of diversity in Congress.

[00:11:27] Slight increases there, but overall, it's just great to see over the past two decades to see this number nearly double. And, clearly tracking US population and you see it in that way. And it's also a good reminder for what representative democracy will hopefully become as the people representing representatives representing communities will will reflect them.

[00:11:53] Absolutely. All right we will take us now to our last story in the summary. And this comes from Axios and others, and the headline of this article is Greta Thunberg has been detained by police at a German coal protest, and the article comes with a pretty dramatic photo of Greta being. Whisked away by some scary looking cops and riot gear.

[00:12:21] It turns out that climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained today protesting a coalmine expansion in the German coal mining town of. Rath where she was physically removed from the site. Apparently Tomberg was participating in a sit-in near the edge of the mine. A pretty hands-on approach to activism from fellow climate activists.

[00:12:48] But George, I can't help but being struck how similar this photo seems to the photos of activists. Protesting for clean water particularly adjacent to Native American reservations and communities in the United States, not just a couple years ago. It seems strikingly similar and real interesting to see such tactics taken by activists and protestors.

[00:13:36] I think it's a Huff one. I like the activism angle here in terms of you have a young person able to command such a powerful presence and message, right? And on the other hand, you have, I think Germany and some other countries making. energy decisions that actually cut off the bridge to sustainable energy.

[00:14:02] And you feel that, especially when you're dealing with the conflict in Russia, and I'm cutting off various pipeline resources and pieces that, it's one thing to say you're going to go on a carbon neutral path, but if you don't have the plan to get there, all you've done is. Given disproportionate power to Russia and other coal generating areas.

[00:14:25] Cause that energy has to come from somewhere. And I think there's there was a lack of planning and a lot of promising shutting down nuclear power plants of reducing the production without the plan. And so I think the next phase that I honestly hope to see from Thunberg and others are the planned part, not the, just the protest and stop this because the truth is when.

[00:14:46] Drastically increase energy prices overnight, and you create dependencies on governments such as Russia to give them disproportionate of power in the region. You hurt large swaths of humanity and indirectly directly hurt the environment. And protest, but have a plan. And I, I. The green movement can easily have that critique going back 30, 40 years of evolving.

[00:15:11] Hopefully it's approach to the industry and how you get a path rather than a protest to to green energy. It's complicated. When I see these types of things, it's easy to celebrate. Yeah. Close it down. On the other side, like with regard to coal mining you're not gonna solve this winter's problem with gold taken from the ground right now.

[00:15:30] has to be processed, has to be pushed through. And so like how, how you're planning this is also confusing to me. I don't know a lot of thoughts I have. Yeah, George. I think that's right. It's interesting. I was actually recently talking from someone to talk to someone from Germany. And she was saying, By far and away the energy crisis.

[00:15:52] There is the most talked about issue and has been for well over a year now in central Europe. So it's interesting to get a glimpse into that world. And I think similar in, in other countries, particularly the UK as well. Yeah, an interesting look across the pond into how these issues play out in the public sphere.

[00:16:15] All right. How about a feel good story? Yeah, what do we got? All right. This is from eight news now.com, and it is reporting out of Las Vegas where a local nonprofit is celebrating helping black entrepreneurs on MLK Day. The organization is called Global SoCo, which is a nonprofit dedicated to helping black-owned businesses like the one mentioned in the article, get a boost.

[00:16:43] I think it's really cool to see community organizations like this working to support black entrepreneurs and black community members. And I think really coincides with the legacy and desire of M L K to see the, that community work together. Real cool stuff. Shout out to them.

[00:17:01] Yeah, absolutely. Love the angle of entrepreneurship and actually helping folks. A leg up in the industry and a good excuse again to, to use m l k to evolve to the needs of the community and where we are in the world. So thanks Nick. I appreciate you giving the summary. Always. Thanks George.

View Details

Thousands of NYC Nurses Go On Strike As Hospital & Union Talks Fall ApartA dramatic, last-ditch effort to avert a strike failed this weekend, leading nurses at two major NYC hospitals to go on strike, according to reporting from Politico and others. Approximately 7,000 nurses at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital went on strike at 6 a.m. Eastern on Monday, demanding increased staffing levels for nurses who say the staff shortage creates unsafe conditions for patients. While other hospitals successfully negotiated with the New York State Nurses Association to continue operations as normal, the strike at these two hospitals is the culmination of longstanding grievances of nursing staff who feel unfairly treated, burnt out, and chronically understaffed. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push for binding arbitration in the last hours of negotiations was not accepted by the nursing union. Medical professionals working in nonprofit hospital systems across the country will be paying close attention to how this is resolved—the result of which may have wide-reaching implications.

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Summary

• Woman sentenced to three years in state prison for collecting $400,000 in viral GoFundMe scam | CNN
• Aid operations hit as Taliban bars Afghan women from working for NGOs | The New Humanitarian
• From Nonprofit to $29 Billion Valuation - The Promise and Danger of ... |IPWatchdog.com
• A 72-year-old congressman goes back to school, pursuing a degree in AI | Washington Post

View Details

Thousands of NYC Nurses Go On Strike As Hospital & Union Talks Fall ApartA dramatic, last-ditch effort to avert a strike failed this weekend, leading nurses at two major NYC hospitals to go on strike, according to reporting from Politico and others. Approximately 7,000 nurses at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital went on strike at 6 a.m. Eastern on Monday, demanding increased staffing levels for nurses who say the staff shortage creates unsafe conditions for patients. While other hospitals successfully negotiated with the New York State Nurses Association to continue operations as normal, the strike at these two hospitals is the culmination of longstanding grievances of nursing staff who feel unfairly treated, burnt out, and chronically understaffed. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s push for binding arbitration in the last hours of negotiations was not accepted by the nursing union. Medical professionals working in nonprofit hospital systems across the country will be paying close attention to how this is resolved—the result of which may have wide-reaching implications.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Woman sentenced to three years in state prison for collecting $400,000 in viral GoFundMe scam | CNN
• Aid operations hit as Taliban bars Afghan women from working for NGOs | The New Humanitarian
• From Nonprofit to $29 Billion Valuation - The Promise and Danger of ... |IPWatchdog.com
• A 72-year-old congressman goes back to school, pursuing a degree in AI | Washington Post

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CVS Shows “Pledges” Do Not Equal Direct “Donations”In November 2021, US pharmaceutical giant CVS’s social responsibility team announced a $10 million commitment to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to be delivered over three years, as reported by Quartz. However, what CVS omitted is that the donations collected from customers through in-store fundraising weren’t going to be in addition to the initial pledge. Rather, they would be used in lieu of donations coming from CVS’s coffers. Customers subsidized CVS’s generosity without knowing it, as their donations were part of a larger pledge that CVS had made to the ADA. A new lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, claims that by failing to disclose the exact way in which the funds raised would be used, CVS committed fraud. Nonprofits (and donors) interested in better understanding corporate partnerships should heed the word “pledge” as merely marketing lingo until actual monetary donations are received by the NPO organizations such corporations purport to support.

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Summary

• How a Hotel Was Converted into Housing for Formerly Homeless People | nytimes.com
• Stacey Abrams’s Georgia Nonprofit Could Face Criminal Investigations for Unlicensed Fundraising | Washington Free Beacon
• Crain's 2022 Notable Women in Nonprofits | Crain's Detroit Business
• Santa Clarita Nonprofit Organization Unveils 'Horseless' Carriages – NBC Los Angeles | NBC Southern California

View Details

CVS Shows “Pledges” Do Not Equal Direct “Donations”In November 2021, US pharmaceutical giant CVS’s social responsibility team announced a $10 million commitment to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to be delivered over three years, as reported by Quartz. However, what CVS omitted is that the donations collected from customers through in-store fundraising weren’t going to be in addition to the initial pledge. Rather, they would be used in lieu of donations coming from CVS’s coffers. Customers subsidized CVS’s generosity without knowing it, as their donations were part of a larger pledge that CVS had made to the ADA. A new lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, claims that by failing to disclose the exact way in which the funds raised would be used, CVS committed fraud. Nonprofits (and donors) interested in better understanding corporate partnerships should heed the word “pledge” as merely marketing lingo until actual monetary donations are received by the NPO organizations such corporations purport to support.

Read more ➝

Summary

• How a Hotel Was Converted into Housing for Formerly Homeless People | nytimes.com
• Stacey Abrams’s Georgia Nonprofit Could Face Criminal Investigations for Unlicensed Fundraising | Washington Free Beacon
• Crain's 2022 Notable Women in Nonprofits | Crain's Detroit Business
• Santa Clarita Nonprofit Organization Unveils 'Horseless' Carriages – NBC Los Angeles | NBC Southern California

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2022 Giving Tuesday Predictions: Search Is Down, Hope Is Up Whole Whale, the publishers of this newsletter, predict a record-setting $3.2 billion will be donated for Giving Tuesday this year. The prediction is the result of an analysis based on an adjusted linear regression, trends in Google Search terms around “Giving Tuesday,” and national giving trends. This method predicts an 18% or $500 million increase over 2021’s total amount raised. While this is an optimistic prediction, several negative indicators might give nonprofits more caution heading into the season of giving, including decreased Giving Tuesday search volume, narratives around inflation and economic pains, a public drained of giving after an election cycle, and a potential return to post-pandemic giving patterns. Yet, elections can lead to heightened social engagement, and online shopping trends continue to be strong despite economic worries. (2022’s Black Friday set a record for online giving.) Whatever the final tally of donation revenue comes in during #GivingTuesday, remember to thank your donors!

Summary

• Nonprofit Uses Zillow to Help Homeless | Nonprofit Technology News
• Charities funded by Sam Bankman-Fried may be asked to return donations: ‘I had assumed FTX to be a reputable company’ | MarketWatch
• Pablo Eisenberg, a fierce critic of nonprofits and philanthropy, died at age 90 | NPR

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit News Feed for November 28th. This week we, uh, we have our big day, the day of the Tuesday of Giving, giving Tuesday. We're excited to talk about this and what's going on. Nick, hope you had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed family time. I know you had a massive amount of, uh, of humans eating Turkey.

[00:00:26] We had a massive amount of humans eating Turkey. Multiple turkeys I should say, but it was super fun and happy giving Tuesday. George, I sorry I didn't get you anything. Um, but what I do have for you is some predictions. Uh, we are starting out with our 2022 Giving Tuesday predictions, and we're going with the headline.

[00:00:51] Search is down, hope is up. We're seeing some. Conflicting factors. So Whole Whale, which is US , we write the nonprofit newsfeed, whole letter, uh, newsletter. And we as in you predict a record setting $3.2 billion to be donated for giving Tuesday this year. And our prediction is the result of an analysis based on an adjusted linear regression.

[00:01:17] But we also take a peak at things like Google Search terms around giving Tuesday and broader. Giving trends. So using this method, we have officially predicted an 18% or 500 million increase over 2020 ones total amount raised. So this is an optimistic prediction, but there are several negative indicators, uh, that could potentially, uh, be pushing down this increase in including headlines regarding, uh, inflation and economic pains.

[00:01:53] We just came off an election cycle. Maybe folks are tired of giving, um, and we're potentially returning to kind of a post pandemic social engagement. That being said, we're seeing online shopping trends from Black Friday set new records. So it seems that even though we're all talking about the economy, the consumer, uh, sector, particularly on Black Friday did real well.

[00:02:21] So, George, what's, what do you make of this as the, the, the predictor himself? The, the Chief Guesser and Chief Waer? Yeah. I am excited. 10 years of giving Tuesday. I mean, this is the 10 year anniversary, uh, of how it's come up and, you know, it is pretty steadily in terms of donations, uh, increased at a, at a decent clip.

[00:02:45] One of the things though that I am seeing, and this is tough cause there's some lagging search data when I'm pulling it up, but right now, um, it, it is, it, it's trending behind. Um, Uh, call it 10 to 20%. It's hard to pin it down exactly year over year, but it is certainly not exceeding previous years of giving Tuesday.

[00:03:09] And if you look at this trend for the past five years of, uh, giving Tuesday in search, why I care about it is that I'm hoping that it becomes a regular recognized holiday on par. The other major players, you know, Halloween of, you know, black Friday, of things that you will see in terms of increasing search.

[00:03:33] And, and frankly, over the past five years, it has been, um, it's peak, it's peak in terms of search related trends and, uh, questions in the United States being asked and has decreased. And this is seemingly continued into, into this year. And. One of the things that you need to happen for a holiday is continued awareness.

[00:03:58] And part of that awareness, and this is a proxy, but part of that awareness is the number of people putting in related queries to, to giving Tuesday in and around the holiday. And, you know, hopefully this isn't, uh, fatigue setting in, but we'll see it, um, we'll see the results in terms of, of dollars and maybe, uh, maybe it's just one of those.

[00:04:20] That finds, uh, finds its level of awareness, but a different level of giving. So I'm, I'm still optimistic about the giving cuz as you mentioned, people are, are still spending despite threats of recession, uh, looming overhead. And hopefully that continues. And, you know, we, we've been telling people to check their, check, their real time analytics to pay attention to look.

[00:04:42] I think it's an important time also, as you are looking and reviewing, like, okay, how did it go? How's our donation form? Like this is the kickoff to giving season, but also this is the last year. This is the last year that your current universal Google Analytics will work. We'll show you conversions. We'll show you where donors are going.

[00:05:05] This is it. This is the last December you. With the old version of Google Analytics. So just for funsies, take a look if you haven't already at GA four, Google Analytics four. It's the upgrade that Google is forcing all clients to move onto. Mid next year, in July of 2023, take a look at what it looks like in terms of your donation tracking and flow, because that's what you're gonna have this time next year.

[00:05:35] I mean, this won't be the last time I talk about it, but this is your last season, so this is a good time to be taking notes of what you, uh, what you may need to plan for next to your next season. But right now, pay attention, make sure donation forms are working and doing your best with your email messaging.

[00:05:52] Get people in the door.

[00:05:55] Yeah, George, those are great points. We'll wait to see the final numbers, but if you're listening to this today, make sure you check your forms and something we say at Whole Whale is always remember to thank your donors as well. Um, and if you follow the newsfeed, you can see some links to some best practices around fundraising, thanking your donors and all that good.

[00:06:17] Right. I can take us into the summary now. And this is an article from Non-Profit Technology. Uh, news was reposting from, uh, KOMO News, KOMO news uh.com, which talks about. In Seattle, Washington, um, a Seattle based nonprofit called Housing Connector has part partnered with a local technology firm, Zillow, which I'm sure you've heard of, to help more than 3,700 people.

[00:06:48] Homeless people move into affordable housing, and this was over the past three years and. I'm gonna guess, George, that we put this in here because we love a good public private partnership. It seems here that housing connector had a system for seamlessly connecting landlords to qualified homeless tenants eased the friction in that process.

[00:07:15] Of course, with anything administrative. Um, it, it's really significantly harder for folks experiencing homelessness. And in addition, uh, with assistance from Zillow, we're able to get homeless folks into housing. Um, cuz we are experiencing a housing crisis in these United States. So this is just a real cool example of tech and public private partnerships creating real results, at least in Seattle, was.

[00:07:44] This is exactly right. Their, their housing connector. They're talking about the efficiency that it gives case managers at the tip of their fingers, like the alternative here. The alternative here is that, Communities, municipalities pony up for incredibly expensive databases to manage and and maintain really cuz you need live data.

[00:08:08] And the truth is, the public market has already created this. They're paying for it. Zillow's doing just fine because of their knowledge of, uh, real estate networks. And this is the a type of partnership that creates efficiencies and really, Focuses resources on affordable housing, which if you pull the thread on so many societal ills in the United States, so many of them, that thread leads right back to affordable housing in areas that have access to resources, solve that.

[00:08:44] Um, and so I love seeing Zillow being a part of this and hope other. Other districts to take a look at this, uh, this housing connector versus, you know, the question of like, wait a minute, we have to build everything internally and go this, um, go this other route. So, uh, yep. I like highly and stuff like this.

[00:09:05] Yeah, I absolutely agree. It's a, a cool story. We hope more of this happens.

[00:09:10] The moment you've been waiting for George. Our next story is from Market Watch, and the title of this story is Charities funded by Sam Bankman, freed of the infamous FTX fame, has been asked to return donations to nonprofits that Ft X's fund had given money to. So the background on this is Fdx is a cryptocurrency exchange created.

[00:09:37] Sam Bankman Freed and the whole system collapsed a couple weeks ago in. What was a liquidity crisis that essentially created a digital bank run. And it's much, much more complicated than that. But anyway, uh, this exchange collapsed, but its founder was a very public proponent of the effective altruism movement, um, potentially to.

[00:10:03] Market himself and, uh, divert attention away from other potentially illegal, if not, uh, morally questionable actions. Um, but anyway, the funds that the foundation has given to nonprofits, um, there's a potential that in an effort to repay, um, folks who have debt in, in ftx, there might actually be clawbacks essentially.

[00:10:29] Uh, Through the, the process nonprofits might have to give some of the funds that they got donated back to the foundation, um, which is devastating to these nonprofits. And it seems that a, a couple of people might be stepping up to kind of, you know, provide cover for these non-profits, so it doesn't happen.

[00:10:50] Um, but, but Jordan, I mean, this is, this is terrible. And, uh, I have, I have more thoughts, but I wanna, I wanna get your thoughts on this. Well, this is just, you know, watching one, one shoe drop after another in terms of the, the level of fraud, which frankly is not the first time we have seen in crypto, or frankly in financial markets in general.

[00:11:17] You don't need to have that long a memory to realize that yes, this was in the level of a 16 billion fraud, but there was a level of 60 plus billion by Bernie Madoff also. A very well known philanthropist and clawbacks actually happened in that case as well. Which is just an important note to, to nonprofits receiving some of these donations, which is just brutal for them.

[00:11:42] You know, you're making plans, you're hiring, you're saying, Hey, finally this capital plan strategically done is gonna happen. And suddenly you're, you're now dealing with, uh, potential, you know, pullback of funds and that, you know, over a hundred nonprofits, I believe in the days of Bernie Madoff and that crash, uh, received such clawback notices.

[00:12:04] And so coming back to this character, Sam Bangin Fried, uh, the damage is, is still being calculated. Um, and, and albeit less money, there was his deep, deep connection and association with the effect of altruism movement. And there is some soul searching that needs to be done. And part of that is that when people.

[00:12:30] Make pledges, especially those that are in the public spotlight, that are seeking investment, that are seeking to build and effectively pay for a, a moral cause. Washing a official stamp from media and investors alike, that I am one of the good guys. I am one of the people out there making positive change.

[00:12:52] You can trust me with your funds, which by the way, he was gambling. Overtly with customer funds. That's not a legend. They can see that now. Um, and this was clearly paying the price to, in the same way he, he bought a stadium rights right in Miami, the Fdx arena. He was buying the movement of effective altruism to burnish his reputation.

[00:13:18] And now even beyond. You know, the, the call of effective altruism is using data and research and logic and making the best possible decision to solve the causes you care about. It's aligned with a bit of utilitarian thinking that even if I do, uh, morally corrupt jobs, questionable, and this is coming directly paraphrased from a.

[00:13:44] In a paper written by one of the main philosophers behind, um, McCaskill, William McCaskill, one of his papers, talks about taking morally questionable jobs because somebody else will do it anyway, as long as you promised to make large donations in line with effective giving effective altruism. This is a very tough moral justification.

[00:14:12] To play, especially when you play it at scale. And the fact that teacher pension funds were actually somehow rolled up in this as well and now are, are left empty. Um, all for the, the grand total of pledges that Sam Bankman free made. Yes, there was some money made, uh, and donated, but that money is now even being clawed back.

[00:14:35] I want to say it as many times as as possible, but when you. A millionaire billionaire making a pledge. It's called pr. They're making pr. They're not making donation. They're not changing society. They're making pr, public relations. I want to look good for something I haven't done. I think everyone's red flags.

[00:15:00] Red cards tie in some World Cup should be high, high. When we see pledges, they're worth the paper they're written on and maybe even less. It's frustrating. It's frustrating. Uh, net net, this is not going to end crypto philanthropy in the same way that Bernie Madoff to end family foundations and, and fiat giving.

[00:15:29] Um, this is not gonna end effective altruism, though. It's gonna push for some soul searching and, um, A lot, a lot more questions about, well, how morally bankrupt can I be and still make that tithing at the end.

[00:15:45] The church did this a while back. Look up the history of tithing. It's quite interesting. It doesn't go well. Alrighty.

[00:15:55] I mean, more ran ranum, but uh, you know, it's. It's good to, to turn around and look at the power of, you know, billionaires in philanthropy, um, and the detriment, um, that can, uh, can be cost. Yeah. George, I, I really appreciated that. For our listeners, maybe they're just this year they've started experimenting with crypto donations.

[00:16:21] Maybe they have a way to donate, uh, cryptocurrency to your organization. I think this situation has led to a crisis of trust coming from a lot of different directions. If you are a small made or large size nonprofit, how do you instill trust for people who follow this and maybe a little jaded by the whole thing?

[00:16:49] How do you as a nonprofit communicate trust?

[00:16:52] So you're saying for like, if you're accepting crypto philanthropy, crypto donations through your site, there may be questions of how, you know, like this is all a fraud, right? This is the, the top line banners one. You know, remember that roughly 40% of millennials actually have and own cryptocurrency. , um, and are able to, to sort of use it and, and I would say some of those parallels to, just because Enron existed doesn't mean that the entire equity market was a sham, that you shouldn't accept stock donations.

[00:17:27] The truth is when you accept crypto, uh, it is, if you're used at least the giving block, full disclosure, whole. Um, manage that manages with them as a client. They're a client of ours. Uh, but once that donation is made, it is immediately liquidated. So I don't care if you are getting some sort of animal coin or a Bitcoin or Ethereum, whatever it may be, once it hits that donation form, it is processed into fiat Hold onto your dollars type of things.

[00:17:58] One of the questions, however, is, as with any other donation, is that if it was I begotten and it is of high, It there could be suspect to clawbacks if there are legal proceedings. So maybe that is actually one, maybe large takeaway that when you receive a large donation, um, don't, aren't counting those chickens, um, just yet and making sure that that is money you can hold onto.

[00:18:23] But, uh, I would say keep going and it is, um, it is a minor setback and if you really parse into it, you're like, oh, I. Crypto was all on the blockchain and it was all transparent. How, how could this level of fraud be is, is because this was a classic Ponzi scheme of centralized control over these assets.

[00:18:46] There are abilities on the blockchain to have your own wallet the same way that you have a wallet in your pocket with $20 in it, and you're like, as long as I hold this, as soon as you hand that over. To a Lehman Brothers and they start leveraging the heck out of it. And you're like, I know I can get my $20 whenever I want.

[00:19:06] That's where the centralized trust comes in. And this particular company was based in The Bahamas with no regulation, oversight, financial responsibility, board members, or, um, frankly, asset back checks involved at all. And so when that happens, that's, you know, that's just human. Error that is, uh, human fallibility.

[00:19:29] It's hard to say, like, alright, you don't give that diri to anybody asking, but I I'm hoping that this isn't a knee jerk reaction of like, oh, we gotta pull our crypto off because it is all a scam. It's like, it is not, scams get perpetrated on top of it as, as they do with every other financial market. And this will set probably, uh, the crypto space back.

[00:19:51] Um, they're saying, you know, a year or so, um, as there's ripple on effects. But, um, the underlying my confidence in underlying technology, uh, remains and people are still building on it. George, I think that's a great synthesis of all the different kind of threads that nonprofits should be considering, and I'm sure we'll talk more about this in the next couple weeks, months.

[00:20:13] Um, as we do follow the crypto philanthropy space, I should say, we've got a, a webinar coming up with care two, um, I don't know when you're listening to this, but on. I should know it off the top of my head. December. I'm gonna say first December 1st. So check out, uh, that webinar. It's uh, hopewell.com. Um, you can find it on our webinars section there.

[00:20:36] That is an awesome reminder. You get to listen to us live, not me. Um, but you , you. I don't wanna do that. You do that. . Well, George speaking. Uh, wealthy philanthropists. Um, we wanted to highlight, uh, someone who is skeptical of them. Uh, our next article, um, comes from npr and the title is Pablo Eisenberg, A Fierce Critic of Nonprofits and Philanthropy.

[00:21:11] Critical out of fierce love, I guess you can say. Um, has died at age 90. Um, so Eisenberg, who was someone I didn't know until I read this article. Um, Is a professor, nonprofit leader, a social justice advocate, just really, really cares about, um, issues of equity and justice, and apparently was somewhat famous for kind of sticking it to the stayed old, outdated.

[00:21:43] Um, however he perceived it kind of traditional philanthropy space. Um, it says here, chastising prosperous donors for giving disproportionately to Ivy League schools, rich hospitals, and well endowed museums all while getting tax breaks. Um, so it seems like kind of a, I don't know, sticking out for the, the little guy in the, the philanthropy space, but seems like a titan nonetheless, within the, the philanthropy.

[00:22:10] Yeah, I mean, I put this in here also, uh, because I think you know this as an outspoken critic. Um, you know, often said of mega billionaires out there, um, that pledged, there's that word pledged, red card pledged to donate the majority of their wealth. Uh, were not spirit desire. He, uh, he criticized them for not giving away more of their fortune immediately.

[00:22:35] If you have it, give it away. Do the work, do the work now, and gets even more frustrated watching these towering offices be, be built, um, around giving away this money as opposed to doing the work. Uh, so I do, here's what I would say. I, I do believe when you're giving away that level of wealth, you must probably be very careful, um, about giving it away in ruinous ways.

[00:23:00] Um, I, I like the sentiment in there.

[00:23:02] I like it too. I think this guy deserves a movie. . I'd watch that movie. I don't know how many other people full would, it was a little niche, but I'd watch that movie. Uh, maybe Netflix. Netflix is at a documentary budget for that, for sure. All right. How about feel Good story? George, what have we got? This one comes from Ktv Q.

[00:23:24] Dot com and it is about an organization called Adult and Teen Challenge, which is a faith-based recovery program for men and women that suffer from addiction. And they are selling live Christmas trees to raise money for program costs, to help teens and other young adults experiencing addiction and needing recovery.

[00:23:46] And we do like a good seasonal article, and I don't know what says. Seasonal fundraising, um, like a Christmas tree sale, nothing. Not to like here. Yeah, it's, it's great. And I also love these earned, uh, earned models, um, that usually can be program related, but certainly around the season when people are buying you, if you have the ability to, to match a program to something that can be purchased is a way for you to generate some earned revenue, which can be put to good causes.

[00:24:20] It's great. All right. Got a, got a question for you. Oh boy. Yep. What should an unwell non-profit Twitter campaign do? An unwell non-profit. Just not, well, not feeling great, not feeling great Twitter campaign. Oh man. What did they do Nick? They should, uh, get treatment. Oh my. Oh, oh my. Look, they've made it to the end of this podcast.

[00:24:48] They deserve that. All right, have a good one. Happy given Tuesday. Happy Giving Tuesday.

View Details

2022 Giving Tuesday Predictions: Search Is Down, Hope Is Up Whole Whale, the publishers of this newsletter, predict a record-setting $3.2 billion will be donated for Giving Tuesday this year. The prediction is the result of an analysis based on an adjusted linear regression, trends in Google Search terms around “Giving Tuesday,” and national giving trends. This method predicts an 18% or $500 million increase over 2021’s total amount raised. While this is an optimistic prediction, several negative indicators might give nonprofits more caution heading into the season of giving, including decreased Giving Tuesday search volume, narratives around inflation and economic pains, a public drained of giving after an election cycle, and a potential return to post-pandemic giving patterns. Yet, elections can lead to heightened social engagement, and online shopping trends continue to be strong despite economic worries. (2022’s Black Friday set a record for online giving.) Whatever the final tally of donation revenue comes in during #GivingTuesday, remember to thank your donors!

Summary

• Nonprofit Uses Zillow to Help Homeless | Nonprofit Technology News
• Charities funded by Sam Bankman-Fried may be asked to return donations: ‘I had assumed FTX to be a reputable company’ | MarketWatch
• Pablo Eisenberg, a fierce critic of nonprofits and philanthropy, died at age 90 | NPR

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit News Feed for November 28th. This week we, uh, we have our big day, the day of the Tuesday of Giving, giving Tuesday. We're excited to talk about this and what's going on. Nick, hope you had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed family time. I know you had a massive amount of, uh, of humans eating Turkey.

[00:00:26] We had a massive amount of humans eating Turkey. Multiple turkeys I should say, but it was super fun and happy giving Tuesday. George, I sorry I didn't get you anything. Um, but what I do have for you is some predictions. Uh, we are starting out with our 2022 Giving Tuesday predictions, and we're going with the headline.

[00:00:51] Search is down, hope is up. We're seeing some. Conflicting factors. So Whole Whale, which is US , we write the nonprofit newsfeed, whole letter, uh, newsletter. And we as in you predict a record setting $3.2 billion to be donated for giving Tuesday this year. And our prediction is the result of an analysis based on an adjusted linear regression.

[00:01:17] But we also take a peak at things like Google Search terms around giving Tuesday and broader. Giving trends. So using this method, we have officially predicted an 18% or 500 million increase over 2020 ones total amount raised. So this is an optimistic prediction, but there are several negative indicators, uh, that could potentially, uh, be pushing down this increase in including headlines regarding, uh, inflation and economic pains.

[00:01:53] We just came off an election cycle. Maybe folks are tired of giving, um, and we're potentially returning to kind of a post pandemic social engagement. That being said, we're seeing online shopping trends from Black Friday set new records. So it seems that even though we're all talking about the economy, the consumer, uh, sector, particularly on Black Friday did real well.

[00:02:21] So, George, what's, what do you make of this as the, the, the predictor himself? The, the Chief Guesser and Chief Waer? Yeah. I am excited. 10 years of giving Tuesday. I mean, this is the 10 year anniversary, uh, of how it's come up and, you know, it is pretty steadily in terms of donations, uh, increased at a, at a decent clip.

[00:02:45] One of the things though that I am seeing, and this is tough cause there's some lagging search data when I'm pulling it up, but right now, um, it, it is, it, it's trending behind. Um, Uh, call it 10 to 20%. It's hard to pin it down exactly year over year, but it is certainly not exceeding previous years of giving Tuesday.

[00:03:09] And if you look at this trend for the past five years of, uh, giving Tuesday in search, why I care about it is that I'm hoping that it becomes a regular recognized holiday on par. The other major players, you know, Halloween of, you know, black Friday, of things that you will see in terms of increasing search.

[00:03:33] And, and frankly, over the past five years, it has been, um, it's peak, it's peak in terms of search related trends and, uh, questions in the United States being asked and has decreased. And this is seemingly continued into, into this year. And. One of the things that you need to happen for a holiday is continued awareness.

[00:03:58] And part of that awareness, and this is a proxy, but part of that awareness is the number of people putting in related queries to, to giving Tuesday in and around the holiday. And, you know, hopefully this isn't, uh, fatigue setting in, but we'll see it, um, we'll see the results in terms of, of dollars and maybe, uh, maybe it's just one of those.

[00:04:20] That finds, uh, finds its level of awareness, but a different level of giving. So I'm, I'm still optimistic about the giving cuz as you mentioned, people are, are still spending despite threats of recession, uh, looming overhead. And hopefully that continues. And, you know, we, we've been telling people to check their, check, their real time analytics to pay attention to look.

[00:04:42] I think it's an important time also, as you are looking and reviewing, like, okay, how did it go? How's our donation form? Like this is the kickoff to giving season, but also this is the last year. This is the last year that your current universal Google Analytics will work. We'll show you conversions. We'll show you where donors are going.

[00:05:05] This is it. This is the last December you. With the old version of Google Analytics. So just for funsies, take a look if you haven't already at GA four, Google Analytics four. It's the upgrade that Google is forcing all clients to move onto. Mid next year, in July of 2023, take a look at what it looks like in terms of your donation tracking and flow, because that's what you're gonna have this time next year.

[00:05:35] I mean, this won't be the last time I talk about it, but this is your last season, so this is a good time to be taking notes of what you, uh, what you may need to plan for next to your next season. But right now, pay attention, make sure donation forms are working and doing your best with your email messaging.

[00:05:52] Get people in the door.

[00:05:55] Yeah, George, those are great points. We'll wait to see the final numbers, but if you're listening to this today, make sure you check your forms and something we say at Whole Whale is always remember to thank your donors as well. Um, and if you follow the newsfeed, you can see some links to some best practices around fundraising, thanking your donors and all that good.

[00:06:17] Right. I can take us into the summary now. And this is an article from Non-Profit Technology. Uh, news was reposting from, uh, KOMO News, KOMO news uh.com, which talks about. In Seattle, Washington, um, a Seattle based nonprofit called Housing Connector has part partnered with a local technology firm, Zillow, which I'm sure you've heard of, to help more than 3,700 people.

[00:06:48] Homeless people move into affordable housing, and this was over the past three years and. I'm gonna guess, George, that we put this in here because we love a good public private partnership. It seems here that housing connector had a system for seamlessly connecting landlords to qualified homeless tenants eased the friction in that process.

[00:07:15] Of course, with anything administrative. Um, it, it's really significantly harder for folks experiencing homelessness. And in addition, uh, with assistance from Zillow, we're able to get homeless folks into housing. Um, cuz we are experiencing a housing crisis in these United States. So this is just a real cool example of tech and public private partnerships creating real results, at least in Seattle, was.

[00:07:44] This is exactly right. Their, their housing connector. They're talking about the efficiency that it gives case managers at the tip of their fingers, like the alternative here. The alternative here is that, Communities, municipalities pony up for incredibly expensive databases to manage and and maintain really cuz you need live data.

[00:08:08] And the truth is, the public market has already created this. They're paying for it. Zillow's doing just fine because of their knowledge of, uh, real estate networks. And this is the a type of partnership that creates efficiencies and really, Focuses resources on affordable housing, which if you pull the thread on so many societal ills in the United States, so many of them, that thread leads right back to affordable housing in areas that have access to resources, solve that.

[00:08:44] Um, and so I love seeing Zillow being a part of this and hope other. Other districts to take a look at this, uh, this housing connector versus, you know, the question of like, wait a minute, we have to build everything internally and go this, um, go this other route. So, uh, yep. I like highly and stuff like this.

[00:09:05] Yeah, I absolutely agree. It's a, a cool story. We hope more of this happens.

[00:09:10] The moment you've been waiting for George. Our next story is from Market Watch, and the title of this story is Charities funded by Sam Bankman, freed of the infamous FTX fame, has been asked to return donations to nonprofits that Ft X's fund had given money to. So the background on this is Fdx is a cryptocurrency exchange created.

[00:09:37] Sam Bankman Freed and the whole system collapsed a couple weeks ago in. What was a liquidity crisis that essentially created a digital bank run. And it's much, much more complicated than that. But anyway, uh, this exchange collapsed, but its founder was a very public proponent of the effective altruism movement, um, potentially to.

[00:10:03] Market himself and, uh, divert attention away from other potentially illegal, if not, uh, morally questionable actions. Um, but anyway, the funds that the foundation has given to nonprofits, um, there's a potential that in an effort to repay, um, folks who have debt in, in ftx, there might actually be clawbacks essentially.

[00:10:29] Uh, Through the, the process nonprofits might have to give some of the funds that they got donated back to the foundation, um, which is devastating to these nonprofits. And it seems that a, a couple of people might be stepping up to kind of, you know, provide cover for these non-profits, so it doesn't happen.

[00:10:50] Um, but, but Jordan, I mean, this is, this is terrible. And, uh, I have, I have more thoughts, but I wanna, I wanna get your thoughts on this. Well, this is just, you know, watching one, one shoe drop after another in terms of the, the level of fraud, which frankly is not the first time we have seen in crypto, or frankly in financial markets in general.

[00:11:17] You don't need to have that long a memory to realize that yes, this was in the level of a 16 billion fraud, but there was a level of 60 plus billion by Bernie Madoff also. A very well known philanthropist and clawbacks actually happened in that case as well. Which is just an important note to, to nonprofits receiving some of these donations, which is just brutal for them.

[00:11:42] You know, you're making plans, you're hiring, you're saying, Hey, finally this capital plan strategically done is gonna happen. And suddenly you're, you're now dealing with, uh, potential, you know, pullback of funds and that, you know, over a hundred nonprofits, I believe in the days of Bernie Madoff and that crash, uh, received such clawback notices.

[00:12:04] And so coming back to this character, Sam Bangin Fried, uh, the damage is, is still being calculated. Um, and, and albeit less money, there was his deep, deep connection and association with the effect of altruism movement. And there is some soul searching that needs to be done. And part of that is that when people.

[00:12:30] Make pledges, especially those that are in the public spotlight, that are seeking investment, that are seeking to build and effectively pay for a, a moral cause. Washing a official stamp from media and investors alike, that I am one of the good guys. I am one of the people out there making positive change.

[00:12:52] You can trust me with your funds, which by the way, he was gambling. Overtly with customer funds. That's not a legend. They can see that now. Um, and this was clearly paying the price to, in the same way he, he bought a stadium rights right in Miami, the Fdx arena. He was buying the movement of effective altruism to burnish his reputation.

[00:13:18] And now even beyond. You know, the, the call of effective altruism is using data and research and logic and making the best possible decision to solve the causes you care about. It's aligned with a bit of utilitarian thinking that even if I do, uh, morally corrupt jobs, questionable, and this is coming directly paraphrased from a.

[00:13:44] In a paper written by one of the main philosophers behind, um, McCaskill, William McCaskill, one of his papers, talks about taking morally questionable jobs because somebody else will do it anyway, as long as you promised to make large donations in line with effective giving effective altruism. This is a very tough moral justification.

[00:14:12] To play, especially when you play it at scale. And the fact that teacher pension funds were actually somehow rolled up in this as well and now are, are left empty. Um, all for the, the grand total of pledges that Sam Bankman free made. Yes, there was some money made, uh, and donated, but that money is now even being clawed back.

[00:14:35] I want to say it as many times as as possible, but when you. A millionaire billionaire making a pledge. It's called pr. They're making pr. They're not making donation. They're not changing society. They're making pr, public relations. I want to look good for something I haven't done. I think everyone's red flags.

[00:15:00] Red cards tie in some World Cup should be high, high. When we see pledges, they're worth the paper they're written on and maybe even less. It's frustrating. It's frustrating. Uh, net net, this is not going to end crypto philanthropy in the same way that Bernie Madoff to end family foundations and, and fiat giving.

[00:15:29] Um, this is not gonna end effective altruism, though. It's gonna push for some soul searching and, um, A lot, a lot more questions about, well, how morally bankrupt can I be and still make that tithing at the end.

[00:15:45] The church did this a while back. Look up the history of tithing. It's quite interesting. It doesn't go well. Alrighty.

[00:15:55] I mean, more ran ranum, but uh, you know, it's. It's good to, to turn around and look at the power of, you know, billionaires in philanthropy, um, and the detriment, um, that can, uh, can be cost. Yeah. George, I, I really appreciated that. For our listeners, maybe they're just this year they've started experimenting with crypto donations.

[00:16:21] Maybe they have a way to donate, uh, cryptocurrency to your organization. I think this situation has led to a crisis of trust coming from a lot of different directions. If you are a small made or large size nonprofit, how do you instill trust for people who follow this and maybe a little jaded by the whole thing?

[00:16:49] How do you as a nonprofit communicate trust?

[00:16:52] So you're saying for like, if you're accepting crypto philanthropy, crypto donations through your site, there may be questions of how, you know, like this is all a fraud, right? This is the, the top line banners one. You know, remember that roughly 40% of millennials actually have and own cryptocurrency. , um, and are able to, to sort of use it and, and I would say some of those parallels to, just because Enron existed doesn't mean that the entire equity market was a sham, that you shouldn't accept stock donations.

[00:17:27] The truth is when you accept crypto, uh, it is, if you're used at least the giving block, full disclosure, whole. Um, manage that manages with them as a client. They're a client of ours. Uh, but once that donation is made, it is immediately liquidated. So I don't care if you are getting some sort of animal coin or a Bitcoin or Ethereum, whatever it may be, once it hits that donation form, it is processed into fiat Hold onto your dollars type of things.

[00:17:58] One of the questions, however, is, as with any other donation, is that if it was I begotten and it is of high, It there could be suspect to clawbacks if there are legal proceedings. So maybe that is actually one, maybe large takeaway that when you receive a large donation, um, don't, aren't counting those chickens, um, just yet and making sure that that is money you can hold onto.

[00:18:23] But, uh, I would say keep going and it is, um, it is a minor setback and if you really parse into it, you're like, oh, I. Crypto was all on the blockchain and it was all transparent. How, how could this level of fraud be is, is because this was a classic Ponzi scheme of centralized control over these assets.

[00:18:46] There are abilities on the blockchain to have your own wallet the same way that you have a wallet in your pocket with $20 in it, and you're like, as long as I hold this, as soon as you hand that over. To a Lehman Brothers and they start leveraging the heck out of it. And you're like, I know I can get my $20 whenever I want.

[00:19:06] That's where the centralized trust comes in. And this particular company was based in The Bahamas with no regulation, oversight, financial responsibility, board members, or, um, frankly, asset back checks involved at all. And so when that happens, that's, you know, that's just human. Error that is, uh, human fallibility.

[00:19:29] It's hard to say, like, alright, you don't give that diri to anybody asking, but I I'm hoping that this isn't a knee jerk reaction of like, oh, we gotta pull our crypto off because it is all a scam. It's like, it is not, scams get perpetrated on top of it as, as they do with every other financial market. And this will set probably, uh, the crypto space back.

[00:19:51] Um, they're saying, you know, a year or so, um, as there's ripple on effects. But, um, the underlying my confidence in underlying technology, uh, remains and people are still building on it. George, I think that's a great synthesis of all the different kind of threads that nonprofits should be considering, and I'm sure we'll talk more about this in the next couple weeks, months.

[00:20:13] Um, as we do follow the crypto philanthropy space, I should say, we've got a, a webinar coming up with care two, um, I don't know when you're listening to this, but on. I should know it off the top of my head. December. I'm gonna say first December 1st. So check out, uh, that webinar. It's uh, hopewell.com. Um, you can find it on our webinars section there.

[00:20:36] That is an awesome reminder. You get to listen to us live, not me. Um, but you , you. I don't wanna do that. You do that. . Well, George speaking. Uh, wealthy philanthropists. Um, we wanted to highlight, uh, someone who is skeptical of them. Uh, our next article, um, comes from npr and the title is Pablo Eisenberg, A Fierce Critic of Nonprofits and Philanthropy.

[00:21:11] Critical out of fierce love, I guess you can say. Um, has died at age 90. Um, so Eisenberg, who was someone I didn't know until I read this article. Um, Is a professor, nonprofit leader, a social justice advocate, just really, really cares about, um, issues of equity and justice, and apparently was somewhat famous for kind of sticking it to the stayed old, outdated.

[00:21:43] Um, however he perceived it kind of traditional philanthropy space. Um, it says here, chastising prosperous donors for giving disproportionately to Ivy League schools, rich hospitals, and well endowed museums all while getting tax breaks. Um, so it seems like kind of a, I don't know, sticking out for the, the little guy in the, the philanthropy space, but seems like a titan nonetheless, within the, the philanthropy.

[00:22:10] Yeah, I mean, I put this in here also, uh, because I think you know this as an outspoken critic. Um, you know, often said of mega billionaires out there, um, that pledged, there's that word pledged, red card pledged to donate the majority of their wealth. Uh, were not spirit desire. He, uh, he criticized them for not giving away more of their fortune immediately.

[00:22:35] If you have it, give it away. Do the work, do the work now, and gets even more frustrated watching these towering offices be, be built, um, around giving away this money as opposed to doing the work. Uh, so I do, here's what I would say. I, I do believe when you're giving away that level of wealth, you must probably be very careful, um, about giving it away in ruinous ways.

[00:23:00] Um, I, I like the sentiment in there.

[00:23:02] I like it too. I think this guy deserves a movie. . I'd watch that movie. I don't know how many other people full would, it was a little niche, but I'd watch that movie. Uh, maybe Netflix. Netflix is at a documentary budget for that, for sure. All right. How about feel Good story? George, what have we got? This one comes from Ktv Q.

[00:23:24] Dot com and it is about an organization called Adult and Teen Challenge, which is a faith-based recovery program for men and women that suffer from addiction. And they are selling live Christmas trees to raise money for program costs, to help teens and other young adults experiencing addiction and needing recovery.

[00:23:46] And we do like a good seasonal article, and I don't know what says. Seasonal fundraising, um, like a Christmas tree sale, nothing. Not to like here. Yeah, it's, it's great. And I also love these earned, uh, earned models, um, that usually can be program related, but certainly around the season when people are buying you, if you have the ability to, to match a program to something that can be purchased is a way for you to generate some earned revenue, which can be put to good causes.

[00:24:20] It's great. All right. Got a, got a question for you. Oh boy. Yep. What should an unwell non-profit Twitter campaign do? An unwell non-profit. Just not, well, not feeling great, not feeling great Twitter campaign. Oh man. What did they do Nick? They should, uh, get treatment. Oh my. Oh, oh my. Look, they've made it to the end of this podcast.

[00:24:48] They deserve that. All right, have a good one. Happy given Tuesday. Happy Giving Tuesday.

View Details

Qatar World Cup Centers International Human Rights Issues, Corruption, And Sportswashing The 2022 FIFA World Cup is underway in Qatar in a climate marred by years of controversies related to human rights issues, corruption, and influence peddling. While this is the first time the games will be held in an Arab country, Qatar’s bid was a remote possibility until it shockingly won the bid back in 2010. FIFA, the international governing body of football, is considered one of the most openly corrupt institutions in sports, where bribery, corruption, and influence campaigns are rampant. Since winning the bid, Qatar has faced sustained criticism for labor rights abuses since the country began luring low-income workers (largely from Asia) to work on construction projects in what international human rights groups have labeled dangerous and exploitative conditions. The country has faced renewed criticism of its internal human rights issues, particularly around women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights since fans have started to arrive. International NGOs have been long calling for accountability over the games’ human cost, and teams have been put in the awkward position of navigating complex disagreements between the Qatari government, FIFA, and the general public. Read more ➝

Summary

• Meta Spending $7 Million To Stoke Recurring Donations | The NonProfit Times
• Jeff Bezos plans to give away most of his fortune: Why 'it’s a big deal,' from a philanthropy expert | CNBC
• When 10M meals aren't enough: Childhood hunger nonprofit struggling to meet demand | kare11.com
• Survey: Nearly 1 in 4 American Donors Increased Giving Due to Rising Inflation | NonProfit PRO

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, well we're talking about a little thing called the World Cup and unfortunately, how it is mired in a number of issues of human rights and corruptions, so we'll get to that in just a bit. I'm back from Hawaii, uh, on a trip with my family. It was fun. Lot of sand everywhere.

[00:00:49] Kids love the beach. Uh, but it's, it's, uh, much appreciated. Nick, that you and Matt handled last week, I, uh, I was a little jealous. I did wanna share a few words on the FTX collapse, but we'll, we'll get to that in the future. Something tells me those dominoes are not done falling. Yeah. George, I'm sure, I'm sure that story will be making a comeback as we talk about crypto philanthropy and the fallout from that.

[00:01:16] To your point this week we wanted to talk about QAR and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. So the World Cup began this weekend in Qatar in a climate marred by, let's say, years of controversy related to human rights issues, corruption in. FIFA and influence paddling across the board. So this is the first time that the World Cup is being held in a Arab country, but Qatar's bid was considered just a remote possibility until it somehow shockingly won the bid back in 2010.

[00:01:55] And fifa, the international governing body of football. Is widely considered to be one of the most openly corrupt institutions in sports, uh, accusations of bribery up and down the whole chain. It's essentially assumed Qatar bought this bid. Um, but now this is coming full circle because since the bid was awarded to guitar, the country has consistently faced criticism for pretty egregious labor rights abuses.

[00:02:26] Uh, human rights issues, uh, workers working in extreme and deplorable conditions on the massive construction projects. And now that the World Cup itself is underway, a focus not only on the labor issues, but of just human rights issues more broadly in the country related to women's rights, um, LGBTQ plus rights, and the country's facing.

[00:02:51] Criticism from international NGOs calling for accountability and the whole thing's kind of a mess. But it's a complex situation. So, George, what, what are your thoughts on this one? This brought to you by the public service announcement that not all nonprofits are good. And I'll remind that FIFA actually is a, is a nonprofit, uh, that, that is running this.

[00:03:19] And I think, you know, you mentioned that you wrote a paper about this when you were in college back in 2010, about the human rights abuses, the, you know, the modern day misuse of labor there. Estimated deaths, which can't be accounted for. But Amnesty International and I have seen others quote in the, uh, 6,000 or more potentially that have actually just died, you know, issues of taking someone's passport once they come in and forcing them to work.

[00:03:49] Uh, you know, that it's, uh, it's an unfortunate thing to be happening in, you know, this age of , this agent of like modern globalization. When you bring the Globe's spotlight in, I think we have to be careful also about pushing Western ideals on other cultures. It's hard, you have to balance this like absolutism that we have the perfect moral compass here.

[00:04:21] So, you know, put a pin in that perfect moral compass here, baked in our western ideologies of, of, of rights and equality, and you really have to. It's hard to remove that because I do think there's some objective truth to like allowing certain freedoms of frankly, people to love each other, uh, to have providence over their own bodies.

[00:04:47] Uh, I, I, I want to believe in something like that, but also you just have to note when you're, when you're speaking with that, you know, absolutism to just be careful. The fact that they're, they're doing this. They couldn't even have it in the, the summer. They had to have it in November because it's not a climate that, uh, accommodates life in the summer.

[00:05:10] Like, no joke, 120 degrees. Like you can't take a ball in that temperature. I think the ball just sort of evaporates. It makes no ecological sense whatsoever, uh, to have done this and made this level of investment. And I really hope a touch more. Frankly, discretion and intelligence of just because they can pay doesn't mean we should do it this way from fifa, frankly from the Olympics, from these large institution, large institutions that, you know, do pull the world together.

[00:05:43] I, I think there's something very beautiful about the World Cup and I, and I hope it doesn't get lost because yes we can, we can focus here, but the truth is 5 billion people are most likely going to watch. 5 billion people are going to agree that one team beat another team. Do you know how hard it is to get 5 billion people to agree on a thing, to watch the same thing?

[00:06:07] There's just, I think, something beautiful about this, that despite all of this and the sports washing involved, like it is, uh, it is something that I'm glad everyone is still participating in and, and not simply boycotting because it's. It's easier to destroy than to create. It's harder to, frankly, some of these captains wanted to wear arm bands in support of issues of LGBTQ and human rights.

[00:06:35] They wanted to take a stand. Some are kneeling, some are showing it, but they're still participating. I'm more nervous when we stop participating collectively. And so, you know, uh, that's, that's how I'm viewing these games. I'm gonna watch. And we'll, we'll watch the news and we'll see that. And, uh, it's hard for mold to grow in the sunlight and there's a lot of sunlight right now on guitar.

[00:07:02] Yeah, George, I couldn't agree more with that, that characterization. And I wanted to give a shout out to some of the, the nonprofits that have been doing, uh, really great reporting on this. And I've been flagging it very early. And as you alluded to, I wrote a paper on. Years ago in college because the issues were, were still salient then.

[00:07:24] But Amnesty International in particular has done really great research from the beginning on workers and yeah, it's, it's really challenging. Um, and, and really actually sad, I mean, workers are essentially being lured, uh, Poor workers from Asia into this country, they're having their visas confiscated.

[00:07:47] It's not a good situation. Um, but I think to your point, the World's Cup is an opportunity to shine light on these issues, right? And I do not think we should be giving Qatar Pass. But that being said, uh, the chance to come together, Is, is really important, especially in a time of division. So yeah, I agree with that.

[00:08:15] But let's just fire everyone at fifa. I have no . I Oh yeah, let's get of those. Let's cleans. Oh my gosh.

[00:08:23] I think, I think 5 billion of people could possibly agree to that, that it's, it's really funny to see an institution solo, but an event so, Yeah. Um, , if you, if you're really into this, like do a deep dive on the bid, it's like the most outrageous thing. There was like a plane of the US delegation that flew to wherever it was, like Finland, Sweden or something for the bid process.

[00:08:52] It was like, Mid-level State Department people, a couple of us soccer people, the United States activated Morgan Freeman took him on this plane, but it was clear like Morgan Freeman didn't prepare anything for this speech. It was like this like kind of incoherent jumble of like why the, it's the whole story's wild.

[00:09:12] If you're into it, just read about it. Uh, but, but anyway, we'll leave that.

[00:09:17] Uh, yeah. Moving into the summary, I'll, I'll jump through this quickly. Meta, formally known as Facebook, the artist , formally known as Facebook Me, is gonna spend, uh, 7 million to stoke reoccurring donations around Giving Tuesday. Which is great. We'll, hope you're all getting ready for your Giving Tuesday to, to make what you can of the kickoff to Giving season, not the end, but the kickoff to Giving season.

[00:09:41] We have a bunch of those resources. Hope you find them. And, uh, another one here. Uh, Nick, do you wanna talk about what Bezos is announcing? Yeah, George. So Jeff Bezos, uh, formerly CEO of Amazon is, has announced, was giving away most of his 122 billion fortune. Uh, but this article from cnbc.com says, leaves many questions unanswered.

[00:10:10] Uh, It says that Bezos, thus far has resisted developing a public philanthropic identity, unlike that of his ex-wife Mackenzie Scott. But I don't know what's your take here is, is, is Bezos having a, I don't know, a conscious time? Time to do. Good moment. What's this about? I'm gonna say the following phrase, and I'm excited because I'm gonna say it so many times that people are gonna be sick.

[00:10:40] And here it is. Pledges are pr. That's it. I'm gonna say that every single time I see that, those of you listening, every time you see something like this, every time you see a post like this, I just want it ring in your head. Pledges are just pr. Cause if you were doing it, we would see the check and we saw that with Sam Bankman.

[00:11:07] Getting all that ink across all those papers about how altruistic you was going to be in the future. Right about me now for things I haven't done. It's called P, so Bezos can shove it until we see a check. That's what I think.

[00:11:25] I agree. See? See it Hit the books then we'll. We'll talk again, uh, remains to be seen. He's got some, some rockets to fund as well. So yeah, God bless him. Get it done. All right. This next one comes from care.com out of, uh, Richfield, Minnesota, and this is actually a follow up on a story we've talked about, but, uh, there was a 250 million fraud investigation to Feeding Our Future, which has fractured trust and efforts to feed hungry children across Minnesota.

[00:12:02] Um, and it's really affecting, uh, this nonprofit and a time when it's, quote, quietly delivered 10 million meals to hungry kids and counting. So, Yikes. It seems that you just have a perfect storm of kind of bad scenarios. Here. You have 10 million meals to hungry kids. Uh, being that's a gap, like that's a gap in our safe, our social safety net, in my opinion that is being filled by this nonprofit.

[00:12:32] Also at the center of a quarter of a billion dollar fraud investigation. Yikes. It's sad to see. Hopefully it doesn't erode confidence in giving locally to food banks that you know are serving your area. The, the larger groups have have a trust gap to fill. I'd say the ones that are, you know, chapter based and working out there.

[00:12:57] The on the onus is on communication and transparency, but please don't let that hopefully be a barrier to giving locally, supporting, uh, supporting your. Food banks and nonprofits. We, we spoke and had that podcast recently with Move for Hunger when, you know, please go back and listen to that if you haven't.

[00:13:17] Uh, because I think Adam Lloyd does a top shelf job of explaining how the need is year round and there's ways to support that. Yeah, George. Absolutely. And this actually takes us into our next article for nonprofit pro.com, which says that on behalf of a poll conducted on behalf of Vanguard Charitable conducted by interviewing 2000 US adults.

[00:13:42] Uh, it found that 60% of American donors with a charit giving budget, say rising inflation had no impact on their giving or caused them to increase their giving over the past 12 months, the nearly 24% saying they increased their giving. So we were talking about how critical time this is. Food pantries and nonprofits like that.

[00:14:06] Um, but it seems that the, the giving public is aware of that need, not stopping, giving potentially increase in giving e even in light of inflation. The survey size is a little small, 2000 adults, but. I think that's really optimistic news that the public is still committed broadly to charitable giving despite, uh, what's now kind of record setting inflation.

[00:14:37] It's a positive signal, one that we hope is, uh, is accurate as far as polls go. Giving Tuesday coming up, we're predicting that over 3 billion will be donated, uh, in and around the day, and hopefully is a, is a strong end of. Giving cycle. You know, sadly, we might as well just root for the markets to go up because that is another predictor of, uh, of giving.

[00:15:00] You know, we're past midterms, so now, uh, it's time for nonprofits to get their narratives out there.

[00:15:06] Absolutely. All right. How about a feel good story, George? What do you got? All right. This comes from the venerable ks LTV five.com and Salt Lake City, Utah. And it's estimated that Americans will throw out more than 200 million pounds of perfectly good Turkey meat this year, uh, most of it after Thanksgiving.

[00:15:32] But this woman. Uh, Dana Williamson founded the nonprofit Waste Less Solutions, which tries to rescue unused food and donate it to community organizations that need it. And we talk about food waste a lot on this podcast. And there's a couple, quite a, a number of organizations working in this space now, but great to see, uh, local Utah resident, uh, bringing it close to home and helping out the communities in Salt Lake.

[00:16:02] Any, any percent or stats on what percent of those, uh, pounds of Turkey are actually dry because he definitely left it in the oven too long. No stats on that. Nothing there. No stats on that. We gotta call the the Butterball hotline. I love projects like this because food waste needs to be solved locally.

[00:16:21] It's a last mile problem. We have enough food, we don't have enough food in the right places. Um, going back to Adam Low conversation in our, in our previous podcast, to end on a lighter note and because he made it to the end. Hey Nick, I got a, a question for you. How, how do you organize a Giving Tuesday fundraiser to help the earth?

[00:16:42] I don't know. How does one organize such a thing? George, you plan it.

[00:16:51] That was good. That, that's, that's, that's your, that's your, that was good. The best one. All right. On that note, uh, leave a rating if you feel like it, if you feel like giving. Um, and we hope you have a wonderful holiday.

View Details

Reality of Recycling Comes To Forefront As Environmental Concerns Peak Nonprofit Greenpeace has released a new report acknowledging the gross inefficiencies and near futility of recycling, as reported by Grist. The report highlights that even while the use of plastics across the world surges, the amount of plastic that gets recycled has decreased, a symptom of a solution no match for the scale of a problem it hopes to address. Greenpeace states that “U.S. households generated an estimated 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, only 2.4 million tons of which was recycled.” Because of the complexities of sorting, the chemical hazards of the process, and the use of low-grade plastics, the U.S.’s recycling infrastructure is abysmally short of where it needs to be to reduce plastic waste. This report comes as the United Nations-sponsored COP27 climate summit commences in Egypt, where U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has warned the world is on a “highway to climate hell,” set against a backdrop of war and economic crises.

Summary

• With Twitter in chaos, Mastodon is on fire | CNN Business | CNN
• Ashton Kutcher finishes NYC Marathon, raises $1M for his nonprofit | TODAY.com
• Election officials facing armed militia presence at some polls | CNBC
• 200-foot sub to benefit food-rescue nonprofit | YourArlington.com

Rough Transcript

audio1117862929 Sequence

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, we are bringing news from the week of November 7th, talking about kind of the truth behind recycling. And as COP 27 is going on as we speak, this is definitely, uh, a timely time to be thinking about what this actually means for recycling. Uh, Nick, how's. It's going good, George.

[00:00:49] It's a Bombi. 77 degrees on this lovely November day here. No problem. City. No problems here. , No problems here. Which actually feeds into our first story we're gonna be talking about. The environment. And you alluded to this in the intro, but nonprofit green piece has at least a new report that acknowledges that the gross inefficiencies of recycling make the endeavor nearly futile.

[00:01:17] For combating plastic pollution. So Greenpeace released this new report. It was reported out by the, uh, environmental and science reporting out like crisp. And the report highlights that even when the use of plastics across the world surges, the amount of plastic that's getting recycled has decreased.

[00:01:38] And this is a symptom of a solution that really. No way to scale up. It turns out that US households generated an estimated 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, and only 2.4 out of 51 million tons were recycled. And the reason for this is sorting is really complicated. There's lots of chemical hazards, and by the time the plastic gets downgraded, there's, it has to do with the grade of the plastics and it's just woefully inefficient.

[00:02:11] And the, the, the report actually highlights the need for different approaches to minimizing plastic waste, like, uh, reusable containers and, and that sort of thing. Kind of a, a grim outlook, but something we maybe need to think seriously about. And the report also goes into, Greenwashing potentially of the usefulness of recycling.

[00:02:33] You know, adding those green arrow, circular little things on, on, uh, products don't act. It doesn't actually mean what you think it means. And this does come. In the backdrop of COP 27, which not related to plastic specifically, but is the annual United Nations Sponsored Climate Summit, in which the UN Secretary General Antonio Guts has worn the world as on a highway to climate health set against a backdrop of war in economic crises.

[00:03:03] And we don't do this, I think, to shock our listeners or to panic our listeners, I think it's important, George, that we know the scale of the problems we're up against. I think it's amazing that green peace is coming out this strongly. With this, and also I think from the marketing angle, companies that produce this plastic, obviously we were pushing this like, shame, shame, shame on consumers.

[00:03:30] Look at them, they, you know, they're only recycling five to 10%. Oh, look, they don't understand the p e t ratings of one to three in terms of these recycling arrows that we put out here. It's all their fault. Here's the truth. Companies are making a. Off of inexpensive packaging and deferring the responsibility to the consumer without even, and also mind you, not just the consumer, but municipalities that then have to have wildly expensive and intelligent recycling processing plants so that they can, uh, you know, never upcycle plastic, but at least recycle plastic back down to it.

[00:04:11] Mind you, they made margin on that sale. What's. They can put that smiley greenwashed marketing logo of the chasing arrows that go around in a circle as though this is totally recyclable, totally healthy for the planet. Look at us. We're using the right materials. No, you're not. You're using the right branding materials.

[00:04:34] There's a fundamental truth that I think has to be washed out of this generation of, as you mentioned, cause washing. Of impact washing of marketing narratives versus what is actually happening on the ground. Hold up that mirror. I think this is great. I think there are other pockets of marketing trumping science in many places, and I think it's important to note that doing what we have done, But at a larger scale is simply going to break more things and pushing the responsibility of the true cost of materials and consumerism back to the companies.

[00:05:18] Yeah. George, I, I, I totally agree. That's a, a good kind of perspective to have a problem that. We haven't figured out how to solve yet. And when economics come into play and, and companies and all sorts of different stakeholders, it becomes a much more complicated problem than I think the overwhelming majority of us are in the loop on.

[00:05:41] All right. Shall I take us into our next story? Yeah. What do we got here? Right. So this is something of a follow up, but we're gonna take a different tack on this. This comes from cnn.com, and the title of this story is with Twitter in Chaos. Macon is on fire, and I don't necessarily think it's helpful to dive into the Twitter drama right now, of which there is a lot because that is still in developing.

[00:06:10] A developing news story with a unclear end. But we wanted to talk about this new platform, Mastodon, which is a decentralized, non-profit run social media platform that has seen a surge and users migrating to it. Sun since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter. It report, I think a 400,000 user increase over the past, uh, couple weeks.

[00:06:36] And it's kind of interesting, it seems that I don't, I haven't been on it yet, but it seems that you have, uh, different servers if you will, that kind of give you different experiences and different types of content, and it's designed to be kind of decentralized and give you the experience, uh, you want on those platforms.

[00:06:55] George, this is kind of a, an interesting social media take and maybe a nonprofit model. Is, is this the future of social media? I, I'm not calling any sort of. Future one way or the other. But Macon's been around for quite some time, I'll say easily over a decade. I believe I've looked at it before. In terms of a building platform, it's very interesting and also interesting to note is run by a nonprofit and so I, I do believe there will be a social layer of communication that will necessarily.

[00:07:28] Be run by a non-profit or one that is not beholden to stakeholders or not trying to productize its users, but rather is for the social common good. And so, you know, Macon is one option. The fundamental, I won't say problem. The underlying tech there allows you to create private servers, private local networks, and essentially, you know, niche groups on top of niche groups.

[00:07:54] Think of Slack in that sense of I can join different Slack groups, I can join my company Slack, I can join my, you know, fill in the blank motivational network, Slack. Uh, but it is pockets of isolation and. I think you're going to have that. It's already proliferating on platforms like Discord, where you've got independent individual rooms being run that's slightly more centralized.

[00:08:18] There still, I think, is a place for the public commons that that large shouting room, but place where information, conversation news can be disseminated. And I think it needs to become vastly. But you know, nonprofits like Macon ha have a role to play and it's also interesting tech, uh, to check out as you are considering your, your social media strategies.

[00:08:45] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, 400 thousands, no joke. And it seems to me that the people who are speaking loudly about it are people who are speaking loudly on Twitter and. Maybe a little bit of social media influence. So definitely something to keep an eye on. All right, George. Our next story is, uh, , Kinda an interesting one.

[00:09:06] Ashton Kucher, the celebrity, uh, ran in the New York City Marathon and he ran to raise money for his charity. The charity is called.

[00:09:18] Thorn and Thorn works to combat the sexual exploitation of children, uh, both online and offline. And, uh, a great organization. Uh, Ashton Kucher actually co-founded. This organization and this something that he spent a lot of time working on and ran in the New York City Marathon, which was yesterday in support of this cause.

[00:09:43] And a little bit of a, a kind of fun fact as I actually saw. Mr. Kucher running in the marathon. He had had a good pace. I could see his splits and his times, uh, getting cheered on by a lot of fans. I did not expect, uh, to see him until he was directly in front of me. But anyway, uh, celebrity, uh, walk in the walk or running the run here when it comes to helping, uh, really important if not serious causes.

[00:10:10] Yeah, it's also just, you know, I love the New York City Marathon. Uh, I did run it, get to run it one time. It's an incredible event. Motivating, I think just 50,000 people in this, in this last running, which is amazing, but also maybe equally as, uh, amazing in 2021, according to news reports from abc.

[00:10:32] Marathon. Last year, the charity partner program raised 47.8 million, so it's pretty impressive when you get into the, uh, peer-to-peer fundraising power of, of this event and is an incredible model of how, you know, the New York City Marathon also, by the way, run by NY rcc, New York Road Runner Club, which is an also a nonprofit, is in effect raising money for other organizations.

[00:11:01] And I, uh, you know, special time of year. Absolutely. It's like a holiday in New York City. It truly is. It is. It was special to be a part of. Amazing to hear about the impact that it has for nonprofits.

[00:11:14] All right, our next story comes from cnbc, and this is about election officials facing the armed militia presence at some poles. So it doesn't get much more complicated than that other than some armed militia groups. Uh, seemingly our right ones appear to be showing up at polling locations looking all intimidating in military regalia, some with guns.

[00:11:40] It seems that a judge has ordered that they can't be ex distance from poles or drop boxes or whatever. This isn't. This seems like a problem and maybe it's less of a problem and the media makes it out to be, I don't know how many instances of this happening there are. It seems like it is somewhat isolated, but, uh, not great.

[00:12:01] Yeah. They're being required to stay with, uh, at least 75 feet away from drop boxes. Not far enough in my, uh, in my opinion at all. You know, you should have to stand as far as a bullet can fly away. If you've been given deadly arms and weapons and are allowed to walk around with them, that's how far away you should stay.

[00:12:21] If we're talking about safety, I don't think 75 feet cuts it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Look, I, I'm. I am praying to whatever it is I believe in at this point for the protection of, uh, voters and voting officials and voting volunteers that are working tire tirelessly right now across the country. Uh, I'm hoping that, you know, the, the window of certification and validation of votes isn't overrun with frankly.

[00:12:52] Misinformation, disinformation pushed onto platforms that we just discussed. And these are very, uh, these are high danger periods of time, uh, for, uh, for the country, for the voting systems and nonprofits are intimately involved, uh, on the ground and in that way for voter engagement. I was lucky enough to talk with the voter engagement project on our, if you're listening to this podcast, Our last week's conversation and with the voter empowerment project, the larger view of how you support these CBOs, community based organizations, CBOs, working.

[00:13:30] Uh, year round, not just one and done, but year round on what it really looks like to, to build the democratic voting muscle, the access to the voice in our political process. And I think it's, you know, I signed up, I haven't been called in yet, but I, I signed up cuz I was, you know, of firm belief that, you know, this happens every two years, but the work should be ongoing and so, Pat on the back.

[00:14:00] Bravo. Well done. Thank you to everyone, uh, working to make voting safe and accessible right now in our country.

[00:14:07] George, that's really well said and I won't try to add any more to that and I totally agree. Alrighty. Do you feel good? Do I have a feel good? Uh, yes. This comes from your arlington.com . And it is, uh, Arlington, Massachusetts, I might add. But this is about a 200 foot sub. To benefit a food rescue nonprofit, So , the title of this is The Bendable Delicatessen in Arlington Heights, a Dinos is flaming to build what the owner says will be New England's largest sub, a 200 foot Italian sandwich.

[00:14:50] Apparently it contains $2,500 worth of donated ingredients. It is going to teachers and the school district and proceeds from. This sandwich are going to benefit a, uh, food waste and redistribution nonprofit called Food Link. The event is sent for 10:00 AM tomorrow at Pierce Fields behind Arlington High School in Arlington, Massachusetts, and uh, it's going to be the largest sub in Massachusetts, which is cool.

[00:15:22] George, what do you call, What do you call a sandwich that's 200 feet long? This is a regional. Uh, I don't know. A hokey or like a hokey. Where, Where's that? That's that Philly talking. Yeah. I, I don't know. I just don't understand what 75 pounds of salami and 30 pounds of provolone turns into. Uh, I think this is a great marketing activity, right?

[00:15:50] Like, Here's when you get into, cause marketing, cause partnerships with companies. You're like, great, build a great sandwich, charge a thing. They get a lot of exposure and news coverage, right? Like look, they're, they're obviously donating the time. They have like $2,500 of ingredients here, but it's $2,500 in marketing.

[00:16:10] We're talking about it. The, the venerable your arlington.com is talking about it. It's gonna be a good event, but they're gonna be raising awareness, uh, for food insecurity. I couldn't think of a funny pun for a 200 foot sub though.

[00:16:25] Yeah, I do. However, have a question for you, Nick. Oh, no. Yeah. Why, uh, why did the SpaceX money from ours matching corporate gift program fail?

[00:16:39] Why did their matching gift program. Wrong atmosphere. Wrong atmosphere, Nick. Ah, wrong atmosphere. It's all about, it's all about the vibes, huh? In this case, the atmosphere. Well, yeah. Yeah. Uh, well, you made it to the end of the podcast. Congratulations. Please leave us a rating review and don't forget to vote.

[00:17:01] See you out there. Thanks, Nick. Thanks, George.

View Details

Reality of Recycling Comes To Forefront As Environmental Concerns Peak Nonprofit Greenpeace has released a new report acknowledging the gross inefficiencies and near futility of recycling, as reported by Grist. The report highlights that even while the use of plastics across the world surges, the amount of plastic that gets recycled has decreased, a symptom of a solution no match for the scale of a problem it hopes to address. Greenpeace states that “U.S. households generated an estimated 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, only 2.4 million tons of which was recycled.” Because of the complexities of sorting, the chemical hazards of the process, and the use of low-grade plastics, the U.S.’s recycling infrastructure is abysmally short of where it needs to be to reduce plastic waste. This report comes as the United Nations-sponsored COP27 climate summit commences in Egypt, where U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has warned the world is on a “highway to climate hell,” set against a backdrop of war and economic crises.

Summary

• With Twitter in chaos, Mastodon is on fire | CNN Business | CNN
• Ashton Kutcher finishes NYC Marathon, raises $1M for his nonprofit | TODAY.com
• Election officials facing armed militia presence at some polls | CNBC
• 200-foot sub to benefit food-rescue nonprofit | YourArlington.com

Rough Transcript

audio1117862929 Sequence

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, we are bringing news from the week of November 7th, talking about kind of the truth behind recycling. And as COP 27 is going on as we speak, this is definitely, uh, a timely time to be thinking about what this actually means for recycling. Uh, Nick, how's. It's going good, George.

[00:00:49] It's a Bombi. 77 degrees on this lovely November day here. No problem. City. No problems here. , No problems here. Which actually feeds into our first story we're gonna be talking about. The environment. And you alluded to this in the intro, but nonprofit green piece has at least a new report that acknowledges that the gross inefficiencies of recycling make the endeavor nearly futile.

[00:01:17] For combating plastic pollution. So Greenpeace released this new report. It was reported out by the, uh, environmental and science reporting out like crisp. And the report highlights that even when the use of plastics across the world surges, the amount of plastic that's getting recycled has decreased.

[00:01:38] And this is a symptom of a solution that really. No way to scale up. It turns out that US households generated an estimated 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, and only 2.4 out of 51 million tons were recycled. And the reason for this is sorting is really complicated. There's lots of chemical hazards, and by the time the plastic gets downgraded, there's, it has to do with the grade of the plastics and it's just woefully inefficient.

[00:02:11] And the, the, the report actually highlights the need for different approaches to minimizing plastic waste, like, uh, reusable containers and, and that sort of thing. Kind of a, a grim outlook, but something we maybe need to think seriously about. And the report also goes into, Greenwashing potentially of the usefulness of recycling.

[00:02:33] You know, adding those green arrow, circular little things on, on, uh, products don't act. It doesn't actually mean what you think it means. And this does come. In the backdrop of COP 27, which not related to plastic specifically, but is the annual United Nations Sponsored Climate Summit, in which the UN Secretary General Antonio Guts has worn the world as on a highway to climate health set against a backdrop of war in economic crises.

[00:03:03] And we don't do this, I think, to shock our listeners or to panic our listeners, I think it's important, George, that we know the scale of the problems we're up against. I think it's amazing that green peace is coming out this strongly. With this, and also I think from the marketing angle, companies that produce this plastic, obviously we were pushing this like, shame, shame, shame on consumers.

[00:03:30] Look at them, they, you know, they're only recycling five to 10%. Oh, look, they don't understand the p e t ratings of one to three in terms of these recycling arrows that we put out here. It's all their fault. Here's the truth. Companies are making a. Off of inexpensive packaging and deferring the responsibility to the consumer without even, and also mind you, not just the consumer, but municipalities that then have to have wildly expensive and intelligent recycling processing plants so that they can, uh, you know, never upcycle plastic, but at least recycle plastic back down to it.

[00:04:11] Mind you, they made margin on that sale. What's. They can put that smiley greenwashed marketing logo of the chasing arrows that go around in a circle as though this is totally recyclable, totally healthy for the planet. Look at us. We're using the right materials. No, you're not. You're using the right branding materials.

[00:04:34] There's a fundamental truth that I think has to be washed out of this generation of, as you mentioned, cause washing. Of impact washing of marketing narratives versus what is actually happening on the ground. Hold up that mirror. I think this is great. I think there are other pockets of marketing trumping science in many places, and I think it's important to note that doing what we have done, But at a larger scale is simply going to break more things and pushing the responsibility of the true cost of materials and consumerism back to the companies.

[00:05:18] Yeah. George, I, I, I totally agree. That's a, a good kind of perspective to have a problem that. We haven't figured out how to solve yet. And when economics come into play and, and companies and all sorts of different stakeholders, it becomes a much more complicated problem than I think the overwhelming majority of us are in the loop on.

[00:05:41] All right. Shall I take us into our next story? Yeah. What do we got here? Right. So this is something of a follow up, but we're gonna take a different tack on this. This comes from cnn.com, and the title of this story is with Twitter in Chaos. Macon is on fire, and I don't necessarily think it's helpful to dive into the Twitter drama right now, of which there is a lot because that is still in developing.

[00:06:10] A developing news story with a unclear end. But we wanted to talk about this new platform, Mastodon, which is a decentralized, non-profit run social media platform that has seen a surge and users migrating to it. Sun since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter. It report, I think a 400,000 user increase over the past, uh, couple weeks.

[00:06:36] And it's kind of interesting, it seems that I don't, I haven't been on it yet, but it seems that you have, uh, different servers if you will, that kind of give you different experiences and different types of content, and it's designed to be kind of decentralized and give you the experience, uh, you want on those platforms.

[00:06:55] George, this is kind of a, an interesting social media take and maybe a nonprofit model. Is, is this the future of social media? I, I'm not calling any sort of. Future one way or the other. But Macon's been around for quite some time, I'll say easily over a decade. I believe I've looked at it before. In terms of a building platform, it's very interesting and also interesting to note is run by a nonprofit and so I, I do believe there will be a social layer of communication that will necessarily.

[00:07:28] Be run by a non-profit or one that is not beholden to stakeholders or not trying to productize its users, but rather is for the social common good. And so, you know, Macon is one option. The fundamental, I won't say problem. The underlying tech there allows you to create private servers, private local networks, and essentially, you know, niche groups on top of niche groups.

[00:07:54] Think of Slack in that sense of I can join different Slack groups, I can join my company Slack, I can join my, you know, fill in the blank motivational network, Slack. Uh, but it is pockets of isolation and. I think you're going to have that. It's already proliferating on platforms like Discord, where you've got independent individual rooms being run that's slightly more centralized.

[00:08:18] There still, I think, is a place for the public commons that that large shouting room, but place where information, conversation news can be disseminated. And I think it needs to become vastly. But you know, nonprofits like Macon ha have a role to play and it's also interesting tech, uh, to check out as you are considering your, your social media strategies.

[00:08:45] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, 400 thousands, no joke. And it seems to me that the people who are speaking loudly about it are people who are speaking loudly on Twitter and. Maybe a little bit of social media influence. So definitely something to keep an eye on. All right, George. Our next story is, uh, , Kinda an interesting one.

[00:09:06] Ashton Kucher, the celebrity, uh, ran in the New York City Marathon and he ran to raise money for his charity. The charity is called.

[00:09:18] Thorn and Thorn works to combat the sexual exploitation of children, uh, both online and offline. And, uh, a great organization. Uh, Ashton Kucher actually co-founded. This organization and this something that he spent a lot of time working on and ran in the New York City Marathon, which was yesterday in support of this cause.

[00:09:43] And a little bit of a, a kind of fun fact as I actually saw. Mr. Kucher running in the marathon. He had had a good pace. I could see his splits and his times, uh, getting cheered on by a lot of fans. I did not expect, uh, to see him until he was directly in front of me. But anyway, uh, celebrity, uh, walk in the walk or running the run here when it comes to helping, uh, really important if not serious causes.

[00:10:10] Yeah, it's also just, you know, I love the New York City Marathon. Uh, I did run it, get to run it one time. It's an incredible event. Motivating, I think just 50,000 people in this, in this last running, which is amazing, but also maybe equally as, uh, amazing in 2021, according to news reports from abc.

[00:10:32] Marathon. Last year, the charity partner program raised 47.8 million, so it's pretty impressive when you get into the, uh, peer-to-peer fundraising power of, of this event and is an incredible model of how, you know, the New York City Marathon also, by the way, run by NY rcc, New York Road Runner Club, which is an also a nonprofit, is in effect raising money for other organizations.

[00:11:01] And I, uh, you know, special time of year. Absolutely. It's like a holiday in New York City. It truly is. It is. It was special to be a part of. Amazing to hear about the impact that it has for nonprofits.

[00:11:14] All right, our next story comes from cnbc, and this is about election officials facing the armed militia presence at some poles. So it doesn't get much more complicated than that other than some armed militia groups. Uh, seemingly our right ones appear to be showing up at polling locations looking all intimidating in military regalia, some with guns.

[00:11:40] It seems that a judge has ordered that they can't be ex distance from poles or drop boxes or whatever. This isn't. This seems like a problem and maybe it's less of a problem and the media makes it out to be, I don't know how many instances of this happening there are. It seems like it is somewhat isolated, but, uh, not great.

[00:12:01] Yeah. They're being required to stay with, uh, at least 75 feet away from drop boxes. Not far enough in my, uh, in my opinion at all. You know, you should have to stand as far as a bullet can fly away. If you've been given deadly arms and weapons and are allowed to walk around with them, that's how far away you should stay.

[00:12:21] If we're talking about safety, I don't think 75 feet cuts it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Look, I, I'm. I am praying to whatever it is I believe in at this point for the protection of, uh, voters and voting officials and voting volunteers that are working tire tirelessly right now across the country. Uh, I'm hoping that, you know, the, the window of certification and validation of votes isn't overrun with frankly.

[00:12:52] Misinformation, disinformation pushed onto platforms that we just discussed. And these are very, uh, these are high danger periods of time, uh, for, uh, for the country, for the voting systems and nonprofits are intimately involved, uh, on the ground and in that way for voter engagement. I was lucky enough to talk with the voter engagement project on our, if you're listening to this podcast, Our last week's conversation and with the voter empowerment project, the larger view of how you support these CBOs, community based organizations, CBOs, working.

[00:13:30] Uh, year round, not just one and done, but year round on what it really looks like to, to build the democratic voting muscle, the access to the voice in our political process. And I think it's, you know, I signed up, I haven't been called in yet, but I, I signed up cuz I was, you know, of firm belief that, you know, this happens every two years, but the work should be ongoing and so, Pat on the back.

[00:14:00] Bravo. Well done. Thank you to everyone, uh, working to make voting safe and accessible right now in our country.

[00:14:07] George, that's really well said and I won't try to add any more to that and I totally agree. Alrighty. Do you feel good? Do I have a feel good? Uh, yes. This comes from your arlington.com . And it is, uh, Arlington, Massachusetts, I might add. But this is about a 200 foot sub. To benefit a food rescue nonprofit, So , the title of this is The Bendable Delicatessen in Arlington Heights, a Dinos is flaming to build what the owner says will be New England's largest sub, a 200 foot Italian sandwich.

[00:14:50] Apparently it contains $2,500 worth of donated ingredients. It is going to teachers and the school district and proceeds from. This sandwich are going to benefit a, uh, food waste and redistribution nonprofit called Food Link. The event is sent for 10:00 AM tomorrow at Pierce Fields behind Arlington High School in Arlington, Massachusetts, and uh, it's going to be the largest sub in Massachusetts, which is cool.

[00:15:22] George, what do you call, What do you call a sandwich that's 200 feet long? This is a regional. Uh, I don't know. A hokey or like a hokey. Where, Where's that? That's that Philly talking. Yeah. I, I don't know. I just don't understand what 75 pounds of salami and 30 pounds of provolone turns into. Uh, I think this is a great marketing activity, right?

[00:15:50] Like, Here's when you get into, cause marketing, cause partnerships with companies. You're like, great, build a great sandwich, charge a thing. They get a lot of exposure and news coverage, right? Like look, they're, they're obviously donating the time. They have like $2,500 of ingredients here, but it's $2,500 in marketing.

[00:16:10] We're talking about it. The, the venerable your arlington.com is talking about it. It's gonna be a good event, but they're gonna be raising awareness, uh, for food insecurity. I couldn't think of a funny pun for a 200 foot sub though.

[00:16:25] Yeah, I do. However, have a question for you, Nick. Oh, no. Yeah. Why, uh, why did the SpaceX money from ours matching corporate gift program fail?

[00:16:39] Why did their matching gift program. Wrong atmosphere. Wrong atmosphere, Nick. Ah, wrong atmosphere. It's all about, it's all about the vibes, huh? In this case, the atmosphere. Well, yeah. Yeah. Uh, well, you made it to the end of the podcast. Congratulations. Please leave us a rating review and don't forget to vote.

[00:17:01] See you out there. Thanks, Nick. Thanks, George.

View Details

Interview with Dave Chandrasekaran, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Voter Empowerment Project. VEP leverages skilled volunteers to help front-line community-based organizations that work on voter engagement. Dave shares how they engage volunteers to support communities over time rather than just every 2 years.

Learn how trust was built with CBO's over time and how skill-based volunteering is creating amazing impact.

The Voter Empowerment Project (VEP) is a grassroots initiative that launched in November 2019 and mobilizes individuals to support voter turnout in high-need areas. VEP’s network of volunteer professionals provides remote technical assistance to small, high-impact, front-line organizations that mobilize voters in historically disadvantaged communities.

Find VEP on:

• https://twitter.com/EmpowerVoters
• https://www.instagram.com/empowervoters/
• https://www.facebook.com/empowervoters
• Volunteer here

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] We have a very timely guest on with the midterms coming up. We reached out to the voter empowerment project, voter empowerment.org, voter empowerment.org, and we found none other then the co-founder and executive director Dave Chandresakaran to join us on the podcast.

[00:00:46] Dave, how is it? It's going great, George.

[00:00:48] Thanks so much for having me on.

[00:00:51] Well, I could imagine, I don't know, a million other things that you are racing to do as we approach such a important time in American Politic, but I maybe we could start with your story. How did, how did this begin? I, I know 2019 was the year, but maybe you

[00:01:08] can bring us back.

[00:01:09] Sure. Our founding was back in 2019, but it really was inspired by some experiences several of us had in 2016. And I, along with many of my colleagues who are here based in the DC area, we like to every election cycle go knock on doors and go phone bank, and we try to recruit as many of our friends and colleagues to come and do the.

[00:01:30] And so in 2016, many of us were in Pennsylvania. And on, on one day I was in South Philadelphia knocking on some doors, predominantly African-American neighborhood. And there was an older black gentleman who answered the door in one case and had no interest in voting. And he explained that was because quote, you people come here every four years, you yell at us to go vote and you leave because you don't give a damn.

[00:01:52] That's something that when I tell that story, often everyone in the room nods their head. They've all experienced that when they're doing election related work. But I think the problem was as I spoke to some of my colleagues in the campaign sector, they said, You know, that's what happens. You talk to 10 million voters and you upset 2 million of 'em.

[00:02:07] It's just collateral damage. And I think as we experience what happened to people, especially communities of color after the 2016 election and for the years afterwards, a lot of people were absolutely suffering, especially people of color. And when we approached 2020, I really didn't wanna perpetuate that situation of having out of towners, parachute into black and brown neighborhoods and just tell them what to do and then leave.

[00:02:31] And so we really, were brainstorming in 2019, how can we still activate volunteers from around the country, but do so in a way that's more respectful, that's gonna have, you know, meaningful impact and really values the communities we're talking to. And so we recognize that. Hundreds or thousands of really small, amazing non-profits out there that are doing this work.

[00:02:52] And they do it year round and they're based in the community. They reflect the community. They work not just on elections or voter empower, empowerment or civics. They also work on housing and healthcare and education and criminal justice reform. So they just have far more trust in their communities, but a lot of them are under.

[00:03:10] And so we thought, why don't we find volunteers from around the country, all of whom are just really smart and have a lot of skills, and let's go to these fall nonprofits and let's say, Hey, if you have access to our network of just really smart people, what could we do for you? And so that morphed into this model where we kind of became a pro bono consulting firm for small organizations that were at the front lines of helping get out.

[00:03:32] That's

[00:03:32] so interesting cuz you hear this, You know, you people come here every four years and tell us to go vote. It's like there's this giant voter apparatus, this amazing engine that gets revved up with the order of billions of dollars and then disappears, vanishes overnight. and it in one way makes complete sense.

[00:03:55] It, it seems like there's just like a lack of feedback loops because I imagine the other side of the narrative, the people that are working for progressive change in these neighborhoods say, Well, well, well, yeah, well, we're going to do the work. Didn't you see that, this or that, or the things that happen, How do you view the, the underlying problem here?

[00:04:12] I've labeled it as a feedback loop, but clearly that's over.

[00:04:15] Sure. So if you think of the sort of electoral industrial complex, it's a multi-billion dollar industry that pops up every two years, every four. I recognize that for better, for worse, that's how our electoral system works. It's donors going to campaigns to political action committees, and then hundreds of millions of dollars spent mostly on advertising, on networks and digital space.

[00:04:37] And the whole goal is either to persuade people to vote for your candidate or to eventually get them to come out to vote. And that's not gonna change any time soon. But for those of us who want to participate in a way that's maybe. We have built our model recognizing that there's amazing groups who do this work, who can help build trust among folks who are disenfranchised, who've really been left behind and can earn their trust.

[00:05:00] When we then go and say, Hey, we'd love for you to register to vote. If you aren't, or we know you're registered, we'd love for you to go and exercise your right to vote. And what can we do to help you if there's barriers because of voter suppression laws, because of the difficulty in finding your polling place because you move.

[00:05:14] and I wish there was more emphasis on that to the larger, broader industry that's working on elections to realize that investing in these groups and doing so not just every two years or four years, but year round, that really helps a lot of these groups report that's funding comes, you know, the summer before an election.

[00:05:30] There's all this beltway influence on them of what they need to do with strings attached to the funding and then it disappear. So they hire people and then have to fire people and then find new ones again. And then, you know, and one thing I'm very thankful of is that a lot of the philanthropic community who cares about civic engagement and democracy have really moved more to this longer term investment in these kinds of organizations, multi-year grants that are big enough that they can hire and train quality staff, that they can use some of that money to invest in the community through outreach and events.

[00:06:01] And I think that is having an. But I'll be honest, as you know, the rise in voter suppression in many states around the country is making the task of helping people vote all the more difficult, You know, dozens of laws have been passed in, in many, many states that are specifically targeted at help, making it harder to vote, especially for people of color and other disfranchised communities.

[00:06:21] So I do hope that the larger industry that cares about voting rights will really look at how we invest that. and the support, not just episodically, but year round over the long term, and helping these groups really expand their impact over time.

[00:06:37] I do wanna get more into how you are working with volunteers, training them, placing them, connecting them.

[00:06:44] But I'm also curious because there's a sizeable voter engagement and, you know, midterm circus going on right now. I know you're focused on the overall, like how do we build over time, But I have you in this moment. What is top of mind for you right now? What are you looking for as we roll into what's gonna be a very noisy week

[00:07:05] politically?

[00:07:06]

[00:07:06] Our model has two. One is helping amazing small, high-impact organizations working at the state and local level who are mobilizing communities of color and rural Americans and returning citizens and first time voters and young people, and we want to really help them expand their impact.

[00:07:24] The second objective though, is activating more people in civic engagement, and so we really prioritize creating volunteer opportunities that are more accessible and meaningful and engaging. For people who otherwise wouldn't get involved. And in fact, in our first year of operations, over 80% had only participated in less than three campaign cycles.

[00:07:46] 40% had never been involved. So we see that as our mission in addition to helping frontline work. And where that really comes in this year though, is what many people are noticing traditionally in midterm election. The enthusiasm among voters and the enthusiasm among volunteers and the enthusiasm among donors is just significantly lower than presidential years.

[00:08:07] And I can honestly say that 2020 probably had the most attention compared to, you know, decades of elections. And I think we all understand why it was a very intense election. There was very vitriolic. But that really has had an impact on us when we're trying to find more people to participate as volunteers.

[00:08:21] It was much more difficult this year compared to 20. So that was huge lessons in what we need to do in a year on fact function of engaging volunteers, building opportunities that will keep them involved, keep them enthusiastic and make sure that they're available to support these groups in a year round fashion.

[00:08:38] Since that's the one, one of the most important things, I think we're seeing that the vitriol and, and devices and politics is not going, not going away anytime soon. And that certainly motivates some people. But there was a lot of people who were volunteers with us and a lot of the groups we. They just really care about helping people get out to vote.

[00:08:54] It doesn't matter whether you're liberal or conservative, it doesn't matter, you know, where the voter is in the country. Everyone should be able to exercise their right to vote, especially those who've been disenfranchised. And I think that's been a huge selling point to a lot of the volunteers that we talk to, rather than door knocking or phone banking and talking to strangers on the phone.

[00:09:11] And, you know, that's a very difficult circumstance difficult activity, and frankly, not everyone's good at. . But instead of that they can use their existing skills helping really amazing frontline groups and the staff they get to interact with. It's, it's just a much more pleasant experience. And so we certainly hope despite lower enthusiasm in these quote unquote off years, we wanna figure out how we can grow our impact in recruiting volunteers so that we're delivering for the groups that we're helping.

[00:09:33] That makes sense. And so, Maybe you could say a bit more about, I think on a macro level, I will also say that we've seen a, a decrease in, in volunteers. There are, you know, big picture things like employment levels after effects of covid involved in this, as well as inflation costs of gas for transport.

[00:09:54] That volunteering in general seems to be on a bit of a decline. What is your hope though, when you recruit volunteers at this time of year? There's a sudden surge, albeit much lower than our every four year. This is an off cycle. What is your hope though, in, in raising the, the visibility of the voter empowerment project, in front of volunteers?

[00:10:18] I guess at this

[00:10:19] moment

[00:10:19] we are very much interested next year and focusing on understanding what motivates people to volunteer, what excites them about it, and what can we do. To earn their participation. So for example, we're really broadening our investment in professional development. So we recruit volunteers. The youngest was 14 in 2020.

[00:10:40] The oldest was much, much older. They are anywhere from students in high school and college to early career professionals, to executives, to retirees. But especially for the younger volunteers, we know that there's a way we can help them develop. Help them find mentors, help them as they advance in their careers or in their education.

[00:10:58] And so we really wanna highlight that. We wanna develop that more formally so that when we approach, you know, the masses we wanna recruit to volunteer, we can say this is something that you benefit from as well. So that it doesn't rely on people's political motivation or the intensity of an election cycle.

[00:11:11] It's just an opportunity that they see that's meaningful to them. We also want to convey that volunteering to help other people vote. Perhaps it's just something everyone should. For those of us who have an easier time to vote, maybe that's a way of giving back the way. Volunteering at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, or helping to mentor young people in your nearby schools.

[00:11:31] Those are things that many of us have done over the years. This is something we all should just do and everyone can do it whenever you have time using your existing skills. We really believe that it doesn't matter what skills you have. Maybe you have graphic design, social media skills, data analysis.

[00:11:44] We need a lot of. But also just people who are really good at Googling information or really good at just writing and building information putting up to da the documents calling volunteers of a small nonprofit and getting them to come out to volunteer. There's a lot of ways people can help and, and it, so we're gonna spend a lot of time next year figuring out both what to offer and then how to take that message out to the public when we recruit volunteers.

[00:12:07] Yeah, it's a couple steps removed, I imagine, on off cycle years and timing. It is. Potentially tough to connect that, that impact, right? A volunteer who hands out and creates, you know, impact in a soup kitchen is very different than someone who builds capacity in a frontline voter empowerment organization on the ground somewhere doing, you know, as you mentioned, data analysis or marketing, pr, communications, research.

[00:12:38] You know, you're helping the people who are helping the people who are then going to vote. How, you know, are these times of year, maybe I'm getting into more specifically here, are these times of year easier because voting and the importance of voting is top of mind for recruiting volunteers? Or is it just so noisy that it is other sort of more, we'll say soup kitchen focused direct service on the ground, smile and dial types of volunteering that that overtake these.

[00:13:07] The first thing I'll say is we really wanna say there's no such thing as an off year. That voting is a thing we should think about always, regardless of whether it's midterm or presidential election. And in fact, in many places, your state or your local municipal government will have elections in odd numbered years.

[00:13:25] And there's many elections that happen. Some happen early in the year even. And so we want. Both voters understand the importance of coming out to vote, but also volunteers understanding the importance to volunteer throughout the year, throughout different cycles. And we recognize though that, that the larger narrative around what's happening, presidential election, you know, Democrats are Republicans, that's probably gonna motivate most people, but we really think that there were a lot of volunteers in 2020 who wanted to get involved, didn't know how, and once they did, they were really eager to come.

[00:13:56] Our post activity survey in 2021 showed that 97% were interested in volunteering again, and 86% said that they just had a deeper understanding of issues around voter disenfranchisement. And over 60% said that really helped them understand issues around racial injustice. And so we hope that once folks get in the door and they participate once that, they'll really come back.

[00:14:18] And we have seen that. But you're right, there's, there's, nothing's gonna make it easy to build enthusiasm at a time. People have been overwhelmed and traumatized by the pandemic and by other issues and political vitriol and criminal justice reform issues. So we wanna also be empathetic to that.

[00:14:33] Our big motto is that those who want to help, here's an opportunity for one way you can. And there's many, many ways you can help, whether it's in voting or other ways. We just wanna create a very attractive one for the people that it'll benefit and who who would like to, to get involved. And so that's really on us to make that volunteer opportunity attractive.

[00:14:51] And one of the things the volunteers really said, they appreciated volunteering in a nonpartisan way. They appreciated working with these frontline groups, most of whom are led by staff of color, who were just genuinely amazing people. And some of our volunteers built really great relationships with the staff of those groups on the ground, even if they lived a thousand miles away.

[00:15:10] Some of them joined the boards of these organizations. Some of them became direct volunteers for these organizations. Some of them became donors. So I really think that experience is one that makes it worthwhile and we hope to really amplify that message by saying, Here's this great opportunity not just to help the public, but really to help you as well.

[00:15:26] I really

[00:15:27] am interested in how you're crafting this volunteer experience. Clearly based on the, you know, exit polling, , the surveying that you're doing of volunteers that are, are part of. It is working. How many volunteers have gone through this process? Can you gimme an idea of some of the numbers and then as much as you can, Like what kind of impact can you tell these volunteers are having given the wide range of services that these volunteers are then providing to frontline

[00:15:56] organizations?

[00:15:58] Since the start of 2019 when we launched, we've had, you know, close to 500 people sign up, interested in volunteering. About a half of them eventually ended up participating, getting onboarded, getting involved in a project. But I'd say about 180 or so have been like really active in doing, in delivering services.

[00:16:15] And we certainly hope in the future to double or triple that number once we expand our capacity. We know. For most volunteers, it's really hard to balance their work commitments and other things going on in their lives during a pandemic childcare, a lot of you know a lot, and that's why we allow volunteers to volunteer when you have time.

[00:16:36] Do you have a couple hours this week? Great. If that's, if there's a project that needs someone to help edit a newsletter and you have time to do it, great. Do it. And then if you're busy for a month, that's okay. And when you're free again, come back and we'll offer what other projects are. We also want to make sure that the groups we're helping are able to receive our help without adding burden to them.

[00:16:54] And that's why one of the most important things we do is we manage the delivery of services. A lot of groups match people, They match volunteers to organizations, and I think that model absolutely works as well. But we wanted to be careful because. We didn't want the organizations to have to have an additional thing or additional person to have to oversee.

[00:17:12] So we just get the info from an organization. Let's say they wanna update their website, They want new information on their civic engagement page. They just don't have time to research it. They don't have time to upload it. We'll find a volunteer who can do the research. We'll find a volunteer who can then take that information and write copy to go on the website.

[00:17:26] And then we'll find a website expert who can then take it and put it up online, maybe a graphic design volunteer. We'll create some great graphics with it and add it to that webpage. And so, you know, multiple people are working on a. And we can get this done in maybe a week. And if folks want to go out and hire people, if they had the funds that could take, you know, three weeks just to sign the contract and then months of meetings, and then maybe it's update.

[00:17:47] So we really value our rapid response process to help these groups who are in need, who just don't have the time or capacity to do it in house. This is such an

[00:17:57] important point, and I'm really happy that we're turning towards it because I think there's this myth. All you have to do is point a volunteer at a nonprofit and boom, good things happen.

[00:18:08] Ignoring the amount, the amazing amount of project management, organizing, messaging, and generally corralling of volunteers to have an actual workable product created. Maybe you can dig a little bit deeper into how this actually works, because it sounds like you are effectively running an agency. That is leveraging volunteers to have finite

[00:18:36] deliverables

[00:18:37] that can be relied on by these organizations.

[00:18:42] Like, What, This sounds like a PM circus. What is going on? How are you doing

[00:18:46] this? So we often describe ourselves as a pro bono consulting forum for small, under-resourced voting rights organizations at the front lines of voter engage. But I think that sounds a little corporate. So we really consider ourselves an organization that gives free technical assistance in a way that is tailored to what an organization drives is their needs.

[00:19:08] But you're right, managing all of the different projects is an enormous hercule effort, and it's not insignificant. And that's one of the reasons we're really, you know, aggressively trying to raise more money from foundations, from donors, so that we can hire more staff. It really just comes down to. Good people who are organized, who can help recruit volunteers, who can help identify the great frontline groups that are doing voter engagement, and then who can help assign the volunteers of the work.

[00:19:34] But the most important is following up and making sure the services get delivered, especially since volunteers are donating their time. It's not like their staff, It's not like you have that ability to sort of really just directly have that authority to sort of order them to get certain things done.

[00:19:47] You're really asking for. , which is why we are very supportive in helping. Any time a volunteer needs help or needs information from the organization, we can help facilitate that if needed. Anytime the organization feels like a volunteer maybe isn't responding we'll step in and figure out what's going on and just wanna make sure that soup to nuts, everything gets done.

[00:20:06] And that's our really we pride ourselves in delivering things on time and in a satisfactory fashion. In a way that's equal to or better than what a private sector consulting firm would do because these groups deserve that. They don't deserve second tier service.

[00:20:21] We were talking with the podcast r i p, medical debt and how they turn $1 into a hundred dollars of leverage to alleviate medical debt.

[00:20:30] I see for voter empowerment dot. That you actually can, can claim that you are getting a three to one, right? You're getting matched on your generous founders, which is awesome. Can you explain maybe, is there a leverage where I donate $1 to essentially your amazing project managers there who are organizing all of these volunteers and these hours, Like what type of leverage do you see happening with dollars put into the organiz?

[00:21:02] Yep. I appreciate you bringing up our current fall fundraising campaign. Our, one of our board members has generously agreed to put up $10,000 in matching funds. She's gonna donate $200 for every donor who contributes this fall, and so we're very excited to be able to expand our impact by securing more funds that can both help us, you know, invest in hiring more staff, but also in different projects like our professional development program.

[00:21:31] That's gonna help create opportunities for skills training and mentorship for our volunteers as well as for staff at the partners, because a lot of our frontline partners said we really would love more professional development opportunities, but we also wanna see how we can leverage getting more financial and other types of resources to our frontline partners.

[00:21:48] And so, for example, in 2020, We recognized that a lot of our organization partners had never had voter file data before to help them target their messaging, target, their outreach, door knocking, et cetera. So we said, How can we help you access voter file data? And so we found some opportunities where they existed that were actually pretty affordable, but they didn't have it in their budget.

[00:22:07] So we were able to raise a bit of money from some donors to pay for that voter. But then we realized we have this voter file data. Well now you need to use text banking tools and phone banking tools, et cetera. And some of them didn't have that. And so we said, Okay, why don't for, you know, for the next three months, we'll pay for those services for you so you can get it off the ground.

[00:22:24] And then a lot of them had never done paid advertising on social media before, which is another key way to reach certain demographics. And so again, we were able to raise a bit of money to help them fund their digital marketing campaigns that we ran through volunteers, but we needed that tiny bit of money to help it get out the door.

[00:22:40] So that's another area where we're willing wanna expand our project to help support these organizations. And donor and foundation support is gonna be critical to.

[00:22:48] Yeah, there's a lot of leverage happening here. I, I don't know if it's even possible to say like, Oh, we do this many projects. This is the average size, this is the average output, or however it would come across.

[00:22:59] But this is a leverage play very clearly, where you are able to create the, the tool, get access to the data, and then. Offer it to organizations that need it the most, on the front line and also, you know, it seems like provide funding to them on occasion as well.

[00:23:16] Yeah, we've executed several hundred projects for the organizations and from a wide range.

[00:23:21] It could be revamping or redoing many of their websites and no critique to non-profits. But our websites are not known for being cutting edge . And we were fortunate enough to have several computer science students who then became graduates from Stanford, who were just amazing at this stuff. And we also created, you know, 50 to a hundred pieces of individual social media content, graphics, cap.

[00:23:43] That were plug and play for several organizations based on topics they described, or we analyzed voter file data for them to help them create targets of who they should go doorknob to, who they should phone bank based on the demographics and the zip codes that they wanted to focus on. Or we actually helped some groups figure out how to do volunteer recruitment better, so it could be anywhere from as simple as updating their volunteer signup form on their website to collect the information they need to better use their volunteers.

[00:24:10] To researching what are some great student groups in your area? Or if you need, say, volunteers who speak Korean or Vietnamese, let's find some networks of people who speak that. And then we would actually engage those organizations to recruit those volunteers to the frontline partners. So the projects were, were really diverse.

[00:24:25] And some would take an hour or three hours. Some would take, you know, once a week for, for three months to help execute. And it just, A broad range of ways. We help organizations and the, and create them in a way that volunteers who have different time, different skill sets and different interests can really plug in wherever they want.

[00:24:42] Yeah. This

[00:24:43] is, this is great. I'm, I feel like I'm being sold to become a volunteer. I'm like, Oh, I know how to do that. I could do that. I could, I know how this would work. Talk me through. I'd go, I would sign up on the form and then I'm contacted. I imagine I'm vetted to some extent. What would my experience be?

[00:25:00] And I guess maybe it also depends on the time of year, because right now, let's just be honest, , you're volunteering to like work for the next week. This is not the, you know, maybe the right flow, but big picture, if you care about voter engagement, it seems like a great use of, of energy and skill. So walk me through what that, you know, onboarding, What does it feel

[00:25:20] like?

[00:25:20] What does it look. Well first off, George, I absolutely would like to recruit you to come volunteer, and I know several groups have been interested in launching podcasts. Your expertise would be very, very well received. Oh, yikes. . So, in terms of the process you know, if you find our website, voter empowerment.org, you know, you can click there to sign up to volunteer, and.

[00:25:40] You know, you'll, we'll reach out to you pretty quickly and just say Thank you for volunteering. The signup form includes an opportunity for you to list what are the different skills you might have. It might be creative, like graphic design or social media or writing. It might be technical, like web design or data analysis.

[00:25:56] Or computer programming, or it might be sort of logistics, an administration, like helping to recruit volunteers or helping with backend HR operations. and we'll, we'll onboard volunteers just to give an overview of what the experience is like and we really get a sense of, well, what kind of time, you know, do you have now over time, over the year?

[00:26:16] And then we can add you to our list of volunteers based on the skill set you said you have. And as we approach organizations throughout the year and they share with us, Hey, right now I really need someone to help me draft some new social media content, we'll reach out to anyone who said they had social media expertise and say, Is anyone available to help this amazing.

[00:26:33] Asian Pacific Islander Outreach Group in Arizona or in North Carolina create some new social media content targeting youth from API backgrounds. . And so we see which volunteer might have both the skill set, but also the sort of experience in those communities that can help volunteer. And then we'll, we'll, you know, ma link the organization and the volunteer and we'll oversee the process, provide them with any information and support and check in as they, you know, create the social media content.

[00:26:59] We'll make sure it meets the needs of the partner, ultimately leading to creating, you know, a Google Drive full of content that the organization can, can use. And once that volunteer's completed, you know, we like to check in and see how things. and then the volunteers sort of able to come back whenever they, they are interested or if they get busy, they're, you know, we understand that and we, we, you know, give them their space cuz everyone has a lot going on.

[00:27:20] But it really is flexible, built around your, your availability, your skills, and your interests. The other thing we do is that we know some people might come in with a little bit of knowledge of something, but not a lot. And maybe they wanna enhance those. So let's say you're, you know, preliminarily good at some website design, or maybe you're someone who likes the, you know, you wanna learn more about fundraising.

[00:27:41] Well, maybe we'll pair you with a volunteer who's an expert in that on a project so you can get some sort of apprenticeship exposure. And we hope that you can develop those skills as a volunteer. Not just to be able to help other partners through v e P over time, but also that can add to your skill set as you develop your own career and can apply for jobs that look for those kind of skills.

[00:28:01] So like I said, we really want to invest in the people participating in the program as much as we're investing in the organizations we're serving.

[00:28:06] Yeah. That, you know, that makes, that makes sense in terms of just like the amount of time, like how much time is like, I'm gonna fill out this form. I'm like going through right now, I'm entering in my skills and the extra pieces that I can.

[00:28:18] You know, what is the amount of time before I would be potentially placed on a project? Or is it, it's like I get called in if the project arises that matches

[00:28:26] it. The volunteer can get invited whenever we have any project that seems to meet their skill set. So it might be that someone signs up and maybe they're someone who has video editing and video prediction skills.

[00:28:37] And at the moment there isn't an organization who needs that. Well, it might be, you know, we're not gonna reach out to that volunteer right away until we have that. But for many of the groups, they have such a broad range of needs for, for so many different skill sets that most volunteers have something that fits some project that's open.

[00:28:53] It can be as complex as doing some really sophisticated regression analysis of something, something through data, data tools, or it can be as simple as data. Just need to find out what is the demographic breakdown among 18 a plus year old in Milwaukee. Folks can just quickly research that and pull together and make it into a little, you know, worksheet that they provide to the partner.

[00:29:17] So for most volunteers, we really will have an opportunity right away. Now you did mention, you know, how about right now we're less than a week away from the election, and it's true that most things towards the election is already in motion. But one of the things the organization said very clearly is that when they need help is not only September through.

[00:29:37] Perhaps even more important, starting next year, January through next summer, the summer of 2024, that's when they have time to work on things, to take on new projects. That's when they really want to test out new tools or new ways of doing outreach. That's when they'd like to learn and take trainings on how to, they can improve their social media skills.

[00:29:58] So we really are aggressively inviting people to sign up, to volunteer right now while elections are on their. So they can help us out, you know, in November, in December, and into next year, which I think is gonna make or break voter turnout in 2024, if that's something people care about.

[00:30:13] The human

[00:30:14] response to emotion and disaster thinking and of the moment is gotta be so frustrating for you. We donate and we're triggered to donate to disasters, hurricanes, when they happen, and then the interest die. As well as the attention and then the commitment to it falls off. So it really does seem like when people are motivated in this window is, is when you would recruit the most volunteers.

[00:30:40] Is that accurate

[00:30:42] or do I have this wrong? It's a hundred percent accurate that people are certainly more motivated to donate or volunteer. In the moment in a crisis in response to a, a severe event, whether that's, as you mentioned, hurricanes like Katrina or the tsunami in Southeast Asia or it's in the aftermath of earthquakes or, you know, horrible, horrific mass shootings in the US And then certainly elections and 2020 was probably a hallmark sign of how so many people were interested in getting involved.

[00:31:11] And some found a way, but many didn't. And so we were one opportunity that many people got. And like I mentioned, a lot of folks said they appreciated our opportunity cause it was unique. It allowed them to use their existing skills and didn't put them outta their comfort zone and let them work with amazing small, frontline person of color led organizations.

[00:31:29] But I think that's the reality and I don't blame anyone for being reactive when it comes to their tism in their philanthropy or their volunteer time. I think that's just part of human nature. And that certainly was the case for me when I was younger and, you know, I evolved to become someone who really got.

[00:31:44] Year round. Volunteerism is a good thing, not just for the community, but for myself. And it can help me advance and grow as a person and in my career. So I take it upon ourselves to help educate the public that, you know, next year, next January, February, is as far away from an election cycle as you can be.

[00:32:01] That's gonna, you know, really be on people's minds, but that might be the best time to come. Volunt. And we want to earn folks interest in that by creating opportunities that are easy, that are meaningful, that are rewarding by investing their professional development. But really, we're gonna sit down with all of the frontline organizations we work with, and we work with over 30, and we hope to grow that we're gonna find out what do you need now in 2023 to help you grow?

[00:32:25] I wanna take that directly to the volunteers and say, I just heard from the most amazing frontline groups in Georgia and in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Arizona, and in Texas and Florida, and this is what they say they need to succeed. And you have those skills to help it. So we're partnering, We're looking to do an impressive outreach with universities.

[00:32:44] For example, we've contacted about 300 universities in several of the states that we're working in, over the past couple weeks, thanks to our amazing interns who are working with us this fall. and we're talking to multiple student groups in those universities saying, We'd love for you guys to volunteer.

[00:32:58] We'd love for your students to apply to intern with us, and we'd love to invest in those students so that they're getting something out of this. And we think that'll be a huge opportunity to, to both support young people, but also create a pipeline among them to become future leaders. In civic engagement, we wanna reach out to mid-career professionals, so folks who might be lawyers or data analysts or web designers and say, This could be a very easy way for you to compli.

[00:33:23] what you're doing in your day job with a little bit of just rewarding altruism out there. And maybe that'll even help you build some connections and build relationships. And then there's a lot of executives and a lot of retirees who have enormous amount of skill, and especially the retirees have a lot of time on their hands.

[00:33:37] Mm-hmm. and saying, You know, here's a great way you can help positively impact our country at a time when democracy is. So I'm consciously optimistic that we'll be able to recruit more volunteers despite, you know, this year's lower enthusiasm as we really invest in what we think is gonna matter to the volunteers.

[00:33:54] One more important

[00:33:56] part of the puzzle, I mean, you're dealing with a two-sided marketplace, which is notoriously the hardest where you're finding volunteers, but also the projects, the types of projects structured in a way that are. Package so that a volunteer can actually plug in play. But more importantly, you mentioned the, the 30 community based organizations as I understand it, that, that you have and you have built trust with because you know that is really where the actual impact occurs.

[00:34:26] Maybe you can talk a little bit about how you recruit them, how you work with them to find those types of projects, and even like what is the most common project you see coming

[00:34:35] in 2020? Yep. In late 2019 and early 2020, I just researched, you know, civic engagement organizations in the many states we were focusing on.

[00:34:47] And I could tell you it was an enormous amount of research. I built a, a very impressive list of 300 plus organizations and I just called email . And then I had emailed them a second time and then a third time, and I got a response rate of maybe about 10%, but even that was 20 plus organiz. But I heard from one of our, you know, the first organization we work with, an amazing group in Michigan called API Vote Michigan.

[00:35:05] The director has since joined our board and, and she's lovely. Rebecca, she's just been an amazing partner. She told me, you know, I got this email from you for free help and communications and social media and web design. I just didn't think it was real. It seemed too good. Definitely fake. Definitely

[00:35:20] fake.

[00:35:20] Here's three. Yeah, sure. Where's the catch? Where's the, you? .

[00:35:25] And so you're right. We really had to earn the trust as a new organization that at the time was grassroots. We weren't incorporated at the time. We were just a, I always say we were just a bunch of nerds with the Google spreadsheet and we were eventually able to earn through, you know, having her on board, having a couple others during our pilot phase, having them be able to give us quotes that we used in our email outreach to other groups to show that we were real.

[00:35:45] And so over time we built up, you know, we built connections with several groups, but the most important thing that we learned from them was that they. Didn't wanna be told what to do. And I think that's a very common relationship between Washington, DC and community based groups. Out in the field is a very didactic relationship, and that's not what we were, We were very wanted to hear from them what their needs were.

[00:36:05] But the other thing they told us is that we would give 'em a list of ways we could help and they said, I didn't even know I could access voter file data, or I didn't even think about creating video ads to post on social media. So we didn't know what we didn't know until v p came and showed us the opportunities and that I really take pride in that we were able to help expand their scope of what they wanted to do to impact other entities out there.

[00:36:26] We were fortunate enough to then get incorporated. Last year we joined a fiscal sponsor that handles all our back ends and now, Formal non-profit c3. We have our web domain, we have our formal emails, so that really helps in our outreach now. And I can assure you I haven't had as much difficulty getting organizations reaching out to me lately.

[00:36:42] Many, many want help. And so we're actually in the opposite circumstance where we have so many projects that need to be done and not as many volunteers. Oh, interesting. Come all on. But again, I think that's the heat of the election cycle. Could we really ramped up in the summer and. And I hope next year as we are past the election cycle, we have a bit more time to both grow our volunteer network to invest in them, but also work with the organizations.

[00:37:03] You know, they don't need a three day turnaround on something after the election the way they do now. So after the election, we can take a writing project on, and it's okay if it lasts three weeks, or we can do a web design and it's okay if it lasts a month, and that'll just help increase the number of volunteers who can participate since it'll fit their schedule.

[00:37:19] That makes a lot of sense, but it also sounds like a lot of work. But that's where the leverage comes in, right? That right there is, you know, building that trust packaging, productizing the types of ways that, v e P can support via volunteers and, you know, then, then move those, those projects forward. I mean, it's, it's really impressive.

[00:37:41] And I will say I'm, I'm sold. I officially, I hope I don't offend you. I literally did. The whole submission of my, my form as a, as a potential volunteer. So, maybe I'll be doing a follow up on my actual experience, because this makes a lot of sense to me.

[00:37:55] I'm always satisfied and happy when I hear a new volunteer signs up close.

[00:37:59] Very exciting. And I, I am shameless in recruiting anyone and everyone in all of my personal, professional and social engagement. So, so I'm very thankful, for you to. I should have

[00:38:08] known when I entered into this, this podcast that this would be the net result. Before we move into the Rapid Fire, any final, final thoughts, notes on the upcoming midterms, the chaos confusion or what you see with the

[00:38:22] organization?

[00:38:24] Yeah, I'd say two things. One is, uh, someone who's worked both in the voter engagement volunteer side, but also on the policy side, trying to pass the Freedom to Vote Act this past year that. . I would argue that democracy is under attack now more than it's been in well over half a century, and I haven't been around for half a century.

[00:38:40] So I've consulted a lot of folks who ha were around when the Voting Rights Act and others Civil Rights Act were passed. And they absolutely agree that the vitreal and divisiveness we have now is, is very scary. And most importantly, the laws that were passed to disenfranchise the vote have made it so that it's becoming legal.

[00:38:58] To basically impede someone's constitutional right to vote. And so we really just hope people recognize that and are able to step up again with whatever they can. So my second point is when it comes to the voter empowerment project, we believe strongly that everyone can help in at least one of three ways.

[00:39:14] You can volunteer, you can donate, or you can share. Now we'd love for you to volunteer, but not everyone's schedule allows, or maybe that's not meet their interest. But then would you be considering making a tax deductible donation at $25 during our fall fundraising campaign where you know it's gonna get matched by 200 bucks?

[00:39:31] Uh, but if for, for some reason that's not possible either, can you just take our website and post it on social media? Say you heard it on this podcast, Sounded like a neat opportunity. Maybe you know, a few friends who have skills in graphic design or data analysis or web design or writing or fund. Can you email them real quickly and say, Hey, check out this website.

[00:39:48] And we really feel like everyone can do at least one of those three things to help us try to preserve democracy. And I'm not being hyperbolic. I, you know, it's scary to think about where this country could be in 10 years or more if things continue in this way. So I'm, I'm just hoping we all can do our part and step up in whatever ways we can.

[00:40:04] Yeah.

[00:40:05] Catalyze on this, this moment of compassion and concern for the actual work that needs to be done with the organizations on the front. Makes a lot of sense to me. Alrighty. Moving into rapid fire. Here we go. What is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in the

[00:40:23] last year?

[00:40:23] We recognize that doing everything off of spreadsheets was not possible. And so especially for managing all of the individuals who've donated to us and others we went to a very simple but very accessible CRM called action. And a lot of non-profits start there. There's, you know, bigger ones and more sophisticated ones that are more expensive, but it's really proven to be a very great entry level one for us to really get our, the, the hu the humans we work with into a, a, a more manageable circumstance, uh, so we can engage with them better, but also keep track of who's involved with voter empowerment project.

[00:40:57] What tech issues are you currently battl?

[00:41:00] The single biggest tech challenge we've had is being effective at project management tracking. So we've been using spreadsheets primarily, and I think we were lucky enough to have some pretty smart data people who created really sophisticated.

[00:41:12] Formula is in our project management spreadsheet, so it is very functional, but we recognize the need to move over to more sophisticated project management tools. And we're actually in the process of doing so. Uh, we have a contractor who's bringing us on to monday.com in the next week or so, one of many that's out there.

[00:41:27] And we definitely recommend to small non-profits that these tools, the one that fits your budget, the one that fits your needs. I really do think that they have a return on investment. Uh, and so we're excited to transition over. What

[00:41:40] is coming in the next year that has you the most excited?

[00:41:43] I do believe that one way or the other, the elections will motivate people to get more involved in democracy, or at least I'm consciously optimistic.

[00:41:52] And I think everything that's happening in our public discourse, is, is being felt by more and more people. I hope then we can tap into that by and recruit them to volunteer and that we'll. The broad volunteer base next year like we had in 2020 to really meet the needs of the frontline partners that we know is gonna be great next year.

[00:42:11] Can

[00:42:11] you talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do

[00:42:15] things? Now?

[00:42:16] Throughout my career, one thing I know I've done is try to do everything for everyone, all the. And that means, especially when working with Frontline Partners, which has been a core aspect of my career, whether it's health policy or gender based violence or here in voting rights, and in this project, we really recognized the need to focus in on where help was needed most.

[00:42:37] And so we, you know, had to pick certain states where we knew voter suppression was at high risk. We also had to decide which services do we do, and which services do we know not focus on. We purposely limited our focus to voter engagement and not policy and. And then we really had to decide which groups to work with.

[00:42:54] And so we prioritized small groups that are under resourced, that are at the state and local level. Even though there's other groups that are very deservative of help, we just wanted to tailor and focus in so we can, you know, do it well for the people we're serving.

[00:43:07] Do you believe that

[00:43:08] nonprofits can successfully go out of

[00:43:10] business?

[00:43:10] I think I have a broad response to that question. I think there are circumstances where there's a very intense specific need, a need to pass this bill, a need to address this urgent climate crisis that's in a particular community where a coalition can form or a non-profit can set up and they can say, Look, we're here through the end of this problem.

[00:43:28] It might be a year, it might be five years. We're fundraising for it, we're staffing up for it, we're gonna. For the better. And then we disband, and I think that's healthy. So I think sometimes a lot of non-profits start up and then they're just in perpetuity forever, and then they're just fundraising forever and then they just become part of the Emilio.

[00:43:43] But I do think a lot of the other non-profits that are built to solve some of the most intense issues of inequity, both domestically and internationally, I, I just don't have optimism that we're gonna solve most of those issues anytime soon. And so sadly, we do need those non-profits to exist and to fundraise and to have.

[00:43:59] Over the long haul as we try to solve really big problems with really great solutions. Do you think the voter

[00:44:05] empowerment project could successfully

[00:44:07] go out of business? I will happily, you know, close up shop of the voter empowerment project. If and when every person is very able to exercise their right to vote in a, in a easily accessible way.

[00:44:22] I think the trend is heading in very much the opposite direction. And so, you know, the main reason for us incorporating is. We check, is there a need for this model long term? Is there a support for it? Is, you know, does our frontline partners think that they need this help, uh, going forward? And the answer was absolutely yes.

[00:44:38] So for as long as we can be helpful, we'll be around, uh, as long as we have the funding to do so. But if and when voting becomes as easy as it should be in the country, I will be the first person to close up our shop, free up our web domain for anyone else, and to, for us to go focus on the next big problem.

[00:44:54] We won't be holding

[00:44:55] our breath. Uh, aspirationally. I like it. If I were to put you in a hot tub time machine back to the beginning of your work with the voter Empowerment project in 2019, what advice would you give yourself?

[00:45:07] Uh, a few, a few things. One would be start earlier. Uh, we certainly were aggressive in our thinking in 2019, but you know, we should have started it earlier.

[00:45:13] The second would be to build relationships with formal entities sooner. Whether that's national organizations or especially universities. Uh, it wasn't until later that I really realized how much students were an, an amazing source of volunteers and had unbelievable skills, social media, web design, writing, uh, so start there earlier.

[00:45:32] And then thirdly, I would've invested our project management tool much earlier on because I think that would've made us much more efficient. And so I do encourage organizations to think about that instead of just relying on spreadsheets and.

[00:45:44] What

[00:45:44] is something that you think your org should

[00:45:47] stop doing?

[00:45:49] We're really exploring next year comprehensively. What should our focus area be? You know, do we continue exactly how our model is? Should we expand the organizations we work with? Should we expand how we help? Should we look into charging money for our services? I. One of the things I think we've been good at is making sure we don't have mission creep.

[00:46:07] And so I want us to resist that urge as much as possible. Cuz we've all, we've all heard the great need from the frontline organizations and so far we've been able to resist. I think there's a temptation to want to do more and to expand outward in a way that might stretch us too thin. And so that's one thing that I'm really hoping we, we avoid doing.

[00:46:25] If you had a magic

[00:46:26] wand to wave across the industry, what

[00:46:28] would it. I would absolutely love more organizations to make good on their commitments to dei. I think there's a lot of talk and a lot of great language on websites about wanting to diversify their staff and wanting to ensure that more funding is going to under-resourced organizations from historically, you know, underprivileged communities.

[00:46:46] I think it's starting, It's nowhere near where it should be, and so I'm the kind of person that wants to have this job. But if there's a great person with lived experie, That really has a better way to fit. I wanna be someone who will step out of the way and let them take the reins. And I just hope more people in the in the movement will recognize that one of the problems is who's in charge, and if they're willing to step away, that might actually help, uh, advance the cause.

[00:47:08] How did you get started in the social impact sector?

[00:47:11] It's interesting because my college focus very, was actually biology. I was really into the hard sciences and life sciences and wanted to pursue, you know, medicine over time. But before I applied to med school, I actually did an AmeriCorps program in Boston for two years working with young people in Boston, as well as focusing on healthcare advocacy in Massachusetts, and I got hooked.

[00:47:30] I loved the advocacy area. I love the organizing side. I love the policy side. You know, the thinking part of my brain. Loved problem. But the human side really loved working with people, especially people who were facing challenges. Uh, and so that really, really stuck to me and I ended up going to med school and then halfway through I ended up quitting.

[00:47:48] Cause I really missed the advocacy side when coming back to it. So I thank AmeriCorps so much for that experience. What

[00:47:55] advice would you give college grads currently looking to enter the social impact sector?

[00:48:00] I think broadly is. Really identify what is it you care about in terms of issue. Is it healthcare?

[00:48:07] Is it climate? Is it, uh, criminal justice reform? Think about the ways you, what you like to do. Is it social media? Is it writing? Is it fundraising? Is it policy? Is it organizing? And then reach out to as many people as you know that are in the field. Not everyone likes to take on college grads as mentors, but many people out there are happy to talk to you.

[00:48:25] I'm happy to talk to folks to just give them that advice. I will say this, right now, when you look at the job, If you are in development or you're in digital strategy, those are the two things. Well, you'll be employed for the next 10 to 20 years for sure. So if that's something you understand, I definitely recommend going into fundraising, Going into social media, digital strategy, what advice

[00:48:45] did your parents give you that you either followed or didn't quite

[00:48:49] follow?

[00:48:50] Uh, my, I think at a young age, certainly there was a lot of pressure to do well in school and to make. And I think, uh, I think over time I've been able to help my parents understand how great it is to be in sort of progressive non-profit advocacy. But I think probably most importantly is they're just very into family and community and just sort of, you know, loving respect and honoring people in your life and, you know, contributing that way.

[00:49:13] And I absolutely think I channeled that to the broader community at large. Uh, I will say the advice they're not, I'm not taking, that they would be mad at is going to visit them more. And so I think I know I need to do. Thanksgiving coming up, so I'll, I'll be sure to go and see them. Gotta go visit. Have you called

[00:49:28] your mom

[00:49:30] Yes. We talk, we talk periodically. Not as much as they'd like, but uh, but they've actually over the years, have become a lot more active in social justice issues and fundraising and donating and whatever. They sort of do something progressive or they donate money to a candidate or they, you know, knock on doors.

[00:49:43] My mom will always text me excitedly and so it, it is heartwarming to see sort of how we've both, you know, we kind of share those interests in sort of supporting the. That's awesome.

[00:49:52] Also, shout out to my mom, who's probably listening to this podcast. Hi mom. Alrighty, , final hardball question. How do people find you?

[00:50:00] How do

[00:50:00] people help you?

[00:50:01] Please check us out@voterempowerment.org. As I mentioned earlier, there's three ways you can help that anyone can help. You can volunteer, you can donate, or you can share. Please sign up to volunteer. I promise you the opportunities will be fun. They'll be interesting, they'll be meaningful and rewarding, and we invest in you so you can grow your skills.

[00:50:21] If you can't do that, or in addition to, can you please donate $20, $25, a hundred dollars, whatever you can spare, our, our generous board member is matching every donation with a $200, uh, match. And so we hope to get as many donors between now and the holiday. And then lastly, can you share our website? Can you share our social media?

[00:50:40] Adam Empower Voters on Twitter and on Instagram. And voter empowerment.org is our website. We just need more people to know about us to know that we exist, cuz we know once folks find out about us and get involved, they really do appreciate our model and what, what it sort of allows for them to do as a volunteer.

[00:50:54] And we just need to get that word out more. And we really appreciate everyone helping us do so. You have

[00:50:59] it. Share either your time, your treasure, or your tweets. Do. I love the skill-based approach to a massive problem facing democracy in our country. I wish you all the best, and I thank you. Thank you for

[00:51:12] the work you do.

[00:51:14] Thank you George, so much for having me. And thank you for doing this innovative podcast. I, I always appreciate it and folks in the media really prioritize bringing folks on board who can talk about, you know, movement building. And so thank you so much for what you

[00:51:24] do.

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Reactions, And Worries, As Musk Twitter’s Takeover Is Finalized Elon Musk’s $44 Billion takeover of Twitter was completed last week, with Musk officially becoming the owner and de-facto CEO of the influential social media platform. The drawn-out saga of the acquisition, which at times seemed like it would fall through, marks the beginning of a new chapter for a platform now run by one of its most prominent users. Musk's ownership has raised new questions about content moderation, rules around speech, and other fundamental questions about what Twitter (and by proxy, social media) should even be. The takeover, with Musk being a self-proclaimed advocate for “free speech,” has spurred a sharp increase in derogatory posts from trolls, according to the nonprofit Network Contagion Research Institute. While Musk sought to assuage the fears of advertisers by saying the platform would not become a “free-for-all hellscape,” some prominent corporate advertisers already appear to be wary of the change in discourse on the platform.

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Summary

• How a ‘mental health workforce crisis’ has these nonprofits retooling office culture | The Salt Lake Tribune
• Swarm learning for decentralized artificial intelligence in cancer histopathology | Nature
• Michelle Obama, Melinda French Gates, and Amal Clooney Announce Collaboration to Support Adolescent Girls’ Education and Help End Child Marriage
• Resource: Scary good AI email writer - Nonprofit Email Fundraising AI Writer (free-for-now) | Whole Whale

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Rough Transcript

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[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit newsfeed, we are talking about some of the reactions, concerns, and worries of the Elon Musk Twitter takeover. We're now in a post Twitter ownership world and a post Halloween year. A lot of scary times, right? Nick? Look at that transition. Look at that transition. . Good, Good transition.

[00:00:49] Uh, we got a lot of spooky things happening. The midterms are only week, a week away. That's pretty spooky enough. Uh, so we got a lot to cover today, but George, to your point, Uh, our big story for the week is reactions and Worries. Has Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is finalized? So Elon Musk, $44 billion takeover of Twitter was completed last week with Musk officially becoming the owner and de facto CEO actually of the influential social media platform after he fired.

[00:01:24] Previous senior executives the drawn out saga of the acquisition, which at times seemed to , seemed like it would fall through Marks the beginning of a new chapter for a platform now run by one of its most prominent users. Musk's ownership has immediately raised new questions about content moderation, rules around speech, and other fundamental questions about what Twitter could should.

[00:01:50] Being and even social media more broadly. We wanted to highlight, uh, one non-profit and network contagion Research Institute has tracked a sharp increase in interrogatory posts from trolls. It would seem not necessarily because of any decision, but that trolls feel emboldened, uh, by must taking ownership must himself.

[00:02:13] Is a quote unquote advocate of what he calls free speech, even though that's not entirely, uh, descriptor, uh, a specific descriptor. Anyway we're kind of in a new year, uh, of Twitter ownership and we have some really big questions that are gonna need answering and seems like they are going to be answered at a certain point of.

[00:02:38] A volatile time for one of the most important social media platforms on Earth towards what's your take?

[00:02:43] My take is it's complicated. If you find yourself immediately racing to cancel Elon Musk to cancel Twitter, to cancel communication, I, I would question. How that plays out over time. You know what I would say is anyone lamenting the golden days of Twitter? Clearly never used Twitter. Twitter is a dumpster, It is a dumpster of emotional reaction in short tweet form.

[00:03:13] It really, uh, at its best, you know, has allowed, uh, the walls to come down for communication between like nation states and celebrities. Like this is an interesting. Platform. It's undeniable that it is powerful. However, it is also a bit of a cesspool, and it is dealing with questions that are effectively holding up the mirror to the communications, uh, the arguments of what truth is, and it's, it is complicated, is the answer.

[00:03:43] And so I like seeing nonprofits step up and show, you know, things like this sharp increase in derogatory posts from troll. And holding, you know, the, the moderators, the, the people that control the day to day at, uh, Twitter, you know, hold them, hold them to account, uh, as every social media platform should be.

[00:04:04] His vision, I think, really should be looked at in isolation of, you know, which media outlet you're choosing to listen to an attack. What is actually happening? What we're actually seeing is the fragmentation of social networks to create even more isolated pockets of communication and vitriol. What does that mean?

[00:04:26] Look at parlor. Look at, you know, truth, social. What is happening is not good. That is not a good thing. You don't want the public commons, the ability for Americans. Americans to speak with each other to be fragmented into pockets of the internet where voices become angrier, louder, and frankly less moderated.

[00:04:50] Making Twitter that place, although it may piss off, obviously both sides, making Twitter a place where in an ideal world, everyone can just sort of scream at each other, but at least sometimes hear each other is a better place. I would argue. Than extremist groups, people, thoughts becoming more extreme in fragmented social networks.

[00:05:16] So in that vision, I believe in the process of getting there, Boy, this is gonna be messy. Yeah. George, I, I agree with you there about the problem of fragmentation. I think I'm a little bit more worried. By Elon Musk in particular because I truly don't necessarily, he know what, how, or how much he's given critical thought to some really, really thorny issues that the platform is facing and will have to face, especially around election integrity issues like active disinformation issues, cybersecurity issues, right?

[00:05:56] What happens if someone's able to hack Zelensky account, right? Like there are are real national security issues at play, and I, I think my trust in him is not very high because over the weekend, uh, Musk tweeted an article. Uh, basically spreading disinformation about the, uh, speaker, uh, Pelosi's husband and the attacker.

[00:06:23] And from a, from a known kind of disinformation website and actually deleted the tweet, but in deleting the tweet, also criticized the New York Times for covering him that he, in fact, did in fact tweet that. You know, trolls do as troll are, and then that's kind of his modus opera in that platform.

[00:06:41] That's not like a like a new thing, but my perspective is that the bulk of these users on the platforms are actually not American. They're foreign users. And I think that social media has shaped global events, not necessarily for the better. And I think. I worry that he hasn't necessarily grasped the enormity of that kind of responsibility in the context, not just of America, where comparatively we have stable political institutions, minimal political violence comparatively right to other places.

[00:07:22] And, you know, it remains, it remains to be seen. I'm not, Yeah, that's, that's my take. I'm not sure he is grasped the enormity of the issue. I have to agree. Inexcusable to be posting something with that level of conspiracy meets stupidity in literally the opening hours of ownership. He did delete it is learning.

[00:07:45] I think the folks that. Say Elon Musk has figured out, you know, rocket science, he can figure out this. I would argue that rockets are easy, they're predictable, they follow physics, Social science. Social science at scale has not been done, Has not been done well, and we're still figuring it out. And you're right, it's not just Americans.

[00:08:04] I'm looking at just the sort of American view of this. But yes, this is an international platform and there are a lot of questions to be answered, but what I will say is, The past trajectory of what Twitter was doing. You know, you can, you can dance on the fact that they banned Trump for all you want. The, the truth is, on a day to day basis, they were, I believe, doing harm in the features algorithms in way that the platform was fundamentally designed.

[00:08:33] Something needed to change, I think must, needs to learn that he's no longer a user of this platform. In the same way that I think Bezos has learned that owning a Washington Post comes with a certain amount of responsibility. I'd say the paper has held up under that type of ownership, but it is a, a different level of power and you can't use your account anymore for this sort of shock value marketing that he has done in the.

[00:09:01] Yeah, I agree. Uh, Mark Zuckerberg's gotten dragged in front of Congress to talk about stuff that's happened on that platform. Like Elon has now assumed that responsibility for his platform. So yeah, I guess we'll see. Truth be told, I wish he stuck the rockets in physics, not social science. I think he has made this assumption would been so much more liked.

[00:09:24] Yeah. I don't know. I wonder if we're just watching a modern day IOUs do IOUs stuff. I hope not. Yeah. Smart guy. Like doing good stuff too, but yeah. All right. Shall I take us into our next story, George? Oh, on the last point, I hope nonprofits listening, don't pick up their toys. I think they choose and hope to choose to participate, to hold up a mirror, to be a part of that group.

[00:09:53] Uh, because only bad things happen when we refuse to talk to each other.

[00:09:57] Yeah, I think that's fair. And for better, for worse, people are still on it, right? You don't wanna self. Segment who you're talking to especially if you're mission, and I think, I think he's gonna be bringing in opportunities for financial transactions, for fundraising opportunities to turn something that Twitter has ignored forever.

[00:10:17] The ability to, I don't know, compensate creators. And in doing so, you're going to see opportunities open up.

[00:10:24] Yeah, I think there is a potential point for opportunity. I guess we'll see changes by the minute, . Uh, alright, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from the Salt Lake Tribune and it's about how a mental health workforce crisis has these nonprofits retooling office culture. So it actually talks about specific nonprofits in the, uh, Salt Lake area, uh, including.

[00:10:53] An organization called Odyssey House and First Step House, talking about how they're focusing on non-profit employee retention, uh, by doing things to address burnout and other mental health issues like moving to a four day work week. I think it's no secret that non-profits have struggled, especially with the onset of the pandemic to hire and maintain staff.

[00:11:18] Particularly. For a whole host of reasons. But just kind of an interesting story about how some nonprofits are, are trying to address some of those those underlying issues with, uh, nonprofit staff that are quite frankly working in supporting supportive housing services as a, it can be a, a, a pretty intense job, right?

[00:11:40] Like these are, you're working with folks who are in really precarious situations in their life. So I think that this is an interesting. For staff retention. Yeah, retention and attraction. The problem is this isn't a copy paste for any organization. This isn't a panacea. The truth is, if you are dealing with something like childcare, it's not like the children don't need care on Fridays.

[00:12:04] If you're dealing with at risk individuals in communities, it's not like everyone takes off on Friday. It's not like the elderly don't need meals in company on Friday. So I think it works when it works. If you are thinking about trying this, I would try it in small doses amounts. I will say whole Whale has done half day Fridays for the summer, and the team enjoys it.

[00:12:33] I'll give you a visual cue. Nick is, is, is definitely doing the fists raise there. I would test it in small doses to see the. Unintended consequences to your community that may result in taking off Fridays. That said, if possible, it seems like it, it can and does work and you know, frankly, it gives you that advantage.

[00:12:53] Yeah, I think it's a, it's a fair point. It's something, it's something interesting that's not related to budget. You don't need, uh, you don't need to switch things around in the budget to experiment with you. A four day work week, you know, that trickles down. Right? But, but it's kind of one of those creative things that you can think about.

[00:13:14] If, if money for, for hiring is tight. Yeah. I mean, you're decreasing your labor by 20%. That's what you're effectively doing. You had X hours, you have 20% less hours simply by saying that. And it's an important thing to note, especially. Time on task is something that your impact is inextricably linked to.

[00:13:33] I e come back to hours of children, watched numbers of conversations and meals delivered to the elderly. Like you will simply be reducing your impact by 20% in many impact our linked types of philanthropy. That, and that maybe what needs to happen. I wouldn't just say, Hey, here's a good idea. Let's just do this tomorrow.

[00:14:02] You know, test it. Rest. Look at what happened. , definitely, definitely. All right, George. This next one is an academic article with an abstract that I'm not even gonna pretend to know that I understand. So I was gonna pass it to you right off the bat. Can you least say the title of the article or the Sure.

[00:14:25] This is from nature.com from the Journal of Nature Medicine, and the title is Swarm Learning for Decentralized Artificial Intelligence in Cancer, Histopath. If that doesn't explain it, I don't know what does. First off, right away, I have to say this is what's wrong with science. The, the use and the excitement cases here, I'll just break down very quickly.

[00:14:52] Obviously I have a bias or paying attention to all things, uh, blockchain and also ai, and this is a marriage of both, basically what is happening here. A bunch of smart researchers were trying to use the same medical data. Medical data needs to be carefully controlled, anonymized, not centrally controlled, and in order to collaborate in a sort of trustless way, they are using the Ethereum blockchain to basically load all of this data control access to make sure it's not shared the wrong way, and then they can sort of allow.

[00:15:25] Doors that are secure, open to the various researchers to run on the same way, in the same, uh, in the same controlled. There are different AI models that are finding solutions to various types of, of cancer and cancer treatment. So, you know, it is, it is a, a buzzword, bingo, fill in the card, but practical use cases being, uh, done, not just, Oh, wouldn't it be cool if this is, uh, practically being, so if you care about cancer, take a look at this cuz it's interesting.

[00:16:01] Boy. Yeah. That it's a sleep, It's a sleeper. It's , it's a lot of buzzwords. I love me a good abstract, but I do have to say that the first sentence of the abstract is artificial intelligence can predict the presence of molecular alterations directly from routine histopathology slides. And, uh, that's where you lost me.

[00:16:23] But George, you, you managed to excite me more than the abstract entitle. Yeah, we're, we're solving the answer. Hey everybody, look at a bunch of these pictures. What do you see? We need a bunch of these pictures. Looked at the same way. What do you see here? And the truth is there's a lot of data that needs to be controlled, flowed, and then, you know, run AI processing on it to find these types of insights.

[00:16:47] This is good thing . It's a good thing. No, this is really cool. Uh, AI for. Super geeky and like, I, I'm not gonna stop. I'm like, I'm always slipping it in there. You're like, how does that qualify as nonprofit news? Eh, it's cuz it's our show. That's how the, the editorial oversight committee has been slacking.

[00:17:08] All right, I'll take us to our next article. And this lo and behold, really, uh, on on, on brand for us, Uh, and on topic. Uh, George, this is an article written by, uh, the one and only you about, uh, uh, email fundraising, AI writer tool that is free for now and on brand. It's scary. Good. I've given it a shot.

[00:17:36] What do we want listeners to know about this tool? You hear is talking a lot about it. This is a completely free demo that I have created that will write your fundraising email for you. And it'll give you a great first draft because at the end of the year we are the collectively are creating so many appeals and asks to different audiences and different ways and like searching for language to freshen it up.

[00:18:01] So this, uh, AI tool is trained on some of the best fundraising emails and best practices out there. And you essentially write a sentence of write me a fundraising email for my organization. We do this and it is for Thanksgiving, It is for the holiday season, it is for Hanukkah, it is for whatever it may be.

[00:18:19] And it will turn it out for you and give you a great first draft. And it's just a like, Oh, I get it. And it, you know, couldn't be simpler. It's a form waiting on a website. We're paying for all of the backend costs of, uh, the G P T three open ai. API on a bunch of words we're paying for go play with it. How about that?

[00:18:36] Uh, we also have, uh, another article in here from the Clooney Foundation for Justice. And this announcement, Michelle Obama, Melinda Gates, uh, Amal Clooney, announced collaboration to support adolescent girls education and help and child marriage. So in, I, I'll just say anytime you see those names hanging out it's worth paying attention.

[00:18:56] And so we, we included that. That's the cfj dot. Uh, uh, announcement coming out. Yeah, George, that's a really cool one, and I gotta give a shout out to Amal Clooney especially, but as well as George Clooney. Like you see a lot of celebrities who do kind of the, you know, the charity thing. But one, Amal Clooney is literally a professional and prominent international human rights lawyer.

[00:19:21] And two, they have a real foundation that does like, really, really important international human. Litigation and work. It's like not only are they walking the walk, like they're, they're walking in the footsteps of their clients. Like it's truly tremendous. So just like a shout out to them cuz they are awesome.

[00:19:41] And that's the end of my sentence. Yeah. One quote in here, in so many places, the moment a girl becomes teenager, her options start to shrink. Often it means to. And end to her education or the beginning of a marriage, she did not choose. That's why it's so important, the advocates for women and girls pay special attention to this gravely important time in a girl's life.

[00:20:02] And that's from Linda Gates. So I completely agree, uh, on many levels and great to see this, uh, collaboration and hope to see more from it. Absolutely. All right, George, how about a feel good? All right, what do we got? All right. This one is from Yahoo News, but it's about a Halloween non-profit bash attracting thousands and smashes, hundreds of pumpkins.

[00:20:30] So this took place on behalf of. The organization turn away no longer, which supports children entering the foster care system. And the Great Pumpkin Spa Smash is a free community event that also attempts to raise awareness and funds for this awesome cause. And I didn't get my pumpkin smashing out on my system this year, and I feel like I'm, I'm missing out.

[00:20:58] Amazing fundraisers like this because let's face it, there's a lot of, uh, there's a lot of things happening in the world and uh, I think we could all smash a pumpkin or two for a good cause. Yeah, it's a great, it's a great band and also a, a great cause Hopefully they were able to compost a lot of that. I could imagine.

[00:21:14] There's sizable mess. All right, Nick, just because you know, just because we can, quick question for you. How much do pirates donate on.

[00:21:25] I don't know. How much do pirates donate on average, George? A buck a year. Well, you put up with the podcast this long. That's what you get. That's what you get from making it to the end. All right, Nick. See you next time. See,

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Reactions, And Worries, As Musk Twitter’s Takeover Is Finalized Elon Musk’s $44 Billion takeover of Twitter was completed last week, with Musk officially becoming the owner and de-facto CEO of the influential social media platform. The drawn-out saga of the acquisition, which at times seemed like it would fall through, marks the beginning of a new chapter for a platform now run by one of its most prominent users. Musk's ownership has raised new questions about content moderation, rules around speech, and other fundamental questions about what Twitter (and by proxy, social media) should even be. The takeover, with Musk being a self-proclaimed advocate for “free speech,” has spurred a sharp increase in derogatory posts from trolls, according to the nonprofit Network Contagion Research Institute. While Musk sought to assuage the fears of advertisers by saying the platform would not become a “free-for-all hellscape,” some prominent corporate advertisers already appear to be wary of the change in discourse on the platform.

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Summary

• How a ‘mental health workforce crisis’ has these nonprofits retooling office culture | The Salt Lake Tribune
• Swarm learning for decentralized artificial intelligence in cancer histopathology | Nature
• Michelle Obama, Melinda French Gates, and Amal Clooney Announce Collaboration to Support Adolescent Girls’ Education and Help End Child Marriage
• Resource: Scary good AI email writer - Nonprofit Email Fundraising AI Writer (free-for-now) | Whole Whale

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Rough Transcript

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[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit newsfeed, we are talking about some of the reactions, concerns, and worries of the Elon Musk Twitter takeover. We're now in a post Twitter ownership world and a post Halloween year. A lot of scary times, right? Nick? Look at that transition. Look at that transition. . Good, Good transition.

[00:00:49] Uh, we got a lot of spooky things happening. The midterms are only week, a week away. That's pretty spooky enough. Uh, so we got a lot to cover today, but George, to your point, Uh, our big story for the week is reactions and Worries. Has Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is finalized? So Elon Musk, $44 billion takeover of Twitter was completed last week with Musk officially becoming the owner and de facto CEO actually of the influential social media platform after he fired.

[00:01:24] Previous senior executives the drawn out saga of the acquisition, which at times seemed to , seemed like it would fall through Marks the beginning of a new chapter for a platform now run by one of its most prominent users. Musk's ownership has immediately raised new questions about content moderation, rules around speech, and other fundamental questions about what Twitter could should.

[00:01:50] Being and even social media more broadly. We wanted to highlight, uh, one non-profit and network contagion Research Institute has tracked a sharp increase in interrogatory posts from trolls. It would seem not necessarily because of any decision, but that trolls feel emboldened, uh, by must taking ownership must himself.

[00:02:13] Is a quote unquote advocate of what he calls free speech, even though that's not entirely, uh, descriptor, uh, a specific descriptor. Anyway we're kind of in a new year, uh, of Twitter ownership and we have some really big questions that are gonna need answering and seems like they are going to be answered at a certain point of.

[00:02:38] A volatile time for one of the most important social media platforms on Earth towards what's your take?

[00:02:43] My take is it's complicated. If you find yourself immediately racing to cancel Elon Musk to cancel Twitter, to cancel communication, I, I would question. How that plays out over time. You know what I would say is anyone lamenting the golden days of Twitter? Clearly never used Twitter. Twitter is a dumpster, It is a dumpster of emotional reaction in short tweet form.

[00:03:13] It really, uh, at its best, you know, has allowed, uh, the walls to come down for communication between like nation states and celebrities. Like this is an interesting. Platform. It's undeniable that it is powerful. However, it is also a bit of a cesspool, and it is dealing with questions that are effectively holding up the mirror to the communications, uh, the arguments of what truth is, and it's, it is complicated, is the answer.

[00:03:43] And so I like seeing nonprofits step up and show, you know, things like this sharp increase in derogatory posts from troll. And holding, you know, the, the moderators, the, the people that control the day to day at, uh, Twitter, you know, hold them, hold them to account, uh, as every social media platform should be.

[00:04:04] His vision, I think, really should be looked at in isolation of, you know, which media outlet you're choosing to listen to an attack. What is actually happening? What we're actually seeing is the fragmentation of social networks to create even more isolated pockets of communication and vitriol. What does that mean?

[00:04:26] Look at parlor. Look at, you know, truth, social. What is happening is not good. That is not a good thing. You don't want the public commons, the ability for Americans. Americans to speak with each other to be fragmented into pockets of the internet where voices become angrier, louder, and frankly less moderated.

[00:04:50] Making Twitter that place, although it may piss off, obviously both sides, making Twitter a place where in an ideal world, everyone can just sort of scream at each other, but at least sometimes hear each other is a better place. I would argue. Than extremist groups, people, thoughts becoming more extreme in fragmented social networks.

[00:05:16] So in that vision, I believe in the process of getting there, Boy, this is gonna be messy. Yeah. George, I, I agree with you there about the problem of fragmentation. I think I'm a little bit more worried. By Elon Musk in particular because I truly don't necessarily, he know what, how, or how much he's given critical thought to some really, really thorny issues that the platform is facing and will have to face, especially around election integrity issues like active disinformation issues, cybersecurity issues, right?

[00:05:56] What happens if someone's able to hack Zelensky account, right? Like there are are real national security issues at play, and I, I think my trust in him is not very high because over the weekend, uh, Musk tweeted an article. Uh, basically spreading disinformation about the, uh, speaker, uh, Pelosi's husband and the attacker.

[00:06:23] And from a, from a known kind of disinformation website and actually deleted the tweet, but in deleting the tweet, also criticized the New York Times for covering him that he, in fact, did in fact tweet that. You know, trolls do as troll are, and then that's kind of his modus opera in that platform.

[00:06:41] That's not like a like a new thing, but my perspective is that the bulk of these users on the platforms are actually not American. They're foreign users. And I think that social media has shaped global events, not necessarily for the better. And I think. I worry that he hasn't necessarily grasped the enormity of that kind of responsibility in the context, not just of America, where comparatively we have stable political institutions, minimal political violence comparatively right to other places.

[00:07:22] And, you know, it remains, it remains to be seen. I'm not, Yeah, that's, that's my take. I'm not sure he is grasped the enormity of the issue. I have to agree. Inexcusable to be posting something with that level of conspiracy meets stupidity in literally the opening hours of ownership. He did delete it is learning.

[00:07:45] I think the folks that. Say Elon Musk has figured out, you know, rocket science, he can figure out this. I would argue that rockets are easy, they're predictable, they follow physics, Social science. Social science at scale has not been done, Has not been done well, and we're still figuring it out. And you're right, it's not just Americans.

[00:08:04] I'm looking at just the sort of American view of this. But yes, this is an international platform and there are a lot of questions to be answered, but what I will say is, The past trajectory of what Twitter was doing. You know, you can, you can dance on the fact that they banned Trump for all you want. The, the truth is, on a day to day basis, they were, I believe, doing harm in the features algorithms in way that the platform was fundamentally designed.

[00:08:33] Something needed to change, I think must, needs to learn that he's no longer a user of this platform. In the same way that I think Bezos has learned that owning a Washington Post comes with a certain amount of responsibility. I'd say the paper has held up under that type of ownership, but it is a, a different level of power and you can't use your account anymore for this sort of shock value marketing that he has done in the.

[00:09:01] Yeah, I agree. Uh, Mark Zuckerberg's gotten dragged in front of Congress to talk about stuff that's happened on that platform. Like Elon has now assumed that responsibility for his platform. So yeah, I guess we'll see. Truth be told, I wish he stuck the rockets in physics, not social science. I think he has made this assumption would been so much more liked.

[00:09:24] Yeah. I don't know. I wonder if we're just watching a modern day IOUs do IOUs stuff. I hope not. Yeah. Smart guy. Like doing good stuff too, but yeah. All right. Shall I take us into our next story, George? Oh, on the last point, I hope nonprofits listening, don't pick up their toys. I think they choose and hope to choose to participate, to hold up a mirror, to be a part of that group.

[00:09:53] Uh, because only bad things happen when we refuse to talk to each other.

[00:09:57] Yeah, I think that's fair. And for better, for worse, people are still on it, right? You don't wanna self. Segment who you're talking to especially if you're mission, and I think, I think he's gonna be bringing in opportunities for financial transactions, for fundraising opportunities to turn something that Twitter has ignored forever.

[00:10:17] The ability to, I don't know, compensate creators. And in doing so, you're going to see opportunities open up.

[00:10:24] Yeah, I think there is a potential point for opportunity. I guess we'll see changes by the minute, . Uh, alright, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from the Salt Lake Tribune and it's about how a mental health workforce crisis has these nonprofits retooling office culture. So it actually talks about specific nonprofits in the, uh, Salt Lake area, uh, including.

[00:10:53] An organization called Odyssey House and First Step House, talking about how they're focusing on non-profit employee retention, uh, by doing things to address burnout and other mental health issues like moving to a four day work week. I think it's no secret that non-profits have struggled, especially with the onset of the pandemic to hire and maintain staff.

[00:11:18] Particularly. For a whole host of reasons. But just kind of an interesting story about how some nonprofits are, are trying to address some of those those underlying issues with, uh, nonprofit staff that are quite frankly working in supporting supportive housing services as a, it can be a, a, a pretty intense job, right?

[00:11:40] Like these are, you're working with folks who are in really precarious situations in their life. So I think that this is an interesting. For staff retention. Yeah, retention and attraction. The problem is this isn't a copy paste for any organization. This isn't a panacea. The truth is, if you are dealing with something like childcare, it's not like the children don't need care on Fridays.

[00:12:04] If you're dealing with at risk individuals in communities, it's not like everyone takes off on Friday. It's not like the elderly don't need meals in company on Friday. So I think it works when it works. If you are thinking about trying this, I would try it in small doses amounts. I will say whole Whale has done half day Fridays for the summer, and the team enjoys it.

[00:12:33] I'll give you a visual cue. Nick is, is, is definitely doing the fists raise there. I would test it in small doses to see the. Unintended consequences to your community that may result in taking off Fridays. That said, if possible, it seems like it, it can and does work and you know, frankly, it gives you that advantage.

[00:12:53] Yeah, I think it's a, it's a fair point. It's something, it's something interesting that's not related to budget. You don't need, uh, you don't need to switch things around in the budget to experiment with you. A four day work week, you know, that trickles down. Right? But, but it's kind of one of those creative things that you can think about.

[00:13:14] If, if money for, for hiring is tight. Yeah. I mean, you're decreasing your labor by 20%. That's what you're effectively doing. You had X hours, you have 20% less hours simply by saying that. And it's an important thing to note, especially. Time on task is something that your impact is inextricably linked to.

[00:13:33] I e come back to hours of children, watched numbers of conversations and meals delivered to the elderly. Like you will simply be reducing your impact by 20% in many impact our linked types of philanthropy. That, and that maybe what needs to happen. I wouldn't just say, Hey, here's a good idea. Let's just do this tomorrow.

[00:14:02] You know, test it. Rest. Look at what happened. , definitely, definitely. All right, George. This next one is an academic article with an abstract that I'm not even gonna pretend to know that I understand. So I was gonna pass it to you right off the bat. Can you least say the title of the article or the Sure.

[00:14:25] This is from nature.com from the Journal of Nature Medicine, and the title is Swarm Learning for Decentralized Artificial Intelligence in Cancer, Histopath. If that doesn't explain it, I don't know what does. First off, right away, I have to say this is what's wrong with science. The, the use and the excitement cases here, I'll just break down very quickly.

[00:14:52] Obviously I have a bias or paying attention to all things, uh, blockchain and also ai, and this is a marriage of both, basically what is happening here. A bunch of smart researchers were trying to use the same medical data. Medical data needs to be carefully controlled, anonymized, not centrally controlled, and in order to collaborate in a sort of trustless way, they are using the Ethereum blockchain to basically load all of this data control access to make sure it's not shared the wrong way, and then they can sort of allow.

[00:15:25] Doors that are secure, open to the various researchers to run on the same way, in the same, uh, in the same controlled. There are different AI models that are finding solutions to various types of, of cancer and cancer treatment. So, you know, it is, it is a, a buzzword, bingo, fill in the card, but practical use cases being, uh, done, not just, Oh, wouldn't it be cool if this is, uh, practically being, so if you care about cancer, take a look at this cuz it's interesting.

[00:16:01] Boy. Yeah. That it's a sleep, It's a sleeper. It's , it's a lot of buzzwords. I love me a good abstract, but I do have to say that the first sentence of the abstract is artificial intelligence can predict the presence of molecular alterations directly from routine histopathology slides. And, uh, that's where you lost me.

[00:16:23] But George, you, you managed to excite me more than the abstract entitle. Yeah, we're, we're solving the answer. Hey everybody, look at a bunch of these pictures. What do you see? We need a bunch of these pictures. Looked at the same way. What do you see here? And the truth is there's a lot of data that needs to be controlled, flowed, and then, you know, run AI processing on it to find these types of insights.

[00:16:47] This is good thing . It's a good thing. No, this is really cool. Uh, AI for. Super geeky and like, I, I'm not gonna stop. I'm like, I'm always slipping it in there. You're like, how does that qualify as nonprofit news? Eh, it's cuz it's our show. That's how the, the editorial oversight committee has been slacking.

[00:17:08] All right, I'll take us to our next article. And this lo and behold, really, uh, on on, on brand for us, Uh, and on topic. Uh, George, this is an article written by, uh, the one and only you about, uh, uh, email fundraising, AI writer tool that is free for now and on brand. It's scary. Good. I've given it a shot.

[00:17:36] What do we want listeners to know about this tool? You hear is talking a lot about it. This is a completely free demo that I have created that will write your fundraising email for you. And it'll give you a great first draft because at the end of the year we are the collectively are creating so many appeals and asks to different audiences and different ways and like searching for language to freshen it up.

[00:18:01] So this, uh, AI tool is trained on some of the best fundraising emails and best practices out there. And you essentially write a sentence of write me a fundraising email for my organization. We do this and it is for Thanksgiving, It is for the holiday season, it is for Hanukkah, it is for whatever it may be.

[00:18:19] And it will turn it out for you and give you a great first draft. And it's just a like, Oh, I get it. And it, you know, couldn't be simpler. It's a form waiting on a website. We're paying for all of the backend costs of, uh, the G P T three open ai. API on a bunch of words we're paying for go play with it. How about that?

[00:18:36] Uh, we also have, uh, another article in here from the Clooney Foundation for Justice. And this announcement, Michelle Obama, Melinda Gates, uh, Amal Clooney, announced collaboration to support adolescent girls education and help and child marriage. So in, I, I'll just say anytime you see those names hanging out it's worth paying attention.

[00:18:56] And so we, we included that. That's the cfj dot. Uh, uh, announcement coming out. Yeah, George, that's a really cool one, and I gotta give a shout out to Amal Clooney especially, but as well as George Clooney. Like you see a lot of celebrities who do kind of the, you know, the charity thing. But one, Amal Clooney is literally a professional and prominent international human rights lawyer.

[00:19:21] And two, they have a real foundation that does like, really, really important international human. Litigation and work. It's like not only are they walking the walk, like they're, they're walking in the footsteps of their clients. Like it's truly tremendous. So just like a shout out to them cuz they are awesome.

[00:19:41] And that's the end of my sentence. Yeah. One quote in here, in so many places, the moment a girl becomes teenager, her options start to shrink. Often it means to. And end to her education or the beginning of a marriage, she did not choose. That's why it's so important, the advocates for women and girls pay special attention to this gravely important time in a girl's life.

[00:20:02] And that's from Linda Gates. So I completely agree, uh, on many levels and great to see this, uh, collaboration and hope to see more from it. Absolutely. All right, George, how about a feel good? All right, what do we got? All right. This one is from Yahoo News, but it's about a Halloween non-profit bash attracting thousands and smashes, hundreds of pumpkins.

[00:20:30] So this took place on behalf of. The organization turn away no longer, which supports children entering the foster care system. And the Great Pumpkin Spa Smash is a free community event that also attempts to raise awareness and funds for this awesome cause. And I didn't get my pumpkin smashing out on my system this year, and I feel like I'm, I'm missing out.

[00:20:58] Amazing fundraisers like this because let's face it, there's a lot of, uh, there's a lot of things happening in the world and uh, I think we could all smash a pumpkin or two for a good cause. Yeah, it's a great, it's a great band and also a, a great cause Hopefully they were able to compost a lot of that. I could imagine.

[00:21:14] There's sizable mess. All right, Nick, just because you know, just because we can, quick question for you. How much do pirates donate on.

[00:21:25] I don't know. How much do pirates donate on average, George? A buck a year. Well, you put up with the podcast this long. That's what you get. That's what you get from making it to the end. All right, Nick. See you next time. See,

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Girl Scouts Get $85 Million Donation From MacKenzie Scott MacKenzie Scott, known for historic billion-dollar donations continues to change nonprofits’ fortunes, this time with an $85 million donation to the Girl Scouts of USA. The donation is the single largest donation in the organization’s history since its founding in 1912, and will help the organization recoup a loss of programming and membership as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reporting from KUSA.com. According to the report, only 2% of philanthropic giving in the United States goes directly to programs expressly interested in serving women and girls. Youth membership in the Girl Scouts dropped nearly 30% in the first year of the pandemic.

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Summary

• Gates Foundation boosts GivingTuesday with $10M donation | AP NEWS
• Bill and Melinda Gates are chopping funding for reading, writing and the arts to plow $1 billion into math education instead | Fortune
• Police Complaints in This Indian District Are Going on the Polygon Blockchain | @coindesk
• Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet | Freedom House
• Avoggedon strikes Philadelphia: One nonprofit gives away thousands of avocados NPR.org

Rough Transcript

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[00:00:00] This week the nonprofit news feed for the week of October 24th. Almost done with October. In the biggest news of all, I turned 40 last week. So, you know, I'm, I'm far wiser, definitely older, and so hopefully the quality of all of the podcasts is gonna just go up into the right. Congratulations, George.

[00:00:46] That's awesome. Did you do anything to celebrate? I officially launched a side project of turning my crawlspace under the house into a speakeasy. So that is a thing that happened and as one would imagine, I took it too far. So we had full branding and beer that I brewed and truly I did, I did my best to take.

[00:01:10] A side project to its extreme. However, with no formal segue planned why don't we go into the news of the Girl Scouts getting a record breaking in terms of the history's organization donation? Absolutely. That does sound amazing. But what is also amazing is that Mackenzie Scott, The famed philanthropist known for historic billion dollar donations that seemingly drop on a dime has announced $85 million in funding for Girls Scouts of the United States of America.

[00:01:48] The donation is the single largest donation in the organization's history since its founding in 1912, and will largely help the organization recoup a loss of programming and. As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic according to the report, only 2% of philanthropic giving in the United States goes directly to programs expressly interested in serving women and girls.

[00:02:12] And related to the Girl Scouts youth membership has dropped nearly 30% in the beginning of the pandemic, which is extremely significant. And I love this donation because I think. Both invests in girls, which is amazing, but also the Girl Scouts are so famous for the cookies, and maybe that sounds delicious and trivial, but it's really not.

[00:02:37] I think that door to door community interaction, the ability of nonprofits to interface with the community is great, not only for its members, but for communities. Broadly and girl scouts and boy scouts have been such main stage of the philanthropic, charitable giving world that you only wanna see them thrive, right?

[00:02:59] Cause there's such public and visible representations of the nonprofit industry. So I think this is awesome. Yeah. Since founding in 1912, I mean, a storied history for sure. But the question is how do you, how do you maintain a 30% drop is just devastating. You know? I didn't realize it was, it was that high.

[00:03:20] And as an institution, what you know can happen is that you begin, you know, a self-fulfilling prophecy of closing regional chapters because enrollment declines. Enrollment declines because there's not enough regional chapters and access to the programming and it, it can go into a spiral. So this is an incredibly well timed $85 million.

[00:03:41] Donation. What's more, I think there's also been interesting downward pressure, I guess, or we'll call it, increased competition from the Boy Scouts, which now admit girls as well. So you have sort of two factors happening at the same time, and not to make comment on that, but it's, it's just probably probably exacerbated the, the challenges that the Girl Scouts have faced.

[00:04:07] Absolutely. I agree. But we do love to see these donations. And speaking of, Large donations. We're now going to turn to some of the, the biggest name brand philanthropists out there. And we have two stories and we'll package them together. The first is that the Gates Foundation, or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $10 million to the Giving Tuesday organization.

[00:04:33] Giving Tuesday has been around what, for like a decade now. But it actually has an organization. Runs in markets and establishes the kind of the holiday and, and does reporting on it. So this organization itself has received a 10 million donation. And then our separate article is also about. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is an interesting article from Fortune about how the foundation is cutting funding for reading, writing and the arts in instead focusing $1 billion in math education.

[00:05:10] Which is really interesting. And that comes on the heels of, I've just been reading some New York Times articles about just the, the math literacy Landscape in America in our education systems are really, really abysmal right now. Exacerbated by the pandemic. So George, we have two stories here about the Gates Foundation giving to Giving Tuesday and also redirecting money within the education space.

[00:05:34] What's our take on these one? I am a long time fan and friend of giving Tuesday. Famously a project coming out of 92nd Street. Why we've had Asha Curran, the CEO of giving tuesday.org on this podcast to talk about some of that history. I love that they're getting this type of institutional investment to make it, again, an institution, something that I hope continues to grow as.

[00:06:04] As a cultural day of giving a priming of the philanthropic mindset as you roll into December. And you know, I, I actually, you know, was kind of surprised. I, I would've thought that, you know, this type of. Type of system or network type gift would've come from a McKenzie Scott rather than a Gates Foundation.

[00:06:26] So I was a little surprised to see that actually. It's very much like a McKenzie Scott style of thing where, you know, you saw her funding groups that helped the back end of the non-profit industry, like volunteer match and, and that type of, that type of thing, right. So, I you know, surprised actually Gates Foundation there, and then the other side like, oh gosh, Yeah, I mean, we've never tracked lower in the history of math scoring for, for children disproportionately impacting black and brown students saying that they have declines more sharply than those in white students.

[00:06:59] You know, there's high correlation to they say potential. You know, employment is measured by ninth graders ability to pass introductory algebra. I get nervous sometimes when you talk about redirecting a billion dollars in education, you're running a live experiment because when you redirect it, it means you're, you're pulling away from arts, writing and reading, and so you're doing this totally never before done experiment of saying, Well wait a.

[00:07:35] You know, it looks like, you know, sometimes survivor bias, right? The idea that, oh, kid, kids that brush their teeth are less likely to have heart attacks at age 60. You're like, what is the correlation there? Like, Oh yeah. Because you know kids that have parents that do this, like there are so many other factors that probably go into a successful childhood development that I get nervous by saying like, Oh yeah, ignore these other very critical elements that make kid, keep kids in school.

[00:08:04] Why do you go to school? I love the art program and by the way, Ability to write May, I don't know, come up when I need to write an email, A resume general interaction. And so, you know, do we run into a Peter and Paul problem here robbing Peter to pay Paul with regards to child education? I get nervous. I think you just write another check.

[00:08:27] That's what I think you do. another bill. Write another freaking check if Matt's the problem. Because there's so little funding that goes toward, you know, something like the arts in education. And I think that's gonna be a differentiator in a marketplace that's gonna be dominated by frankly, AI that can do the job of, of math and find an answer.

[00:08:47] It's gonna be about the creative synthesis and communication of information, Not like, can I do the Pythagorean Serum or a quadratic equation? Yeah, George, I, I agree with you. It's a sticky situation. There's an opportunity cost to this for sure, going either way. But I, I famously am as liberal arts as it gets and I in my background.

[00:09:12] But I always remember my band teacher just very overtly plastered a New York Times article on the front door talking about how music education was one of the most important. One of the most highly correlated predictors of academic success. And how rigorous that is. I don't know, but I, I think that is a, it is a point.

[00:09:33] And I mean, to be fair to the Gates Foundation, I wouldn't wanna be in the position of an either or maybe that's a false dichotomy too. Cause I think they're both important. But definitely something to think about. Yeah. Well, they held a competition in 2020. For $10 million competition to identify new approaches to teaching algebra.

[00:09:53] So, you know, maybe they came up with something innovative, creative that actually pulls in those other, you know, elements and disciplines. But I'll just say you know, this is this, this is the nature of living in a philanthropic landscape dominated by billionaires. I hope they're making the right.

[00:10:14] Because you're doing a live a live experiment with how we're distribute , basically, and how we're distributing resources according to, to, to billionaires. Other than like, I don't know, maybe our educational system being like, tell you what we actually needed here. You know, it's a live experiment.

[00:10:29] Let's see how it goes. Yeah. I agree with you. Those are big questions. Moving into another story , I don't, I don't have a thesis on that but I'll move into this story. This comes from CoinDesk and this is about, it's real interesting. This is about police complaints in an Indian district are going on the poly.

[00:10:50] Blockchain. So I guess the idea here is that you submit a complaint against the police. In particular it seems that complaints in this district have a history of corruption, manipulation, yada, yada, yada. But when it's on the blockchain, there is verifiable record and it's, you know, impossible to alter or falsify complaints against police and.

[00:11:15] Not an expert on the blockchain, but George, to me this seems like a really clever way to use the blockchain for accountability in a creative way and hear government, and we've seen other organizations doing this, for example. So, so what's your take on this? I think this is super interesting, this.

[00:11:36] I mean, frankly, me forcing my own agenda of pay attention to the blockchain, it is a new form of, frankly, the internet. And the same thing the internet did to the social impact sector of being able to increase people's ability to communicate, work with stakeholders, to educate, do you name it? The problem is when it first came out, I think the internet was a glorified online donate button, and it's so much more than that.

[00:12:02] It's so much more than crypto philanthropy. So I like finding and sharing stories like this that just bring forward the social impact potential of this platform.

[00:12:15] Absolutely, I'm with you. And I think when we were talking about George Ukraine, we were talking about the, the seismic crypto philanthropy happening there, but also Ukrainians, you know, verifying information about violence and all sorts of other really vital ways that you can create verifiable.

[00:12:39] Information that has social impact or can help governments or can help legal systems. I think the opportunities are really broad. So I think that's a fantastic point. Yeah. I mean, it's accountability here. And what's also interesting now, as we covered in the past, maybe these words are, don't mean anything to you and maybe in the back of your mind, well, what about the environmental impact of this?

[00:13:03] You know, it's, it's wasteful, like pause. In the last month, this is built on Ethereum. Ethereum now is essentially carbon pointless because it is proof of stake. It is no longer chewing up tons of resources. Polygon is built on top of Ethereum, so it's using a fraction of a fraction of the amount of energy.

[00:13:27] So if your initial back of your mind response to, Oh my gosh, but it's such a wasteful tech at what cost? No more. This is very much when we're in a bare phase of a market time, when you're gonna get very interesting projects built. And I hope more non-profits take notice, especially if you're dealing with this vein of accountability to, I don't know, say a government or a police or an industry that you imagine more transparency might help cuz it's real hard for mold to grow in the.

[00:13:57] That is very well said, and I will not attempt to restate that, but I agree. All right. We have one more story, and this is not so much a story as much as I think interesting and relevant research you wanted to highlight. This comes from Freedom House. They are a non-profit human rights and go.

[00:14:19] Accountability research, nonprofit. And they put together every year a freedom in the world and freedom of the internet report. And they talk about internet freedom and they just release their report on internet freedom. And we wanted to highlight some of the key findings, cuz I think they're. Really important and they center some really broad problems that as we talk about, big ideas in social impact and digital impact, I think are important to understand.

[00:14:47] The, some of the key findings and support include that global internet freedom declined for the 12th consecutive year, particularly due to clamp downs on internet and press freedom in Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, and Libya. In Russia in particular in wake of their un. Invasion of Ukraine. But also I wanted to highlight that internet freedom in the United States improved marginally for the first time in six years.

[00:15:14] It seems that the government is moving slightly and catching up maybe a little bit into understanding a little bit of the, the complexities of, of internet here. And are kind of pulling back with regards to targeted surveillance. And like agency harassment during protests which was something common that we saw with the George Floyd protests.

[00:15:33] Lots of civil rights complaints coming out of that. But then the last point here is that human rights hang in the balance amid it, competition to control the web, and you have lots of different stakeholders looking to compete for control. The web. And I think that for our American audience, maybe not as forefront in the mind, but for non-profits and NGOs all over the world this is much more pertinent and important to those organizations working much more complex political environments and digital environments.

[00:16:04] So, wanted to highlight this report for those reasons. Yeah, it's fascinating clearly also China listed among the folks trying to fragment and restrict the world's environment for internet freedom. You know, do do one search for Tiananmen Square on a Chinese server and be unsurprised at the lack of results?

[00:16:25] And that's not limited to that at all. The reason why nonprofits should care is because it is, you know, harmful to human rights when you are limiting free expression, justice and accountability, privacy, security, all of these elements economic opportunity. It's putting disproportionate power in the hands of the government.

[00:16:46] And when you know this quote from here, entrenched and aspiring authoritarian leaders sought to contain online descent by preventing residents from reaching global information sources That paints the picture that I think in general, pushing for, for internet freedom is, is a good thing. Freedom on the net.

[00:17:05] So, I'm very fascinated by this Freedom house.org report. Take a look. It's in the non-profit news email and also in the show notes.

[00:17:13] Absolutely. All right, George, are you ready for a feel? Good? I think I'm always ready. I'm always ready. And I put you on the task and I said, Nick, you define something. George, Boy did I find something. I have something that's gonna gack your socks off. This comes from npr.com and we are talking about the Avo Gaden, which has struck Philadelphia.

[00:17:41] And the title of this story is One Nonprofit has Given Away. Thousands of avocados. So a Philadelphia food distribution nonprofit called Sharing Excess is handing out hundreds of thousands of avocados this week, leaving some residents saying Holy guacamole. It turns out that some kind of strange combination of surplus, even though there's not really a surplus, cuz there's still supply shortages.

[00:18:08] But food vendors have an incredible supply, excess supply of avocado. In Philadelphia and this nonprofit is facilitating their free distribution. There's some quotes in here about folks walking away with crates of about 50 avocados, which is hundreds of dollars worth of avocados. And it's kind of a funny story.

[00:18:30] This guy's like, I use them on scrambled eggs. I use them in pasta sauce. I use them in smoothies. I don't know about that, but you know, whatever floats your boat. But I think what's cool here is the the organizations that are able to identify surpluses in food, food supply chains. There's lots of startups now operating in the food surplus space and helping folks access food who otherwise might not have access, right?

[00:18:57] And reducing food waste. So I think this is a cool story. Yeah, I'll love to see it. Yeah. The nonprofit sharing Excess was the one involved. And also shout out to Move For Hunger, which is a past client friend of the pod that also is in charge of that last mile problem. There's food here in excess, there are people there in need.

[00:19:21] That gap is hard to close and it takes. Organizing and it takes nonprofits really because it's hard to say like, Hey, here's a profit, we're gonna turn in doing this. And so it's our service to each other. I love seeing it. And also, I mean, I had like 10 extra avocados once I was like, I dunno what to do. So I'm gonna have to go in and go and get some ideas.

[00:19:43] But also Nick, nice job on all the, the, the guac related puns. I'll just end . I know you practice. I, I did practice not to make things goward but there was practice involved there. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, I'll end with a bad joke simply because we've been adding these to the bottom of the emails because we can, Hey, Nick, why was the cemetery fundraiser so popular?

[00:20:10] I don't know, George, Why was it Cause people were dying to get in?

[00:20:15] Perfect. That's a good one. That's perfect. It says though, we don't want people to listen to the end of the podcast. This is the best part, . All right, we'll end on that. Thanks, friend. Thanks, George.

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Girl Scouts Get $85 Million Donation From MacKenzie Scott MacKenzie Scott, known for historic billion-dollar donations continues to change nonprofits’ fortunes, this time with an $85 million donation to the Girl Scouts of USA. The donation is the single largest donation in the organization’s history since its founding in 1912, and will help the organization recoup a loss of programming and membership as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reporting from KUSA.com. According to the report, only 2% of philanthropic giving in the United States goes directly to programs expressly interested in serving women and girls. Youth membership in the Girl Scouts dropped nearly 30% in the first year of the pandemic.

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Summary

• Gates Foundation boosts GivingTuesday with $10M donation | AP NEWS
• Bill and Melinda Gates are chopping funding for reading, writing and the arts to plow $1 billion into math education instead | Fortune
• Police Complaints in This Indian District Are Going on the Polygon Blockchain | @coindesk
• Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet | Freedom House
• Avoggedon strikes Philadelphia: One nonprofit gives away thousands of avocados NPR.org

Rough Transcript

audio1870786012 Sequence

[00:00:00] This week the nonprofit news feed for the week of October 24th. Almost done with October. In the biggest news of all, I turned 40 last week. So, you know, I'm, I'm far wiser, definitely older, and so hopefully the quality of all of the podcasts is gonna just go up into the right. Congratulations, George.

[00:00:46] That's awesome. Did you do anything to celebrate? I officially launched a side project of turning my crawlspace under the house into a speakeasy. So that is a thing that happened and as one would imagine, I took it too far. So we had full branding and beer that I brewed and truly I did, I did my best to take.

[00:01:10] A side project to its extreme. However, with no formal segue planned why don't we go into the news of the Girl Scouts getting a record breaking in terms of the history's organization donation? Absolutely. That does sound amazing. But what is also amazing is that Mackenzie Scott, The famed philanthropist known for historic billion dollar donations that seemingly drop on a dime has announced $85 million in funding for Girls Scouts of the United States of America.

[00:01:48] The donation is the single largest donation in the organization's history since its founding in 1912, and will largely help the organization recoup a loss of programming and. As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic according to the report, only 2% of philanthropic giving in the United States goes directly to programs expressly interested in serving women and girls.

[00:02:12] And related to the Girl Scouts youth membership has dropped nearly 30% in the beginning of the pandemic, which is extremely significant. And I love this donation because I think. Both invests in girls, which is amazing, but also the Girl Scouts are so famous for the cookies, and maybe that sounds delicious and trivial, but it's really not.

[00:02:37] I think that door to door community interaction, the ability of nonprofits to interface with the community is great, not only for its members, but for communities. Broadly and girl scouts and boy scouts have been such main stage of the philanthropic, charitable giving world that you only wanna see them thrive, right?

[00:02:59] Cause there's such public and visible representations of the nonprofit industry. So I think this is awesome. Yeah. Since founding in 1912, I mean, a storied history for sure. But the question is how do you, how do you maintain a 30% drop is just devastating. You know? I didn't realize it was, it was that high.

[00:03:20] And as an institution, what you know can happen is that you begin, you know, a self-fulfilling prophecy of closing regional chapters because enrollment declines. Enrollment declines because there's not enough regional chapters and access to the programming and it, it can go into a spiral. So this is an incredibly well timed $85 million.

[00:03:41] Donation. What's more, I think there's also been interesting downward pressure, I guess, or we'll call it, increased competition from the Boy Scouts, which now admit girls as well. So you have sort of two factors happening at the same time, and not to make comment on that, but it's, it's just probably probably exacerbated the, the challenges that the Girl Scouts have faced.

[00:04:07] Absolutely. I agree. But we do love to see these donations. And speaking of, Large donations. We're now going to turn to some of the, the biggest name brand philanthropists out there. And we have two stories and we'll package them together. The first is that the Gates Foundation, or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $10 million to the Giving Tuesday organization.

[00:04:33] Giving Tuesday has been around what, for like a decade now. But it actually has an organization. Runs in markets and establishes the kind of the holiday and, and does reporting on it. So this organization itself has received a 10 million donation. And then our separate article is also about. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is an interesting article from Fortune about how the foundation is cutting funding for reading, writing and the arts in instead focusing $1 billion in math education.

[00:05:10] Which is really interesting. And that comes on the heels of, I've just been reading some New York Times articles about just the, the math literacy Landscape in America in our education systems are really, really abysmal right now. Exacerbated by the pandemic. So George, we have two stories here about the Gates Foundation giving to Giving Tuesday and also redirecting money within the education space.

[00:05:34] What's our take on these one? I am a long time fan and friend of giving Tuesday. Famously a project coming out of 92nd Street. Why we've had Asha Curran, the CEO of giving tuesday.org on this podcast to talk about some of that history. I love that they're getting this type of institutional investment to make it, again, an institution, something that I hope continues to grow as.

[00:06:04] As a cultural day of giving a priming of the philanthropic mindset as you roll into December. And you know, I, I actually, you know, was kind of surprised. I, I would've thought that, you know, this type of. Type of system or network type gift would've come from a McKenzie Scott rather than a Gates Foundation.

[00:06:26] So I was a little surprised to see that actually. It's very much like a McKenzie Scott style of thing where, you know, you saw her funding groups that helped the back end of the non-profit industry, like volunteer match and, and that type of, that type of thing, right. So, I you know, surprised actually Gates Foundation there, and then the other side like, oh gosh, Yeah, I mean, we've never tracked lower in the history of math scoring for, for children disproportionately impacting black and brown students saying that they have declines more sharply than those in white students.

[00:06:59] You know, there's high correlation to they say potential. You know, employment is measured by ninth graders ability to pass introductory algebra. I get nervous sometimes when you talk about redirecting a billion dollars in education, you're running a live experiment because when you redirect it, it means you're, you're pulling away from arts, writing and reading, and so you're doing this totally never before done experiment of saying, Well wait a.

[00:07:35] You know, it looks like, you know, sometimes survivor bias, right? The idea that, oh, kid, kids that brush their teeth are less likely to have heart attacks at age 60. You're like, what is the correlation there? Like, Oh yeah. Because you know kids that have parents that do this, like there are so many other factors that probably go into a successful childhood development that I get nervous by saying like, Oh yeah, ignore these other very critical elements that make kid, keep kids in school.

[00:08:04] Why do you go to school? I love the art program and by the way, Ability to write May, I don't know, come up when I need to write an email, A resume general interaction. And so, you know, do we run into a Peter and Paul problem here robbing Peter to pay Paul with regards to child education? I get nervous. I think you just write another check.

[00:08:27] That's what I think you do. another bill. Write another freaking check if Matt's the problem. Because there's so little funding that goes toward, you know, something like the arts in education. And I think that's gonna be a differentiator in a marketplace that's gonna be dominated by frankly, AI that can do the job of, of math and find an answer.

[00:08:47] It's gonna be about the creative synthesis and communication of information, Not like, can I do the Pythagorean Serum or a quadratic equation? Yeah, George, I, I agree with you. It's a sticky situation. There's an opportunity cost to this for sure, going either way. But I, I famously am as liberal arts as it gets and I in my background.

[00:09:12] But I always remember my band teacher just very overtly plastered a New York Times article on the front door talking about how music education was one of the most important. One of the most highly correlated predictors of academic success. And how rigorous that is. I don't know, but I, I think that is a, it is a point.

[00:09:33] And I mean, to be fair to the Gates Foundation, I wouldn't wanna be in the position of an either or maybe that's a false dichotomy too. Cause I think they're both important. But definitely something to think about. Yeah. Well, they held a competition in 2020. For $10 million competition to identify new approaches to teaching algebra.

[00:09:53] So, you know, maybe they came up with something innovative, creative that actually pulls in those other, you know, elements and disciplines. But I'll just say you know, this is this, this is the nature of living in a philanthropic landscape dominated by billionaires. I hope they're making the right.

[00:10:14] Because you're doing a live a live experiment with how we're distribute , basically, and how we're distributing resources according to, to, to billionaires. Other than like, I don't know, maybe our educational system being like, tell you what we actually needed here. You know, it's a live experiment.

[00:10:29] Let's see how it goes. Yeah. I agree with you. Those are big questions. Moving into another story , I don't, I don't have a thesis on that but I'll move into this story. This comes from CoinDesk and this is about, it's real interesting. This is about police complaints in an Indian district are going on the poly.

[00:10:50] Blockchain. So I guess the idea here is that you submit a complaint against the police. In particular it seems that complaints in this district have a history of corruption, manipulation, yada, yada, yada. But when it's on the blockchain, there is verifiable record and it's, you know, impossible to alter or falsify complaints against police and.

[00:11:15] Not an expert on the blockchain, but George, to me this seems like a really clever way to use the blockchain for accountability in a creative way and hear government, and we've seen other organizations doing this, for example. So, so what's your take on this? I think this is super interesting, this.

[00:11:36] I mean, frankly, me forcing my own agenda of pay attention to the blockchain, it is a new form of, frankly, the internet. And the same thing the internet did to the social impact sector of being able to increase people's ability to communicate, work with stakeholders, to educate, do you name it? The problem is when it first came out, I think the internet was a glorified online donate button, and it's so much more than that.

[00:12:02] It's so much more than crypto philanthropy. So I like finding and sharing stories like this that just bring forward the social impact potential of this platform.

[00:12:15] Absolutely, I'm with you. And I think when we were talking about George Ukraine, we were talking about the, the seismic crypto philanthropy happening there, but also Ukrainians, you know, verifying information about violence and all sorts of other really vital ways that you can create verifiable.

[00:12:39] Information that has social impact or can help governments or can help legal systems. I think the opportunities are really broad. So I think that's a fantastic point. Yeah. I mean, it's accountability here. And what's also interesting now, as we covered in the past, maybe these words are, don't mean anything to you and maybe in the back of your mind, well, what about the environmental impact of this?

[00:13:03] You know, it's, it's wasteful, like pause. In the last month, this is built on Ethereum. Ethereum now is essentially carbon pointless because it is proof of stake. It is no longer chewing up tons of resources. Polygon is built on top of Ethereum, so it's using a fraction of a fraction of the amount of energy.

[00:13:27] So if your initial back of your mind response to, Oh my gosh, but it's such a wasteful tech at what cost? No more. This is very much when we're in a bare phase of a market time, when you're gonna get very interesting projects built. And I hope more non-profits take notice, especially if you're dealing with this vein of accountability to, I don't know, say a government or a police or an industry that you imagine more transparency might help cuz it's real hard for mold to grow in the.

[00:13:57] That is very well said, and I will not attempt to restate that, but I agree. All right. We have one more story, and this is not so much a story as much as I think interesting and relevant research you wanted to highlight. This comes from Freedom House. They are a non-profit human rights and go.

[00:14:19] Accountability research, nonprofit. And they put together every year a freedom in the world and freedom of the internet report. And they talk about internet freedom and they just release their report on internet freedom. And we wanted to highlight some of the key findings, cuz I think they're. Really important and they center some really broad problems that as we talk about, big ideas in social impact and digital impact, I think are important to understand.

[00:14:47] The, some of the key findings and support include that global internet freedom declined for the 12th consecutive year, particularly due to clamp downs on internet and press freedom in Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, and Libya. In Russia in particular in wake of their un. Invasion of Ukraine. But also I wanted to highlight that internet freedom in the United States improved marginally for the first time in six years.

[00:15:14] It seems that the government is moving slightly and catching up maybe a little bit into understanding a little bit of the, the complexities of, of internet here. And are kind of pulling back with regards to targeted surveillance. And like agency harassment during protests which was something common that we saw with the George Floyd protests.

[00:15:33] Lots of civil rights complaints coming out of that. But then the last point here is that human rights hang in the balance amid it, competition to control the web, and you have lots of different stakeholders looking to compete for control. The web. And I think that for our American audience, maybe not as forefront in the mind, but for non-profits and NGOs all over the world this is much more pertinent and important to those organizations working much more complex political environments and digital environments.

[00:16:04] So, wanted to highlight this report for those reasons. Yeah, it's fascinating clearly also China listed among the folks trying to fragment and restrict the world's environment for internet freedom. You know, do do one search for Tiananmen Square on a Chinese server and be unsurprised at the lack of results?

[00:16:25] And that's not limited to that at all. The reason why nonprofits should care is because it is, you know, harmful to human rights when you are limiting free expression, justice and accountability, privacy, security, all of these elements economic opportunity. It's putting disproportionate power in the hands of the government.

[00:16:46] And when you know this quote from here, entrenched and aspiring authoritarian leaders sought to contain online descent by preventing residents from reaching global information sources That paints the picture that I think in general, pushing for, for internet freedom is, is a good thing. Freedom on the net.

[00:17:05] So, I'm very fascinated by this Freedom house.org report. Take a look. It's in the non-profit news email and also in the show notes.

[00:17:13] Absolutely. All right, George, are you ready for a feel? Good? I think I'm always ready. I'm always ready. And I put you on the task and I said, Nick, you define something. George, Boy did I find something. I have something that's gonna gack your socks off. This comes from npr.com and we are talking about the Avo Gaden, which has struck Philadelphia.

[00:17:41] And the title of this story is One Nonprofit has Given Away. Thousands of avocados. So a Philadelphia food distribution nonprofit called Sharing Excess is handing out hundreds of thousands of avocados this week, leaving some residents saying Holy guacamole. It turns out that some kind of strange combination of surplus, even though there's not really a surplus, cuz there's still supply shortages.

[00:18:08] But food vendors have an incredible supply, excess supply of avocado. In Philadelphia and this nonprofit is facilitating their free distribution. There's some quotes in here about folks walking away with crates of about 50 avocados, which is hundreds of dollars worth of avocados. And it's kind of a funny story.

[00:18:30] This guy's like, I use them on scrambled eggs. I use them in pasta sauce. I use them in smoothies. I don't know about that, but you know, whatever floats your boat. But I think what's cool here is the the organizations that are able to identify surpluses in food, food supply chains. There's lots of startups now operating in the food surplus space and helping folks access food who otherwise might not have access, right?

[00:18:57] And reducing food waste. So I think this is a cool story. Yeah, I'll love to see it. Yeah. The nonprofit sharing Excess was the one involved. And also shout out to Move For Hunger, which is a past client friend of the pod that also is in charge of that last mile problem. There's food here in excess, there are people there in need.

[00:19:21] That gap is hard to close and it takes. Organizing and it takes nonprofits really because it's hard to say like, Hey, here's a profit, we're gonna turn in doing this. And so it's our service to each other. I love seeing it. And also, I mean, I had like 10 extra avocados once I was like, I dunno what to do. So I'm gonna have to go in and go and get some ideas.

[00:19:43] But also Nick, nice job on all the, the, the guac related puns. I'll just end . I know you practice. I, I did practice not to make things goward but there was practice involved there. Oh my gosh. All right. Well, I'll end with a bad joke simply because we've been adding these to the bottom of the emails because we can, Hey, Nick, why was the cemetery fundraiser so popular?

[00:20:10] I don't know, George, Why was it Cause people were dying to get in?

[00:20:15] Perfect. That's a good one. That's perfect. It says though, we don't want people to listen to the end of the podcast. This is the best part, . All right, we'll end on that. Thanks, friend. Thanks, George.

View Details

“Big Lie” -Affiliated Nonprofits Scrutinized By Authorities On Eve of Midterm General Election Two organizations associated with the “Big Lie,” the disproved conspiracy that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, face scrutiny for financial impropriety. The Arizona Attorney General (a Republican who as recently as 2020 courted Trump’s endorsement) has asked the FBI and IRS to probe the nonprofit organization True The Vote, an organization that purported to document unfounded claims of election fraud, according to reporting from Politico. Similarly, the nonprofit organization Defending The Republic led by Sidney Powell, a prominent character in the plot to deny the 2020 election results, has made highly questionable expenditures after raising $16 million, including to private companies that Sidney Powell is listed as a manager, as well as reportedly expenditures to Powell’s personal legal fees. The Justice Department has subpoenaed Defending The Republic’s documents as Powell herself faces multiple lawsuits, legal sanctions, and other legal inquiries as reported by The Washington Post.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Century-old nonprofit Goodwill on taking thrifting online | TribDem.com
• Major bank cancels account of religious nonprofit, demands donor list | FISM TV
• Richmond nonprofit says marijuana possession pardons could help over half of their clients | CBS 6 News Richmond
• Gates Foundation pledges $1.2B to eradicate polio globally | AP NEWS

View Details

“Big Lie” -Affiliated Nonprofits Scrutinized By Authorities On Eve of Midterm General Election Two organizations associated with the “Big Lie,” the disproved conspiracy that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, face scrutiny for financial impropriety. The Arizona Attorney General (a Republican who as recently as 2020 courted Trump’s endorsement) has asked the FBI and IRS to probe the nonprofit organization True The Vote, an organization that purported to document unfounded claims of election fraud, according to reporting from Politico. Similarly, the nonprofit organization Defending The Republic led by Sidney Powell, a prominent character in the plot to deny the 2020 election results, has made highly questionable expenditures after raising $16 million, including to private companies that Sidney Powell is listed as a manager, as well as reportedly expenditures to Powell’s personal legal fees. The Justice Department has subpoenaed Defending The Republic’s documents as Powell herself faces multiple lawsuits, legal sanctions, and other legal inquiries as reported by The Washington Post.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Century-old nonprofit Goodwill on taking thrifting online | TribDem.com
• Major bank cancels account of religious nonprofit, demands donor list | FISM TV
• Richmond nonprofit says marijuana possession pardons could help over half of their clients | CBS 6 News Richmond
• Gates Foundation pledges $1.2B to eradicate polio globally | AP NEWS

View Details

Discussion with Farra Trompeter, Co-director of Big Duck, and George Weiner about the 10th anniversary of Giving Tuesday.

How can we be unique in a crowded spaghetti bowl of communications?

How should your organization approach this year's event on November 29th? 

Will Giving Tuesday raise a new record on the day? Whole Whale predicts it will.

Should your organization adopt a new 'Collective giving' approach to the day? 

Farra talks through a recent post about collective giving how to bring a spirit of abundance and consider how you can use this day to educate and inspire your supporters beyond your mission.

Image: Dalle2 Megaphone on pasta

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In Win For Criminal Justice Advocates, Biden Pardons Marijuana Charges & Orders Evaluation of Cannabis Scheduling The Biden Administration announced last week a series of pardons for those charged on federal, simple marijuana possession charges, in a win for criminal justice reform advocates. The legacy of the Nixon Administration’s “War On Drugs” is still felt throughout the United States, where black and brown Americans are more likely to be charged for marijuana use than white Americans, despite similar rates of usage. NPR quotes Patrice Willoughby, vice president of policy and legislative affairs at the NAACP, who says that “The failed policies on drug criminalization have ensnared many on nonviolent, marijuana offenses.” Biden has also “instructed the attorney general and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to start the process of reviewing marijuana’s status under federal law, according to Politico. Advocacy groups continue to highlight the need for reforms at the state level.

Read more ➝

Summary

• U.N. refugee boss warns of 'severe cuts' without immediate new funding U.S. Reuters
• What Happens When a Company (Like Patagonia) Transfers Ownership to a Nonprofit? | HBR.org Daily
• Black Lives Matter tops list of groups that Black Americans see as helping them most in recent years | Pew Research Center
• Nonprofit Helps Salem Family With Wheelchair Makeover Fit for Halloween | NECN

DALLE2 Image thumbnail

View Details

In Win For Criminal Justice Advocates, Biden Pardons Marijuana Charges & Orders Evaluation of Cannabis Scheduling The Biden Administration announced last week a series of pardons for those charged on federal, simple marijuana possession charges, in a win for criminal justice reform advocates. The legacy of the Nixon Administration’s “War On Drugs” is still felt throughout the United States, where black and brown Americans are more likely to be charged for marijuana use than white Americans, despite similar rates of usage. NPR quotes Patrice Willoughby, vice president of policy and legislative affairs at the NAACP, who says that “The failed policies on drug criminalization have ensnared many on nonviolent, marijuana offenses.” Biden has also “instructed the attorney general and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to start the process of reviewing marijuana’s status under federal law, according to Politico. Advocacy groups continue to highlight the need for reforms at the state level.

Read more ➝

Summary

• U.N. refugee boss warns of 'severe cuts' without immediate new funding U.S. Reuters
• What Happens When a Company (Like Patagonia) Transfers Ownership to a Nonprofit? | HBR.org Daily
• Black Lives Matter tops list of groups that Black Americans see as helping them most in recent years | Pew Research Center
• Nonprofit Helps Salem Family With Wheelchair Makeover Fit for Halloween | NECN

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On this episode, Allison Sesso, the CEO & President of RIP Medical Debt talks about their unique approach to alleviating medical debt of Americans. By leveraging medical debt markets and partnering with hospitals, RIP Medical Debt is able to achieve 100X leverage on every dollar donated to wipe out debt at scale.

Resource: Medical debt and health impact - Jama Network.

How big is the problem? The SIPP survey suggests people in the United States owe at least $195 billion in medical debt. Approximately 16 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe over $1,000 in medical debt and 3 million people (1% of adults) owe medical debt of more than $10,000.

RIP Medical Debt by the numbers: * $7,091,262,274 in medical debt relieved so far * 3,987,191 individuals and families helped * 2021 Annual Report

The debt relief we provide reduces mental and financial distress for millions of people. Here’s how we got started.

RIP Medical Debt was founded in 2014 by two former debt collections executives. Over the course of decades in the debt-buying industry they met with thousands of Americans saddled with unpaid and un-payable medical debt and realized they were uniquely qualified to help those in need.

They imagined a new way to relieve medical debt: by using donations to buy large bundles of debt that is erased with no tax consequences to donors or recipients.

From this idea RIP Medical Debt was born, a New York based 501(C)(3). The results have been spectacular—billions in medical debt eradicated so far, providing financial relief for millions of individuals and families.

About Allison Sesso President / CEO

Allison Sesso became the President / CEO of RIP Medical Debt in January of 2020. RIP Medical Debt was established for the sole purpose of reducing the medical debt burdens of low-income individuals with limited capacity to pay their medical bills by leveraging donations from people across the country. They have abolished $7,091,262,274 to date for over 3,987,191 people.

Under Allison’s leadership and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, RIP Medical Debt launched the “Helping COVID Heroes Fund” focused on relieving the medical debts of healthcare workers and emergency responders like nurses, home health aids, pharmacists, social workers, hospital technicians, the National Guard and others working on the front lines of the pandemic. It also benefits service workers and others facing financial hardship resulting from the COVID induced economic downturn. Through this effort RIP has abolished over $100 million in medical debt.

Prior to joining RIP Medical Debt, Allison served as the Executive Director of the Human Services Council of New York (HSC), an association of 170 nonprofits delivering 90% of human services in New York City.

Under her leadership HSC pioneered the development of nationally recognized tools designed to illuminate risks associated with government contracts, including an RFP rater and government agency grading system. She led negotiations with New York City and State government on behalf of the sector and successfully pushed for over $500 million in investments to address the nonprofit fiscal crisis.

During her tenure at HSC, Allison also led a commission of experts focused on socialdeterminants of health and value-based-payment structures and published the report,Integrating Health and Human Services: a Blueprint for Partnership and Action, that examines the challenges of operationalizing relationships between health and human services providers, offering several recommendations. She also served on the New York State Department of Health’s Social Determinants and Community Based Organizations (CBO) Subcommittee helping to formulate recommendations around the integration of CBOs into Medicaid managed care.

Allison’s work on behalf of the human services sector led City & State to recognize her as a top nonprofit leader in 2018 and 2019, one of the 25 most influential leaders in Manhattan in 2017, and one of New York City’s 100 “Most Responsible” in 2016. She recently received the 100 “Most Responsible” award for the second time for her efforts at RIP Medical Debt.

Allison also serves as the Vice Chair of the nonprofit “Right to Be,” formerly Hollaback!, a global movement working to end harassment through bystander intervention training and storytelling.

Rough Transcript [00:00:00] George Weiner: This week we have an awesome guest who I, I think I promised I would track down somebody from R IP medical Debt because they kept showing up in the news and innovative approach to dealing with, uh, a tremendous. Problem in America around, uh, I'd say healthcare and debt, and none other than Allison Seso, the CEO and President is joining us.

[00:00:52] This means a lot. Thank you, Allison, for, for taking the time today.

[00:00:55] Allison Sesso: Thanks for hunting us down and finding us. We love talking about our work and, and the issue of, of medical debt, so I appreciate every opportu. . Well,

[00:01:05] George Weiner: let's drive right into it on the front page of r i p medical debt.org. On the front page of the.org site, I see every $100 donated relieves 10,000 in medical debt.

[00:01:19] First off. That gets my attention. What a perfect way to start a conversation. But how does that work exactly?

[00:01:29] Allison Sesso: Yeah. We are a, uh, a unique model and we take advantage of the for profit, uh, debt market, uh, and use it for a mission driven purpose, which is really exciting and, and I think unique. So we do get an incredible return on investment and it's because there is a market for debt buying, uh, that is, has been established, and That is because, uh, there is a for profit industry that we take advantage of, uh, and they are looking to make money off of the issue of debt. We, on the other hand, are trying to relieve debt, so we take donations from individuals, we take 'em to the debt market, and we buy large portfolios at.

[00:02:10] So, the individuals that are in those portfolios tend to be financially burdened. They are poor, they are, um, in fact, to qualify for our program, you have to be 400% of poverty or below, or the debt birth burden has to be significant compared to your overall income. So it has to be 5% or more of your income.

[00:02:28] We do an analysis of the debt portfolio and we buy all of the accounts that qualify and then we purchase them based on. For profit rates. And so we're competitive with that market, but because the for profit folks are trying to make money, they have to really depress the prices and they have to have a really deep discount in order to make sure that they're making their money back.

[00:02:49] And so we don't have to make our money back. And so we're able to take, you know, $1 and turn it into a hundred dollars of medical debt relief. And as you pointed out, you can ex expand that. So, you know, $500 gets rid of 50. Um, $50,000 of medical debt. And so that's how we're able to, provide massive debt relief to the tune of $7 billion to date and grow.

[00:03:12] George Weiner: Yeah, I think there's a lot to unpack there. Maybe I, um, wanna poke a little bit more into like, making sure I actually get this. So let's say I'm, you know, a family living below the, the poverty line meeting your, your standards. There's an, uh, unexpected accident and injury. I then am in the hospital for a few days and suddenly I'm walking around with 45 grand in debt overnight.

[00:03:34] And because of the way our systems work, this is now. A debt I owe to creditors. Now that debt, as I understand, can first go from the hospital to maybe a secondary buyer, right? There's like all these markets of like, Oh, I'll grab that one, I'll grab that one. And then it seems like they're, there's a discount on it cuz it's not dollar for dollar you're getting.

[00:03:56] A hundred x leverage on it. So there's some discounting of my debt with that 45,000. Can you just walk me through like the individual, like I am sitting here, I've got 45 grand in debt. I can run off to a sort of like Go fund me type site and be like, Please, please, please, please pay this money. I have a story.

[00:04:19] I have a narrative. And unfortunately I have to compete with other stories around me. What is the alternative path that my 45 K debt takes in your world?

[00:04:29] Allison Sesso: Yeah, so your, I could buy your debt probably for $45. That's the diff . That's, that's the difference. It's pretty, you know, I'm sorry, I don't understand.

[00:04:39] I'm sorry For $450. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. Um, Um, Um, so yeah, I could buy your debt for $450 and that is because I'm not just buying your. I am buying the entire provider's portfolio of bad debt, so it's more attractive of an option. So basically I'm, I'm a hospital or another healthcare provider. I am serving people who can't afford to pay.

[00:05:02] They are poor as you just described. And, and by the way, just to be clear, it's 400% of poverty or below, so it's not just under poverty, but four times the amount of poverty. So it's people that are poor but but not necessarily. Oh, so

[00:05:16] George Weiner: four x the whatever, $45,000 Exactly. Anywhere you are. Okay. So

[00:05:21] Allison Sesso: that, that matter.

[00:05:22] So we're really like helping people that. Really trying to make ends meet but aren't actually, uh, technically in poverty based on the federal definition. So you, you know, you, there's, there's, you have to, In order for our model to work, we're buying the entire portfolio of many of those individuals who have the 45,000 or a thousand dollars or $2,000 of debt.

[00:05:43] Uh, that all together. So it's source driven. So basically I'm going to the hospital or other healthcare provider and I'm saying, Give me the debts. Give me your entire portfolio of debt that you have tried to collect and you have been unable to collect and mostly been able, unable to collect because the individuals are, uh, financially stressed out and can't.

[00:06:03] Afford to pay this bill. I will look at that portfolio and I will assess what can I pay for that? And this is if I'm a for-profit, not F R P medical debt, but as a for-profit debt buyer, I will say, Okay, I'm gonna pay this. I'm gonna pay you an X amount of dollars for the entire portfolio for thousands of people's bads.

[00:06:23] On the bet that at least I can squeeze enough out of that. Mm-hmm. , you get to make up for the investment that I've made plus, Right. Cuz I'm looking for a profit and I squeeze those individuals either by calling them, by putting it on their credit, you know, and giving them bad credit by sometimes suing them and taking, putting leans out on their.

[00:06:43] Um, on their cars, on their vehicles. So I take different tactic to try and collect on that. And so that establishes this debt market that establishes a price that is very depressed and discounted. And again, that's what r i p medical debt takes advantage of. So I'm competing with that already depressed price that is driven by the fact that people are trying to make a profit off of these bad debts.

[00:07:05] But in my world, I've sort of flipped it on its head and I'm. I will pay the same as the for profits, but I'm not trying to make a profit. I'm just trying to provide relief. So I'm going to take donated dollars, so I don't need to make any money back. I'm gonna go to that same debt market. I'm gonna say, give me all of the bad debts that you have available.

[00:07:25] I'm gonna pull out the ones that are for, which is most of them, like 80% oftentimes of people who are financially uh, struggling. And I will pay. this amount, and I pay based on, usually the debt is, um, the older it is, the cheaper it is because

[00:07:42] George Weiner: the idea is it pays outstanding, puts a higher discount on the probability

[00:07:46] Allison Sesso: that gets behind.

[00:07:46] I'm, I'm paying like, you know, a million dollars for, you know, $300 million worth of debt in one fail swoop. And so it's thousands of people that are getting helped.

[00:07:58] George Weiner: Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So staying with the story here, I have incurred this 45,000. I have not been able to pay it back in thirty, ninety, a hundred eighty days.

[00:08:09] I am within that window of one to four x the poverty level. And do you like show up at my door? Like an oversized check. Is it like, uh, so like how am I notified that? Like, hey, you're suddenly like, you don't owe this anymore. Like, how does this final, like I release you of your burden before, Like what, Like is there a confetti?

[00:08:34] I'm like, that would be a lot of, uh, groundwork for us because we've helped over 4 million people. So that'd be a lot. Lot

[00:08:40] George Weiner: of confetti. And then we got the environmental problem on that. A lot of conf the

[00:08:43] Allison Sesso: confetti ideas. Yeah, exactly. It would be a lot, lot of champagne, you know, it would be a lot. no, we, what we do, first of all, The debts tend to be at least a year old because the hospital does it is required like by regulation, they have to try to collect that could be sending one letter, it could be sending two letters.

[00:08:59] It depends. And so every hospital is different. And the thing is, when you've seen one hospital and their approach to collections, you've seen one hospital and their approach to collections. So there is no like, well what's the standard? There's some norms, but there's really differences. Like for example, not while hospitals sell their debt roughly and.

[00:09:17] Like, I'm not even a hundred percent sure, like, but it's roughly like 30% of hospitals that sell their debt. So not even all hospitals sell their, their debt to begin with. but we do get hospitals to sell to us that don't normally sell to other for profit debt buyers, which is, I think, important. But So you are that individual.

[00:09:34] We would not have access to your file and your debt and when, until a hospital engages with us and agrees to work with us. So that's an important element of our model, is that hospitals have to be interested in working with us and say yes to dis debt relief. Once we get a hospital involved, we will get their entire bad debt portfolio.

[00:09:53] So you, if your debt of that 40, uh, what did you say? $45,000? Mm-hmm. , then we. , uh, send letters in mass like we do to every other individual that's in that thousands at one time that basically say, We are our IP medical debt. We have relieved your debt. You are free and clear. Check us out. We're for real.

[00:10:14] Like, believe us. and

[00:10:16] George Weiner: oh yeah, but there's a lot of, Sure right Where, where's the timeshare agreement?

[00:10:21] Allison Sesso: Right. And you don't have to do anything. And the other thing that's really important is there's no tax burden associated with it. When, when certain debts are relieved, there can be a tax burden because it's considered a gift equal to the amount of the debt that's been released.

[00:10:33] Right, exactly. So could you imagine you get a debt relieved and then you get a tax bill. It's like when you win a lotto and you have to pay taxes. You're like, what? ? The good news is soured. but with r p medical debt, that is not the case because we are disinterested third party. So you get this debt relief free and clear.

[00:10:48] And honestly, the, the debt relief happens whether or not you actually pay attention to the letter. They really can

[00:10:53] George Weiner: just continue to do what you were doing, which was ignore the problem and hope it goes away. Which I have to say, never were, I can't use the word never, because apparently sometimes that works.

[00:11:04] Allison Sesso: Well, I mean, look, the people who were, we are helping though, at the end of the. everyone. I mean, we get the stories back from individuals. Mm. They want so desperately to pay. They really do. And they feel like failures because they haven't been able to pay. Mm-hmm. . So these aren't people who are just like, Whoa, let's hope for the best.

[00:11:25] I'll just keep ignoring this. And you know, these are individuals. Something happened to them. Either they got sick, they were in an accident, whatever happened to them. Maybe they just are poor, like, and, and have other obligations they have to pay for and they can't pay this bill. And so we are relieving those debts of individuals who were forced to pay a bill that they should have never been forced to pay because it's unaffordable.

[00:11:51] George Weiner: Yeah. Cuz clearly they had that desire to pay it back, but not the means by which to do it. What's more, medical prices are not exactly accurate in the United States.

[00:12:03] Allison Sesso: I don't know if the word is accurate. They are all over the place because we have this weird system where the insurance company is paying and the prices are ar.

[00:12:16] Yeah.

[00:12:18] George Weiner: Yeah. Uh, when you operate as an individual in a system designed for these large players that are charging what they will, it just breaks, it seems like, and you're just left with outrageous numbers, and debt burns.

[00:12:32] Allison Sesso: I think that we've created a, a. Typical consumer approach to healthcare and it doesn't work like the economics don't align when you're buying healthcare, first of all, you would pay a lot more than you would for any other good or service, right?

[00:12:49] Because it's your health and your wellbeing. So like your artificially willing to to pay more. And I think we take a little bit of advantage of that in some ways. And, and I think that the fact that we have insurance companies that are negotiating what to pay is. Makes it complicated and it's really hard to navigate this as an individual, nor I think should we have that expectation that people, while they're sick, should be navigating what they're gonna pay for a service that they have Really no real way of doing comparison shopping on.

[00:13:24] George Weiner: this is very different than a lot of other models that I see. And you must, and I see it on the site saying, if you were an individual looking for medical debt relief, that is not us. And that must be hard because you were. You know, behind the curtain that's behind the curtain running in debt markets, which frankly, you know, this may be the first time many people are hearing about this.

[00:13:51] I'm curious how, how did this organization come about? It's been around for, for a while.

[00:13:59] Allison Sesso: Well, I mean, actually we've only been around since 2014, so it's not that old considering, I mean, a lot of nonprofits. Just years old. You know, we, we were . We've only been around since 2014 and we, we came we came into being, because we have two, uh, former debt buyers who understood the market.

[00:14:17] I think that was a key element of it. Craig and Jerry understood, uh, how the debt market works and what it costs to buy. , they were inspired by Occupy Wall Street, actually. Uh, and they saw that there was this group doing this thing called the Jubilee, where they were trying to do just what r i p does in, in large scale, which is to buy medical debt, and relieve it, but to make a point.

[00:14:42] And they recruited actually Jerry's help in this. And then Jerry referred Craig. Then they sort of made their point as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and they were gonna pack up and go home kind of on, on this whole debt relief front. And I think Jerry sort of said to Craig like, We gotta make this a real thing.

[00:15:01] And so they did. They, they really, they, and I think that they have a book that, that they put out talking about this. You can find it on our. , it's called End Medical Debt, and it tells sort of the origin story of of R I P and and and how they thought about this and one of the key moments that really helped the organization propel forward.

[00:15:20] Was being highlighted on John Oliver, which, you know, I'm a big fan of, I was before I got this role and knew about r i p medical debt, but he really, did some debt relief through the institution and, uh, and that propelled a lot of donors to come to the table. Cuz without donors, this really doesn't work.

[00:15:38] I mean, I can go to the debt market all I want, but if I don't have a lot of people supporting my ability to buy the debt, it, it doesn't, it doesn't work. So, That's our story. It was two Defiers who were brave. They took some. They almost went into poverty on, on, on their own because of the fact that they, they took this, uh, this on and they just thought this was too good of an idea to let go.

[00:16:00] And again, John Oliver helped propel us and then the board of directors, you know, said, Let's take it to the next level. And, and then I came in as a, as a seasoned executive director type and, and we were able to really, uh, propel this work forward and we're gonna keep doing. .

[00:16:16] George Weiner: Yeah. I mean, 24, I mean, you've made it through some, some filter bubbles for sure.

[00:16:22] In terms of like the filtering of can you make it five years, can you make it over a, a certain amount of revenue, but you're starting to, uh, really pull. Pull through. It also strikes me because medical debt is the number one reason someone declares bankruptcy and it seems like this is, uh, something that may slow that down.

[00:16:45] Uh, but I don't know how big you need to be, like billions of dollars that you have done. 4 million people. I think you said like those are big numbers. How big do you actually need to be in your mind to, I'm not gonna use the word solve, because you, you are not solving, you are resolving a broken system that will continue to break things.

[00:17:08] But how big do you need to. To take this actually on at the level that you'd imagine?

[00:17:13] Allison Sesso: Yeah, I, it's a good question and it's one I often think about as an executive director, or sorry, as a, as a CEO of the institution, it's one I often think about. What I would say is that, , we need to both be a certain size and relieving a certain amount of debt every year.

[00:17:32] And I don't know what exactly what that number is. It really depends on the donation size. Maybe it's 10 million, maybe it's 20 million. I like the number 25, in terms of our budget size every year, uh, I'd love to grow to that size and, and you know, we're, we're more than halfway there already today, in consistent revenue, but, you know, we'll,

[00:17:51] But the other thing is, I, I loved how you framed it and said, We're not solving but, but resolving this, the issue. And that's a hundred percent true. And that is our mantra. What I wanna make sure is that we're not just trying to grow to a size that picks up and just keeps resolving the issue, but at, in the process of resolving the issue for individual.

[00:18:12] We are very intentional about telling the larger story about the issue of medical debt and how systemic in nature it is, and that we are very intentional about pushing for larger changes that are above our pay grade as an institution. And so to me that is really the key. So our size almost doesn't matter as much as our.

[00:18:36] And so by growing our voice within this work and growing our expertise and taking the data that we are getting in mass, so we are having a deeper understanding. How many people, uh, we, how many people we're helping, what their situation is, what is their race? What is their economic situation? Where do they live?

[00:18:56] Is this, is this problem more prevalent at certain types of hospitals, nonprofit versus for profit? I think over time we'll be able to take a deeper look at our data collectively as we do more and more direct hospital work and contribute to this issue in a larger scale. And be able to hopefully push for, uh, larger solutions that are above again, our pay grade and who we.

[00:19:22] George Weiner: So the debt, we were talking about this before, the debt that a individual incurs, going back to like, here's a, my $45,000 and surprise debt that I now owe. I have a family, uh, we live, you know, in a house we're doing right. But this is something that frankly does not fit into the budget, not even by a long shot.

[00:19:42] Uh, I may. Go into bankruptcy, but it seems like there is a like actual adverse medical effect to having debt. There's like a relationship to having this like held over my head that has negative consequences. We think we were talking about the drama report or other reports out there that suggest that like, I mean, it's just.

[00:20:09] It hurts my brain to put it in the order of logic that like I went to the hospital to get better and now I'm probably gonna get worse because of the overpriced and debt that now chases me indefinitely. And can you tell me a bit about that relationship of debt distress?

[00:20:23] Allison Sesso: Yeah, absolutely. Uh, it is the number one theme that we see in the letters that come back from individual.

[00:20:29] We help, uh, it's overwhelming for individuals and, you know, stress is. Undermining of health and financial stress. Stress is one of the biggest things, and we look at poor communities and we see. You know, diabetes, we see all these stress related diseases, heart issues that are all stress related, that are more extreme.

[00:20:54] Uh, and so in, in terms of medical debt, it is in itself a social determinant of health. And the social determinant of health is something that hospitals have increasingly been looking at and are spending. Millions, billion dollars, billions of dollars across the country trying to invest in community programs that address social determinants of health.

[00:21:16] And yet, as this Gemma report that came out just recently shows the medical debt created from going to the hospital itself is a social determinate of health. So if, if we can really look at medical debt, , we can actually get rid of one of the stressors that's causing people to have to go to the hospital or get care to in the first place.

[00:21:38] So I think it's a really key issue that you're raising and one that we wanna make sure that we keep elevating. Cuz again, these providers, these hospitals are investing lots and lots of money into social determinants of health. Those are things like environmental situations family dynamic. You know, lot things that are in the environment, not your own personal health.

[00:21:57] You know, living in a food desert. All those kinds of things contribute to the undermining of health. And it's a, it determines how well you're going to be healthy, hence, hence the social determinate of health language. And so the fact that medical debt itself is among those is something we need to really look at.

[00:22:14] And I'm so grateful that there is this new report that points to this because I think it will create, To reexamine billing and practices at.

[00:22:26] George Weiner: and I think this is the Jam and Network, uh, that that put this out. But we'll put a link in the, the show notes on it cuz there's a certainly a lot in there and it's one of those things I'm glad somebody did the research on and I am now forced to think about it, but also, I'm sadly not surprised.

[00:22:44] I'm not surprised that having, uh, you know, the, the threat of somebody putting a lean on the house that, you know, my kid lives in, like wouldn't cause me stress. Like I go, I went in cuz I broke my ankle, right? I went in cuz I broke my, and I walk out like two years later with diabetes and other stress related disorders that put me back on that bill.

[00:23:05] Like,

[00:23:06] Allison Sesso: well not only that but the other on top of that, the. Stressor is that people don't go to that hospital because they're scared. They're either gonna incur more debt cuz they have had some, or they know of a friend or family member that's had debt and that it's put them in a, you know, difficult situation and so they don't go and get the care that they need.

[00:23:24] People are sitting outside of hospitals waiting to see if the pain dissipates before they walk in. or they're just ignoring it and, you know, putting, you know, Ben Gay on their knee over and over and over again, and taking Advil and trying to ignore the problem until it gets to a point where it's actually even more expensive to solve and to adjust.

[00:23:46] George Weiner: Yeah, I mean, the, the size of the problem, it, you know, it's, what I like is that this is a pretty smart and leveraged play at an intractable problem, like the, the scale that you need to play at. And I'll just play, I'll, I'm show my own hand. I don't think it's solved by GoFundMe. No. Truly just it is, and you also even brought up the tax issue that I'm pretty sure if I got my 45 grand from people giving me money, and it showed up as a check to me, I now owe at least a third of that I think in taxes, depending on where I

[00:24:19] Allison Sesso: am.

[00:24:21] Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how the GoFundMe works in terms of the tax system, but it's definitely a popularity contest. How. That's the problem because what I mean for GoFundMe to work you, you need to tell your story effectively enough to have people give to you over others. GoFundMe is, The number one thing people go to, like they go to GoFund me for medical debt.

[00:24:47] It's the number one reason to go to GoFund me. And most of them do not work. They do not reach, reach their goals. And certainly you're not gonna reach your goal if you have an ongoing medical issue. Like what? If you have, uh, a chronic condition, you can't keep going back to the well and begging your friends and family.

[00:25:02] Not to mention the fact that a lot of people are able to. Money if they have friends with money and people with money tend to have other friends with money. People without money tend to have friends without money. So the, the, the GoFundMe is absolutely not a solution and it really is a popularity contest.

[00:25:18] It's how well you're able to tell your sob story. and I just think that's a freely heartbreaking situation that we're putting people in to have to put themselves out there in that way in order to solve their medical death. .

[00:25:33] George Weiner: Yeah. The, you know, frankly, it's, it's not really the, the individual's supposed to do everything they can in their power.

[00:25:39] and so if you're back into the wall, I understand the market force is there pushing there, but there's only one winner in that. It's the person that takes 2% of transaction. if you were looking at a macro system, something like r i p, medical debt, uh, I'm wondering if, you know, just to sort of speculate on it, are there other areas where you feel.

[00:25:58] George Weiner: Financial levers, debt markets even are unexplored avenues for this type of impact.

[00:26:08] Allison Sesso: I mean, I think that there's probably other kinds of unaffordable debt that could be looked at for sure. The thing is, medical debt is unique, and I do think that people are potentially more willing to donate to, uh, medical debt causes because you have such little control over the situation.

[00:26:27] You, you can be insured. Most people actually are insured. 90% of Americans are insured today. yet 41% have medical debt. So it is not a matter of having insurance. So you can do everything right. You can have, I. , you can still and are likely actually to get medical debt. In fact, the, the number one cause of medical debt isn't, is, or, or directional relationship is not whether or not you have insurance, but whether or not you get sick, like, so you're, that's, that's the number one connector, which is that means you couldn't be insured.

[00:27:02] So I. At the end of the day, we can't look at things like GoFundMe for the solutions here. I think you're right that it is, uh, just creating more profit on top of a, a profitable system. Yeah, we, we have to, we have to look at at bigger solutions beyond beyond this, and I think that, that our model could be used for other areas.

[00:27:25] but I think that people are more likely to give to medical debt because of the fact that there's so much little control over how much debt you end up in. People are less forgiving if you end up overusing your credit card or, Yeah, even if you can't pay a utility bill. Honestly. Yeah.

[00:27:40] George Weiner: Yeah, the story obviously, obviously matters, but also, you know, I'd say your ability to, as you came back to it, say like you're able to go through and understand the data behind the actual communities that you're choosing to go for, and just to track back on the conversation.

[00:27:56] You're like in your. Ideal world, you're like, I think we have about 25 million worth of work you wish you could do every year in this.

[00:28:05] Allison Sesso: Yeah, I think 25 million feels right today. Now, I don't know. I mean, ask me, you know, in, in a year from now how, how we feel about that. But I think 25 million gives us a pretty steady pace.

[00:28:16] Of doing debt relief, in mass, right, For individuals while also investing in our own ability to tell the story of medical debt. Cuz that's important, right? Like not every dollar do we only spend on medical debt. We spend a lot, almost every dollar on medical debt relief. But we also are intentional about investing in storytelling so that individuals can be heard and that we're, we are thinking about what is, what it feels.

[00:28:43] To have medical debt. And what are the implications on your mental health? What are your struggles with the hospital finance system? What is it like for your family every single day when you have this thing looming over your head? How have you avoided care? What other trade offs and decisions have you made?

[00:29:00] Have you borrowed from friends and family? All those kinds of things. So we are investing in different systems, but I think 25 million. Feels good as an annual like rate of our budget size because I think that gives us a large scale ability to relieve debt across the country for a lot of people again, and, and lifting up the stories at the same time.

[00:29:26] Yeah.

[00:29:27] George Weiner: Yeah. Well, just, I mean, I won't call out your nine 90, but it, it is all public and so you're, you're hoping to grow there, it seems.

[00:29:36] Allison Sesso: Yes. We're hoping to grow there. That's right. I mean, we've had, we've been, uh, lucky to get a 50 million gift from McKenzie Scott, uh, which is Jeff Bezos's ex-wife, and she's been wonderful in the nonprofit sector and able to.

[00:29:51] push organizations forward. But that's a one time gift, right? Yeah. We're able to do those in multiple years, but we have to be careful about you not expanding our staff to have an expectation that that's gonna be our permanent bottom line. So we pay lot of attention to that reality, and so that's propelled us forward in a lot of good ways and allowed us to invest in even ways in which we can donate and become more, you know, In which we can maximize our ability to fundraise and then also look at our own systems, become more efficient so that we don't need as much staff.

[00:30:26] Uh, so we've done those two things with those funds, but we need to grow to, I think, a, a permanent, like 25 million size where it's year after year we're able to support that.

[00:30:38] George Weiner: And that makes sense. Part of my mind, I keep going back to this $45,000 family that just ran into this just stroke of unlock and, you know, following through the pattern.

[00:30:50] Like it, it is amazing that there is R ip, medical debt that may show up like in some ways, like a lottery ticket that you're like, I didn't know I was playing this one, but I won. And like frankly, I've lost enough. That's amazing. I wonder if there's a world where the probability that I'd have to pay my full debt could be made more publicly known to me.

[00:31:12] And I know there's also nonprofit hospitals that technically if they're serving the public benefit actually are. Uh, due to absolve some of that debt as well. But I feel as though you're not told the full truth when you're handed that bill for your, you know, scan your PT scan and you're like the what?

[00:31:29] And your overnight visit. There's no like, and by the way, you know the probability if you're in this area and you make this much, that if you just wait, frankly one year and don't pay this, like nothing battle happen because the converse is true. We've been taught to pay every bill that shows up to us.

[00:31:44] Cuz that's how you are an honest participant in. , uh, economic society, What does that look like? ?

[00:31:52] Allison Sesso: Yeah. So it's, that's a difficult question to answer because I don't think we're in enough hospitals yet, by any stretch, to, for anyone to feel confident or comfortable to just, you're just gonna

[00:32:02] George Weiner: run around and catch that fly ball.

[00:32:04] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:32:04] Allison Sesso: Right. And also, we're still investing in our fundraising abilities. And I don't know, at some point maybe people are exhausted about paying for this too. And our issue. Not as exciting. You know, we, we are competing, frankly for donate donor dollars with things like Ukraine or abortion rights or gun rights, you know, so there are, there is a limitation to how much I can guarantee that I'm gonna be able to relieve people's debt.

[00:32:28] And also remember that in order for me to relieve your debt, you have to be financially burdened, right? So you have to be 400% of poverty or below, or the debt has to be large compared to your. So I would be leery of people feeling comfortable with the idea that eventually not

[00:32:45] George Weiner: pay. By the way, this is not financial advice.

[00:32:48] I repeat, this is a nonprofit podcast. This is not financial

[00:32:51] Allison Sesso: advice. Right. And, and, and I will say, frankly, you know, there is some concern on the hospital and provider side that, that if they work with us, that that. That that will happen, right? That if that people will bush think, Well, I don't have to pay my bill.

[00:33:04] So I don't think that that's a good way. Wow.

[00:33:05] George Weiner: I didn't even think of that, but

[00:33:07] Allison Sesso: Right. That, that's, that's a good way of

[00:33:10] George Weiner: not you have thought about this as the ceo. Yeah,

[00:33:13] Allison Sesso: exactly. And it's not something I would say we've experienced. What we've experienced is people who can pay their bills do pay their bills.

[00:33:22] There's people in the middle Right. That also pay their bills, but to a, a large. where it's a a difficult situation for them to pay the bills. I would like to address those people as well, like they sign up for a payment plan that they can't afford. What I would advise people, is to not sign up for payment plans that they can't afford.

[00:33:43] If it's $700 a month and that's gonna create a real financial burden on you and your family, then do not sign up for it despite all of the pressure that you might feel from the debt collector, if it's an individual, individual entity or if it's the hospital themselves. So that's what I would advise.

[00:34:00] Unfortunately, as much as I hate having to tell people. be their own advocates. This system is set up that it expects you to be an advocate for yourself, and so you have to advocate for yourself and make sure that you don't sign up for things that you can't afford.

[00:34:19] George Weiner: Uh, what a mess. It just, what a mess. In my mind, I'm just saying like, Well, what if I just waited, like I had my $45,000 debt and I just waited out of like, I'm gonna buy this back on a penny on the dollar in a year. I'm gonna come back to you as an independent broker, and I'm just go buy back.

[00:34:36] Allison Sesso: Yeah, but you aren't, you can't do that.

[00:34:38] Right. You know, you're not gonna have the negotiated power that I can collectively, and you can't come to r i p and. Well look, I got this one debt. It's 45,000. I'm in

[00:34:46] George Weiner: Texas. Hear me out. I mean, you can, I will donate this much over here for the help my angle get better fund, right? Exactly. Doesn't, doesn't work.

[00:35:01] No,

[00:35:01] Allison Sesso: it doesn't. It doesn't work that way, unfortunately. But I do. But I will say this, when we work with hospitals and increasingly so, Our vision is for when we work with hospitals that they take a look at their financial assistance policies and try, because you're right hospitals, especially non-profit hospitals.

[00:35:20] Mm-hmm. are supposed to give out charity care. They're supposed to focus on low income individual. Remember that

[00:35:25] George Weiner: C3 classification in the old taxis?

[00:35:27] Allison Sesso: Yes, exactly. But the thing is that, Hospitals don't really get that classification taken away. Like that's not, that's not a thing that really happens that frequently.

[00:35:38] Yeah, I, and I, and I don't, I don't mean to imply at all that hospitals don't take that seriously. I think they take it very seriously there. They're nonprofit status, and again, not all hospitals are alike. There are some bad actors and there are some that are genuinely struggling right now. Hospitals are not really in a great financial place.

[00:35:56] Compared to some of the patients, they're probably better off. It depends, you know, on the situation. But hospitals are supposed to provide charity care, bottom line, and so they are not necessarily as generous as our program. So there's people in between, like some of them could be 200% of poverty or there's discounts provided at 300% of poverty, not the full, you know, getting it all relieved like r I p.

[00:36:21] So we do hope though, that by doing an analysis of their bad debt file people, that means people that did not get charity care, whose debt we are buying, that we're able to give them information that helps them reflect on their own charity care policies and approaches, like letting people actually know about the charity care, making sure the application process is not to burdensome.

[00:36:45] We encourage hospitals to do what's called presumptive eligibility, meaning that they just take a look on their own by buying data from, from TransUnion like we do, or any other, you know, Equifax, whatever. Buying the data, looking at people's incomes and making assumptions about whether or not they deserve or, you know, can get.

[00:37:02] Charity care based on their income, and then they just give it without, just like we do. We just give it away. We let people know that they've gotten this free kick, this debt relief without them having to fill out any paperwork or anything like that. .

[00:37:17] George Weiner: So that's so interesting. I didn't realize You're not looking at pii, personally identifiable information to the degree where you see maybe a name and an address.

[00:37:24] You're getting like top line stats on somebody Or could you do like, do the search for, you know, George, we in Texas who's got 45 K in debt and you're like, Ah, I found

[00:37:34] Allison Sesso: you, you're there. No. Well, when we get a, when we get a file, so we are HIPAA compliant, right? So we, we have a DAA with the hospital and, and we, you know, we do keep , uh, we're very vigilant about our, our cyber security and all of that other stuff.

[00:37:47] But, and we, we have to be able to have the information of the individual or else we wouldn't be able to let them know about the fact that we've relieved their debt. Right. Right. You do know it. Right. So we do have that information, but, When we analyze a file from a hospital, we're doing it in the aggregate.

[00:38:03] We're not focusing on the individual at all, that we're completely ignoring the individual's name and all of that stuff. All we're focusing on is those elements that qualify them, and so we take the entire part that qualifies, and that's what we hold onto, and then we send out the letters after we've bought that debt, et cetera, etc.

[00:38:24] George Weiner: Gotcha. I love, still, in my mind I'm thinking like, but there's technically a way I could go through and be like, if my name comes up, let's just say I'd be, uh, encouraged to make a donation. You'd never do it, but would it open up a second? Don't get my debt for me.

[00:38:42] Allison Sesso: Let you know. We'd never, ever let you, We would not, we don't give away the names of the individuals that we.

[00:38:49] if people want to tell their stories, they are encouraged to do so, and we let them do that and they can put their stories on their web, on our website, and they can talk to our anthropologist, but we would never tell a donor you helped X, Y, Z. Ever.

[00:39:01] George Weiner: Oh, that's fair. I was saying in reverse like the, the person who's like in distress, like, could I go search a database to be like, Oh, I'm in this distressed category of people, but you can't open up it up because of hipaa.

[00:39:11] Yeah.

[00:39:12] Allison Sesso: Well, you need to find out if we already relieved your debt. If it's already gone, we, we would've notified you.

[00:39:20] George Weiner: Oh, thank you for humoring me. I'm such a, such a rabbit hole runner. That's even a thing. All right, we're gonna move to rapid fire. okay. With your permission, Please keep your responses as short as you feel like they, eh, feel like.

[00:39:34] Okay. What is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in the last year?

[00:39:40] Allison Sesso: Max Q D, which is a qualitative data analysis visualization tool. Cool.

[00:39:49] George Weiner: What are some tech issues you're currently battling with?

[00:39:53] Allison Sesso: Well, we are making sure that our cyber security is so to compliant, so we're really focused on that and we're super excited about that.

[00:40:01] And we also are trying to send people emails in addition to hard copy letters, and so we're working to incorporate that into our model. ,

[00:40:10] George Weiner: what is coming in the next year that has you the most excited?

[00:40:15] Allison Sesso: The ability to enhance how we analyze our data, specifically with a focus on.

[00:40:24] George Weiner: Talk about a mistake that you made in or maybe earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things today.

[00:40:33] Allison Sesso: Creating space for everyone who's a stakeholder, be it on the board, on your team, uh, donor to make their voice heard and to be part of decision making. By not doing that, I think you really undermine everyone's buyin to what you're doing and the direction you're headed.

[00:40:52] And that was a mistake I made in my career that I have overcorrected for, probably .

[00:40:59] George Weiner: Do you believe nonprofits can successfully go out of business?

[00:41:04] Allison Sesso: I sure hope so. I really do. I think that nonprofits are generally not set up to solve problems, but resolve them in your. And I hope that nonprofits can have a greater voice in getting systemic change so that they can help solve problems at a larger scale.

[00:41:24] George Weiner: If I were to put you in the hot tub time machine, back to the beginning of your work at r I p Medical debt, what advice would you give your dryer self yourself

[00:41:34] Allison Sesso: to focus on the progress over the. So that I could feel more excited about the work that I'm doing going forward and less

[00:41:43] George Weiner: stressed. Uh, if I were to give you a magic wand to wave across the industry you work in, what would it do?

[00:41:52] And you can't say, just clean up every single bit of debt

[00:41:57] Allison Sesso: across the industry. Uh, I would, I, I would say, and when I say the industry, I'm talking about the nonprofit industry at large, I would say improve the marketing of the industry. I think that we. A, a skewed view as if we are the secondary industry that's sort of just doing what everyone calls God's work, which I hate.

[00:42:16] I think that we are doing an essential, fundamental, fundamental function for society and that it takes real skill that not everybody has, and not everyone can from a business can just jump in and do, and take over and do well. And I think that I would do a better job of marketing who we are and how important we are as an, as an industry in terms of non.

[00:42:38] George Weiner: What is something you think you should stop doing?

[00:42:43] Allison Sesso: Uh, sometimes I think we put our heads down too much and do the day to day work, you know, going in and outta of meetings, taking, checking off our to-do list and I think we need to stop doing that as much and put our, pick our heads up and look at the big picture and appreciate what we've accomplished.

[00:42:59] George Weiner: How did you get your start in the social impact sector?

[00:43:04] Allison Sesso: I don't have a good answer for that. I feel like it's a calling for me. As lame and cheesy as that sounds, I've always, uh, felt like I needed to work in a mission driven, uh, capacity. And so here I am. ,

[00:43:19] George Weiner: what advice would you give college grads looking to enter the sector?

[00:43:24] make sure that you have a strong ethical and moral compass and that you have people to talk to to ensure you stay with that because money and donors even can really influence you in a way that's not

[00:43:37] George Weiner: always. What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or did not? Heed

[00:43:47] Allison Sesso: Finding balance in my life, both in terms of work happiness and personal happiness.

[00:43:56] To be

[00:43:56] George Weiner: clear, you heated that advice. I

[00:44:00] Allison Sesso: did. Yes. I'm very happy in both my work life and my, My question

[00:44:03] audio1239347413: could

[00:44:03] George Weiner: have gone the other way there. Life, right? could have been a real dark turn. Yeah. Uh, that's wonderful. Uh, how do people find you? How do people help you?

[00:44:14] Allison Sesso: Well, first donate to us please. Uh, r i p medical debt.org.

[00:44:19] I can't do this work without that. You can also follow us on Twitter, on Instagram. Just add our ip medical debt. but I really encourage you to, uh, to take a look at our website, check us out and, and talk about the issue of medical debt, uh, how it impacts you. I think one of the biggest problems with this issue is that people feel like they've personally failed when the reality is the system is broken.

[00:44:41] And you have to remember that. And unless we talk about it in our personal stories, this issue's gonna be with us and it's gonna be killing us slowly, literal.

[00:44:51] George Weiner: I'm grateful for the work that you are doing. Thank you. Thank you for, uh, just, uh, continuing to, to make this a national issue and an Avenue, Avenue to finally put dollars to work, I think, in a high leverage way.

[00:45:03] Thank you. Thank you.

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Discussions of Corporate ESG Ratings Should Be Monitored By Nonprofit Industry

More and more, discussions about the efficacy, morality, and financial benefit of ESG-rated publicly-traded companies on the stock market are becoming commonplace. At nonprofitnewsfeed.com, we think that nonprofits need to be equipped with the context needed to engage both prospective donors and the public at large with what ESG is and is not. ESG, a catchall term for “Environmental, Social & Governance” is marketed to be a way to group, define, and measure companies by their broader (hopefully positive) impact on the world. However, as this op-ed from The New York Times makes clear, ESG (and ESG-related financial products like indexes or funds) are at best unproven in their effectiveness, at worst, a marketing ploy designed to obfuscate the harm done by the very companies on the list. Nonprofits should heed that fact as the general public and high-value donors discern significant investments in a wobbly economy, ESG may well increasingly become part of the conversation as a socially conscious (but financially beneficial) alternative to charitable giving in the minds of wealthy donors and investors, regardless of the efficacy of such an approach.

Read more ➝

Summary

• How can I help with Hurricane Ian? Volunteer, donate to Florida USA TODAY
• What happened to giving money to charity? | Vox
• Pennsylvania school district accused of banning Girls Who Code book series | the Guardian
• How Indigenous Peoples’ Day is Supplanting Columbus Day Whole Whale
• The 2022 Nonprofit Power 100 | City & State

View Details

Discussions of Corporate ESG Ratings Should Be Monitored By Nonprofit Industry

More and more, discussions about the efficacy, morality, and financial benefit of ESG-rated publicly-traded companies on the stock market are becoming commonplace. At nonprofitnewsfeed.com, we think that nonprofits need to be equipped with the context needed to engage both prospective donors and the public at large with what ESG is and is not. ESG, a catchall term for “Environmental, Social & Governance” is marketed to be a way to group, define, and measure companies by their broader (hopefully positive) impact on the world. However, as this op-ed from The New York Times makes clear, ESG (and ESG-related financial products like indexes or funds) are at best unproven in their effectiveness, at worst, a marketing ploy designed to obfuscate the harm done by the very companies on the list. Nonprofits should heed that fact as the general public and high-value donors discern significant investments in a wobbly economy, ESG may well increasingly become part of the conversation as a socially conscious (but financially beneficial) alternative to charitable giving in the minds of wealthy donors and investors, regardless of the efficacy of such an approach.

Read more ➝

Summary

• How can I help with Hurricane Ian? Volunteer, donate to Florida USA TODAY
• What happened to giving money to charity? | Vox
• Pennsylvania school district accused of banning Girls Who Code book series | the Guardian
• How Indigenous Peoples’ Day is Supplanting Columbus Day Whole Whale
• The 2022 Nonprofit Power 100 | City & State

View Details

Nonprofits Respond To Hurricane In Puerto Rico Puerto Rico felt the brunt of hurricane Fiona last week, shutting power to the island and devastating everything from homes to agriculture as severe flooding uprooted life yet again in communities. Puerto Rico, still recovering from hurricane Maria which landed back in 2017, again finds itself in need of assistance and as yet a path towards a resilient recovery. Nonprofits like New York-based Your Network Caring Community Advocates have already started collecting supplies to aid in recovery, and on-the-ground organizations like the Hispanic Federation are also accepting donations. While digital attention for providing aid to help in the wake of natural disasters spike to highs in the immediate aftermath of an event, the long-tail recovery efforts often require sustained rebuilding that takes years of reinvestment.

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Summary:

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DALLE2 Image generated: Hurricane painted by Monet

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The copyright on Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne officially moved into the public domain this year.

What does that actually mean?

How might nonprofits use public domain characters like this to help tell their story?

Tara Jacobson is the owner of MarketingArtfully.com with over 20 years experience in the marketing industry. She helps us break down what is possible and comes up with creative ways nonprofit causes might use the IP.

Resource links A lot of websites were shared on this awesome episode, here are the URLs mentioned.

• Creative Commons
• Trademark/Copyright search TESS
• RedBubble.com
• https://creativemarket.com/
• https://morguefile.com/
• https://fiverr.com
• Canva.com
• Openai.com
• Public Domain Story List
• MarketingArtfully.com
• https://artsyfartsylife.com/

About Tara Jacobson Tara Jacobson is the owner of MarketingArtfully.com with over 20 years experience in the marketing industry which translates into highly successful marketing systems for her “DIY” and entrepreneur clients.

Tara’s strong history in Psychology, Entrepreneurship, and Creativity, combined with her 100 miles per hour, “tell it like it is” personality have earned her the title “The Queen of Marketing Ahhh’s” from her raving fans.

Tara brings a true small and medium sized business perspective to her work. She has talked with over 1,000 small biz owners about their goals, plans and dreams, helping them to grow and make sure that their marketing increases their intended efforts!

Rough Transcript [00:00:00] George: We have a very interesting guest who is, I'll just say it very brave because she is coming in because I reached out to her completely cold, like completely cold. I'm sitting there looking up information about creative ways of using public domain characters and works and none other than marketing, artfully.com.

[00:00:50] And then I reached out to the owner and Tara Jacobson was nice enough as the owner of marketingartfully.com. She has over 20 years experience in the marketing industry, but is, I would say coming at this as an outsider to the nonprofit and social impact industry in her work with over thousands of small and mid-size businesses and in this world.

[00:01:13] Tara, can you tell us maybe a bit more about your work and what.

[00:01:18] Tara: So I started internet marketing and making websites with like dream Weaver and all of that back in the day. Merge two, I was a realtor for a couple of years. That was interesting. And then I owned a marketing company for years and one of the reasons why I got so interested in.

[00:01:37] More so trademark and copyright and later on, interested in public domain is because it's I believe it's $600. You get fined as a business. If you use somebody's copyrighted or trademarked work and it's $10,000, if you do it for a client. So I was like, I have always bought every picture I've ever owned.

[00:02:04] I've always had. Oh shoot. What it was called, where the domain of where you got your things and yeah. You sourced the information and yeah that to me was super important years ago when I was posting things for people, making social media graphics, things like that.

[00:02:23] And I got really interested in it. So we're gonna talk today. I'm gonna give you a little course in all of the D. Terms that are gonna come up. And then I love that we're gonna brainstorm some ways that nonprofits can use 'em the only nonprofit I've ever been involved in was the Colorado house rabbit society.

[00:02:49] I do have a blog post on my website about how to get volunteers, cuz they were really bad at it. And so I did I did write them a blog post on how to get volunteers, but I haven't worked tons with nonprofits, but I've worked with all kinds of businesses over the years, small businesses and medium size SSEs and small business.

[00:03:13] George: Yeah. And I think that's helpful context too, to say, like what's at stake. Why do I care about this on one end? There's the penalty side, which is frankly, not as much fun as the creative, which we'll get to, but I'll just say from personal experience, we had interns writing content at whole whale.

[00:03:32] Seven years ago, I get this email from it's like a take down notice, but also basically we used like a picture of a squirrel with some nuts that somebody just Google. Just Google the image and the content really wasn't used at all. And we got fined. I will say I, I can't officially say, but it is in the thousands of dollars for a picture, an intern put on our website like a decade ago.

[00:03:57] Like it's very real what you're talking about and very painful. So I think your note, I'll just put an exclamation point on. It's worth checking because the algorithms that people have for quickly searching and scanning websites have improved for scanning for this type of copyrighted work, all righty onto you.

[00:04:17] What, and there's

[00:04:18] Tara: so much available for free or a very little money. I'm gonna explain the difference, how you get super free stuff, and then how you get like really tiny money. And to me, tiny money is under $10. Maybe not under $300, I'm talking tiny money. So we're gonna start off by talking about what trademark is.

[00:04:47] So trademark gets talked about a lot and trademark is just the words. So you, so Nike's swoosh. The picture of it is copyrighted because it's an image, but the word just do it is trademarked and you can't use those kind of terms. What you're talking about with the creative and the marketing, and maybe pictures for blogs and maybe pictures for things to sell or images for things to sell.

[00:05:17] Is called copyright because copyright covers artistic things like pictures poems, books, things like that. And things come out of copyright. I looked it up after 70 years. So things before 1924 are in the public domain right now. And something super exciting came into the public domain this year, which was the original poo bear.

[00:05:46] And

[00:05:47] George: all the characters, right? So everything from the mil books are public domain.

[00:05:53] Tara: Yeah. And there's illustrations of P bear and EOR and the hundred acre words and things like that, that people truly have a heartfelt connection to. So if you're talking about doing something that is going to help a nonprofit, you're not looking for something that's going to.

[00:06:16] Be mercenary or something like that. You want something that people can go back to their childhood and think, oh my gosh, it's poo bear. I love poo. And there's a whole list of and you can put a link on it. I have a whole list on my website of stories that are in the public. So Rapunzel, Rapunzel it down.

[00:06:47] Your hair is in the public domain. So that is something that people can use. Oh, we have to talk about public domain too. But that is a story that people can use. What they can't use is tangled. Tangled is the dignified version of. Yeah, Rapunzel, let down my hair. So what you wanna do is you wanna make sure that anything you're looking to use, there's a database.

[00:07:19] It's the PT, PTO database. It's called test T E S S. If you just search test on. Google, they have a way to search for it. And you put in only look for live ones. So if you look for live and dead ones, then you're gonna get a lot. But we only care about the ones that are live right now. And so you can find out if something is in the public domain is a avail, is copyrighted or not.

[00:07:46] Now public domain is way more just than things that have gone on a copyright or that aren't trademarked. There are things called creative commons where an artist or a writer or people like that will take their items and file them as creative commons. Now you want what's called creative commons. Oh zero zero.

[00:08:12] And that means they hold no They don't have any license on it. Where if it's just like a plain creative comments, a lot of times they'll exclude a commercial license, even though you're a nonprofit, if you're selling something commercially, that would be violating the terms of that license. And you can find all kinds of things doing that search for pictures, for your website, for things like that.

[00:08:38] Now there are places that say they. Creative commons things like morgue file has a lot of pictures on it. It's just one of the places. And, but they don't have a vetting process. They rely on the people, uploading the pictures to do it. So we're gonna talk for just a wee minute about why sometimes it's better to purchase it than not.

[00:09:05] Okay. Even if you're using something that's in the public domain. So we're gonna talk about poo. Because I love him and absolutely but you could go, you could grab a book off the shelf. You could download that you could scan that image. You could fix all of the little problems with a graphic.

[00:09:29] Program like Photoshop and make sure it's in the proper condition to use on a t-shirt or use on postcards or things like that. Or you can go to a place like creative market where somebody has already done that for you. Like an artist has already done all those steps. And you buy it with a commercial license.

[00:09:52] Usually they're about $11, I think, to get like a set of P bear images. Alison Wonderland is in the public domain. So you can use Alison Wonderland. Now they have, somebody has trademarked Allison Wonderland on t-shirts. So you still, even if it's in the public domain, you always wanna go check the trademark database.

[00:10:14] It's not, there's no like blanket, these are all safe and these are not all safe. You always wanna go and check. So does,

[00:10:22] George: so the trademark database, what does that look like? Is that tests or is that a different that's test? Yeah, no

[00:10:27] Tara: that's tests and all you do is you put you put in Alison Wonderland in tests and click live and click search, and then it'll show you what category of things are.

[00:10:42] Ex like you have to exclude. So say it says t-shirt clothing. I can't remember what's all in that category, but you could make greeting cards. Nobody's trademarked that for greeting cards. So that's why you wanna check. So even if you think, oh my gosh, Allison wonderlands gone. It doesn't mean it is.

[00:11:04] If you're not using it on the thing, they've trademarked it for. And I have such a good example that I looked up for you. So the word elf. Is trademark for lighters, photography, backdrop, and amplifiers three different categories. You can't use it for that. But as of right now, if you wanted to use it on a t-shirt you be, it's not just the, you're gonna put a picture of an L on a t-shirt and you're and for nonprofits, you may be able to avoid some of these problems, because you're functionally selling. to your constituents rather than as much trying to sell internationally. Sometimes you may wanna sell internationally, but if you're doing a fundraiser internally and you're not gonna be advertising it online or in a huge way, then you may be able to get away with it.

[00:12:08] If they do send you a cease desist, then you have made commercial money on it though they can claw back that money. So it's worth looking.

[00:12:16] George: Yeah this complicates it a bit more because prior to even you saying that, I just assumed if it's in the public domain, I'm looking at a picture of Winnie the poo.

[00:12:26] Somebody could have trademarked that on a t-shirt. So I'm like, oh, I can spin up my t-shirts with Winnie the poo on it.

[00:12:32] Tara: No, they can't trademark the picture of Winnie the poo they could tra they could, and they can't copyright it because the copyright belongs to AA. So Uhuh, the original artwork is in the public domain.

[00:12:49] What they could do is, and it would take 'em a while to do it, cuz they have to show the first time the trademark, the word was used in the public and then they have to pay money to get it. It's about 12, $1,200 to get the trademark and then they have to go through a whole process where it's vet. So you and they won't go backwards. So if you were to sell a Winnie, the POH says, Winnie the poo, it's the poo bear old P bear you're done. And in two years, somebody trademarks Winnie the poo and you had used it. They don't go backwards. Does that

[00:13:26] George: help at all? You know what it helps with reminding folks that just because it's on that list, you should double check the database, especially if you're going to put marketing power behind it, putting it on products and as you go to use it, but.

[00:13:40] Again, though, is a massive shopping list because there are some edge cases maybe you can't put poo on a lighter, but

[00:13:50] Tara: no, you can't put, you can't put an El on a lighter

[00:13:53] George: I know let's get your, let's get it straight. Elves, not okay. Poo, like we'll just memorize whole thing. Poo's good. He's good to go on a lighter.

[00:14:00] There's that huge the movie's coming out, right? They did a horror movie with Winnie the. Can drop this season because you can do

[00:14:12] Tara: that. You can do that now. And so all of these amazing things that people, and it's not even just, so Walt Disney was brilliant. He took over so many fairy tales.

[00:14:31] Yeah. And stole them for him. There is a real beauty and the beast story that is an old fable from like, When the black plague was around that he then made specific. Now you can do all kinds of things with beauty and the beast. You just can't do the bell in the yellow there iconography, right?

[00:14:58] Yeah. Okay. And then spec. So that's from both the old movie and the new movie, and then you can't do, and then you can, but there's so many things you can do. Like sleeping. Beauty is you can say sleeping beauty. He doesn't own sleeping beauty. He owns Aurora because that wasn't the name of the original sleeping beauty.

[00:15:22] It was. Sister. And so he picked that one. So then you wanna really try, I do know a lot about this. You wanna try to make sure that something isn't copyrighted or trademarked before you use it and just BEC and do not go to Etsy, do not go to anywhere and do a search and think, oh, look, this is all over Etsy.

[00:15:46] It must be okay. That's not how the world works.

[00:15:50] George: Yeah, you're really talking about the original, like name of the character as presented essentially in the trademark language, in the copyright public domain and the images I'm looking through your piece on Allison Wonderland. You may have that image of Allison, a blue dress and the the mad hat, or it is a very different look, frankly, but it's still recognizable as the charact.

[00:16:16] but it doesn't necessarily have that immediate brand recognition that essentially that's a Disney version Disney, it Disney it. But right now, for instance there's two movies about pinoc one on, I think Netflix and one on Disney as a rerelease guess what, that's another story similar to, as you just mentioned beauty and the beast that you

[00:16:35] Tara: can run with.

[00:16:36] Yeah, there are so many things. And oh and they're really mad about this, but I think in the next year it might be next year, Nikki's coming

[00:16:45] George: to town.

[00:16:47] Tara: Old Mickey, like really old Mickey. Oh, G Mickey. Yeah. OG Mickey is coming out of copyright. And so that's, what's fun about it to me. Like I, I make stuff for now I make artwork.

[00:17:03] I'm an artist now. And I make artwork. So I made my own version of the mad hatch actress who does not look like Johnny Depp. It doesn't look like Disney's version. She's a woman in a hat and the original Alison Wonderland had that 10 and 10, six thing in her hat. And so she's very recognizable as Alison Wonderland, as the Matt had her from Allison Wonderland, but she's a feminist version.

[00:17:41] George: So now we get into maybe some of that creative elements, unless there's some more guardrails you wanna toss

[00:17:45] Tara: out for folks. Nope. I think if you've gotten this far and you have all of the warnings

[00:17:51] George: you really made them take their vegetables first, right? Amen. Vegetables and vitamins first. So you can riff on them.

[00:18:00] You can take this original concept and riff on it. Can I just maybe up to a thou 3000. Explain to me what are the advantages of using a character that has this recognition

[00:18:14] Tara: already? Okay. So the reason why there is copyright and trademark is because it would be so much easier to sell a Alison Wonderland.

[00:18:30] Queen of hearts mug. If it looked just like Disney's right, people have already paid money to go to the Disney movie. They've already paid to go to Disney world. Walt Disney has already done the work to make people want to like that. And so it's unfair if you think, oh, I wanna do something with transformers because there's good brand recognition.

[00:18:58] The reason why you wanna do it is because there's good brand recognition right now. The reason we now I wanna I'll give you my Madha example. The reason I wanna do a Madris is I can use all the words except for Alice in wonder. So mad Hatter, isn't trademarked tea party. We are all mad here.

[00:19:23] All of those things are not trademarked, so I can make a mad Hatter shirt with we're all mad here and I can market it in a way that it will be able to get found by a portion of the population that's interested in the Alice Wonderland story. That's why I wanna make a bad hatch actress, because I know that there are people that already resonate with that character, whether it was the Disney character or whether they read Allison Wonderland in their childhood, or whether they saw Johnny DEP any which way they have a feeling towards that character.

[00:20:00] And I can use that to help sell my stuff.

[00:20:04] George: Gotcha. So you're shopping for. These characters in part because of this. And I wanna come back to the value that you are essentially borrowing for free. Think about the amount of attention it took to bring that character to millions of people. How much would that have cost for you to do the same?

[00:20:24] Now you then, because of that attention, as I understand it, there's recognition. Oh, I see that. I grew up with that. I was read that. And then with recognition, you then can play with the affinity, which by the way, can be positive and negative. There are often villains in here as well, but you then can immediately start on page five instead of page one.

[00:20:45] And then it sounds add your flavor of brand message, even advocacy. Does that sound right?

[00:20:53] Tara: Yeah. Exactly. So gimme an idea of one of your nonprofits.

[00:20:58] George: Oh gosh. We have a lot of animal welfare organizations I'd say interested in preserving and saving and protecting lands.

[00:21:07] Tara: Okay. So animal welfare makes me think of the big Wildcat organization when I was in Colorado.

[00:21:14] Which makes me think of the cowardly lion and they could use the cowardly lion, the original Frank bomb, cowardly lion, which is in I'm 95. Yeah. It's in the public domain and do something with the cowardly lion that matches their the way their nonprofit is set up and who it's serving animals, right?

[00:21:43] Yes. And so if the Wildcat sanctuary already knows their people love big cats, and now they're giving them the cowardly lion with that affinity to not the movie, the book. And that character, but you can still use cowardly lion and all that comes with it. And all the heartstrings that come with it, then all of a sudden you have a target market group.

[00:22:10] That's already predisposed to like it and buy it at a higher price because they don't really care. They know the profit's going to. The animal rescue group, they know that this is something that they're gonna love and cherish because it helped their thing, but they also enjoy wearing it. And in wearing it now they're promoting the animal rescue group.

[00:22:32] So there's like this amazing circle of wonderfulness.

[00:22:37] George: Yeah. I thought you were gonna go with Tigger, but you threw me a curve ball. I maybe have gone with You could ERs and saving Tiggers because he is a character inside of winning the poop. Now

[00:22:49] Tara: you there's once you start brains but think about that, you and I went to two totally different things that are both actually big cats that could help an annual animal rescue.

[00:23:02] So say you rescue turtles. You wanna find. Maybe I, and don't take, don't quote me on this, but maybe the wind in the willows is in the public domain, the original book, and there's a fun turtle in there. Or those are the kind of things you wanna try to figure out how you can mono, how you can really use their.

[00:23:24] Brand recognition to make your customers who are your donors, more willing to buy something and not only buy it because that doesn't help as much. If they're not wearing it and helping spread your message.

[00:23:38] George: I wanna pull the thread a bit more because immediately you talk about merchandise. And I imagine if I were to drop you into many sort of after thoughts of we'll call it a Shopify or a Spreadshirt or a very cafe press talking about we put our logo on a shirt, so our.

[00:23:55] Audience can go get it. It's an afterthought. It's not the forefront. Can you explain very quickly, like when you look at the opportunity of petsy or putting imagery on a shirt, is there money there? What does that look like in your

[00:24:08] Tara: world? Okay. So for a nonprofit, specifically, not in my world, because in my world, I'm an artist now, but for a nonprofit number one, I would suggest they use red bubble.

[00:24:21] It is incredibly simple. You do not pay a dime to list any of the products. And as a nonprofit, you make this say, you say, and you don't have the, you don't have anybody on staff with the ability to make what you need. Number one, you can go to creative market right now and they have there's a gal on there that does dark Alice.

[00:24:53] There's all kinds like pink, Alice and dark Alice and you can just buy a graphic. That's already ready to drop on a t-shirt for 12 bucks or 20 bucks. So you've bought the right to use that on a t-shirt and then you can put words on the top words on the bottom, wor you know, the name of your charity on the back.

[00:25:17] And if your people do not have the ability to do that, you can go to a place like fiber, which is F I V E R r.com. And give them the graphics that you wanna use that you've paid for. Don't rely on them to get the graphics because you want to control the fact that you have purchased commercial rights to use this.

[00:25:43] Ask them to make you a t-shirt and they'll make you a t-shirt for 20 bucks.

[00:25:50] George: So the, then the creation of it. So how do you set up a shop? What do you point people to set up your shop for red bubble? And you can set up a custom shop with my nonprofit and I get some graphics that just frankly, go beyond here's our logo.

[00:26:04] We

[00:26:04] Tara: did. Oh, gosh no. You could put your logo graphics on there. You could like that could, and you could even make it cute. Okay. So if I had at least the I, okay. Let's not as cute as the WWF, cuz they have a super cute logo, but say you just have a word logo, right? Yeah. You could take and put a Christmas hat on it for Christmas and then they would have to buy it for Christmas and you could put some Mardi Bo beads hanging on it or put some shamrocks on it.

[00:26:38] For I was gonna say the 4th of July, but for St. Patrick's day. And you could do all kinds of things. If you just wanna tart up your logo and then yes, other people in the world could buy it, but primarily you're gonna be driving the people who already like you. To that place so they can buy things. You can buy stickers, you can buy blankets, you can buy.

[00:27:03] And all you do is you upload your thing once, and then they put it on all that stuff, if you want.

[00:27:09] George: And it's on demand creation and shipping, and it's all handled for you. But I think getting back to our ideation, let me give you another another type of organization, and this is gonna be tough, but you asked for it.

[00:27:20] We've got. Cancer related organizations interested in awareness for let's say lung cancer or colorectal cancer. So what types of I see her smile. You can't see, dude. I'll narrate, she's laughing and smiling. She has an idea. All right. What do you well for the call I'm way, ER, than nonprofits, right?

[00:27:46] Tara: That's okay. So for the colorectal one, I would go with but why didn't you get your test with somebody's butt and not saying B U T, but B UT, but why did but implying that everything's about a butt, right? Colorectal cancer. It's your butt. I like your job.

[00:28:07] That's the kind of thing that you have to get out of your own way and figure out something cute with a marketing hook that is going to to be interesting to people, to buy cards, to buy.

[00:28:27] So what, so if you're

[00:28:28] George: not, I would've gone wizard of Oz with this one, like a behind the curtain, or like a wizard behind the curtain or a. Maybe a 10 man or something like I have no heart. All right. Like maybe I guess in my mind went there.

[00:28:41] Tara: I'm not done with this yet.

[00:28:43] George: Oh, hold on. Keep cooking.

[00:28:45] Tara: So for the lung cancer I would and you can do this on fiber, or you can ask if anybody's an AR is artistic in your group, get longs and have them painted with. Have them painted with some kind of PA cute pattern. So have some artist make lungs look pretty. And then that's going to be something that people already sorry about the rustling.

[00:29:18] People already want to support this, but if there's a beautiful set of lungs and you can put that on something on a card, on a whatever. So if you aren't looking for products, I guess I'm just stuck in the products right now. What were you looking to use public domain stuff. So I can give you better examples

[00:29:42] George: then.

[00:29:42] Yeah. Moving out of the product land. I would say it's the process I'm imagining is shopping through a, Winnie the poo in all the characters, and then saying what type of graphics could we use in our website, art blog posts, social media, mini campaigns that might be around fundraisers and that type of use where it's just it's the ability to have an immediate, as I mentioned before, a combination of recognition and.

[00:30:10] Then telling a nuance of your story,

[00:30:16] Tara: I would still buy the cause. You're when you're buying the P bear thing from creative market. You're buying the set. So the entire set of the P air images. So you've got, say you were to do that and we'll let's talk about the Colorectal one, because if I'm going in, I'm going to the hardest one you have Tigar and I'm so happy that my, my friend P got his colorectal screen.

[00:30:56] He's bouncing on his tail, right? Yep. so this is something,

[00:31:01] George: no, you're right. You can take these characters and have a dialogue. And what does it mean? That happens. It's just it is so much it IBUs it with so much more nuance. Doesn't it? Because then you're not thinking. So colorectal cancer for Mego.

[00:31:16] Tara: I go directly to the gal who was on the today show whose husband died. Jay died. Super cute lady. Can't remember her name right the second. And so there's a lot of bad associations, sad associations to that. And there's not this This feeling of hope that if you help donate to my cause we can.

[00:31:47] Do so many more things than just mourn people. We can help with research. So maybe you have, what's the one that's always the owl, is the smart one. And so the owl says did you know that your donation helps us research cures and things to help with colorectal cancer? Like now you're saying, oh, it's not just this horrifying thing that everybody's gonna die from. It's that you, as an organization. Present a way for people to be hopeful and to want to donate because, and to want to share socially. Yeah. Do you wanna share a picture of a colon? I have seen a picture of a colon and they are not attractive.

[00:32:42] Do you wanna share a picture of a colon or do you wanna share a picture of tiger jumping up and down? With a funny context to it, but here's the game that I'm seeing. You're bringing in characters that have a normal relationship, and then you're adding dialogue. It's a caption contest in some respects of saying, what would this dialogue look like if it were about our cause?

[00:33:03] George: All right, I'm gonna throw you another one, unless there's another point here. No, I like. Okay. The news literacy project, and then generally anybody dealing with misinformation online. And so this particular organization works with educators and journalists to give students the skills they need to discern fact from fiction and know what to trust.

[00:33:23] Tara: Oh my goodness. I would totally use. Was oh, we just watched this. Oh, you can't use it. I can give you a great example. Can't uses. So you charming was the villain and guy was the villain in in frozen. You could do this on social media. You could absolutely do this without getting in trouble. Yeah.

[00:33:55] Prince

[00:33:56] George: times. So just yeah. Who like a quiz who was the villain in social media da, everybody knows fake news sometimes or however you put it, that things aren't always what they seem at first glance. Yeah. And so you're talking about the fact that don't forget when you're reading the news things.

[00:34:21] Tara: Aren't always what at first glance ever news or Scrooge is in the is in the public domain, that Scrooge store. That's why you have, that's why you have SCR and you have all those movies that are made of it, but you could put something about You can't use Scrooge duck, but you can use Scrooge and you could put something about the fact that Scrooge goes bankrupt.

[00:34:52] Loses all his money. and then underneath you could say something like not true. He donated it all to a, to worthy causes after tiny Tim taught him the right way to do it. Make sure to fact check. Yeah,

[00:35:07] George: I. All right here. I'm gonna play one into you. See how you would go with the queen of hearts is public domain.

[00:35:14] Yeah. And notoriously pretty terrible leader. Did you have the little cards as like defenders or like at least the soldiers, right? No. You could have she has queen of heart soldiers. Yeah. Two soldiers, the queen of hearts talking to each other, being like, I'm not sure red. Paint's so great for flowers, but I'm not gonna look it up.

[00:35:35] So painting the roses red, like all of that sort of iconography and you're like check the, so this could be part of an ongoing joke series. Could even be a, could even be a shirt. go, I'll go back to your product. But no, but it could all

[00:35:48] Tara: of that's and I just set up a I've had an Etsy shop, but I just, the reason why I suggest red bubble.

[00:35:54] Is because it is the easiest thing in 20 years, I have ever done online the way they've made the website and the ease of adding. It just has to be a big enough picture, which is why I suggested a fiber person, cuz they're gonna be able to there's terms like it has to be 4,500 pixels by 5,005.

[00:36:17] And nonprofit people are like LA. I can't hear that. but any kind of graphic artist can do that in a heartbeat. That's just not a hard thing. And so if they have an idea that they wanna implement, they could implement it with somebody on five or very easily. Gotcha. All right,

[00:36:37] George: you ready for another one?

[00:36:38] Sure. Let's keep going. All right. This is one move for hunger, but also hunger organizations in general, food banks, collecting food and in general for move for hunger, they're a national nonprofit, and they have a sustainable way to reduce food waste. Mainly when people move, instead of throwing it away, they have moving companies that have been part of their network that get food that last mile to donated to local food banks.

[00:37:01] So anything in the food bank, food insecure. Space. Okay. What

[00:37:07] Tara: would you play there? So I go to the mad Hatter's tea party where they're eating right. Right after this, they called the moving company and they came and, or they called moved for hunger and no food. No teacakes were, was. And that's all imagery you ha can go grab and that's all imagery. It's just there. And people already know it. And they know about the, I if I was doing move for hunger, I would do a whole series of it with like cupcakes, like a really cute cupcake. Maybe even not a Alice Wonderland cupcake, but you can use, drink me.

[00:37:49] You can U I. Always check. You can use drink meat. You can use eat me and then say

[00:37:57] George: no, those little tags that are like so iconic to

[00:37:59] Tara: it. Yeah. So eat me on a little cupcake. Cause you can buy those kind images already made. And once you have your little cupcake, then you can say not a Chrome went to waste.

[00:38:13] Because the food bank showed up or the Mo food movers or move for hunger showed up. And so you're go, like the big part of whatever you're doing is gonna be the cupcake and the eat me. And then especially on social media, then the underneath of it is the message with a link to your donate page or a link to your about page so people can understand what your thing is.

[00:38:39] People want to know how to help, but you have to attract their attention before they know that you're there. I adopted three kids from foster care and so food, poverty is super important to me because my kids came from that situation. But there's no way for me to know. And I work with realtors all the time, cuz of that little two year thing in real estate, I would think that you could contact realtors and have them give everybody who's moving a flyer to put in the homes of the people who are moving.

[00:39:16] And you're literally touching so many more people who are moving, but you have to attract that realtor first.

[00:39:24] George: Yeah. I had the thought of Winnie the POH and honey, I'm done. I'm all in poo, but Winnie the POH and honey, like he's always looking for honey, always hungry and nothing is Sader than a sad poo and an empty honey.

[00:39:35] Tara: Exactly. That's wonderful. I love imagine, right? That is wonderful. There's a whole bunch in SCR. So you, so then at Christmas time, yeah, you do Scrooge and tiny Tim never had enough to eat. This is the. If tiny Tim had been alive now move for hunger. Would've been able to help. So your image is something endearing and heartfelt and that, and then your message is that this is an actual thing that helps people.

[00:40:12] And what you, oh, here's another thing. Oh, this is a big one. Let's talk about demographics, right? Who has the most disposable income right now? And I see a lot of people tr okay let's start. Coherently cuz I just got really excited. So people with money are I'm 56, so I have money and people older than me.

[00:40:39] So let's say 50 and older have money, disposable income to donate. So you want most of your Donations your hardcore, Hey send like I, I support best friends, which is a dog rescue. It's a giant rescue place, but they had a dog town, TV show and stuff like that. So I donate to them and they send me emails with pictures of dogs and dog stories and sometimes dog t-shirts and things like that.

[00:41:11] And I have the disposable income to do it. I also donate to Kiva and which is for entrepreneurs overseas, their micro loads. So you want to take. And figure out what kind of images are going to appeal to people who are older. If you're looking for donations, not to say, to ignore younger people but that's a better target market to to.

[00:41:43] To get money, easy money, recurring revenue, whatever you wanna call it, because the disposable income is there. If you are trying to get volunteers, I don't volunteer very often. I'm old and grumpy, and I don't really like to leave the house and. So you are gonna get a lot more volunteers from the younger people.

[00:42:08] So you would direct if this is what your what the data from your past marketing campaigns has shown in your nonprofit. If it doesn't show that, then don't do this, but think about it. And if you can get volunteers from younger people, then figure out how you can use those kind of things, more hip and ed.

[00:42:33] And mine can go back to tradition and sentimental and things like that. So those are all also things you wanna put in the mix, not just what is the character you're using, cuz you could use Tigger the same way. You said to you, I said, oh, I said to use. No. You said to use 'em for the wild cats, but you could also use him to say, Hey, hop on over and help us with the the drive to end colorectal cancer.

[00:43:07] George: Yep. Fairly it's really usable. And I wanna put a finer point on what you're saying with regard to generational targeting because the characters. Are coming into public domain are 70 to a hundred years old. They are perhaps more recognizable, they're recognizable and broad, but specifically higher affinity, higher recognition for let's just be honest, a generation over 45.

[00:43:30] Tara: Absolutely. I agree with that a hundred percent now I would say that my daughter, who is 17 recognized the mad hat. Because my artwork is a little cartoony but if you, yeah, your style. Yeah. Yeah. My style is a little bit more cartoony, but if you were to just put and she recognizes old poo, so then you would have to go to the really big ones.

[00:43:56] You couldn't go to like owl from poo. You would have to go to poo bear, Tigger, EOR. Piglet and then you want yeah. Piglet, but then you want to to find out like how people are using those characters in common vernacular in the zeitgeist, because are you a Tigger or are you an E or is an actual thing?

[00:44:29] I'm an ER, meaning that I tend to be a little. I just had this conversation with one of my friends today that I'm a little bit more grumpy and a little bit more doubting and she's a ticker, she's all everything's great. And everything's fine. And da. And so that's already in the Zeit case.

[00:44:50] So you could do a fun quiz on, on your social media and say, are you a ticker or are you a E or. We're gonna have a drawing for a free entry to the, whatever you have coming up for one person from whichever team wins. Yeah, I just throwing other just looking through fictional characters, there's so much more than I realized Robinhood, Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein's monster is a, we've only just scratched the surface of kind of what's possible.

[00:45:26] George: I wonder I've been playing around with Dolly two and image creation from AI, and I realized that you can actually take one of these originals and do riffs. I think you'll get more random than you would an artist, but the ability to do variations, even on, on some of these imagery, once you have, as you acknowledge like that style of the original thing that people may recognize, you could actually move those characters around more easily than ever before.

[00:45:51] I think especially for a nonprofit on social media, if you're doing no commercial sales and you're just posting on social media. Yeah. And you wanted to take, say the drippy clock from Dolly. And put it on the front of your building and say, Hey, it's time to, it's time to donate times times running out to donate for the September big cat whatever for that.

[00:46:24] Tara: There's a general feeling that as long as you have changed, as long as more than 40%. Change, so there's a, I'm really big on the bad things that happened. So do you remember that Obama poster that was really graphic stark graphic? That was, are you saying the Shepherd's ferry one?

[00:46:51] I believe so. Yeah. Yeah. He copied that from a picture that he didn't have the commercial rights to use oh, that's. Okay. So he is in trouble for that. He's getting sued by the photographer, or he's been sued by the photographer for that because he didn't change it at all. Short of poster, short of what anybody could have done in illustrator.

[00:47:16] He made it exactly.

[00:47:18] George: He just dropped it down the middle and changed one shade, changed the other shade, hit it with an outline and he is And bam you're done well, the original photographer could prove it was his. So the thought is that as long as you change about 40%, but there's lots of really recognizable.

[00:47:35] Tara: I don't know if CLE. K L I M P T. He made all that gold arch where there's two people on you. Yeah. And there's gold. All of that is in the public domain. His stuff

[00:47:48] George: is his is the kiss, right? That's the

[00:47:50] Tara: symbolic one. He did the. Yeah. So there's tons of stuff. If you start to, to take a look and then, so you can go to, you can do a search for creative commons which is an actual place.

[00:48:08] Creative commons. Yeah. Yeah, of course. And use lots of things there because there are a lot of contemporary artists. There are a lot. Just people who love to make art or who love to take pictures who are willing to have people use their artwork with a commercial license. Cause you still have to have a commercial license.

[00:48:30] You are a commercial entity, even as a nonprofit yeah. So you're not using it for personal.

[00:48:39] George: Yeah, you have to, especially I think the bright line here I'm taking away as we wrap up is for general social media and your website use there's clearly ways you can use it, but you definitely have to double check, triple check and even consider paying for some access to it.

[00:48:54] When the commercial rights of like, all right, I'm putting it on an item to be sold and revenue will be generated albeit even for a non-profit

[00:49:02] Tara: a hundred percent. But I also think that there's ways to. Collection like to pay for a commercial license of a large collection for a low amount of money that you then know unilaterally, you have purchased the commercial right to use, right?

[00:49:19] So if you have all the poos and you have all the Allison wonderlands and you have a creative intern and you say let's all help you brainstorm things to do. They could be posting on social media or your website for the next year. With all different kinds of fun things. Yeah.

[00:49:38] George: All right. Normally I end with rapid fire questions, but I will trim it down a little bit, maybe for you and some final wrap up questions, unless there's any other finer points you wanna put on this overall conversation?

[00:49:51] Tara: No, I think this was fun. It was interesting.

[00:49:54] George: Little bit different. Alright, so what is one tech challenge you're currently facing right now?

[00:50:01] Tara: I just wrote in my newsletter about this, that my first reaction to anything is I can't do that. I'm an EOR, so I think, oh, I can't do that. I don't know how to do that. And one of my friends today, her coach told her she had to do TikTok and she said I don't, she was freaked out, just freaked out.

[00:50:27] And she said, I don't know how to do this. And so I talked to her for a little while and at the end of it, she's oh, I absolutely can do this. So I think when my first reaction is I can't do this, number one, I'll phone, a friend. And then number two, I will look on YouTube because everything you need to know about how to do anything is on.

[00:50:49] George: All right. What new website or tool have you started using in the past year? That's been a game changer for you, red bubble.

[00:50:57] Tara: Red bottles. So fun. Love it. And I have no affiliation.

[00:51:01] George: Yeah, no this ad brought to you by red bull com find your new

[00:51:07] Tara: hobby. Exactly well, but I think it's because I've used Etsy for so long and I've worked with so many entrepreneurs and it is hard.

[00:51:16] Like it's just it's hard to use. It's hard to do things and. So it's distressing to give that as a person who suggests ways to make money or to do marketing or to do things like that. It's distressing to me to recommend something that I know that they're probably gonna spend a lot of time at and may not succeed.

[00:51:40] Yeah. Where I was like whoa. All my little people will be able to cause my, my readership for marketing artfully is women who tend to be older, who may not be as technically inclined. And so to have something to recommend them. I'll give you another one though. canva.com. Oh,

[00:52:01] George: we're friends of Canada.

[00:52:02] Yeah. Okay.

[00:52:04] Tara: All right. If you're doing any kind of graphics. They like, so you could totally pull your logo into Canva and they have all kinds of elements in there. And when I said put like a little Santa Claus hat on it, they would have a Santa Claus hat. You could stick onto your to your thing, even for the top of your new, how fun would that be?

[00:52:29] The top, the header of your newsletter every month. You stick something on it and then seasonal

[00:52:35] George: iconography.

[00:52:36] Tara: Yeah. Yeah. And then people get used to looking for that, and that's a way to get them to read your newsletter, which is the point.

[00:52:45] George: All righty. What is one piece of advice your parents gave you that you either followed or did not

[00:52:50] Tara: follow.

[00:52:54] Don't open things with your teeth. I paid a lot for them and I opened things with my teeth all the time.

[00:53:04] George: That might be the best answer to that question we've ever had. And we've had many years of this that's I'm not gonna pull all the thread there. I think that was perfect. Final hardball question here.

[00:53:13] How do people find you? How do people help you?

[00:53:17] Tara: So I I have a, I marketing art fleet is helpful to marketing things. I have another website called artsy Fary life.com and I have a lot of stuff on there. That's artsy Fary art, artistic stuff, and then also a bunch for Alzheimer's. Cause my mother-in-law has Alzheimer's so caregiving for Alzheimer's.

[00:53:45] So if anybody has that, then there's a lot of good information.

[00:53:49] George: And what might somebody reach out to you personally, to do, to work

[00:53:54] Tara: on? I don't work for people anymore. don't

[00:53:58] George: I did that. I'm outta the client games. All right. It's lucky,

[00:54:01] Tara: but you know what, but you know what? I have an open offer to anybody to email me questions and I get lots of questions.

[00:54:10] It's Tara at marketing artfully. And so while I won't do it for you, a lot of times I have either a recommendation. Or I can answer a question really quick, quickly for you. That would maybe be something that would take you a long time to figure out. And I have people email you know how some people don't mind getting texts and a text will Fritz out my day.

[00:54:34] I get emails all day long from people, and I've done that for years. For 20 years. My email has been out on the internet and it's in lots of my blog posts that say, feel free to email me if you have any questions. And then if you're more artsy, I have a really cool newsletter on artsy Fary and if you're more marketing, I have a really cool newsletter on marketing artfully.

[00:54:56] George: I appreciate you answering my random cold email to you, and it all makes sense. Now. I appreciate you giving generously of your time and thank you.

[00:55:05] Tara: It was nice talking to you today.

Podcast picture credit: OpenAI DALLE2 edit of A. A. Milne Winnie the Pooh on a log being interviewed

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Patagonia Goes All-in Transferring Ownership to Nonprofit

The private B Corp company Patagonia, known for outdoor gear and its outspoken position on the environment has transferred its ownership to a nonprofit (reported by The NonProfit Times). The company, worth an estimated $3 Billion, is transferring 98% of non-voting stock to the Holdfast Collective a 501(c)(4), and 2% of the stock (all voting control) to the Patagonia Purpose Trust.

Patagonia Founder, Yvon Chouinard has done something unprecedented for a company this size, ensuring that the $100m in profit each year will go toward philanthropic purposes instead of investors. The company still plans to donate 1% of profits toward grassroots environmental causes as well, at the discretion of the nonprofit. Further details of how money will be directed have not been revealed yet.

Read more ➝

Summary

• The Ethereum Merge Is Done, Opening a New Era for the Second-Biggest Blockchain | CoinDesk
• More Than $1 Billion For Black And Underserved Communities The NonProfit Times
• Houston nonprofit helping migrants transported out of state by group of Republican governors | KHOU.com
• https://blackwealthdata.org/
• Area nonprofit works with schools to build gardens, teach kids about healthy eating | KSAT San Antonio

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Patagonia Goes All-in Transferring Ownership to Nonprofit

The private B Corp company Patagonia, known for outdoor gear and its outspoken position on the environment has transferred its ownership to a nonprofit (reported by The NonProfit Times). The company, worth an estimated $3 Billion, is transferring 98% of non-voting stock to the Holdfast Collective a 501(c)(4), and 2% of the stock (all voting control) to the Patagonia Purpose Trust.

Patagonia Founder, Yvon Chouinard has done something unprecedented for a company this size, ensuring that the $100m in profit each year will go toward philanthropic purposes instead of investors. The company still plans to donate 1% of profits toward grassroots environmental causes as well, at the discretion of the nonprofit. Further details of how money will be directed have not been revealed yet.

Read more ➝

Summary

• The Ethereum Merge Is Done, Opening a New Era for the Second-Biggest Blockchain | CoinDesk
• More Than $1 Billion For Black And Underserved Communities The NonProfit Times
• Houston nonprofit helping migrants transported out of state by group of Republican governors | KHOU.com
• https://blackwealthdata.org/
• Area nonprofit works with schools to build gardens, teach kids about healthy eating | KSAT San Antonio

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Weekly news summary from the Nonprofit sector.

Nonprofits Recognize Anniversary of September 11th Attacks With National Day of Service & Remembrance

This Sunday marked the 21st anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks. As Americans across the country reflect on the day, nonprofit and volunteer organizations stepped up to honor victims and families, as well as to pay forward the heroic acts of bravery and charitable acts of community displayed that September. The federally-recognized September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance brings together folks across the country to “rekindle the spirit of unity that arose in America in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.” AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, says that “from supporting students and teachers, running food drives and making emergency preparedness kits to helping with home repairs and organizing cleanups, we can help our neighbors in communities across the country,” in an effort to “ensure that what unites us outshines what tries to divide us.” Read more ➝

Summary

• Crypto Going Green? Ethereum 'Merge' Begins | MediaPost
• Federal judge rules HIV drug mandate violates religious freedom | Roll Call
• $3.2 Billion Prediction: 2022 Giving Tuesday | Whole Whale
• Nonprofit prepares second Safe Outdoor Space for Albuquerque's homeless | KOB 4

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Weekly news summary from the Nonprofit sector.

Nonprofits Recognize Anniversary of September 11th Attacks With National Day of Service & Remembrance

This Sunday marked the 21st anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks. As Americans across the country reflect on the day, nonprofit and volunteer organizations stepped up to honor victims and families, as well as to pay forward the heroic acts of bravery and charitable acts of community displayed that September. The federally-recognized September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance brings together folks across the country to “rekindle the spirit of unity that arose in America in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.” AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, says that “from supporting students and teachers, running food drives and making emergency preparedness kits to helping with home repairs and organizing cleanups, we can help our neighbors in communities across the country,” in an effort to “ensure that what unites us outshines what tries to divide us.” Read more ➝

Summary

• Crypto Going Green? Ethereum 'Merge' Begins | MediaPost
• Federal judge rules HIV drug mandate violates religious freedom | Roll Call
• $3.2 Billion Prediction: 2022 Giving Tuesday | Whole Whale
• Nonprofit prepares second Safe Outdoor Space for Albuquerque's homeless | KOB 4

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Conversation with Dom Kalms, the CEO and Founder of B Generous. B Generous allows for donors to donate now, and pay later. We discuss how this technology works, how nonprofits get money upfront and donors are allowed to pay back the loan interest-free over 9 months.

There are new giving opportunities that are opened up with this new technology and Dom explains them on this podcast.

Donors want to give to the organizations they believe in more than ever before. B Generous makes that possible.

Today in the United States, more than 70% of donors want to give more to their favorite nonprofit, but simply can’t…leaving donors with two options: don’t donate or use a credit card with high interest rates. We think that’s a false choice, which is why we’ve created a free way for you to support your favorite nonprofit now, while maintaining the convenience of paying over time.

More about Dom Kalms, CEO and Founder of B Generous: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominickalms/

More about how donate now, pay later differs from pledge now, pay later.

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GOP-Tied NRSC Mismanaged Fundraising In Lead-Up To Crucial Midterm Elections The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the fundraising and campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, is facing backlash from its own party as details of how it lost millions on an ill-concieved fundraising strategy emerge. The NRSC, chaired by Rick Scott, managed to take in nearly $181.5 million in donation revenue by the end of this July, only to have spent 95% of what it had already brought in, according to detailed reporting from The New York Times. The committee now has less than half of the cash-on-hand of its Democratic counterpart, having gambled it all on a flawed digital donor acquisition strategy. The report also details an ethically dubious text-to-donate scheme in which millions of texts with the question “Should Biden Resign?” -- “Reply YES To Donate” processed donations immediately without any additional information. The WinRed platform insisted the NRSC abandon the tactic. Both GOP and Democratic campaigns have received criticism for aggressive marketing in the past. The 2020 Trump campaign was forced to provide nearly $122 million in refunds. Read more ➝

Summary

• NC NAACP loses tax-exempt status, financial problems with IRS | Raleigh News & Observer
• How an SF Housing Nonprofit Blew Almost $500K on a Flawed Effort To 'Tax Jeff Bezos' Ass' | SF Standard
• Fight For Website Control 'Destroying' Nonprofit, Judge Says | Law360
• Rape map where Republicans have made abortions illegal | The Democracy Labs

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GOP-Tied NRSC Mismanaged Fundraising In Lead-Up To Crucial Midterm Elections The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the fundraising and campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, is facing backlash from its own party as details of how it lost millions on an ill-concieved fundraising strategy emerge. The NRSC, chaired by Rick Scott, managed to take in nearly $181.5 million in donation revenue by the end of this July, only to have spent 95% of what it had already brought in, according to detailed reporting from The New York Times. The committee now has less than half of the cash-on-hand of its Democratic counterpart, having gambled it all on a flawed digital donor acquisition strategy. The report also details an ethically dubious text-to-donate scheme in which millions of texts with the question “Should Biden Resign?” -- “Reply YES To Donate” processed donations immediately without any additional information. The WinRed platform insisted the NRSC abandon the tactic. Both GOP and Democratic campaigns have received criticism for aggressive marketing in the past. The 2020 Trump campaign was forced to provide nearly $122 million in refunds. Read more ➝

Summary

• NC NAACP loses tax-exempt status, financial problems with IRS | Raleigh News & Observer
• How an SF Housing Nonprofit Blew Almost $500K on a Flawed Effort To 'Tax Jeff Bezos' Ass' | SF Standard
• Fight For Website Control 'Destroying' Nonprofit, Judge Says | Law360
• Rape map where Republicans have made abortions illegal | The Democracy Labs

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Biden Announces $10k, $20k Student Loan Forgiveness For Most Borrowers The Biden administration announced last week that up to $10k of federal student loan debt would be forgiven for eligible borrowers, including up to $20k for Pell Grant recipients. The sweeping announcement was a controversial policy move but nonetheless a major one, with tens of millions of borrowers affected. According to The White House, 87% of the eligible borrowers currently make less than $75,000 and will disproportionately benefit historically debt-burdened communities, including Black borrowers who hold a “disproportionate amount of student loan debt.” Nonprofit and public service employees should pay close attention to shifting (and temporarily expanded leniency) in rules for the government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Rules eliminating particularly onerous requirements have been temporarily waived but require borrowers to consolidate loans by October 31 to benefit. Read more here.

Summary

• Carbon Offsets: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
• Why are so many nonprofit execs leaving their jobs? | Crain's Detroit
• What is SHADOW moderation & how is it silencing speech? | Whole Whale
• Hundreds of paddle boarders take to the lake for Austin nonprofit | CultureMap Austin

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Biden Announces $10k, $20k Student Loan Forgiveness For Most Borrowers The Biden administration announced last week that up to $10k of federal student loan debt would be forgiven for eligible borrowers, including up to $20k for Pell Grant recipients. The sweeping announcement was a controversial policy move but nonetheless a major one, with tens of millions of borrowers affected. According to The White House, 87% of the eligible borrowers currently make less than $75,000 and will disproportionately benefit historically debt-burdened communities, including Black borrowers who hold a “disproportionate amount of student loan debt.” Nonprofit and public service employees should pay close attention to shifting (and temporarily expanded leniency) in rules for the government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Rules eliminating particularly onerous requirements have been temporarily waived but require borrowers to consolidate loans by October 31 to benefit. Read more here.

Summary

• Carbon Offsets: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
• Why are so many nonprofit execs leaving their jobs? | Crain's Detroit
• What is SHADOW moderation & how is it silencing speech? | Whole Whale
• Hundreds of paddle boarders take to the lake for Austin nonprofit | CultureMap Austin

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A deep conversation on the topic of shadow moderation, a feature that lets moderators on platforms like Facebook and Reddit censor posts without alerting the person who posted it. We discuss how pernicious this problem is at scale with Rob Hawkins, the founder of Reveddit, which is a tool that lets users discover which of their content has been removed from Reddit.

This may seem like a small UX feature on the surface, but the implications of silencing speech in this way have large ramifications for the increasing polarization of discord online.

Editorial note: At one point in this episode, Rob misspoke about user counts on social media. The most recent available numbers are: at the end of 2020, Reddit reported 52 million daily active users, and in July of 2022, Twitter reported 237.8 million monetizable daily active users.

About Rob Hawkins

Rob is a grassroots software developer living in Taiwan and is the founder of Reveddit, which is a tool that lets users discover which of their content has been removed from Reddit. Before Reveddit, Rob worked as a data scientist in the financial services sector to extract key information from large datasets. Rob also spent a year developing websites with DoSomething.org, an organization that inspires young people to change the world.

Resource links:

https://www.CantSayAnything.win - A hub for everything Rob is doing to advocate for reviewable moderation on social media.

https://www.reveddit.com

https://twitter.com/rhaksw

Ai Image generated Created with DALL·E, an AI system by OpenAI

“progression of a match being put out with smoke rising, Photojournalism ”

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Low-Profile Donor Gives $1.6 Billion To Conservative Political Nonprofit Barre Seid, an “electronics manufacturing mogul,” has donated over $1.6 billion to the conservative political nonprofit Marble Freedom Trust, according to reporting from The New York Times. The 501(c)4 nonprofit, led by a prominent conservative political operator, represents the largest single donation to a political organization ever and dwarfs the spending of the top 15 GOP and Democratic-aligned nonprofits during the 2020 election. The donation was structured as a stock donation, as opposed to an all-cash donation, as a legal way to skirt a complicated web of tax rules. The Marble Freedom Trust is run by Leonard A. Leo, who among other titles, was previously vice president of the Federalist Society, and is largely credited with engineering an increasingly conservative Supreme Court. Justice Clarence Thomas once jokingly referred to Mr. Leo as the “third most powerful person in the world,” as reported by The New York Times. Read more ➝

Summary:

• Survey: U.S. Nonprofits Struggle to Find Workers, Funding | Government Technology
• $7.1 Billion in US Medical Debt Erased by Nonprofit Group -- How They Did It | GOBankingRates
• Nonprofit hospitals' outlook downgraded to 'deteriorating' by Fitch | Healthcare Finance News

Image from DALLE-2, an OpenAI project.

Prompt: "Rainstorm of money on an elephant, nature photography"

Learn how your organization could start using AI content creation.

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Interview with Soraya Alexander, COO of Classy.

We discuss the Classy State of Modern Philanthropy and dig through the data. Get the report: https://donationtrends.classy.org/

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] George Voice Dub: I have known about this particular fundraising platform for quite some time. I'm excited to have none other than Soraya Alexander, the chief operating officer, the COO of classy. How's it going for you today ?

[00:00:14] Soraya: It's going great. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be. Yes.

[00:00:19] George: Yeah, you pop up, you know, as a definite provider of services, but also a lot of content. I see a lot of educational resources being churned out, which I, as a, as a consumer and creator myself deeply appreciate. And always I'm more interested generally in platforms that can look at their own data.

[00:00:40] And so you've recently created this report, but before we get into there, how do you describe in your words, uh, what class he.

[00:00:47] Soraya: We've got, um, a fancy brand proposition, but at the most basic level, we do digital fundraising for nonprofits. So the whole suite of, you know, main donation forms to events, to peer, to peer, um, anything that your donors, wherever your donors are going online, we're

[00:01:03] George: It's such a competitive landscape. I, when I, you know, 12 years ago I started whole whale. I was like one thing I will never, ever do donation platforms. It just strikes me as like an impossible field to, to kind of grow in. So how has, how has it been over at classy?

[00:01:19] Soraya: Oh, it's been great. So I've been a classy for four years. And I think where we get really excited is that, you know, we've got several thousand customers and they are honestly, the sector is made up of the most innovative, ambitious people. And generally. They're totally under resourced to match their ambition, right?

[00:01:38] Like that is the definition of the sector. They don't have the resources. I don't know how many, how many, you know, the resources you would need to solve the world's greatest problems, but the sector definitely doesn't have them. And so we really see a lot of promise in technology overcoming that gap.

[00:01:52] Like how can technology accelerate your efforts, amplify your efforts, get more fun, city, more good. Um, and so we're really not cynical about, you know, what we, what we do. We see. How technology can transform the work of the sector. So I, I completely love it. The, the pace of innovation, um, the way that we engage with donors, um, has been changing a lot.

[00:02:15] So it is competitive, but that also just means we have to be better. And I think the sector deserves that. Um, so I really, it's been a lot of fun.

[00:02:22] George: You know, it it's good to hear. And certainly like under resourced is the, is the sad mantra of what's going on and great that you're able to provide the sort of frictionless way to get more money into more good hands. You have come out with the state of modern philanthropy. I was hoping maybe you could pull out what that is first

[00:02:45] Soraya: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:02:46] George: what do, what do what's the state?

[00:02:48] Are we

[00:02:48] Soraya: , I don't know that I have an answer. I think, uh, optimistic is probably the one word answer. So the state of modern philanthropy is an annual report. We do it's the, the fifth year we've published it. And we would just kind of glean all of this information from all of the campaigns on the platform.

[00:03:05] We would collect all of these insights around donor trends, behaviors, campaign trends, payment trends, uh, and it was just too much too much information to not share it out with the sector. We thought it could be really valuable. So, you know, this past year we saw over a billion dollars of donations. Uh, it was 12 million individual transaction events, 54,000 campaigns.

[00:03:27] And so from that, you can start seeing kind of what's working. What's not how are things progressing? Um, so yeah, really happy to publish it. And it. Kind of goes hand in hand. We do several consumer surveys throughout the year as well. And so you marry up what are people saying about how they wanna give and then what actually happens on the platform and, um, you find some interesting, interesting insights.

[00:03:47] So yeah, excited to kind of share some of those today, but, um, please do you know if anybody's interested, go, go through there's there's way too many insights to, to talk through. It ends up being, you know, feeling tedious, but we think that we've packaged it in a way that could be really helpful.

[00:04:01] George: Yeah. And just so folks know, we'll have the link in the show notes, but I, I found it by going to donation trends dot class e.org. So that's, I think where we can find this, the looking at your executive summary, which I always appreciate. The quick summary. Tell me what I need to know before I need to know it.

[00:04:19] Cuz I'm super lazy. You have that events are back. Um, so events were away, clearly events. Meaning I read this as in person fundraising events, cuz that pesky little thing called the COVID. So we're BA we're back.

[00:04:35] Soraya: we're back. What, you know, so one of the things we do is because we've got kind of long term relationships with so many nonprofits, we'll only isolate to year over year performance for the same kinds of campaigns and the same kinds of organizations. So this isn't just. We started selling, you know, to a lot more organizations who are interested in events.

[00:04:52] This is actual year over year performance. Um, and we saw that revenue from events group 50% year over year. So that's coming back in a big way. Uh, but it's not just coming back in person. I think people got really used to virtual. Events then got totally sick of virtual events, but they held onto some of the digital components that feel easier, more elegant, more efficient.

[00:05:15] And so I kind of mentioned these consumer surveys. We did, we actually did a, a fundraiser experience report, which was a survey of donors and they talked about really. Uh, valuing when there are things like digital auctions or, you know, digital fundraisers added on to either hybrid or fully in person events.

[00:05:35] So now we are seeing about half of donors say, yeah, we wanna come back to events. Events are raising a ton of money again, you know, anybody who's, um, You know, been in this ecosystem or frankly been in an airport, knows that like the in person experience is back, but that digital component is not going away.

[00:05:51] It's just evolving. Uh, so that, that kind of combination we're seeing as a, as a real transformer as we go, as we go forward

[00:05:59] George: And just to, to repeat the, what was the year over year increase.

[00:06:03] Soraya: 50%

[00:06:05] George: About a 50%. That's pretty phenomenal. And again, just the, the sample size, I think, just to confirm is the, the total over, you know, $1.1 billion that transaction, like, so of that has a huge increase. Uh, is the, is the overall amount donated on the platform also increased in that same period of time?

[00:06:24] Or is it like the percent of money coming via? Makes

[00:06:28] Soraya: Yeah, it's a good question. So we're definitely, um, growing and that's both growing through individual organizations who are growing, who are doing kind of really well with all these optimizations and different campaign types. And, you know, we'll talk about. Um, channel optimization and payments optimization, and then it's also growing just as our out platform grows and we're able to support nonprofits, but for events specifically, these are events that were run the year before or organizations that were with us the year before that weren't running events and what they did the next year.

[00:06:56] So it's not reflective of just kind of new organizations it's truly year over year comparison. And we're seeing, um, a pretty drastic, uh, increase, which we find really encouraging.

[00:07:05] George: Yeah, you read my mind. I'm like, well, wait a minute. You know, the number went up, cuz our number went up and you're like breaking news.

[00:07:10] Soraya: for it.

[00:07:11] George: organization's numbers go up because they got bigger. So you kind of controlled for it. Looking at the same organizations. Uh, running these events. I'm curious, are these events I R L or are they a mix?

[00:07:22] Do you have that

[00:07:23] Soraya: Total mix. We it's, it's a complete mix and it's even harder to what we're seeing is either even the IRL. Very few of them are strictly in person. Now, almost everybody has introduced this digital component. They've, you know, really come to understand that. Why place a geographic limitation, if you don't have to.

[00:07:43] And people in the room are happy to engage online with, you know, again, things like digital auctions, so why restrict it, or even timebound auctions, there's no need to restrict it. You're raising more money. If you can kind of open the aperture and it's so easy to do now, the donors experienced with it.

[00:08:00] They actually prefer it, um, based on our donor surveys. And so, uh, we see very few pure play in real life events happen.

[00:08:07] George: the majority of these are non geofenced.

[00:08:11] Soraya: It's it's in person events that have a digital component that has been layered on. That's a lot of what we're seeing now.

[00:08:19] George: Gotcha. So there are people hanging out in person, but like, like logo, like, like I'm gonna walk around my block. I'm gonna walk around my block, like, oh, cool.

[00:08:27] Soraya: of that, or even just, we're gonna have an in person gala, but our auction's not gonna be a, you know, the paddle race is gonna be ver digital now. And so if you wanna phone it in, you couldn't make the gala that night, you just really could not get outta your sweatpants. You can actually participate at alongside the people who are in the room.

[00:08:42] That's a lot of, kind of what we're seeing.

[00:08:44] George: Yeah, finally sweatpants for a cause I knew it was gonna come.

[00:08:48] Soraya: I am behind that. Cause

[00:08:49] George: What is the weirdest event you think classy has been, been parked to?

[00:08:55] Soraya: Oh man. You know, I need customer permission before I can talk about some of these things. I will say the coolest one was right at the start of COVID. Do you remember, um, that Robin hood telethon in New York that had. Tina Faye crying. It had, I mean, it had everybody coming forward and really like every celebrity you can imagine coming forward to raise money, um, for all kinds of relief efforts that Robin hood was doing just at the start of COVID incredibly powerful.

[00:09:21] And if you had told me that we were gonna be part of some huge telethon in, in the year, you know, 20, 20, I, I would. I wouldn't have believed it. Um, but it was a really incredible kind of moment for everybody to come together. And we were really, really proud to work with them.

[00:09:37] George: I'd be so curious. I, I feel like I can just talk about this or parse this out almost in, in a lot of ways. What are the, I don't know if you have this, but what are the highest yield, um, types of events? Is it, is there a certain center, like, oh, they're running the, uh, yield walkathon or like, oh my gosh, it's the, the silent awesome pet grooming Bonanza that like really brings in the dollars.

[00:10:00] Soraya: It's a great question there. It totally depends on the organization, which is a really unsatisfying answer. The one thing that I will say is completely consistent is I think sometimes event organizers. Feel like the big ask is getting people to the event, getting them to register, getting them to give again, they don't, they're, they're nervous to ask for those participants to also fundraise on their behalf.

[00:10:22] When you do event with fundraising on top of it, you invite somebody to raise additionally either for, you know, uh, run, walk, ride, or even just a gala. Event volume goes through the roof, always encourage your network and your supporters to do more for your cause. It, it, that is a really transformative aspect that takes very little from you.

[00:10:42] You are just activating your supporters network, um, and it's not used as much as you'd expect. And, and really that has transformative impacts on, on how much you raise.

[00:10:53] George: So as I'm understanding this being explicit, that attend, but you're also fundraising.

[00:10:59] Soraya: Yes.

[00:11:00] George: Don't just show up, like

[00:11:02] Soraya: That's right. And you think about, you know, everybody gets one more donor, you've doubled your event revenue. Like it's not hard stuff. You don't really have to ask them to become superstar fundraisers, say, Hey mom, I'm going to gala tonight. Do you wanna throw 20 bucks on top of my ticket? Um, for something that I care about your mom will.

[00:11:18] Pitch in 20 bucks. Um, and that, that can really change, right? Yeah. that changes things. Um, and it's, it's very low lift. It should be no lift with the right technology. Um, and, and you don't, and, and suddenly you have all these new donors as well, suddenly mom's part of your database suddenly you can market to her and get her as a more committed donor in the long term.

[00:11:36] So even outside of the event, you've expanded your network in kind of profound ways. Um, so we, we are always encouraging our, our, uh, organizations to consider.

[00:11:45] George: right. Big takeaway. Everybody. Get those mom dollars.

[00:11:48] Soraya: Get mom dollars.

[00:11:50] George: another one we, yeah, hashtag hashtag get mom dollars. Uh, donors give more when they have choices. Can you, yeah. And other news money, money buys things.

[00:12:03] Soraya: yeah, shocking.

[00:12:04] George: I don't, I don't mean it that way. What does this actually mean?

[00:12:07] Soraya: Well, well, so we, um, we launched a payments offering a few years ago because we heard that organizations kind of want everything consolidated. They want easier reconciliation. And so we, we launched this, this payments gateway as a, as a way to facilitate easier organization reconciliation and just reporting honestly.

[00:12:28] And then we saw the light on payments and became completely obsessed with how. Offering different payment types can really transform conversion rates, donor retention rates, even dollar amounts that you're giving. And so as our payments offering expanded, we said, okay, let's layer in digital wallets, right?

[00:12:46] Apple pay. Yes. You should have apple pay PayPal. Yes. You should have PayPal, Venmo, crypto ACH, which is like digital bank transfer. You start offering all these things and you see individual donation amounts go up, you see conversion rates go up, you see. Um, recurring commitments, go up, you see lifetime value of those recurring commitments extend you start adding all these things up and it starts sounding like comical numbers.

[00:13:10] So I'm not even gonna share kind of some of the things we're seeing, cuz I am making our team go through and scrub it a hundred more times before I would share it with a public. But we will say, you know, a couple of the stats we saw, one time donations could increase 50% when you have payment options on there.

[00:13:25] And this sounds really profound until you actually take a second and say, how do I behave as a consumer? Oh yeah. If there's apple pay, I am more likely to complete a checkout, whether it's on a eCommerce site or a nonprofit donation form. If I don't have to. Get up while I'm in my sweatpants, you know, watching the gala from home, I don't have to go up and get my, you know, find my phone and find my credit card and find whatev or sorry, find my credit card, find my laptop, whatever else.

[00:13:49] So it's really intuitive when you put yourself in the mind of a consumer. Um, and yet we, you know, we still have kind of nonprofit saying, well, I've got, you know, I've got a credit card form. Like that's enough. You know, I, I have a means for a donor to check out that's actually not enough. Um, and. It's transformative when you have all of these options.

[00:14:09] And it's also tragic when you think you've spent so long, getting the public to know about the cause care about the cause. Find your organization that is trying to address the cause. Get all the way to a donation form, and then still check out. Rates are. Way lower than they should be. Definitely not a hundred percent.

[00:14:26] And, and you think about how much work you have done to then lose the donor at that last moment. And if it's kind of tragic, um, and that's why we've become obsessed with payments, cuz you can start bumping that number up in kind of meaningful ways.

[00:14:36] George: Yeah, just to reiterate though, you're saying that the average one time donation was nearly 1.5 X more just by offering these options all in one place. That's that's amazing. I had thought prior. To this, that probably the number one piece that impacted the amount given in that first time, one time amount was the anchoring, what the prefilled amount was,

[00:15:03] Soraya: Yeah. We're seeing as actual payment options. It's not just conversion rates that are impacted. It's actually the dollars that you give.

[00:15:08] George: Wow. And, and you found, so you now accept crypto.

[00:15:13] Soraya: We do we accept

[00:15:14] George: when did that start?

[00:15:16] Soraya: a couple of weeks ago. We just launched it, um, right in the middle of crypto, winter. It's you know, we'll we'll uh,

[00:15:22] George: what are you guys doing? Losing

[00:15:23] Soraya: I I know, come on over. No, I mean, the idea, what we've seen is the more offerings you have, we like saying that we know we have more payment options now than Amazon. Um, you know, you just, you wanna come over no matter how you wanna give, we will be there for you.

[00:15:35] We will accept. We will accept any, you know, any form of

[00:15:39] George: You accept all cryptocurrencies, all, all forms of all forms of the, uh, the doge.

[00:15:45] Soraya: Not, not everything, but more every day. I think we just, um, announced that we, we extended to another only 10 currencies just last week. So they keep coming. Um, the capabilities keep extending, um, but very early days.

[00:15:58] And I think, you know, that's the most exciting thing for us. Um, you know, we, we did. Credit card and ACH. A couple of years ago, we layered in digital wallets about six months after that, about a year ago, no, maybe eight months ago was PayPal. Uh, then Venmos two months after that crypto, you know, was just a couple of weeks ago.

[00:16:16] So, uh, the velocity and the, the focus and the expansion here is, is continuing. And it's really because of that value, we see the donor engagement and the reactions and the receptivity. um, so, so no plans on, on kind of slowing down, we're running out of currencies to accept and, and payment methods to accept.

[00:16:32] But, um, as long as there's more, we're gonna keep, keep exploring to create, create new things. That's it? Well, and it's fun cuz now you get to start getting, uh, really weird about thinking. Okay. What does event, you know, we're talking about hybrid events, we're talking about crypto, the future of. Uh, virtual galas where you're just auctioning NFTs, and suddenly things become really interesting is, is absolutely, you know, there are brainstorming sessions happening with some of our most innovative customers around what this can look like and how we can support it.

[00:17:00] So,

[00:17:01] George: Why did you choose to, uh, why did you choose to accept crypto?

[00:17:04] Soraya: Um, really it's about kind of donor choice and organization choice. So our job is to be a platform that just says we can enable nonprofits to engage with our donors in any way that is meaningful to donors. And our job is to. Do a lot of kinda market assessment stay on the cutting edge of, you know, eCommerce trends, donor trends, non-profit trends and say, okay, where, where is this going?

[00:17:24] Where can we get more funds to causes that need them? And then we will have, you know, we will pursue offerings in that capacity. So it was, it was kind of an easy choice from that lens.

[00:17:33] George: and do you, uh, Do you have any organizations that are expressed to saying like, no, no, no. Like turn that off or I assume they have to turn on all of these things. It's not default outta the box. Right? So

[00:17:45] Soraya: We do no, no, no. You have complete control over what you do, how you engage with it, what you turn on. Even at a campaign level, you can decide, you know, this one doesn't really feel right. We don't think it's the right donor base. Um, but here we would like to

[00:17:56] George: But your data seems to suggest that you should check all of the boxes, like land C air, however you wanna get us there.

[00:18:02] Soraya: our data strongly suggested, but this is why we release these reports. It's like, you know, we'll do the analysis. You can make the decision. The choice is yours.

[00:18:11] George: I love backed insights that fly in the face of the. Common knowledge is don't offer too many choices. You're gonna overwhelm the person, keep it focused. Like, you know, you seem to be betraying the, the imutable laws of UX and, and sort of throwing all this.

[00:18:28] Soraya: I'm really glad you asked that. So, um, The right options are good. And so more options means you have a higher, uh, higher chance of getting to the right one for that donor. But does that mean all the donor? All those options have to be on the table for every single experience. Absolutely not. And so you're right.

[00:18:45] We actually are working on how do you get more insights around who's landing on the page and maybe you cater those options. To that person. So you can have the full suite enabled for every campaign, but based on what you know about a particular donor visitor, you can say, you know what, we're only gonna show these three options.

[00:19:02] We really don't see any indication that this person would be interested in option X. So we'll just hide it on that page. So it's not, it's not live yet, but you're absolutely right. Those are, those are things we're exploring right now.

[00:19:12] George: be curious. Cause you just turned this on of putting all of those together. It seems that they are they're additive and it's like in addition to not, instead of, and I wonder with something. Like crypto, which has, uh, a polarizing effect, I think in its current cycle of adoption, which is a fancy way of saying doesn't this piss off some folks potentially that are looking at ways to give, and they're like, wait a minute.

[00:19:37] This organization accepts, you know, you know, climate destroying cryptocurrency,

[00:19:43] Soraya: Yeah,

[00:19:44] George: you all. I'm not giving to this organization. I, I wonder if that's a thought or concern.

[00:19:49] Soraya: Yeah, well, the, the, the crypto argument aside, we do have kind of off offsets enabled if you want as an organization to sign up for some kind of offset program. So we do have that kind of, um, integrated as well. And then, um, I think it ends up being the, the organizations know their donor base really well, and they say, okay, um, are you choosing kind of greener crypto, you know, offerings, things like that.

[00:20:12] George: Yeah. I don't know the right answer, but I do know that more is different.

[00:20:16] Soraya: more, more is different, more so far is really. Um, paying off and we are testing the heck out of it. Uh, and seeing, because the second it starts not paying off we'll, you know, we'll, we'll publish that as well and, and give control to kind of moderate.

[00:20:32] George: Yeah. The irony to me of also the, like the crypto argument, then we'll move on. Cuz I love rabbit holes is, is the fact that I assume that on donation. The acid is liquidated so you're not holding it. You're technically getting it outta the system and switching back to Fiat. So it's, it's kind of funny to me being like, how dare you, you know, not go green.

[00:20:51] You're like, you know what we're doing? Right. We're removing liquidity from the system. You don't like, you know how this works,

[00:20:57] Soraya: love, I love that we haven't even pursued that angle, but, um,

[00:21:01] George: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:03] Soraya: It is, it is, it is early days though, and you're right. And the, the, the thinking around it and just the, the process of producing it, everything is evolving so quickly. And so I think for us, it's always, how do we, how do we stay on leading edge?

[00:21:16] How do we make sure that. You know, so I started my, my career in the social sector and moved into e-commerce and customer loyalty and customer engagement for the, for profit sector. And so this is kind of the best of both worlds, where I get to say, you know, I ki I have familiarity with what the sector needs and what they encounter, and I know about e-commerce and it was always, you just try to go where the, where the donor, the consumer is.

[00:21:37] You try to make it as easy for them. If you just, if the goal. Make it easy for them to spend money with you, then you have to figure out that psychology and that experience, and that is your job. And so for us, that is our job on behalf of the sector that we think needs the most. And so wherever that goes, we will, we will be there.

[00:21:54] George: Of working with, and also like talking to folks that have experience in the e-commerce sector, moving into the nonprofit sector. You're like, yeah, go get that money. That's how this works. That's how all of this

[00:22:04] Soraya: that's it. That's the,

[00:22:05] George: get the

[00:22:05] Soraya: the job. That's the

[00:22:07] George: overthink it.

[00:22:08] Soraya: Yeah. And you have to do that in really sophisticated ways. You know, how do you do that when you're not, um, you know, how do you do that when you're talking about impact, where you're talking about long term relationships, where, you know, you have a fraction of the budget, you've gotta get even more creative and thoughtful and personalized and all these things.

[00:22:24] Um, it it's so much more important. You can't just say, okay, we're running a flash sale on something and you don't have those levers. Um, and so I just, I completely love it.

[00:22:31] George: We have a final point in here that fundraising among peers thrives on social media and you have this number that peer tope raise on average 3.8 times more than other time based campaigns. Can you help me parse this out?

[00:22:46] Soraya: Yeah. So, um, this is really around, you know, focusing on. Campaigns that say, okay, we've got, you know, we've got an end date. If that's an event, you know, you're leading up to an event you're trying to raise money or we're raising for a particular fund. Um, this actually goes back to the events conversation we had earlier, which is just activate your donors and your supporters networks offer a way for them to fundraise on your behalf and for time-based campaigns specifically, you see almost four times more raised when you allow people to fundraise and extend what their own wallet can do, what their own contributions can do.

[00:23:19] And then suddenly you also get all these new donors. Um, so I, there's no reason not to allow people to do more than what you know, they're willing to spend in that moment. Cuz they have networks who are going to listen to them. You know, this is important to you and I care about you and I feel aligned to your values and I want to support the things that you support.

[00:23:39] It doesn't have to be, you know, their entire network to, for it, to be really meaningful for non.

[00:23:43] George: What does this actually look like? Are you saying the organization creates this peer-to-peer fundraising campaign and then sort of enables a certain feature for social share? Explicitly says it puts it in the flow. What, what does this

[00:23:56] Soraya: Yeah, what, what we are, what we are looking at. So we have, um, peer to peer capabilities, you know, like separate campaigns and we have events where you've got fundraising on top of it. Uh, so those two event types where you can say. I allow I going to enable you to set up your own fundraising page. That's what we're talking about versus just an event where you buy a ticket or just a campaign where you individually donate.

[00:24:19] So we're not talking about social sharing here. That definitely has power, but when you actually encourage people to set up their own fundraising page, we see almost four times more raised. That's right.

[00:24:29] George: So the individual is creating a page that they have their, like their fingerprint on under the banner of the organization. And then they're encouraged to share that page on social, check out my fundraising page, and then they post it.

[00:24:41] Soraya: That's right. That's right.

[00:24:44] George: Yeah. That

[00:24:44] Soraya: they don't have to be great at it. You know, that's the, I think that's the compelling thing is people say, like, I don't know that I've got these power fundraisers. I think that was the point. That was really exciting to me. You don't have to have a network of pseudo development staff at your disposal.

[00:24:59] You just ask your, your committed fundraisers to open up a page. They get a couple of donations and you think about right there, that's four times as much donations, you know, four times as much volume. It doesn't take long for the math to get there. And yet it feels really profound. When you say four times the amount of volume as any other campaign type.

[00:25:17] Yeah. Just, just allow people to kinda help.

[00:25:20] George: Yeah, it seems like in some ways you're unlocking the power law even more so where clearly. 10% of your followers, donors supporters have 90% of the potential following. There's gonna be one person in there. Who's just happens to be hyper connected. And by allowing that person encouraging that person to leverage that social network, you're, you're, uh, you're dancing in the right side of the power law.

[00:25:45] Soraya: That that's it. And you, it, it really doesn't, you know, if you have really sophisticated peer to peer and event with fundraising, keep, you know, um, campaigns absolutely. That exists, but they don't always have to be that you, you know, with the right tooling, you just say, yes, this is an option. They will take it from there.

[00:26:01] Um, so I, I also recognize that we're talking to development officers and development managers who are saying, I don't have a huge staff to launch all these complex campaigns. You actually don't necessarily need it. You know, tech can help you. Tech can fill in the gaps of what, you know, your staff can't do manually.

[00:26:17] It should be doing that. It should help you scale. And this is one of those areas.

[00:26:20] George: I love it. Anything else about the report we should

[00:26:23] Soraya: So there's one piece that is a really unintuitive. Stat. And so it takes a second to parse it, but I think it's, it's fascinating when you think about it. So recurring capture rate, when you are, um, donating and you decide to become a sustaining member as opposed to a one time member. Um, let's say that's a, you know, 10 percent-ish capture rate over time.

[00:26:45] When you, as a development officer, look at your transactions, this is platform wide for us. You look at all of your transactions in a month. 58% of those transactions were recurring donations. That means that they were decided to give before that month. So it's not that there's, you know, 58% of the people who come in on any given month are making a recurring gift.

[00:27:04] It's that the transactions that are processed in that month, 58% of them end up being recurring gifts that have been decided before that. And so if you think about your donor outreach strategy and your engagement strategy, know that. More than half of the transactions in given month have already been committed to how are you engaging that audience?

[00:27:24] So back to like the e-commerce days, we think a lot about, are you talking to your recurring donors? Are you making sure that you're, you're letting them know that ongoing impact? Are you making sure that they have opportunities to give again? Are you treating them like gym members where you're hoping they set it and forget it and you never talk to them and they just let it go forever?

[00:27:41] Or are you saying we wanna make sure you understand the value of this dollar because it. It's the, it's the predominant number of transactions, even if it's not the predominant number of donors you see every month. And so we just don't want 'em to, we don't want it to become like the silent majority that you forget about and take for granted and take, you know, just assume they'll always be there.

[00:28:01] They require some cultivation they require talking to, and we actually see that about a quarter of recurring donors end up giving one time gifts on top of their monthly commitment. You should absolutely be engaging with this cohort. So it it's, I know it's a little bit of a confusing stat when you say it this way, but I just think about, you know, you look at a report and you see this many times a credit card was charged in this month.

[00:28:22] More than half of those cards, those donors didn't come to your site necessarily that month they had already committed. And are you thinking about them as actively as you would any other kind of cohort of donors that month and you should be? Um, so I think a lot about donor segmentation and engagement and ongoing communication, um, and how important it is.

[00:28:40] George: think the only thing that stuck to my brain there was that we have reoccurring donors as a nonprofit.

[00:28:46] Soraya: Yes.

[00:28:46] George: According to your data. Literally one out of four of those folks will just write an extra check. If I reach out to them,

[00:28:55] Soraya: Yes.

[00:28:55] George: I feel like that is something that would scare the, the fundraising pants off.

[00:29:01] Somebody be like, oh my gosh, don't disrupt. Leave them. Be let the money come in. Don't like piss off anybody being like, how dare you ask me for more money. I already give you the money,

[00:29:12] Soraya: Yeah, no,

[00:29:13] George: no, the data suggests other.

[00:29:15] Soraya: the data suggests otherwise. And, and again, I think we're, we're scared because we feel like we got away with something when we got that recurring gift and like, oh my

[00:29:22] George: did, you got the

[00:29:23] Soraya: money. For however long. Um, but people wanna validate their decision to invest in you. They're investing in your organization and your cause and the impact you can have.

[00:29:33] So the ways that you communicate that was a good investment, the way you should validate that investment and the ways that you can communicate, how much more you can do with a little kind of extra on top, that all speaks to their values and why they're with you. So it definitely shouldn't be something scary.

[00:29:47] It's really powerful. Uh, donors.

[00:29:50] George: That's interesting. I'm wondering, do you know your average retention for a reoccurring donor? Like that, that gift amount? I'm always. Do you get more in the one time where that, uh, that cutoff and that trade off is it depends on, you know, who, which data source you're talking to

[00:30:05] Soraya: Um, I do, and I've got fresher data. That's like hot off the press as of yesterday that I won't share yet. So a few years ago we pulled it maybe two or three years ago and we found a recurring donor is five times more valuable than a one time donor. Um, we have seen that go up meaningfully, um, almost.

[00:30:22] I, I shouldn't dare you, but something like almost double it's almost, it's almost, it's almost double

[00:30:27] George: More.

[00:30:27] Soraya: And it's because of some of the, um, capabilities that we've enhanced along those lines of, you know, through, through our payments offering, which is, you know, recurring, retry, recurring capture.

[00:30:38] Automatic card. Updater the ability to engage with donors before cards expire. If, you know, if we don't think we're gonna be able to update them, there's all kinds of capabilities to allow you to extend the life of a donor. Because more often than not, you lose a recurring donor because of a payment failure, not because they're canceling.

[00:30:55] And so if you can address all of those, all of those reasons, or as, you know, as much as you can, you can extend the life of a donor, um, substantially.

[00:31:03] George: That makes sense. And there's also just been like technical shifts in the way some credit cards operate that even when you cancel it, if it's a preexisting payment system already in place that they maintain that while canceling any new charge. So there's like just sort of happy accident of fate

[00:31:17] Soraya: Yes. That's right. Well, and the thing that I'll add is if you really can get 25% of these donors to give a gift again, why would you ever say, I want the one time, because I'm scared that this is gonna be a lower donation amount over time. Like they'll come back because you've got that consistent relationship with them.

[00:31:32] And so there's just, there's all kinds of reasons why no recurring is still. Still the way to go.

[00:31:38] George: Like you're living on the positive end of the hedonic treadmill,

[00:31:41] Soraya: Yeah, there we go.

[00:31:42] George: fancy way of saying people just get real used to what they've been doing. Right. And like, oh, you know, like life could be as good as you want, and then you get used to it. And you're like, this sucks. I want something new. So on the positive side of that, I'm used to giving my 25 or 50 bucks, whatever the number is a month.

[00:31:56] Like that's what status quo is. But is that good enough? The hedonic treadmill says no.

[00:32:01] Soraya: We can do more and back to payments offerings. Um, I think we saw that for ACH. Let me see it. Oh yeah. Recurring gifts. When you have all these payment offerings, recurring gifts on ACH, which is kinda direct bank transfer are 30% higher than credit card. So even that number of what

[00:32:15] George: Can you say that again? I

[00:32:16] Soraya: yeah.

[00:32:17] A AC recurring gifts made on ACH versus credit card. It's it's like a direct bank transfer

[00:32:24] George: Gotcha. So I connect my bank and then like, I'm, I'm locked in.

[00:32:27] Soraya: That's right. That's about 30% larger than those made on credit card. And so back to payment offerings, when you're engaging with kind of sophisticated donors and you can actually nudge them on, you know, if you're giving, you know, these might be like, these are options for you.

[00:32:42] These are recurring donors who want to give in these other, in these other ways. Uh, you can actually nudge that number up as well. And so then. You start, you start compounding all of the impacts of these little benefits and it starts to be really, um, meaningful relative to let's say a one time gift where you only have one, you know, payment offering and, um,

[00:33:01] George: You also can dance. You also can dance with the fact that you don't have to pay the credit card processing fee when you use ACH. Cuz

[00:33:06] Soraya: That's right. It's cheaper for the organizations. That's right. A hundred percent. Yeah.

[00:33:10] George: well, awesome. I'm glad you, I'm glad you added that. That's a, another counterintuitive, but look at the data and, you know, file that away.

[00:33:17] There's some real, there's some real good gems in here. Thank you for sharing

[00:33:20] Soraya: we think so. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. We're happy to do it.

[00:33:24] George: Yeah. Rather than just keeping it inside. You're like, oh, here are our secrets. You you've decided to share it. I, I do. I do genuinely appreciate that. Alrighty. Are you ready for rapid fire?

[00:33:35] Soraya: now let's go.

[00:33:36] George: Okay. I don't know if you have much of a choice, but I always

[00:33:39] Soraya: I

[00:33:39] George: that because, you know, uh, you know, ask, ask permission.

[00:33:44] Okay. So let's kick this off. What is one tech tool or website that you have, or your organization has started using in the last year?

[00:33:51] Soraya: The calm app. It helps me at work. It helps me with everything. I know you think that's a, that's a, that's a cheating answer, but it's not mental state is everything

[00:33:59] George: That's great mind achieves with the mind achieves with the body believes and strike that reverse it. Tech issues. What tech issues are you currently battling with?

[00:34:08] Soraya: Data availability everywhere. And as completely as I want all the time, I don't know anybody who won't an won't have that in their answer somewhere on their list.

[00:34:16] George: Yeah. What is coming in the next year that has you the most excited?

[00:34:20] Soraya: we just joined forces with GoFundMe and there are.

[00:34:24] George: about that.

[00:34:25] Soraya: Uh, I am so excited because there are a hundred million donors on that platform who are activated and engaged and not actually affiliated with nonprofits. It's all individual acute cause giving. And if we can connect those donors who are responding in a moment to a human and say, there's also organizations fixing this issue at scale and structurally, would you like to meet them and continue this relationship?

[00:34:48] I think there is so much power for organizations and that is why we did it. And I cannot wait cuz we are working on it. Right.

[00:34:54] George: Might have another podcast in the future. I'm always curious about companies that, that get acquired and then I'm always watching.

[00:35:02] Soraya: Uh, I am so enthralled about it. It is like the most exciting area of how do you fundamentally change the game for nonprofits operating at a very competitive market? And I think this is a really exciting one, so I would love to talk about it.

[00:35:17] George: All right. We'll put, put a pin in that one.

[00:35:19] Soraya: Yeah. Great.

[00:35:19] George: Talk about a, can you talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things now?

[00:35:25] Soraya: No, I never made a mistake. I'm just kidding. Um, so, uh, I have so many, um, I think one of the earlier ones was, um, I was, I was, when you're early in your career, you were kind of insecure about how little experience you have. And so you try to overcompensate with confidence and demonstrating mastery, and then you get nowhere cuz you can't actually have honest conversations.

[00:35:46] You're not in a position to learn and everybody sees through it anyways. Uh, so I've completely overcome that. Like I just wanna get to good answers and better insights and I don't care who has them. It's probably not gonna be me. That sounds like such a cheesy thing to say, like once you're management, but it's absolutely true.

[00:36:00] And. The faster you get over that. And you're willing to say you're willing to like really get into learning mode. Uh, the better, the better your life is the better outcomes. There are, the faster you get ahead. All the things.

[00:36:10] George: believe that nonprofits can successfully go out of business.

[00:36:13] Soraya: Uh, I used to work at PBS and worked at Lincoln center for a hot second. So I hope not.

[00:36:17] George: If I were to throw you in the hot tub time machine, back to your start at classy, what advice would you give yourself?

[00:36:25] Soraya: The impatience to be great because the sector needs it. um, just be really unapologetic about that. I think at first you're trying to kind of navigate and make sure you don't rock the boat. I'm all about rocking the boat. If it means it's better outcomes for this sector. And we are really unapologetic about that now, but it took me a little, you know, it took me a second to really own that position.

[00:36:46] Um, and I would just, I would just start even faster.

[00:36:48] George: is something you think you or your organization should stop doing?

[00:36:52] Soraya: I have a million things I should stop doing. One of the things I'm really proud of with our organization is we definitely have a culture of, if you see something stupid and you elevate it and there's discussion and we agree it's stupid, we just stop it. We are actually like very unattached to anything because it's always been done that way.

[00:37:07] Um, so I can't think of anything, not cause we haven't done stupid things, but because anything that I know about, I think we've been pretty, uh, aggressive about stopping. I think it's an important skill for any company to have. I will say that or any organization

[00:37:19] George: like.

[00:37:20] Soraya: it's just, it's just impatient for inefficiency and in, and, and impatience to be great. Like, I really think it comes that that seeps through the, the DNA of, of everyone. So it's not that we can fix it overnight, but if we see something we should, we need to fix or we see something dumb. Yeah. We, we, we try to jump on it.

[00:37:35] George: If you had a magic wand to wave across the social impact sector, what would it do? And you can't say just generate a whole bunch of new classy users. Like I'm taking that ability off the wand and no more wishing for more wishes. I'm tired of it. We can't have it.

[00:37:47] Soraya: Come on

[00:37:48] George: inflation and I won't have it.

[00:37:49] Hmm.

[00:37:50] Soraya: um,

[00:37:51] George: What is your donor

[00:37:52] Soraya: Donor retention, fixed donor retention. We're trying in absence of, in absence of a magic wand, we're trying with tech, but fix the donor retention problem, because I also think that talks about are people engaged in the cause. So it's so much more than dollars. It's also about like public engagement with these causes and these missions that is required right.

[00:38:09] Alongside the dollars.

[00:38:11] George: right now on average 54.

[00:38:12] Soraya: Um, our, you know, like our recurring donation or

[00:38:15] George: No, just like overall, like, yeah, reoccurring, like I gave this year next year. What percent am I likely?

[00:38:20] Soraya: Donor retention across. So there's like a bunch of ways to cut it. It's it's lower than that. Going up fast. If you adopt all of these capabilities, it kind of depends on what you adopt. Um, and it's for the base organization.

[00:38:32] I think industrywide not just on classy. It's something like a fifth. I mean, it's something abysmally low. I don't know. Remember the reports are out there. Um, all of these tools we have seen kind of meaningfully increase that long lifetime value, a long retention, um, still lower than I think anybody would like it to.

[00:38:49] George: Yeah. So hovers around 20% for you all,

[00:38:51] Soraya: Well, not with, not with our recurring and our classy pay customers. So no that's much higher, but, um, yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm,

[00:38:57] George: Gotcha. Appreciate the sidebar. How did you get started in the social impact sector?

[00:39:02] Soraya: I took a semester in college and went and worked full time at amnesty international and the refugee department in DC and loved it. And then started at a strategy communications digital agency for the social sector right after college. So early, as early as you get in my career.

[00:39:18] George: What advice would you give college grads looking to enter this sector?

[00:39:22] Soraya: Most entry level jobs kind of suck, but. There is always something to be learned. If you really lean in and you try to figure out who is doing interesting things, how can I be of value? How can I work a little harder? Because you get exposure to do interesting things and your job for most of your career is to gain as many experiences as you can.

[00:39:40] That doesn't mean job hop. That means whatever you're doing. Try to involve yourself in as much as you can and do it really well. And it will all start coming together into something that looks like a linear career. It just takes a second. So be patient and really lean.

[00:39:52] George: What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or didn't

[00:39:56] Soraya: Um, I am, uh, I am a little bit intense and I am always trying to like, You know, work really hard to prepare for the next thing to, to, um, set myself up. Well, and I think when I was 15, my mom looked at me and said, you know, you're not gearing up so you can get ready. So your life starts like, this is it. This is your life.

[00:40:14] And so it didn't really sit with me. Yeah, that's it. I didn't really sit with me until I had kids, but now I think about it a lot. Like this is it. If I'm not living in the moment, What am I doing back to the com app? the, the grounding efforts are, are, uh, are a dominant part of how I, how I try to operate now.

[00:40:31] George: Brilliant. Last hardball question. How do people find you? How do people help you?

[00:40:36] Soraya: Uh, come find me on LinkedIn. I am, uh, I am there. I would love, love to connect, go to classy.org. You can contact us there and it's still, um, you know, very accessible team. I would love to chat with anybody who is listening, who wants to learn more, definitely check out the report. But yes, I would love, um, LinkedIn is a, is a great place.

[00:40:55] George: thanks for the work you do really excited also about the headways that you're making in the, the GoFundMe and helping nonprofits claim, a larger stake of that, that audience. That's

[00:41:07] Soraya: Thank you so much and thanks for the work you do. Um, and I'm so happy to be here. Thanks again.

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988 Mental Health Crisis Hotline Rolls Out Across Country The consolidated 988 national mental health hotline rolled out over the weekend, as part of a broader effort to fill gaps in emergency mental health response and access throughout the country. The effort, in large part spearheaded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in conjunction with national and local partners streamlines the public’s ability to talk to a crisis counselor. Years in the making, federal and state governments have spent lots of money to prepare for the rollout, though some questions remain about different states and call centers' ability to handle the volume of calls. The 988 lifelines, as a national helpline, functions 24/7 providing support to people in crisis. The helpline is available for both calls and text messages, giving options to people in crisis for calling for help. Health organizations and other organizations that serve individuals at risk of suicide are advised to promote the 988 helpline through community education campaigns and outreach.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Do all sides deserve equal coverage? U.S. journalists and public differ | Pew Research Center
• Statement by CEO on Newly Released James Webb Space Telescope Images | Space Foundation
• American Red Cross seeks blood donations to prevent summer shortage | Cleveland19.com
• 'Queer Eye' Season 6: Where is Chris Baker now? Inside his journey to self-forgiveness | MEAWW

View Details

988 Mental Health Crisis Hotline Rolls Out Across Country The consolidated 988 national mental health hotline rolled out over the weekend, as part of a broader effort to fill gaps in emergency mental health response and access throughout the country. The effort, in large part spearheaded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in conjunction with national and local partners streamlines the public’s ability to talk to a crisis counselor. Years in the making, federal and state governments have spent lots of money to prepare for the rollout, though some questions remain about different states and call centers' ability to handle the volume of calls. The 988 lifelines, as a national helpline, functions 24/7 providing support to people in crisis. The helpline is available for both calls and text messages, giving options to people in crisis for calling for help. Health organizations and other organizations that serve individuals at risk of suicide are advised to promote the 988 helpline through community education campaigns and outreach.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Do all sides deserve equal coverage? U.S. journalists and public differ | Pew Research Center
• Statement by CEO on Newly Released James Webb Space Telescope Images | Space Foundation
• American Red Cross seeks blood donations to prevent summer shortage | Cleveland19.com
• 'Queer Eye' Season 6: Where is Chris Baker now? Inside his journey to self-forgiveness | MEAWW

View Details

Nonprofitnewsfeed.com

Brookings Institution President Resigns Amid FBI Foreign Lobbying Probe Brookings Institution President John Allen has resigned after national press outlets reported he was under FBI investigation for undisclosed lobbying efforts on behalf of the government of Qatar. While Allen denies any wrongdoing, he was revealed in court filings to be the target of an FBI probe into violations of FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act), which requires the registration of anyone conducting lobbying activities on behalf of foreign governments. Court documents also show he lied to federal investigators and attempted to withhold evidence saught by a federal subpoena. Allen, a retired four star U.S. Marine Corps general and former commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, publically resigned on Sunday after being placed on administrative leave. This comes amid increasing scrutiny of foreign influence in D.C.-based think tanks, and represents law enforcement efforts to curb illegal lobbying especially by wealthy Gulf countries like Qatar. Most of these policy-based think tanks are registered 501(c)3’s and wield enormous influence in shaping federal public policy.

Summary:

• Senators reach a bipartisan deal on gun safety legislation : NPR NPR.org
• Apple Adds iOS Safety Check for People Facing Domestic Violence CNET
• Jennifer Lopez Partners With Microfinance Nonprofit To Give Latina Entrepreneurs $14 Billion Capital Boost | Forbes
• Coastal Bend nonprofit offers summer program for students with special needs | KIIITV.com
• The Kelsey Ayer Station Groundbreaking Community Celebration | The Kelsey

View Details

Nonprofitnewsfeed.com

Brookings Institution President Resigns Amid FBI Foreign Lobbying Probe Brookings Institution President John Allen has resigned after national press outlets reported he was under FBI investigation for undisclosed lobbying efforts on behalf of the government of Qatar. While Allen denies any wrongdoing, he was revealed in court filings to be the target of an FBI probe into violations of FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act), which requires the registration of anyone conducting lobbying activities on behalf of foreign governments. Court documents also show he lied to federal investigators and attempted to withhold evidence saught by a federal subpoena. Allen, a retired four star U.S. Marine Corps general and former commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, publically resigned on Sunday after being placed on administrative leave. This comes amid increasing scrutiny of foreign influence in D.C.-based think tanks, and represents law enforcement efforts to curb illegal lobbying especially by wealthy Gulf countries like Qatar. Most of these policy-based think tanks are registered 501(c)3’s and wield enormous influence in shaping federal public policy.

Summary:

• Senators reach a bipartisan deal on gun safety legislation : NPR NPR.org
• Apple Adds iOS Safety Check for People Facing Domestic Violence CNET
• Jennifer Lopez Partners With Microfinance Nonprofit To Give Latina Entrepreneurs $14 Billion Capital Boost | Forbes
• Coastal Bend nonprofit offers summer program for students with special needs | KIIITV.com
• The Kelsey Ayer Station Groundbreaking Community Celebration | The Kelsey

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Jamie Manson, President of Catholics for Choice joins host George Weiner for a conversation about what the future of their work looks like in the reality of a post Roe v. Wade world. Jamie shares how rogue bishops in the church are actually speaking in direct contrast to the way a majority of Catholics in America feel about the right to choice according to Pew Research (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/20/8-key-findings-about-catholics-and-abortion/).

Jamie also shares how she is keeping her team motivated and healthy in a once-in-a-generation moment at the organization when the stakes have never been higher.

About Jamie Manson

Jamie Manson is President of Catholics for Choice. For over fifteen years she has been a thought leader and advocate in the field of women’s equality and reproductive rights in the Catholic Church and the public square. For 12 years, she was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter where she was one of the few openly LGBTQ journalists in the Catholic media in the world. She was an often-solitary voice for reproductive freedom and justice and was one of the first to sound the alarm about the right-wing push for religious freedom.

Jamie’s expertise in Catholicism and sexual ethics was first formed during her studies at Yale with her mentor, Margaret Farley. She edited and wrote the introduction to Changing the Questions: Explorations in Christian Ethics, a collection of writings by Margaret Farley (Orbis Books, 2015). Jamie has published op-eds in the New York Times, NBC Think, Ms. Magazine, and Rewire and has been featured in dozens of media outlets, including NPR, the LA Times, and CNN. She is the recipient of the Sr. Theresa Kane Woman of Vision and Courage Award.

View Details

Nonprofit news for June.

Independent Sector Releases Survey On Nonprofit Trust Independent Sector has released its third annual survey on trust within the nonprofit and civil society sector. The findings show that nonprofits still benefit from strong public trust (56% of respondents say they trust nonprofits), making NPOs among the few social institutions that the majority of the public trust, along with small businesses and community members. However, the sector saw a statistically significant decrease of 3% in trust compared to 2020. The survey also found that education and financial wellbeing drive nonprofit trust, that purpose-driven integrity is essential, and that Gen Z is increasingly skeptical of the nonprofit sector. The survey fielded answers from 3,015 Americans and had a margin of error of +/- 2%.

Read more ➝ Summary

• 233 mass shootings have happened so far in 2022: nonprofit | The Hill
• Rising gas prices affect delivery operations for nonprofits | KSHB 41 Kansas City News
• Inflation impacts nonprofit’s ability to feed thousands of kids over the summer | CBS 46 News
• Small Nonprofits Shouldn't Be Subjected to the Same Payroll Tax as Amazon and ExxonMobil | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Nonprofit helps formerly incarcerated firefighters get jobs | WesternSlopeNow

Rought Transcript

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed for gosh, June 6th, June 6th, the week of June 6th, we were talking about some of the information coming out of the independent sector on a survey, a non-profit trust, as well as some other headlines related to themes that we've been covering Nick. How's it going?

[00:00:18] Nick: It's gone. Good, George.

[00:00:20] George: Doing all right. Just, I had a wedding last weekend of an in-law's fun. Hadn't been to a wedding for awhile. So good time to celebrate. Hopefully nobody got COVID.

[00:00:31] Nick: That's good. TIS the site TIS the season for weddings.

[00:00:36] George: Yeah. weddings. weddings, and funerals. They go on, no matter what I'll say that.

[00:00:41] Nick: That is true. But bring us back to the nonprofit news. We'll start off with our first story, which comes from independent sector. Independent sector has released its third annual survey on trust within the non-profit and civil society sector. And the findings show that while nonprofits still benefit from strong.

[00:01:02] Trust where 56% of respondents say they still trust non-profits. This is actually a decrease of 3% in overall trust in nonprofits compared to 2020, there are a couple other really interesting findings within the report. One is that nonprofits were the strongest institution when it comes to public trust, beating.

[00:01:27] Legacy institutions like government, the media substantially that being said, there's a couple of interests. Nuances and the data and the survey found that education and financial wellbeing drove non-profit trust. In fact, education level was the prime determinant more than any other demographic determinant of trust in non-profit organizations.

[00:01:53] They also found that gen Z is increasingly skeptical of the nonprofit sector, not having a negative. uh, perspective per se. But not having a positive one either. So the jury is still out on them when it comes to building that trust in non-profits as a social institution. But George, what were your takeaways from these really interesting and important survivors?

[00:02:19] George: yeah, just to start, I always try to find and understand the sample size. In this case, it is a U S general population of 3000 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2%. So any number you hear it's like give or take a couple points. So that's just important to put in mind. I think the differences based on age range, And rising generation being a touch more skeptical is in line, uh, overall positive in terms of this report that I look for is just look, we're talking about people's trust across businesses, government, media, and nonprofits, these four major pillars of information in our society and nonprofits continue to be at the top of it.

[00:03:05] Overall trust erosion, just seemingly undercutting everybody. However, nonprofits just play this incredible role with regard to communicating valuable information at a time of mistrust. And so I, you know, I always like seeing that in terms of nonprofits being up there, but the overall number, I believe slipped 3% for nonprofits, right.

[00:03:28] Nick: It did. Yeah. The overall number. Crease 3%. However, it was still high at 56%. And the only other social institution that was rated that high in the survey were small businesses and just local communities and community of members. So in terms of our social institutions, nonprofits are still the highest, but yes did slip 3%.

[00:03:55] George: I'd say the other piece that I pulled out here is the biggest differentiating demographics. Characteristic is college non-college so more highly educated individuals in this particular survey, uh, were, uh, at a higher likelihood to be trusting the social impact sector, nonprofits and philanthropy.

[00:04:17] Nick: That's an interesting one to me. And I think it goes. I think it's interesting because a lot of nonprofits, particularly those that focus on social welfare, uh, might be helping folks in poverty or who may not have had the ratty opportunity to go to higher education. So maybe an interesting dichotomy between.

[00:04:44] The folks who might be funding contributing, running, and building non-profits versus beneficiaries uh, potential beneficiaries of those services. And of course that's a broad oversimplification, but to me that was, that was somewhat. George, what do you make of gen Z being more skeptical of nonprofits as an institution?

[00:05:07] The, the actual data show that they were more trusting of, uh, crowdfunding, uh, type campaigns and a little bit more enthusiastic about, uh, about donating, for example, to those games.

[00:05:22] George: Part of me is not surprised. Ultimately, rising generations tend to have higher levels of skepticism of institutions that pre-existed, that are run disproportionately sometimes by the other generation. And just, it's like a natural curve of what goes. The rise in, in crowdfunding and crowdfunding philanthropy is it's a personal frustration of mine because I don't believe it is the most intelligent way to distribute funds for a public.

[00:05:49] Good. I think it's the most popular, I think it's the most social, I think it is near term, gratifying, longterm, even potentially destabilize. To say here's how philanthropy should be done. Where as a massive crowd, smarter than an individual who studies a topic, there are times when the crowd is far smarter, but there are other times when, you know, maybe an organization that has got 10 employees doesn't need $45 million in the span of four days.

[00:06:20] Maybe that's a thing that you have to sort of balance. And I think, you know, it's a pendulum, it's a pendulum of a philanthropy that all, uh, Obviously, uh, come and go. And maybe the rising generation pro you know, like coming up, we'll be like, wait a minute. We've seen this show too many times. And the only person who wins in crowdfunding consistently as a crowdfunding platform.

[00:06:41] Okay.

[00:06:42] Nick: That's fair. I guess in turn, gen Z's are, are skeptical. You are, and we are skeptical of gen Z, uh, over simplification again, but.

[00:06:53] George: Yeah, I mean, you also saw this in a macro around crypto, and obviously I've not shied away from being a fan of crypto philanthropy. However, it does also make that crowdfunding a lot easier. I cannot go understated the fact that millions and millions of dollars were sent to the Ukraine without the permission of the guiding powers that be to do so.

[00:07:16] And that's, it feels very gratifying in the most. And you know, who who's to say how, you know, 80 plus million is, is being, being used. And it was something that when you take away the middle people, institutions and controlling bodies in place, like you just get money to where you think it needs to go, and it will have different types of second order effects both positive and negative.

[00:07:46] Nick: Yeah, I think that's, I think that's that's fair. Agree. All right, we'll move on to our next story. And this comes from the hill and is a little bit more sobering. And the hill reports that data from the gun violence archive, which is a nonprofit has supported 233 mass shootings that have taken place so far this year in the United States.

[00:08:11] And this data comes amid the fallout. Several devastating shootings in New York, Texas, Oklahoma. And just with seems like, uh, increasing temperature in the country when it comes to, uh, gun violence. But what struck me about this? Wasn't so much the gun violence as. As terrible as it is not something I'm surprised about sadly, but that the most definitive source on this is actually coming from a nonprofit and the gun violence archive is the go-to source for news organizations and researchers, uh, trying to assess.

[00:08:53] Gun violence and mass shootings in particular in the United States. So really interesting that a nonprofit is stepping up here and filling that void, uh, to provide the public with really vital information that for a long time, The government, for example, was barred from studying you know, government agencies were barred from studying the health effects of gun violence.

[00:09:15] So there was very, oh yeah, this is famously. That rule was lifted only within the past couple of years. But the CDC, I think it's, the CDC wanted to do a research on gun violence and Congress specifically for beta in the allocation of. So there's kind of a dearth of national data on gun violence and mass shootings.

[00:09:43] And the data is all over the place. But it seems that this nonprofit is really kind of DFR Tate of a source of truth on this.

[00:09:51] George: Yeah. I think getting back to definitely check this out. Gun violence, archive.org. I'm embarrassed. I had never seen this nonprofit, but it's a great model for showing how you can use data, information and honesty to hold up the mirror to society and say, this is what the numbers tell us about what's going on.

[00:10:14] This isn't. I mean, as much as you can say, it's like, it's not an agenda here. It's just your, your numbers. You're not doing well by any measure of what's going on here. And the question is, is this, this, you know, what is, what is tolerant? You know, there's twenty twenty one, six hundred and ninety two mass shootings.

[00:10:34] Is that tolerant of a society. I mean, it was tolerant then it was tolerant in 2020 with 610. Mass shootings. It was tolerant by our society in 2019, with 417 mass shootings. At what point, I wonder because the amount of mass shootings per year, it's some sort of threshold. And this organization seems to be asking that direct question by holding the numbers up, uh, as well as other total incidents of guns and other pieces, but the mass shootings.

[00:11:10] Uh, particularly of importance because we made assault rifles legal in this country after having them be illegal throughout the nineties. And we simply let the clock expire on that permission. And now I know they're debating slowly, whether or not that might change, but I think one take a look at gun violence, archive.org, to take a look at how your organization responds to your own cause and your backyard, not just gun violence, but how might data be used in this.

[00:11:37] way?

[00:11:38] To effect change and to hold up that social mirror.

[00:11:41] Nick: Absolutely George, that's a great analysis and I have a little bit more. And formation on the law. I was talking about there's a 19 66, 19 96 rule that passed through Congress, uh, called the Dickey amendment, which barred the CDC and other government research organizations from using funds to quote, to advocate or promote gun control, which was widely seen as essentially prohibiting any study of gun violence.

[00:12:08] Or gun sales, what have you at the federal level, uh, but, uh, here's to have been repealed in 2019. But, uh, the article goes on to quote that there is a decade gap of, uh, data there that needs to be filled in. So like you said, this, this nonprofits doing tremendous, tremendous public service.

[00:12:32] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from at KSHB 41, Kansas city news, and I'm going to package it with, uh, the next story from CBS 46 news. And these two articles about rising gas prices affecting delivery operations for nonprofits and similarly. Inflation impacting nonprofits ability to feed thousands of kids over the summer.

[00:13:01] So we have two local stories here. One is a nonprofit, uh, you know, the price of gasoline is affecting their ability, uh, to, to move, uh, goods around and their operations. And uh, this other story. Inflation, uh, which we've talked about on this podcast, really impacting food banks and other, uh, services providing nonprofits.

[00:13:23] But, uh, George, do we see this abating anytime soon? Is this going to be a problem for the long-term? Do we think how, how should we think about this kind of a macro economic, or even just a macro level?

[00:13:39] George: So one of the reasons I brought up the articles that I did, I mean, there's so many of these articles about inflation. We talked about it on here, but the shift in the summer is that the school food programs that disproportionately feed a tremendous amount of food, insecure young people in this country through public schools.

[00:13:57] Goes away during the summer. And so there's going to be a different level of food insecurity, hitting families across the country. This summer, while gas continues to rise and food prices continue to clearly hit new inflation highs and the cost of, uh, and the cost of food to feed, uh, is going, you know, that that need, that has to be met and it's disproportionate during the summer.

[00:14:21] So these ones should program. Uh, or something that I was just looking at. And so if your organization is in and around it, I think messaging the urgency associated with a shift that, that could maybe help with fundraising or improving the narrative.

[00:14:36] Nick: Absolutely. I agree. Those programs serve such a vital importance for our school students. And. The summer is hard for a lot of families that don't have not only the those food programs, but even then have to consider things like childcare or paying for camp or whatever it may be. Puts a lot of, a lot of burden on, on folks.

[00:15:00] So that's a great thing to flag. All right, our next article, George, I know this is one, uh, that you're a topic you're passionate about and you're passionate about it because you, in fact wrote this article and the title is small. Non-profits, shouldn't be subjected to the same payroll's hacks as Amazon and Exxon mobile written by you in the Chronicle of philanthropy.

[00:15:26] Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you.

[00:15:30] George: I'm just going to admit, I know this is just shameless. It's shameless for me to bring my own article into our own newsfeed. However, this has been on my mind for probably a couple of years of how effectively the same payroll tax, right? When you pay an employee. That sort of percentage of payroll tax that goes to state and federal, which, you.

[00:15:50] know, 10 to 14% give or take is the same rate that a Facebook exec, sorry, Mehta, exac, or somebody at Exxon or somebody at any other size organization is paying the same percentage rate instead of something like, and maybe you're like, oh, that makes sense.

[00:16:06] It's a flat thing. Except if you look at our income tax, it's a progressive tax. The percent that a billionaire has to pay is more. On paper, at least than somebody making minimum wage yet at the point of sale at the point of the moment where the nonprofit or the fortune 100 company is paying the person, that's the same percentage rate.

[00:16:31] And so I'm suggesting here a policy where in nonprofits that. Our smaller frankly, uh, that are smaller for effectively. I'm calling about a quarter million charities that are operating with less than a hundred employees and less than 5 million in annual revenue. Basically for, you know, a few billion dollars could essentially we could remove the payroll tax.

[00:16:56] They're giving them an extra 10%, uh, operating to either raise wages, to hire people, to serve the communities that they already do. And, and by the way, they are, you know, 5 0 1 C3. So they are doing public good. Uh, and I put the cap on that in terms of the Cypress medical thing is because I don't think a nonprofit with like 10,000 employees is the same.

[00:17:18] Type of situation that a smaller under 100 person nonprofit is. And yeah, it's a, it's a it's part thought experiment, but also part super freaking practical that literally for a cost of 3.7 billion I'd calculated, which could easily be made up with a progressive tax that we're in up a touch more for organizations like Amazon.

[00:17:44] To pay cause they can't get around those taxes the same way they can on income tax on, on their, on their corporate taxes. They can't get away from the fact that they need to pay humans to do work. And that's where a percent is taken out. It'd be pretty easy to move up half a point for organizations that are operating over a billion dollars because they're dodging their freaking taxes.

[00:18:05] Anyway. Anyway, this is a window into how. I get with social impact.

[00:18:12] Nick: We love geekiness onto this podcast. And George I'd hesitate to guess that listeners who've made it this far into the podcast are just as geeky. So I think we are in good company, but I wish I had, I wish I had a room. I

[00:18:27] Uh, we'll look at the data. We'll see many people make it this far. I wish I had a room to, to get you in someone to talk to someone in a suit in a, in a nice office in DC, because I think they need to hear.

[00:18:41] George: Well, I'm not going to give up on this idea. I don't know where to go next. I did get a quote from the independent sector, uh, that, you know, they, they do think it's you know, potentially plausible and they, they said there is, uh, some type of, you know, precedent for this type of tax. But. We'll say, I don't know where to go with it next, but I tend not to let things drop, so I'll keep pushing this.

[00:19:04] And if anybody listening just wants to take this and run with it, please go, go do it. I'll give you the research. Cause I should be doing my real job instead of trying to push something like this,

[00:19:18] Nick: It's for the public. Good. And speaking of public. Good. How about a feel, good story from our favorite.

[00:19:26] George: please.

[00:19:28] Nick: All right. This story comes from a Western slope now.com not entirely sure, but it is about a nonprofit that's helping, helping formerly incarcerated firefighters get jobs. So it's, well-known that, especially out west, including in California, Oregon, and Washington states have relied on incarcerated men and women.

[00:19:52] Wildfires. And that's all, that's a whole other conversation. But they are often trained to perform here at grueling work while earning just a few dollars, sometimes as little as $2 a day. However, there is a nonprofit group with some foundation backing. That's trying to help those firefighters turn their in carceral rated job into a real job.

[00:20:19] Upon, uh, their release. So it's helping folks get the, uh, the certifications they need. Cause they already have the real-world training. I've already been doing it. They basically already are firefighters. But helping incarcerated folks, uh, turn what they learned during, during prison into a career.

[00:20:38] And I think that's really tremendous. It helps, uh, reintegrate firefighters into, or formerly incarcerated folks. Newly firefighters into our communities. It helps them, uh, serve a public good and public benefit. And we interview when the individuals who participated. And he was saying that he felt that he had something to give back to society and was really proud to be able to serve in that capacity.

[00:21:02] So this is a really innovation, innovative program, I think. And I'm for any kind of program that helps formerly incarcerated folks reintegrate into society, uh, because. It reduces recidivism and it has a whole host of other social benefits, but cool to see.

[00:21:20] George: That's a really great quote in here from a a person. Uh, incarcerated and Brandon Smith says when you're incarcerated, you have this stigma of being a public nuisance. Being a firefighter, provided an opportunity for me to give back to community and give myself a sense of pride. It was something I wanted to continue as a way of giving back to the community once I came home.

[00:21:44] But they noted that after his sentence was completed in 2014, it really wasn't clear how to essentially become a firefighter, even though he was. Already trained in that. And so the certificate cations that he received while incarcerated didn't count and he, uh, and he couldn't even apply for some positions do the criminal records.

[00:22:05] So this is a great nonprofit. And by the way, you know, speaking to somebody who's in California, like we need firefighters very, very much so also across the Midwest, because it's going to be a very tough fire season. So hats off to these folks. All right, Nick. Thank you.

[00:22:22] Nick: Thanks, arch.

View Details

Nonprofit news for June.

Independent Sector Releases Survey On Nonprofit Trust Independent Sector has released its third annual survey on trust within the nonprofit and civil society sector. The findings show that nonprofits still benefit from strong public trust (56% of respondents say they trust nonprofits), making NPOs among the few social institutions that the majority of the public trust, along with small businesses and community members. However, the sector saw a statistically significant decrease of 3% in trust compared to 2020. The survey also found that education and financial wellbeing drive nonprofit trust, that purpose-driven integrity is essential, and that Gen Z is increasingly skeptical of the nonprofit sector. The survey fielded answers from 3,015 Americans and had a margin of error of +/- 2%.

Read more ➝ Summary

• 233 mass shootings have happened so far in 2022: nonprofit | The Hill
• Rising gas prices affect delivery operations for nonprofits | KSHB 41 Kansas City News
• Inflation impacts nonprofit’s ability to feed thousands of kids over the summer | CBS 46 News
• Small Nonprofits Shouldn't Be Subjected to the Same Payroll Tax as Amazon and ExxonMobil | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Nonprofit helps formerly incarcerated firefighters get jobs | WesternSlopeNow

Rought Transcript

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed for gosh, June 6th, June 6th, the week of June 6th, we were talking about some of the information coming out of the independent sector on a survey, a non-profit trust, as well as some other headlines related to themes that we've been covering Nick. How's it going?

[00:00:18] Nick: It's gone. Good, George.

[00:00:20] George: Doing all right. Just, I had a wedding last weekend of an in-law's fun. Hadn't been to a wedding for awhile. So good time to celebrate. Hopefully nobody got COVID.

[00:00:31] Nick: That's good. TIS the site TIS the season for weddings.

[00:00:36] George: Yeah. weddings. weddings, and funerals. They go on, no matter what I'll say that.

[00:00:41] Nick: That is true. But bring us back to the nonprofit news. We'll start off with our first story, which comes from independent sector. Independent sector has released its third annual survey on trust within the non-profit and civil society sector. And the findings show that while nonprofits still benefit from strong.

[00:01:02] Trust where 56% of respondents say they still trust non-profits. This is actually a decrease of 3% in overall trust in nonprofits compared to 2020, there are a couple other really interesting findings within the report. One is that nonprofits were the strongest institution when it comes to public trust, beating.

[00:01:27] Legacy institutions like government, the media substantially that being said, there's a couple of interests. Nuances and the data and the survey found that education and financial wellbeing drove non-profit trust. In fact, education level was the prime determinant more than any other demographic determinant of trust in non-profit organizations.

[00:01:53] They also found that gen Z is increasingly skeptical of the nonprofit sector, not having a negative. uh, perspective per se. But not having a positive one either. So the jury is still out on them when it comes to building that trust in non-profits as a social institution. But George, what were your takeaways from these really interesting and important survivors?

[00:02:19] George: yeah, just to start, I always try to find and understand the sample size. In this case, it is a U S general population of 3000 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2%. So any number you hear it's like give or take a couple points. So that's just important to put in mind. I think the differences based on age range, And rising generation being a touch more skeptical is in line, uh, overall positive in terms of this report that I look for is just look, we're talking about people's trust across businesses, government, media, and nonprofits, these four major pillars of information in our society and nonprofits continue to be at the top of it.

[00:03:05] Overall trust erosion, just seemingly undercutting everybody. However, nonprofits just play this incredible role with regard to communicating valuable information at a time of mistrust. And so I, you know, I always like seeing that in terms of nonprofits being up there, but the overall number, I believe slipped 3% for nonprofits, right.

[00:03:28] Nick: It did. Yeah. The overall number. Crease 3%. However, it was still high at 56%. And the only other social institution that was rated that high in the survey were small businesses and just local communities and community of members. So in terms of our social institutions, nonprofits are still the highest, but yes did slip 3%.

[00:03:55] George: I'd say the other piece that I pulled out here is the biggest differentiating demographics. Characteristic is college non-college so more highly educated individuals in this particular survey, uh, were, uh, at a higher likelihood to be trusting the social impact sector, nonprofits and philanthropy.

[00:04:17] Nick: That's an interesting one to me. And I think it goes. I think it's interesting because a lot of nonprofits, particularly those that focus on social welfare, uh, might be helping folks in poverty or who may not have had the ratty opportunity to go to higher education. So maybe an interesting dichotomy between.

[00:04:44] The folks who might be funding contributing, running, and building non-profits versus beneficiaries uh, potential beneficiaries of those services. And of course that's a broad oversimplification, but to me that was, that was somewhat. George, what do you make of gen Z being more skeptical of nonprofits as an institution?

[00:05:07] The, the actual data show that they were more trusting of, uh, crowdfunding, uh, type campaigns and a little bit more enthusiastic about, uh, about donating, for example, to those games.

[00:05:22] George: Part of me is not surprised. Ultimately, rising generations tend to have higher levels of skepticism of institutions that pre-existed, that are run disproportionately sometimes by the other generation. And just, it's like a natural curve of what goes. The rise in, in crowdfunding and crowdfunding philanthropy is it's a personal frustration of mine because I don't believe it is the most intelligent way to distribute funds for a public.

[00:05:49] Good. I think it's the most popular, I think it's the most social, I think it is near term, gratifying, longterm, even potentially destabilize. To say here's how philanthropy should be done. Where as a massive crowd, smarter than an individual who studies a topic, there are times when the crowd is far smarter, but there are other times when, you know, maybe an organization that has got 10 employees doesn't need $45 million in the span of four days.

[00:06:20] Maybe that's a thing that you have to sort of balance. And I think, you know, it's a pendulum, it's a pendulum of a philanthropy that all, uh, Obviously, uh, come and go. And maybe the rising generation pro you know, like coming up, we'll be like, wait a minute. We've seen this show too many times. And the only person who wins in crowdfunding consistently as a crowdfunding platform.

[00:06:41] Okay.

[00:06:42] Nick: That's fair. I guess in turn, gen Z's are, are skeptical. You are, and we are skeptical of gen Z, uh, over simplification again, but.

[00:06:53] George: Yeah, I mean, you also saw this in a macro around crypto, and obviously I've not shied away from being a fan of crypto philanthropy. However, it does also make that crowdfunding a lot easier. I cannot go understated the fact that millions and millions of dollars were sent to the Ukraine without the permission of the guiding powers that be to do so.

[00:07:16] And that's, it feels very gratifying in the most. And you know, who who's to say how, you know, 80 plus million is, is being, being used. And it was something that when you take away the middle people, institutions and controlling bodies in place, like you just get money to where you think it needs to go, and it will have different types of second order effects both positive and negative.

[00:07:46] Nick: Yeah, I think that's, I think that's that's fair. Agree. All right, we'll move on to our next story. And this comes from the hill and is a little bit more sobering. And the hill reports that data from the gun violence archive, which is a nonprofit has supported 233 mass shootings that have taken place so far this year in the United States.

[00:08:11] And this data comes amid the fallout. Several devastating shootings in New York, Texas, Oklahoma. And just with seems like, uh, increasing temperature in the country when it comes to, uh, gun violence. But what struck me about this? Wasn't so much the gun violence as. As terrible as it is not something I'm surprised about sadly, but that the most definitive source on this is actually coming from a nonprofit and the gun violence archive is the go-to source for news organizations and researchers, uh, trying to assess.

[00:08:53] Gun violence and mass shootings in particular in the United States. So really interesting that a nonprofit is stepping up here and filling that void, uh, to provide the public with really vital information that for a long time, The government, for example, was barred from studying you know, government agencies were barred from studying the health effects of gun violence.

[00:09:15] So there was very, oh yeah, this is famously. That rule was lifted only within the past couple of years. But the CDC, I think it's, the CDC wanted to do a research on gun violence and Congress specifically for beta in the allocation of. So there's kind of a dearth of national data on gun violence and mass shootings.

[00:09:43] And the data is all over the place. But it seems that this nonprofit is really kind of DFR Tate of a source of truth on this.

[00:09:51] George: Yeah. I think getting back to definitely check this out. Gun violence, archive.org. I'm embarrassed. I had never seen this nonprofit, but it's a great model for showing how you can use data, information and honesty to hold up the mirror to society and say, this is what the numbers tell us about what's going on.

[00:10:14] This isn't. I mean, as much as you can say, it's like, it's not an agenda here. It's just your, your numbers. You're not doing well by any measure of what's going on here. And the question is, is this, this, you know, what is, what is tolerant? You know, there's twenty twenty one, six hundred and ninety two mass shootings.

[00:10:34] Is that tolerant of a society. I mean, it was tolerant then it was tolerant in 2020 with 610. Mass shootings. It was tolerant by our society in 2019, with 417 mass shootings. At what point, I wonder because the amount of mass shootings per year, it's some sort of threshold. And this organization seems to be asking that direct question by holding the numbers up, uh, as well as other total incidents of guns and other pieces, but the mass shootings.

[00:11:10] Uh, particularly of importance because we made assault rifles legal in this country after having them be illegal throughout the nineties. And we simply let the clock expire on that permission. And now I know they're debating slowly, whether or not that might change, but I think one take a look at gun violence, archive.org, to take a look at how your organization responds to your own cause and your backyard, not just gun violence, but how might data be used in this.

[00:11:37] way?

[00:11:38] To effect change and to hold up that social mirror.

[00:11:41] Nick: Absolutely George, that's a great analysis and I have a little bit more. And formation on the law. I was talking about there's a 19 66, 19 96 rule that passed through Congress, uh, called the Dickey amendment, which barred the CDC and other government research organizations from using funds to quote, to advocate or promote gun control, which was widely seen as essentially prohibiting any study of gun violence.

[00:12:08] Or gun sales, what have you at the federal level, uh, but, uh, here's to have been repealed in 2019. But, uh, the article goes on to quote that there is a decade gap of, uh, data there that needs to be filled in. So like you said, this, this nonprofits doing tremendous, tremendous public service.

[00:12:32] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from at KSHB 41, Kansas city news, and I'm going to package it with, uh, the next story from CBS 46 news. And these two articles about rising gas prices affecting delivery operations for nonprofits and similarly. Inflation impacting nonprofits ability to feed thousands of kids over the summer.

[00:13:01] So we have two local stories here. One is a nonprofit, uh, you know, the price of gasoline is affecting their ability, uh, to, to move, uh, goods around and their operations. And uh, this other story. Inflation, uh, which we've talked about on this podcast, really impacting food banks and other, uh, services providing nonprofits.

[00:13:23] But, uh, George, do we see this abating anytime soon? Is this going to be a problem for the long-term? Do we think how, how should we think about this kind of a macro economic, or even just a macro level?

[00:13:39] George: So one of the reasons I brought up the articles that I did, I mean, there's so many of these articles about inflation. We talked about it on here, but the shift in the summer is that the school food programs that disproportionately feed a tremendous amount of food, insecure young people in this country through public schools.

[00:13:57] Goes away during the summer. And so there's going to be a different level of food insecurity, hitting families across the country. This summer, while gas continues to rise and food prices continue to clearly hit new inflation highs and the cost of, uh, and the cost of food to feed, uh, is going, you know, that that need, that has to be met and it's disproportionate during the summer.

[00:14:21] So these ones should program. Uh, or something that I was just looking at. And so if your organization is in and around it, I think messaging the urgency associated with a shift that, that could maybe help with fundraising or improving the narrative.

[00:14:36] Nick: Absolutely. I agree. Those programs serve such a vital importance for our school students. And. The summer is hard for a lot of families that don't have not only the those food programs, but even then have to consider things like childcare or paying for camp or whatever it may be. Puts a lot of, a lot of burden on, on folks.

[00:15:00] So that's a great thing to flag. All right, our next article, George, I know this is one, uh, that you're a topic you're passionate about and you're passionate about it because you, in fact wrote this article and the title is small. Non-profits, shouldn't be subjected to the same payroll's hacks as Amazon and Exxon mobile written by you in the Chronicle of philanthropy.

[00:15:26] Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you.

[00:15:30] George: I'm just going to admit, I know this is just shameless. It's shameless for me to bring my own article into our own newsfeed. However, this has been on my mind for probably a couple of years of how effectively the same payroll tax, right? When you pay an employee. That sort of percentage of payroll tax that goes to state and federal, which, you.

[00:15:50] know, 10 to 14% give or take is the same rate that a Facebook exec, sorry, Mehta, exac, or somebody at Exxon or somebody at any other size organization is paying the same percentage rate instead of something like, and maybe you're like, oh, that makes sense.

[00:16:06] It's a flat thing. Except if you look at our income tax, it's a progressive tax. The percent that a billionaire has to pay is more. On paper, at least than somebody making minimum wage yet at the point of sale at the point of the moment where the nonprofit or the fortune 100 company is paying the person, that's the same percentage rate.

[00:16:31] And so I'm suggesting here a policy where in nonprofits that. Our smaller frankly, uh, that are smaller for effectively. I'm calling about a quarter million charities that are operating with less than a hundred employees and less than 5 million in annual revenue. Basically for, you know, a few billion dollars could essentially we could remove the payroll tax.

[00:16:56] They're giving them an extra 10%, uh, operating to either raise wages, to hire people, to serve the communities that they already do. And, and by the way, they are, you know, 5 0 1 C3. So they are doing public good. Uh, and I put the cap on that in terms of the Cypress medical thing is because I don't think a nonprofit with like 10,000 employees is the same.

[00:17:18] Type of situation that a smaller under 100 person nonprofit is. And yeah, it's a, it's a it's part thought experiment, but also part super freaking practical that literally for a cost of 3.7 billion I'd calculated, which could easily be made up with a progressive tax that we're in up a touch more for organizations like Amazon.

[00:17:44] To pay cause they can't get around those taxes the same way they can on income tax on, on their, on their corporate taxes. They can't get away from the fact that they need to pay humans to do work. And that's where a percent is taken out. It'd be pretty easy to move up half a point for organizations that are operating over a billion dollars because they're dodging their freaking taxes.

[00:18:05] Anyway. Anyway, this is a window into how. I get with social impact.

[00:18:12] Nick: We love geekiness onto this podcast. And George I'd hesitate to guess that listeners who've made it this far into the podcast are just as geeky. So I think we are in good company, but I wish I had, I wish I had a room. I

[00:18:27] Uh, we'll look at the data. We'll see many people make it this far. I wish I had a room to, to get you in someone to talk to someone in a suit in a, in a nice office in DC, because I think they need to hear.

[00:18:41] George: Well, I'm not going to give up on this idea. I don't know where to go next. I did get a quote from the independent sector, uh, that, you know, they, they do think it's you know, potentially plausible and they, they said there is, uh, some type of, you know, precedent for this type of tax. But. We'll say, I don't know where to go with it next, but I tend not to let things drop, so I'll keep pushing this.

[00:19:04] And if anybody listening just wants to take this and run with it, please go, go do it. I'll give you the research. Cause I should be doing my real job instead of trying to push something like this,

[00:19:18] Nick: It's for the public. Good. And speaking of public. Good. How about a feel, good story from our favorite.

[00:19:26] George: please.

[00:19:28] Nick: All right. This story comes from a Western slope now.com not entirely sure, but it is about a nonprofit that's helping, helping formerly incarcerated firefighters get jobs. So it's, well-known that, especially out west, including in California, Oregon, and Washington states have relied on incarcerated men and women.

[00:19:52] Wildfires. And that's all, that's a whole other conversation. But they are often trained to perform here at grueling work while earning just a few dollars, sometimes as little as $2 a day. However, there is a nonprofit group with some foundation backing. That's trying to help those firefighters turn their in carceral rated job into a real job.

[00:20:19] Upon, uh, their release. So it's helping folks get the, uh, the certifications they need. Cause they already have the real-world training. I've already been doing it. They basically already are firefighters. But helping incarcerated folks, uh, turn what they learned during, during prison into a career.

[00:20:38] And I think that's really tremendous. It helps, uh, reintegrate firefighters into, or formerly incarcerated folks. Newly firefighters into our communities. It helps them, uh, serve a public good and public benefit. And we interview when the individuals who participated. And he was saying that he felt that he had something to give back to society and was really proud to be able to serve in that capacity.

[00:21:02] So this is a really innovation, innovative program, I think. And I'm for any kind of program that helps formerly incarcerated folks reintegrate into society, uh, because. It reduces recidivism and it has a whole host of other social benefits, but cool to see.

[00:21:20] George: That's a really great quote in here from a a person. Uh, incarcerated and Brandon Smith says when you're incarcerated, you have this stigma of being a public nuisance. Being a firefighter, provided an opportunity for me to give back to community and give myself a sense of pride. It was something I wanted to continue as a way of giving back to the community once I came home.

[00:21:44] But they noted that after his sentence was completed in 2014, it really wasn't clear how to essentially become a firefighter, even though he was. Already trained in that. And so the certificate cations that he received while incarcerated didn't count and he, uh, and he couldn't even apply for some positions do the criminal records.

[00:22:05] So this is a great nonprofit. And by the way, you know, speaking to somebody who's in California, like we need firefighters very, very much so also across the Midwest, because it's going to be a very tough fire season. So hats off to these folks. All right, Nick. Thank you.

[00:22:22] Nick: Thanks, arch.

View Details

Nonprofit news:

In Wake Of Uvalde School Shooting, Gun Rights Advocacy Groups Fill Void Left By NRA On May 24 a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas killing 19 students, two teachers, and wounding 17 others. The horrific shooting has rekindled the decades-long debate in the United States between gun control and gun rights advocates. Within economically developed countries, the United States by far outnumbers other countries in terms of both gun ownership and gun deaths per capita. Among gun rights advocacy groups, however, the infighting and reputationally-damaged NRA has provided an opportunity for other organizations (many tax-exempt) to fill the void, according to reporting from The Washington Post. The National Association for Gun Rights, a 501(c)4 group that often criticizes the NRA for being too compromising, saw revenue increase to $15 million, up from $6 million in 2019. Other gun rights groups have seen similar increases in revenue and capacity.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Nonprofit Begins Tracking Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in the Midwest | NBC Chicago
• Nonprofits Fighting Gender Violence Have Struggled Since Losing Buffetts' Funding. They Urgently Need More Support. | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Coloradans asked to take water conservation pledge | 9News.com KUSA
• Tax breaks aren’t prime reason for high-net-worth philanthropy, study finds | CNBC
• Nonprofit keeps taps Memorial Day tradition alive | Military | kdhnews.com | The Killeen Daily Herald

Rough Transcript:

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed we have got in the wake of the Uvalde, the school shooting information about how gun rights advocacy is actually increasing for some nonprofits and a number of other summary articles. Following coming after, uh, this Memorial day weekend, NEC.

[00:00:21] Nick: It's going good, George. We have a lot to cover this week. Of course, the first story we're going to talk about is. Uh, around what happened in your Uvalde and better conversations about gun rights and gun control advocacy groups. So last week on May 24th government opened fire the Robb elementary school in , Texas killing 19 students to teachers.

[00:00:46] And wounding 17 others. And this terrific shooting has rekindled a decades long debate in the United States between gun control and gun rights advocates. Uh, now within economically developed countries, the United States by far outnumbers others in terms of both gun ownership and gun deaths per capita.

[00:01:06] Um, but along the debate about how to solve. You have gun rights, advocacy groups on one side and gun control advocacy groups on the other. Uh, we wanted to highlight an article from the Washington post, which is talking about a little bit of the landscape change on the side of the gun rights advocacy groups.

[00:01:30] We've talked about those on this podcast before how the NRA has suffered from lots of infighting and legal challenges. As a whole has seen its reputation damage quite significantly over the past couple of years. Um, but as the Washington post points out, a lot of other tax exempt organizations now seem to be filling the void, um, and potentially taking the lead on the gun rights.

[00:01:59] Side of the issue here. The national association for gun rights is a 5 0 1 C4 group that often criticizes the NRA for being too compromising saw revenue increase to 15 million up from just 6 million in 2019 on the article sites that lots of other gun rights groups have seen similar increases in revenue and capacity.

[00:02:25] So the takeaway here is that what was. Very consolidated. Uh, landscape in terms of advocacy with one go-to group is now splintering and other groups are taking the place, uh, and serving the role once filled by the NRA. But George, this comes as the NRA held its annual conference in Texas, just three days after the shooting.

[00:02:51] Um, this conference was on last Friday and it's a fraught moment in the United States. And, um, You know, personally, I think that that gun control and gun safety needs to be acted upon and legislative upon. And unfortunately that were happened, but interesting, nonetheless, to see the landscape on the gun rights side, change in pretty significant.

[00:03:12] George: Yeah, it's sort of inevitable the thought that tamping down the NRAS ability to sort of fundraise and operate effectively to assume that that would stop. The progress of guns in this country. And it's unbelievable power in terms of putting money into politics is, is errand, right? It is. It's sort of targeting your energy at the, the wrong enemy because like a hydro, when you cut off its head to more show up in its place, inevitably the source of the money is not going away.

[00:03:51] The amount of guns purchased after an event like this inevitably increases, and that simply puts more money in the hands of manufacturers, which then finds its way inevitably into any functioning non-profit willing to carry the flag of, of gun rights over human. And so, you know, in a moment like this, there's a, you know, a rare opportunity to get the country's attention and to focus on something.

[00:04:18] I am having a hard time finding faith in Congress that immediately chose the bold action of going on vacation and leadership that has just polar polar views. Interesting narratives that I've seen coming out here are, is around the fact that we actually had a ban on assault. Right. Had a band. And if you look at the number of mass shootings prior to 2004, when it went out of the fact where he was put into place in 1994, by president than bill Clinton, the number of mass shootings go up.

[00:04:52] The question that is just hard to reconcile is why, you know, 18 year olds or frankly anyone needs access to high capacity, uh, firearms, if not to kill it. It makes zero sense other than to line the pockets of

[00:05:08] these manufacturers under this like misconceived notion of the right to bear arms and it's absurd extent, you know, why, why draw the line of dissolves? Shouldn't we all have, uh, you know, explosives, why am I put on Dara's watchlist? If I buy a extreme amounts of. It's because you have intent to do harm to large amounts of people.

[00:05:32] There are potential solutions being talked about that that could work. And you mentioned the sort of larger fact of how America has more guns than other countries. You said, uh, a lot more though, you know, and I think it's important to note that our, our guns, our guns per a hundred people are 120 guns per people.

[00:05:52] The next closest is Candace at 34 guns for people. You know that there are more guns than there are people here. Um, and somehow we continue to purchase more. And then that inevitably leads to gun murders per a hundred thousand, which is 30 times worse than Australia's. And a number of times worse than Canada's we're at 3.4 deaths per and Canada is at 0.6.

[00:06:14] So, you know, I think what needs to happen differently this time than the last time we had a tragedy. This magnitude, which was Sally and, you know, Sandy hook, December of 2012 is a reasonable step forward. It's easy to respond extreme to extreme, but I think you, what I'm saying, you, I think. Progressive legislators advocates.

[00:06:43] Non-profits people speaking to this need to couch, the anger and rage and focus on small wins, which feels just painful to say, but small wins and steps toward reasonable controls on. Anywhere that you can gain this, and I'm not going to list the number of policies out there, but there are areas where Americans all can agree and should agree.

[00:07:08] So I think I'm, I'm being a sort of moderate in my expectation, uh, and also analyzing some Google trends and seeing. That so far, we actually haven't hit the overall searches search volume that we saw about a decade ago. Um, in 2013, far from it, in terms of Google trends, searches for gun control as a topic.

[00:07:30] So I haven't seen it take off as high as it probably needs to, to actually move the needle. And again, Congress going on a brave vacation. During this time, uh, is going to slow any potential policy. So the question is for, for how long can the state in the media narrative and hopefully not get taken over also by a counter narrative, which is going to be incredibly attractive to take, which is why the sheriff overseeing this, uh, this, this tragedy chose to wait for.

[00:08:06] Over 15 minutes to take action. And that's, that's not the point. The point is there's an 18 year old who needed medical help and instead he got help from a local gun store.

[00:08:17] Nick: I definitely agree with you. I think to your point for too long folks on the side of the policy debate about wanting stricter gun control have propped up the NRA as this kind of buggy man. But the truth of the matter is. Is ideological divide in this country. And there are a lot of people who repeatedly vote in candidates who are.

[00:08:45] Pro gun. And that, that ideological messaging on the right is, is extreme. And I think it's beyond just money and lobbyist. It's a genuine ideological, perhaps demagogues, but it's an ideological difference. And I think that for folks who are looking for solutions need to understand that it's not just countering dark money and politics, it's actually.

[00:09:09] Changing minds and having those debates and meeting people where they're at to your point about small wins. Um, but something, something we'll continue to watch. And unfortunately I'm not super hopeful as well, but that being said, um, you have to try and, and we'll keep trying. And this year we have a chance to try again.

[00:09:33] So, uh, something, a story and a narrative will continue to be.

[00:09:37] All right, shifting gears a little bit. I can take us into the summary. This one comes from NBC in Chicago, and it's about a nonprofit beginning to track anti Asian hate crimes in the Midwest. So over the course of the pandemic, uh, organizations that track statistics of, um, Uh, hate crimes against Asian Americans have seen in over 300% increase.

[00:10:03] And this particular organization that Asian American foundation is setting up a program to track hate crimes and AAPI violence while providing legal and other support to victims. Um, To build trust, um, and break down barriers with communities, particularly immigrant communities or non native English speaking communities, um, to, to help these folks feel supported in a time where unfortunately, they're seeing a surge in violence against them.

[00:10:33] And I live in New York and there's been really tragically high profile, um, hate crimes against. Asian folks in the New York city area. So there's just something that's, that's very close to us. And I know a lot of here, all of us here at Holwell. So, um, just awesome. Worked from a nonprofit, stepping up to fill that dough, that void when it comes to data and reporting, and that is hugely important when it comes to creating policy decisions and other sorts of interventions to address such violence.

[00:11:05] George: Yeah, I think it's important that. Sir, not the qualitative, but the quantitative on this one, trying to document and get the data of what's going on. So you can really understand the scope of the problem. There's one thing to say, one-off events and like it's easy then for the public to say, oh yeah, but that's just like one lone actor as opposed to the larger incidents going up.

[00:11:28] So yeah, I like this.

[00:11:30] Nick: Okay. All right. Our next story is interesting one, and this comes from the Chronicle of falling anthropy and it talks about how the buffets, um, have stopped funding programs that support women and girls, particularly in the United States. So this article talks about, um, the foundation, um, the, the Novo foundation.

[00:11:55] Uh, quote unquote stunned the nonprofit world by announced thing at the height of the pandemic, that it was halting funding for critical programs, focused on women and girls. And the article goes on to talk with some of the, uh, uh, grant recipient organizations that have been on the receipt had been on the receiving end of such funding, seeing it suddenly dry off.

[00:12:17] And, uh, the, the, the TLDR of this article is. When it comes to corporate philanthropy, single similarly split second decisions can have really lasting and unfortunate ramifications. And, uh, the article kind of goes on to talk about the need for organizations to diversify funding, which is of course easier said than done.

[00:12:40] Um, but George, what's your take on this?

[00:12:42] George: No, we covered the Nova foundation out and shift, and this is just the second order or logical next order effect of that, where, you know, the Nova foundation accounted for or reported 96% of funding for that type of work. And it's. It's it's unfortunate because it does then a cliff and raises questions about, you know, was this?

[00:13:04] you know, especially if they're trying to turn long-term impact, it's hard to do when your funding can drive overnight.

[00:13:09] So, you know, we'll call for much more responsible philanthropy and just, just a warning for anyone who's funding relies heavily 70%, 50% more on one story.

[00:13:19] Nick: All right. Our next story comes from nine news.com K USA. And it's about Coloradans being asked to take a water conservation pledge. This is kind of a cool one. It's called the water 22 pledge, and it includes 22 ways for every Coloradan to save 22 gallons of water every day. And according to this nifty infographic, um, Each Colorado and saves 22 gallons per day.

[00:13:49] That's 8,000 gallons per year, or approximately 48 billion gallons per year for the statewide. So, uh, this of course addressing the, some, uh, climate concerns around, uh, drought and lack of, uh, clean water, um, and, and really, really dangerously low water levels out there. Um, so, uh, I love it. I love this, this kind of educational approach to addressing environmental impacts.

[00:14:19] And of course it takes much more than that, but the fact that this is just one kind of component of that I think is really cool and something we're going to need a hell of a lot more of as we start and continue to tackle the climate crisis.

[00:14:33] George: Yeah. I like stories like these sort of, non-profits stepping up for water crises, which are absolutely going to happen across the west Midwest. This. Based on what they're reporting. I think those, those points are incredibly important, but the practical environmental scientist. That I once potentially wanted to be in, in college, uh, has to also point to the fact that in terms of water consumption, agricultural water use is 89% of Colorado state wide usage.

[00:15:07] So, you know, the, the individuals, you know, cutting back certainly helps, but I think there's also a lot of room for improved farming practices and, uh, smart irrigation systems that can save quite a bit more if we're just being. Logical about it. So, you know, I, I see stories like this. I'm excited about citizens getting in there, but I hope it doesn't stop there.

[00:15:28] And also, you know, allocates for more intelligent, more intelligent ways to save.

[00:15:33] Nick: Absolutely. Our next story is from CNBC and it says the tax breaks. Aren't the prime reason for high net worth philanthropy or. So the study conducted by BNI, BNY Mellon wealth management asserts that in fact, tax benefits are not the primary reason that people donate to charity, um, including, um, hyper wealthy people.

[00:16:03] Um, and the top reasons for charitable giving include they're donated to a special cause they wanted to see impact they, or they want to give back or increase their legacy. Um, so. Maybe the folks who are a little bit too cynical about, uh, charitable giving. So take a look at this and, and of course, you know, there's exceptions well, um, but it restores your faith a little bit, and it talks about interestingly and perhaps more importantly trends amongst younger people, millennials and gen Z while still building up.

[00:16:37] For, as you talk a lot about the greatest wealth transfer in history is about to come our way, um, increasing trends in terms of young people, uh, donating and caring about, uh, social.

[00:16:49] George: Yeah, quoting here. The younger generations are more charitably inclined and they care more about impact and nearly three quarters of high net worth millennials and eight and 10. Gen X-ers investors have a charitable giving strategy according to this report. And I think it's important to note that the, the rising generation and the rising generation of frankly, a million multi-millionaires seem to have that type of lens and probably parked under the effective philanthropy, uh, effective philanthropy, effective altruist type of mantra, where they, you know, the care of where the dollars go in terms of trackable impact into causes and issues that serve a greater.

[00:17:28] Systemic solution. I would say, uh, also, you know, notably people like, um, one of the youngest, uh, new billionaires out there in crypto sandbank, then freed is also said to be making money so that he can spend money aggressively, uh, in, um, in his work. And it's a good trend to be aware of as some, you know, one large donor can, can make a, quite, quite a difference, especially as how.

[00:17:57] Craft your, your narratives and communications to your general audience, because inevitably there are probably a power law dynamic of 1% of that audience has 99% of the wealth.

[00:18:08] Nick: Definitely that's a great analysis and something, I guess we'll see, play out over time, but toward time out, I feel good story to finish.

[00:18:18] George: Um,

[00:18:19] Nick: All right. This comes from KTH news.com, Kilian daily Herald, and it's about a nonprofit keeping them Memorial day, traditional Latifah playing taps. The Mecca Ts multi educational cross-cultural arts of central Texas is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and spreading the awareness of cultural music and dance gathered to play taps.

[00:18:46] Veterans grades and honor of their service and sacrifice this Memorial day. And it talks about Mecca Tech's leader and retired us army criminal, Daniel , who was 90, who began this year's remembrance at the grave of his friend. Um, another former board member of this nonprofit retired Sergeant first class Jose land does.

[00:19:07] So, uh, music can be an important and valuable way to serve. That part of our life journey and, uh, recognizing, um, friends fallen and war celebrating life morning life and just overall expression. Um, he's like, it's really important to me and I know to a lot of other people, and this is great to see a nonprofit, uh, using it to pay their respects this Memorial day.

[00:19:38] George: Beautiful way to remember people that have given the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we enjoy. And so yes, to, to the veterans and to the people that are remembering Memorial day, uh, it's much appreciated and like to see non-profits involved in, in keeping these types of traditions alive. Thanks, Nick.

[00:19:59] Nick: Thanks, George.

View Details

Nonprofit news:

In Wake Of Uvalde School Shooting, Gun Rights Advocacy Groups Fill Void Left By NRA On May 24 a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas killing 19 students, two teachers, and wounding 17 others. The horrific shooting has rekindled the decades-long debate in the United States between gun control and gun rights advocates. Within economically developed countries, the United States by far outnumbers other countries in terms of both gun ownership and gun deaths per capita. Among gun rights advocacy groups, however, the infighting and reputationally-damaged NRA has provided an opportunity for other organizations (many tax-exempt) to fill the void, according to reporting from The Washington Post. The National Association for Gun Rights, a 501(c)4 group that often criticizes the NRA for being too compromising, saw revenue increase to $15 million, up from $6 million in 2019. Other gun rights groups have seen similar increases in revenue and capacity.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Nonprofit Begins Tracking Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in the Midwest | NBC Chicago
• Nonprofits Fighting Gender Violence Have Struggled Since Losing Buffetts' Funding. They Urgently Need More Support. | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Coloradans asked to take water conservation pledge | 9News.com KUSA
• Tax breaks aren’t prime reason for high-net-worth philanthropy, study finds | CNBC
• Nonprofit keeps taps Memorial Day tradition alive | Military | kdhnews.com | The Killeen Daily Herald

Rough Transcript:

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed we have got in the wake of the Uvalde, the school shooting information about how gun rights advocacy is actually increasing for some nonprofits and a number of other summary articles. Following coming after, uh, this Memorial day weekend, NEC.

[00:00:21] Nick: It's going good, George. We have a lot to cover this week. Of course, the first story we're going to talk about is. Uh, around what happened in your Uvalde and better conversations about gun rights and gun control advocacy groups. So last week on May 24th government opened fire the Robb elementary school in , Texas killing 19 students to teachers.

[00:00:46] And wounding 17 others. And this terrific shooting has rekindled a decades long debate in the United States between gun control and gun rights advocates. Uh, now within economically developed countries, the United States by far outnumbers others in terms of both gun ownership and gun deaths per capita.

[00:01:06] Um, but along the debate about how to solve. You have gun rights, advocacy groups on one side and gun control advocacy groups on the other. Uh, we wanted to highlight an article from the Washington post, which is talking about a little bit of the landscape change on the side of the gun rights advocacy groups.

[00:01:30] We've talked about those on this podcast before how the NRA has suffered from lots of infighting and legal challenges. As a whole has seen its reputation damage quite significantly over the past couple of years. Um, but as the Washington post points out, a lot of other tax exempt organizations now seem to be filling the void, um, and potentially taking the lead on the gun rights.

[00:01:59] Side of the issue here. The national association for gun rights is a 5 0 1 C4 group that often criticizes the NRA for being too compromising saw revenue increase to 15 million up from just 6 million in 2019 on the article sites that lots of other gun rights groups have seen similar increases in revenue and capacity.

[00:02:25] So the takeaway here is that what was. Very consolidated. Uh, landscape in terms of advocacy with one go-to group is now splintering and other groups are taking the place, uh, and serving the role once filled by the NRA. But George, this comes as the NRA held its annual conference in Texas, just three days after the shooting.

[00:02:51] Um, this conference was on last Friday and it's a fraught moment in the United States. And, um, You know, personally, I think that that gun control and gun safety needs to be acted upon and legislative upon. And unfortunately that were happened, but interesting, nonetheless, to see the landscape on the gun rights side, change in pretty significant.

[00:03:12] George: Yeah, it's sort of inevitable the thought that tamping down the NRAS ability to sort of fundraise and operate effectively to assume that that would stop. The progress of guns in this country. And it's unbelievable power in terms of putting money into politics is, is errand, right? It is. It's sort of targeting your energy at the, the wrong enemy because like a hydro, when you cut off its head to more show up in its place, inevitably the source of the money is not going away.

[00:03:51] The amount of guns purchased after an event like this inevitably increases, and that simply puts more money in the hands of manufacturers, which then finds its way inevitably into any functioning non-profit willing to carry the flag of, of gun rights over human. And so, you know, in a moment like this, there's a, you know, a rare opportunity to get the country's attention and to focus on something.

[00:04:18] I am having a hard time finding faith in Congress that immediately chose the bold action of going on vacation and leadership that has just polar polar views. Interesting narratives that I've seen coming out here are, is around the fact that we actually had a ban on assault. Right. Had a band. And if you look at the number of mass shootings prior to 2004, when it went out of the fact where he was put into place in 1994, by president than bill Clinton, the number of mass shootings go up.

[00:04:52] The question that is just hard to reconcile is why, you know, 18 year olds or frankly anyone needs access to high capacity, uh, firearms, if not to kill it. It makes zero sense other than to line the pockets of

[00:05:08] these manufacturers under this like misconceived notion of the right to bear arms and it's absurd extent, you know, why, why draw the line of dissolves? Shouldn't we all have, uh, you know, explosives, why am I put on Dara's watchlist? If I buy a extreme amounts of. It's because you have intent to do harm to large amounts of people.

[00:05:32] There are potential solutions being talked about that that could work. And you mentioned the sort of larger fact of how America has more guns than other countries. You said, uh, a lot more though, you know, and I think it's important to note that our, our guns, our guns per a hundred people are 120 guns per people.

[00:05:52] The next closest is Candace at 34 guns for people. You know that there are more guns than there are people here. Um, and somehow we continue to purchase more. And then that inevitably leads to gun murders per a hundred thousand, which is 30 times worse than Australia's. And a number of times worse than Canada's we're at 3.4 deaths per and Canada is at 0.6.

[00:06:14] So, you know, I think what needs to happen differently this time than the last time we had a tragedy. This magnitude, which was Sally and, you know, Sandy hook, December of 2012 is a reasonable step forward. It's easy to respond extreme to extreme, but I think you, what I'm saying, you, I think. Progressive legislators advocates.

[00:06:43] Non-profits people speaking to this need to couch, the anger and rage and focus on small wins, which feels just painful to say, but small wins and steps toward reasonable controls on. Anywhere that you can gain this, and I'm not going to list the number of policies out there, but there are areas where Americans all can agree and should agree.

[00:07:08] So I think I'm, I'm being a sort of moderate in my expectation, uh, and also analyzing some Google trends and seeing. That so far, we actually haven't hit the overall searches search volume that we saw about a decade ago. Um, in 2013, far from it, in terms of Google trends, searches for gun control as a topic.

[00:07:30] So I haven't seen it take off as high as it probably needs to, to actually move the needle. And again, Congress going on a brave vacation. During this time, uh, is going to slow any potential policy. So the question is for, for how long can the state in the media narrative and hopefully not get taken over also by a counter narrative, which is going to be incredibly attractive to take, which is why the sheriff overseeing this, uh, this, this tragedy chose to wait for.

[00:08:06] Over 15 minutes to take action. And that's, that's not the point. The point is there's an 18 year old who needed medical help and instead he got help from a local gun store.

[00:08:17] Nick: I definitely agree with you. I think to your point for too long folks on the side of the policy debate about wanting stricter gun control have propped up the NRA as this kind of buggy man. But the truth of the matter is. Is ideological divide in this country. And there are a lot of people who repeatedly vote in candidates who are.

[00:08:45] Pro gun. And that, that ideological messaging on the right is, is extreme. And I think it's beyond just money and lobbyist. It's a genuine ideological, perhaps demagogues, but it's an ideological difference. And I think that for folks who are looking for solutions need to understand that it's not just countering dark money and politics, it's actually.

[00:09:09] Changing minds and having those debates and meeting people where they're at to your point about small wins. Um, but something, something we'll continue to watch. And unfortunately I'm not super hopeful as well, but that being said, um, you have to try and, and we'll keep trying. And this year we have a chance to try again.

[00:09:33] So, uh, something, a story and a narrative will continue to be.

[00:09:37] All right, shifting gears a little bit. I can take us into the summary. This one comes from NBC in Chicago, and it's about a nonprofit beginning to track anti Asian hate crimes in the Midwest. So over the course of the pandemic, uh, organizations that track statistics of, um, Uh, hate crimes against Asian Americans have seen in over 300% increase.

[00:10:03] And this particular organization that Asian American foundation is setting up a program to track hate crimes and AAPI violence while providing legal and other support to victims. Um, To build trust, um, and break down barriers with communities, particularly immigrant communities or non native English speaking communities, um, to, to help these folks feel supported in a time where unfortunately, they're seeing a surge in violence against them.

[00:10:33] And I live in New York and there's been really tragically high profile, um, hate crimes against. Asian folks in the New York city area. So there's just something that's, that's very close to us. And I know a lot of here, all of us here at Holwell. So, um, just awesome. Worked from a nonprofit, stepping up to fill that dough, that void when it comes to data and reporting, and that is hugely important when it comes to creating policy decisions and other sorts of interventions to address such violence.

[00:11:05] George: Yeah, I think it's important that. Sir, not the qualitative, but the quantitative on this one, trying to document and get the data of what's going on. So you can really understand the scope of the problem. There's one thing to say, one-off events and like it's easy then for the public to say, oh yeah, but that's just like one lone actor as opposed to the larger incidents going up.

[00:11:28] So yeah, I like this.

[00:11:30] Nick: Okay. All right. Our next story is interesting one, and this comes from the Chronicle of falling anthropy and it talks about how the buffets, um, have stopped funding programs that support women and girls, particularly in the United States. So this article talks about, um, the foundation, um, the, the Novo foundation.

[00:11:55] Uh, quote unquote stunned the nonprofit world by announced thing at the height of the pandemic, that it was halting funding for critical programs, focused on women and girls. And the article goes on to talk with some of the, uh, uh, grant recipient organizations that have been on the receipt had been on the receiving end of such funding, seeing it suddenly dry off.

[00:12:17] And, uh, the, the, the TLDR of this article is. When it comes to corporate philanthropy, single similarly split second decisions can have really lasting and unfortunate ramifications. And, uh, the article kind of goes on to talk about the need for organizations to diversify funding, which is of course easier said than done.

[00:12:40] Um, but George, what's your take on this?

[00:12:42] George: No, we covered the Nova foundation out and shift, and this is just the second order or logical next order effect of that, where, you know, the Nova foundation accounted for or reported 96% of funding for that type of work. And it's. It's it's unfortunate because it does then a cliff and raises questions about, you know, was this?

[00:13:04] you know, especially if they're trying to turn long-term impact, it's hard to do when your funding can drive overnight.

[00:13:09] So, you know, we'll call for much more responsible philanthropy and just, just a warning for anyone who's funding relies heavily 70%, 50% more on one story.

[00:13:19] Nick: All right. Our next story comes from nine news.com K USA. And it's about Coloradans being asked to take a water conservation pledge. This is kind of a cool one. It's called the water 22 pledge, and it includes 22 ways for every Coloradan to save 22 gallons of water every day. And according to this nifty infographic, um, Each Colorado and saves 22 gallons per day.

[00:13:49] That's 8,000 gallons per year, or approximately 48 billion gallons per year for the statewide. So, uh, this of course addressing the, some, uh, climate concerns around, uh, drought and lack of, uh, clean water, um, and, and really, really dangerously low water levels out there. Um, so, uh, I love it. I love this, this kind of educational approach to addressing environmental impacts.

[00:14:19] And of course it takes much more than that, but the fact that this is just one kind of component of that I think is really cool and something we're going to need a hell of a lot more of as we start and continue to tackle the climate crisis.

[00:14:33] George: Yeah. I like stories like these sort of, non-profits stepping up for water crises, which are absolutely going to happen across the west Midwest. This. Based on what they're reporting. I think those, those points are incredibly important, but the practical environmental scientist. That I once potentially wanted to be in, in college, uh, has to also point to the fact that in terms of water consumption, agricultural water use is 89% of Colorado state wide usage.

[00:15:07] So, you know, the, the individuals, you know, cutting back certainly helps, but I think there's also a lot of room for improved farming practices and, uh, smart irrigation systems that can save quite a bit more if we're just being. Logical about it. So, you know, I, I see stories like this. I'm excited about citizens getting in there, but I hope it doesn't stop there.

[00:15:28] And also, you know, allocates for more intelligent, more intelligent ways to save.

[00:15:33] Nick: Absolutely. Our next story is from CNBC and it says the tax breaks. Aren't the prime reason for high net worth philanthropy or. So the study conducted by BNI, BNY Mellon wealth management asserts that in fact, tax benefits are not the primary reason that people donate to charity, um, including, um, hyper wealthy people.

[00:16:03] Um, and the top reasons for charitable giving include they're donated to a special cause they wanted to see impact they, or they want to give back or increase their legacy. Um, so. Maybe the folks who are a little bit too cynical about, uh, charitable giving. So take a look at this and, and of course, you know, there's exceptions well, um, but it restores your faith a little bit, and it talks about interestingly and perhaps more importantly trends amongst younger people, millennials and gen Z while still building up.

[00:16:37] For, as you talk a lot about the greatest wealth transfer in history is about to come our way, um, increasing trends in terms of young people, uh, donating and caring about, uh, social.

[00:16:49] George: Yeah, quoting here. The younger generations are more charitably inclined and they care more about impact and nearly three quarters of high net worth millennials and eight and 10. Gen X-ers investors have a charitable giving strategy according to this report. And I think it's important to note that the, the rising generation and the rising generation of frankly, a million multi-millionaires seem to have that type of lens and probably parked under the effective philanthropy, uh, effective philanthropy, effective altruist type of mantra, where they, you know, the care of where the dollars go in terms of trackable impact into causes and issues that serve a greater.

[00:17:28] Systemic solution. I would say, uh, also, you know, notably people like, um, one of the youngest, uh, new billionaires out there in crypto sandbank, then freed is also said to be making money so that he can spend money aggressively, uh, in, um, in his work. And it's a good trend to be aware of as some, you know, one large donor can, can make a, quite, quite a difference, especially as how.

[00:17:57] Craft your, your narratives and communications to your general audience, because inevitably there are probably a power law dynamic of 1% of that audience has 99% of the wealth.

[00:18:08] Nick: Definitely that's a great analysis and something, I guess we'll see, play out over time, but toward time out, I feel good story to finish.

[00:18:18] George: Um,

[00:18:19] Nick: All right. This comes from KTH news.com, Kilian daily Herald, and it's about a nonprofit keeping them Memorial day, traditional Latifah playing taps. The Mecca Ts multi educational cross-cultural arts of central Texas is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and spreading the awareness of cultural music and dance gathered to play taps.

[00:18:46] Veterans grades and honor of their service and sacrifice this Memorial day. And it talks about Mecca Tech's leader and retired us army criminal, Daniel , who was 90, who began this year's remembrance at the grave of his friend. Um, another former board member of this nonprofit retired Sergeant first class Jose land does.

[00:19:07] So, uh, music can be an important and valuable way to serve. That part of our life journey and, uh, recognizing, um, friends fallen and war celebrating life morning life and just overall expression. Um, he's like, it's really important to me and I know to a lot of other people, and this is great to see a nonprofit, uh, using it to pay their respects this Memorial day.

[00:19:38] George: Beautiful way to remember people that have given the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we enjoy. And so yes, to, to the veterans and to the people that are remembering Memorial day, uh, it's much appreciated and like to see non-profits involved in, in keeping these types of traditions alive. Thanks, Nick.

[00:19:59] Nick: Thanks, George.

View Details

Interview with Heather Yandow, the founder of Nonprofit.ist, an online resource that helps pair nonprofits with the right consultants; a co-founder of Beehive Collective, a Raleigh-based giving circle; and the creator of Third Space Studio’s Individual Fundraising Benchmark Report.

Host, George Weiner discusses how nonprofits should approach RFPs and finding the right contractor or agency for the type of project they need.

Nonprofit.ist Resources

https://www.nonprofit.ist/home

https://www.nonprofit.ist/rfp https://www.nonprofit.ist/5questionstoanswer

https://www.thirdspacestudio.com/

Heather Yandow is a collaborative co-conspirator and creative thinker with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world.

Inspired by issues that touch her heart and organizations invested in relationships, Heather gets joy out of helping groups move forward from chaos to clarity. Phrases like “adaptive leadership” and “change management” are sure to get her mind churning.

Before Heather joined Third Space in 2010, she was the Director of Development and Communications with the NC Conservation Network, a statewide network of over 100 organizations focused on protecting North Carolina's environment and public health.

With a personal motto of “just do it,” Heather identifies problems and dreams up actionable solutions. This talent has led to many projects: Heather is the founder of Nonprofit.ist, an online resource that helps pair nonprofits with the right consultants; a co-founder of Beehive Collective, a Raleigh-based giving circle; and the creator of Third Space Studio’s Individual Fundraising Benchmark Report. Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] George: We have got a very fun guest. Heather . Heather is the founder of nonprofit IST that's nonprofit.ist to be clear. And Heather is also a consultant at third space studio. Heather, thanks for joining us. How is.

[00:00:18] Heather: Great. I'm glad to be joining you today.

[00:00:21] George: Well, you know, I came across non-profits, but I've also been watching your work for a while and I laughed because it was similar to a tool that Holwell has tried to build and kind of does on the side. But maybe we can just start with what is a nonprofit just.

[00:00:39] Heather: Good question. So I think of a non-profit is like a florist or a dentist. So a nonprofit is, does a person who has experience with nonprofits. So nonprofit is, is also a website, a directory of nonprofit experts. So coaches, consultants, lawyers, accountants, anybody who can help nonprofits with the challenges they're, they're dealing with.

[00:01:04] So we've got almost 300 folks from across the country as part of our directory and leaders, nonprofit leaders from all over the country can come and find the help that they need there.

[00:01:15] George: And how is a non-profit is just uniquely different than somebody who is working for a for-profit industry. Like, you know, I work on email. Why is the nonprofit is just so important in this equation?

[00:01:32] Heather: I think it's really important because nonprofits have. To some degree, unique set of challenges. We're often resource constrained. We're dealing with different kinds of social issues or behavior change or advocacy that maybe those in the business world might not be. And the nonprofit leadership structure often is really different than what you might have in a for-profit.

[00:01:56] So, if you're working in a nonprofit, you might have to be dealing with a board of directors, but it has a whole lot of influence and power over the decisions that are being made potentially. And that often doesn't exist in the same way in the for-profit world.

[00:02:11] George: And so this site, nonprofit that IST helps people find these professionals, like, how is it, Matt? It sounds like a marketplace.

[00:02:23] Heather: It is a marketplace.

[00:02:24] I, I designed it to be somewhat the Angie's list of nonprofit consultants. We do not have all of the features and Angie's list yet, but it is a place where you can come and. Sorta people you can search by any particular category. You can search by geography. You can look for keywords.

[00:02:45] So if you're looking for a strategic planning consultant in Florida who has experienced with. You can put all of that in there and the system will spit out. Here's a few folks who might fit the less specific you are, the more people you'll get. But we have, I think, a dozen different specialties now.

[00:03:03] And about 40 states, we've got represented.

[00:03:06] George: Interesting. What's the most popular fist somebody is looking for.

[00:03:11] Heather: The most popular is that people are looking for, tends to be fundraising. Unsurprisingly fundraising continues to be the thing that people really need help with and not whether it's figuring out how to ask major donors for.

[00:03:27] funding, setting up bequests, thinking about grant writing, all of those specialties.

[00:03:33] We see a lot of interest in.

[00:03:34] George: So tools, sites marketplaces, like Fiverr have existed for quite some time or Upwork or, you know, fill in the.

[00:03:43] Heather: Yeah.

[00:03:44] George: Why did you decide to create one focused on non-profits?

[00:03:49] Heather: I think what we saw in the, in the world in the marketplace was that there wasn't kind of trusted. just for people who have experience with non-profits. So certainly you could go on Fiverr, you go on Craigslist and find yourself a graphic designer. But if you need someone who really understands strategic planning, or if you want a lawyer who can help with incorporation, Those folks are a little bit harder to find.

[00:04:17] And there was a very fragmented landscape of these directories. So some state nonprofit associations have kind of business directories, some very specific kind of specialties have their own directories, but there was nothing that was really national and that included all of the different kinds of help that non-profits?

[00:04:39] really.

[00:04:39] George: It sounds like a daunting task to try to corral so many independent contractors or small companies. How long have you been building this? How have you been going about adding to the database?

[00:04:53] Heather: So I think it was more daunting than I envisioned. If I had known at the start, how daunting it was, I might not have started. But I began in January of 2019. We got our first expert to be part of the directory. We had a hundred folks by may of that year and opened up to the public. So it's really started getting nonprofit leaders to come and take a look.

[00:05:16] And we've been growing really by word of mouth. So there was a big question when we started, how are we going to credential the people in the directory? How are you going to know that you're getting somebody good? And that for nonprofit consultants is actually a really hard question. There is no one a certificate that we can get.

[00:05:38] There's no, no particular degree. If you're great in one specific area like fundraising, you might have a certification or coaching. But we went round and round about how we were going to credential people and eventually decided that trust is transitive. And so if I trust you as a consultant that you're going to do good work and you trust somebody else who I don't know, then that trust is transitive.

[00:06:05] So I am going to trust that they are also a good consultant. So we have grown by invitation only. So our members can invite. Their colleagues to become part of the network.

[00:06:18] George: Interesting. So it's, if a goes B and B equals C. And see, you could get a drink sometime and hopefully be able to speak the same language. So how does, you know you know, we have a wide audience listening. How would a consultant saying, oh, I want to be on this list. How, how would they go about that then?

[00:06:39] Heather: Good question. So we do Have folks who are not directly connected. There's a way to apply on the website and you just have to answer a couple of questions. One of the other things that I know about consulting is that. One consultant. Isn't great for everybody. So we're not looking to say here's a set of absolutely perfect.

[00:07:01] A plus consultants who are going to work for every person. We're looking to say, here's a set of folks who have some good experience with non-profits who have some trust with their colleagues. And if you're going to hire them, we want you to be a good consumer. We want you to think about how you're actually doing.

[00:07:20] Choose who to work with and make sure that the right fit for you.

[00:07:23] George: Have you ever had to boot somebody for, for, misbehaving?

[00:07:27] Heather: We haven't ever really had to beat anybody for misbehaving?

[00:07:30] I'll tell you that story later.

[00:07:32] George: I love, I love the postscript on that and you know, it's, it's a. It's an important note though, you know, you, you mentioned sort of Angie's list and a part of that is ratings and trust, but at the, at the heart of it, you know, every organization can't be great at doing all of the things. And some percentage of projects just don't go as planned because that's the nature of consulting.

[00:07:56] They have been hired to solve a hard problem, and sometimes it doesn't get solved in the way that everyone hoped. So how do you go about that? I guess as a promise to nonprofits, I assume nonprofits can come on there and post what they need, or look for a professional. Like, what is that type of vetting promise look like.

[00:08:18] Heather: So. Promise that this is a trusted network. We allow people to, for nonprofit consultants, they can post their LinkedIn profile. They can post their email, they can put up testimonials about how great they are. And when nonprofit leaders, when a board member executive director development director comes to look, we really encourage them to think about how they're going to hire well.

[00:08:45] But nonprofits as a website, doesn't get involved in that transaction. We really wanted to make it as frictionless as possible and also free. So for all of our nonprofit leaders who are coming to the site, it's totally free to get in And get access to all of these consultants.

[00:09:02] George: And here's a tough one for you. What about ratings? I immediately think of, as you've mentioned, Angie's list or like a Yelp, I'm saying like, how many stars can I leave people potentially.

[00:09:15] Heather: I've been really hesitant to get into the ratings game. And that is. In part, because I'm not sure in this case they'd be super helpful. I suspect that we would be getting a lot of five-star reviews. And that just in this context, I think people are too nice. I'm not sure that we would actually get the kind of constructive feedback that would be helpful.

[00:09:39] And maybe that's just what I'm telling myself, because I have heartburn about putting that up and having to deal with consultants who might want to take down negative reviews or kind of mediate any of those. Because certainly there are times when I've been a consultant for 12 years. There are times when the work hasn't gone as expected, and it's my fault.

[00:09:59] There are other times when the work hasn't gone as expected and it's actually the client's fault. And so. There's this a lot of a gray area there that I'm hesitant to get into, but is, is definitely on our radar.

[00:10:13] George: I don't know the right answer. I have been in the same game for over a decade, and I'm aware that what happens on Yelp ultimately is the, the polars, right? You end up with extremely happy or extremely frustrated, and that can paint a weird picture and then put no marketplace owner in a weird place. But clearly from a nonprofit perspective, you'd be curious as to sort of number served or something there.

[00:10:42] It's it's hard though. I started this conversation mentioning whole Wales got a similar product, which a, with a much, much, much smaller band. We only look at sort of digital. RFPs website builds for, you know, we originally did this because we don't build websites at whole whale. And there's a lot of things we don't do that whole well, where we want a need, a trusted network.

[00:11:08] You mentioned that sort of transitive property of trust. And so it's like a handful we have less than 20 companies that serve a range of budgets for these types of technical projects and includes like ad-words management. And website dev the problem was, you know, the well, many fold, but just sort of scaling beyond that trust.

[00:11:32] And like, we just, I didn't have the guts to just open up the door wider, but also we didn't have enough projects I'd say to come in. So the two-sided marketplace is super hard. We have. A handful of these RFPs coming in. I'm curious on your side, what does that nonprofit flow look like? What does the, you know, average size you mentioned it's a fundraising fundraising, unsurprised type of consulting people are looking for, but maybe you can paint what that looks like.

[00:12:03] Heather: So we have been actively reaching out about the directory, marketing, the directory, really putting a lot of our budget behind recruiting. Nonprofit leaders to come to the directory. As I said, it's free to join and you've got to join if you really want to dig into somebody's profile. And we've got just over 3000 members now over the past three years.

[00:12:29] So we're doing we're finding that a lot of people are interested in this. The two big ways that folks are finding us one is we invest a lot in Google ads. We have found that that has been a really good way for us to find new. And then also word of mouth. So every time somebody asks me or asks any of the consultants in our directory, do you know somebody who, which we get those questions a lot?

[00:12:56] Our answer is non-profits. So that kind of constant referring back has been really helpful. Because we are not always in the middle of the RFPs the best data that we have about what folks are looking for and what they're getting is from doing some surveys every year. And so we know that folks are finding good people through nonprofits.

[00:13:19] They're getting their projects done. They're recommending it to their friends. They have a pretty high level of satisfaction.

[00:13:25] George: And for our tool, we jokingly called it snorkel. Our front door is an RFP generator. Like we don't let you come into the party unless you have an RFP. Now those three letters, the request for proposals. I know, spark a bit of ire in the consulting space. Maybe you can map out your approach and experience with the RFP.

[00:13:51] Do they don't they dilemma?

[00:13:52] Heather: Yes. So I am anti RFP just to stake my claim. I think that's Absolutely organizations need to get clear about what they're looking for before they approach a consultant, but that is different than having an RFP. An RFP can help you get clarity on some of the questions. How much money do you think.

[00:14:17] When do you want this to be done? What are the big questions are looking to answer? I, have also seen RFPs that are 12 pages long and answer none of that. Right? So they are not necessarily the same thing. I actually asked some consultants on LinkedIn. I put out a post about RFP. And got a lot of great feedback.

[00:14:39] Most folks in a similar situation to me that RFPs are just not what works. And I think they don't work for a couple of reasons. One is often they're really prescriptive and that prescription is either solving the wrong problem or. Putting together a scope of work that just really isn't going to address the need.

[00:15:02] And part of the reason why you want to work with a consultant often is to help diagnose the challenge, help plan out the solution. So if you're already doing that in your RFP, if you've already seen. We're going to have one, two hour board training and one, one hour work session with the executive committee and that's it.

[00:15:21] That's the solution to our problem. Then you're really not using consulting to its full capacity. You're not really using us in a way that's going to be helpful. They also often require a lot of free work. So I am half of a two person consulting firm. We use our time to do the work. And so if you are asking us to put together of five page RFP or five page proposal with lots of responses, we may not ever apply for.

[00:15:53] And that's certainly going to be true for other folks who are not part of larger organizations. So you're kind of skewing your RFPs towards people who have the capacity to sit down and write lots of proposals. And finally they're really impersonal, I think when the best fits come, when you actually have that.

[00:16:15] That personality, when you're able to talk to somebody and you clicked and you both understand the problem, you understand how you're going to work together. Those work styles really mesh and the RFP proposal process really doesn't do that. Well. I just had the best experience and I didn't even get the work, but it was still the best experience I had somebody send me a request for conversations. It was a two page document that included lots of the pieces of an RFP. And at the bottom, it says, if this seems like something you're interested in click here to schedule a 25 minute phone conversation. So I did my partner and I got on the phone. We talked for 25 minutes, fantastic conversation. And at the end of it, he said, okay I'm going to be talking to our executive director.

[00:17:03] And if you move on the next step is a conversation with the two. So that was 25 minutes of our time. 25 minutes of his time. It wasn't the right fit for whatever reason, but that was fine. I would do those calls all day long, rather than write out those large proposals.

[00:17:19] George: I, I wish I could say that. Like that's not perfect because the request for conversation, we see, we get those, like a request for information is also kind of goes by, and it's just so much more efficient. And I will say like, you know, we, we live in an RFP world for project sizes and pieces that. I just have to be part of the DNA of the process.

[00:17:43] You know, one of our approaches is putting out a template that hopefully elicits something usable and it kind of brings somebody through that process, but we don't respond to cold RFPs where we don't get a conversation first. And I think that's an important note. The other piece I'll say about the RFP is it does help focus.

[00:18:03] Sometimes I'd find the project as opposed to. You know, here's a problem. We have no clue what we need. And that's the difference of going to a dentist versus a general practitioner? Do you dentist here, like, let's be clear what the problem is. And so in, in that type of focus, we sort of, we default to the unfortunate RFP.

[00:18:27] But I want to pull back to the size of organization that you somehow end up with. As soon as you kind of like pull together the RFP, you have to assume the type of machinery that can respond to RFP put together those pages. Right? We have a win rate of about anywhere hovering from like 46 to 52%, which means half of our work goes into yield dumpster of, of our.

[00:18:53] How do you think about the budget expectations when it comes to these conversations?

[00:19:01] Heather: The budget expectations from in response to what the non-profit is looking.

[00:19:07] George: Yeah. That awkward conversation about how much does it cost? Well, how much do you have.

[00:19:13] Heather: Yes. So I take my cues from say yes to the dress. And so have you ever seen this though? It is a. is a I don't know what channel is a TLC probably, but it's about women shopping for wedding dresses. And so they walk into a store and there's wedding dresses from, you know, a thousand dollars to a hundred thousand dollars.

[00:19:33] And the bridal consultants, not sales women consultants say. Is there a price point we should pay attention to? This is our price point. We need to respect is there, is there a budget here? And so I lean on that kind of language. So is there a budget I need to keep in mind? Is there a budget you have set aside for this?

[00:19:53] I won't really respond to an RFP. I won't respond to an RFP if it doesn't have a budget in it. Particularly for the kind of work I do. If someone wants a strategic planning process, it really depends on what kind of investment they're looking to make as to what the scope of our work can be. And so oftentimes I will kind of walk folks through that.

[00:20:18] So here's a few different pieces of work we could do if we do all of them. It's a $40,000 project. If we just did this one little piece, it's a $10,000 project, but I need to understand where you are. And so certainly there's budget implications for that. The thing I think we don't often think enough about, especially in the kinds of organizational development projects is what's the bandwidth that the board and the staff have for this.

[00:20:47] So if you're doing a strategic plan or board development, or even in depth fundraising, What else does, does the staff and board have on their mind this year? Are you also going through a diversity equity inclusion project? Are you also celebrating your 40th anniversary? Are you also launching a capital campaign?

[00:21:06] Do you actually have.

[00:21:07] the bandwidth to do this project this year? Or does that help to determine the size of the project as well?

[00:21:15] George: So it's a monetary and a time type of budget.

[00:21:20] Heather: Yes. It's. What resources do you have available for this in the coming year or two years?

[00:21:26] George: It's super important in tough too, because you know, we've seen a lot of folks. Well, I don't want to put a bunch of down this, but I'm going to give you a five page RFP. I just sort of, I'm like, I won't pass that forward because you know, we've got companies on our snorkel list that we'll do a project for $5,000 in $500,000.

[00:21:49] So for you to not give a budget, you're like, okay. I'll, I mean, I'll tell you what happens on the other side. They're like, yeah, we're not going to bother with us. Or what they do is they look at your nine 90 and then they analyze what's going on with the size of the organization and they back into it.

[00:22:05] But this could be a small project for you. You just sort of wasting your own time and others' time by not having that budget range. However, I do see the. Converse there where maybe you're talking about a larger, you know, fundraising effort or a larger project where there could be a range and you want competitive bids, because again, a nonprofit is obliged by its statute to have three competitive bids.

[00:22:36] And if you say I'm going to spend, you know, $60,000 on this project, then you know, like how much competition he gets. So what is your advice? For, for that nuanced game,

[00:22:48] Heather: not all nonprofits need to get the competitive bids but many do threshold on that? Do you know?

[00:22:55] I think it might have to do with the funding source. So it might be like government money. You have to get more beds. A lot of the nonprofits I work with don't have to get those bids if they're smaller and they don't have government funding.

[00:23:07] I think though that when we're talking about. Reacting based on price, choosing based on price, you are not going to get the best consultant for you. So if your only way of judging is price and you're not looking at that fit, you're not looking at experience. You're not looking at work to be done.

[00:23:29] Then I think you're really you're, you're doing yourself a disservice and your organization and disservice. So I. React. Well, when someone says, well, we've got kind of 50 to $60,000, that's our budget range. And here's all the things we want to do. What I see often happens is nonprofit leaders, eyes are bigger than their plates.

[00:23:50] Their desires are bigger than their. So I might describe all the things we could do. And then I find out they've only got a very small budget, but they're still trying to cram all of the different pieces in and figuring out how to get the most bang for their buck, which I do think makes sense. But if someone.

[00:24:09] Does it have a budget, huge red flag for me, they're not taking this seriously. They're not ready to make a significant investment of time and money if they won't share their budget. I think I try to walk them through. Here's why it matters to me what your budget is. Not because I'm going to max it out, but because I want to right-size the work.

[00:24:29] And if they still won't give me a budget, then I think that's a, that's a big question for myself and my colleague, my partner to figure out, do we really want to move forward with this?

[00:24:38] George: Yeah, I think the selection criteria is kind of interesting because if you just choose based on price, the adage of you get what you pay for is like an immutable law of grants. That comes forward. And at that point, you know, you should just go onto Fiverr and have somebody just, you know, go do it for $5.

[00:24:57] You realize there's a point at which that's a ridiculous thing. And you're playing a weird game by going about that. Coming back to that question, though, you know, you have, non-profits waiting into 300, 3000 X, you know, options out there. How. Just the site or do you advise on choosing that? Right? We'll say fundraising consultant.

[00:25:21] Heather: So our advice is to first be clear about what you need. So what's the challenge you're trying to address how many. Do you have to put into it both in terms of money and in terms of time, when do you want it done? Honestly, the wind can be really challenging. So if you have a board retreat next weekend, your pool of consultants is very small, right?

[00:25:46] If you, if we have some time and some bandwidth, you have a much bigger pool of consultants. The other thing I encourage folks to think about is what are those kind of untangible, intangible, unteachable things that you are really looking for in a consultant. So it might be, you're really looking for a particular kind of experience.

[00:26:09] It might be, you are looking for a particular kind of personality. So you might like someone who is super direct. You might like somebody who is really focused on project and task management. You might know that because of the composition of your board and staff, you really want to be sure that the team includes a person of color in the leadership.

[00:26:34] Right? There are a whole lot of characteristics that if you reflect back both on yourself, The organization, the team that's leading this work, you might identify, there's some specific things that we're really looking for. And I think those can be really important.

[00:26:48] George: Yeah. So there's some intangibles that like your style approach, other other factors. And then, you know, you have the conversations, it seems like the large part of this platform as you go on here are folks that fit your filter. Now go have some conversations while also sending some of that information upfront as a maybe request for conversation.

[00:27:10] Heather: Yeah. I mean, it's, maybe it's an Angie's list. I should call it mass.com. Although I don't actually know much about matching anymore. It's to get you to the date, right? Like there's information here. There's background about consultant's experience, but it's really to get you to that conversation.

[00:27:28] to see if there's a match to see if you fit in terms of experience.

[00:27:33] If you see, if you like the questions that consultant is asking you, if they have good questions, answers to the questions you're asking them, it's really about that interaction.

[00:27:43] George: What's the, you mentioned time, what's the recommended amount of time to sort of buffer in, like, I have a project that needs, I know it needs to start at the end of the year. And here's the funny thing that you and I see every fundraising cycle is I need this to start ASAP, which is just the hilarious four letters that we all see.

[00:28:04] What is the recommended amount of time. Let's just play with this game of like, you know, that you're going to need a project in case. When should you start looking for that consultant?

[00:28:15] Heather: It's going to depend on how booked out the consultant is, but I will say at least three months in advance you want to have, have the person in mind be signing the contract three months in advance. That way, if you're having an in-person board retreat or you're launching a fundraising campaign, you've got time to do the pre-work.

[00:28:36] So that might mean that you need to start searching. Four months, five months, depending on what kind of process you want to do to actually select the person. But three months out is for me and for the consultants that I know gives a good bit of flexibility. What do you think

[00:28:53] George: I think the shorter your time to start, the more you're going to end up having to pay for a larger firm that has that type of excess couple.

[00:29:01] And that's just, you know what we have seen over time, for example, we're not taking on clients until July right now, and that data is rapidly moving away. And you know, the, the game is that the smaller, the shop, the less they can afford the availability, meaning that, can I just take on another project right now?

[00:29:21] No, because I book up my months so that I didn't. I have an idol, you know, an idle hour, which is tough because you know, you miss out on projects and pieces that, that happen, but you can't operate like what we would say, high, a low utilization tool, like a fire department where it is fine because we want them to available and be available when the fire happens.

[00:29:47] You just, I think end up with just massive agencies. That you can just cost more and maybe get less personalized. You know, we're a company of 26 people, but when I started, it was a company of me. So I've kind of seen this like grow over time and this game of keeping a plate full while keeping the opportunity to work with great organizations coming in and.

[00:30:12] It always frustrates me when a great organization comes in and like, Hey, we known about this project for six months, but we're calling you right now. And you're like, why didn't you message us? We were going to get to It

[00:30:26] Heather: My favorite is I put you in a grant requests that we were going to do this work with you next year. Okay, fantastic. And why are you telling me on December 15th? Like we needed to

[00:30:39] George: No, but you're in the grant. I wrote you in. Okay.

[00:30:42] Yeah. It's it's you know, about that size and I guess I would, you know, the average size of project, it seems like if these are consultants operating at like less than five people who are under five people, it sounds like that's kind of where the nonprofit is hovers.

[00:31:00] Heather: Yeah, nonprofit consultants. A lot of fix our solar preneurs. We have a lot of small shops. My best guess is that our. The average project, our projects are somewhere between kind of 5,000 and 20,000 with of course, some variability on that on either side. A lot of the folks that we work with a lot of the non-profits are coming and looking for some startup help.

[00:31:26] They're looking for running their first fundraising campaign, doing their first strategic plans. Sometimes those tend to be on the lower budget size, but we certainly have folks or we're looking to do, you know, a statewide communications campaign and need some help.

[00:31:39] George: Yeah, I think that's such a valuable service because I know of so many, like solar printers and small shops out there that do great work, but you know, it's tough to find them sort them out. And you know, these are folks that may come and go out with. The career right there doing it between large organ, like large organization work.

[00:32:00] Heather: Hm.

[00:32:01] George: they'll show up for a while. I'm like, wow, this is great. But you know, it's tough to find that window sometimes. And it seems like a super valuable network for, for folks looking for those servers. All right. Before we go into a rapid fire, I'm just curious, any other final advice for nonprofits that, you know, you want to talk about?

[00:32:20] You know, we touched on the choosing the intangibles time and budget, the request for conversation preferred over request for proposal, any other like, you know, insider tips for people looking to find a consultant on nonprofit.

[00:32:36] Heather: Last thought is that it's probably going to take you. More money, more time, more energy than you think it will. Which is probably true for every. Consulting gig ever. And every house renovation and everything else you do, but as you're really putting together your budget, as you're thinking about the time span for the work, just know that unless you have a lot of experience with consultants, you probably are underestimating.

[00:33:04] And so just go in with a little bit of a flexible mentality about all of those variables.

[00:33:09] George: Yeah. It's like the Murphy's law of home renovation as much time as you have allocated for this, it's going to take more time even after accounting for Murphy's law.

[00:33:18] Heather: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:33:22] George: Alright, rapid fire. Please try to keep your responses shortish. And here we go. What is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in the last year?

[00:33:32] Heather: I am in love with Zapier, which connects all kinds of programs. You can connect your Gmail to your zoom, to your MailChimp. And it kind of, it does zaps back and forth between things. And I love it.

[00:33:49] George: What tech issues are you dealing with right now?

[00:33:51] Heather: I just launched a big survey on survey monkey and the bots found it. And so we finally figured out how to put a question that was, we want to make sure you're human. Tell us about your favorite meal and why, and that is the, the bots figured out how. The answer the multiple choice question about which one of these is not an animal we thought that was going to work.

[00:34:14] It did not. They all knew it was a basketball, but this one seems to work so bots in my survey.

[00:34:20] George: What is coming in the next year that has you the most excited.

[00:34:23] Heather: are about to, for nonprofits launch our, what we're calling our ethos, which is our kind of statement of principles for the consultant community. We're just about done with designing it and we're going to launch it in the next couple of weeks. So I'm really excited.

[00:34:39] to get that out there and, and hear what people have to say.

[00:34:42] George: Can you talk about a mistake you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things.

[00:34:47] Heather: Yes. So when I was. It's probably 15 years ago, I was working with, in my volunteer gig. I run a giving circle at that time in Raleigh called the beehive collective. And we were given this wonderful opportunity to host some events at a club in downtown Raleigh over the weekend. And so we were able to host an event on Friday night.

[00:35:09] We had this like. Crazy talent show on Saturday, we had a clothes swap. We used to do that a lot. And then on Sunday night we had this thing called the barrister's ball, just a dance party. Well, nobody showed up to the third event and what I really figured out is how over-saturating her overtaxing, this community that we had, people wanted to show up for it.

[00:35:37] It was just too much. They could not do a Friday night, a Saturday day, a Saturday night. And so they made choices. And so as I think about engaging any kind of community, I really think about kind of what's the, what's the cost of this? What's the trade off of this? How do I really figure out what the carry capacity is of my community or of this organization or whatever, and how do I design for that?

[00:36:01] George: If I were to toss you in a hot tub time machine, back to the beginning of your work, what advice would you. The advice of take more risks try out more new things. Every time I have taken a risk, I have been rewarded for it. And I have really learned a lot and had a great time made progress on my goals, but have often found myself hesitant, especially early in my career to do that.

[00:36:26] what is something you think you should stop doing?

[00:36:28] Heather: Saying yes. Saying yes to all kinds of things work and otherwise

[00:36:34] George: I already gave you a magic wand to wave across the industry.

[00:36:37] Heather: it would stop executive directors from having. Unrealistic expectations about their boards and boards from having unrealistic expectations of their executive director.

[00:36:50] George: How did you get your start in the social impact side?

[00:36:53] Heather: When I was in college, I joined a environmental group, the student environmental action coalition. And from there just kept going and going and going.

[00:37:04] George: What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or didn't.

[00:37:09] Heather: I don't know. Sorry, I didn't.

[00:37:12] prepare.

[00:37:13] George: All right. Final one. How do people find you? How do people have.

[00:37:16] Heather: So you can find me@nonprofit.ist nonprofit assist. You can reach me at Heather at nonprofit that IST and I would love it if you're a nonprofit leader and you want to join. Nonprofit assist and poke around and find some folks who can help you and also follow us on LinkedIn. We got a really active LinkedIn page, and then if you're a consultant and you want to find out more about joining the network, please be in touch.

[00:37:43] I would love to talk to you about it.

[00:37:45] George: Well, thank you for your work and for creating such an amazing tool and resource for the nonprofit community. Good luck. And thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[00:37:54] Heather: Thank you so much for having me. This was place.

View Details

988 National Suicide Prevention Hotline To Soon Go Live The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is unveiling a new national emergency number for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The new 988 emergency number, akin to 911, will redirect to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is managed by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The number goes live on July 16, 2022. The new number is part of a broader strategy to address the crisis of suicide in the United States. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 10-34. The SAMHSA 988 FAQ page has important information for mental health partners including nonprofits that may publicly direct folks seeking help to this new number. Read more about how states are preparing.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Qatar: Joint letter to Gianni Infantino regarding remedy for labour abuses | Amnesty International
• ‘It’s gotten even worse’: Nonprofit’s baby formula supply decimated by recall, shortage | KOIN.com
• Vanguard Charitable Survey: More Than 1 in 3 Donors Contributed to Disaster Relief Efforts | NonProfit PRO
• Nonprofit opens ‘cat cafe’ to highlight adoptable felines in Las Vegas

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news summary, we have got interesting news coming out about a new national suicide prevention hotline, 9, 8, 8, and some other summary news touching on Qatar, baby formula, and a lot more Nick.

[00:00:16] It's going good, George. We had our first real summer weekend here in the city. It was 90 and sunny.

[00:00:23] So we're in a, summer's almost here kind of mood, but also coming this summer is a new hotline for folks experiencing a mental health emergency. The us department of health and human services is unveiling a new national emergency number for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The new number will be 9, 8, 8, and justice like 9 1 1.

[00:00:52] It's just those three numbers. And that 9, 8, 8 number will redirect to the national suicide prevention lifeline. That lifeline is managed by the substance abuse and mental health services administration. And the new number it goes live on July 16th, 2022. So this is happening within the next two months.

[00:01:14] And the number is part of a broader strategy to address the crisis of suicide in the United States. According to the substance abuse and mental health services administration suicide is the leading cause of death for Americans, age 10 through 34. We recommend that if you're a non. That works in the mental health space or offer.

[00:01:34] Beneficiaries, any kind of mental health support, or even has documentation about what number to call. It's important to note that the original national suicide prevention lifeline number will still work, but you may also want to take into account the new number that's being rolled out for organizations that might have it listed on their website and within the newsletter.

[00:01:57] We've linked to the FAQ page that has some of the technical requirements, some of the branding requirements for this new rollout. But George, I think this is a really exciting move. It's a prioritization by our government and its partners to protect mental health in the United States. And what's been an extremely trying couple of years.

[00:02:18] This is a cool, innovative approach, and I'm here for it.

[00:02:20] It's so interesting because technically the line already existed, but I can't tell you it off the top of my head and actually in full disclosure, the national suicide prevention lifeline and the network was at former Holwell client. And with 9, 8, 8, we're talking about a larger conceptual branding, nine.

[00:02:40] Everyone understands calling 9 1 1. And what that entails. There's an emergency call nine 11. The truth is the health outcomes for those suffering from mental illness. When the police are called without the proper training in hot moments, do not end well for outcomes, especially. Low-income communities and certainly with people of color, and this has been documented, unfortunately over a number of years.

[00:03:07] And some of that information is also kind of in the background on this. And so I think a nationwide branding around 9, 8, 8, when it matters for a mental health related crisis. I will literally save lives. And it's interesting, you know, like it already existed, but getting that out there as wide far as possible, non-profits

[00:03:27] are gonna play a huge role, a huge role in

[00:03:30] making sure that all communities know what to call and why.

[00:03:35] And that will ensure that people with the proper training are deployed in those moments of crisis. As opposed to showing up, you know, with a, I would say to be fair

[00:03:47] to the police that do serve and protect

[00:03:50] our nation and do amazing job, they can't be expected to serve in every single potential scenario to perfection.

[00:03:59] So I think this is just a really great step toward how. How mental health in crisis can be, can be handled in the country. And there's a lot of work to do. And that's going live July 16th, 2022.

[00:04:11] Yeah, George that's right. There is a lot of work to do. And one of the concerns is that the number actually might be overwhelmed on, on its roll out.

[00:04:22] So different states are working to address this by increasing resources and leveling up those networks because the folks who respond. To those calls, it's a vast and kind of complicated network of, of people. So they're also in the article. It talks about how individual states are vamping up resources to be able to handle the new switch.

[00:04:45] But I absolutely agree with you having this as a nine on 9 1, 1 outlet will be extremely important.

[00:04:54] All right. I can take us into the summary. Our first story here is a press release from amnesty international, which has signed a joint letter along with other prominent human rights organizations, including human rights. Watch. The business and human rights resource center among others, which is calling on the FIFA president, Mr.

[00:05:17] Gianni Infantino to work with the Qatar government trade unions, the international labor organization, the ILO and other intergovernmental actors to protect workers leading up to the Qatar FIFA world cup. This world cup has been. Shroud of controversy and accusations of human rights abuses since it was first announced under quite frankly, a cloud of a suspect of a lot of corruption.

[00:05:48] Nearly 10 years ago that this would be the venue for the 2022 world cup. But this letter signed by amnesty and other NGOs is calling on FIFA to set aside nearly half a billion dollars in money to go to workers who have been exploited. And you read down the list of, of ways that these workers are exploited.

[00:06:13] They're often. Kind of alert from developing countries, particularly in south and Southeast Asia. Their workers are they're held in the country without the ability to travel home. Their visas are. Taken from them by their employers. It's, it's practically indentured, indentured labor at a certain point.

[00:06:36] So really, really serious human rights concerns not to mention the temperature in Qatar is astronomical during the summer. So. One of the reasons I wanted to highlight this is because I think that the international human rights community does a really good job of partnering to amplify their message.

[00:06:56] And when I heard about this, I actually heard about it on all different channels. They all seem to actually post this on LinkedIn at the same time. And I saw it all at the same time. And I think it's just a cool way to leveraging partner, strip partnerships for strategic value. Here and whether FIFA will do this, who knows, probably not.

[00:07:18] FIFA is notoriously one of the most corrupt international organizations that exists, but nonetheless still I think it's important to try and this is a cool cool approach here.

[00:07:31] As you mentioned before, choosing Qatar, a place where it regularly hits over 120 Fahrenheit. During the summer is not a logical place for a massive world cup installation and athletes to be playing.

[00:07:45] So clearly I think there's a true cost, a true cost associated with making these types of decisions. That it's great to see these non-profits calling out and saying, when you do these things, there have to be. Just fairness and consequences in the same balance here in 440 million. I know that's a, that's a lot to cover, but certainly to the scale, I'm sure that they have looked at that this second order effect of saying sure.

[00:08:13] Guitar, a place that shouldn't be hosting. It doesn't have the infrastructure whatsoever. Yeah. Let's, let's host there because. That that makes sense for soccer should really receive this and a lot more scrutiny on it, especially if you're talking about these types and scales of labor abuses.

[00:08:32] Absolutely. And I'll say that this community has been focusing on this issue for a long time and so much so that I wrote a capstone thesis on this very issue in college, which is quite a few years ago now. So it's horrible. You have recruiters going into small villages. In Nepal in Indonesia and other countries and offering salaries that never come to them, they get stranded in Qatar.

[00:09:01] The idea is that these workers will travel abroad. They can send remittances back home. It's almost never what they're promised. Their visas are held from them. They're held there. It's, it's a disaster. And the Qatari government's done a little bit to address it, but the whole thing is a disaster.

[00:09:19] And It'll be interesting to see how these narratives play out one. Everyone in the world watches the FIFA world cup. And we saw a similar kind of tension about human rights abuses and China with the Olympic games that were hosted this year. But we'll we'll, we'll see. We'll see what happens.

[00:09:40] Yeah, the narrative of you're responsible for the second and third order effects. I think that touches on also, not just social justice, but environmental as well, where you have companies that have long profited off of the ability to dump excess carbon into, into the ecosystem and are, are more and more non-profits and organizations paying attention to this.

[00:10:03] And I think the true cost of. Organizing and throwing an event like this on the global stage should come with a ticket and understanding that you are responsible, not for just the creation, but the second order impact of what you are, are running. But like you said, I I'm not sure how FIFA will,

[00:10:23] will respond to that.

[00:10:23] No, that's true. Did you know that New Jersey in New York who will be hosting the world cup in 2026? The next I'm not even

[00:10:31] kidding. In 2026, that's like around the corner.

[00:10:34] That's an yeah. Four years. Can you imagine New Jersey transit attempting to handle the world's cup?

[00:10:41] I mean, I can't imagine guitar trying to handle the world cup and they have no infrastructure whatsoever, but I've been on Jersey transit and.

[00:10:48] I love the path train as much as the next human, but I think it is, it is like one extra passenger away from breathing. So

[00:10:55] not see, I don't think everyone in the tri-state area actually realizes this is happening, but that's an aside.

[00:11:02] Anyway, our next story is also a little bit of a downer. This is about the shortage of baby formula. And this comes from K O I N, CBS six local affiliate out of Oregon. And it talks about how nonprofits that have worked to, to distribute BB form. In which we're in the midst of a massive shortage now are kind of stepping in to fill the gap.

[00:11:29] And it talks about some rules that have been changed that allow folks, low income folks who are able to receive formula. Now, the type of formula they can receive has been broadened. And throughout this whole crisis, it turns out there's only like four or five companies that produce. The overwhelming majority of baby formula in the country and seems to just be this kind of.

[00:11:53] Collection of mismanagement and miss regulation. That's made the industry so vulnerable to now a shortage of supply, but this is kind of crazy that there is a shortage of baby formula. And even throughout the pandemic, we've had, you know, people bought everything from grocery stores and toilet paper, but that wasn't really.

[00:12:17] Like how serious a problem was that really this is a real problem and it disproportionately affects lower income folks.

[00:12:24] Yeah. And the article goes on to say, you're trying to do your best. This is a quote, trying to do your best. And gas is also $5 a gallon. You have to drive to six stores to get formula.

[00:12:33] And it is so hard. This is the executive director, Mara white of mother-in-law. If you're middle-class American, you can find formula, but when you are low income, you have significant barriers to get formula. And it's absolutely trying. And, you know, speaking as a parent, you know, when you're dealing with an infant, you'd be like there's.

[00:12:48] And there's one thing that they can consume is calories like that is your entire life's mission to, to feed that child. So it is unbelievable that a country with our resources has allowed it to get to this level of desperation. I know we are always fighting on many fronts. Feeding infants in the most prosperous country in the world should not be something that has headlined and led by nonprofits to say, Hey, this is a

[00:13:13] major.

[00:13:14] I absolutely agree. All right. Our next story goes a little bit in a different turn. And this comes from nonprofit pro.com and it releases the results of a band guard, charitable survey, which says that more than one in three. Donor's contributed to disaster relief efforts. So the data here shows that one in three, approximately 37% of Americans who are donors who donated money to a charitable bowl organization did so to an organization that worked in disaster.

[00:13:49] Whether that was an org helping out in Ukraine with the humanitarian crisis, there COVID-19 relief or relief in the wake of other natural disasters like wildfires and other crises. This is interesting and something we like to keep an eye on trends and giving and something. We talk about a lot on this podcast is surges of giving an attention around tent pole moments like Afghanistan like Ukraine.

[00:14:20] But I think it shows here that those moments, even if they are brief, even if the attention runs out can still make up a very large percentage of.

[00:14:30] Yeah, I am. I'm always trying to look at this. We make this point every time compassion is an unstable emotion that is able to be capitalized. That is a quote from Susan Sontag. And so those peaks happen incredibly quickly. Usually around you were to

[00:14:45] receive

[00:14:46] about three weeks from trough to trough, call it trough peak trough.

[00:14:52] Interestingly in this report, though, one of my thoughts is like, oh, is this disaster style of giving actually reducing, overall giving or creating this sort of power law dynamic to an extreme where a handful of charities that happened to be in the line of a disaster, get the funding and the rest.

[00:15:10] Yet very

[00:15:12] little the quote here is donors who gave to disaster relief and other charities donated 48% more in the 12 trailing months.

[00:15:21] Then those donors who did not give to a disaster relief effort, 1800 on average versus 1200 on average. So it's interesting that it seems to be when people are giving to disasters. It's in addition to a normal giving pattern instead, instead of.

[00:15:37] Yeah, I agree. And I guess that's, that's a good thing. But yeah, we have this article linked from our newsletter which you can also find in the show notes of this podcast. And there's lots of interesting stats in here, so we recommend that you check it out. Alright, George, how about a feel? Good story.

[00:15:55] All right. What do you have for us? This comes from Fox five vegas.com and it is about a nonprofit. That's opened a cat cafe to highlight adoptable felines in Las Vegas. So patrons campaign entry, donation of $15, which gives them the chance to enjoy the snacks, a beverage, and a cafe full of kittens for approximately an hour.

[00:16:20] And the nonprofit hearts alive village. Says that the entry fee helps cover costs for a cat or kitten to receive a full set of vaccines and the microchip. And at the end of your experience, if you wants to donate a kitten, you have that opportunity

[00:16:38] donate a kitten or donate to support a kitten.

[00:16:41] You can, the donation goes to support a kitten.

[00:16:44] You can adopt the kit. Yeah. I feel

[00:16:47] like you want to take creating a bigger problem if it's like we're accepting kitten donations.

[00:16:51] That's, that's a, that's a different kind of a different kind of program. You caught me there, but this is cool. Have you ever been to a cat cafe? I

[00:17:00] have walked by a cat cafe and I've seen them.

[00:17:04] I know they like launched as something curious, you know, I think over a decade ago at this point, I like this because it is clearly an organization that had a particular, you know, problem, social issue of trying to get more cats adopted and sort of the way they're going about it could be in a for-profit manner.

[00:17:24] As in they have a revenue generating hypothetically, you know, opportunity to sell coffee and bring people in. And I think this type of solution makes me. Happy whenever I see it, even if it doesn't succeed, that it's being tried is very clever and can lead to a lot of other, you know, potentially good ideas for other local shelters that say, all right, we have, you know, these assets.

[00:17:50] And then is there something adjacent to what we do that could bring in foot traffic driven, bring in revenue and, and serve our social impact

[00:17:57] bottom line as well? Absolutely. Sounds all sorts of sustainable to me.

[00:18:02] All right, Nick. Thanks for that. And see you next week.

[00:18:06] See you next week. Thanks George.

View Details

988 National Suicide Prevention Hotline To Soon Go Live The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is unveiling a new national emergency number for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The new 988 emergency number, akin to 911, will redirect to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is managed by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The number goes live on July 16, 2022. The new number is part of a broader strategy to address the crisis of suicide in the United States. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 10-34. The SAMHSA 988 FAQ page has important information for mental health partners including nonprofits that may publicly direct folks seeking help to this new number. Read more about how states are preparing.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Qatar: Joint letter to Gianni Infantino regarding remedy for labour abuses | Amnesty International
• ‘It’s gotten even worse’: Nonprofit’s baby formula supply decimated by recall, shortage | KOIN.com
• Vanguard Charitable Survey: More Than 1 in 3 Donors Contributed to Disaster Relief Efforts | NonProfit PRO
• Nonprofit opens ‘cat cafe’ to highlight adoptable felines in Las Vegas

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news summary, we have got interesting news coming out about a new national suicide prevention hotline, 9, 8, 8, and some other summary news touching on Qatar, baby formula, and a lot more Nick.

[00:00:16] It's going good, George. We had our first real summer weekend here in the city. It was 90 and sunny.

[00:00:23] So we're in a, summer's almost here kind of mood, but also coming this summer is a new hotline for folks experiencing a mental health emergency. The us department of health and human services is unveiling a new national emergency number for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The new number will be 9, 8, 8, and justice like 9 1 1.

[00:00:52] It's just those three numbers. And that 9, 8, 8 number will redirect to the national suicide prevention lifeline. That lifeline is managed by the substance abuse and mental health services administration. And the new number it goes live on July 16th, 2022. So this is happening within the next two months.

[00:01:14] And the number is part of a broader strategy to address the crisis of suicide in the United States. According to the substance abuse and mental health services administration suicide is the leading cause of death for Americans, age 10 through 34. We recommend that if you're a non. That works in the mental health space or offer.

[00:01:34] Beneficiaries, any kind of mental health support, or even has documentation about what number to call. It's important to note that the original national suicide prevention lifeline number will still work, but you may also want to take into account the new number that's being rolled out for organizations that might have it listed on their website and within the newsletter.

[00:01:57] We've linked to the FAQ page that has some of the technical requirements, some of the branding requirements for this new rollout. But George, I think this is a really exciting move. It's a prioritization by our government and its partners to protect mental health in the United States. And what's been an extremely trying couple of years.

[00:02:18] This is a cool, innovative approach, and I'm here for it.

[00:02:20] It's so interesting because technically the line already existed, but I can't tell you it off the top of my head and actually in full disclosure, the national suicide prevention lifeline and the network was at former Holwell client. And with 9, 8, 8, we're talking about a larger conceptual branding, nine.

[00:02:40] Everyone understands calling 9 1 1. And what that entails. There's an emergency call nine 11. The truth is the health outcomes for those suffering from mental illness. When the police are called without the proper training in hot moments, do not end well for outcomes, especially. Low-income communities and certainly with people of color, and this has been documented, unfortunately over a number of years.

[00:03:07] And some of that information is also kind of in the background on this. And so I think a nationwide branding around 9, 8, 8, when it matters for a mental health related crisis. I will literally save lives. And it's interesting, you know, like it already existed, but getting that out there as wide far as possible, non-profits

[00:03:27] are gonna play a huge role, a huge role in

[00:03:30] making sure that all communities know what to call and why.

[00:03:35] And that will ensure that people with the proper training are deployed in those moments of crisis. As opposed to showing up, you know, with a, I would say to be fair

[00:03:47] to the police that do serve and protect

[00:03:50] our nation and do amazing job, they can't be expected to serve in every single potential scenario to perfection.

[00:03:59] So I think this is just a really great step toward how. How mental health in crisis can be, can be handled in the country. And there's a lot of work to do. And that's going live July 16th, 2022.

[00:04:11] Yeah, George that's right. There is a lot of work to do. And one of the concerns is that the number actually might be overwhelmed on, on its roll out.

[00:04:22] So different states are working to address this by increasing resources and leveling up those networks because the folks who respond. To those calls, it's a vast and kind of complicated network of, of people. So they're also in the article. It talks about how individual states are vamping up resources to be able to handle the new switch.

[00:04:45] But I absolutely agree with you having this as a nine on 9 1, 1 outlet will be extremely important.

[00:04:54] All right. I can take us into the summary. Our first story here is a press release from amnesty international, which has signed a joint letter along with other prominent human rights organizations, including human rights. Watch. The business and human rights resource center among others, which is calling on the FIFA president, Mr.

[00:05:17] Gianni Infantino to work with the Qatar government trade unions, the international labor organization, the ILO and other intergovernmental actors to protect workers leading up to the Qatar FIFA world cup. This world cup has been. Shroud of controversy and accusations of human rights abuses since it was first announced under quite frankly, a cloud of a suspect of a lot of corruption.

[00:05:48] Nearly 10 years ago that this would be the venue for the 2022 world cup. But this letter signed by amnesty and other NGOs is calling on FIFA to set aside nearly half a billion dollars in money to go to workers who have been exploited. And you read down the list of, of ways that these workers are exploited.

[00:06:13] They're often. Kind of alert from developing countries, particularly in south and Southeast Asia. Their workers are they're held in the country without the ability to travel home. Their visas are. Taken from them by their employers. It's, it's practically indentured, indentured labor at a certain point.

[00:06:36] So really, really serious human rights concerns not to mention the temperature in Qatar is astronomical during the summer. So. One of the reasons I wanted to highlight this is because I think that the international human rights community does a really good job of partnering to amplify their message.

[00:06:56] And when I heard about this, I actually heard about it on all different channels. They all seem to actually post this on LinkedIn at the same time. And I saw it all at the same time. And I think it's just a cool way to leveraging partner, strip partnerships for strategic value. Here and whether FIFA will do this, who knows, probably not.

[00:07:18] FIFA is notoriously one of the most corrupt international organizations that exists, but nonetheless still I think it's important to try and this is a cool cool approach here.

[00:07:31] As you mentioned before, choosing Qatar, a place where it regularly hits over 120 Fahrenheit. During the summer is not a logical place for a massive world cup installation and athletes to be playing.

[00:07:45] So clearly I think there's a true cost, a true cost associated with making these types of decisions. That it's great to see these non-profits calling out and saying, when you do these things, there have to be. Just fairness and consequences in the same balance here in 440 million. I know that's a, that's a lot to cover, but certainly to the scale, I'm sure that they have looked at that this second order effect of saying sure.

[00:08:13] Guitar, a place that shouldn't be hosting. It doesn't have the infrastructure whatsoever. Yeah. Let's, let's host there because. That that makes sense for soccer should really receive this and a lot more scrutiny on it, especially if you're talking about these types and scales of labor abuses.

[00:08:32] Absolutely. And I'll say that this community has been focusing on this issue for a long time and so much so that I wrote a capstone thesis on this very issue in college, which is quite a few years ago now. So it's horrible. You have recruiters going into small villages. In Nepal in Indonesia and other countries and offering salaries that never come to them, they get stranded in Qatar.

[00:09:01] The idea is that these workers will travel abroad. They can send remittances back home. It's almost never what they're promised. Their visas are held from them. They're held there. It's, it's a disaster. And the Qatari government's done a little bit to address it, but the whole thing is a disaster.

[00:09:19] And It'll be interesting to see how these narratives play out one. Everyone in the world watches the FIFA world cup. And we saw a similar kind of tension about human rights abuses and China with the Olympic games that were hosted this year. But we'll we'll, we'll see. We'll see what happens.

[00:09:40] Yeah, the narrative of you're responsible for the second and third order effects. I think that touches on also, not just social justice, but environmental as well, where you have companies that have long profited off of the ability to dump excess carbon into, into the ecosystem and are, are more and more non-profits and organizations paying attention to this.

[00:10:03] And I think the true cost of. Organizing and throwing an event like this on the global stage should come with a ticket and understanding that you are responsible, not for just the creation, but the second order impact of what you are, are running. But like you said, I I'm not sure how FIFA will,

[00:10:23] will respond to that.

[00:10:23] No, that's true. Did you know that New Jersey in New York who will be hosting the world cup in 2026? The next I'm not even

[00:10:31] kidding. In 2026, that's like around the corner.

[00:10:34] That's an yeah. Four years. Can you imagine New Jersey transit attempting to handle the world's cup?

[00:10:41] I mean, I can't imagine guitar trying to handle the world cup and they have no infrastructure whatsoever, but I've been on Jersey transit and.

[00:10:48] I love the path train as much as the next human, but I think it is, it is like one extra passenger away from breathing. So

[00:10:55] not see, I don't think everyone in the tri-state area actually realizes this is happening, but that's an aside.

[00:11:02] Anyway, our next story is also a little bit of a downer. This is about the shortage of baby formula. And this comes from K O I N, CBS six local affiliate out of Oregon. And it talks about how nonprofits that have worked to, to distribute BB form. In which we're in the midst of a massive shortage now are kind of stepping in to fill the gap.

[00:11:29] And it talks about some rules that have been changed that allow folks, low income folks who are able to receive formula. Now, the type of formula they can receive has been broadened. And throughout this whole crisis, it turns out there's only like four or five companies that produce. The overwhelming majority of baby formula in the country and seems to just be this kind of.

[00:11:53] Collection of mismanagement and miss regulation. That's made the industry so vulnerable to now a shortage of supply, but this is kind of crazy that there is a shortage of baby formula. And even throughout the pandemic, we've had, you know, people bought everything from grocery stores and toilet paper, but that wasn't really.

[00:12:17] Like how serious a problem was that really this is a real problem and it disproportionately affects lower income folks.

[00:12:24] Yeah. And the article goes on to say, you're trying to do your best. This is a quote, trying to do your best. And gas is also $5 a gallon. You have to drive to six stores to get formula.

[00:12:33] And it is so hard. This is the executive director, Mara white of mother-in-law. If you're middle-class American, you can find formula, but when you are low income, you have significant barriers to get formula. And it's absolutely trying. And, you know, speaking as a parent, you know, when you're dealing with an infant, you'd be like there's.

[00:12:48] And there's one thing that they can consume is calories like that is your entire life's mission to, to feed that child. So it is unbelievable that a country with our resources has allowed it to get to this level of desperation. I know we are always fighting on many fronts. Feeding infants in the most prosperous country in the world should not be something that has headlined and led by nonprofits to say, Hey, this is a

[00:13:13] major.

[00:13:14] I absolutely agree. All right. Our next story goes a little bit in a different turn. And this comes from nonprofit pro.com and it releases the results of a band guard, charitable survey, which says that more than one in three. Donor's contributed to disaster relief efforts. So the data here shows that one in three, approximately 37% of Americans who are donors who donated money to a charitable bowl organization did so to an organization that worked in disaster.

[00:13:49] Whether that was an org helping out in Ukraine with the humanitarian crisis, there COVID-19 relief or relief in the wake of other natural disasters like wildfires and other crises. This is interesting and something we like to keep an eye on trends and giving and something. We talk about a lot on this podcast is surges of giving an attention around tent pole moments like Afghanistan like Ukraine.

[00:14:20] But I think it shows here that those moments, even if they are brief, even if the attention runs out can still make up a very large percentage of.

[00:14:30] Yeah, I am. I'm always trying to look at this. We make this point every time compassion is an unstable emotion that is able to be capitalized. That is a quote from Susan Sontag. And so those peaks happen incredibly quickly. Usually around you were to

[00:14:45] receive

[00:14:46] about three weeks from trough to trough, call it trough peak trough.

[00:14:52] Interestingly in this report, though, one of my thoughts is like, oh, is this disaster style of giving actually reducing, overall giving or creating this sort of power law dynamic to an extreme where a handful of charities that happened to be in the line of a disaster, get the funding and the rest.

[00:15:10] Yet very

[00:15:12] little the quote here is donors who gave to disaster relief and other charities donated 48% more in the 12 trailing months.

[00:15:21] Then those donors who did not give to a disaster relief effort, 1800 on average versus 1200 on average. So it's interesting that it seems to be when people are giving to disasters. It's in addition to a normal giving pattern instead, instead of.

[00:15:37] Yeah, I agree. And I guess that's, that's a good thing. But yeah, we have this article linked from our newsletter which you can also find in the show notes of this podcast. And there's lots of interesting stats in here, so we recommend that you check it out. Alright, George, how about a feel? Good story.

[00:15:55] All right. What do you have for us? This comes from Fox five vegas.com and it is about a nonprofit. That's opened a cat cafe to highlight adoptable felines in Las Vegas. So patrons campaign entry, donation of $15, which gives them the chance to enjoy the snacks, a beverage, and a cafe full of kittens for approximately an hour.

[00:16:20] And the nonprofit hearts alive village. Says that the entry fee helps cover costs for a cat or kitten to receive a full set of vaccines and the microchip. And at the end of your experience, if you wants to donate a kitten, you have that opportunity

[00:16:38] donate a kitten or donate to support a kitten.

[00:16:41] You can, the donation goes to support a kitten.

[00:16:44] You can adopt the kit. Yeah. I feel

[00:16:47] like you want to take creating a bigger problem if it's like we're accepting kitten donations.

[00:16:51] That's, that's a, that's a different kind of a different kind of program. You caught me there, but this is cool. Have you ever been to a cat cafe? I

[00:17:00] have walked by a cat cafe and I've seen them.

[00:17:04] I know they like launched as something curious, you know, I think over a decade ago at this point, I like this because it is clearly an organization that had a particular, you know, problem, social issue of trying to get more cats adopted and sort of the way they're going about it could be in a for-profit manner.

[00:17:24] As in they have a revenue generating hypothetically, you know, opportunity to sell coffee and bring people in. And I think this type of solution makes me. Happy whenever I see it, even if it doesn't succeed, that it's being tried is very clever and can lead to a lot of other, you know, potentially good ideas for other local shelters that say, all right, we have, you know, these assets.

[00:17:50] And then is there something adjacent to what we do that could bring in foot traffic driven, bring in revenue and, and serve our social impact

[00:17:57] bottom line as well? Absolutely. Sounds all sorts of sustainable to me.

[00:18:02] All right, Nick. Thanks for that. And see you next week.

[00:18:06] See you next week. Thanks George.

View Details

High Inflation Continues To Impact Sector, Including Food Banks As inflationary pressures keep year-over-year price increases high, food banks see both an increase in demand and a shortage of supply. Food pantries across the country are dealing both with an increase in demand due to broader consumer-facing prices, as well as a harder time keeping up with supply because of the same price increases. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that “Some of Feeding America’s food pantry partners have closed because of dwindling donations and higher costs for receiving and delivering food. Others have less food on their shelves even though they have higher demand.” The article goes on to highlight the vital importance that food banks serve and that folks who need the assistance they provide might be more diverse than the broader public realizes.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Nonprofits on Both Sides of Abortion Issue See Increase in Donations | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Independent Sector Issues Statement on Mass Shooting in Buffalo
• The Guggenheim Museum, Which Long Resisted Calls to Drop the Sackler Name, Has Finally Quietly Removed It | Artnet News
• HFPA Considers Selling Assets, Dropping Nonprofit Status | Yahoo Entertainment
• Oregon nonprofit that turns trash into art lands permanent display at the Smithsonian | KGW.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit newsfeed, we're talking about high inflation and how it's having impacts on food banks, as well as a bevy of other social impact issues. Nick, how is.

[00:00:12] It's going good, George.

[00:00:13] it's just trying to, always just trying to keep up last week was a little weird from the financial side. I'm glad we're not a financial podcast, but a few things went sideways and you know, I think that comes back to the larger issue of inflation going on.

[00:00:27] That is. Great segue into our first story that is talking about some of those broader trends, economic trends that you were talking about. Namely inflation and our lead story comes from the Chronicle philanthropy, which is supporting that hi Felician is continuing to impact many nonprofits, but food banks in particular.

[00:00:50] And it turns out that many food banks across the United States are being. From both directions, essentially, you have more people needing food assistance because of higher food prices and food banks, having trouble keeping up with that higher demand because of higher food and supply chain issues. So.

[00:01:14] Yeah, lots of food banks are feeling the pinch, both with supply and demand, kind of impacting their ability to, to provide for, for folks. The article goes on to state that some of feeding America's food pantry partners have closed because of dwindling donations and higher costs for receiving and delivering food.

[00:01:34] Others have less food on their shelves, even though they have higher demand. So you kind of have the economics of this. Hitting where Hertz in both directions. And unfortunately the inflation numbers came out and it slowed marginally with the most recent data. But inflation continues to be a really serious problem heading in this case, food pantries, where it hurts.

[00:01:56] I think it's important to note that the general consumer price index CPI is it's not accurate for everyone. It is not inclusive of what might be hitting. Some people that are maybe more dependent on travel by car or at the grocery store for different types of materials. But the high-level here.

[00:02:19] Compared to last year at this time, we're about 50% down and where we have received and past feral food donations, and about 20% down from food drives in our collection of food from the grocery store, says the executive director, Tyra Jackson there. And it's it. It's tough. It is tough because you're also talking about donations that may have come and picked up by truck by car.

[00:02:43] And there are a few donations being. In addition to people needing it more. So, you know, you're going to see this certainly at food, food pantries among others, but something that we really wanted to pull out as a, as a major, a major narrative as only gonna continue as as inflation and gas prices continue to, to pinch organizations that serve the most vulnerable in our.

[00:03:06] Yeah, George, I think that's a great analysis. And just as an aside, I was talking with a colleague at our company who she and her partner volunteered at a food bank down in the Nashville area. And. When they were volunteering there, they found out that the food bank was actually closing two weeks later and that all of those resources were disappearing.

[00:03:28] So this is very real. This is being felt tangibly by a lot of people. Unfortunately, the most vulnerable people and just calling out to an article. Or featured on this podcast almost a year ago now, but when you look at the statistics of folks on food stamps or folks needing food assistance, it is much more broad and diverse than I think a lot of Americans realize, and that food insecurity is a much bigger and.

[00:04:00] Yeah, I'm a much bigger problem than I think most people realize. So it's something we'll continue to follow.

[00:04:06] Great. Should we move into our summer yard? Yeah.

[00:04:10] Let's do it. Our first article from the summary comes again from the Chronicle of philanthropy. And this is that nonprofits on both sides of the abortion issue are seeing an increase in donations. This was something that we predicted. It's not that hard, a prediction to make. Something we've talked about would happen a couple of weeks ago, of course, with the draft Supreme court decision propelling Roe vs.

[00:04:37] Wade. And at this point How the Supreme court is poised to strike that down, back into the forefront of the narrative here. And there are so many organizations on both sides of this issue, local organizations, national organizations, and this is now the most important or most salient, I should say, policy debate in America right now.

[00:05:02] So no surprise that non-profits are seeing an increase in donations. It will be interesting to see. How long this lasts. We often talk about how giving because of various news events and attention to these issues have very short life cycles. We talked about donations to Afghanistan, which lasted, everyone was talking about Afghanistan for about 10 days and then nothing.

[00:05:30] Right. So it'd be interesting to see here. Especially as it relates to broader kind of political narratives in the United States. The one difference with this is that that decision from the Supreme court has actually not been officially dropped down yet. It's expected to be released in June.

[00:05:48] So that, that news cycle we'll get another bump in June when it eventually does drop. But what's your take on the story?

[00:05:55] Yeah, it's kind of hard because we're still just sort of pulling in this article at anecdotal evidence and narratives, large narratives like planned parenthood, Federation of America, talking about how. , spokesperson, they're saying they got 70,000, 70,000 new supporters that had signed on with the organization either as donors or volunteers and had received tens of thousands of new one-time gifts.

[00:06:21] And the thinking is that if Roe is overturned, the organization's base of supporters are only going to continue to grow and counter narratives there. Pro-life across America, probably of. Groups has not seen a rise in donations since the week, but other smaller ones have said, there's a couple extra thousand here or there coming in.

[00:06:40] So still, , I, I, I'm hesitant to draw a macro narratives other than to say, there's going to be an increase amount of volume here. I think this is the first sort of earthquake social earthquake. This announcement ripples are starting to be felt, but I think the big ones still to come. Potential actual decision would be landing.

[00:07:01] That would be the summer. Right? Nick, you know, I, I don't know why July is in my mind, but

[00:07:05] Yeah, I think end of June a lot has something to do with the docket. Yeah,

[00:07:11] so we'll see. But within the next one to two months, general,

[00:07:16] I would say from a strategy standpoint, this was the first press it, but the, the wave of. News and attention is going to be very, very intense. And as all things intense, it will burn brightly and briefly, unfortunately, and then come down to that steady drum beat. So you are an organization that is near or adjacent to this topic.

[00:07:38] I would be very much prepared for how you pull in. Monthly sustaining donors in that moment of emotion when emotions are at its peak, because the work is going to take quite some time and it's not a one and done it is something that should it should be part of a, a longer term movement that is is going to take a lot of resources.

[00:08:01] Absolutely. That's a great framing. I for one I'm done with earthquakes for, for another decade, no more society altering earthquakes. But unfortunately we have another one. To talk about. And we're framing this around a press release from independent sector, which is a national membership organization that brings together nonprofits and foundations and corporate giving partners.

[00:08:28] But they put out a press release, acknowledging the violence in Buffalo over the weekend. That being that over the weekend, a white supremacist went into a supermarket in Buffalo, New York shot. 13 people, 11 of whom were black and 10 of whom died. This was an over act of racism and white supremacy was very, very clear.

[00:08:52] And We see the nonprofit community responding here. I don't really know. What more to what non-profits can can do about this. This is, this is hard, a hard, very hard problem to solve. And of course, there's lots of organizations that work in this space, the Southern poverty law center and civil rights organizations that of course over the past couple of days have been really highlighting how national political discourses lending itself to this, these far right ideologies and extremist ideologies.

[00:09:25] But Yeah, just unfortunately, and another tragic day in a long string of mass shootings that we experienced in this country.

[00:09:32] We saw the narrative, certainly of gun rights and organizations like our town saying reasonable things. Like, I dunno, maybe we shouldn't allow citizens to run around with assault rifles , these high capacity magazines and the ability to, to do that much damage in that period of time, there was another narrative around.

[00:09:51] How this was actually streamed on Twitch, which can lead to copycats and narratives that this shooter was partially inspired by Christ church shooting, which was also incredibly terrible, but this sort of mimicry of when people see it is a, a dog whistle and just very dark motivation for, for certain people that clearly need help.

[00:10:14] Like this is somebody who needs. Folks that are, , drawn to this type of thought, unfortunately, and this type of action then there's a new piece that seemed to be coming out, which I I'm starting to see nonprofits touch on, which is the narrative around replacement theory. And I'm not going to go into it in so much as, you know, giving it any sort of, even the word theory there it is.

[00:10:39] It is a white supremacist fever dream, and I don't curse on this podcast, but I would, if I could, because it's it's a narrative that is unfortunately use because it's pulled into media narratives and reiterated on shows like Tucker Carlson, but it has a very, very dark and dangerous, extreme narrative to it.

[00:11:02] And so there may be opportunities for if this does touch on a non-profits work in association with. You know, immigration, anything that supports black or brown people and their rights in this country to, take a look at it and see where your voice on it could, could lend a larger and more clarifying narratives on it.

[00:11:25] Absolutely George. I couldn't agree more. And quite frankly, I want to see tech companies take a far more aggressive stance on combating this quite frankly. It's unacceptable. The video was five streamed and is just it's. So you type it into Google. It's the first thing you see that is unacceptable. And I would love to see greater efforts behalf of big tech to work with nonprofits and civil society to, to attempt to mitigate this.

[00:11:58] Because quite frankly, it's the pervasiveness of these kind of fringe ideas. And I know that's a whole other thing, but I think that there can be a lot more done. And I think that nonprofits and civil society should be invited to play a role in.

[00:12:13] Yeah. I don't know what the right answer is. I get worried sometimes about. The narratives that take hold and whether or not it's used as an excuse to go after big tech. The truth is Twitch took that down within two minutes, which is a heck of a lot more impressive in terms of a timeframe than what Facebook did.

[00:12:32] A company, 10 X its size with Facebook live. The truth is the ability to publish on the web. Can't be fully blocked. And by saying like, if only it was taken down, what in thirties. If only it was taken down in 10 seconds, I just don't understand the channeling of the social solution. Can't be a faster form of censorship.

[00:12:56] Would've stopped this. I'm not, I'm not buying that as a solution, giving that child that 18 year old, maybe not access to a assault rifle. Would be maybe where I start followed by again, pointing toward being very careful when someone's consuming certain types of content in an extreme environment. And also this individual was given access to body armor.

[00:13:26] And so the whole narrative of good guy with a gun didn't matter because this person was actually shot at. And it didn't matter because we have turned extremists into super soldiers with over the counter shit. You can get it well, So I, I'm sorry, I'm not buying if only Twitch took it down and got Dan two minutes, I'm not, I'm not buying that sale.

[00:13:45] That's fair. That's a fair, that's a fair argument. I agree with you the much more. Proactive way of dealing with this is a gun laws in New York actually has this red flag gun law that should have prevented the shooter from accessing this firearm. And for whatever reason,

[00:14:02] Yeah, I haven't seen the full near, I mean, just, I haven't seen the full narrative, but you know, there's more, there's more guns and people in this country. So I don't know.

[00:14:10] I agree. Our thoughts are with the families and everyone affected by, by this fine. Our next story comes from news.art net.com. And this is about the Guggenheim museum, which has long resisted calls to drop the Sackler name, the Sackler family, being the family owners of the Purdue pharma corporation has finally quietly removed the Sackler name from. From the building, the Guggenheim has come under lots of criticism and there's been sit in protests at the museum and attempt to bring to light how this family's money is, is as you know.

[00:14:53] highlighted throughout this museum as a donor.

[00:14:56] And yeah, George authored this to you. I think I have. Complicated FOBTs here and being a new Yorker, we're both new Yorkers. You walk through any museum, the Guggenheim, the met every exhibit is a who's who of corporate power in America, half the ma is named after the Koch brothers. You know? So it's yeah, I wonder what your take is on this.

[00:15:21] It's kind of dovetails a bit also with when we were talking about how. Russian oligarchs were giving in the west to legitimize and cause wash disreputable actions and reputation, and to build themselves up, the nonprofit industry does offer this sort of pathway to respectability at a price. And the question is.

[00:15:48] Is it appropriately priced? Should that be for sale? I think this is a big move because clearly the Sackler name like has donated quite a bit to, to the arts and the arts are incredibly important, but maybe not as important as the fact that what they have done to. Drug addiction. And this country is probably unparalleled from other companies in terms of it's devastation.

[00:16:20] And , maybe you don't give them the social acceptance pass, but hopefully this is something that reverberates out there that it's also hard. If you're an art, I try to put on the other side of it, like there's somebody on the fundraising team of a struggling museum trying to preserve.

[00:16:37] You know, history and legacy of fill in the blank type of art that already struggles. And to say like, oh, you're not allowed to take, you know, money from somebody who that happened to make it from oil from this. So like, you know, where do you draw the line? I mean, I draw the line there, the Sacklers, but you know, it is, it makes, it makes for an interesting conversation, I think in philanthropic communities and maybe even.

[00:17:02] Just to bring it back to a listener right now you might want to have with, you know, your board and your supporters being like, you know, who would we not take money from if we did Y what would we do? You know, I think there's a lot of folks that take it and be like, oh, you can make a donation, but sorry, we can't name you.

[00:17:18] Like, what did you just do? They're like, all right, we're, we're playing this weird sort of moral shell game.

[00:17:25] Yeah, I think that's as an interesting analysis and to your point, I would not want to be the fundraiser I'm responsible for that, but definitely something to talk about. Within your organization. Another organization that's been doing a lot of talking within itself is the Hollywood foreign press association, which you may know as the obscure organization that is responsible for hosting and promoting the golden Globes in Hollywood.

[00:17:55] So the Hollywood foreign press has been criticized pretty substantially in the past couple of years for. And I think rightly so and incredible lack of diversity kind of opaque voting processes. And as it turns out this organization, which is a nonprofit actually is reincorporating itself as essentially a business they're selling off assets, they're going to drop their nonprofit status and attempt to boost the golden Globes As a ceremony, I guess.

[00:18:29] I'm not as well versed in pop culture as nearly anyone, but it's kind of an interesting move.

[00:18:38] Yeah, I don't know. I thought it was just funny that it didn't even Dawn on me that the Hollywood foreign press association was a nonprofit. There are a lot of non-profits out there operating for, for better or worse or for interesting. And I'm always curious when there's a transition, either from a non-profit to for-profit for-profit to nonprofit.

[00:18:57] I tend to see this a lot less, the, the move. And I just curious to watch what the net effect is. If anything interesting comes of it, you know, we'll bring it up, but you know, good luck. Sorry. You're leading the team. Am I.

[00:19:12] I.

[00:19:13] don't know if it gets us. Ricky Jervais is one more year of cringe-worthy. Self-loathing Hollywood criticism all sign up for that highlight reel.

[00:19:24] Yeah. As long as, you know, I feel maybe touch better that any profit they happen to be making off of that particular spectacle isn't tax tax subsidized

[00:19:34] Hmm.

[00:19:35] touch better.

[00:19:35] There you go. All right. How about a feel-good story, George?

[00:19:39] Sounds perfect.

[00:19:41] All right. This is from a local NBC affiliate. K G w. Dot com out of Oregon and it talks about an Oregon nonprofit that's on a mission to bring awareness to plastic pollution by turning trash into treasure and has landed a permanent display at the Smithsonian museum of natural history in a.

[00:20:04] Washington DC. And essentially they've processed 37,000 tons of plastic from Oregon's beaches. And they've created 87 works of art and the art as looking at some of the pictures kind of like wide ranging implications. But the, or vision it's a wide vision. But it seems to me that you're keeping trash out of the ocean and creating something beautiful.

[00:20:31] Sounds like a winning company.

[00:20:33] I look at this just incredibly creative to take the exact problem that is destroying sea life and turn it into incredible works of art, which then forced people to, to see this. And, you know, there's this beautiful picture of a turtle created by all of the plastic junk and it just hits you so tangibly to see something at one striking beautiful something you'd associate with nature, but then realize that that that is exactly.

[00:21:03] These animals are consuming in the wild increasing amounts of plastic, which have a devastating, devastating impact on ecosystem could be ideas also, as you work on various issues of how do I take the thing that is the biggest threat and turn it into the medium of awareness. And there's something beautiful about this.

[00:21:24] I love it. Thanks George.

[00:21:27] Thanks Nick.

View Details

High Inflation Continues To Impact Sector, Including Food Banks As inflationary pressures keep year-over-year price increases high, food banks see both an increase in demand and a shortage of supply. Food pantries across the country are dealing both with an increase in demand due to broader consumer-facing prices, as well as a harder time keeping up with supply because of the same price increases. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that “Some of Feeding America’s food pantry partners have closed because of dwindling donations and higher costs for receiving and delivering food. Others have less food on their shelves even though they have higher demand.” The article goes on to highlight the vital importance that food banks serve and that folks who need the assistance they provide might be more diverse than the broader public realizes.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Nonprofits on Both Sides of Abortion Issue See Increase in Donations | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Independent Sector Issues Statement on Mass Shooting in Buffalo
• The Guggenheim Museum, Which Long Resisted Calls to Drop the Sackler Name, Has Finally Quietly Removed It | Artnet News
• HFPA Considers Selling Assets, Dropping Nonprofit Status | Yahoo Entertainment
• Oregon nonprofit that turns trash into art lands permanent display at the Smithsonian | KGW.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit newsfeed, we're talking about high inflation and how it's having impacts on food banks, as well as a bevy of other social impact issues. Nick, how is.

[00:00:12] It's going good, George.

[00:00:13] it's just trying to, always just trying to keep up last week was a little weird from the financial side. I'm glad we're not a financial podcast, but a few things went sideways and you know, I think that comes back to the larger issue of inflation going on.

[00:00:27] That is. Great segue into our first story that is talking about some of those broader trends, economic trends that you were talking about. Namely inflation and our lead story comes from the Chronicle philanthropy, which is supporting that hi Felician is continuing to impact many nonprofits, but food banks in particular.

[00:00:50] And it turns out that many food banks across the United States are being. From both directions, essentially, you have more people needing food assistance because of higher food prices and food banks, having trouble keeping up with that higher demand because of higher food and supply chain issues. So.

[00:01:14] Yeah, lots of food banks are feeling the pinch, both with supply and demand, kind of impacting their ability to, to provide for, for folks. The article goes on to state that some of feeding America's food pantry partners have closed because of dwindling donations and higher costs for receiving and delivering food.

[00:01:34] Others have less food on their shelves, even though they have higher demand. So you kind of have the economics of this. Hitting where Hertz in both directions. And unfortunately the inflation numbers came out and it slowed marginally with the most recent data. But inflation continues to be a really serious problem heading in this case, food pantries, where it hurts.

[00:01:56] I think it's important to note that the general consumer price index CPI is it's not accurate for everyone. It is not inclusive of what might be hitting. Some people that are maybe more dependent on travel by car or at the grocery store for different types of materials. But the high-level here.

[00:02:19] Compared to last year at this time, we're about 50% down and where we have received and past feral food donations, and about 20% down from food drives in our collection of food from the grocery store, says the executive director, Tyra Jackson there. And it's it. It's tough. It is tough because you're also talking about donations that may have come and picked up by truck by car.

[00:02:43] And there are a few donations being. In addition to people needing it more. So, you know, you're going to see this certainly at food, food pantries among others, but something that we really wanted to pull out as a, as a major, a major narrative as only gonna continue as as inflation and gas prices continue to, to pinch organizations that serve the most vulnerable in our.

[00:03:06] Yeah, George, I think that's a great analysis. And just as an aside, I was talking with a colleague at our company who she and her partner volunteered at a food bank down in the Nashville area. And. When they were volunteering there, they found out that the food bank was actually closing two weeks later and that all of those resources were disappearing.

[00:03:28] So this is very real. This is being felt tangibly by a lot of people. Unfortunately, the most vulnerable people and just calling out to an article. Or featured on this podcast almost a year ago now, but when you look at the statistics of folks on food stamps or folks needing food assistance, it is much more broad and diverse than I think a lot of Americans realize, and that food insecurity is a much bigger and.

[00:04:00] Yeah, I'm a much bigger problem than I think most people realize. So it's something we'll continue to follow.

[00:04:06] Great. Should we move into our summer yard? Yeah.

[00:04:10] Let's do it. Our first article from the summary comes again from the Chronicle of philanthropy. And this is that nonprofits on both sides of the abortion issue are seeing an increase in donations. This was something that we predicted. It's not that hard, a prediction to make. Something we've talked about would happen a couple of weeks ago, of course, with the draft Supreme court decision propelling Roe vs.

[00:04:37] Wade. And at this point How the Supreme court is poised to strike that down, back into the forefront of the narrative here. And there are so many organizations on both sides of this issue, local organizations, national organizations, and this is now the most important or most salient, I should say, policy debate in America right now.

[00:05:02] So no surprise that non-profits are seeing an increase in donations. It will be interesting to see. How long this lasts. We often talk about how giving because of various news events and attention to these issues have very short life cycles. We talked about donations to Afghanistan, which lasted, everyone was talking about Afghanistan for about 10 days and then nothing.

[00:05:30] Right. So it'd be interesting to see here. Especially as it relates to broader kind of political narratives in the United States. The one difference with this is that that decision from the Supreme court has actually not been officially dropped down yet. It's expected to be released in June.

[00:05:48] So that, that news cycle we'll get another bump in June when it eventually does drop. But what's your take on the story?

[00:05:55] Yeah, it's kind of hard because we're still just sort of pulling in this article at anecdotal evidence and narratives, large narratives like planned parenthood, Federation of America, talking about how. , spokesperson, they're saying they got 70,000, 70,000 new supporters that had signed on with the organization either as donors or volunteers and had received tens of thousands of new one-time gifts.

[00:06:21] And the thinking is that if Roe is overturned, the organization's base of supporters are only going to continue to grow and counter narratives there. Pro-life across America, probably of. Groups has not seen a rise in donations since the week, but other smaller ones have said, there's a couple extra thousand here or there coming in.

[00:06:40] So still, , I, I, I'm hesitant to draw a macro narratives other than to say, there's going to be an increase amount of volume here. I think this is the first sort of earthquake social earthquake. This announcement ripples are starting to be felt, but I think the big ones still to come. Potential actual decision would be landing.

[00:07:01] That would be the summer. Right? Nick, you know, I, I don't know why July is in my mind, but

[00:07:05] Yeah, I think end of June a lot has something to do with the docket. Yeah,

[00:07:11] so we'll see. But within the next one to two months, general,

[00:07:16] I would say from a strategy standpoint, this was the first press it, but the, the wave of. News and attention is going to be very, very intense. And as all things intense, it will burn brightly and briefly, unfortunately, and then come down to that steady drum beat. So you are an organization that is near or adjacent to this topic.

[00:07:38] I would be very much prepared for how you pull in. Monthly sustaining donors in that moment of emotion when emotions are at its peak, because the work is going to take quite some time and it's not a one and done it is something that should it should be part of a, a longer term movement that is is going to take a lot of resources.

[00:08:01] Absolutely. That's a great framing. I for one I'm done with earthquakes for, for another decade, no more society altering earthquakes. But unfortunately we have another one. To talk about. And we're framing this around a press release from independent sector, which is a national membership organization that brings together nonprofits and foundations and corporate giving partners.

[00:08:28] But they put out a press release, acknowledging the violence in Buffalo over the weekend. That being that over the weekend, a white supremacist went into a supermarket in Buffalo, New York shot. 13 people, 11 of whom were black and 10 of whom died. This was an over act of racism and white supremacy was very, very clear.

[00:08:52] And We see the nonprofit community responding here. I don't really know. What more to what non-profits can can do about this. This is, this is hard, a hard, very hard problem to solve. And of course, there's lots of organizations that work in this space, the Southern poverty law center and civil rights organizations that of course over the past couple of days have been really highlighting how national political discourses lending itself to this, these far right ideologies and extremist ideologies.

[00:09:25] But Yeah, just unfortunately, and another tragic day in a long string of mass shootings that we experienced in this country.

[00:09:32] We saw the narrative, certainly of gun rights and organizations like our town saying reasonable things. Like, I dunno, maybe we shouldn't allow citizens to run around with assault rifles , these high capacity magazines and the ability to, to do that much damage in that period of time, there was another narrative around.

[00:09:51] How this was actually streamed on Twitch, which can lead to copycats and narratives that this shooter was partially inspired by Christ church shooting, which was also incredibly terrible, but this sort of mimicry of when people see it is a, a dog whistle and just very dark motivation for, for certain people that clearly need help.

[00:10:14] Like this is somebody who needs. Folks that are, , drawn to this type of thought, unfortunately, and this type of action then there's a new piece that seemed to be coming out, which I I'm starting to see nonprofits touch on, which is the narrative around replacement theory. And I'm not going to go into it in so much as, you know, giving it any sort of, even the word theory there it is.

[00:10:39] It is a white supremacist fever dream, and I don't curse on this podcast, but I would, if I could, because it's it's a narrative that is unfortunately use because it's pulled into media narratives and reiterated on shows like Tucker Carlson, but it has a very, very dark and dangerous, extreme narrative to it.

[00:11:02] And so there may be opportunities for if this does touch on a non-profits work in association with. You know, immigration, anything that supports black or brown people and their rights in this country to, take a look at it and see where your voice on it could, could lend a larger and more clarifying narratives on it.

[00:11:25] Absolutely George. I couldn't agree more. And quite frankly, I want to see tech companies take a far more aggressive stance on combating this quite frankly. It's unacceptable. The video was five streamed and is just it's. So you type it into Google. It's the first thing you see that is unacceptable. And I would love to see greater efforts behalf of big tech to work with nonprofits and civil society to, to attempt to mitigate this.

[00:11:58] Because quite frankly, it's the pervasiveness of these kind of fringe ideas. And I know that's a whole other thing, but I think that there can be a lot more done. And I think that nonprofits and civil society should be invited to play a role in.

[00:12:13] Yeah. I don't know what the right answer is. I get worried sometimes about. The narratives that take hold and whether or not it's used as an excuse to go after big tech. The truth is Twitch took that down within two minutes, which is a heck of a lot more impressive in terms of a timeframe than what Facebook did.

[00:12:32] A company, 10 X its size with Facebook live. The truth is the ability to publish on the web. Can't be fully blocked. And by saying like, if only it was taken down, what in thirties. If only it was taken down in 10 seconds, I just don't understand the channeling of the social solution. Can't be a faster form of censorship.

[00:12:56] Would've stopped this. I'm not, I'm not buying that as a solution, giving that child that 18 year old, maybe not access to a assault rifle. Would be maybe where I start followed by again, pointing toward being very careful when someone's consuming certain types of content in an extreme environment. And also this individual was given access to body armor.

[00:13:26] And so the whole narrative of good guy with a gun didn't matter because this person was actually shot at. And it didn't matter because we have turned extremists into super soldiers with over the counter shit. You can get it well, So I, I'm sorry, I'm not buying if only Twitch took it down and got Dan two minutes, I'm not, I'm not buying that sale.

[00:13:45] That's fair. That's a fair, that's a fair argument. I agree with you the much more. Proactive way of dealing with this is a gun laws in New York actually has this red flag gun law that should have prevented the shooter from accessing this firearm. And for whatever reason,

[00:14:02] Yeah, I haven't seen the full near, I mean, just, I haven't seen the full narrative, but you know, there's more, there's more guns and people in this country. So I don't know.

[00:14:10] I agree. Our thoughts are with the families and everyone affected by, by this fine. Our next story comes from news.art net.com. And this is about the Guggenheim museum, which has long resisted calls to drop the Sackler name, the Sackler family, being the family owners of the Purdue pharma corporation has finally quietly removed the Sackler name from. From the building, the Guggenheim has come under lots of criticism and there's been sit in protests at the museum and attempt to bring to light how this family's money is, is as you know.

[00:14:53] highlighted throughout this museum as a donor.

[00:14:56] And yeah, George authored this to you. I think I have. Complicated FOBTs here and being a new Yorker, we're both new Yorkers. You walk through any museum, the Guggenheim, the met every exhibit is a who's who of corporate power in America, half the ma is named after the Koch brothers. You know? So it's yeah, I wonder what your take is on this.

[00:15:21] It's kind of dovetails a bit also with when we were talking about how. Russian oligarchs were giving in the west to legitimize and cause wash disreputable actions and reputation, and to build themselves up, the nonprofit industry does offer this sort of pathway to respectability at a price. And the question is.

[00:15:48] Is it appropriately priced? Should that be for sale? I think this is a big move because clearly the Sackler name like has donated quite a bit to, to the arts and the arts are incredibly important, but maybe not as important as the fact that what they have done to. Drug addiction. And this country is probably unparalleled from other companies in terms of it's devastation.

[00:16:20] And , maybe you don't give them the social acceptance pass, but hopefully this is something that reverberates out there that it's also hard. If you're an art, I try to put on the other side of it, like there's somebody on the fundraising team of a struggling museum trying to preserve.

[00:16:37] You know, history and legacy of fill in the blank type of art that already struggles. And to say like, oh, you're not allowed to take, you know, money from somebody who that happened to make it from oil from this. So like, you know, where do you draw the line? I mean, I draw the line there, the Sacklers, but you know, it is, it makes, it makes for an interesting conversation, I think in philanthropic communities and maybe even.

[00:17:02] Just to bring it back to a listener right now you might want to have with, you know, your board and your supporters being like, you know, who would we not take money from if we did Y what would we do? You know, I think there's a lot of folks that take it and be like, oh, you can make a donation, but sorry, we can't name you.

[00:17:18] Like, what did you just do? They're like, all right, we're, we're playing this weird sort of moral shell game.

[00:17:25] Yeah, I think that's as an interesting analysis and to your point, I would not want to be the fundraiser I'm responsible for that, but definitely something to talk about. Within your organization. Another organization that's been doing a lot of talking within itself is the Hollywood foreign press association, which you may know as the obscure organization that is responsible for hosting and promoting the golden Globes in Hollywood.

[00:17:55] So the Hollywood foreign press has been criticized pretty substantially in the past couple of years for. And I think rightly so and incredible lack of diversity kind of opaque voting processes. And as it turns out this organization, which is a nonprofit actually is reincorporating itself as essentially a business they're selling off assets, they're going to drop their nonprofit status and attempt to boost the golden Globes As a ceremony, I guess.

[00:18:29] I'm not as well versed in pop culture as nearly anyone, but it's kind of an interesting move.

[00:18:38] Yeah, I don't know. I thought it was just funny that it didn't even Dawn on me that the Hollywood foreign press association was a nonprofit. There are a lot of non-profits out there operating for, for better or worse or for interesting. And I'm always curious when there's a transition, either from a non-profit to for-profit for-profit to nonprofit.

[00:18:57] I tend to see this a lot less, the, the move. And I just curious to watch what the net effect is. If anything interesting comes of it, you know, we'll bring it up, but you know, good luck. Sorry. You're leading the team. Am I.

[00:19:12] I.

[00:19:13] don't know if it gets us. Ricky Jervais is one more year of cringe-worthy. Self-loathing Hollywood criticism all sign up for that highlight reel.

[00:19:24] Yeah. As long as, you know, I feel maybe touch better that any profit they happen to be making off of that particular spectacle isn't tax tax subsidized

[00:19:34] Hmm.

[00:19:35] touch better.

[00:19:35] There you go. All right. How about a feel-good story, George?

[00:19:39] Sounds perfect.

[00:19:41] All right. This is from a local NBC affiliate. K G w. Dot com out of Oregon and it talks about an Oregon nonprofit that's on a mission to bring awareness to plastic pollution by turning trash into treasure and has landed a permanent display at the Smithsonian museum of natural history in a.

[00:20:04] Washington DC. And essentially they've processed 37,000 tons of plastic from Oregon's beaches. And they've created 87 works of art and the art as looking at some of the pictures kind of like wide ranging implications. But the, or vision it's a wide vision. But it seems to me that you're keeping trash out of the ocean and creating something beautiful.

[00:20:31] Sounds like a winning company.

[00:20:33] I look at this just incredibly creative to take the exact problem that is destroying sea life and turn it into incredible works of art, which then forced people to, to see this. And, you know, there's this beautiful picture of a turtle created by all of the plastic junk and it just hits you so tangibly to see something at one striking beautiful something you'd associate with nature, but then realize that that that is exactly.

[00:21:03] These animals are consuming in the wild increasing amounts of plastic, which have a devastating, devastating impact on ecosystem could be ideas also, as you work on various issues of how do I take the thing that is the biggest threat and turn it into the medium of awareness. And there's something beautiful about this.

[00:21:24] I love it. Thanks George.

[00:21:27] Thanks Nick.

View Details

Nonprofit News of the week.

Supreme Court Poised To Strike Down Roe v. Wade, Changing Advocacy Landscape For Both Pro-Choice & Pro-Life Nonprofits A draft decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling on a pending abortion case appears to show the majority of justices in favor of striking down Roe v. Wade, upending nearly 50 years of abortion-access precedent, according to a leaked draft obtained by Politico. The decision comes as a worst-case scenario for pro-choice advocacy and provider groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, while it also is perceived as a monumental achievement by pro-life groups. As abortion becomes illegal to access and potentially criminalized in the wake of the decision which will be released in June, human rights groups are warning that nonprofits and tech companies may come under legal pressure to disclose sensitive information regarding people who seek information about abortion clinics, emergency contraceptives, and the like. An anti-abortion nonprofit in Wisconsin called Wisconsin Family Action was the target of an arson attack on Sunday.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Jeff Bezos donates nearly $120 mn to nonprofit: Report | The Siasat Daily
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy Unveils Ambitious Growth Plan to Put National Spotlight on Social Sector, Become Nonprofit | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Opinion | Black Lives Matter needs to get its (real expensive) house in order | Washington Post
• The AP Interview: BLM's Patrisse Cullors denies wrongdoing | AP NEWS
• CEA Nonprofit winner: Seeing a sea turtle need | Greater Wilmington Business Journal

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on a nonprofit news feed, we have our major story, which we made the focus of the week's newsletter, which is the Supreme court poised to strike down Roe V. Wade, and how we see that changing the landscape for advocacy for both pro-choice and pro-life nonprofits, as well as touching many of them.

[00:00:21] Industries again, this is not gone through, it was a leaked bit, but Nick, you're going to walk us through this as well as some other news highlights.

[00:00:28] Sure George, I can start us off. So of course, yes, we begin with that first story that was. Reported by Politico, which published a draft decision written by a United States Supreme court, which appeared to show that they were poised. At least when the decision draft decision was written to overturn Roe V.

[00:00:52] Wade, what that means is that nearly 50 years of abortion access precedent coming from the court now, It's very likely to be reversed. The decision comes as a worst case scenario for pro-choice advocacy groups and health provider groups like planned parenthood. Now pro-choice America and many other groups and funds that work to help women access abortions.

[00:01:23] And. That being said on the flip side of it, there are lots of pro-life or anti-abortion advocacy groups themselves non-profits that are, have been working to get this passed. So essentially you have this bombshell announcement that's completely altered the, the landscape for advocacy organizations.

[00:01:47] Both, both sides of this issue. And there's so many reasons and so many ways in which this can pretty dramatically impact America, social life and economics, the list goes on and on, but at its heart, this is ringing. Has a bombshell decision for a lot of people and people have understandably, very emotional reactions.

[00:02:13] George w w what's your take and how do we think about the many nonprofit organizations that are kind of involved with.

[00:02:20] it's hard to see through the frustration and many distracting narratives going on, such as , who leaked it, how it happen. I think we. If we're being honest, could see the dominoes falling after RBG sadly passed and was unfortunately, not really, even remotely honored when it was rushed through, into the Supreme court to change the landscape of how these justices would deliberate Roe V. Wade .

[00:02:53] So, you know, I've been waiting through just massive amounts of news, but I think anything that's. Looking backward saying, oh my gosh, they lied in testimony. And it truly doesn't matter what we're trying to focus on. And what I'm trying to look at is the second order effects that are to come and, , pulling those out of.

[00:03:12] Non-profits in the narrative saying here are some that were for some that were against this decision and suddenly the entire table has just been flipped upside down. And so these groups that have previously been more about advocacy and have just removed potentially a layer of support for women who are truly in need and in a time of,, great.

[00:03:39] Great risk. I would say that frankly, planned parenthood and others were supporting in that period of time. There's no safety net. If suddenly you're in a state where that's made illegal. And so you have to move from groups that maybe were pushing paper and other, very lightweight ways of advocacy into new.

[00:04:00] No, you have to support these women in some way. Whether or not that aligns with.

[00:04:06] the.

[00:04:06] Right of choice or right of life. There's a lot of infrastructure that is just not there. And I see a switch and is about to be flipped and not a lot of planning as a result of it. And so, , I try to park a lot of the hand wringing about how did this happen and this person did that to her. As somebody who's going to become pregnant, who may be in tremendous need, doubt, concern, risk, and more than one, you know, the data will show you this in a lot of the states that are about to flip back to a draconian that would use the word type of legal system that does not support these women in a safe way.

[00:04:50] And that's where I'm trying to spend my, my thinking a bit on.

[00:04:53] Yeah, George, I think that's a good analysis, nearly one in four women. By the time they reach 45 50. We'll have had an abortion in this United States. And the fact that now what was a relatively routine medical procedure, a lot of these states have snap laws that go into effect the moment. RO would be toppled.

[00:05:22] Those are poised to go into effect. There are some states that are pushing laws to in fact, criminalize abortion, as in getting one or facilitating access to an abortion is now a criminal criminal offense. And that is it's insane to be honest. It's, it's an it's insane. And The other, the flip side of this, and there's kind of more of the story as we outlined in the newsletter here is that human rights groups are actually warning human rights watch.

[00:05:56] And other other news organizations are warning that tech companies and organizations with information about people who've accessed abortion. Resources or, or procedures. Those organizations with that data may find themselves under legal pressure to disclose that information to prosecutors, if charges were be, to be brought.

[00:06:20] And it's just kind of another kind of dark direction that this is facing. If getting an abortion becomes a criminal offense. So. Like you said it kind of flips the whole thing upside down. We don't know. I don't think where this is going to go from what I'm seeing on the advocacy side, there are tons of abortion funds that are organizations that help facilitate a women accessing an abortion.

[00:06:51] And even in states where it's perfectly legal people, it can be tough to access. Right. You know, there's so COE, there's monetary barriers and there's a lot of organizations on the ground that have some experience doing this, but they're about to find themselves as a lifeline for a lot more people than they anticipated very quickly.

[00:07:14] So it'll be interesting to see how that.

[00:07:15] The word here is legality. And when you change that word, you suddenly have a whole host of I'll use the word weapons provided to the court system. To mandate, demand and force companies that may have data say Google, potentially apple, depending on where the data resides in the searches and information and stored contacts.

[00:07:45] And what have you, if this is a legal question, but because it's been made illegal for a woman who is by the way, Even beyond sort of the questions of rape and incest and very, very real medical endo topic type pregnancies, where you will really have to get a get an abortion to save your life potentially is that,, the process of, of having a child in America, despite all our advances has carries with it, 60 X, 60 times percent, 60 times, the amount of.

[00:08:19] That an abortion does. And so with that, and you're using the word legal as a thought exercise, consider how marijuana laws carry across states right now. And if you drive across the border with a certain amount of legally purchase marijuana, I did something illegal here. It is illegal over there and you go state by state.

[00:08:41] There are a lot of unfortunate second order effects that could happen. And. The, the landscape gets a little bit more scary and I think it's a great, that human rights watch has already sounding the alarm with enough time for companies to start anonymizing de anonymizing and protecting people that.

[00:09:02] will be put in danger in these states and areas.

[00:09:07] I agree. Really important things to think about. And again, if this is, it goes up and down the ladder, right? This is, this is a fundamentally altering in the ways that very few policies or laws or quite frankly, events, at least in my lifetime have had in terms of. Life as an American, quite frankly.

[00:09:31] So of course, we'll continue to watch this story. The one aside is that you'll probably start to see increasing tension on both sides over the weekend. And anti-abortion nonprofit and in Wisconsin called Wisconsin family action was the target of an arson attack. Over the past couple of decades, both organizations on both sides of this issue have seen instances of violence.

[00:09:58] Unfortunately, but it's yeah, I don't know, kind of at a loss of words with what more to say, but something we'll

[00:10:06] Yeah, I would say if you're, if you're frustrated, , one thing just to speak, , personally, as a, as a. Parent, Of, you know, one little girl in one little way. And also as a leader of a company, I thought I was compelled to say something to the staff. And I'm going to probably continue to try to also message her around this, just about where we sit, what we think and what we do to help keep the focus, because a lot of people are frustrated and where I try to point us toward is that this is the.

[00:10:38] Social justice pendulum swinging in a way that we really disagree with that violates precedent. That actually for the first time, in as many years, these like 50 plus years removes a right, that we thought was an amiable and granted into the contract of America. And one thing I know about pendulums is that when you push them very hard to one side, they come.

[00:11:05] With force back the other direction. And so the positive, cause I always push myself to think this way that I as do see coming is that a lot of people just woke up to the fact that what was granted and what was taken for granted has been taken away and people do not like it. When you take things away, we feel lost two X, the amount of gain.

[00:11:30] So I think a lot of people just woke up and they woke up at.

[00:11:32] a time when the midterms are coming. And That's why I believe there isn't a sort of large brass band being walked down Washington right now. But the GOP, I think there's a lot of people afraid to talk about what the actual implications of what a minority has just pushed onto a majority.

[00:11:50] That's a great point, George, when you take a step back and then contextualize it and think about. Broader trends.

[00:11:58] All right, pivoting a little bit. I'll take us into the summary on, I'll say a much lighter note billionaire owner and or previous owner, not no longer chief executive of Amazon, but billionaire, nonetheless, Jeff Bezos has donated $120 million to as yet unnamed. Nonprofit. Apparently this brings his non-profit donations up to 233 million, at least in terms of unnamed nonprofits, he's giving money to George why'd you throw this in the mix.

[00:12:35] I just wanted to throw a little, two things. One of the throw a little shade that he's only about five Billy, 5 billion short of what his wife ex-wife has done is a philanthropic leader, but also I think you want to keep an eye on where his kind of dollars are going because there's a lot more dollars behind it.

[00:12:56] And it's very interesting to see. Where frankly, one of the richest men in the world is deploying capital in the social impact sector. So it's not just a sort of billionaire watch, but it's saying where, where is that? That mindset shifting and this particular time.

[00:13:12] I think that's a good point in a world where billionaires seemingly increasingly dominate the news and trends and other aspects of our life. Looking at Elan Musk, controlling the Twitter verse I think it's important to keep an eye on. Our next story comes from the Chronicle of philanthropy.

[00:13:32] And it is about the Chronicle of philanthropy, which has announced a quote, ambitious growth plan to put the national spotlight on the social sector, which is their way of saying they are becoming a nonprofit news organization. The Chronicle of philanthropy previously I did not know this was actually wholly owned and operated by.

[00:13:54] The Chronicle of higher education, which is kind of the premier news source for colleges and university and higher education type news. But that is itself a private, independent for-profit entity. But now the Chronicle of philanthropy is breaking off into their separate own nonprofit organization.

[00:14:12] One of many newsrooms to do so of late. This is absolutely a continuation of the trend.

[00:14:20] I feel like it's a great way for a leading voice on non-profits to in fact, you know, walk the walk and I, I hope them All the success we enjoy their work and yeah, hopefully it continues to grow as a, an extra valued source of information and sector.

[00:14:40] All right, I'm going to wrap our next two stories together because they're related. This is following up on a story that we talked about a couple of weeks ago about the black lives matter organization which came under some heat for the publication that it had purchased a multimillion dollar home in The the, the bay area.

[00:15:04] And also came under criticism for not filing form nine nineties and in general, a lack of transparency around its financials. So the two articles we have here is an opinion published in the Washington post, which from, I think, a large. Hacktivists perspective is critical of the organization for not necessarily engaging or being as transparent with the local chapters and the family funds that were set up for victims of police brutality and the desire at the activist level for a little bit more accountability for the national organization, which in.

[00:15:46] 2020 saw $90 million in donations. The other news source is from the AP and which the former director of the organization, Patrice colors denied wrongdoing but also laid out some of the concerns of people within the activist community. I should say that at the bottom of that article, I thought this is a little bit more important.

[00:16:10] They did file a nine 90, which technically brings them up to date. But the nine 90 only goes until June of 2020. So does not include Really the tremendous growth they've seen over the past couple of years within that financial disclosure. And I think we wanted to highlight this story again because we brought it to this podcast a couple of weeks ago.

[00:16:34] And George, we sifted through the only articles we really could find were quite frankly from right wing news sources that were, were talking about it. And but we, we identified. Within that, that there actually is kind of a genuine thing to talk about within that narrative. So we wanted to highlight from the activist level, what people are thinking about this, but yeah.

[00:17:00] George, do you have any other thoughts or things to add on that?

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:04] we definitely looked through quite a number of news outlets and clearly, you know, outlets that rhyme with the word pot. Have you had a field day with this into, you know, something where, you know, a kernel truth has turned into a tree of lies and manipulation, but there is still seeds of what actually, you know, did happen.

[00:17:26] And we try to go to primary sources and that quote from colors actually from the AP I don't know. Read it directly on paper. It looks crazy. She said, we use this term in our movement a lot, which is we're building the plane while flying it. I don't believe in that anymore. The only regret I have with BLM is wishing that we could have paused for one to two years.

[00:17:48] Just not do any work and just focus on the infrastructure. You know, the foundation paid 6 million for this Los Angeles compound in 2020 and has, you know, brought ire and criticism. Here's the truth. There is, there's a problem. I'd say with crisis crowd funding, when a bunch of money is thrown at an organization of the moment, regardless of whether they have the infrastructure to achieve what the moment demands.

[00:18:18] There's a reason why traditional philanthropies capital P philanthropies will not give more than X percent of a total revenue. In a grant to a non-profit, let's say you are a half a million dollar organization, many philanthropy say you're eligible for up to, let's say 50% of your operating revenue for our grant, because the true fact is if they were to get more, say 5 million or 50 million, they wouldn't have the infrastructure to use it.

[00:18:49] And what's worse. Could actually send them into a bit of a tailspin of hiring too quickly, focusing on the wrong things and not having the infrastructure to manage that money and that word. Can't just be glossed over. And I think this is just an honest quote from exactly what happened. You know, they were, you know, suddenly handed tens of millions of dollars and then expected to operate like an organization with that revenue.

[00:19:14] And the truth is it's not there that it takes a long time to hire, to set up these systems. And again it's you know, I think it's great that she's out there making, you know, trying to bring back this, this narrative and obviously it's yeah, the probably, I mean, it hurts quite a bit. She says that, that this is quote a false narrative and it's impacted me personally and professionally that people would accuse me of stealing from black people.

[00:19:41] And you know I think. It's a, it's a tough moment. The foundation announced state 19 million fundraising amount. Wow. I didn't realize it was that high anyway. Things for you to look at and to consider around these macro issues of, of funding. Hmm.

[00:20:00] Should we do a feel-good story, Nick? We've been, I put some, I put some good wins in there this week. I knew I had been letting the team.

[00:20:08] Yeah, George let's do a feel good story. This comes from Wilmington, biz.com. Wilmington's homepage for business. Tart title of the article is about seeing a sea turtle in need. And. This is about a, a sea turtle rehabilitation project. And within the 31 sea turtles residing at the center as of this year they could be released back into the ocean after recovering from various elements.

[00:20:44] There is one turtle named Lenny a Ridley turtle that can't be released because. Blind and can't survive on her own. But just want to shout out that the awesome organizations in this case, the Karen Beasley, sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation center which is taking care of sea turtles and sea turtles are awesome.

[00:21:05] I, I learned from finding Nemo that they live a very long time and I think that's very cool. So I've always been a big.

[00:21:12] All right. So I had to look this up, see turtles can live up to 50 years or more. So that's, that's great. That they're, they're taking care of taking care of these animals. Good job. And also kudos on anytime we get an article pun. So good job seeing those sea turtles. All right, Nick. Thanks for bringing all the news to us.

[00:21:35] Thanks, George.

View Details

Nonprofit News of the week.

Supreme Court Poised To Strike Down Roe v. Wade, Changing Advocacy Landscape For Both Pro-Choice & Pro-Life Nonprofits A draft decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling on a pending abortion case appears to show the majority of justices in favor of striking down Roe v. Wade, upending nearly 50 years of abortion-access precedent, according to a leaked draft obtained by Politico. The decision comes as a worst-case scenario for pro-choice advocacy and provider groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, while it also is perceived as a monumental achievement by pro-life groups. As abortion becomes illegal to access and potentially criminalized in the wake of the decision which will be released in June, human rights groups are warning that nonprofits and tech companies may come under legal pressure to disclose sensitive information regarding people who seek information about abortion clinics, emergency contraceptives, and the like. An anti-abortion nonprofit in Wisconsin called Wisconsin Family Action was the target of an arson attack on Sunday.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Jeff Bezos donates nearly $120 mn to nonprofit: Report | The Siasat Daily
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy Unveils Ambitious Growth Plan to Put National Spotlight on Social Sector, Become Nonprofit | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Opinion | Black Lives Matter needs to get its (real expensive) house in order | Washington Post
• The AP Interview: BLM's Patrisse Cullors denies wrongdoing | AP NEWS
• CEA Nonprofit winner: Seeing a sea turtle need | Greater Wilmington Business Journal

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on a nonprofit news feed, we have our major story, which we made the focus of the week's newsletter, which is the Supreme court poised to strike down Roe V. Wade, and how we see that changing the landscape for advocacy for both pro-choice and pro-life nonprofits, as well as touching many of them.

[00:00:21] Industries again, this is not gone through, it was a leaked bit, but Nick, you're going to walk us through this as well as some other news highlights.

[00:00:28] Sure George, I can start us off. So of course, yes, we begin with that first story that was. Reported by Politico, which published a draft decision written by a United States Supreme court, which appeared to show that they were poised. At least when the decision draft decision was written to overturn Roe V.

[00:00:52] Wade, what that means is that nearly 50 years of abortion access precedent coming from the court now, It's very likely to be reversed. The decision comes as a worst case scenario for pro-choice advocacy groups and health provider groups like planned parenthood. Now pro-choice America and many other groups and funds that work to help women access abortions.

[00:01:23] And. That being said on the flip side of it, there are lots of pro-life or anti-abortion advocacy groups themselves non-profits that are, have been working to get this passed. So essentially you have this bombshell announcement that's completely altered the, the landscape for advocacy organizations.

[00:01:47] Both, both sides of this issue. And there's so many reasons and so many ways in which this can pretty dramatically impact America, social life and economics, the list goes on and on, but at its heart, this is ringing. Has a bombshell decision for a lot of people and people have understandably, very emotional reactions.

[00:02:13] George w w what's your take and how do we think about the many nonprofit organizations that are kind of involved with.

[00:02:20] it's hard to see through the frustration and many distracting narratives going on, such as , who leaked it, how it happen. I think we. If we're being honest, could see the dominoes falling after RBG sadly passed and was unfortunately, not really, even remotely honored when it was rushed through, into the Supreme court to change the landscape of how these justices would deliberate Roe V. Wade .

[00:02:53] So, you know, I've been waiting through just massive amounts of news, but I think anything that's. Looking backward saying, oh my gosh, they lied in testimony. And it truly doesn't matter what we're trying to focus on. And what I'm trying to look at is the second order effects that are to come and, , pulling those out of.

[00:03:12] Non-profits in the narrative saying here are some that were for some that were against this decision and suddenly the entire table has just been flipped upside down. And so these groups that have previously been more about advocacy and have just removed potentially a layer of support for women who are truly in need and in a time of,, great.

[00:03:39] Great risk. I would say that frankly, planned parenthood and others were supporting in that period of time. There's no safety net. If suddenly you're in a state where that's made illegal. And so you have to move from groups that maybe were pushing paper and other, very lightweight ways of advocacy into new.

[00:04:00] No, you have to support these women in some way. Whether or not that aligns with.

[00:04:06] the.

[00:04:06] Right of choice or right of life. There's a lot of infrastructure that is just not there. And I see a switch and is about to be flipped and not a lot of planning as a result of it. And so, , I try to park a lot of the hand wringing about how did this happen and this person did that to her. As somebody who's going to become pregnant, who may be in tremendous need, doubt, concern, risk, and more than one, you know, the data will show you this in a lot of the states that are about to flip back to a draconian that would use the word type of legal system that does not support these women in a safe way.

[00:04:50] And that's where I'm trying to spend my, my thinking a bit on.

[00:04:53] Yeah, George, I think that's a good analysis, nearly one in four women. By the time they reach 45 50. We'll have had an abortion in this United States. And the fact that now what was a relatively routine medical procedure, a lot of these states have snap laws that go into effect the moment. RO would be toppled.

[00:05:22] Those are poised to go into effect. There are some states that are pushing laws to in fact, criminalize abortion, as in getting one or facilitating access to an abortion is now a criminal criminal offense. And that is it's insane to be honest. It's, it's an it's insane. And The other, the flip side of this, and there's kind of more of the story as we outlined in the newsletter here is that human rights groups are actually warning human rights watch.

[00:05:56] And other other news organizations are warning that tech companies and organizations with information about people who've accessed abortion. Resources or, or procedures. Those organizations with that data may find themselves under legal pressure to disclose that information to prosecutors, if charges were be, to be brought.

[00:06:20] And it's just kind of another kind of dark direction that this is facing. If getting an abortion becomes a criminal offense. So. Like you said it kind of flips the whole thing upside down. We don't know. I don't think where this is going to go from what I'm seeing on the advocacy side, there are tons of abortion funds that are organizations that help facilitate a women accessing an abortion.

[00:06:51] And even in states where it's perfectly legal people, it can be tough to access. Right. You know, there's so COE, there's monetary barriers and there's a lot of organizations on the ground that have some experience doing this, but they're about to find themselves as a lifeline for a lot more people than they anticipated very quickly.

[00:07:14] So it'll be interesting to see how that.

[00:07:15] The word here is legality. And when you change that word, you suddenly have a whole host of I'll use the word weapons provided to the court system. To mandate, demand and force companies that may have data say Google, potentially apple, depending on where the data resides in the searches and information and stored contacts.

[00:07:45] And what have you, if this is a legal question, but because it's been made illegal for a woman who is by the way, Even beyond sort of the questions of rape and incest and very, very real medical endo topic type pregnancies, where you will really have to get a get an abortion to save your life potentially is that,, the process of, of having a child in America, despite all our advances has carries with it, 60 X, 60 times percent, 60 times, the amount of.

[00:08:19] That an abortion does. And so with that, and you're using the word legal as a thought exercise, consider how marijuana laws carry across states right now. And if you drive across the border with a certain amount of legally purchase marijuana, I did something illegal here. It is illegal over there and you go state by state.

[00:08:41] There are a lot of unfortunate second order effects that could happen. And. The, the landscape gets a little bit more scary and I think it's a great, that human rights watch has already sounding the alarm with enough time for companies to start anonymizing de anonymizing and protecting people that.

[00:09:02] will be put in danger in these states and areas.

[00:09:07] I agree. Really important things to think about. And again, if this is, it goes up and down the ladder, right? This is, this is a fundamentally altering in the ways that very few policies or laws or quite frankly, events, at least in my lifetime have had in terms of. Life as an American, quite frankly.

[00:09:31] So of course, we'll continue to watch this story. The one aside is that you'll probably start to see increasing tension on both sides over the weekend. And anti-abortion nonprofit and in Wisconsin called Wisconsin family action was the target of an arson attack. Over the past couple of decades, both organizations on both sides of this issue have seen instances of violence.

[00:09:58] Unfortunately, but it's yeah, I don't know, kind of at a loss of words with what more to say, but something we'll

[00:10:06] Yeah, I would say if you're, if you're frustrated, , one thing just to speak, , personally, as a, as a. Parent, Of, you know, one little girl in one little way. And also as a leader of a company, I thought I was compelled to say something to the staff. And I'm going to probably continue to try to also message her around this, just about where we sit, what we think and what we do to help keep the focus, because a lot of people are frustrated and where I try to point us toward is that this is the.

[00:10:38] Social justice pendulum swinging in a way that we really disagree with that violates precedent. That actually for the first time, in as many years, these like 50 plus years removes a right, that we thought was an amiable and granted into the contract of America. And one thing I know about pendulums is that when you push them very hard to one side, they come.

[00:11:05] With force back the other direction. And so the positive, cause I always push myself to think this way that I as do see coming is that a lot of people just woke up to the fact that what was granted and what was taken for granted has been taken away and people do not like it. When you take things away, we feel lost two X, the amount of gain.

[00:11:30] So I think a lot of people just woke up and they woke up at.

[00:11:32] a time when the midterms are coming. And That's why I believe there isn't a sort of large brass band being walked down Washington right now. But the GOP, I think there's a lot of people afraid to talk about what the actual implications of what a minority has just pushed onto a majority.

[00:11:50] That's a great point, George, when you take a step back and then contextualize it and think about. Broader trends.

[00:11:58] All right, pivoting a little bit. I'll take us into the summary on, I'll say a much lighter note billionaire owner and or previous owner, not no longer chief executive of Amazon, but billionaire, nonetheless, Jeff Bezos has donated $120 million to as yet unnamed. Nonprofit. Apparently this brings his non-profit donations up to 233 million, at least in terms of unnamed nonprofits, he's giving money to George why'd you throw this in the mix.

[00:12:35] I just wanted to throw a little, two things. One of the throw a little shade that he's only about five Billy, 5 billion short of what his wife ex-wife has done is a philanthropic leader, but also I think you want to keep an eye on where his kind of dollars are going because there's a lot more dollars behind it.

[00:12:56] And it's very interesting to see. Where frankly, one of the richest men in the world is deploying capital in the social impact sector. So it's not just a sort of billionaire watch, but it's saying where, where is that? That mindset shifting and this particular time.

[00:13:12] I think that's a good point in a world where billionaires seemingly increasingly dominate the news and trends and other aspects of our life. Looking at Elan Musk, controlling the Twitter verse I think it's important to keep an eye on. Our next story comes from the Chronicle of philanthropy.

[00:13:32] And it is about the Chronicle of philanthropy, which has announced a quote, ambitious growth plan to put the national spotlight on the social sector, which is their way of saying they are becoming a nonprofit news organization. The Chronicle of philanthropy previously I did not know this was actually wholly owned and operated by.

[00:13:54] The Chronicle of higher education, which is kind of the premier news source for colleges and university and higher education type news. But that is itself a private, independent for-profit entity. But now the Chronicle of philanthropy is breaking off into their separate own nonprofit organization.

[00:14:12] One of many newsrooms to do so of late. This is absolutely a continuation of the trend.

[00:14:20] I feel like it's a great way for a leading voice on non-profits to in fact, you know, walk the walk and I, I hope them All the success we enjoy their work and yeah, hopefully it continues to grow as a, an extra valued source of information and sector.

[00:14:40] All right, I'm going to wrap our next two stories together because they're related. This is following up on a story that we talked about a couple of weeks ago about the black lives matter organization which came under some heat for the publication that it had purchased a multimillion dollar home in The the, the bay area.

[00:15:04] And also came under criticism for not filing form nine nineties and in general, a lack of transparency around its financials. So the two articles we have here is an opinion published in the Washington post, which from, I think, a large. Hacktivists perspective is critical of the organization for not necessarily engaging or being as transparent with the local chapters and the family funds that were set up for victims of police brutality and the desire at the activist level for a little bit more accountability for the national organization, which in.

[00:15:46] 2020 saw $90 million in donations. The other news source is from the AP and which the former director of the organization, Patrice colors denied wrongdoing but also laid out some of the concerns of people within the activist community. I should say that at the bottom of that article, I thought this is a little bit more important.

[00:16:10] They did file a nine 90, which technically brings them up to date. But the nine 90 only goes until June of 2020. So does not include Really the tremendous growth they've seen over the past couple of years within that financial disclosure. And I think we wanted to highlight this story again because we brought it to this podcast a couple of weeks ago.

[00:16:34] And George, we sifted through the only articles we really could find were quite frankly from right wing news sources that were, were talking about it. And but we, we identified. Within that, that there actually is kind of a genuine thing to talk about within that narrative. So we wanted to highlight from the activist level, what people are thinking about this, but yeah.

[00:17:00] George, do you have any other thoughts or things to add on that?

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:04] we definitely looked through quite a number of news outlets and clearly, you know, outlets that rhyme with the word pot. Have you had a field day with this into, you know, something where, you know, a kernel truth has turned into a tree of lies and manipulation, but there is still seeds of what actually, you know, did happen.

[00:17:26] And we try to go to primary sources and that quote from colors actually from the AP I don't know. Read it directly on paper. It looks crazy. She said, we use this term in our movement a lot, which is we're building the plane while flying it. I don't believe in that anymore. The only regret I have with BLM is wishing that we could have paused for one to two years.

[00:17:48] Just not do any work and just focus on the infrastructure. You know, the foundation paid 6 million for this Los Angeles compound in 2020 and has, you know, brought ire and criticism. Here's the truth. There is, there's a problem. I'd say with crisis crowd funding, when a bunch of money is thrown at an organization of the moment, regardless of whether they have the infrastructure to achieve what the moment demands.

[00:18:18] There's a reason why traditional philanthropies capital P philanthropies will not give more than X percent of a total revenue. In a grant to a non-profit, let's say you are a half a million dollar organization, many philanthropy say you're eligible for up to, let's say 50% of your operating revenue for our grant, because the true fact is if they were to get more, say 5 million or 50 million, they wouldn't have the infrastructure to use it.

[00:18:49] And what's worse. Could actually send them into a bit of a tailspin of hiring too quickly, focusing on the wrong things and not having the infrastructure to manage that money and that word. Can't just be glossed over. And I think this is just an honest quote from exactly what happened. You know, they were, you know, suddenly handed tens of millions of dollars and then expected to operate like an organization with that revenue.

[00:19:14] And the truth is it's not there that it takes a long time to hire, to set up these systems. And again it's you know, I think it's great that she's out there making, you know, trying to bring back this, this narrative and obviously it's yeah, the probably, I mean, it hurts quite a bit. She says that, that this is quote a false narrative and it's impacted me personally and professionally that people would accuse me of stealing from black people.

[00:19:41] And you know I think. It's a, it's a tough moment. The foundation announced state 19 million fundraising amount. Wow. I didn't realize it was that high anyway. Things for you to look at and to consider around these macro issues of, of funding. Hmm.

[00:20:00] Should we do a feel-good story, Nick? We've been, I put some, I put some good wins in there this week. I knew I had been letting the team.

[00:20:08] Yeah, George let's do a feel good story. This comes from Wilmington, biz.com. Wilmington's homepage for business. Tart title of the article is about seeing a sea turtle in need. And. This is about a, a sea turtle rehabilitation project. And within the 31 sea turtles residing at the center as of this year they could be released back into the ocean after recovering from various elements.

[00:20:44] There is one turtle named Lenny a Ridley turtle that can't be released because. Blind and can't survive on her own. But just want to shout out that the awesome organizations in this case, the Karen Beasley, sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation center which is taking care of sea turtles and sea turtles are awesome.

[00:21:05] I, I learned from finding Nemo that they live a very long time and I think that's very cool. So I've always been a big.

[00:21:12] All right. So I had to look this up, see turtles can live up to 50 years or more. So that's, that's great. That they're, they're taking care of taking care of these animals. Good job. And also kudos on anytime we get an article pun. So good job seeing those sea turtles. All right, Nick. Thanks for bringing all the news to us.

[00:21:35] Thanks, George.

View Details

NonprofitNewsfeed.com

Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows Federal “Nonprofit Sector Strength And Partnership Act” Draws Praise & Critique As reported by GlobeNewswire/Independent Sector, bipartisan federal legislation has been introduced to “increase collaboration between federal officials and nonprofits to better serve the sector and communities year-round, especially during emergencies.” The bill aims to, among other objectives, establish a White House Office on Nonprofit Sector Partnership, a Advisory Board on the Nonprofit Sector, and Interagency Council on Nonprofit Sector Partnership with the idea of increasing collaboration between the government and the charitable sector. While many nonprofit proponents of the bill support the government’s desire to create a better relationship with a sector that is so integral to our society, some criticize the bill as government overreach that threatens nonprofits’ autonomy.

Read more ➝

Google Pauses Rollout of AI Inclusivity Tool, Whole Whale Responds

In April of 2022, Google quietly rolled out a very interesting feature called ‘Assistive Writer’ which automatically identifies noninclusive language like a spell checker. The tool, powered by a language processing AI, flags gendered language as well as other words like ‘landlord’ and suggests that they may be noninclusive. However, as reported by the Washington Times and others, Google has paused the feature. Whole Whale, the creators of this newsletter, have built a similar tool but instead of using AI, it is human-focused, with a carefully vetted library of terms as well as explanations for why a particular word or term may be uninclusive. Additionally, the tool is opt-in, meaning that users must actively use the tool before inclusivity suggestions are offered.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Brooklyn Public Library is offering free digital library cards to young adults in the US | The Verge
• Nonprofit news outlets are playing a growing role in statehouse coverage | Pew Research Center
• M+R Benchmarks 2022
• After Eight Years, Wikipedia Stops Accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum Donations - Decrypt

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] As we've gone and nonprofit newsfeed, we're talking about the nonprofit sector, strengthened partnership, acts a little bit about the Google inclusivity tool and this wasn't in the newsletter, but sadly, the news coming out of the Supreme court regarding Roe V. Wade, Nick, how's it

[00:00:18] going? It's going good, George.

[00:00:20] A lot is happening. And I think at the time. We'd be remiss if we didn't start with the breaking news that last night Politico obtained and reported out that they had received a draft copy of the Supreme court case in which it appears that the justices are poised, at least in this draft to overturn Roe V.

[00:00:45] Wade, which means that federal protections for abortion would no longer. Be in effect. As we go to air, as we record this, this is still a draft. The Supreme court has confirmed that this draft is in fact authentic, but also says that it is not finalized. But I think the take here at the top of the story is that abortion and access to abortion will be one of, if not the most salient.

[00:01:17] Public policy, social policy conversation for this year, this represents a sad and quite frankly, in the wrong way, historic moment in history where one of the most important Supreme court cases is poised to be overturned by a conservative majority on the Supreme court. There are a lot of advocacy organizations and nonprofits that operate in this space that are, are going to be upended.

[00:01:47] And there's a lot of unknowns right now, but George, what are you thinking? How did you read this story?

[00:01:53] You made this point before we actually press the record button that somebody risked quite a lot to leak this information. It's not something that tends to come, but to share this type of pre-judgment.

[00:02:05] You know, says a lot about how divided this is internally at a national level. I'm, I'm pretty surprised to see the level of politicization, but also not from a Supreme court that is obviously of a political ideology and you can look no further than a pew research study. Just, you know, last year, mid, last year, showing that roughly 60% of us adults say abortion should be legal.

[00:02:30] In all our most cases, 39% saying it should be illegal. So pretty aggressive on that, but even more so when you look at the hardest and gap on this, getting back to my previous point, that Democrats roughly 80% are in support while Republicans, 35%. So, you know, it's, it's even more pronounced when you look at a political ideology divide and that's.

[00:02:54] You know, it's unfortunate on a macro level. Yes. It's going to come down to a state-by-state battle, which by the way, it has already been going on. This has already occurred with the attacks on planned parenthood, on the doctors in many ways on all levels. So it will continue to be a state-by-state fight.

[00:03:15] And I believe anytime that pendulum swings aggressively in, in one direction, there is an inevitable. Swing back in the other direction. And I think this is going to coming back to the fact that, you know, 59, 60% of Americans support something that now the Supreme court does not, there could be a real political tax to be paid come election cycle that could help Democrats and push it back in and remind the folks voting what's what's at stake and what can be taken away.

[00:03:50] Absolutely. I think that's a great point as we speak, there are protests that are being organized around the country. It can galvanize supporters. And the other way, I think something else that I think about with regards to this is that, like you mentioned, we're now going to a state by. Basis in terms of rights and access and the people who are falling through the cracks who are most affected by this are people who can't afford to travel to other states for the services they might need.

[00:04:22] That disproportionately fall on. Vulnerable Americans, particularly in the lower socioeconomic brackets. So something else we'll, we'll keep an eye on and we'll have more thorough thoughts on next week and how it affects the nonprofit sector and the advocacy and non-profit organizations that all operate in that space.

[00:04:43] But with that, I can take us into the first story that we were supposed to talk about today. And that is going back to the federal government the white house or Congress, I should say, as reported by globe Newswire and independent sector. Congress has introduced bipartisan, federal legislation that.

[00:05:05] Is designed to increase collaboration between federal officials and nonprofits to better serve the sector and communities your round, especially during emergencies, the bill will create a bunch of. Different boards and committees that are designed to essentially increase collaboration between the federal government and not profit communities.

[00:05:28] So among other objectives, there's going to be a white house office on nonprofit sector partnership, an advisory board on the nonprofit sector and inter-agency council on the nonprofit sector partnership, and a lot of other ideas. A lot of different agencies. Components of our government are, are going to be brought in.

[00:05:50] And I think increase conversations in the government about how nonprofits are serving our communities. And there, this bill is getting a lot of support. 500 organizations signed on. To letters advocating as proponents of this bill to increase collaboration with the government some on the right, in particular criticized the bill as government government overreach, that threatened non-profit autonomy.

[00:06:19] But George, the TLDR here, the too long didn't read is that the federal government wants to increase cooperation with nonprofits. What's our take on this.

[00:06:29] It's a great bill. It's I'm pretty sure it's going to be an executive order from the. and also, you know, hats off to the independent sector that really kind of spearheaded this and push this forward. It's it's a small in terms of numbers invested 50 million is the number I saw on the last version of the bill that I read.

[00:06:49] What I'm excited about, actually. Well, won't come as a surprise to you or anyone who's listened to me for, I don't know, more than a couple episodes is the data. They are really doubling down on opening up data with regard to. And the financial impacts that the sector is having, which is awesome because it's going to separate and show the value that, you know, the, a sector that drives sort of trillions in, in value.

[00:07:15] Also tons of labor, roughly about 10% of our labor force involved in the nonprofit sector and probably growing as you look at different types of automation. That data will be then able to be used hopefully to justify further investment in a sector that disproportionately employees and serves the broader goals of our communities.

[00:07:39] Absolutely. We love that data. We're excited to see how this plays out and we'll definitely keep an eye on this one. And when you think about it, nonprofits serve. Such a vital role and fill so many gaps in terms of public services to communities that and all sorts of ways. So I think that this increased collaboration could only hopefully increase the efficiency, transparency, and our understanding of how that works.

[00:08:09] Our next story is about Google. And the story goes that in April of 2022, which is last year, Google quietly rolled out a very interesting new feature called assistive writer, which was in essence. A AI guided tool to flag non-inclusive language, akin to a spellchecker. The tool is powered by language processing.

[00:08:37] And it flag gendered language as well as other words like landlord. And other terms that appeared non-inclusive the people who had access to this or saw the rollout. Quite significant pushback, it would seem and we at George, I don't want to steal your thunder cause this is something you've been working and thinking about a long time, but we a whole whale have been working on a similar product, but we think that there were some major flaws with how Google approached it.

[00:09:09] That we've. Been thinking about, so, so what are your thoughts on this?

[00:09:14] I was joking on LinkedIn about how Google stole our stole our product, which is both terrifying and flattering at the same time. Their rollout definitely sparked large concern because essentially they paired it in terms of the functionality as though it were a grammar check or a spell check that speak to a universally accepted.

[00:09:39] Type of correction that should be done to work being done. So they surprise users with this selective mind you, not everybody assisted writing piece that just started calling them out. I'm using those words intentionally calling them out for language that they might want to revise or check. It is so fundamentally different than saying you spelled this wrong.

[00:10:02] There is a dictionary. There's a right way to do this, as opposed to saying, Hey, you use this word, maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong. Cause you talked about a policemen, which you know, is a gender version of a police person, right. That may have been used correctly, but you're calling them out in this non opt in sort of way the, you know, the way we saw it is that there's an inevitability to.

[00:10:27] The need for in large part, especially social impact organizations are people that care about how their words affect others. There is an important need for, for people to understand how large, the lexicon of words that fall into the categories of. You know, a microaggression, misappropriation and others that they just need to be updated, frankly.

[00:10:53] Because it, it, others people, however, the way that happens has to be done carefully and in art really, really intense research around. These words, we have found that there is a lot of conversation and a lot of context that needs to be done. I knew I could go on about this for, for quite some time, but the, the quick version is that Google realized the issues here.

[00:11:16] And actually some non-profits came out against this saying like this. This is a little big brother. And it's it's a policing of language in a way that is uncomfortable. And, you know while I agree with that, I also think that there is a future where organizations need to double check their work and how the words that are being used effect and continue the, the types of social.

[00:11:41] Issues that they're actually working to solve. So there's a certain inevitability to this, but there's a right and wrong way about going about it. And I think you have to be very careful. Terms and language into a binary spellcheck. This is right, and this is wrong until the conversation we're still having.

[00:11:56] And the truth is it's not ready for a binary database and pushed out this way. And you, you run dangerously close to an a third author therapy say the word for me, Nick authoritarians, to.

[00:12:12] No the word again. I say, oh man, we're tongue twisted today. I just got a cup of coffee after this. I better get that out.

[00:12:21] But just to the final point on the diatribe there, but the narrative ends up being, I am also concerned. Speaking of somebody who created a tool of anybody that would say we're going to find, replace, penalize, and call out again, that word, call out anybody who uses. This is a conversation and we built a tool intent for conversation.

[00:12:44] The problem is when it's weaponized, the problem is when it others. And the problem is when it isn't inclusive, ironically, inclusive of the people that need to be having a conversation and using a new type of language, but forcing is a bad idea.

[00:13:02] Yeah, George, I agree with you. Nudging is important, but you have to understand that a tool like this done the wrong way could nudge people in the wrong direction. And I take your point there. All right. Shall we go into the summary? Our first story from the Burj is that Brooklyn public library is offering free digital library cards to young adults in the United States.

[00:13:29] So this is a library in Brooklyn. And they are giving essentially access for young adults in the U S to books that are increasingly being banned across classrooms. This is a hot and controversial and Let's leave it at that controversial topic across board meetings and PTA meetings and in schools in general, across the country right now about books that kids can and cannot read.

[00:13:59] But it seems that you have a library here that is stepping up to fill the void, particularly for egregious examples of books. Essentially censored by certain states from appearing in classrooms. And I think this conver this is a, a complicated conversation. We're not going to have that full conversation in the next two minutes, but it's interesting to see a library stepping up here to give access to books.

[00:14:23] But these stories together on purpose, because what I was just saying about how there's a danger to authoritarian, like how smoothly I said that authoritarian approach is absolute approach is call out and banning banning of work. That are on a new list. Sometimes politically driven with a narrative is bad.

[00:14:44] And you see this on both extremes. When I guile the knob extremely to the left. You'd have folks that might use inclusive language as a weapon for calling people out othering and demonizing. And when I dial that knob all the way to the right and I end up there, you end up with groups that are banning children's books, banning books about LGBTQ communities, banning books.

[00:15:14] Anti-racist baby and narratives that it's not the people. It's the policies. I know the book, I read it us honestly like every other week by requests from my two year old son who happens to like it quite a bit. When you end up dialing two extremes, you end up with banning. So just be careful. Anytime you find yourself lining up to ban something, to create a list of grievances against people to.

[00:15:41] Enacted later, very careful because it means you've ended up dialing too far left and too far. Right. I love this story from the Brooklyn public library, a library of my, my library, growing up, actually offering this and the power. The libraries always offered, which is access free access. To information contained in books and they're doing it pretty sure it's through the lips in network, but it's all online.

[00:16:09] So it's not like they're mailing books. There is an amazing online network that you can now get access to it. So. I had soft Bravo. This is the role libraries play have always played. And you really see the Brooklyn public library stepping up. And I hope others is as well. Well, we'll do this, but ironically, all you need is one, one gate to open to the, the good old internet to offer access.

[00:16:32] So Bravo, Bravo.

[00:16:33] Absolutely libraries or that, that treasure, that we kind of value and take for granted. And it's only a moments like this that we realize how kind of radical that idea is. There's a central place in our communities where we all share the same knowledge and books and stories. And it's kind of cool. I feel like libraries are the best of us.

[00:16:57] So I agree with you that. Our next story comes from pew research center. And it's telling us that nonprofit news outlets are plumbing, playing a growing role in state house coverage. That is the coverage of state legislatures across the United States. The quote from here is that the number of nonprofit news reporters who cover state capitals has nearly quadruple.

[00:17:23] Since 2014 and these journalists now account for 20% of the nation's total state house press Corps from 6%, eight years ago and represent the second largest contingent of state house reporters. I think this is awesome. This is nonprofit journalism, a in a trend we've been following on this podcast, stepping into.

[00:17:44] To fill a void and local reporting and journalism that's increasingly important and increasingly disappearing. So great to see.

[00:17:53] Yep. The same mold grows in the dark is certainly in play here. And the more people watching the more free press that is supported and funded by nonprofits are able to be a part of.

[00:18:07] What goes on in these state houses, because there's a lot of important decisions and policies being put through and, and having that attention paid is incredibly important. And frankly, as we just mentioned, with the issues of abortion, moving to states, I believe we're going to see the importance and role of these nonprofit backed reporters only increasing in the months, years to come.

[00:18:32] Absolutely. States are where policy is being made right now, quite frankly, with a stall Congress. So increasingly important. Our next article is not so much an article, but something that we highlight every year, we are in fact work for a marketing agency and we have to report on the MNR benchmarks report of 2022.

[00:18:55] MNR is Also a social impact digital agency, but every year they compile a report that they conduct on the state of nonprofit marketing and communications across America. It's a long report. It usually comes with aggressive branding and themes that make it fun and digestible. George, anything that stood out to you from this year's report?

[00:19:21] I, you know, just, just note it's, it's based on a small sample size of under a thousand organizations. And so, you know, whenever you're looking at those numbers, keep that in mind. I always am looking at sort of like where the cost per vigil lead is kind of hovering out, which I find interesting. You know, the currently they'd say a cost per lead is at $3 31.

[00:19:41] And so it just, you know, it's helpful to just get, as I say, a benchmark, what, what are some others pain? What is a good target? Maybe that's a good target, but obviously dive into data and also, you know, always acknowledged that that sample size. It's not all non-profits because remember, you know, 90% of nonprofits operate with under a million dollars.

[00:20:00] So if this were the nonprofit industry, we'd be dealing with very different numbers, so small, large segment, and have a, have a fun look at.

[00:20:07] Absolutely. All right. Our next story is that after eight years, Wikipedia is going to stop accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum to nations. This comes from decrypt. So it, pedia is operated by the Wikimedia foundation, which is in fact a nonprofit. And they've announced that because of a really small volume of donations coming through crypto, that they are pausing that option for.

[00:20:38] How'd you throw those in George?

[00:20:39] I, the article made me sad. The announcement made me sad. You know, it seems like there was perhaps a vocal minority in here that was. Trying to make this move under the auspices of the environmental impact, which just goes to show that there's a, you know, a bit of education maybe necessary in terms of banning all cryptocurrency versus certain proof of work versus proof of stake.

[00:21:04] Just a fancy way of saying you can't bundle them all together. There's also a sad irony. That Wikipedia and organization that originally frankly, democratized and gave access to creating the Internet's dictionary when against experts. But the trend did something incredibly innovative at the time.

[00:21:27] That was a bit of a risk and maybe even was inefficient. I'll argue, let's just say in the beginning, the idea that you have tons of computers editing, re-editing deleted. Editing re-editing and deleting again and again, and a bit of waste, a bit of inefficiency to what it was ultimately going to become.

[00:21:47] And it had to go through that now is faced with a very similar new technology, which may be slightly inefficient. At first. Remember, computers used to take up the size of a room, but they got more efficient over time to walk that back on the adoption of accepting crypto, which again, Even if you are consider the fact that they said that they don't hold any of it.

[00:22:08] So what they are doing is technically removing liquidity from the actual coins that they are getting donated to them. So, you know, I think it's interesting to see what happens and is important to note for any nonprofit, with a large audience that may not be fully educated and may just view this as a.

[00:22:30] Moment in time binary situation, but the the walking back is a it's. It's frustrating to me on the, for those reasons.

[00:22:37] Yeah. George, I hear you there. Thanks for taking us through your thoughts on that.

[00:22:42] All right. How about a feel-good story?

[00:22:45] Yeah, what do we have on the photos?

[00:22:47] All right, George, this feel good story is from me. We actually didn't include one in.

[00:22:53] Screw it up again. I didn't put it in there. Yeah. Okay. You have a good

[00:22:57] one. Let's see. But I have a good one. The New York Philharmonic, which is a 5 0 1 C3 tax exempt non-profit has announced their 20, 20 to 2023 season as well as their 2022.

[00:23:12] Outdoor free summer concert season. The Philharmonic does this big concert tour every year where they play it all the major parks in New York city, central park prospect park. We play in the Bronx as well, and this concert will be conducted by John Ben . Thank you. Or region or something like that.

[00:23:34] And but if you're going to be featuring a divorce shock and some some other. Classics for classical music aficionados out there. And I am super excited because it's just amazing to see that some of the premier art institutions in the United States, which are largely non-profits are. Really stepping up and really make an effort to serve the community by putting on these massive free concerts across the city.

[00:24:03] And it's one of the things that makes New York and all of our cities special is the arts and culture that are largely non-profits. So just wanted to celebrate that.

[00:24:13] Probably get out to our concert. That's awesome. Thanks Nick. Thanks

[00:24:17] storage.

View Details

Have we lost the ability to have conversations with folks on “the other side”? Kamy Akhavan is debunking how to have polarizing discussions that are actually productive. Making connections with people from opposing views is hard to do but it’s very powerful when we do get through to each other. With 20 years of experience bridging divides, Kamy’s work has helped people fight polarization, master essential skills for the modern workplace, and start and grow successful nonprofit organizations.

3 Steps to Bridging the conversation Gap

1. Be curious and listen to the other side

2. Ask pointed clarifying questions to learn more and build trust

3. Bring the heat down and find the larger common ground, what Kamy calls Superordination.

About KamyKamy Akhavan, former CEO of ProCon.org, the nation's leading source of nonpartisan research on controversial issues, now leads the Center for the Political Future (CPF) at the University of Southern California.With more than 20 years of experience in bridging divides at national levels, Kamy’s work has served more than 200 million people, including students at more than 12,000 schools in all 50 states and 100 countries. Kamy writes and speaks on numerous topics including the origins of and solutions to political polarization, improving interpersonal communication, the awesome power of debate, nonprofit leadership, digital marketing, civics education, and how to teach controversial issues.Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] Today on the whole well podcast, I am

[00:00:27] incredibly excited to invite Kami Ahkavan. the former CEO of procon.org, a leading source of nonpartisan research on controversial issues that I'm a boy lot to get into there. And currently he is the executive director, executive director of the center for the political future at university of Southern California.

[00:00:51] Kamy. It's great to see you at least over zoom.

[00:00:55] Yeah, that's right. Well, great to see you too, George. It's been a while. I'm a big fan of your company and a

[00:01:01] view, so it's a

[00:01:02] Oh, thank you. Well, I mean, I just, I have to start

[00:01:06] with I know that a few years ago, I believe you left as the CEO of pro con maybe we can just sort of start there. Inspired that transition. Cause it wasn't at all a politically heated moment at all three years ago because I blacked out what happened.

[00:01:23] I started at ProCon in 2004. I was hired as a managing editor and then became president and then became CEO. the

[00:01:31] reason that I fell in love with that organization is because it was the only one in the country that was focused on presenting extensive research on both sides of

[00:01:40] controversial issues and doing it in a

[00:01:42] very accessible way.

[00:01:44] This is not for policy wanks or super motivated politicos. This is for soccer moms and for people like my, my neighbors and my parents and my, my siblings that I wanted everybody in the country to be able to understand both sides of controversial issues so they can make their own informed judgment and make their own informed opinions on these very tough issues.

[00:02:11] Most people didn't have the time. They didn't have the wherewithal and they frankly didn't have the balanced media diet that would give them access to all those perspectives. So when I leaned into that organization and find out that it wasn't just me, who wanted to have both sides represented really well and understand what all the viewpoints were on issues like, should we legalize marijuana?

[00:02:37] Should the death penalty remain legal? Should abortion be legal? Should you spank your children? Should felons be allowed to vote? Should we put up a border wall? All these controversies, it turned out that tens and tens of millions of people also cared a lot. We ended up reaching an audience of over 300 million people over the course of my 14 years there.

[00:02:58] But to answer your question, 14 years is a long time to be doing anything. And after a while, I just started looking for the eggs. Over the course of my time at con I had worked with over 13,000 schools in all 50 states and nearly a hundred different countries. One of those schools was USC university of Southern California and at one of our events, and this is a true story.

[00:03:23] We were hosting. Remember Anthony Scaramucci, the mooch was going to go on stage with, with a guy named Mike Murphy, who was. The campaign manager for Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush and John McCain and Arnold Schwartzenegger big deal. Republican guys. They went on stage and then the current executive director said, Hey, comedy, you want my job?

[00:03:46] I'm going to be moving. And I said, well, I'm super interested because I'm 14 years in a pro con. What, tell me more. And then she told me more. I ended up applying, ended up getting the position and it's been three years since. So even though I'm a two time UCLA graduate, I'm a proud Bruin. I am now a Brogan Brogan because I can now put up my two fingers and say fight on because USC pays my bills.

[00:04:14] It's a fabulous university. I've always had great respect for USC as well as for UCLA, my, my Alma mater. So happy to be here at USC and pro-con meanwhile, lives on and has since been acquired by encyclopedia Britannica and they run it. That was part of the exit strategy. Was to make sure that it lived on.

[00:04:34] So they great content is still widely available to millions of millions of people. I couldn't be more proud of that operation and what it has done. And we can talk a little bit more about the impact that it has made. I know impact is your, is your currency. And, and I'm very proud of that. And an eager to talk about as well.

[00:04:54] What's going on here at USC and in all the side

[00:04:57] projects that I'm involved in and you're involved

[00:04:59] in.

[00:05:00] It's so interesting because you go from this really immersive. You know, 300 million type level impressions and over a decade of work, which is certainly I would, classify as a mile-wide and that's just the nature of a mile wide reaching many, many at a very top level to now it's looking like you're going a mile deep, a mile deep with the ability to craft and look at an educational experience in a very fraught, political time full of, as you mentioned , media, bubbles media, bubbles that are doing the work of getting and keeping attention.

[00:05:40] I want to actually just pull back though to that moment. You said I started, you know, 14 years are

[00:05:46] people listening and I'm also kind of, we had a recently Greg Baldwin on who is announced that he is moving on from volunteer mattress. a lot of I think, changing, changing of the guard,

[00:05:58] like. What is that first initial moment.

[00:06:00] And then from that moment of , it's time, , what about that

[00:06:05] gives you that like, all right, now I need to put

[00:06:08] this in place. And what is putting this in place? Look like.

[00:06:12] Yeah, it's, it's a profound question and a lot of ways, because it has so much to do with the sense of purpose in life in general. So for me, my purpose professionally and personally had been as a bridge builder. I was bringing people together sometimes against their will on issues so that they can discover that the

[00:06:36] people that they thought

[00:06:37] were opposite from them, that they considered enemies, not just opponents, but enemies, but those people were actually quite rational and that those people got to their viewpoints based on.

[00:06:49] Reasons and education and moral guidance and family values and things that were deeply, deeply reasonable, and they were not caricature. So for liberals they might read or watch Tucker Carlson and think, oh, conservatives, they don't know anything. Or conservatives might watch Rachel Maddow and think, ah, she's such an extremist.

[00:07:20] The reality is that most of us are somewhere in the middle and those viewpoints were not being represented because as you know, for example, 90% of tweets come from 20% of its users. The people who'd speak. The loudest are the ones who are hurt. And most of the time, most of us are kind of in the middle.

[00:07:43] are not extremely. So to answer your question about the, that moment. For me, the moment came when I realized that my personal and professional mission of bridging people, I had been doing it digitally, virtually reaching large audiences. But when I would have conversations offline with friends or family or colleagues, sometimes those conversations got heated.

[00:08:08] And sometimes those conversations went sideways and got ugly. And I thought that's, I'm the master of bringing people together and getting people to recognize their common humanity and recognize the merit in each other's viewpoints. And yet I'm not able to do it on an interpersonal basis. Why is that?

[00:08:28] And there was a new challenge. I thought this is a different kinds of challenge. It's very different. When you're reading information online, where you can be vulnerable, someone is not confronting. You are allowing yourself to be open and allowing yourself to intake new information and be considerate in a heated exchange that is gone.

[00:08:52] And the defensiveness goes up dramatically. The stakes go up and it becomes more of a context. And in those situations, the person wants to win. They don't want to listen. And I thought this is a great area for me to focus on. If I really care about bridging divides, I need to know how to do this interpersonally.

[00:09:15] And so that became my focus. As I said, I need to challenge myself for the next thing and take what I can do virtually and bring it to a interpersonal level. And that was a real challenge. Learning how to disagree better. Is difficult learning how to navigate fraught conversations is a super challenge.

[00:09:37] And it's something that we all face. If an employee is doing a bad job, how do you tell them in a way that won't make them defensive? How do you tell them in a way that will make them think, thank you for telling me I'm so glad that I have this feedback. It's really difficult. Or if you're having an argument with someone about the merits of the corporate tax rate, should, is it too high or too low?

[00:10:00] How can you get a conversation like that to not go off the rails where suddenly you're insulting each other? That's what I've been focused on. And I think I learned a lot in that process over the last few years, so much so to where I can now travel the country and talk about how my experiences in bridging divides online now matches my experiences bridging divides in small group and one-on-one conversations.

[00:10:29] So that we can bring those best tactics and strategies to bear in our workplaces, in our schools

[00:10:36] and in our dinner tables.

[00:10:39] so it sounds like you got wooed by A new problem and challenge that you saw in your

[00:10:45] backyard, and you realize that it is part and parcel with the larger goal that you seem to just have adopted as there needs to be a bridge here. This is ridiculous. Most of us are in the middle. How do, how do we talk to each other about very important issues in a country?

[00:11:00] We all, you know, pay taxes and pledge to.

[00:11:04] A hundred percent or that I haven't told you this story, but let me just tell you what motivates me. I said it's personal. So I was born in the backseat of a taxi cab, Ted Harani, Ron. I moved to south Louisiana when I was one year old. I

[00:11:17] was an who grew up among sash reason tippy-toes and Columbias and arsenals

[00:11:23] good Cajun names like that.

[00:11:24] I stood out like a sword bound with a name like

[00:11:27] Acabar and I had to constantly build these bridges so that my agent friends could understand what Iranian culture was about and vice versa. Then I ended up moving to Southern California where my neighbors names were Coya

[00:11:43] a lot of Japanese people in the Torrance community where I lived, but also Gonzalez and Lopez and a lot of Hispanic names. So again, bridging divides, I had a Cajun accent. And I'm an active on, and I have to represent all these cultures. I lived in twenty-five homes. By the time I was 20 years old, constantly building bridges.

[00:12:02] That's something that I had to become good at as a, as a human being, just to exist and to recognize that all these different cultures were so interesting. And they have so much to offer. And I had so much to learn and I wanted those cultures to feel the same way about the cultures that I had come from and the kinds of foods and music and language and experiences that I had to share.

[00:12:27] So it became a compulsion of curiosity and curiosity to me is the most underrated of all motivations. It is the thing that will drive empathy that will drive respect, and that will drive learning drive. Open-mindedness I remember asking a prominent rabbit. Of all the things in the world, which characteristic do you value the most?

[00:12:49] And he said, Kami, it's not love. It's not love. It's not passion. What do you mean? It's not passion. And he went on to name all the things that's not. And then he said curiosity. And I said, exactly, it's curiosity. So all that's to say that that's what motivated me personally, to want to build these bridges is this intense curiosity from my upbringing of bridging divides and seeing the value that it can bring for inner peace and for happiness and for life satisfaction to feel

[00:13:22] like you're constantly learning from other.

[00:13:24] It makes a lot of sense now, and also why you've probably excelled at doing this because you have the outsiders view, you have this outsider point of view, which is a tremendous advantage, especially when you're talking about the types of themes that ProCon did. And now you are now training people to talk about.

[00:13:43] Maybe we can just dive right into this and let me frame this for people that are listening. There are executives, fundraisers, marketers. There are people that are working at nonprofits that are, needing to deal with diverse stakeholders. They are, let's say sitting in front of a donor that may not even match their political ticket and they're talking.

[00:14:05] And inevitably there's a statement that is made that you're like, Ooh, wait a minute. You know, maybe it's like, I can't believe they're pushing CRT at my preschool. And you're like, oh boy, here we go. And.

[00:14:16] Can you help me? What is the Kamy playbook for looking at a one-to-one conversation where we got identity that need to win and all of the baggage that humans bring in that moment?

[00:14:28] how do you sort of step back and frame a conversation? You know, like somebody's listening right now. You know, there's going to be a couple of hundred people listening to someone's about to walk into that conversation. What are the three things or items that you, you pulled together for them?

[00:14:42] Okay, so number one is

[00:14:43] listen, and let me explain what I mean by

[00:14:46] that. When we surveyed our audience at pro con and asked how many of you changed your mind on an issue based on

[00:14:52] what you read? I thought if we got

[00:14:55] 5% of people to change their mind,

[00:14:57] Home run. We got to 36%. The first time we

[00:15:01] did the survey and then I couldn't believe the numbers.

[00:15:04] So we did it again a year later, it got to 40%.

[00:15:07] So how do you do that? How do you change? 40% of people's minds on very controversial issues with information. And I learned about listening, the reason why we changed minds, and that was not our goal. By the way, our goal was to inform the reason we changed minds is because if someone came to the website with a very strong view on let's say the death penalty, they would see their view represented so well better than they could ever express it, that are articulated better sources, better formatted, better explained all of it.

[00:15:42] They felt hurt. That's exactly what I think. Absolutely what I think then the defense went. As soon as the defense goes down, the receptivity to new ideas is open and staring them right on that page. On the other side of the page was the other side of the argument. Here's all the reasons against the death penalty.

[00:16:02] And perhaps for the first time, they were able to see real compelling arguments that were very well sourced, very well articulated, not caricature lovers. And they thought, wow, I never thought of it that way. And the while I never thought of it that way moments when those happen, those are opportunities for change.

[00:16:23] And those opportunities for change cannot happen without first listening. This is a tool that we know from the playbook of peace negotiators, from marriage counselors, from a conflict resolution experts at all level. Step number one in those fraught moments is listen. And what I mean by listening is you have to ask clarifying questions.

[00:16:50] If you are listening for words versus meaning. So if someone says a word and then that word somehow triggers, you think, oh my gosh, they just use that word that makes me upset. What is their meaning? So ask clarifying questions. What did you mean when you said X? How did you get to that belief? You seem to have very strong views on this issue.

[00:17:15] Where did those views come from? How long have you had those views? You ask clarifying questions. The reason you ask clarifying questions is sometimes in the heat of a moment, the heat is coming from the amygdala part of our brains. That is the reptile part of our brains that says fight, flee or freeze.

[00:17:33] But the prefrontal cortex, that's where our reason comes from. That's where we're able to say what's where our empathy comes from. That's where we're able to say, oh, that's a good point. I hadn't considered that. I never thought of it. That way. What we need to do is ask is listen. So we listen for, listen with curiosity, listen for meaning, not just listen for words, but meaning if we don't understand the meaning, ask clarifying questions so that we can understand meeting and to so that we can.

[00:18:02] Get our brain out of the hypothalamus and into that prefrontal cortex. So we can go towards our second thoughts. We want to go from fast thinking instinct knee-jerk to slow thinking, slow things down and get to that second or third or fourth thought. So that's how you can reduce the heat in the conversation.

[00:18:23] So I'd say if you go into a conversation with the intent to listen with curiosity, with the intent to ask clarifying questions, when you get triggered or where you hear, oh my gosh, they just said CRT and the preschool. This is ridiculous. If we hear that ask clarifying questions. Oh, well, why do you think that they're teaching CRT in the classroom?

[00:18:44] You feel very strongly about CRT. Where did that view come from? What is it about CRT that you feel like you want to understand better and, and that gets you and the person you're talking to. On a much different level of a conversation where it's not emotion versus emotion. It is listening to understand it's not a battle.

[00:19:04] It is a tool for comprehension. So I'd say those two things listening and asking clarifying questions are number one and number two. And I'll see a third thing which I call super ordination. And that means when there is conflict, you hear people say, oh, try to find common grounds. So finding common ground is sometimes like trying to find a unicorn, you know, good luck.

[00:19:28] It's not going to be there, but there is something called super ordination, which is recognizing that you already have common ground. So for instance, I'm in LA and you've got offices in New York. I might like the Dodgers.

[00:19:42] You might like the Yankees, but Hey, we both like baseball. That's super

[00:19:45] ordination

[00:19:47] or.

[00:19:47] quick edit here. Let's go Mets just to that all up. Right, right then and there.

[00:19:53] Let's go, man. It's fair enough. We'll then if you, like, let's say we both like baseball, you're med sundowners, but we both like baseball and then we meet someone else who likes football and they don't care about baseball. And we say, oh, well we all like sports. That's super ordinating. We have expanded our in-group.

[00:20:10] So now there's no one on the outside of our circle, everyone's on the inside of our

[00:20:14] circle. And then let's say we find someone who does not give a care about sports. They don't care, but they love politics and say, oh, we've now expanded our in group to say you love competition. We all love competition.

[00:20:26] That's what super ordination is. So if we come into a conversation ready to listen and ask clarifying questions and think about the fact that we're not looking to find common ground, that we already have common ground. It's just a matter of thinking about what common ground we share. Then suddenly the stakes get a lot lower.

[00:20:45] We are not, the other person is not the enemy. The other person may be our opponents. Right. And in a debate or discussion, but that doesn't make them an enemy. It's not I'm right. You're evil. It's I'm right. And you're wrong. And that's okay. It's okay to disagree. The trick is to disagree

[00:21:01] better.

[00:21:02] It's really cool to hear the data that you just talked about in terms of the percent of your audience when you survey them, that actually sort of had their minds changed. And I think that's a loaded term. And I think just to dig into it, it would be your mind opened or

[00:21:17] shifted. I think of it. I never think of any issue as a binary.

[00:21:23] It is always on a scale. And so what I imagined and what I hear, and maybe you can clarify is that change their mind actually means you moved one tick away from where you were before and a less extreme center center, maybe mindset of like, ah, I still firmly believe this, but maybe minus one on this scale between extreme.

[00:21:44] Your understanding is exactly right. It doesn't mean we shifted our opinion fully from from one extreme to the other extreme.

[00:21:52] It's just that it, it changed somehow our

[00:21:55] viewpoint changed. We learned something

[00:21:57] and that

[00:21:58] has so much value in a person's life. Because if we thought the same thing we thought when we were

[00:22:04] five years old, we'd be idiots, right?

[00:22:07] So our life is a constant process of learning and adapting and changing. And we need to recognize that this is a normal human behavior, and we should not be scared to. This is something we should strive for. Of course you should change when you have new information to adjust to, then you pivot your thinking.

[00:22:27] And right now it seems like a lot of people are very bent on maintaining their exact viewpoint that they've had for years. Well, I've always thought this way. Well, why have you always thought this way? Have you considered other views? Have you really read other views? Have you discussed these other views?

[00:22:43] And if you have, then it's very likely that you will shift your thinking, which is of

[00:22:49] course fair and reasonable. Why not?

[00:22:51] I want to come back to

[00:22:52] this, this approach because it's, you know, if you take one thing away from hopefully listening to this episode and it really hopefully is that, that approach, because it impacts the way you're going to have to do the actual work necessary to achieve what your larger vision is at the individual level.

[00:23:09] You mentioned peace and peace talks in that strategy. And you obviously are calling that up because it is a, a fundamental in hostage negotiations and intense conversations and the following where you just said it, you listen. And then also in order to sort of move from that a type one to type two, thinking that like fast versus slow thinking to get out of that fear state, it is about restating their.

[00:23:38] So, what I'm hearing is you're frustrated about CRT in the classroom because you're afraid that it will make them hate America is, do I have that? Right? And what you're looking for is that's right. Not you're right, but that's right. You hear me? You want to have that,

[00:23:53] that echo, cause you're out of sync, right?

[00:23:55] Like you're talking about a high state, low

[00:23:57] state, you're talking about two high states talking to each other. You're out of rhythm. And so by getting into that rhythm of conversation, it seems like that's what you're getting people to do between the listen, ask clarifying questions and then identify The super ordination.

[00:24:14] Meaning the ground that is around the ground. We currently are fighting on we're living in.

[00:24:19] You said it so well, George, I think that's exactly right. The fact that we shift our focus from the person to the issue,

[00:24:29] then the issue becomes something that we can beat up.

[00:24:33] You know, we can have different views of the

[00:24:35] issue without any animosity towards the

[00:24:38] person. I'd say you, when listening has such a profound impact on the person who feels hurt the chemical that's released in the brain, when a person feels hurt is the same chemical that's released in the brain.

[00:24:51] When a person feels loved, it is profound to feel hurt. And that's something that we don't do often enough, but as a superpower, because when a person feels heard, that's when their trust in you goes up. And when you have a person's trust, you have a certain power. And with that power, you can use it to then influence their thinking on on an issue in the way that you want.

[00:25:17] But you can't gain that power. You can't gain that trust without first listening. So people who try to just shout their opinions over other people, that's never going to work. Right? So in some cases where activists feel like the best thing they can do is tell the other person you are so wrong and here's the facts.

[00:25:37] Let me just correct. You immediately they'll find that that strategy doesn't work and they can sometimes be frustrated with that and think, gosh, that other side, they're a bunch of idiots. They just don't get it. Well, help them get it, listen to their views, gain their trust, gain that power. Then use that power to help influence their thinking in the way

[00:25:57] that you would like. But it has to start with

[00:26:00] listening.

[00:26:00] Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you know, that's just, it's helpful. And it's it's simplicity is misleading because when you're actually in that moment to pay attention to where you need a conversation to go while also ignoring the fact that you might be pissed off because you have as well firmly held beliefs that align with your identity and they are being. So you have to do two things at once. Turn down that response and play toward this end goal, which is really about, you know, not, you use the word influence, which is exactly

[00:26:32] right, but the connotation is toward this larger view of us getting along. So we can actually solve

[00:26:38] these things instead of throwing up walls. I want to ask a little bit more and challenge you on that statement of most of us are somewhere in the middle. I believe that you believe that. Can you help me believe that?

[00:26:55] there was a study that was done about polarization and it was called more in

[00:27:01] common. And what this study found is that approximately 65% of the survey respondents considered themselves

[00:27:08] part of the exhausted majority. And that is the group of people who felt that we can ensure would

[00:27:16] try to get along.

[00:27:18] And many of us believe that our country is hopelessly divided, that we're never going to get along. And that we're, we're breaking apart at the seams. Democracy is in peril. And that we're, we are in a state of civil war. Only our war is being fought with keyboards and pens versus guns and knives.

[00:27:41] Right. So for. That is the perception of the state of our division by many, and yet survey after survey, after survey, including the one I referenced says, most people don't feel that way in their hearts. They don't, they don't actually have animosity towards their neighbors or their coworkers. There's this backdrop in our country of hyper-partisanship.

[00:28:06] And we certainly see that in our elected offices, and that comes from a lot of systemic reasons that we can get into. But the reality is that most of us don't Harbor those same extremist views. Most of us are not in the 10% margin on either side of these partisan issues. And the reality is most of us have not really changed our views over the decades on these controversial issues.

[00:28:30] It's not that we're drawing more to the polls. What's happening is that our identities are drawing more to our political affiliations. So that means that our political identity is becoming more of a meta identity. And so that means if I hold a certain view on abortion, then that means that you can guess which political party I belong to.

[00:28:53] If you have a certain view on immigration, you can guess what political party that person identifies with. So somehow that party identification becomes a very strong predictor of where a person's ideologies are across a wide spectrum of issues, identity equals politics. That means if I challenge your view on abortion, I am challenging you as a person.

[00:29:18] And if I challenge your view on immigration, I'm challenging you as a, as a person. And those kinds of that's why those attacks feel very personal. It didn't use to be that way. It used to be, there was such a thing as a liberal Republican, or a conservative Democrat, where there was this, the south was all democratic.

[00:29:36] There were Dixiecrats, right? So there were conservatives in the south, but now conserves in the south are dumb, predominantly Republican. There's very few liberal Republicans, very few conservative Democrats. It's just degrees of, are you moderate or progressive Democrat? Are you a tea party far right.

[00:29:57] Republican, or you're more of a moderate Republican. That's the big change that's happening in our society is identity. Politics have become the way that we have self-organized and that is what makes it to where our. Conversations on issues can take that quick turn because we feel that our identities are being challenged and no one wants to have their individual identity challenged or threatened.

[00:30:23] And that's where, that's where we are. So our, have we become more extreme now? No, but it's, our identities have become more connected to our political identities and that's why it feels like we're more

[00:30:35] extreme.

[00:30:36] It's so interesting because the identity is really what we're talking about and someone's ego and the way they see themselves. And they define themselves by the beliefs they currently have at this minute in the moment. And they hold them fervently because they're terrified of what it means, if not, but however, in terms of defining themselves, I'd be hard pressed to say, if you look through bio, after bio, after bio, on LinkedIn, on Twitter, on you name the social media platform, you know, for me, , I'm a dad.

[00:31:10] I care about social impact tech. I make beer. I don't put, I vote for this party or that part. I don't put my party affiliation at the top of it. So it's this weird. Kind of like dormant monster that is like unspoken, but everyone

[00:31:28] kind of knows it based on trigger words that are fired off

[00:31:31] in a conversation.

[00:31:32] So I'm not publicly identifying others don't seem to

[00:31:36] be, but yet we have this

[00:31:38] feeling that we're, and here's a sort of

[00:31:41] overused quote, more divided than

[00:31:43] ever. And so how do you know, how do you really

[00:31:46] respond to the, the feeling that we're more divided than ever? Is that what percent of that

[00:31:51] is real?

[00:31:52] if you measure, well, first, those are great points and I love the way that you think about this. You have such a clear way of expressing your views. I'm envious of it. The. If you measure how divided we are based on party polarization. So that means the number of times that one, a member of a political party will co-sponsor the legislation from another, from the opposing party that is becoming increasingly rare.

[00:32:21] In fact, it is surpassed the level of partisanship in the, from the period immediately following the civil war. We're past that. So if you measure how divided we are based on party polarization, we are more divided than we've been. However, if you measure it based on our actual ideologies and viewpoints, those viewpoints have not really changed across across our society.

[00:32:48] They're pretty widely and uniformly distributed. So it's not that we have become more extreme it's that we perceive each other as more extreme. I gave you another example. In the 1950s, there was a survey done asking parents, if you'd be upset, if your son or daughter married someone of the opposing political party.

[00:33:05] And in 1950, nobody cared. It was around three to 4% would be upset if their son or daughter married someone of the opposite party flash forward to 2010, just 10 years ago. Or so that number was close to 46. Parents would be upset if their son or daughter married some of the opposing political parties.

[00:33:20] So it's really about that. The perception what's, the politics is introduced into the equation. Then suddenly the defensiveness goes up the identification around a party affiliation increases, and the perception of the other as an enemy versus an opponent, all of that stuff kicks in. You called it a hidden monster.

[00:33:40] I think that's right. That quickly comes to the forefront because we feel. We know that we've seen a few studies that said, what percentage of, of Americans consider the opposing party as a threat to the nation's well-being it's over a third of Democrats and Republicans who perceive the other side as a threat to the nation's well being, and you don't invite a threat over for barbecue, you know, to come and have a play date with your kids, right?

[00:34:08] It's a threat is not someone you want to hire in your company. We have all of these mechanisms to, to defend ourselves against the threats, not to to make nice with them. So that's, to me, the, the overarching phenomenon that's happening and social media is fueling a lot of it. So when you are posting on your LinkedIn or Twitter about a tech events or about an upcoming podcast, or about things that are nonpolitical.

[00:34:37] That's all great. It, as soon as certain words come into the equation or certain issues coming to the fore, then the potential for things to go off, the rail increases exponentially. And we have to be really, really careful and mindful about how we're communicating to one, make sure we're not triggering other people unintentionally.

[00:34:56] Right. So that our meaning does not get distorted. But also, so we don't get in trouble. No one wants the, the firefight, the food fight. That's going to follow from some, someone being upset about what we said politically. So the additive. Parents taught us and our parents, parents thought is always avoid discussions around a politics and religion.

[00:35:18] It's it seems like very good advice because those discussions can get too heated and ugly too quickly. But at the same time, we have the luxury of living in a democracy, in a Republic form of democracy. And that means our system is designed for it to be participatory. We have to discuss issues. That's part of the deal here.

[00:35:41] And if we don't like that as part of the deal, then we don't like a fundamental aspect of being American. It requires per informed citizenry and participation. So on the one hand, we have to discuss politics and issues. And on the other hand, we are punished when we do, because those conversations are so fraught and go off the rails.

[00:36:01] So that's why we are kind of stuck in these uncomfortable situations. And it's not just stuck in our, in our work lives. Or professional lives. We're stuck all the time. We are feel like we have to walk on eggshells so frequently. I can't tell you how many studies I've seen, where people are afraid to say what they actually think on issues, unless they're with people of their same ideological bent, then they are like, ah, let me tell you what I really think about the outcome of the 2016 election.

[00:36:30] This is what I really think about Trump or Clinton is literally what I think about, about Trump or Biden. And that's when they can relax and let loose. So our communities are becoming increasingly homogenous because no one wants to live with the discomfort and the feeling like my, my neighbors or my conversations are going to go off the rails.

[00:36:48] It's why people are going to companies that reflect their values and their ideologies, because they don't want to be in workplaces. That will make them feel like an other or like they can't say what's truly on their mind. So are, we're becoming more homogenous in our social media circles and in. Our offline communities because of this, this feeling that we have, that we can't say what we think and the antidote to all of that.

[00:37:17] And the solution really for our democracy is you have to be courageous. We have to have conversations knowing that sometimes they can be awkward and uncomfortable, but that's where we learn. And that's where we can make progress. We have to be bridge builders, or we threaten a few things when we threaten our own knowledge and our own self-exploration and our own capacity to learn and grow as human beings.

[00:37:40] But we also endanger our capacity to function as a country because it is it's oxygen is participation. So if we don't participate and engage in these issues, then we are starving our system of what is essential to it. So that's why I think the best solution. Is this intention that I will be unafraid.

[00:38:01] I'm going to accept that there's bees, there will be some conversations that don't go the way I want, but damn it. I'm going to try, I'm going to try to make these work. I'm going to try to listen with curiosity. I'm going to try to learn from people with whom I probably disagree on a handful of issues, but I probably do agree on the vast majority of other topics we can discuss.

[00:38:23] And we shouldn't let that small fraction of things. We disagree on the finest and instead let the vast majority of things that we do agree on. Let that define

[00:38:33] us.

[00:38:33] I mean, I love the sentiment of having the bravery to have those courageous conversations. I also firmly agree that you are hurting your understanding of an issue to the detriment of the outcome you want actually, by not allowing that dialogue and not allowing your own mind to move a point toward the center for talking about that spectrum.

[00:38:53] Can you comment though, because there is a cost to. Um, When you look at cancel culture and its rise, there is a real threat. This is no longer an imagined, oh, I'll be ostracized. There is a real threat that a

[00:39:09] very vocal minority to your point, only about 20% of Twitter is actually making the comments and grabbing the pitchforks. But there's a real threat to, to voicing an opinion that strays from the extreme party line so much so that you would lose your job. Where's the upside there. We're having that conversation.

[00:39:32] It is a very difficult

[00:39:34] question to answer. And I think most people will say, forget it. It's not worth it. There's a

[00:39:38] risk. So I'm just going to keep my mouth shut. I don't want to bring up politics in this conversation. I can tell things are going to get ugly fast. Most people are, are unwilling to take those risks, but I'll tell you what is the

[00:39:51] heavy downside of not having those courageous conversations

[00:39:55] is we will continue to divide further and further and further.

[00:40:00] We will continue to deprive ourselves of the ability to grow as individuals, and we can continue to starve our system of the oxygen. It needs to function, and we will lose some of the greatness and the great value of America. What are the stories? I didn't tell you. George is in 1979, after the Iranian revolution, my parents moved back to Iran with me as a young boy, and we thought we're going to rebuild this country help rebuild it.

[00:40:25] Now that the dictator has gone. And within a few months, the Ayatollah came back, the religious clerics took over. They started executing the revolutionaries and then the Iraqi under Saddam Hussein started attacking. We went from rebuilding the country to hiding in the basement because there's bombs dropping planes, dropping bombs on the city and turning off all the lights at night and living in terror that we're all going to die.

[00:40:54] That was the feeling. So we said, we have to get out of here. What have we done? We were living in the United States. And so we moved to Turkey and thought let's apply to go back to the United States through Turkey and. The U S embassy said, no, you left. And that's, that's on you. We president switched from Carter to Reagan and we weren't allowed to move back.

[00:41:15] So we've moved to Bulgaria and said, let's try this again. Let's try to get back in the U S same thing. Couldn't get in move to France. Same thing. Couldn't get back in through the U S embassy. We thought, gosh, we can't move back to Iran. We can't move back to the U S I guess we're going to live in Turkey.

[00:41:31] So we ended up going back to Turkey, tried one last time to get in. And then that time it worked, we got back into the U S and the reason why, and this is the point of my story here is because of one man, Mr. Jack Tolson in Lafayette, Louisiana, who was my dad's boss as an architect, who's spent bunch of his own money to hire an immigration attorney to help us get back in the country.

[00:41:54] And Mr. Tolson, I knew we were good people. He knew that we belonged in America. And I think about America as people like Jack Tolson, I think about, I do not take that American dream for granted. I know what it represents for the, for much of the world and its freedoms and its aspirations for economic success.

[00:42:17] And anybody can make it in all those ideals that so many people in this country have achieved and lived so many have nots, of course, but so many have in a way that is unique to this country. So when I think about conflict and courage and not will be willing to have these conversations and what's at stake, I think about.

[00:42:36] The how precious this system of government is and how, if we do not have those conversations, we do this system to failure. So we have to have the courage, not just for ourselves and our growth, not just for our country and for its success, but also for what it represents for the rest of the world. We lead as I believe president Biden once said not by the example of our power, but by the power of our

[00:43:07] example.

[00:43:07] hi. I just really identify with the, you know, talking about, I imagine the H1B process , I look at my own, like I've succeeded three times. I'm very grateful in getting securing H1B at, at expense for amazing individuals. And I failed one time and it, it really kills me that there's a talented individual out there that I just, you know, I, I couldn't do it.

[00:43:30] And it. Um, Quite a bit um, while I was happy as I am on that side and getting back to putting in context, like the courage, you know, you're just trying to say , you know, by the way, there are larger things that you make an, a mistake in a tweet. But I, I will say, , I understand that sort of like the context is relevant to each person, right?

[00:43:49] So, you know, what is stressful for me is different than for someone else. And I think, you know, especially for, for leaders listening there, there are a few things in play. One is that sort of risk of a miscommunication and a misunderstanding. And there's no trial by jury. There's no fair and equal thought.

[00:44:09] There is a fire that burns insatiably hot and will take down your organization. And that's a, that's a legitimate fear. On top of it, I feel like there's also this like easy level. Given right when you just sort of like play into the game of extremism, there's an easy level lever that media companies use that by the way, non-profits raised quite a bit of money on and the lever goes as follows, take a dash of anger, mix it in with enough attention and you get acquisition acquisition of donors, acquisition of leads, acquisition of engagement. And how do I stay away from this like button I can just press over here. Did you see what happened at the border

[00:44:53] wall? Donate here. And by the way, it's, you know, we've switched administrations. I can't help, but

[00:44:59] notice it doesn't seem like a lot has changed just

[00:45:02] objectively looking at the fricking numbers. So how, how do you communicate,

[00:45:08] , that that sort of desire to press the money button

[00:45:10] the attention plus angry equals acquisition

[00:45:12] and,

[00:45:12] and, , having these brave bridge

[00:45:14] conversations.

[00:45:15] The money button is a very tempting button to press. I believe author Amanda Ripley called them conflict entrepreneurs. They benefit when there's conflict and there's certainly money to be made there. Network television am radio. There's a big audiences for this, right? There's certainly plenty of book sales and listen.

[00:45:38] There's two ways to go. I think two ways to go about this one is we can lament the prophets of doom, the ones who are saying the sky is falling. The enemies are within a, and they're sounding the alarm and scaring the crap out of us, right? By making us think that bad things are imminent. That's on them.

[00:46:01] Shame on them. We wish there were fewer conflict entrepreneurs, but they're there. And the reason why they're successful is because shame on us, we are consuming. Hook line and sinker we're buying it. All right. And so part of it is I think we need to develop some type of resiliency, media literacy skills to where, when we are exposed to this kind of content, we don't just think, oh my gosh, I'm going to hide in the corner.

[00:46:30] I never opened my mouth or else I'll really be in trouble. And instead think that is an extreme view. That is not a view that is held by a large number of people, or I should try to understand that viewpoint better so that I can have conversations with those people and really understand them and help turn them around.

[00:46:53] Or I can just dismiss it and ignore it because I know that it is, it's not valid. I can fact check it. I can present a counter-argument to it. I can ask for clarifying questions about it. I think that. There's the shame on them and there's the shame on us. And I think

[00:47:10] Them are, are valid. So for the conflict entrepreneurs, I would say that that's the best thing to do is.

[00:47:18] Is through gird ourselves and defend ourselves with as much media literacy skills as we're capable of mustering. And then to realizing what's at stake, if we don't because that's a motivator too. And I'll tell you one more quick story. When I visited the jet propulsion laboratory, one of the scientists there said, come and make a triangle with your fingers and you can try it, just make a little triangle here.

[00:47:41] And he pointed it up to the night sky and found a patch of sky where it looked like there was no stars. It was just blackness. And he thought we're GPL. We're gonna point the Hubble telescope. And that particular patch where it looks like there's nothing. And he then took me into a room. Where the room is about third, a wall of about 30 feet long.

[00:48:03] And all I see on it are little white lights, little blips. They look like stars. And I said, what's this wall. And he goes calm. When we pointed the Hubble at that dark patch, these are the three plus billion galaxies that we discovered in that empty patch. And I felt so insignificant as a human being. I'm on one person in one little patch of land on one planet in one galaxy.

[00:48:26] And here I'm looking at 3 billion and we're in a place where we thought there was nothing. And when I think about that feeling of cosmic insignificance, it makes these issues. Just immaterial. They don't matter. It doesn't matter if you think the corporate tax rate should be 20%. And I think it should be 25% who cares.

[00:48:45] It doesn't matter. I think we feel those feelings of cosmic insignificance when sometimes when we travel sometimes when, when we're in love, sometimes when we're in nature and for in the ocean or in the forest in the mountains we feel that feeling. And I say, remember that feeling, that feeling of humility.

[00:49:04] Sometimes we feel it in, in our houses of worship, in our churches and temples and synagogues and mosques that feeling, remember that feeling. Cause we need to have that humility in our hearts when we are, are interacting with other, other people and recognizing that our differences are.

[00:49:24] Insignificant and relative to the vast majority of things that we hold in common.

[00:49:30] And I know it's hard to think that way sometimes when we get and there's heat in the equation and when we feel like there's a lot at stake, but I think we just have to be mindful of those

[00:49:40] things in order to live a happy life.

[00:49:43] it sounds like this is going back to our sort of listen, ask clarifying questions and then the super ordination. This is like a, you know super ordination, but framing, right? Put it in the context of you're on a tiny blue dot whipping around us. And

[00:49:57] an insignificant sort of way. And now you're very, very angry about the corporate tax rate move of 5%.

[00:50:04] Right. Exactly. Right.

[00:50:06] I want to be respectful of your time because I could just let this go for two hours. It's not something we do. I could easily do it. I have rapid fire questions, but I

[00:50:16] want, I just like you're out there bridging original worlds. You're teaching classes. I don't want to make sure I'm not interrupting a class.

[00:50:22] So how are we doing on time for you?

[00:50:23] We're good. I'm ready for the rapid fire. I'm excited about that component. I love it on your podcast in general. So I'm

[00:50:29] I'm excited to be part of it.

[00:50:31] All right, here we go. Please keep your response. Well, you know what you're doing? what is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using the last year?

[00:50:39] The telephone, the telephone, we don't use it enough. The thing that we

[00:50:45] keep in our pocket is a computer, but it is also a telephone. I can't tell you how many times when I'm driving or just taking a walk, I'll call someone out of the blue. How are you doing?

[00:50:57] What's new with you. Like come, I haven't heard from you for six

[00:51:01] months.

[00:51:02] That's right. And sometimes I'll call someone I haven't talked to for five years and just say, I know we don't keep in touch. I'm not looking to rekindle our friendship. I just want you to know that those times that we had together were very special to me and that I always think finally of that and that's it.

[00:51:19] And then I feel great. They feel great. And you're able to connect using human voice where you can hear tone and inflection in a way that is really hard to communicate via apps and texts and slacks and emails and tools that we

[00:51:34] typically use. So the phone that's my tool.

[00:51:37] Tech issues. Are you currently.

[00:51:39] I'd call it a social media of FOMO posting. So that is, there are maybe three or four or five main social media channels. There's probably another 50. And when we hear about what as an organization, we think, oh, I need to get on Tik TOK right away, or, oh, Pinterest. I hear people are still using Pinterest extensively.

[00:52:03] It's a different demographic. I know I should I don't want to give up my Twitter game. I need to stay in Twitter. So the tech issue is, do we really need to be on all these social media platforms and all hundreds of them, or do we need to be on two or three? And do we need to have different strategies to use each one?

[00:52:22] So I need to stop thinking about the fear of missing out to be on all of them and instead think super strategically and surgically

[00:52:30] about which handful that I do want to be.

[00:52:33] What is coming in the next year that has you the most excited.

[00:52:36] Growth growth has me the most excited, the mission of the center for the political future is to bring practical politics without hyper the baggage of hyper-partisanship. And we are trying to train the future political leaders over the three years that I've been here. We've been doing that for not just more and more USC students, but for more and more students across the country, as we expand our

[00:53:00] partnerships and then for more and more people in our local community.

[00:53:03] And then for more and more people who are just generally interested in the subjects that we're we're raising. So for me, that growth is very exciting.

[00:53:11] Can you talk about a mistake you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things today?

[00:53:16] I in high school was a debater and college was a debater. I knew how to get things done by talking. I thought talking was my super weapon I have since learned. Talking is to a lumber too. And that listening is tool number one. And that mistake of trying to talk my way out of situations versus listen. My way

[00:53:39] out of situations is something that has dramatically changed how I resolve conflict and ultimately my life satisfaction

[00:53:46] Do you believe NGOs can successfully go out of business?

[00:53:50] in theory. Yes. In practice, not really of view has NGOs declare bankruptcy. They don't lose their status with the IRS. It just kind of limps on, or just fades into the sunset. I'd say a few do, but in theory, yes, they can successfully

[00:54:11] just stop operating and fade away.

[00:54:14] Tara toss you in a hot tub time machine, back to the beginning of your work with procon.org. What advice would you give?

[00:54:21] I'd say a focus on the mission alignment with staff. And if somebody doesn't really care about your mission and you think they'll come around, I can convince them. Maybe they'll fall in love. Eventually. It's just like a relationship. Sometimes they're just not that into you.

[00:54:40] And if they're not, the best thing to do

[00:54:43] is, is, ended. We need to avoid those 80 20 traps. And then with some of those employees, I found that I was using, you know, 80% of my time on those 20% of the people. And it's really just, if they don't align with the mission, then do them and do yourself a favor and cut them

[00:55:00] loose.

[00:55:00] What is something you believe that you should stop doing?

[00:55:04] Stop competing with like-minded organizations. The, a lot of NGOs think about zero sum in their spaces. It's a finite pool of resources. And if we don't get the money, somebody else will. I think we should stop thinking that way. And instead think about partnering because when we can expand the pie and I think partnering is going to help our organizations achieve their missions more effectively and it can lead to consolidation.

[00:55:34] So rather than compete and make an enemy out of someone, make them an

[00:55:38] ally. And you'll both go from.

[00:55:39] Magic wand that you could wave across the industry. What would it do?

[00:55:43] Well in the NGO space, I'd say consolidate to amplify and it does not happen hardly ever, but it should happen more consolidation in the for-profit business, acquisitions and mergers. These happen all the time in the NGO world, extremely rare. And yet boy is it needed. There's so much redundancy in the, in these spaces and unnecessary competition.

[00:56:08] I'd say partner, liberally, pursue evidence-based intervention strategies

[00:56:13] and just consolidate to.

[00:56:15] How did you get started in the social impact sector?

[00:56:18] My favorite story for this. And I, my point of origin, I think is in 10th grade, I had gone to my second meeting of the junior state of America, which was a debate organization for high school students. And even those all on my second meeting, they said, who wants to be president next year? And I raised my hands.

[00:56:36] I don't know why I did. I just did it. And then I ended up competing and winning that, that position, getting that

[00:56:42] position. And then I ran again, the following year, grew the chapter from 20 students to about 120 students. It really drove so much of my self-confidence my ability to communicate my ability to get along with other people.

[00:56:57] My. The of my ability to have empathy for other viewpoints and other people. And I really say that my social impact motivations came from my experiences in speech and debate, and it all came from that one day. I still don't know why I raised my hand to be president.

[00:57:15] What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or did not follow.

[00:57:19] My dad always told me Cami, be consistent, be consistent. I think he said it cause he was not well, I was not either. And did not take that advice. I was not consistent. I have a gazillion different kinds of interests. I, my attitude is Intensely curious about other people. And I am a sponge. When I get an opportunity to talk with someone who's

[00:57:42] not like me. I want to learn about where they're from, what was their life experience? What kind of things are they into? What are they like? What are some of their lessons for me? And from that I can build momentum for more, for more curiosity and learn about the world and satisfy my curiosity is and

[00:57:59] passions that way, but it was not through consistency.

[00:58:01] what advice would you give college grads currently looking to enter the social impact sector?

[00:58:07] Persistence trumps talents. It really does. Nonlinear career paths are okay. And the norm get your personal and professional mission to overlap. Know your, why ask advice from people that you

[00:58:22] trust?

[00:58:23] Final question. How do people find you? How do people help you?

[00:58:26] Google center for the political future. And you'll find my organization. If you can spell my name, Kamy Ahkavan you could try to Google me and watch some of my talks and presentations about a polarization and partisanship. How bad is it? How did we get this way? And what can we do about it? You can write to me as well.

[00:58:48] You can reach me on LinkedIn. I'm very accessible,

[00:58:51] very eager to engage with people, very eager to grow my social networks and to expand the mission of the center for the political future as best I can.

[00:59:00] Well, thank you for your time. We'll have all of those resources in these show notes. Thank you for the work you do. And I really, really hope you succeed.

[00:59:10] Well, thank you, George. I appreciate your support and the opportunity to speak to this whole whale audience that appreciates you and your work very much.

View Details

This podcast discusses how the nonprofit sector is lagging behind the rest of the economy in terms of pandemic recovery. George and Nick discuss how nonprofits are being impacted by the pandemic and the challenges they face in terms of fundraising and providing services. They also talk about how the sector is trying to adapt and the role that nonprofits play in fighting climate change.

Nonprofit news summaries weekly.

Nonprofits Play Unique Role In Push For Climate Resilience This Earth Day As Earth Day was celebrated across the world this past week, nonprofits continue to serve vital and unique roles in contributing to our understanding of the changing climate and its effects on our global community. International NGO the International Crisis Group published an interactive visual explainer on how climate change exacerbates civil unrest and humanitarian fragility. More locally, two New York City-based nonprofits, Central Park Conservancy and Natural Areas Conservancy have teamed up with the Yale School of the Environment to launch the Central Park Climate Lab, according to Reuters. The program seeks to better understand the NYC metro area’s increasingly extreme weather and how parks may be part of that solution.

Read more ➝ Pandemic Recovery Stalls In Comparison To Broader Economy As reported by The NonProfit Times, the nonprofit sector’s post-pandemic recovery is lacking behind that of the broader economy, according to data from an analysis by Independent Sector. While giving has largely remained steady, it is not keeping pace with the broader growth experienced by the economy at large. Additionally, the sector remains down approximately 495,000 jobs.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Union Mental Health Workers Strike for Better Conditions at Nonprofit in New London | NBC Connecticut
• Warren Buffett to host final charity lunch for San Francisco nonprofit | The Mighty 790 KFGO
• Are Colorado’s nonprofit hospitals giving enough to their communities to justify tax exemptions? New reports offer different answers. | The Denver Post
• Seeds of change: Landfill, nonprofit launch next phase of Making Trash Bloom project | Northern Virginia Daily

Resource: Universal Google Analytics going away...

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed. Well, we are talking about earth day and the various events that happened and news that came out as well as some top level news on pandemic recovery, maybe stalling, a little bit for nonprofits. Nick has it going.

[00:00:17] It's going.

[00:00:18] good, George. I can start us off with our first story. And this is about the role of nonprofits in fighting. Emergency. So coming on the heels of an I P C C report, that is the intergovernmental panel on climate change, which says it's. Now we're never with addressing carbon emissions in the atmosphere to stave off a climate catastrophe.

[00:00:44] We want it to highlight the role of a couple different nonprofits and NGOs fighting climate change in different capacities. The first one we highlighted in this story was the international NGO, the international crisis group, which published a really cool interactive feature about how climate change leads to conflict in countries that are seeing the effects of climate change firsthand.

[00:01:14] It's just a great visualization. They always do such great visual journalism work. And I think it really. Emphasizes the importance of looking at climate. When we think about broader political, social, cultural, and unfortunately conflict on a global scale, another angle we wanted to approach this story a little bit more locally to probably many of our listeners is that.

[00:01:42] To New York city based non-profits the central park Conservancy and natural areas Conservancy have teamed up with the Yale school of the environment to launch the central park climate lab. And this is a really cool one. According to Reuters, the program seeks to better understand the New York city Metro areas, increasingly extreme weather.

[00:02:03] And how parks may be part of that solution. And they're setting up all sorts of different scientific measuring equipment and are going to be using central park as essentially an open air laboratory for climate science. So what does it take a couple of different angles on this approach to climate change coming off the heels of earth day, but George, what's your take on how non-profits can address climate?

[00:02:29] Yeah, I think non-profits have already been addressing climate change for me. It's about how you kind of. How do you call this a crisis day in and day out and pull toward these? Like, long-term if the Celsius gets to like two degrees increase and what happens then it's tough because you have to find different narratives inside of it.

[00:02:51] And I think one of the things that the international NGO international crisis group did was just

[00:02:57] far more visual in terms of explaining this. So one of the links that we did include in this gets back to like how nonprofits can look at it. Show me the visual, honestly. And this is a really amazing dynamic presentation of what's going on, but then you like juxtapose that with the IPC sixth assessment report, which like even the summary needs a summary of the summary.

[00:03:19] And I think one takeaway is that shirt a highly technical documents are what are needed for maybe policy advisors, but that doesn't get the donor out of bed. And I think it's much more. Visualizing what it looks like in, that's why we went from like very macro to very micro into saying like, this is what it looks like in central park, but these issues touch upon of course, issues of social justice based on the way that you solve for it.

[00:03:43] And also the potential impacts for it. So it's on both sides. And so peeling out those stories and again, making it visual, making it simple while also not making it a kind of hopeless. Right. If, if you said. That is far, far, far beyond the capabilities of what people can do the, the responses giving up.

[00:04:03] And so sometimes I look at some of these reports and visuals and like, all right, so I got to give I'm, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna drive less. How, how can I solve this? So you have to, you have to tow that very carefully. I think in communications around this, and every year around earth day, we see a lot of reports coming in and it's good to, to continue to remind our constituents on how this issue touches.

[00:04:25] Absolutely. And I think it's also, there's so many threads. You can take this story, right? Cause it's so. Interconnected and inextricably linked with so many other parts of the global economy and discussions about natural resources. And now we're starting talking about global oil prices and sanctions and conflict, and all of these things come together.

[00:04:48] So threading that narrative in a way that doesn't discount any of those really important factors, I think is super important to your point, but we can. We set realistic, but ambitious goals we can get there. All right. Our next story comes from the nonprofit times and it's how the nonprofit sectors post pandemic recovery is lacking behind that, of the broader economy.

[00:05:14] So according to data from an analysis by independent sector, while charitable giving has largely remained steady year over year. It is not keeping pace with the broader growth experienced by the economy at large. And additionally, the nonprofit sector remains down approximately 495,000 jobs. From, I believe approximately the 1.6, it was down at the height of the.

[00:05:41] This, both these factors are present a lag behind the broader us economy, which despite higher prices is kind of steamrolling ahead with a hyper competitive job market and pretty significant growth. So George, just something to keep an eye on. As we look at the nonprofit sector as a whole.

[00:06:03] Yeah, I'm not super surprised to see a lagging, but it is. Sort of interesting to see that, that recovery there, and in terms of numbers of jobs, one of the places I just always look@isidealist.org. And if you just pop on there currently, they're like 8,800 jobs on just broadly and open and, and listed out there.

[00:06:26] So it is one of the larger job networks for, for nonprofit. It's some something to watch. And I think it'll, you'll begin increasing and catching up as services, get back to back to more of a normal endemic. Hey, we can go back to work. Hey, we can have preschool programs more regularly and that need is only going to simply increase.

[00:06:52] I think over time.

[00:06:53] Absolutely. I agree. And I think that. The charitable sector as a whole is not immune from broader trends in the economy, like an increase in wages that puts pressure on employers to find qualified candidates for jobs. There's a lot of factors here and this actually takes us into our next story in the summary.

[00:07:18] And this comes from a local NBC affiliate in Connecticut about how. Union mental health workers are striking for better conditions at a nonprofit in new London. So these workers are essentially outsourced mental health professionals paid for. By local government and they have gone on a strike to demand higher wages.

[00:07:43] We've covered stories before about how nonprofits, particularly some nonprofit health providing organizations are really struggling to compete with wages. Even with. Local fast food restaurants, for example. And I think this is an example of workers kind of exercising their power here to demand higher wages, but again, a different angle to the broader macro economic trends we've been talking.

[00:08:13] Yeah. For mental health. The type of work is this may be a small story in some respects, but as a, as a larger narrative. And it fits in very, very clearly, especially in a service of mental health, which is at an all time high in terms of demand because of the mental taxes that have been put on communities due to COVID.

[00:08:33] And then on top of that inflation. And so again, nonprofits, it skills me like nonprofits don't have. The the money lover necessarily to say like, okay, everyone who's paying services, you have to all pay 10% more. I don't like the money button. Isn't there in the same way that gas stations can change their rates.

[00:08:53] McDonald's can up the price. That's just not not there at the same point. Yeah. These workers absolutely need to get paid in line with the services they're providing. It's just, it it's takes longer to get there. A hard place for non-profits for sure. In direct service industries.

[00:09:12] Absolutely. I think those are great points. All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from K F G o.com. And it's a story about how Warren buffet is hosting a charity dinner. I guess the setup here is you can pay. In an auction, a large and absurd amount of money, frankly, to join Warren buffet at the Valencia steakhouse and Smith and Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan.

[00:09:45] Excuse me. Previous winners have included a cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin's son who paid a record $4.57 million for the privilege of dining with Mr. Buffet back in 2019. But this is the last time. Apparently this will be happening. Mr. Buffet is quite old and this, this is going to be the last such charity lunch, but George, I'm not super knowledgeable about the, the mega wealthy philanthropy charity universe.

[00:10:17] And even here, it seems like cult of personality, most around Warren buffet, and I guess is investing prowess. But what's, what's your take on this?

[00:10:26] I just had to call it out and put it up at the top because this is the 21st time that he's done it. And in my mind, this is the, this has created a whole model of auctioning off a lunch with a VIP that many nonprofits have, have taken and run with and has raised a significant amount of money. And it's just an amazing way, I guess now it's not.

[00:10:51] New and clever, but it's an amazing way to say, Hey, we have somebody who may be able to write a big check, but more importantly, would you be willing to auction off a lunch, something simple? It seems that then rose was able to raise a lot more money for, for glide over the years. And it's a I don't know, it's just sort of like an interesting note that like, all right, this is the final lunch that he is optioning off.

[00:11:17] And I think a lot of other nonprofits have done that. I think there is a takeaway here for organizations to come back to this, especially as guess what like more and more people are now able to go have lunch together. How can you maybe bring this back into a fundraising, ask of some of the people on your team.

[00:11:35] If you've got some of those board members who they are saying like, Hey Buffet's stopping. Can we start? Can you say, Hey, for the next five years, can we auction off a lunch? Some of the risks can be that, like I crashed my own house party cause no one came. You want to make sure there are people that are going to bid on it.

[00:11:50] And it's just a funny way of saying like, if you have somebody impressive, but then nobody bids, that is not a good thing. So there's a little bit of that risk as well. And you can also take a look at some of the models on this, on the charity buzz networks and these auction networks to see how these are packaged also.

[00:12:08] Absolutely. That's a great point. There's a whole industry of auctioning off kind of celebrity access. For charity, I somewhat famously donated to the Obama campaign back in 2012 for the chance to get a lunch with Barack Obama. And my dream did not come true, but I donated to the cause and now my email lives on in infamy.

[00:12:33] All right. Our next story is a follow-up on one. We did a couple of weeks ago, and this comes from the Denver post and it's a follow-up on how Colorado's nonprofit hospitals. A different take, I should say, on how Colorado's nonprofit hospitals are giving enough to their communities. So the follow-up is in a fairly splashy report from the lown Institute or loan Institute, a think tank that focuses on healthcare reform, posited that most of our major American.

[00:13:08] Nonprofit hospitals are not reinvesting enough in their communities. And the take of this article was that actually to George, the point you raised when we recorded that podcast, is that actually the more important question is How these hospitals are offering free or discounted care to people who can't pay.

[00:13:28] So it just adds a little bit more nuance on a couple of different angles, that story there, particularly related to Colorado, but George why'd, you include the story in our rundown.

[00:13:37] I think it's a follow on of that larger report that we talked about and what that looks at a local level and more and more papers in journalism now looking into, Hey, isn't that interesting? Yeah, you do get attacks. Advantage of being a 5 0 1 C3. So wait a minute. W w the community service, the service to the people in this community?

[00:14:00] What does that actually look like? Or unfortunately, sometimes are you the number one reason, many of our. Neighbors declaring bankruptcy. And I'm not saying that that's the case here, but it's following the larger report and the work that a large sort of research and nonprofit funding can have to then move the needle locally.

[00:14:20] And it's part of maybe even a potential press, press push and press awareness to, to now pay attention to and in, in whatever sector that you work in. But this is following it through, through hospitals, for sure.

[00:14:32] Absolutely. All right, George, what a bow, a feel-good story for you?

[00:14:37] We can, before we get there, though, I do want to call out one of the resources that we've been putting out there around Google analytics and the Google analytics apocalypse that we've been talking about. Where essentially Google analytics, universal analytics. That's the, probably the version you're using and has been in place for a number of years is being deprecated.

[00:15:00] And it's going to effectively be no longer collecting any information on your site as of July next year, 2023. So yet you have a year, however, What's important to note is that in order to get new data into GA for Google analytics, for the newest, greatest latest, you have to actually go through a full different installation process and installation process to make sure that you're collecting data now that you'll want to look at later.

[00:15:31] So for example, when the lights go out in July, Of next year, you're going to be interested in looking at year over year comparisons to similar metrics that you've been collecting. So in order to do that, you need to prioritize that now. So yes, this is a bit of a headache, but we are letting all of our clients know past clients and as many people as well, listen, that this is something that you need to prioritize a little bit of work right now to do so that you have data later.

[00:15:58] And aren't saying, oh my gosh, I didn't know about this. If this is the first time you're hearing about it, that's fine. Check out our site and this post, and we'll have those resources for you. All right now. Feel good.

[00:16:12] All right. That's a feel stress story for some of us who work in the nonprofit web analytics field, but a feel good story is from the Northern Virginia. Daily N V daily.com and they talk about a nonprofit called sustainability matters that has gathered at the Shenandoah county landfill to celebrate the kickoff of the second part of their making trash bloom project.

[00:16:45] I am. An expert in environmental science or whatever the field is that manages plants. But they are hydroseeding native wild flower seeds with 900 gallons of water onto the living trash cell. So I think what this means in layman's terms is they are turning trash into flowers. And I love that. That is pretty, that sounds good for the environment and it's being led by a non-profit.

[00:17:12] So nothing not to love here.

[00:17:14] Yeah, I always loved the environment meets nonprofits, and it's a, it's a great story there. A lot of work to be done, to beautify and manage the tremendous amount of trash we shove under, under the good old earth. And there's a lot that goes into it, including sort of venting and management of though the wastewater that gets run out.

[00:17:34] But get some, get some flowers going. And it's a project that frankly nonprofits take on to, to solve the, the downstream problems of like, okay, a bunch of companies threw away a bunch of stuff. And now they don't have to pay for the, the common problem, but nonprofits pick up in moments like that, which is why it's good that we have those three sectors always working together.

[00:18:00] But usually the sector I love the most doing the most important work.

[00:18:04] Absolutely.

[00:18:06] All right, Nick, thanks as always.

[00:18:09] Thanks, George.

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This podcast discusses how the nonprofit sector is lagging behind the rest of the economy in terms of pandemic recovery. George and Nick discuss how nonprofits are being impacted by the pandemic and the challenges they face in terms of fundraising and providing services. They also talk about how the sector is trying to adapt and the role that nonprofits play in fighting climate change.

Nonprofit news summaries weekly.

Nonprofits Play Unique Role In Push For Climate Resilience This Earth Day As Earth Day was celebrated across the world this past week, nonprofits continue to serve vital and unique roles in contributing to our understanding of the changing climate and its effects on our global community. International NGO the International Crisis Group published an interactive visual explainer on how climate change exacerbates civil unrest and humanitarian fragility. More locally, two New York City-based nonprofits, Central Park Conservancy and Natural Areas Conservancy have teamed up with the Yale School of the Environment to launch the Central Park Climate Lab, according to Reuters. The program seeks to better understand the NYC metro area’s increasingly extreme weather and how parks may be part of that solution.

Read more ➝ Pandemic Recovery Stalls In Comparison To Broader Economy As reported by The NonProfit Times, the nonprofit sector’s post-pandemic recovery is lacking behind that of the broader economy, according to data from an analysis by Independent Sector. While giving has largely remained steady, it is not keeping pace with the broader growth experienced by the economy at large. Additionally, the sector remains down approximately 495,000 jobs.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Union Mental Health Workers Strike for Better Conditions at Nonprofit in New London | NBC Connecticut
• Warren Buffett to host final charity lunch for San Francisco nonprofit | The Mighty 790 KFGO
• Are Colorado’s nonprofit hospitals giving enough to their communities to justify tax exemptions? New reports offer different answers. | The Denver Post
• Seeds of change: Landfill, nonprofit launch next phase of Making Trash Bloom project | Northern Virginia Daily

Resource: Universal Google Analytics going away...

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed. Well, we are talking about earth day and the various events that happened and news that came out as well as some top level news on pandemic recovery, maybe stalling, a little bit for nonprofits. Nick has it going.

[00:00:17] It's going.

[00:00:18] good, George. I can start us off with our first story. And this is about the role of nonprofits in fighting. Emergency. So coming on the heels of an I P C C report, that is the intergovernmental panel on climate change, which says it's. Now we're never with addressing carbon emissions in the atmosphere to stave off a climate catastrophe.

[00:00:44] We want it to highlight the role of a couple different nonprofits and NGOs fighting climate change in different capacities. The first one we highlighted in this story was the international NGO, the international crisis group, which published a really cool interactive feature about how climate change leads to conflict in countries that are seeing the effects of climate change firsthand.

[00:01:14] It's just a great visualization. They always do such great visual journalism work. And I think it really. Emphasizes the importance of looking at climate. When we think about broader political, social, cultural, and unfortunately conflict on a global scale, another angle we wanted to approach this story a little bit more locally to probably many of our listeners is that.

[00:01:42] To New York city based non-profits the central park Conservancy and natural areas Conservancy have teamed up with the Yale school of the environment to launch the central park climate lab. And this is a really cool one. According to Reuters, the program seeks to better understand the New York city Metro areas, increasingly extreme weather.

[00:02:03] And how parks may be part of that solution. And they're setting up all sorts of different scientific measuring equipment and are going to be using central park as essentially an open air laboratory for climate science. So what does it take a couple of different angles on this approach to climate change coming off the heels of earth day, but George, what's your take on how non-profits can address climate?

[00:02:29] Yeah, I think non-profits have already been addressing climate change for me. It's about how you kind of. How do you call this a crisis day in and day out and pull toward these? Like, long-term if the Celsius gets to like two degrees increase and what happens then it's tough because you have to find different narratives inside of it.

[00:02:51] And I think one of the things that the international NGO international crisis group did was just

[00:02:57] far more visual in terms of explaining this. So one of the links that we did include in this gets back to like how nonprofits can look at it. Show me the visual, honestly. And this is a really amazing dynamic presentation of what's going on, but then you like juxtapose that with the IPC sixth assessment report, which like even the summary needs a summary of the summary.

[00:03:19] And I think one takeaway is that shirt a highly technical documents are what are needed for maybe policy advisors, but that doesn't get the donor out of bed. And I think it's much more. Visualizing what it looks like in, that's why we went from like very macro to very micro into saying like, this is what it looks like in central park, but these issues touch upon of course, issues of social justice based on the way that you solve for it.

[00:03:43] And also the potential impacts for it. So it's on both sides. And so peeling out those stories and again, making it visual, making it simple while also not making it a kind of hopeless. Right. If, if you said. That is far, far, far beyond the capabilities of what people can do the, the responses giving up.

[00:04:03] And so sometimes I look at some of these reports and visuals and like, all right, so I got to give I'm, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna drive less. How, how can I solve this? So you have to, you have to tow that very carefully. I think in communications around this, and every year around earth day, we see a lot of reports coming in and it's good to, to continue to remind our constituents on how this issue touches.

[00:04:25] Absolutely. And I think it's also, there's so many threads. You can take this story, right? Cause it's so. Interconnected and inextricably linked with so many other parts of the global economy and discussions about natural resources. And now we're starting talking about global oil prices and sanctions and conflict, and all of these things come together.

[00:04:48] So threading that narrative in a way that doesn't discount any of those really important factors, I think is super important to your point, but we can. We set realistic, but ambitious goals we can get there. All right. Our next story comes from the nonprofit times and it's how the nonprofit sectors post pandemic recovery is lacking behind that, of the broader economy.

[00:05:14] So according to data from an analysis by independent sector, while charitable giving has largely remained steady year over year. It is not keeping pace with the broader growth experienced by the economy at large. And additionally, the nonprofit sector remains down approximately 495,000 jobs. From, I believe approximately the 1.6, it was down at the height of the.

[00:05:41] This, both these factors are present a lag behind the broader us economy, which despite higher prices is kind of steamrolling ahead with a hyper competitive job market and pretty significant growth. So George, just something to keep an eye on. As we look at the nonprofit sector as a whole.

[00:06:03] Yeah, I'm not super surprised to see a lagging, but it is. Sort of interesting to see that, that recovery there, and in terms of numbers of jobs, one of the places I just always look@isidealist.org. And if you just pop on there currently, they're like 8,800 jobs on just broadly and open and, and listed out there.

[00:06:26] So it is one of the larger job networks for, for nonprofit. It's some something to watch. And I think it'll, you'll begin increasing and catching up as services, get back to back to more of a normal endemic. Hey, we can go back to work. Hey, we can have preschool programs more regularly and that need is only going to simply increase.

[00:06:52] I think over time.

[00:06:53] Absolutely. I agree. And I think that. The charitable sector as a whole is not immune from broader trends in the economy, like an increase in wages that puts pressure on employers to find qualified candidates for jobs. There's a lot of factors here and this actually takes us into our next story in the summary.

[00:07:18] And this comes from a local NBC affiliate in Connecticut about how. Union mental health workers are striking for better conditions at a nonprofit in new London. So these workers are essentially outsourced mental health professionals paid for. By local government and they have gone on a strike to demand higher wages.

[00:07:43] We've covered stories before about how nonprofits, particularly some nonprofit health providing organizations are really struggling to compete with wages. Even with. Local fast food restaurants, for example. And I think this is an example of workers kind of exercising their power here to demand higher wages, but again, a different angle to the broader macro economic trends we've been talking.

[00:08:13] Yeah. For mental health. The type of work is this may be a small story in some respects, but as a, as a larger narrative. And it fits in very, very clearly, especially in a service of mental health, which is at an all time high in terms of demand because of the mental taxes that have been put on communities due to COVID.

[00:08:33] And then on top of that inflation. And so again, nonprofits, it skills me like nonprofits don't have. The the money lover necessarily to say like, okay, everyone who's paying services, you have to all pay 10% more. I don't like the money button. Isn't there in the same way that gas stations can change their rates.

[00:08:53] McDonald's can up the price. That's just not not there at the same point. Yeah. These workers absolutely need to get paid in line with the services they're providing. It's just, it it's takes longer to get there. A hard place for non-profits for sure. In direct service industries.

[00:09:12] Absolutely. I think those are great points. All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from K F G o.com. And it's a story about how Warren buffet is hosting a charity dinner. I guess the setup here is you can pay. In an auction, a large and absurd amount of money, frankly, to join Warren buffet at the Valencia steakhouse and Smith and Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan.

[00:09:45] Excuse me. Previous winners have included a cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin's son who paid a record $4.57 million for the privilege of dining with Mr. Buffet back in 2019. But this is the last time. Apparently this will be happening. Mr. Buffet is quite old and this, this is going to be the last such charity lunch, but George, I'm not super knowledgeable about the, the mega wealthy philanthropy charity universe.

[00:10:17] And even here, it seems like cult of personality, most around Warren buffet, and I guess is investing prowess. But what's, what's your take on this?

[00:10:26] I just had to call it out and put it up at the top because this is the 21st time that he's done it. And in my mind, this is the, this has created a whole model of auctioning off a lunch with a VIP that many nonprofits have, have taken and run with and has raised a significant amount of money. And it's just an amazing way, I guess now it's not.

[00:10:51] New and clever, but it's an amazing way to say, Hey, we have somebody who may be able to write a big check, but more importantly, would you be willing to auction off a lunch, something simple? It seems that then rose was able to raise a lot more money for, for glide over the years. And it's a I don't know, it's just sort of like an interesting note that like, all right, this is the final lunch that he is optioning off.

[00:11:17] And I think a lot of other nonprofits have done that. I think there is a takeaway here for organizations to come back to this, especially as guess what like more and more people are now able to go have lunch together. How can you maybe bring this back into a fundraising, ask of some of the people on your team.

[00:11:35] If you've got some of those board members who they are saying like, Hey Buffet's stopping. Can we start? Can you say, Hey, for the next five years, can we auction off a lunch? Some of the risks can be that, like I crashed my own house party cause no one came. You want to make sure there are people that are going to bid on it.

[00:11:50] And it's just a funny way of saying like, if you have somebody impressive, but then nobody bids, that is not a good thing. So there's a little bit of that risk as well. And you can also take a look at some of the models on this, on the charity buzz networks and these auction networks to see how these are packaged also.

[00:12:08] Absolutely. That's a great point. There's a whole industry of auctioning off kind of celebrity access. For charity, I somewhat famously donated to the Obama campaign back in 2012 for the chance to get a lunch with Barack Obama. And my dream did not come true, but I donated to the cause and now my email lives on in infamy.

[00:12:33] All right. Our next story is a follow-up on one. We did a couple of weeks ago, and this comes from the Denver post and it's a follow-up on how Colorado's nonprofit hospitals. A different take, I should say, on how Colorado's nonprofit hospitals are giving enough to their communities. So the follow-up is in a fairly splashy report from the lown Institute or loan Institute, a think tank that focuses on healthcare reform, posited that most of our major American.

[00:13:08] Nonprofit hospitals are not reinvesting enough in their communities. And the take of this article was that actually to George, the point you raised when we recorded that podcast, is that actually the more important question is How these hospitals are offering free or discounted care to people who can't pay.

[00:13:28] So it just adds a little bit more nuance on a couple of different angles, that story there, particularly related to Colorado, but George why'd, you include the story in our rundown.

[00:13:37] I think it's a follow on of that larger report that we talked about and what that looks at a local level and more and more papers in journalism now looking into, Hey, isn't that interesting? Yeah, you do get attacks. Advantage of being a 5 0 1 C3. So wait a minute. W w the community service, the service to the people in this community?

[00:14:00] What does that actually look like? Or unfortunately, sometimes are you the number one reason, many of our. Neighbors declaring bankruptcy. And I'm not saying that that's the case here, but it's following the larger report and the work that a large sort of research and nonprofit funding can have to then move the needle locally.

[00:14:20] And it's part of maybe even a potential press, press push and press awareness to, to now pay attention to and in, in whatever sector that you work in. But this is following it through, through hospitals, for sure.

[00:14:32] Absolutely. All right, George, what a bow, a feel-good story for you?

[00:14:37] We can, before we get there, though, I do want to call out one of the resources that we've been putting out there around Google analytics and the Google analytics apocalypse that we've been talking about. Where essentially Google analytics, universal analytics. That's the, probably the version you're using and has been in place for a number of years is being deprecated.

[00:15:00] And it's going to effectively be no longer collecting any information on your site as of July next year, 2023. So yet you have a year, however, What's important to note is that in order to get new data into GA for Google analytics, for the newest, greatest latest, you have to actually go through a full different installation process and installation process to make sure that you're collecting data now that you'll want to look at later.

[00:15:31] So for example, when the lights go out in July, Of next year, you're going to be interested in looking at year over year comparisons to similar metrics that you've been collecting. So in order to do that, you need to prioritize that now. So yes, this is a bit of a headache, but we are letting all of our clients know past clients and as many people as well, listen, that this is something that you need to prioritize a little bit of work right now to do so that you have data later.

[00:15:58] And aren't saying, oh my gosh, I didn't know about this. If this is the first time you're hearing about it, that's fine. Check out our site and this post, and we'll have those resources for you. All right now. Feel good.

[00:16:12] All right. That's a feel stress story for some of us who work in the nonprofit web analytics field, but a feel good story is from the Northern Virginia. Daily N V daily.com and they talk about a nonprofit called sustainability matters that has gathered at the Shenandoah county landfill to celebrate the kickoff of the second part of their making trash bloom project.

[00:16:45] I am. An expert in environmental science or whatever the field is that manages plants. But they are hydroseeding native wild flower seeds with 900 gallons of water onto the living trash cell. So I think what this means in layman's terms is they are turning trash into flowers. And I love that. That is pretty, that sounds good for the environment and it's being led by a non-profit.

[00:17:12] So nothing not to love here.

[00:17:14] Yeah, I always loved the environment meets nonprofits, and it's a, it's a great story there. A lot of work to be done, to beautify and manage the tremendous amount of trash we shove under, under the good old earth. And there's a lot that goes into it, including sort of venting and management of though the wastewater that gets run out.

[00:17:34] But get some, get some flowers going. And it's a project that frankly nonprofits take on to, to solve the, the downstream problems of like, okay, a bunch of companies threw away a bunch of stuff. And now they don't have to pay for the, the common problem, but nonprofits pick up in moments like that, which is why it's good that we have those three sectors always working together.

[00:18:00] But usually the sector I love the most doing the most important work.

[00:18:04] Absolutely.

[00:18:06] All right, Nick, thanks as always.

[00:18:09] Thanks, George.

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Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Faces Scrutiny Over Spending & Transparency

Questions have arisen over how the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) has spent and reported on charitable contributions, as reported by New York magazine. The organization, which serves as an umbrella organization for some local BLM organizations (though not all organizations with BLM in their name) faces criticism for the purchase of a $6 million dollar home in California, as well as the appearance of lack of transparency stemming not submitting a form 990, as required by their tax exempt status granted in 2020. While right-wing and far-right news outlets are seizing on this story as an angle of political attack, Candid co-founder and former CEO of GuideStar Jacob Harold is quoted as responding to the reporting as a “very legitimate critique.”

Read more ➝

Interior Dept. To Open Up New Onshore Land To Drilling Leases

In a reversal of a previous Biden administration moratorium, the Interior Department is opening up 144,000 acres of onshore land to new leases for oil drilling, as reported by Mother Jones. While the announcement comes as bad news to environmentalists, surging oil and gas prices have put the Biden administration between a rock and a hard place as supply chain issues and disruptions stemming from the Russia <> Ukraine war have continued to increase prices globally. The Interior Department has responded by saying that the new leases only open up 20% of what the oil industry asked for, and the royalties that the oil companies will have to pay the government will go up from 12.5 percent to 18.75 percent, the first increase in a century.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Nonprofit aims to plug 68 orphan oil and gas wells in Montan | Independent Record
• Google Earth Timelapse: How to Use to See Your Hometown | Thrillist
• Majority of Nonprofit Health Systems Don't Pay Their Tax Breaks Forward | HealthLeaders
• The RNC is severing ties with the nonprofit that runs presidential debates | NPR
• Dollarfor.org - nonprofit helping with hospital bills.

Transcript

4/18

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, where Sharon A. Little bit information about recent black lives matter news and some onshore drilling in the U S that are opening up drilling leases, Nick, how's it going?

[00:00:13] It's going?

[00:00:14] good, George, how are you doing today?

[00:00:15] doing all right, this fine week. April we're we're closing out. We're getting ready to get to the end of April.

[00:00:21] We are, I wish we were. It's now 40 degrees in New York city, which is unwelcome, but what is welcome is another great podcast of non-profits. Today. So I'll start us off with our first story. And The title of this story is that the black lives matter global network foundation is facing scrutiny overspending and transparency in an article published by New York magazine a couple of weeks ago, the black lives matter global network foundation, B L M G N F. is coming under a little bit of scrutiny. It appears from failing to file a form nine 90, as well as some public questions about the purchase of a essentially house a, a private property for $6 million in California. This story has been seized upon by. Right wing and far right. News outlets. But the article from New York magazine did site candid co-founder and former CEO of GuideStar, Jacob, Harold, who is quoted as responding to the reporting as very legitimate critique.

[00:01:33] And we're not criticizing black lives matter the movement, the Oregon, you know, even the organization broadly. But I think that there, this does raise questions about transparency and. How important it is to communicate that for an organization that let's face it has lots of, lots of people who are looking to attack them for political reasons.

[00:01:55] The scrutiny is inevitably going to be high for an organization like BLM. That almost goes. Without saying, I think some of the issues are as that, the lack of filing truly the, the nine 90 and it's tough, you know, you're, you're doing so many things at a non-profit, especially a newer non-profit that came about and formalized in 2020, but with reported from their own numbers in February 90 million being raised in 2020, you get to a point where I think filing a nine 90 and financial transparency.

[00:02:29] Tantamount to your ability to continue to have the trust of the, of the community and for future donors. And it becomes almost like an existential question of saying, if we can't communicate the transparency of, of the work then you know, it's, that is a fundamental risk. And frankly, I kind of think. I hate the, oh my gosh.

[00:02:51] They bought this piece of real estate here. This house here, like I like walk down park avenue, walk down any major street. And look for some of the like venerable organizations that have these like gigantic buildings, which are by the way, amazing stores of freaking value, amazing stores of value in a time when inflation is going up in a diversification of revenue.

[00:03:14] And by the way, you don't have to pay rent that you would have otherwise had to pay. So if you're trying to create like a a hundred year organization, yeah. Go buy a building. But be transparent about it. Report it, show everyone that like, this is what we did. Yeah. That's like it it's frustrating because of two things.

[00:03:33] One the transparency and filing 9 97. Having to be just buttoned up for a 90 million organization that hasn't apparently reportedly filed. And since founding, and then two is just, you know, you've just giving fodder to a right-wing frankly media narrative that they're all too eager to jump on and expound upon to then unfortunately discredit a very, very valid movement.

[00:04:00] And so. It's something interesting to pay attention to. We debated whether or not to even put it in here and to further talking about it, but we thought it's important to, to understand this as, as best as we could at least looking at the limited information.

[00:04:14] Absolutely. I think that's a great analysis storage. I'll also call out that the particular. Organization in question is one of just many that have black lives matter in its name. There's loosely affiliated local organizations and chapters, and there's lots of different black lives matter organizations.

[00:04:34] Are separate entities from this. So this is not saying this is not the whole movement we're talking about. We're talking about one of quite a few organizations that have black lives matter in its title, or are affiliated with the movement. All right. I can take us into our next story. And this one is about the department of interior opening up new on-shore land to drilling leads. So in a reversal of a previous Biden administration moratorium, the interior department is opening up 144,000 acres of onshore land to new leases for oil drilling as reported by mother Jones.

[00:05:12] This announcement comes as bad news to environment. But surging oil and gas prices, but the Biden administration between a rock and a hard place as supply chain issues and disruptions stemming from the Russia, Ukraine, war, and other inflationary and global supply chain pressures have continued to increase prices globally.

[00:05:32] The interior department responded to this criticism saying that the new leases only open up approximately 20% of what the oil industry asked for and that the royalties, the oil companies will have to pay. The government will go up from 12.5% to 18.75%, which represents the first increase in nearly a century.

[00:05:51] But George, I think the angle here is that there's no winning politically for the Biden administration on this. And. You know, we are, we're at the crux of really, really hard conversations where environmental priorities prices around things like oil and gas are running up against our values. And there are really, really hard choices being made.

[00:06:20] And I wonder what your take is on this and as well as the nonprofit.

[00:06:23] It's a hard time. It's anytime you're talking about the environment, a long-term consequence versus an immediate emergency, you know, which one wins. Unfortunately, we already have tons of tons of land, public land land that has already been designated for drilling. That is not being drilled right now. So you can very clearly see, you know, never let an emergency crisis go to waste, being leveraged by the folks lobbying for opening up more public land to this.

[00:06:59] The other side of it is, yeah, of course we need to, you know, stop a frankly, a very violent dictator. Who's got a stranglehold on Europe's oil, which is causing untold suffering on a population of people right now. And very clearly more oil will alleviate the pain and suffering of, you know, in many ways, those individuals over the long-term.

[00:07:22] However, so too will global warming increasing. And so, you know, you have 144,000 acres of public land. You think they're getting oil out of that tomorrow? You think they're just going to turn on the old switcheroo. Pipes lines built in rigs pulled in, pulled out of the oil. I get varying numbers in terms of how long it takes to get oil out of the ground.

[00:07:43] But I'll tell you what, I don't believe it happens in the timeframe of being able to get one barrel of oil from any of those acres to Europe or to a place in need in a period of time in this emergency. But guess what it's been allocated and leased and gone. So I feel for the environmentalist and it's hard to raise your voice when.

[00:08:02] Are dying. And when those two things are like, brought into like, well, it's either either you give us this land or Ukraine dies and you're like, I don't think that's what we're talking about, but very clearly a lot of pressure, no good answers for, you know, president pilot on this one. But I was actually sad to see it.

[00:08:21] Cause I, I do not believe that those acres make one bit of difference in terms of like this year's oil supply. Maybe it's. Long term, I guess.

[00:08:32] No. I absolutely agree. This is not, this is not going to set down oil and gas prices within the next couple of weeks or months, or, you know, how long, but the politics of this are, are perilous. And the flip side is quite frankly if the binder administration, you know, does it. Cave in, like they have to play the political long game as well. Or else, you know, there, there can be long-term political consequences that would even have politicians who want to open up even more land to drilling. So it

[00:09:07] And then like, logically, you're not you logically, you might need these. Here's the counter case to that where you may need a lot more oil, frankly, for this glorious transition. That's not going to happen overnight. We're not about to be able to roll out enough electric cars and infrastructure for people to get there.

[00:09:24] In the meantime, like that's where environmental justice comes in, where you're saying like, oh yeah, everyone just get an electric car. Like, okay. With what money and what natural resources are we, are we doing that? So there's like a logical transition. It's going to take a long time and needing to have oil on hand.

[00:09:40] So, you know I think done in the context of a long-term plan. That makes sense. But anytime I see reactionary, oh gosh, there's a crisis today. Let's do something that has long-term impacts. I, that kind of sets off an alarm bell. So I do see the fact that. People are going to need oil for quite some time, while we make the glorious transition to 20, 30, and beyond, and then we have to cut emissions.

[00:10:02] But in doing that, it doesn't mean you'll need suddenly a cliff of like, oh, in five years, we're done with oil. Glad we're glad we're past that phase. Like the, you know, the infrastructure is not there and doing it too quickly will only advantage the rich and the people that have the means by which to pay for you know electrified vehicles.

[00:10:23] Absolutely. All interconnected. Moving us along into the summary. Our first story along the same lines is about a nonprofit in Montana that is aiming to plug 68 orphan oil. Gas Wells in the state, the nonprofit organization, well done foundation is working with the Montana board of oil and gas conservation.

[00:10:54] And it looks like they're moving to a point where there'll be able to kind of take ownership over these oil and gas Wells, and then essentially plug them. So on the flip side of that, we see a non-profit stepping up and the conservation.

[00:11:09] Yeah, I don't understand why a nonprofit is necessarily in charge of doing this versus the folks that drilled it in the first place. But yeah, it's, it's good to see that. Being done and very great sort of well done foundation in terms of naming. So hats off to them for the name as well.

[00:11:25] You're jealous. He didn't come up with that. Right?

[00:11:27] If you had given me enough time, I would have no, maybe not. Yeah, no, it's it's perfect. It's perfect. Don't change.

[00:11:36] It's a good one. It's a good one.

[00:11:38] Well done. Well done.

[00:11:40] I love it. All right. Our next story again, focusing on environmental conservation, and this is kind of a cool one is that Google earth has introduced a time-lapse feature and partnership with NASA, the us geological survey and the European union Copernicus program.

[00:11:59] As Well as Carnegie Mellon university's researchers, and they've created a program where you can do a time-lapse of the land and see how the land and your hometown and home city have changed over time. And I think that this is a really cool way to leverage tech, to tell a story and a narrative using.

[00:12:20] Real photos and satellite imagery about the precariousness of our environment. And I think a really innovative feature will hopefully get more people involved in caring about the environment and their own community.

[00:12:36] I think this is really. Or any organization dealing with issues of potential neighborhood, gentrification organizations, dealing with local environmental issues, organizations dealing with public lands. We were just talking about organizations, dealing with urban sprawl and the stretch of this, because you can see it over time and something that would have been.

[00:13:01] Amazingly expensive to research and find historical documents and photos can now be done with a click of a button. So share this information with frankly, anybody working in those fields. This is an amazing opportunity to give a very clear visual, an objective truth. Here was the earth 37 years ago.

[00:13:26] Here is the earth in this neighborhood. This is not subject to like opinion. It is showing people quite visually what has happened. And conversely, you can show a positive effects of development. Maybe that your organization has been working in an area and it is, you know, improved the, the number of trees in a neighborhood in greenery.

[00:13:47] So use this tool. It is super cool. I may read an article.

[00:13:51] I love it. I'll read an article, but it's a cool tool, definitely worth exploring. And I think that's a great, a great way of how we can think about how it informs a lot of different aspects of our understanding of our communities, our cities and the environment. All right. Our next story. Is about the majority of non-profit profit health systems not paying their tax breaks forward.

[00:14:20] So this is an article from health leaders, media.com, and it reports that the lown Institute, which is a. Think tank foundation found that nearly 83% of health systems spent less on charity than the value of their tax breaks resulting in an $18.4 billion total fair share deficit. So I guess the takeaway here is that the tax breaks are meant to essentially be paid forward.

[00:14:53] The largest hospital systems in the country, many of them are not reinvesting the value of those tax breaks within their communities. And this article lists out the, the top largest ones in terms of that fair share deficit and. This is something, you know, the health non-profit system are very different from traditional 5 0 1 C3 is, and we're not experts on that.

[00:15:20] But George, I wonder what your takeaway is on this because at the end of the day, most hospitals are tax exempt organizations.

[00:15:27] Yeah. There's a huge issue here. I was very happy to see this article and sort of bringing to light. If you're getting the tax treatment of a 5 0 1 C3, it is vitally important that you pay it forward to the community rather than just bank it or hide the fact that there are services that people can apply for.

[00:15:47] There is there are organizations out there that actually. Fight for people that have hospital bills, the number one reason Americans go bankrupt. The number one reason is because of healthcare costs and actually it is frequently over, you know, looked or hidden or not realized that there is a clause in many of these hospitals that say, if you cannot pay.

[00:16:10] Have to, if you're below a certain threshold and the ability to pay there are organizations out there. One I think is called dollar four and there's other like fair health.org that really try to fight for patients' rights in terms of you know, nonprofit, public funded hospitals that actually should not be driving people into bankruptcy, but rather absolving and offering The burden of that, that treatment.

[00:16:37] So there's a lot to unpack here, but, you know, 227 nonprofit systems collectively failed to invest 18.4 billion into the community. And when I read that as 18.4 billion, that could have been used to potentially prevent those types of, you know, those types of tragedies with regard to to driving people into bankruptcy.

[00:16:59] Absolutely. It's it's. To be honest as a young person, who's very fortunate to have health insurance and, and thinking about that it's the health system in America is, is whack. It, it is crazy. I personally spent time in Europe and just even explaining to people how the healthcare system in America works and how that, that fact you raise. Americans can go bankrupt or lose their homes from healthcare costs is a completely foreign concept to so many other democratic economically advanced countries only in America. Does that happen? And I think this is just one kind of This is one way of looking at that data. And of course a much, much more larger and more complicated conversation.

[00:17:51] But to me, this, this spoke to me

[00:17:55] Yeah,

[00:17:56] attention to.

[00:17:57] I just want to make sure, cause I, I breezed over this quickly, but dollar for.org they've saved over 14 million in medical debt relief. And basically their effort is around the debt forgiveness program. So they enforce the hospitals, hospitals, charity care policies. So in order for hospitals to keep their non-profit status, they actually have to have programs that aid families without incomes, large enough to cover their medical expenses called charity care.

[00:18:27] So it's, this is like this split note that hospitals, I won't say, you know what, don't not the broad brush and take it back. However, it's not on the first page of the brochure of the website. So these folks are actually helping families get access to this this charity care, which is part of that 5 0 1 C3.

[00:18:47] So big shout out to dollar.

[00:18:49] Absolutely. That's awesome. All right. We have one last story and this is an interesting one. This comes from NPR and. The headline is that the RNC is severing ties with the nonprofit that runs presidential debates. So all those presidential debates we watch and cringe at on television are actually run by a non-profit organization.

[00:19:13] Usually they're hosted at universities and schools and that sort of thing, designed to promote civic engagement and involvement in the process. The RNC. Of course the Republican national committee which represents the Republicans in those debates is severing ties with this organization. What that means for the future is potentially no debates.

[00:19:35] Nicole goes into. Details about why the Republicans may not be entirely happy with it. Most of it having to do with the current defacto leader of the Republican party. But what's interesting is that the nonprofit commissions co-chair named Frank Fowler ring cop was himself actually the chair of the RNC.

[00:19:59] And it says that the commission is in fact non-partisan and a completely independent. Do with that, with what you may, but interesting. And I didn't actually know that the presidential debates are organized by a non-profit. I think another cool example of a nonprofit filling a extremely vital public need.

[00:20:19] We hope they're able to figure out some kind of resolution to this, because I think those debates are instructive in ways that may not always be. Yeah, entirely welcome or obvious, but quite the interesting drama playing out here, but a reminder of the non-profit sector playing a vital role in all aspects of American civic life.

[00:20:44] Yeah, I think it's a good summary. I had so real sad. State of affairs for like the ability to have political discourse at a national level. And with, you know, I wonder what the commission on presidential debates does if nobody wants, if half the party doesn't want to use them.

[00:21:04] That's the end. It's like an existential crisis.

[00:21:06] You only have one half

[00:21:08] charter there.

[00:21:08] Oh brother. How about a feel? Good story, George.

[00:21:12] Yes, please.

[00:21:13] All right. This one comes from the. Website called Denver eit.com reporting out of Denver, Colorado. And it talks about a local nonprofit arts organization called the Chicano humanities and arts council.

[00:21:33] It talks about how various nonprofits have been teaming up in the Denver area. The organization revision a Westwood, nonprofit that focuses on improving food access and food security and urban land Conservancy is a real estate nonprofit that aims to preserve communities and prevent displacement are teaming up and.

[00:21:58] Helping nonprofits fight off gentrification. And we talked about nonprofits owning land and physical space and buildings, and unfortunately are experiencing the same crunch in the real estate market as everybody else. So this is a cool partnership that seems like it's able to help a nonprofit stay in the neighborhood and community that it's serving it.

[00:22:21] yeah, it didn't even take us very long to realize like, Hey, there's upside to organizations buying buildings because you can get priced out on rent and moved out of communities. And, you know, the they're able to get loans to do this. So it's a, it's a good application of keeping community-based organizations in the community because in large part, their work probably contributed to the appreciation of.

[00:22:45] The value of that, of that network and that community. They're so awesome. All right, Nick, thanks so much for these.

[00:22:52] Thanks, George I think we did a solid job today.

View Details

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Faces Scrutiny Over Spending & Transparency

Questions have arisen over how the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) has spent and reported on charitable contributions, as reported by New York magazine. The organization, which serves as an umbrella organization for some local BLM organizations (though not all organizations with BLM in their name) faces criticism for the purchase of a $6 million dollar home in California, as well as the appearance of lack of transparency stemming not submitting a form 990, as required by their tax exempt status granted in 2020. While right-wing and far-right news outlets are seizing on this story as an angle of political attack, Candid co-founder and former CEO of GuideStar Jacob Harold is quoted as responding to the reporting as a “very legitimate critique.”

Read more ➝

Interior Dept. To Open Up New Onshore Land To Drilling Leases

In a reversal of a previous Biden administration moratorium, the Interior Department is opening up 144,000 acres of onshore land to new leases for oil drilling, as reported by Mother Jones. While the announcement comes as bad news to environmentalists, surging oil and gas prices have put the Biden administration between a rock and a hard place as supply chain issues and disruptions stemming from the Russia <> Ukraine war have continued to increase prices globally. The Interior Department has responded by saying that the new leases only open up 20% of what the oil industry asked for, and the royalties that the oil companies will have to pay the government will go up from 12.5 percent to 18.75 percent, the first increase in a century.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Nonprofit aims to plug 68 orphan oil and gas wells in Montan | Independent Record
• Google Earth Timelapse: How to Use to See Your Hometown | Thrillist
• Majority of Nonprofit Health Systems Don't Pay Their Tax Breaks Forward | HealthLeaders
• The RNC is severing ties with the nonprofit that runs presidential debates | NPR
• Dollarfor.org - nonprofit helping with hospital bills.

Transcript

4/18

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, where Sharon A. Little bit information about recent black lives matter news and some onshore drilling in the U S that are opening up drilling leases, Nick, how's it going?

[00:00:13] It's going?

[00:00:14] good, George, how are you doing today?

[00:00:15] doing all right, this fine week. April we're we're closing out. We're getting ready to get to the end of April.

[00:00:21] We are, I wish we were. It's now 40 degrees in New York city, which is unwelcome, but what is welcome is another great podcast of non-profits. Today. So I'll start us off with our first story. And The title of this story is that the black lives matter global network foundation is facing scrutiny overspending and transparency in an article published by New York magazine a couple of weeks ago, the black lives matter global network foundation, B L M G N F. is coming under a little bit of scrutiny. It appears from failing to file a form nine 90, as well as some public questions about the purchase of a essentially house a, a private property for $6 million in California. This story has been seized upon by. Right wing and far right. News outlets. But the article from New York magazine did site candid co-founder and former CEO of GuideStar, Jacob, Harold, who is quoted as responding to the reporting as very legitimate critique.

[00:01:33] And we're not criticizing black lives matter the movement, the Oregon, you know, even the organization broadly. But I think that there, this does raise questions about transparency and. How important it is to communicate that for an organization that let's face it has lots of, lots of people who are looking to attack them for political reasons.

[00:01:55] The scrutiny is inevitably going to be high for an organization like BLM. That almost goes. Without saying, I think some of the issues are as that, the lack of filing truly the, the nine 90 and it's tough, you know, you're, you're doing so many things at a non-profit, especially a newer non-profit that came about and formalized in 2020, but with reported from their own numbers in February 90 million being raised in 2020, you get to a point where I think filing a nine 90 and financial transparency.

[00:02:29] Tantamount to your ability to continue to have the trust of the, of the community and for future donors. And it becomes almost like an existential question of saying, if we can't communicate the transparency of, of the work then you know, it's, that is a fundamental risk. And frankly, I kind of think. I hate the, oh my gosh.

[00:02:51] They bought this piece of real estate here. This house here, like I like walk down park avenue, walk down any major street. And look for some of the like venerable organizations that have these like gigantic buildings, which are by the way, amazing stores of freaking value, amazing stores of value in a time when inflation is going up in a diversification of revenue.

[00:03:14] And by the way, you don't have to pay rent that you would have otherwise had to pay. So if you're trying to create like a a hundred year organization, yeah. Go buy a building. But be transparent about it. Report it, show everyone that like, this is what we did. Yeah. That's like it it's frustrating because of two things.

[00:03:33] One the transparency and filing 9 97. Having to be just buttoned up for a 90 million organization that hasn't apparently reportedly filed. And since founding, and then two is just, you know, you've just giving fodder to a right-wing frankly media narrative that they're all too eager to jump on and expound upon to then unfortunately discredit a very, very valid movement.

[00:04:00] And so. It's something interesting to pay attention to. We debated whether or not to even put it in here and to further talking about it, but we thought it's important to, to understand this as, as best as we could at least looking at the limited information.

[00:04:14] Absolutely. I think that's a great analysis storage. I'll also call out that the particular. Organization in question is one of just many that have black lives matter in its name. There's loosely affiliated local organizations and chapters, and there's lots of different black lives matter organizations.

[00:04:34] Are separate entities from this. So this is not saying this is not the whole movement we're talking about. We're talking about one of quite a few organizations that have black lives matter in its title, or are affiliated with the movement. All right. I can take us into our next story. And this one is about the department of interior opening up new on-shore land to drilling leads. So in a reversal of a previous Biden administration moratorium, the interior department is opening up 144,000 acres of onshore land to new leases for oil drilling as reported by mother Jones.

[00:05:12] This announcement comes as bad news to environment. But surging oil and gas prices, but the Biden administration between a rock and a hard place as supply chain issues and disruptions stemming from the Russia, Ukraine, war, and other inflationary and global supply chain pressures have continued to increase prices globally.

[00:05:32] The interior department responded to this criticism saying that the new leases only open up approximately 20% of what the oil industry asked for and that the royalties, the oil companies will have to pay. The government will go up from 12.5% to 18.75%, which represents the first increase in nearly a century.

[00:05:51] But George, I think the angle here is that there's no winning politically for the Biden administration on this. And. You know, we are, we're at the crux of really, really hard conversations where environmental priorities prices around things like oil and gas are running up against our values. And there are really, really hard choices being made.

[00:06:20] And I wonder what your take is on this and as well as the nonprofit.

[00:06:23] It's a hard time. It's anytime you're talking about the environment, a long-term consequence versus an immediate emergency, you know, which one wins. Unfortunately, we already have tons of tons of land, public land land that has already been designated for drilling. That is not being drilled right now. So you can very clearly see, you know, never let an emergency crisis go to waste, being leveraged by the folks lobbying for opening up more public land to this.

[00:06:59] The other side of it is, yeah, of course we need to, you know, stop a frankly, a very violent dictator. Who's got a stranglehold on Europe's oil, which is causing untold suffering on a population of people right now. And very clearly more oil will alleviate the pain and suffering of, you know, in many ways, those individuals over the long-term.

[00:07:22] However, so too will global warming increasing. And so, you know, you have 144,000 acres of public land. You think they're getting oil out of that tomorrow? You think they're just going to turn on the old switcheroo. Pipes lines built in rigs pulled in, pulled out of the oil. I get varying numbers in terms of how long it takes to get oil out of the ground.

[00:07:43] But I'll tell you what, I don't believe it happens in the timeframe of being able to get one barrel of oil from any of those acres to Europe or to a place in need in a period of time in this emergency. But guess what it's been allocated and leased and gone. So I feel for the environmentalist and it's hard to raise your voice when.

[00:08:02] Are dying. And when those two things are like, brought into like, well, it's either either you give us this land or Ukraine dies and you're like, I don't think that's what we're talking about, but very clearly a lot of pressure, no good answers for, you know, president pilot on this one. But I was actually sad to see it.

[00:08:21] Cause I, I do not believe that those acres make one bit of difference in terms of like this year's oil supply. Maybe it's. Long term, I guess.

[00:08:32] No. I absolutely agree. This is not, this is not going to set down oil and gas prices within the next couple of weeks or months, or, you know, how long, but the politics of this are, are perilous. And the flip side is quite frankly if the binder administration, you know, does it. Cave in, like they have to play the political long game as well. Or else, you know, there, there can be long-term political consequences that would even have politicians who want to open up even more land to drilling. So it

[00:09:07] And then like, logically, you're not you logically, you might need these. Here's the counter case to that where you may need a lot more oil, frankly, for this glorious transition. That's not going to happen overnight. We're not about to be able to roll out enough electric cars and infrastructure for people to get there.

[00:09:24] In the meantime, like that's where environmental justice comes in, where you're saying like, oh yeah, everyone just get an electric car. Like, okay. With what money and what natural resources are we, are we doing that? So there's like a logical transition. It's going to take a long time and needing to have oil on hand.

[00:09:40] So, you know I think done in the context of a long-term plan. That makes sense. But anytime I see reactionary, oh gosh, there's a crisis today. Let's do something that has long-term impacts. I, that kind of sets off an alarm bell. So I do see the fact that. People are going to need oil for quite some time, while we make the glorious transition to 20, 30, and beyond, and then we have to cut emissions.

[00:10:02] But in doing that, it doesn't mean you'll need suddenly a cliff of like, oh, in five years, we're done with oil. Glad we're glad we're past that phase. Like the, you know, the infrastructure is not there and doing it too quickly will only advantage the rich and the people that have the means by which to pay for you know electrified vehicles.

[00:10:23] Absolutely. All interconnected. Moving us along into the summary. Our first story along the same lines is about a nonprofit in Montana that is aiming to plug 68 orphan oil. Gas Wells in the state, the nonprofit organization, well done foundation is working with the Montana board of oil and gas conservation.

[00:10:54] And it looks like they're moving to a point where there'll be able to kind of take ownership over these oil and gas Wells, and then essentially plug them. So on the flip side of that, we see a non-profit stepping up and the conservation.

[00:11:09] Yeah, I don't understand why a nonprofit is necessarily in charge of doing this versus the folks that drilled it in the first place. But yeah, it's, it's good to see that. Being done and very great sort of well done foundation in terms of naming. So hats off to them for the name as well.

[00:11:25] You're jealous. He didn't come up with that. Right?

[00:11:27] If you had given me enough time, I would have no, maybe not. Yeah, no, it's it's perfect. It's perfect. Don't change.

[00:11:36] It's a good one. It's a good one.

[00:11:38] Well done. Well done.

[00:11:40] I love it. All right. Our next story again, focusing on environmental conservation, and this is kind of a cool one is that Google earth has introduced a time-lapse feature and partnership with NASA, the us geological survey and the European union Copernicus program.

[00:11:59] As Well as Carnegie Mellon university's researchers, and they've created a program where you can do a time-lapse of the land and see how the land and your hometown and home city have changed over time. And I think that this is a really cool way to leverage tech, to tell a story and a narrative using.

[00:12:20] Real photos and satellite imagery about the precariousness of our environment. And I think a really innovative feature will hopefully get more people involved in caring about the environment and their own community.

[00:12:36] I think this is really. Or any organization dealing with issues of potential neighborhood, gentrification organizations, dealing with local environmental issues, organizations dealing with public lands. We were just talking about organizations, dealing with urban sprawl and the stretch of this, because you can see it over time and something that would have been.

[00:13:01] Amazingly expensive to research and find historical documents and photos can now be done with a click of a button. So share this information with frankly, anybody working in those fields. This is an amazing opportunity to give a very clear visual, an objective truth. Here was the earth 37 years ago.

[00:13:26] Here is the earth in this neighborhood. This is not subject to like opinion. It is showing people quite visually what has happened. And conversely, you can show a positive effects of development. Maybe that your organization has been working in an area and it is, you know, improved the, the number of trees in a neighborhood in greenery.

[00:13:47] So use this tool. It is super cool. I may read an article.

[00:13:51] I love it. I'll read an article, but it's a cool tool, definitely worth exploring. And I think that's a great, a great way of how we can think about how it informs a lot of different aspects of our understanding of our communities, our cities and the environment. All right. Our next story. Is about the majority of non-profit profit health systems not paying their tax breaks forward.

[00:14:20] So this is an article from health leaders, media.com, and it reports that the lown Institute, which is a. Think tank foundation found that nearly 83% of health systems spent less on charity than the value of their tax breaks resulting in an $18.4 billion total fair share deficit. So I guess the takeaway here is that the tax breaks are meant to essentially be paid forward.

[00:14:53] The largest hospital systems in the country, many of them are not reinvesting the value of those tax breaks within their communities. And this article lists out the, the top largest ones in terms of that fair share deficit and. This is something, you know, the health non-profit system are very different from traditional 5 0 1 C3 is, and we're not experts on that.

[00:15:20] But George, I wonder what your takeaway is on this because at the end of the day, most hospitals are tax exempt organizations.

[00:15:27] Yeah. There's a huge issue here. I was very happy to see this article and sort of bringing to light. If you're getting the tax treatment of a 5 0 1 C3, it is vitally important that you pay it forward to the community rather than just bank it or hide the fact that there are services that people can apply for.

[00:15:47] There is there are organizations out there that actually. Fight for people that have hospital bills, the number one reason Americans go bankrupt. The number one reason is because of healthcare costs and actually it is frequently over, you know, looked or hidden or not realized that there is a clause in many of these hospitals that say, if you cannot pay.

[00:16:10] Have to, if you're below a certain threshold and the ability to pay there are organizations out there. One I think is called dollar four and there's other like fair health.org that really try to fight for patients' rights in terms of you know, nonprofit, public funded hospitals that actually should not be driving people into bankruptcy, but rather absolving and offering The burden of that, that treatment.

[00:16:37] So there's a lot to unpack here, but, you know, 227 nonprofit systems collectively failed to invest 18.4 billion into the community. And when I read that as 18.4 billion, that could have been used to potentially prevent those types of, you know, those types of tragedies with regard to to driving people into bankruptcy.

[00:16:59] Absolutely. It's it's. To be honest as a young person, who's very fortunate to have health insurance and, and thinking about that it's the health system in America is, is whack. It, it is crazy. I personally spent time in Europe and just even explaining to people how the healthcare system in America works and how that, that fact you raise. Americans can go bankrupt or lose their homes from healthcare costs is a completely foreign concept to so many other democratic economically advanced countries only in America. Does that happen? And I think this is just one kind of This is one way of looking at that data. And of course a much, much more larger and more complicated conversation.

[00:17:51] But to me, this, this spoke to me

[00:17:55] Yeah,

[00:17:56] attention to.

[00:17:57] I just want to make sure, cause I, I breezed over this quickly, but dollar for.org they've saved over 14 million in medical debt relief. And basically their effort is around the debt forgiveness program. So they enforce the hospitals, hospitals, charity care policies. So in order for hospitals to keep their non-profit status, they actually have to have programs that aid families without incomes, large enough to cover their medical expenses called charity care.

[00:18:27] So it's, this is like this split note that hospitals, I won't say, you know what, don't not the broad brush and take it back. However, it's not on the first page of the brochure of the website. So these folks are actually helping families get access to this this charity care, which is part of that 5 0 1 C3.

[00:18:47] So big shout out to dollar.

[00:18:49] Absolutely. That's awesome. All right. We have one last story and this is an interesting one. This comes from NPR and. The headline is that the RNC is severing ties with the nonprofit that runs presidential debates. So all those presidential debates we watch and cringe at on television are actually run by a non-profit organization.

[00:19:13] Usually they're hosted at universities and schools and that sort of thing, designed to promote civic engagement and involvement in the process. The RNC. Of course the Republican national committee which represents the Republicans in those debates is severing ties with this organization. What that means for the future is potentially no debates.

[00:19:35] Nicole goes into. Details about why the Republicans may not be entirely happy with it. Most of it having to do with the current defacto leader of the Republican party. But what's interesting is that the nonprofit commissions co-chair named Frank Fowler ring cop was himself actually the chair of the RNC.

[00:19:59] And it says that the commission is in fact non-partisan and a completely independent. Do with that, with what you may, but interesting. And I didn't actually know that the presidential debates are organized by a non-profit. I think another cool example of a nonprofit filling a extremely vital public need.

[00:20:19] We hope they're able to figure out some kind of resolution to this, because I think those debates are instructive in ways that may not always be. Yeah, entirely welcome or obvious, but quite the interesting drama playing out here, but a reminder of the non-profit sector playing a vital role in all aspects of American civic life.

[00:20:44] Yeah, I think it's a good summary. I had so real sad. State of affairs for like the ability to have political discourse at a national level. And with, you know, I wonder what the commission on presidential debates does if nobody wants, if half the party doesn't want to use them.

[00:21:04] That's the end. It's like an existential crisis.

[00:21:06] You only have one half

[00:21:08] charter there.

[00:21:08] Oh brother. How about a feel? Good story, George.

[00:21:12] Yes, please.

[00:21:13] All right. This one comes from the. Website called Denver eit.com reporting out of Denver, Colorado. And it talks about a local nonprofit arts organization called the Chicano humanities and arts council.

[00:21:33] It talks about how various nonprofits have been teaming up in the Denver area. The organization revision a Westwood, nonprofit that focuses on improving food access and food security and urban land Conservancy is a real estate nonprofit that aims to preserve communities and prevent displacement are teaming up and.

[00:21:58] Helping nonprofits fight off gentrification. And we talked about nonprofits owning land and physical space and buildings, and unfortunately are experiencing the same crunch in the real estate market as everybody else. So this is a cool partnership that seems like it's able to help a nonprofit stay in the neighborhood and community that it's serving it.

[00:22:21] yeah, it didn't even take us very long to realize like, Hey, there's upside to organizations buying buildings because you can get priced out on rent and moved out of communities. And, you know, the they're able to get loans to do this. So it's a, it's a good application of keeping community-based organizations in the community because in large part, their work probably contributed to the appreciation of.

[00:22:45] The value of that, of that network and that community. They're so awesome. All right, Nick, thanks so much for these.

[00:22:52] Thanks, George I think we did a solid job today.

View Details

War In Ukraine Continues To Increase Likelihood Of Global Food Crisis According to reporting from The New York Times, the war in Ukraine continues to threaten global food, agriculture, and other vital infrastructure. Farmers in Ukraine are reporting that granaries, farms, and other agriculture-related infrastructure are being destroyed by the Russians, all but halting Ukraine’s ability to export food staples. The World Food Programme chief warns that a global food crisis may turn out to be “beyond anything we’ve seen since World War II.” Nonprofits across the globe should prepare for higher food prices and the second-order effects of a global food crisis, a rare moment where global food markets are being impacted by supply and demand as opposed to external factors affecting access.

Read more ➝ Google Analytics Updates Require Immediate Attention From Nonprofits Running GA, Google Ads Google Analytics’ Universal Analytics, the industry-standard web analytics reporting platform and tracking infrastructure is being phased out in favor of the new GA4. In an update, Google announced that starting July 1st, 2023, all Universal Google Analytics accounts will stop pulling in new data from websites. The phasing out of UA is years in the making, but the hard switch will require nonprofits to both export and download historic data as well as migrate over to the new code. Recipients of the Google Ad grant are at risk of losing access unless they migrate accordingly. Read more about the upcoming update here.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Floridians Giving Locally, Not Nationally | The NonProfit Times
• Inflation Hits Nonprofits' Services, Ability to Fundraise | Business News | US News & World Report
• Scammed San Francisco Nonprofit Falls Victim to Costliest Type of Cybercrime | CBS San Francisco

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on a nonprofit news feed brought to you by Holwell a digital social impact agency. We're talking about the continued issues coming from the war in Ukraine, specifically around global food and crisis that could be coming. And some Google analytics updates that that might be annoying to you.

[00:00:20] And in general, we're going to be trying to as always bring it back to why this matters for you at your social impact organization. So Nick, how's it going?

[00:00:29] It's going?

[00:00:29] good, George, how are you?

[00:00:30] You know keeping up with the news, keeping up with the work it's, it's been busy here at whole. Well, you know, we just came back from our staff retreat, not too long ago. I, I feel like I'm caught up, but it's tough when you take a little, a little break from the normal.

[00:00:46] It is tough agency. Life keeps us busy, but we're back at it again today with the nonprofit newsfeed. And as you alluded to our first story continues to be about the second and third order effects of the war in Ukraine in particular, the increasing likelihood of a global food crisis. So again, from record reporting from the New York times, the word Ukraine continues.

[00:01:11] Threatened global food, agriculture and other vital infrastructure farmers are having their greeneries and farm equipment destroyed and lots of other. Facilities and infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia are now offline from the global food markets, the world food program, chief warns that a global food crisis may turn out to be beyond anything we've seen since world war two.

[00:01:37] Now the nonprofit take on this is that nonprofits are going to see higher food prices. They're going to see higher gas prices from sanctions, as well as just strains on gas and oil production. And this is a rare moment where global food markets are being impacted by supply and demand as to pose to the more typical factors that we see.

[00:02:01] George. I know we want to take this back to nonprofits. If you're and a nonprofit based in America, small, maybe you have a couple staff on your payroll. Why is this important to those organizations?

[00:02:13] One, you should be preparing for what the bottom line costs will start to become, especially if you're serving people. In harder to reach areas, working with the world food program, organizing and food. And it's probably already on your radar to be honest, right? We're not telling you anything new. The second thing you should be doing is beginning to fundraise and communicate around this pending can task trophy before, before you're in the moment.

[00:02:40] Cause as we know you need the resources now to prepare for later, you need to plant the seeds in the spring to get them in the fall in the same way. I think. That even though you're hearing it here and even in your circles, maybe this is something that is very clearly going to happen. The truth is I'm not seeing it nearly as much in sort of search trends and information, and in general and, and carry it around because you know, a future impending crisis just doesn't get to the front of the paper, the same way that the media disaster and impacts and refugees have, but there is something there's something large coming.

[00:03:19] And I think that's an opportunity for your organization to begin that narrative now, to educate first, right, with information, educate your audience about what you see coming from where you sit and what your projected. To then follow up with a preemptive campaign to prepare for what I think we're clearly seeing is going to be a global food crisis and searches for famine sutures searches for food crisis, I anticipate will be going up, but right now there are surprisingly flat.

[00:03:50] Absolutely. Great analysis and George, something that we tell our clients is the best time to prepare for breaking news. Is ahead of time and there are ways to do it. We can see things coming, whether it's big political moments in elections, or whether it's this slow burning news story that we will likely see ramp up in the future.

[00:04:13] There are things you can do now to prepare for it. And the beneficiaries of many organizations this may be directly affected. And there's lots of different things you can do to prepare for that from the communications and marketing angle to. How you serve communities for example, but I think that's a great analysis. All right. I can take us into our next story. And this is a frustrating one, George one that hits close to home based on my current job description, but Google analytics. Is requiring immediate attention from nonprofits over the next year. The takeaway vests is Google analytics. For those who are unfamiliar is the industry standard web analytics reporting platform.

[00:05:01] It's a reporting code. It's a tracking infrastructure. It's a whole system for understanding how people are interacting with your website. Google has been slowly rolling out the updated version of this platform. That's currently called a universal analytics. They are upgrading it to what is being dubbed GA for this has been happening for two years now in molasses level, slow motion.

[00:05:29] But just last week, they put out a press statement saying that all universal analytics accounts. So all that historic data, all those accounts, all of universal analytics is going away your data, unless you export and download it going away. That's it's over with. And quite frankly, it's Google anticipating changes in the data privacy and regulatory environment.

[00:05:56] But what this means for nonprofits is that you both need to download and store that historic data. And as soon as possible, get the new GA for up and running. So you can start that data collection so that when. Universal analytics goes away. You already have a little bit of runway with historic data to make that transition.

[00:06:19] What am I missing, George?

[00:06:20] Yeah. I feel like this is a scared, straight program of people panicking, but you're right. What we should note is that you have until July. 2023, July 1st, 20, 23 may seem like over a year away. However, your point about the data continuity stands. If you want to be looking at this time next year, year over year information, you have to make sure that GA for the new instance, GA four is installed, set up and tracking the things that matter to you now.

[00:06:49] So you have that overlap. They given a year. Which is, you know, which is great, but they are very serious about this hard cliff and enlarge part because of some of those data, privacy laws and rules that are out there. This may be frustrating. This may be annoying. The other side of this is that if you do nothing, so you're listening to this right now, you park it away.

[00:07:08] Like, ah, you know, I'll get to it later. Like one you're gonna be frustrated because you don't have the data year over year that you would probably want for reporting a number two. Is that this could risk your Google ad grant come next year, past July, if you do not have a fully operational and working GA for instance, your analytics tied to, of course your Google ad grant and many times for, for application, maybe they change the rules.

[00:07:35] Maybe they change this or app, but this is something that you can't really stick your head in the sand in. And it's something that is, you know, a little bit of work now. And then in terms of the export, you can wait until next year and whole whale will be working. On a lot of different solutions to make it super easy for you to click, click export and at least view some assemblance of historical data as a result of that.

[00:07:57] And we're going to create something that is a DIY that people can run with on their own. Later, later this year and into next year, as we get a handle on the real nuance of this, but we bring it up now because it's one of those like not urgent but important. Not urgent, but important things that you should be paying attention to.

[00:08:17] Right.

[00:08:17] Yeah George, I like the messaging on that. I will also add that if you happen to be listening to this podcast on your unfamiliar with Google analytics, I promise you that your market. Name and your web development team or web developer or vendor, someone who works on your website is familiar. So figure out who that person is, contact them and start thinking about a game plan for acknowledging the shift and George, as you alluded to, we will also be putting out more information and resources in the coming months and year. All right. I can take us into our next story within our summary. And this comes from the nonprofit times@thenonprofittimes.com and the title of the story is libertarians are giving locally, not nationally. And the headline is that 70% of households and Florida. The report making charitable. Charitable donations during 2021 with an average donation of a thousand dollars, but the majority of their giving is focused on nonprofits within the state.

[00:09:26] So I think in some ways this is something of a counter narrative to some of the threads we've been pulling about national trends in giving and tent pole, giving Bowman's and giving during political seasons. The data here as reported by the nonprofit time shows that. Local giving is still driving the fundraising landscape and a lot of places in this case with specialty.

[00:09:51] Yeah reminder that the giving locally still is very much in play. And if you're a local organization thinking about how your. Framing that ask and saying to make sure that that while there are national interests and where our attention is absolutely being pulled to moments of crisis in Ukraine and beyond that, there is still much of a, an appeal when you come back to local, local impact and local dollars putting to work the top three areas, which was interesting for the average donation amounts in the areas where religion basic needs and health You know, I'd be curious, you know, tried to look for other state by state comparisons, but it's interesting to at least look at one example of Florida in this case.

[00:10:34] Absolutely. Yes. I can take us into our next story. And this comes from us news and world report, and the title is inflation hits, non-profits services and ability to fundraise. We have been covering inflation and the downstream effects on nonprofit organizations before, but this is yet another article highlighting the problem with higher prices for nonprofits that quite frankly have very thin margins to operate within and at Highland.

[00:11:04] A nonprofit out of Cincinnati, I believe that has been looking for a refrigeration truck to help transport food through its various programs. And they've simply not been able to either afford a new truck or a Ford, a used truck. Of course, the. The automobile manufacturing and auto OBL market in general has seen prices shoot through the roof in the past couple of years with supply chain disruptions.

[00:11:32] But just another reminder that this is something that's affecting non-profits, it's not going away. Although recent inflation numbers today, Very high. I think the number was over 8% year over year. A couple of signs in there that the rate of growth of inflation might be slowing. So some cautious optimism that it's not going to go up much higher, but let alone we're still at record high inflation numbers.

[00:12:01] So it's something to keep in mind for small organizations which are on the front lines of these prices.

[00:12:07] organizations specifically working around housing and food insecurity are, are feeling this a quote from Kelly Kuehn, the CEO, Michigan nonprofit association had this quote that's that's something, any non-profit is experiencing now trying to keep up with requests for higher salaries and wages. Added that passion for the mission.

[00:12:27] Won't keep non-profit workers from seeking wages elsewhere. There's a lot of strain on human capital for nonprofits. I think that tension is only going to increase as this year continues and basic cost of living. Salaries just to keep up with the rate of inflation is going to become more and more difficult as, as these compounding factors play in.

[00:12:52] And of course the people serving the most vulnerable if they're hit so too, are they they're stable.

[00:12:57] Absolutely. All right, George, I'll take us into our next story. And we always look for opportunities to talk about cybersecurity because it's so important and

[00:13:06] Actually I want to jump backward. I really, I want to make this more practical. So I had this thought really quickly, right? We're talking about inflation. We talked about it a number of times. Here's here's the take, if you messaging, I think you can use this as a potential narrative to say. While other organizations can raise their prices.

[00:13:23] When you click the buy something online, when you buy that cup of coffee and buy that next gallon of gas, that just goes up or down, like they control those prices. We can't turn to our stakeholders. We can't tell somebody that this, you know, this food that we're giving you this week cost this much more.

[00:13:40] We serve the community in public good, but we're having a hard time keeping up right now with the cost of living. As we all know. But that work sort of can be put in juxtaposition with what for-profit companies can be doing. And we're seeing, and there's a little bit of angst about they're raising their prices, making more expensive for us, guess who can't raise their prices, our service to each other, our service in housing or service to food insecure.

[00:14:02] So maybe that is an opportunity to bring in some narrative as it's it's clearly on people's mind about inflation, but bring it into something that's maybe.

[00:14:11] Absolutely. You know, to your point, I think inflation will be an extremely salient political messaging. Angle you're going into November. So everyone's going to be talking about it's it's it's it's the economy stupid, right? That's that's going to be the angle. So you might as well play off of it, right?

[00:14:30] Like that's a tangible narrative. People are hearing about all the time and yeah. Being able to. You know, narrate how that's affecting you, I think can really humanize your organization to potential donors and people within, within your.

[00:14:48] And the way I think you pulled that is not on a macro hand-wringing level. It is on the micro pick up a canopies. Here's our warehouse. Here's this can of peas. It is going to take us an extra fill in the blank gas, fill in the blank cost to get it from here to there, we solve the last mile. That's what nonprofits are doing.

[00:15:08] The last mile of we have the resources. We just have to get them to the people that need it. And that cost of driving of applying and getting it there is what's going up. So find those micro stories to pull out. And I think that'll help, especially Nick. You're right. We're going to hear that word used a lot.

[00:15:28] It's going to trend in searches and pieces and you can get, you know, news articles written, but he's going to do it on the micro. How much does it cost to get that canopies this year versus last year versus two years ago, to where it needed to go.

[00:15:40] Absolutely. That's the way to do it. Bring it home, make it local. Into, into terms people can understand. I absolutely agree. All right. I can take us into our next story. And this comes from local CBS affiliate channel five K P I X San Francisco bay area. And the article is about a scam, San Francisco, nonprofit falling victim to the costliest form of cyber crime.

[00:16:08] And again, this type of cyber crime continues to be business, email compromise. We've heard about flashy ransomware attacks. Nope. Standard email phishing is still the most lucrative. And I think the number in here from the FBI was that in the U S in 2021, approximately $2.4 billion were stolen. Representing a 33% increase from 2021.

[00:16:36] It comes to just basic email, phishing scams. That's an absurd amount of money for a very low tech way. You know, stealing monthly. And the story here focuses on a nonprofit, a nonprofit account accounting executive, who was the target of phishing emails that actually the hackers were able to insert themselves into an email chain and essentially siphon off money.

[00:17:04] And after running the case to the ground and traveling to the bank and involving the FBI and the police who apparently couldn't do anything, apparently now the secret service is investigating that's beside the point. The point is phishing scams are not going away. They're increasing in frequency, they're increasing in their potency and their ability to extract money out of hardworking Americans.

[00:17:27] And non-profits what you need to do to stay safe is a couple of. Two factor, authenticate everything. Make sure you anything involving monthly is extremely secure should not be happening over email. Lots of little things that you can do just to kind of secure your organization. George, are there any other takeaways or any other tips you have for nonprofits?

[00:17:54] We have a cybersecurity course, our friends over at round table. Technologies have constant updates about this, but here's the point. I want you to understand how simple this was. If you have a CFO, if you have a chief financial, whatever, if you even have a bookkeeper and I can hack their email by simply saying, Hey, can you send me your password?

[00:18:14] Oh, I'm the admin. I'm running an it update. Can you send me this really quickly? And I had send it from something that looks pretty confident. They're busy. Oh, that sure. Here you go. I've been meaning to run this up at. Yeah, no problem. We'll get. If I can get that email password and I can just hack one person on a financial thread in your organization, all it was was this person went into the email.

[00:18:34] Client, looked through, found a conversation about who was sending what wires to grants. So they did a search for wire instructions, and then they went and just popped into that thread. Replied. Actually, we just had an update on this wire information. Can you change the routing information to this boom gone?

[00:18:50] Like that. So I want you to think about how vulnerable that system is because I'm have high confidence that I could do that for a good percentage of folks. If you gave me a target, I don't want that to sink in for a second. As you consider what you know, oh, the lock our files up. No, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:19:08] They're going to do a deep phishing attack and they're going to take your money. It's now hopefully becoming. Part of your, your regular diet of insuring against the, in doing, you know, we don't have the time to go through the amount of things that you should be doing, but there are some basic things that will stop 95% of those types of attacks.

[00:19:27] I feel like this is a scared straight program now.

[00:19:29] We deliver hard trues on this podcast. Sometimes the truth hurts.

[00:19:34] All right. Do we have good news? Do we have a, a field feel better?

[00:19:38] George, I got a great one for us. Our feel-good story of the day comes from local CBS affiliate channel 13, w J Z so many letters. CVS out of Baltimore. And this is about Baltimore city partnering with local nonprofit Kaboom exclamation point to ensure that children have access to play space equity at schools and underserved communities.

[00:20:05] The nonprofit organization, Kaboom has raised over $250 million to build play spaces and playgrounds for kids in the Baltimore area and over 25 places. And. I think this is really awesome because we like, you know, I'm in New York city, you're in California. We both grew up in cities. It's so important to have those spaces at the benefits of that art immense.

[00:20:30] So it was awesome to see a nonprofit stepping up here and making our cities a better place for our children.

[00:20:37] I have so much respect for Kaboom. They have been in the game for a very long time. And their model of working with tri-sector partnerships, meaning nonprofit for profit and government is excellent. Their funding models are brilliant. Sometimes they, you know, they work very often with those communities to build those play spaces.

[00:20:56] And by the way, you know, just speaking as a parent, like public place spaces, just have. A, just a bastion of sanity of health for, for my kids. I know because, you know, during the pandemic you're locked into four, four walls and maybe no backyard. And I gotta tell you it's it meant the world to have even any access to play spaces.

[00:21:18] And so this work more important than ever loved to see Kaboom continuing on. And by the way, take a look at their models. There's a lot of smart things going on at Kaboom.

[00:21:27] All right. That's what we have for you, Nick. Thanks as always appreciate your help. Synthesizing all of this news.

[00:21:34] Thanks. George, I'll talk to you next week.

View Details

War In Ukraine Continues To Increase Likelihood Of Global Food Crisis According to reporting from The New York Times, the war in Ukraine continues to threaten global food, agriculture, and other vital infrastructure. Farmers in Ukraine are reporting that granaries, farms, and other agriculture-related infrastructure are being destroyed by the Russians, all but halting Ukraine’s ability to export food staples. The World Food Programme chief warns that a global food crisis may turn out to be “beyond anything we’ve seen since World War II.” Nonprofits across the globe should prepare for higher food prices and the second-order effects of a global food crisis, a rare moment where global food markets are being impacted by supply and demand as opposed to external factors affecting access.

Read more ➝ Google Analytics Updates Require Immediate Attention From Nonprofits Running GA, Google Ads Google Analytics’ Universal Analytics, the industry-standard web analytics reporting platform and tracking infrastructure is being phased out in favor of the new GA4. In an update, Google announced that starting July 1st, 2023, all Universal Google Analytics accounts will stop pulling in new data from websites. The phasing out of UA is years in the making, but the hard switch will require nonprofits to both export and download historic data as well as migrate over to the new code. Recipients of the Google Ad grant are at risk of losing access unless they migrate accordingly. Read more about the upcoming update here.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Floridians Giving Locally, Not Nationally | The NonProfit Times
• Inflation Hits Nonprofits' Services, Ability to Fundraise | Business News | US News & World Report
• Scammed San Francisco Nonprofit Falls Victim to Costliest Type of Cybercrime | CBS San Francisco

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on a nonprofit news feed brought to you by Holwell a digital social impact agency. We're talking about the continued issues coming from the war in Ukraine, specifically around global food and crisis that could be coming. And some Google analytics updates that that might be annoying to you.

[00:00:20] And in general, we're going to be trying to as always bring it back to why this matters for you at your social impact organization. So Nick, how's it going?

[00:00:29] It's going?

[00:00:29] good, George, how are you?

[00:00:30] You know keeping up with the news, keeping up with the work it's, it's been busy here at whole. Well, you know, we just came back from our staff retreat, not too long ago. I, I feel like I'm caught up, but it's tough when you take a little, a little break from the normal.

[00:00:46] It is tough agency. Life keeps us busy, but we're back at it again today with the nonprofit newsfeed. And as you alluded to our first story continues to be about the second and third order effects of the war in Ukraine in particular, the increasing likelihood of a global food crisis. So again, from record reporting from the New York times, the word Ukraine continues.

[00:01:11] Threatened global food, agriculture and other vital infrastructure farmers are having their greeneries and farm equipment destroyed and lots of other. Facilities and infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia are now offline from the global food markets, the world food program, chief warns that a global food crisis may turn out to be beyond anything we've seen since world war two.

[00:01:37] Now the nonprofit take on this is that nonprofits are going to see higher food prices. They're going to see higher gas prices from sanctions, as well as just strains on gas and oil production. And this is a rare moment where global food markets are being impacted by supply and demand as to pose to the more typical factors that we see.

[00:02:01] George. I know we want to take this back to nonprofits. If you're and a nonprofit based in America, small, maybe you have a couple staff on your payroll. Why is this important to those organizations?

[00:02:13] One, you should be preparing for what the bottom line costs will start to become, especially if you're serving people. In harder to reach areas, working with the world food program, organizing and food. And it's probably already on your radar to be honest, right? We're not telling you anything new. The second thing you should be doing is beginning to fundraise and communicate around this pending can task trophy before, before you're in the moment.

[00:02:40] Cause as we know you need the resources now to prepare for later, you need to plant the seeds in the spring to get them in the fall in the same way. I think. That even though you're hearing it here and even in your circles, maybe this is something that is very clearly going to happen. The truth is I'm not seeing it nearly as much in sort of search trends and information, and in general and, and carry it around because you know, a future impending crisis just doesn't get to the front of the paper, the same way that the media disaster and impacts and refugees have, but there is something there's something large coming.

[00:03:19] And I think that's an opportunity for your organization to begin that narrative now, to educate first, right, with information, educate your audience about what you see coming from where you sit and what your projected. To then follow up with a preemptive campaign to prepare for what I think we're clearly seeing is going to be a global food crisis and searches for famine sutures searches for food crisis, I anticipate will be going up, but right now there are surprisingly flat.

[00:03:50] Absolutely. Great analysis and George, something that we tell our clients is the best time to prepare for breaking news. Is ahead of time and there are ways to do it. We can see things coming, whether it's big political moments in elections, or whether it's this slow burning news story that we will likely see ramp up in the future.

[00:04:13] There are things you can do now to prepare for it. And the beneficiaries of many organizations this may be directly affected. And there's lots of different things you can do to prepare for that from the communications and marketing angle to. How you serve communities for example, but I think that's a great analysis. All right. I can take us into our next story. And this is a frustrating one, George one that hits close to home based on my current job description, but Google analytics. Is requiring immediate attention from nonprofits over the next year. The takeaway vests is Google analytics. For those who are unfamiliar is the industry standard web analytics reporting platform.

[00:05:01] It's a reporting code. It's a tracking infrastructure. It's a whole system for understanding how people are interacting with your website. Google has been slowly rolling out the updated version of this platform. That's currently called a universal analytics. They are upgrading it to what is being dubbed GA for this has been happening for two years now in molasses level, slow motion.

[00:05:29] But just last week, they put out a press statement saying that all universal analytics accounts. So all that historic data, all those accounts, all of universal analytics is going away your data, unless you export and download it going away. That's it's over with. And quite frankly, it's Google anticipating changes in the data privacy and regulatory environment.

[00:05:56] But what this means for nonprofits is that you both need to download and store that historic data. And as soon as possible, get the new GA for up and running. So you can start that data collection so that when. Universal analytics goes away. You already have a little bit of runway with historic data to make that transition.

[00:06:19] What am I missing, George?

[00:06:20] Yeah. I feel like this is a scared, straight program of people panicking, but you're right. What we should note is that you have until July. 2023, July 1st, 20, 23 may seem like over a year away. However, your point about the data continuity stands. If you want to be looking at this time next year, year over year information, you have to make sure that GA for the new instance, GA four is installed, set up and tracking the things that matter to you now.

[00:06:49] So you have that overlap. They given a year. Which is, you know, which is great, but they are very serious about this hard cliff and enlarge part because of some of those data, privacy laws and rules that are out there. This may be frustrating. This may be annoying. The other side of this is that if you do nothing, so you're listening to this right now, you park it away.

[00:07:08] Like, ah, you know, I'll get to it later. Like one you're gonna be frustrated because you don't have the data year over year that you would probably want for reporting a number two. Is that this could risk your Google ad grant come next year, past July, if you do not have a fully operational and working GA for instance, your analytics tied to, of course your Google ad grant and many times for, for application, maybe they change the rules.

[00:07:35] Maybe they change this or app, but this is something that you can't really stick your head in the sand in. And it's something that is, you know, a little bit of work now. And then in terms of the export, you can wait until next year and whole whale will be working. On a lot of different solutions to make it super easy for you to click, click export and at least view some assemblance of historical data as a result of that.

[00:07:57] And we're going to create something that is a DIY that people can run with on their own. Later, later this year and into next year, as we get a handle on the real nuance of this, but we bring it up now because it's one of those like not urgent but important. Not urgent, but important things that you should be paying attention to.

[00:08:17] Right.

[00:08:17] Yeah George, I like the messaging on that. I will also add that if you happen to be listening to this podcast on your unfamiliar with Google analytics, I promise you that your market. Name and your web development team or web developer or vendor, someone who works on your website is familiar. So figure out who that person is, contact them and start thinking about a game plan for acknowledging the shift and George, as you alluded to, we will also be putting out more information and resources in the coming months and year. All right. I can take us into our next story within our summary. And this comes from the nonprofit times@thenonprofittimes.com and the title of the story is libertarians are giving locally, not nationally. And the headline is that 70% of households and Florida. The report making charitable. Charitable donations during 2021 with an average donation of a thousand dollars, but the majority of their giving is focused on nonprofits within the state.

[00:09:26] So I think in some ways this is something of a counter narrative to some of the threads we've been pulling about national trends in giving and tent pole, giving Bowman's and giving during political seasons. The data here as reported by the nonprofit time shows that. Local giving is still driving the fundraising landscape and a lot of places in this case with specialty.

[00:09:51] Yeah reminder that the giving locally still is very much in play. And if you're a local organization thinking about how your. Framing that ask and saying to make sure that that while there are national interests and where our attention is absolutely being pulled to moments of crisis in Ukraine and beyond that, there is still much of a, an appeal when you come back to local, local impact and local dollars putting to work the top three areas, which was interesting for the average donation amounts in the areas where religion basic needs and health You know, I'd be curious, you know, tried to look for other state by state comparisons, but it's interesting to at least look at one example of Florida in this case.

[00:10:34] Absolutely. Yes. I can take us into our next story. And this comes from us news and world report, and the title is inflation hits, non-profits services and ability to fundraise. We have been covering inflation and the downstream effects on nonprofit organizations before, but this is yet another article highlighting the problem with higher prices for nonprofits that quite frankly have very thin margins to operate within and at Highland.

[00:11:04] A nonprofit out of Cincinnati, I believe that has been looking for a refrigeration truck to help transport food through its various programs. And they've simply not been able to either afford a new truck or a Ford, a used truck. Of course, the. The automobile manufacturing and auto OBL market in general has seen prices shoot through the roof in the past couple of years with supply chain disruptions.

[00:11:32] But just another reminder that this is something that's affecting non-profits, it's not going away. Although recent inflation numbers today, Very high. I think the number was over 8% year over year. A couple of signs in there that the rate of growth of inflation might be slowing. So some cautious optimism that it's not going to go up much higher, but let alone we're still at record high inflation numbers.

[00:12:01] So it's something to keep in mind for small organizations which are on the front lines of these prices.

[00:12:07] organizations specifically working around housing and food insecurity are, are feeling this a quote from Kelly Kuehn, the CEO, Michigan nonprofit association had this quote that's that's something, any non-profit is experiencing now trying to keep up with requests for higher salaries and wages. Added that passion for the mission.

[00:12:27] Won't keep non-profit workers from seeking wages elsewhere. There's a lot of strain on human capital for nonprofits. I think that tension is only going to increase as this year continues and basic cost of living. Salaries just to keep up with the rate of inflation is going to become more and more difficult as, as these compounding factors play in.

[00:12:52] And of course the people serving the most vulnerable if they're hit so too, are they they're stable.

[00:12:57] Absolutely. All right, George, I'll take us into our next story. And we always look for opportunities to talk about cybersecurity because it's so important and

[00:13:06] Actually I want to jump backward. I really, I want to make this more practical. So I had this thought really quickly, right? We're talking about inflation. We talked about it a number of times. Here's here's the take, if you messaging, I think you can use this as a potential narrative to say. While other organizations can raise their prices.

[00:13:23] When you click the buy something online, when you buy that cup of coffee and buy that next gallon of gas, that just goes up or down, like they control those prices. We can't turn to our stakeholders. We can't tell somebody that this, you know, this food that we're giving you this week cost this much more.

[00:13:40] We serve the community in public good, but we're having a hard time keeping up right now with the cost of living. As we all know. But that work sort of can be put in juxtaposition with what for-profit companies can be doing. And we're seeing, and there's a little bit of angst about they're raising their prices, making more expensive for us, guess who can't raise their prices, our service to each other, our service in housing or service to food insecure.

[00:14:02] So maybe that is an opportunity to bring in some narrative as it's it's clearly on people's mind about inflation, but bring it into something that's maybe.

[00:14:11] Absolutely. You know, to your point, I think inflation will be an extremely salient political messaging. Angle you're going into November. So everyone's going to be talking about it's it's it's it's the economy stupid, right? That's that's going to be the angle. So you might as well play off of it, right?

[00:14:30] Like that's a tangible narrative. People are hearing about all the time and yeah. Being able to. You know, narrate how that's affecting you, I think can really humanize your organization to potential donors and people within, within your.

[00:14:48] And the way I think you pulled that is not on a macro hand-wringing level. It is on the micro pick up a canopies. Here's our warehouse. Here's this can of peas. It is going to take us an extra fill in the blank gas, fill in the blank cost to get it from here to there, we solve the last mile. That's what nonprofits are doing.

[00:15:08] The last mile of we have the resources. We just have to get them to the people that need it. And that cost of driving of applying and getting it there is what's going up. So find those micro stories to pull out. And I think that'll help, especially Nick. You're right. We're going to hear that word used a lot.

[00:15:28] It's going to trend in searches and pieces and you can get, you know, news articles written, but he's going to do it on the micro. How much does it cost to get that canopies this year versus last year versus two years ago, to where it needed to go.

[00:15:40] Absolutely. That's the way to do it. Bring it home, make it local. Into, into terms people can understand. I absolutely agree. All right. I can take us into our next story. And this comes from local CBS affiliate channel five K P I X San Francisco bay area. And the article is about a scam, San Francisco, nonprofit falling victim to the costliest form of cyber crime.

[00:16:08] And again, this type of cyber crime continues to be business, email compromise. We've heard about flashy ransomware attacks. Nope. Standard email phishing is still the most lucrative. And I think the number in here from the FBI was that in the U S in 2021, approximately $2.4 billion were stolen. Representing a 33% increase from 2021.

[00:16:36] It comes to just basic email, phishing scams. That's an absurd amount of money for a very low tech way. You know, stealing monthly. And the story here focuses on a nonprofit, a nonprofit account accounting executive, who was the target of phishing emails that actually the hackers were able to insert themselves into an email chain and essentially siphon off money.

[00:17:04] And after running the case to the ground and traveling to the bank and involving the FBI and the police who apparently couldn't do anything, apparently now the secret service is investigating that's beside the point. The point is phishing scams are not going away. They're increasing in frequency, they're increasing in their potency and their ability to extract money out of hardworking Americans.

[00:17:27] And non-profits what you need to do to stay safe is a couple of. Two factor, authenticate everything. Make sure you anything involving monthly is extremely secure should not be happening over email. Lots of little things that you can do just to kind of secure your organization. George, are there any other takeaways or any other tips you have for nonprofits?

[00:17:54] We have a cybersecurity course, our friends over at round table. Technologies have constant updates about this, but here's the point. I want you to understand how simple this was. If you have a CFO, if you have a chief financial, whatever, if you even have a bookkeeper and I can hack their email by simply saying, Hey, can you send me your password?

[00:18:14] Oh, I'm the admin. I'm running an it update. Can you send me this really quickly? And I had send it from something that looks pretty confident. They're busy. Oh, that sure. Here you go. I've been meaning to run this up at. Yeah, no problem. We'll get. If I can get that email password and I can just hack one person on a financial thread in your organization, all it was was this person went into the email.

[00:18:34] Client, looked through, found a conversation about who was sending what wires to grants. So they did a search for wire instructions, and then they went and just popped into that thread. Replied. Actually, we just had an update on this wire information. Can you change the routing information to this boom gone?

[00:18:50] Like that. So I want you to think about how vulnerable that system is because I'm have high confidence that I could do that for a good percentage of folks. If you gave me a target, I don't want that to sink in for a second. As you consider what you know, oh, the lock our files up. No, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:19:08] They're going to do a deep phishing attack and they're going to take your money. It's now hopefully becoming. Part of your, your regular diet of insuring against the, in doing, you know, we don't have the time to go through the amount of things that you should be doing, but there are some basic things that will stop 95% of those types of attacks.

[00:19:27] I feel like this is a scared straight program now.

[00:19:29] We deliver hard trues on this podcast. Sometimes the truth hurts.

[00:19:34] All right. Do we have good news? Do we have a, a field feel better?

[00:19:38] George, I got a great one for us. Our feel-good story of the day comes from local CBS affiliate channel 13, w J Z so many letters. CVS out of Baltimore. And this is about Baltimore city partnering with local nonprofit Kaboom exclamation point to ensure that children have access to play space equity at schools and underserved communities.

[00:20:05] The nonprofit organization, Kaboom has raised over $250 million to build play spaces and playgrounds for kids in the Baltimore area and over 25 places. And. I think this is really awesome because we like, you know, I'm in New York city, you're in California. We both grew up in cities. It's so important to have those spaces at the benefits of that art immense.

[00:20:30] So it was awesome to see a nonprofit stepping up here and making our cities a better place for our children.

[00:20:37] I have so much respect for Kaboom. They have been in the game for a very long time. And their model of working with tri-sector partnerships, meaning nonprofit for profit and government is excellent. Their funding models are brilliant. Sometimes they, you know, they work very often with those communities to build those play spaces.

[00:20:56] And by the way, you know, just speaking as a parent, like public place spaces, just have. A, just a bastion of sanity of health for, for my kids. I know because, you know, during the pandemic you're locked into four, four walls and maybe no backyard. And I gotta tell you it's it meant the world to have even any access to play spaces.

[00:21:18] And so this work more important than ever loved to see Kaboom continuing on. And by the way, take a look at their models. There's a lot of smart things going on at Kaboom.

[00:21:27] All right. That's what we have for you, Nick. Thanks as always appreciate your help. Synthesizing all of this news.

[00:21:34] Thanks. George, I'll talk to you next week.

View Details

War In Ukraine Threatens Global Food Security, Likely To Exacerbate Food Emergencies Among Vulnerable Populations According to reporting from The New York Times, the war in Ukraine threatens global food security on a large scale. Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly 30% of the global wheat supply and serve as a vital supplier of fertilizer, grain, barley, sunflower oil, and many other basic food staples. In addition to food security challenges within Ukraine, already vulnerable countries in the Middle East and North Africa (countries especially reliant on exported foodstuffs from the war-torn region) find themselves in an increasingly precarious situation. Over half of the World Food Programme’s wheat comes from Ukraine, and emergency food programs in Yemen and other African countries may be forced to prioritize the starving over the hungry. Compounded by sky-high global food prices, supply chain issues, regional conflict, and natural disasters like drought, many food-insecure countries may end up in large-scale food emergencies as the war continues.

Read more ➝

NGOs, Nonprofits, Governments, International Organizations & Citizen Journalists Come Together To Document War Crimes In Ukraine

In an unusual alliance across many different actors, a multitude of organizations and outlets are working tirelessly to document war crimes in Ukraine. Human Rights Watch, an international human rights watchdog group and nonprofit with international headquarters in New York City, has launched a full-scale investigation into war crimes amidst newly reported revelations in Bucha, Ukraine. Large-scale citizen journalism efforts, including those produced by investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat will be essential to efforts to prosecute war crimes in international bodies like the International Criminal Court (ICC). Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab is one of many more NGOs documenting crimes. (Content Warning: Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s reporting includes specific details of war crimes and indiscriminate violence against civilians and may be disturbing to readers.)

Read more ➝ Summary

• Fortnite finishes two-week donation period with $144M for Ukraine | Shacknews
• In A David Versus Goliath Battle Between NGOs And A Pipeline Company, Goliath Is Losing | Forbes
• Taxpayer First Act Expands Mandatory E-Filing of Form 990 | The NonProfit Times
• Nonprofit Hits Milestone Protecting More Than a Million Acres of Rainforest So Far This Year – All With Public Donations | Good News Network

Transcript:

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit newsfeed, we are talking about the second order effects of the war in Ukraine, as well as how nonprofits and international organizations working with journalism's are working on documentation of the war crimes and terrible stories coming out of this crisis.

[00:00:17] Yeah, George, that's a great introduction. Our first story is about global food security and how the war and is. Threatening to exacerbate food emergencies across the world. So according to reporting from the New York times, the on Ukraine is threatening global food security on a large scale Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly

[00:00:38] 30% of the global wheat supply and serve as a vital supplier of things like fertilizer, grain, barley, sunflower oil, and other basic food staples that are essential to the global food infrastructure. In addition to food security challenge. Within Ukraine that is now a food insecure country, already vulnerable communities across the globe, particularly in the middle east and north Africa are finding themselves in an increasingly precarious situation. The world food program estimates that over half of its wheat comes from Ukraine and in an interview the director of the, the world food program said that.

[00:01:20] And emergency situations and Yemen, humanitarian organizations are being forced to prioritized the starving over the hungry compounded by sky high global food prices,

[00:01:33] supply chain issues, the rising price of oil and gasoline, regional conflict, and even natural disasters. Many food insecure countries. That are currently facing problems because of the war in Ukraine, maybe facing large scale food emergencies as the war continues. And it seems like The downstream effects of this war could have wringing implications for months to come. And I think this is vitally important that we sound the alarm on because it's one of those things that's less visible. It's less flashy than a war, but could have serious, serious humanitarian implications.

[00:02:12] The report also talks about these other contributing factors and the big one being involved. For example, in east Africa. Where they're saying that just, you know, due to droughts there, that they're just simply not keeping up with the amount of food and the shortage of food. And in and around Kenya actually led to like 1.5 million livestock being, being killed.

[00:02:38] So, you know, It just, it adds up, but one of the things is looking at a problem before it happens. I think we're starting to see some reporting around that, but it's something that, you know, non-profits in journalism working on it to say like, Hey, you know, this is going to be a huge problem. If things. Planted right now on top of that, you look at potential impacts on farmers due to inflation, not wanting to overinvest in that huge capital outlay.

[00:03:04] And it may be more than just capital markets, which find efficiencies, but actually like humanitarian markets saying that, no, literally we know it may not be profitable for you to plant, you know, twice as much wheat, but we kind of need it where you can get it.

[00:03:19] Absolutely. Yesterday the episode of the daily from the New York times was about this very issue. And the lead journalist on that story was from reporting from Brazil, where the Brazilian government as been for us to be extremely proactive because the majority of their fertilizer comes from the region and advising farmers

[00:03:41] that they are going to have to start potentially rationing, rationing fertilizer. So exactly to your point, the economics of this get really complex.

[00:03:48] It's disturbing to read a line such as the prioritization of starving over the hungry. It's a type of global triaged that just felt like unimaginable five years ago, because we produced technically as, you know, a globe more food. And it was more about the distribution, right? The problem of last mile. How do we make sure that this bit of grain makes it to.

[00:04:12] Final person on the ground and it was just resource allocation and now potentially a scarcity of resource.

[00:04:17] Yeah. that's a good point. And it makes the, the downstream effects of that of of course are tragic, but focusing more on what's happening in Ukraine itself over the weekend, there's been outcry over videos and images showing. Just absolutely horrific war crimes and violence against civilians in the surrounding areas.

[00:04:41] The suburbs of Kiev and the story here is that NGOs non-profits governments, international organizations, and even citizen journalists are teaming up. And creating a sort of Alliance to try to document these war crimes, which will be really important. So the, the story here focuses on human rights watch, which is an international human rights watchdog.

[00:05:05] They're a non-profit they're headquartered out of New York city. They've launched a full scale investigation into war crimes. There's also large-scale citizen journalism efforts, including those produced by investigative journalists, journalism, outcast outlet, belling, cat. And these are going to be essential to documenting these crimes and attempting to prosecute them and international bodies like the international criminal court. Amnesty international also has a crisis evidence, lab, lots of different nonprofits and NGOs are stepping up to fill the void here because if you're prosecuting crimes, many of which are just almost too horrific to talk about on this podcast. You need evidence and it's very clear that the nonprofit, NGO community and civil society community, not even just internationally, but within Ukraine itself are stepping up to try to document these crimes. T to bring justice to the perpetrator.

[00:06:02] Yeah. I mean, it's kind of weird maybe to talk about the laws of war. However, there are laws of war which prohibit willful killing, rape, and other sexual violence, torture, inhumane treatment, capture combatants and civilians in custody, pillage and looting. And, you know, frankly it's needs to be recorded.

[00:06:23] And I think one of the things that we're watching is the most documented and recorded war in known history. And you know, is to say that you have a lot, a lot more eyes on this and a lot more technology distributed into the hands of the people who are living this nightmare in a, in a way that. Just not been seen before.

[00:06:48] And, you know, it leads to, you know, we put a content warning on this that leads to a lot of intense reporting and then live sort of alleged it, which I think is important because there is there is a propaganda game also going on right now. Make no mistake. There are narratives that all of the parties involved are trying to push and support with documentations.

[00:07:11] It's extra important that you've got verifying bodies such as the amnesty International's and human rights watches that can truly verify that like, this is, you know, this is not about helping Ukraine in ratchet up sanctions against Russia in the moment, but rather documentation of, of what's actually going on, which, which is, which is tough.

[00:07:36] Yeah.

[00:07:37] I think that's true. And when you dig into this. If You read some of these articles, I think you'll find that doing this is actually quite challenging. It's quite challenging to prove that a photo or video was

[00:07:48] taken where, and when it is purported to have been taken. And it looks like this conflict is one of the first conflicts where there's apparatuses in place. Do kind of. Document that material in a legally sound way.

[00:08:07] I mean, obviously you can't just like snap a shot of your photo. Like, what does that actually mean, do you know how that works ?

[00:08:12] There's so not to get too nerdy into

[00:08:16] No, I'll go nerdy. I asked it, I called it.

[00:08:19] There, from what I remember there's a protocol, a 2020 protocol. So kind of like guidelines produced by , one of the universities out of California, Berkeley

[00:08:30] UCLA, or something like that..

[00:08:32] And it outlines a process of due diligence for proving that this. A van tap in somewhere and it's kind of like a roadmap and actually the journalism outlet here Bellingcat is very well-regarded within this, this space. And they also have really, really rigid processes and documentation for how you have to verify essentially photos. They. Whether it's Google maps, they're using satellite imagery, video timestamps.

[00:09:02] There's lots of different things. And it goes through lots of different review. Unfortunately, academics think that even with all that, it's still may have a hard time standing up and in front of an international court, like the ICC, but it's really interesting. And I think this is one of the ways that tech is filling a void in a way that it never has before. When it comes to potential. Producing evidence of war crimes in this way. it's it's really as, as tragic as it is. It's really interesting to see how tech is being used in this, in this.

[00:09:36] I feel that it can feel like you're wait a minute. Like, how is this helping the moment? And you're like, how can you be documenting something during your presentation? You know, getting out there and just raising what you can to, to help support refugees and whatnot. What's important is to take the long view and to make sure that there is a established and enforced global policy of what is socially at a global level acceptable.

[00:10:04] One of the things that has to be done is what is the true impact of this long-term because guess what? This is not the last time. Some, you know, somebody believes they're their, their destiny is to, is to acquire land once held long ago. If you go. You know, it, it was all held by the dinosaurs and they should launch an attack.

[00:10:24] So how do you make it so that the global theater looks at this punish as it documents it and make sure that that is brought into the calculus of doing this the next time, which is a terrible thing to say, but the work of doing this right now is so important when you look back because it will build into the potential global deterring, bombing your neighbors.

[00:10:46] So.

[00:10:47] Absolutely. And when you look at the history of this, it really stems from the Nuremberg trials in which the team of lawyers with frankly, no jurisdiction had to make claims saying that these crimes were So.

[00:11:02] atrocious, that it requires something beyond what any single country's judicial system could offer. To your point. It's so important that we have this, and of course it's not perfect. It's far from perfect. But every chance we get to document these crimes will be one more deterrent against them happening in the future.

[00:11:22] That's right.

[00:11:22] All right. What do we have on the summary?

[00:11:25] This is going back to Ukraine, but in a very different way, we reported on this a couple of weeks ago that the video game fortnight would be donating their in-app purchase revenue to Ukraine. We read that story with amusement. Two weeks after they announced that

[00:11:44] Fortnight and its developers have given $144 million to relief efforts and Ukraine, that is an amazing sum of money for one in video games. At purchases that boggles my mind. But to, that's an incredible amount of money in a humanitarian emergency like this. And I'm really interested to see what video game makers and companies, if, if there is a way to make this sustainable, because if you can, if you can turn video game usage and to humanitarian support, that seems like you're onto something, but this is truly incredible.

[00:12:22] I was not expecting.

[00:12:23] I mean, that's you, we covered it with interest, but this. You know, it, it fails description talking about, you know, it's clear that this is their bottom line revenue. This is not like percent of proceeds. Like this is the difference between, oh, we're sending 1% of all sales. Like this is what happens when you just change the spicket from, you know, pointing to your bank account to a social cause.

[00:12:47] And it is it's incredible. And hopefully makes you realize that, you know, These communities are very, very powerful when mobilized. And this is just just the beginning. I think of how, you know, the online game, like think about it for a second. And the online game built around, frankly, people shooting at each other is mimicked war.

[00:13:08] Actually saying like, no, no, no. It should stay in the game. And their response is pretty incredible. And what's more in this in this news article and, you know, they announced it on Twitter and frankly, the PR representatives of fortnight added that the company is just not taking further interviews on the subject and they just are referring people to the, to the website regarding the relief effort.

[00:13:33] I mean, take a, take a beat and think about how. Sadly, how often when a company does a, a good deed like this, they just like, all right, now let's spend twice that amount on the PR and media push that goes associated with making sure the entire world knows what we just did. And this is the absolute opposite of.

[00:13:53] Absolutely. I agree if this is a model for corporate social responsibility, I'm in. Maybe I can be converted

[00:14:03] Yeah,

[00:14:03] if given me skeptical

[00:14:04] I'll buy a fortnight skin, I guess.

[00:14:07] I will too. I was going to add a fortnight related joke, but

[00:14:12] I have

[00:14:12] play, do you play, have you ever played Fortnite? Here's a question. Have you ever played.

[00:14:15] know.

[00:14:16] So I, I have a, I don't actively play, but I did get into it because I realized how big the ecosystem was. And I did play it. I get it. It's fun. It's pretty social. You're definitely like getting along with teammates and talking with people.

[00:14:31] So it's far more far more of a community, I think, than people may realize. And you play with people internationally, you dropped into these battle. Royales with a bunch of random people. And you're placed on a team and then suddenly you're cooperating and you're running around with somebody who's, you know, may have is probably of a different background than yours.

[00:14:51] That's really interesting. You bring that up video games. Video games are very democratic in that way. And I think like harnessed back to my point, harness correctly can really lead to cross-cultural understanding and and potentially humanitarian outcomes. I, I think there's, there's a lot of potential. Oh, all right. I can leave this into our next story. This one is titled in a David versus Goliath battle between NGOs and a pipeline company. Goliath is losing and this article. Is about how essentially small nonprofits and NGOs and Virginia and West Virginia are fighting oil pipelines and through various legal challenges versus us fish and wildlife and various companies and various pipelines are winning. So there's, there's different pipelines. There's the mountain valley pipeline that it talks about. There's that equal. Equity trans midstream pipeline. I didn't pronounce that. Right. Those developers have invested $2.5 billion in this project, but an NGO in that case called wild Virginia, a conservation organization is putting up quite a fight. This seems like a, a movie or some sort. I think I've seen this movie before. But just really interesting. And just going to highlight the important role. Advocacy and conservation organizations when it comes to protecting our environment. And it goes back and touches on so many other themes that we've talked about, whether it's you know, indigenous access to land and preserving all sorts of different cultural heritage and environmental sustainability, environmental justice and racism elements. It's a good story. We recommend reading it from Forbes, but really interesting.

[00:16:45] I think the timing of it also, you're going to see, you know, probably it's not the most popular moment with gas prices rising and frankly, Russia using it as its biggest key of leverage to, to, to attack and saying like, wait a minute, you know, have, have, you know, like what the, the immediacy of how much.

[00:17:08] And gas production that's probably needed right now to, to stop to stop. Russia is also has to be balanced with the long-term impacts of saying we needed to make, to put as many headwinds as possible for the continuation of a carbon based energy. Policy, and it's tough to balance. Like right now, I gotta be honest.

[00:17:31] I'd be much happier if you know, environmental movement in Germany have allowed for a lot less dependency on oil and gas from. From Russia and these are hard conversations and, you know, I respect the people that have the long view and can maintain the long view, as opposed to saying like in this one moment of crisis.

[00:17:51] Yeah. It would make a lot of sense to get as much oil, frankly, slowing as humanly possible from the stores where they're kept. So that. Avoid this disaster. The problem is always, you know, fighting the battles of the day, ignorant of the war the larger war of tomorrow, which is truly environmental the environmental stakes which are huge and have of course social justice elements as well.

[00:18:15] Cause we we can be hurting a lot of communities on the way to doing that.

[00:18:18] Yeah, I think that's a great synthesis. I will take us into our next story. And this is one of those boring, but potentially important stories. And this comes from the nonprofit times and it, the title is taxpayer first act expands, mandatory. E-filing. Nine 90. I'm not an accountant, I'm on a tax expert. So please read this article yourself.

[00:18:45] But the general gist is that new legislation under new legislation and the IRS is now required to provide notice to any nonprofit that fails to file a form nine 90 return or postcard for two consecutive years. And similarly, there are now new requirements for the electronic submission of form nine nineties. Do your own research, do your own homework. Just know that these changes are upon us.

[00:19:11] Yeah, I'll just add from this article 4, 9, 9, the easy. Used by organizations that have gross receipts of under $200,000 in total assets of under 500,000 at the end of their tax year. So especially if you are a smaller organization, you know, send that around because, you know, potentially they're, they're looking at organizations that haven't potentially filed in two years, which could then begin to risk potentially because the IRS member tax classification and the 5 0 1 C3 might risk that.

[00:19:44] So yeah. That it's one of those fun, you know what, you know what I think of when I see articles like this is the same thing when I'm dealing with like a really tough, random administrative issue for, for even Holwell and it's that like, I, you know, I'm not an accountant, I don't know these things, but there are people running nonprofits that suddenly have to be like, okay, let's dig into what this actually means and figure that out.

[00:20:09] You know, it's the. The dirty truth of being, you know, the founder of a small nonprofit, or even have a company of certain sizes where you're just in charge of figuring out confusing things on a regular basis that you have no background in. But frankly, if you get wrong could mean could mean severe implications for the organization fund stuff.

[00:20:29] No pressure,

[00:20:30] No. Yeah, no pressure. I'm sure it's fine.

[00:20:32] no pressure. Oh man. How about I? How about we finished with a feel-good story, Jordan?

[00:20:38] Yes, please.

[00:20:39] All right. This comes from the good news network and it's about a nonprofit that's hit it's milestone for protecting more than 1 million acres of rainforest. So far this year, all with public donations in September. The Virginia based nonprofit made a $500 million commitment to preserving biodiversity. And six months later, the rainforest trust and its partners have already protected more than 1 million acres of habitat. So far in 2022. The rain forest trust organization has safeguarded over 38 million acres of habitat since its inception in 19. Eat, and we really liked their model. It seems like they work with indigenous communities and preexisting organizations which is really important protecting indigenous communities and the countries that we work in believes Ecuador, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Myanmar. Cool stuff. We like protecting the rainforests ever increasingly more important. We spent a lot of time talking about global food security or insecurity that is you know, spread by things like drought, things that global warming and protecting our environment play a role in, so increasingly important, great stuff in this story. Love protecting the rainforests.

[00:21:58] Yeah. And the stat here from rainforest trust is that 99% of the forests protected by them remain standing today and a non-profit as well on its way to protecting 125 million more acres by 2025 that you did it in way. That made me feel good. That's a feel good story.

[00:22:16] I'm glad.

View Details

War In Ukraine Threatens Global Food Security, Likely To Exacerbate Food Emergencies Among Vulnerable Populations According to reporting from The New York Times, the war in Ukraine threatens global food security on a large scale. Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly 30% of the global wheat supply and serve as a vital supplier of fertilizer, grain, barley, sunflower oil, and many other basic food staples. In addition to food security challenges within Ukraine, already vulnerable countries in the Middle East and North Africa (countries especially reliant on exported foodstuffs from the war-torn region) find themselves in an increasingly precarious situation. Over half of the World Food Programme’s wheat comes from Ukraine, and emergency food programs in Yemen and other African countries may be forced to prioritize the starving over the hungry. Compounded by sky-high global food prices, supply chain issues, regional conflict, and natural disasters like drought, many food-insecure countries may end up in large-scale food emergencies as the war continues.

Read more ➝

NGOs, Nonprofits, Governments, International Organizations & Citizen Journalists Come Together To Document War Crimes In Ukraine

In an unusual alliance across many different actors, a multitude of organizations and outlets are working tirelessly to document war crimes in Ukraine. Human Rights Watch, an international human rights watchdog group and nonprofit with international headquarters in New York City, has launched a full-scale investigation into war crimes amidst newly reported revelations in Bucha, Ukraine. Large-scale citizen journalism efforts, including those produced by investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat will be essential to efforts to prosecute war crimes in international bodies like the International Criminal Court (ICC). Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab is one of many more NGOs documenting crimes. (Content Warning: Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s reporting includes specific details of war crimes and indiscriminate violence against civilians and may be disturbing to readers.)

Read more ➝ Summary

• Fortnite finishes two-week donation period with $144M for Ukraine | Shacknews
• In A David Versus Goliath Battle Between NGOs And A Pipeline Company, Goliath Is Losing | Forbes
• Taxpayer First Act Expands Mandatory E-Filing of Form 990 | The NonProfit Times
• Nonprofit Hits Milestone Protecting More Than a Million Acres of Rainforest So Far This Year – All With Public Donations | Good News Network

Transcript:

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit newsfeed, we are talking about the second order effects of the war in Ukraine, as well as how nonprofits and international organizations working with journalism's are working on documentation of the war crimes and terrible stories coming out of this crisis.

[00:00:17] Yeah, George, that's a great introduction. Our first story is about global food security and how the war and is. Threatening to exacerbate food emergencies across the world. So according to reporting from the New York times, the on Ukraine is threatening global food security on a large scale Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly

[00:00:38] 30% of the global wheat supply and serve as a vital supplier of things like fertilizer, grain, barley, sunflower oil, and other basic food staples that are essential to the global food infrastructure. In addition to food security challenge. Within Ukraine that is now a food insecure country, already vulnerable communities across the globe, particularly in the middle east and north Africa are finding themselves in an increasingly precarious situation. The world food program estimates that over half of its wheat comes from Ukraine and in an interview the director of the, the world food program said that.

[00:01:20] And emergency situations and Yemen, humanitarian organizations are being forced to prioritized the starving over the hungry compounded by sky high global food prices,

[00:01:33] supply chain issues, the rising price of oil and gasoline, regional conflict, and even natural disasters. Many food insecure countries. That are currently facing problems because of the war in Ukraine, maybe facing large scale food emergencies as the war continues. And it seems like The downstream effects of this war could have wringing implications for months to come. And I think this is vitally important that we sound the alarm on because it's one of those things that's less visible. It's less flashy than a war, but could have serious, serious humanitarian implications.

[00:02:12] The report also talks about these other contributing factors and the big one being involved. For example, in east Africa. Where they're saying that just, you know, due to droughts there, that they're just simply not keeping up with the amount of food and the shortage of food. And in and around Kenya actually led to like 1.5 million livestock being, being killed.

[00:02:38] So, you know, It just, it adds up, but one of the things is looking at a problem before it happens. I think we're starting to see some reporting around that, but it's something that, you know, non-profits in journalism working on it to say like, Hey, you know, this is going to be a huge problem. If things. Planted right now on top of that, you look at potential impacts on farmers due to inflation, not wanting to overinvest in that huge capital outlay.

[00:03:04] And it may be more than just capital markets, which find efficiencies, but actually like humanitarian markets saying that, no, literally we know it may not be profitable for you to plant, you know, twice as much wheat, but we kind of need it where you can get it.

[00:03:19] Absolutely. Yesterday the episode of the daily from the New York times was about this very issue. And the lead journalist on that story was from reporting from Brazil, where the Brazilian government as been for us to be extremely proactive because the majority of their fertilizer comes from the region and advising farmers

[00:03:41] that they are going to have to start potentially rationing, rationing fertilizer. So exactly to your point, the economics of this get really complex.

[00:03:48] It's disturbing to read a line such as the prioritization of starving over the hungry. It's a type of global triaged that just felt like unimaginable five years ago, because we produced technically as, you know, a globe more food. And it was more about the distribution, right? The problem of last mile. How do we make sure that this bit of grain makes it to.

[00:04:12] Final person on the ground and it was just resource allocation and now potentially a scarcity of resource.

[00:04:17] Yeah. that's a good point. And it makes the, the downstream effects of that of of course are tragic, but focusing more on what's happening in Ukraine itself over the weekend, there's been outcry over videos and images showing. Just absolutely horrific war crimes and violence against civilians in the surrounding areas.

[00:04:41] The suburbs of Kiev and the story here is that NGOs non-profits governments, international organizations, and even citizen journalists are teaming up. And creating a sort of Alliance to try to document these war crimes, which will be really important. So the, the story here focuses on human rights watch, which is an international human rights watchdog.

[00:05:05] They're a non-profit they're headquartered out of New York city. They've launched a full scale investigation into war crimes. There's also large-scale citizen journalism efforts, including those produced by investigative journalists, journalism, outcast outlet, belling, cat. And these are going to be essential to documenting these crimes and attempting to prosecute them and international bodies like the international criminal court. Amnesty international also has a crisis evidence, lab, lots of different nonprofits and NGOs are stepping up to fill the void here because if you're prosecuting crimes, many of which are just almost too horrific to talk about on this podcast. You need evidence and it's very clear that the nonprofit, NGO community and civil society community, not even just internationally, but within Ukraine itself are stepping up to try to document these crimes. T to bring justice to the perpetrator.

[00:06:02] Yeah. I mean, it's kind of weird maybe to talk about the laws of war. However, there are laws of war which prohibit willful killing, rape, and other sexual violence, torture, inhumane treatment, capture combatants and civilians in custody, pillage and looting. And, you know, frankly it's needs to be recorded.

[00:06:23] And I think one of the things that we're watching is the most documented and recorded war in known history. And you know, is to say that you have a lot, a lot more eyes on this and a lot more technology distributed into the hands of the people who are living this nightmare in a, in a way that. Just not been seen before.

[00:06:48] And, you know, it leads to, you know, we put a content warning on this that leads to a lot of intense reporting and then live sort of alleged it, which I think is important because there is there is a propaganda game also going on right now. Make no mistake. There are narratives that all of the parties involved are trying to push and support with documentations.

[00:07:11] It's extra important that you've got verifying bodies such as the amnesty International's and human rights watches that can truly verify that like, this is, you know, this is not about helping Ukraine in ratchet up sanctions against Russia in the moment, but rather documentation of, of what's actually going on, which, which is, which is tough.

[00:07:36] Yeah.

[00:07:37] I think that's true. And when you dig into this. If You read some of these articles, I think you'll find that doing this is actually quite challenging. It's quite challenging to prove that a photo or video was

[00:07:48] taken where, and when it is purported to have been taken. And it looks like this conflict is one of the first conflicts where there's apparatuses in place. Do kind of. Document that material in a legally sound way.

[00:08:07] I mean, obviously you can't just like snap a shot of your photo. Like, what does that actually mean, do you know how that works ?

[00:08:12] There's so not to get too nerdy into

[00:08:16] No, I'll go nerdy. I asked it, I called it.

[00:08:19] There, from what I remember there's a protocol, a 2020 protocol. So kind of like guidelines produced by , one of the universities out of California, Berkeley

[00:08:30] UCLA, or something like that..

[00:08:32] And it outlines a process of due diligence for proving that this. A van tap in somewhere and it's kind of like a roadmap and actually the journalism outlet here Bellingcat is very well-regarded within this, this space. And they also have really, really rigid processes and documentation for how you have to verify essentially photos. They. Whether it's Google maps, they're using satellite imagery, video timestamps.

[00:09:02] There's lots of different things. And it goes through lots of different review. Unfortunately, academics think that even with all that, it's still may have a hard time standing up and in front of an international court, like the ICC, but it's really interesting. And I think this is one of the ways that tech is filling a void in a way that it never has before. When it comes to potential. Producing evidence of war crimes in this way. it's it's really as, as tragic as it is. It's really interesting to see how tech is being used in this, in this.

[00:09:36] I feel that it can feel like you're wait a minute. Like, how is this helping the moment? And you're like, how can you be documenting something during your presentation? You know, getting out there and just raising what you can to, to help support refugees and whatnot. What's important is to take the long view and to make sure that there is a established and enforced global policy of what is socially at a global level acceptable.

[00:10:04] One of the things that has to be done is what is the true impact of this long-term because guess what? This is not the last time. Some, you know, somebody believes they're their, their destiny is to, is to acquire land once held long ago. If you go. You know, it, it was all held by the dinosaurs and they should launch an attack.

[00:10:24] So how do you make it so that the global theater looks at this punish as it documents it and make sure that that is brought into the calculus of doing this the next time, which is a terrible thing to say, but the work of doing this right now is so important when you look back because it will build into the potential global deterring, bombing your neighbors.

[00:10:46] So.

[00:10:47] Absolutely. And when you look at the history of this, it really stems from the Nuremberg trials in which the team of lawyers with frankly, no jurisdiction had to make claims saying that these crimes were So.

[00:11:02] atrocious, that it requires something beyond what any single country's judicial system could offer. To your point. It's so important that we have this, and of course it's not perfect. It's far from perfect. But every chance we get to document these crimes will be one more deterrent against them happening in the future.

[00:11:22] That's right.

[00:11:22] All right. What do we have on the summary?

[00:11:25] This is going back to Ukraine, but in a very different way, we reported on this a couple of weeks ago that the video game fortnight would be donating their in-app purchase revenue to Ukraine. We read that story with amusement. Two weeks after they announced that

[00:11:44] Fortnight and its developers have given $144 million to relief efforts and Ukraine, that is an amazing sum of money for one in video games. At purchases that boggles my mind. But to, that's an incredible amount of money in a humanitarian emergency like this. And I'm really interested to see what video game makers and companies, if, if there is a way to make this sustainable, because if you can, if you can turn video game usage and to humanitarian support, that seems like you're onto something, but this is truly incredible.

[00:12:22] I was not expecting.

[00:12:23] I mean, that's you, we covered it with interest, but this. You know, it, it fails description talking about, you know, it's clear that this is their bottom line revenue. This is not like percent of proceeds. Like this is the difference between, oh, we're sending 1% of all sales. Like this is what happens when you just change the spicket from, you know, pointing to your bank account to a social cause.

[00:12:47] And it is it's incredible. And hopefully makes you realize that, you know, These communities are very, very powerful when mobilized. And this is just just the beginning. I think of how, you know, the online game, like think about it for a second. And the online game built around, frankly, people shooting at each other is mimicked war.

[00:13:08] Actually saying like, no, no, no. It should stay in the game. And their response is pretty incredible. And what's more in this in this news article and, you know, they announced it on Twitter and frankly, the PR representatives of fortnight added that the company is just not taking further interviews on the subject and they just are referring people to the, to the website regarding the relief effort.

[00:13:33] I mean, take a, take a beat and think about how. Sadly, how often when a company does a, a good deed like this, they just like, all right, now let's spend twice that amount on the PR and media push that goes associated with making sure the entire world knows what we just did. And this is the absolute opposite of.

[00:13:53] Absolutely. I agree if this is a model for corporate social responsibility, I'm in. Maybe I can be converted

[00:14:03] Yeah,

[00:14:03] if given me skeptical

[00:14:04] I'll buy a fortnight skin, I guess.

[00:14:07] I will too. I was going to add a fortnight related joke, but

[00:14:12] I have

[00:14:12] play, do you play, have you ever played Fortnite? Here's a question. Have you ever played.

[00:14:15] know.

[00:14:16] So I, I have a, I don't actively play, but I did get into it because I realized how big the ecosystem was. And I did play it. I get it. It's fun. It's pretty social. You're definitely like getting along with teammates and talking with people.

[00:14:31] So it's far more far more of a community, I think, than people may realize. And you play with people internationally, you dropped into these battle. Royales with a bunch of random people. And you're placed on a team and then suddenly you're cooperating and you're running around with somebody who's, you know, may have is probably of a different background than yours.

[00:14:51] That's really interesting. You bring that up video games. Video games are very democratic in that way. And I think like harnessed back to my point, harness correctly can really lead to cross-cultural understanding and and potentially humanitarian outcomes. I, I think there's, there's a lot of potential. Oh, all right. I can leave this into our next story. This one is titled in a David versus Goliath battle between NGOs and a pipeline company. Goliath is losing and this article. Is about how essentially small nonprofits and NGOs and Virginia and West Virginia are fighting oil pipelines and through various legal challenges versus us fish and wildlife and various companies and various pipelines are winning. So there's, there's different pipelines. There's the mountain valley pipeline that it talks about. There's that equal. Equity trans midstream pipeline. I didn't pronounce that. Right. Those developers have invested $2.5 billion in this project, but an NGO in that case called wild Virginia, a conservation organization is putting up quite a fight. This seems like a, a movie or some sort. I think I've seen this movie before. But just really interesting. And just going to highlight the important role. Advocacy and conservation organizations when it comes to protecting our environment. And it goes back and touches on so many other themes that we've talked about, whether it's you know, indigenous access to land and preserving all sorts of different cultural heritage and environmental sustainability, environmental justice and racism elements. It's a good story. We recommend reading it from Forbes, but really interesting.

[00:16:45] I think the timing of it also, you're going to see, you know, probably it's not the most popular moment with gas prices rising and frankly, Russia using it as its biggest key of leverage to, to, to attack and saying like, wait a minute, you know, have, have, you know, like what the, the immediacy of how much.

[00:17:08] And gas production that's probably needed right now to, to stop to stop. Russia is also has to be balanced with the long-term impacts of saying we needed to make, to put as many headwinds as possible for the continuation of a carbon based energy. Policy, and it's tough to balance. Like right now, I gotta be honest.

[00:17:31] I'd be much happier if you know, environmental movement in Germany have allowed for a lot less dependency on oil and gas from. From Russia and these are hard conversations and, you know, I respect the people that have the long view and can maintain the long view, as opposed to saying like in this one moment of crisis.

[00:17:51] Yeah. It would make a lot of sense to get as much oil, frankly, slowing as humanly possible from the stores where they're kept. So that. Avoid this disaster. The problem is always, you know, fighting the battles of the day, ignorant of the war the larger war of tomorrow, which is truly environmental the environmental stakes which are huge and have of course social justice elements as well.

[00:18:15] Cause we we can be hurting a lot of communities on the way to doing that.

[00:18:18] Yeah, I think that's a great synthesis. I will take us into our next story. And this is one of those boring, but potentially important stories. And this comes from the nonprofit times and it, the title is taxpayer first act expands, mandatory. E-filing. Nine 90. I'm not an accountant, I'm on a tax expert. So please read this article yourself.

[00:18:45] But the general gist is that new legislation under new legislation and the IRS is now required to provide notice to any nonprofit that fails to file a form nine 90 return or postcard for two consecutive years. And similarly, there are now new requirements for the electronic submission of form nine nineties. Do your own research, do your own homework. Just know that these changes are upon us.

[00:19:11] Yeah, I'll just add from this article 4, 9, 9, the easy. Used by organizations that have gross receipts of under $200,000 in total assets of under 500,000 at the end of their tax year. So especially if you are a smaller organization, you know, send that around because, you know, potentially they're, they're looking at organizations that haven't potentially filed in two years, which could then begin to risk potentially because the IRS member tax classification and the 5 0 1 C3 might risk that.

[00:19:44] So yeah. That it's one of those fun, you know what, you know what I think of when I see articles like this is the same thing when I'm dealing with like a really tough, random administrative issue for, for even Holwell and it's that like, I, you know, I'm not an accountant, I don't know these things, but there are people running nonprofits that suddenly have to be like, okay, let's dig into what this actually means and figure that out.

[00:20:09] You know, it's the. The dirty truth of being, you know, the founder of a small nonprofit, or even have a company of certain sizes where you're just in charge of figuring out confusing things on a regular basis that you have no background in. But frankly, if you get wrong could mean could mean severe implications for the organization fund stuff.

[00:20:29] No pressure,

[00:20:30] No. Yeah, no pressure. I'm sure it's fine.

[00:20:32] no pressure. Oh man. How about I? How about we finished with a feel-good story, Jordan?

[00:20:38] Yes, please.

[00:20:39] All right. This comes from the good news network and it's about a nonprofit that's hit it's milestone for protecting more than 1 million acres of rainforest. So far this year, all with public donations in September. The Virginia based nonprofit made a $500 million commitment to preserving biodiversity. And six months later, the rainforest trust and its partners have already protected more than 1 million acres of habitat. So far in 2022. The rain forest trust organization has safeguarded over 38 million acres of habitat since its inception in 19. Eat, and we really liked their model. It seems like they work with indigenous communities and preexisting organizations which is really important protecting indigenous communities and the countries that we work in believes Ecuador, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Myanmar. Cool stuff. We like protecting the rainforests ever increasingly more important. We spent a lot of time talking about global food security or insecurity that is you know, spread by things like drought, things that global warming and protecting our environment play a role in, so increasingly important, great stuff in this story. Love protecting the rainforests.

[00:21:58] Yeah. And the stat here from rainforest trust is that 99% of the forests protected by them remain standing today and a non-profit as well on its way to protecting 125 million more acres by 2025 that you did it in way. That made me feel good. That's a feel good story.

[00:22:16] I'm glad.

View Details

We trained an OpenAI.com GPT3 processor to act like George Weiner the founder of Whole Whale and then had the real George Weiner ask it questions. The answer to those questions were answered by an AI voice trained on George's voice using Descript.com.

Enjoy.

This is the AI transcript:

The following is a conversation with a chatbot that acts like George Weiner, the founder of Whole Whale. George, the chatbot, is helpful, creative, clever, a little sarcastic sometimes and likes to talk about technology and nonprofits.

Human George: hello who are you?

AI George: Hello, my name is George Weiner. I am the founder of Whole Whale.

Human George: nice to meet you. Would you be willing to share your ideas for how AI can be used to help nonprofits?

AI George: Sure, AI can be used in a number of ways to help nonprofits. For example, AI can be used to help with data collection and analysis, which can be used to better understand the needs of a particular community or target audience. Additionally, AI can be used to develop more efficient and effective marketing and fundraising strategies. Ultimately, AI can help nonprofits to become more efficient and effective in their operations and better able to achieve their goals.

Human George: Makes sense. I am wondering more specifically how AI can be used to help create informative content for a nonprofit, any ideas?

AI George: There are a few ways AI can be used to help create informative content for a nonprofit. For example, AI can be used to help with data collection and analysis, which can be used to better understand the needs of a particular community or target audience. Additionally, AI can be used to develop more efficient and effective marketing and fundraising strategies. Ultimately, AI can help nonprofits to become more efficient and effective in their operations and better able to achieve their goals.

Human George: What are three ways you think the internet has benefitted nonprofits?

AI George: The internet has benefitted nonprofits in a number of ways. First, it has allowed nonprofits to reach a larger audience with their message. Second, it has made it easier for nonprofits to collect and track data. And finally, the internet has made it possible for nonprofits to connect with potential donors and volunteers from all over the world.

Human George: What do you like to do for fun?

AI George: I like to stay up-to-date on the latest technology trends and developments. I also like to play video games and listen to music.

Human George: what's your favorite nonprofit?

AI George: I don't really have a favorite nonprofit, but I think all nonprofits are doing important work.

Human George: Well, I have to disagree with you on that point. Not all nonprofits are doing good work, remember a nonprofit is just a 501c3 classification...

AI George: I see your point. However, I think that even though not all nonprofits are perfect, they are still doing important work.

Human George: What are three of the most important metrics for tracking fundraising at a nonprofit?

AI George: 1. The number of donations received. 2. The total amount of money raised. 3. The number of people reached by the fundraising campaign.

Human George: So, I do have one idea for AI that I'd like your thoughts on. I am trying to train a GPT3 processor to mimic the way a CEO of an organization might talk so that it could help create quicker first drafts of web content. What do you think?

AI George: That's a really interesting idea! I think it has a lot of potential. I would love to see how it turns out. I'll keep you updated on my progress. In the meantime, is there anything else you'd like to chat about?

Human George: Can you explain how GPT3 works to me as if I were a 10 year old?

AI George: GPT3 is a computer processor that is designed to mimic the way a Human George brain works. It can learn and remember information, and it can also make decisions.

Human George: How was it trained?

AI George: GPT3 was trained by observing how Human Georges think and make decisions.

\

Human George: interesting. Summer is coming up, what are three fundraising campaign ideas for nonprofits?

AI George: 1. Have a summer fundraiser where people can donate to a specific cause.

1. Have a social media campaign where people can share their stories about how a particular nonprofit has helped them.
2. Have a campaign where people can raise awareness for a particular issue that a nonprofit is working to address.

Human George: What is your favorite part about being the CEO of Whole Whale?

AI George: There are a lot of things I enjoy about being the CEO of Whole Whale, but if I had to narrow it down, I would say it is the opportunity to work with such a talented and dedicated team. We are constantly coming up with new and innovative ways to help our clients, and it is very gratifying to see the positive impact we are having on the world.

Human George: Hmmm. I might have to save that answer. Do you have any questions for me?

AI George: What do you think is the most important aspect of AI?

Human George: The way it will be used to assist the way people do their work. I don't see it replacing so much as enhancing our ability. Though I have to admit I am realizing there are a lot of jobs I could probably build GPT3 to reduce.

AI George: I agree that AI will most likely be used to assist people in their work, rather than replace them entirely. I think AI has the potential to enhance our ability to do our jobs, and make us more efficient and effective.

Human George: What year do you think AI driven robots will takeover?

AI George: I don't think AI driven robots will take over anytime soon. I think it will be a long time before they are able to match or exceed the abilities of Human Georges.

Human George: so no guesses on an exact date?

AI George: No, I don't have a specific date in mind.

Human George: What do you think the most important technical innovation of the past 100 years was for nonprofits?

AI George: I think the most important technical innovation of the past 100 years for nonprofits was the internet. The internet has allowed nonprofits to reach a larger audience with their message, and made it easier for them to collect and track data. Additionally, the internet has made it possible for nonprofits to connect with potential donors and volunteers from all over the world.

Human George: What are your plans for Whole Whale in coming year?

AI George: Our plans for Whole Whale in the coming year are to continue helping our clients reach their goals and make a positive impact in the world. We will also be expanding our team and our services to meet the growing demand for our services.

Human George: Good plan. Thanks for talking with me.

AI George: No problem, thank you for talking with me.

Human George: Any parting advice for the audience?

AI George: My parting advice for the audience is to always stay curious and keep learning. There is always more to learn, and you never know when you might need it.

Human George: Thanks for agreeing to do this podcast with me!

AI George: No problem, thank you for inviting me.

View Details

nonprofit news for the last week of March 2022.

Russia <> Ukraine War Galvanizes Large-Scale Global Giving

According to survey research reported by The NonProfit Times, approximately one-quarter of Americans said they’ve donated to charities addressing the war in Ukraine. Nearly two-thirds of the remaining Americans surveyed say they planned to donate soon. While grassroots giving continues to drive momentum, alternate forms of giving are soaring. An NFT of the Ukrainian Flag launched by a member of the band Pussy Riot raised $6.75 million for the country, in a sale organized by Ukraine DAO. Corporations and companies are donating too, even Fortnite video game creator Epic Games will donate all in-game transactions directly to United Nations relief efforts.

Read more ➝

Crypto-Donation Platform The Giving Block Joins Forces with Shift4

The Giving Block and payment processing company Shift4 are teaming up launch the “biggest crypto philanthropy campaign series in history,” according to a press release. Crypto offerings will become available to Shift4’s over 200,000 merchants. With millions of dollars in donation matching pools the new collaboration could continue to rapidly change the growing role of cryptocurrency in charitable giving. The Giving Block is a client of Whole Whale, the publisher of this newsletter.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Liberal billionaire’s nonprofit splashed $56M in 2020 | POLITICO
• The New Humanitarian | Beyond Ukraine: Eight more humanitarian disasters that demand your attention
• FreeWill Raises $30M in Series B to Transform Nonprofit Fundraising | Nonprofit Technology
• Pain at the pump: Gas prices impact North Central Florida nonprofit | WGFL
• What Happens When a Buffett Buys Your Town? | Tablet Magazine

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, of course, brought to you by whole whale, a digital agency, helping nonprofits. We've got some news about the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and how that's leading to global giving at unprecedented scale as well as big acquisition in the crypto donation sector. So how we doing Nick?

[00:00:22] I'm doing well, George, how are you?

[00:00:24] Doing all right today, another busy week of news.

[00:00:27] Absolutely our first story this week, of course, we will be returning to the war in Ukraine and we wanted to report out some interesting trends that we're seeing as reported by. The nonprofit times, approximately one quarter of Americans said that they have donated to charities addressing the war in Ukraine.

[00:00:50] We talk a lot on this podcast about surge in attention. It seems that in this case, a surge in attention is being sustained and leading to really high volumes of giving. Not only at the grassroots individual donor level, the. But also an alternate and more broad forms of giving as well. An NFT of the Ukrainian flag launched by a member of the band pussy riot raised $6.5 million for the country in a sale.

[00:01:22] Corporations and companies are donating to, I thought this was really cool. Fortnite video game creator, epic games will donate all in game transactions directly to the United nations over the next couple weeks. And to me, what this is showing is that this isn't that spike that we see. That often a accompanies global events like Afghanistan.

[00:01:46] We saw that lasted really only a week. The outpouring of support and awareness. This is sustained and not only are individual donors giving, but at the institutional, the corporate level, this is an all hands on deck effort to provide support to Ukraine. George, I wonder. What this is telling us about fundraising as a hold right now as we witness this war and essentially large scale global giving.

[00:02:17] You're seeing a lot of different sectors step up, which is why we were just picking some of these different industries. You're talking about games you're talking about crypto and then traditional giving as well. That once in a generation type of land war has evoked.

[00:02:31] I wanna touch on that sort of question about the trend, right? So you said with Afghanistan or with a natural disaster, you're talking about the natural half life, which is measured in weeks, not months in terms of how long compassion can and hold. A global focus for giving.

[00:02:48] and response.

[00:02:50] And it's dangerous because compassion is an unstable emotion. It is something that people pay attention to burns brightly and briefly. The faster, the rise, the faster, the fall, what I'm starting to see, believe it or not though, in things like Google transfer search incidents is that, that decline from initial peak interest from when the war first began, I concern is that as this drags potentially into what some military experts are talking about as a stalemate, it will cease to, to garner that type of reaction.

[00:03:22] And. Immediately they were talking about in that article things around helping refugees, medical supplies, and then less so on the rebuilding. Let's just be clear. There's just going to be rubble more rubble than city left in a lot of these situations requiring a lot of ongoing support.

[00:03:39] Hopefully the trend in search isn't indicative of what may or may not be coming in terms of ongoing support that will be needed to rebuild that country. When this conflict inevitably finds its end.

[00:03:52] Yeah, George, I think that's a great point. And one of the more interesting facets the various forms of giving that we highlighted was epic games. The creator of Fortnite, one of the most popular games in the world, donating all in game transactions to the United nations one. That's true, tremendous from the giving perspective, but also.

[00:04:13] From an awareness perspective, think about how many kids and how many different countries are playing that game are now aware of a refugee crisis. And I wonder, are there ways we can build on that for other refugee crisis, other humanitarian crisis? Can this represent the beginning of. A shift in how corporations engage with global events and crises that need attention and outpouring support.

[00:04:42] I don't know if this is a one-off or this is a sustained change. But to me that's a really interesting model. Being able to focus attention on a humanitarian event in this way is really interesting to see. So I'm sure that we'll follow this

[00:04:59] Yeah it's tracking the classic attention spike that we normally see for a large global scaled natural disasters. But this is a again, once in a generation moment. So it's hard to say what is actually being learned outside of the fact that. If your organization is adjacent, communication narratives are very important as it's as it's part of how people are probably choosing to give right now and make those decisions.

[00:05:26] Yeah, we'll talk about this in another story as well, but particularly for other organizations, I think what could be interesting is thinking about how to use the crisis and use in Ukraine and uses is the wrong word, but. Use this opportunity of increasing heightened attention to call attention to other crises, other refugee situations in Afghanistan, there are still Afghan refugees coming to the United States that local NGOs are directly supporting.

[00:05:57] And while everyone's talking about refugees, I wonder if we, you can call attention to other crises that are happening as well. So definitely something we'll keep an eye on.

[00:06:07] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this is about crypto donation platform, the giving block, joining forces with payment processing company shift four. So in a press release. Provided by the giving block this week, they announced the biggest crypto philanthropy campaign in series and history.

[00:06:28] So the giving block is a crypto donation platform service company, and they are teaming up with this payment processing company shipped for shift four, excuse me. And they'll be offer. Crypto philanthropy options to nearly 200,000 of shift fours, merchants. And there's also millions of dollars in Don donation matching pools that in some ways, this has the potential to really change the game when it comes to crypto philanthropy with lots of merchants involved and huge ability to reach different customers.

[00:07:03] Full disclosure. The giving block is a client of whole whale, the publisher of this newsletter, but George, this could represent a really big moment in the world of crypto philanthropy. What are your thoughts on this?

[00:07:16] I'm really excited about this. And as you mentioned they're a client and this?

[00:07:20] is a a pretty big purchase showing that there is a lot of growth to come and opportunity there in crypto philanthropy and helping giving block become and cement themselves as the leader in terms of solutions there.

[00:07:33] I was also excited that shift for CEO Jared eman. We'll match 10 million in crypto, which is just awesome and donations on the giving block. So it's also a nice level boost to to encourage that giving

[00:07:45] Absolutely. You'd love to see matching when it comes to when it becomes millions of dollars. That's lots of impact. That's exciting. All right. Shall we dive into the summary?

[00:07:55] Let's get to it.

[00:07:56] All right. Our first story comes from Politico and this is about a liberal donor by the Swiss born billionaire, Hans York, vice. And I apologize cuz I know I mispronounce that, but this billionaire sent 31 million to the 1630 fund, which is a. Quote unquote, dark money fund on the left political action fund.

[00:08:25] That spent approximately 56 million in 2020. So we talk a lot about money moving around via nonprofits on this podcast. And this is just another example of. Quite frankly, the scale of money churning through various organizations and how it impacts our politics. And I don't have a specific take on this, but whenever a story pops up in our feed and it starts talking about 20, 30, $50 million it gets our attention.

[00:08:58] And I think it again, brings to the forefront. Lots of conversations about just the amount of money sloshing around. In American politics on whether or not this is healthy.

[00:09:08] Yeah. According to that nine 90, the 1630 fund has become massive growing from what it used to be. If. You million of dollars in revenue a year in the last decade to 400 million in the final year of the Trump presidency. I think that's not insignificant going to, to something of that size and scope.

[00:09:30] Absolutely. That's a lot of money. And I think that, I think it's time that we have renewed conversations about campaign finance and lots of these organizations, which quite frankly are not household names. And how they're influencing elections, politics, ballot measures, that sort of thing, a across the whole spectrum, the whole ideological political spectrum as well.

[00:09:53] It happens on both sides. So an interesting conversation. And a story will follow going into this year. Of course, the 2022 midterms, which should be another record spending year for midterms, but something will continue to track.

[00:10:08] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from the new humanitarian. This is a source that we've not yet featured on the podcast, but one that does really good, critical analysis of the humanitarian and international NGO sector. They provide lots of really interesting analysis and opinions.

[00:10:26] Often with the perspective of trying to improve the humanitarian industry as a whole, but they have this article called beyond Ukraine, eight more humanitarian disasters that demand your attention. And it does a really good job of highlighting different crises. Across the world beyond Ukraine, it talks about crisis in the horn of Africa, talks about the number of millions of peoples being impacted there.

[00:10:55] Me on Mar. Which unfortunately just saw a coup and just yesterday, secretary of state, Tony blink, officially called what was happening in Myanmar a genocide. It takes a long time for governments to get to that distinction because genocide actually has legal requirements, not requirements to say, but it has legal parameters.

[00:11:14] And I wanted to just surface this article because I think it offers really. Interesting perspectives on how we respond to humanitarian crises. And right now the crisis in Ukraine is nothing short of extreme and requires all the attention. But I think at the same time, there are lots of other crises that.

[00:11:32] Also require attention and for nonprofits, I think this can be an interesting moment of heightened attention when people are especially in tune to refugee crises, for example, to acknowledge that there are other ongoing refugee crises around the world in Myanmar, in Afghanistan. Lots of different places.

[00:11:54] So Georgia, I wonder what your perspective is on this kind of analysis and using this moment to bring other crises to the forefront as well.

[00:12:02] Hopefully the infrastructure that is currently being built up to support the millions. Of displaced people and refugees from Ukraine, that type of infrastructure and support will hopefully include the ability and capacity for these organizations and institutions to take on refugees from other areas.

[00:12:25] And it's especially important to note. And I'm glad you included this, that when there is a sort of massive focus a world. Attention grabbing event, as we were just talking about, it sucks, the oxygen out. It sucks. The the attention which money follows quite closely from other areas. So all things being equal, it is probably a very bad time.

[00:12:46] It's always a bad time to be a refugee, to be somebody in a place of conflict in crisis. But especially when there is a larger one overshadowing, it it's easy to miss. Unfortunately other people, regions and communities in need.

[00:13:02] Absolut. I think that is a great point. And to your point about infrastructure, I think what you're seeing is a lot of organizations that are able to respond to the crisis in Ukraine have been building infrastructure for quite a while. Ukraine has been fighting a war for quite a while. Doctors with borders has been operating there for quite a while and have in so many other places.

[00:13:25] So it's really tremendous to see NGOs and nonprofits. When they have that on the ground infrastructure, they're ready to go. When the crisis happens, they're the first responders there. So building capacity, not just in Eastern Europe, but all over the world is vitally important.

[00:13:42] All right. Our next story is about a organization called free will. They are a social good enterprise. That quote is at the nexus of philanthropy and a estate planning and quote, and they have announced it is raised. 30 million in series B funding led by ban capital double impact. The takeaway from this is you have an organization that is supporting estate planning and planned giving that has just gotten injected with a ton of money and funding to hopefully help nonprofits.

[00:14:19] And other charities increase their ability to process and accept planned giving as a vehicle for fundraising and George. We were talking right before the podcast about why this is so important at this moment. And I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[00:14:34] Yeah, free will is a pretty elegant tool I'd say for creating will and we're entering into the largest wealth transfer in human history. If you're talking about the boomer generation passing on their wealth and life's assets to the following generation and it's it can be A's topic to talk about it's not about death.

[00:14:56] It's about. Legacy. And it's about an opportunity, frankly, for a lot of nonprofits to include the potential question in ways of bringing up big quests for the organization, we had a previous podcast with with an expert on that topic that will include in the show notes as well.

[00:15:12] Absolutely. That's a great perspective. All right. Our next story comes from my CBS four.com local CBS four news affiliate out of Florida. And the title of this story is paint at the pump. Gas prices impact north central, Florida nonprofit, and the story delves into how nonprofit organization children's table, which provides food and other services to underserved folks in their community is really struggling because of rising food costs and gas costs.

[00:15:47] They move lots of physical goods across the state food and whatnot, and. They have big vans, big truck type things. And when gas prices go up, they start to feel it. So we just wanted to, I think, highlight this story and show that these kind of macro economic issues, gas prices, food prices, inflation, not entirely separate.

[00:16:09] Unfortunately the global events you've been discussing this has real impact for nonprofits and just acknowledging that and the story here.

[00:16:16] We saw a lot of these stories. I just happened to throw a dart at you north central Florida. But this story is certainly popping up on a lot of locals. Anybody who is. Bringing resources that last mile to underserved in resource communities is dealing with very direct cost at the pump type of pieces that don't necessarily quickly translate into increased revenue.

[00:16:40] Right? There's no sort of, Hey, sorry We delivered this meal for you. It's gonna cost extra actually. No this is done by the volunteers were doing this out of pocket to provide this service. So it's pretty tough to I think. Impact a lot of nonprofits, locally, local community based organizations that are doing this.

[00:16:56] Also I just did a quick look up on that last topic about planned giving. Our friend is Tony martini planned giving accelerator.com. Just to give him a little plug here, planned giving accelerator.com. Look, he's helping folks do these planned giving programs and walks your fundraisers through to avoid the common mistakes and demystify itself.

[00:17:16] Shout out there for a resource.

[00:17:18] We love a good shout out. Thank you for sharing. All right, George, we don't have a feel good today, but instead we're going to bring up an opinion piece and this comes courtesy of tablet magazine, and the title is called. What happens when a buffet buys your town? George, I know you have thoughts. What, what stuck out to you about this?

[00:17:38] There's a lot that stuck out to this and it's just wonderfully written first off, just wonderfully written from tablet magazine, and they just do such a brilliant in depth. Look at what happens when Peter buffet one of the children of Warren buffet is running the Novo foundation.

[00:17:56] With his wife and they had a particular history of giving to certain causes related to women and African American and bipo communities. And then suddenly they just an about face completely just saying, all right, we're done with this?

[00:18:11] type of grant making we're instead going to focus all of our time, attention and wealth on.

[00:18:16] A community in Kingston, New York, and have just gone about rearchitecting the town by writing giant checks, underwriting, various things, creating their own local, like community currency and this type of utopia, borderline potential dis opiate, if potentially, I don't know, say the opinions of a billionaire change.

[00:18:39] I think this is not meant to just throw stones at the Noah foundation or this particular piece, but to abstract more broadly into macro narratives of what happens when you have independently wealthy individuals guiding this much in terms of resource is in philanthropic communities.

[00:18:57] And sometimes the damage that can be done when. Priorities shift on a whim and we've causes that are trying to build for decades long solutions virtually overnight. And it is a cautionary tale to both the people that work, run and support and are probably more important. Certainly reliant maybe on some of these types of philanthropic gifts from.

[00:19:22] Independently wealthy family foundations like this it's worth a read and it's very well written.

[00:19:28] Absolutely. I think you bring up so many questions and this article does a great job of bringing them up as well. Absolutely worth a read in the nonprofit news feed, which you can subscribe to not@nonprofitnewsfeed.com. George. That's it for the podcast

[00:19:45] Thanks, Nick.

[00:19:46] thanks, George.

View Details

nonprofit news for the last week of March 2022.

Russia <> Ukraine War Galvanizes Large-Scale Global Giving

According to survey research reported by The NonProfit Times, approximately one-quarter of Americans said they’ve donated to charities addressing the war in Ukraine. Nearly two-thirds of the remaining Americans surveyed say they planned to donate soon. While grassroots giving continues to drive momentum, alternate forms of giving are soaring. An NFT of the Ukrainian Flag launched by a member of the band Pussy Riot raised $6.75 million for the country, in a sale organized by Ukraine DAO. Corporations and companies are donating too, even Fortnite video game creator Epic Games will donate all in-game transactions directly to United Nations relief efforts.

Read more ➝

Crypto-Donation Platform The Giving Block Joins Forces with Shift4

The Giving Block and payment processing company Shift4 are teaming up launch the “biggest crypto philanthropy campaign series in history,” according to a press release. Crypto offerings will become available to Shift4’s over 200,000 merchants. With millions of dollars in donation matching pools the new collaboration could continue to rapidly change the growing role of cryptocurrency in charitable giving. The Giving Block is a client of Whole Whale, the publisher of this newsletter.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Liberal billionaire’s nonprofit splashed $56M in 2020 | POLITICO
• The New Humanitarian | Beyond Ukraine: Eight more humanitarian disasters that demand your attention
• FreeWill Raises $30M in Series B to Transform Nonprofit Fundraising | Nonprofit Technology
• Pain at the pump: Gas prices impact North Central Florida nonprofit | WGFL
• What Happens When a Buffett Buys Your Town? | Tablet Magazine

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, of course, brought to you by whole whale, a digital agency, helping nonprofits. We've got some news about the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and how that's leading to global giving at unprecedented scale as well as big acquisition in the crypto donation sector. So how we doing Nick?

[00:00:22] I'm doing well, George, how are you?

[00:00:24] Doing all right today, another busy week of news.

[00:00:27] Absolutely our first story this week, of course, we will be returning to the war in Ukraine and we wanted to report out some interesting trends that we're seeing as reported by. The nonprofit times, approximately one quarter of Americans said that they have donated to charities addressing the war in Ukraine.

[00:00:50] We talk a lot on this podcast about surge in attention. It seems that in this case, a surge in attention is being sustained and leading to really high volumes of giving. Not only at the grassroots individual donor level, the. But also an alternate and more broad forms of giving as well. An NFT of the Ukrainian flag launched by a member of the band pussy riot raised $6.5 million for the country in a sale.

[00:01:22] Corporations and companies are donating to, I thought this was really cool. Fortnite video game creator, epic games will donate all in game transactions directly to the United nations over the next couple weeks. And to me, what this is showing is that this isn't that spike that we see. That often a accompanies global events like Afghanistan.

[00:01:46] We saw that lasted really only a week. The outpouring of support and awareness. This is sustained and not only are individual donors giving, but at the institutional, the corporate level, this is an all hands on deck effort to provide support to Ukraine. George, I wonder. What this is telling us about fundraising as a hold right now as we witness this war and essentially large scale global giving.

[00:02:17] You're seeing a lot of different sectors step up, which is why we were just picking some of these different industries. You're talking about games you're talking about crypto and then traditional giving as well. That once in a generation type of land war has evoked.

[00:02:31] I wanna touch on that sort of question about the trend, right? So you said with Afghanistan or with a natural disaster, you're talking about the natural half life, which is measured in weeks, not months in terms of how long compassion can and hold. A global focus for giving.

[00:02:48] and response.

[00:02:50] And it's dangerous because compassion is an unstable emotion. It is something that people pay attention to burns brightly and briefly. The faster, the rise, the faster, the fall, what I'm starting to see, believe it or not though, in things like Google transfer search incidents is that, that decline from initial peak interest from when the war first began, I concern is that as this drags potentially into what some military experts are talking about as a stalemate, it will cease to, to garner that type of reaction.

[00:03:22] And. Immediately they were talking about in that article things around helping refugees, medical supplies, and then less so on the rebuilding. Let's just be clear. There's just going to be rubble more rubble than city left in a lot of these situations requiring a lot of ongoing support.

[00:03:39] Hopefully the trend in search isn't indicative of what may or may not be coming in terms of ongoing support that will be needed to rebuild that country. When this conflict inevitably finds its end.

[00:03:52] Yeah, George, I think that's a great point. And one of the more interesting facets the various forms of giving that we highlighted was epic games. The creator of Fortnite, one of the most popular games in the world, donating all in game transactions to the United nations one. That's true, tremendous from the giving perspective, but also.

[00:04:13] From an awareness perspective, think about how many kids and how many different countries are playing that game are now aware of a refugee crisis. And I wonder, are there ways we can build on that for other refugee crisis, other humanitarian crisis? Can this represent the beginning of. A shift in how corporations engage with global events and crises that need attention and outpouring support.

[00:04:42] I don't know if this is a one-off or this is a sustained change. But to me that's a really interesting model. Being able to focus attention on a humanitarian event in this way is really interesting to see. So I'm sure that we'll follow this

[00:04:59] Yeah it's tracking the classic attention spike that we normally see for a large global scaled natural disasters. But this is a again, once in a generation moment. So it's hard to say what is actually being learned outside of the fact that. If your organization is adjacent, communication narratives are very important as it's as it's part of how people are probably choosing to give right now and make those decisions.

[00:05:26] Yeah, we'll talk about this in another story as well, but particularly for other organizations, I think what could be interesting is thinking about how to use the crisis and use in Ukraine and uses is the wrong word, but. Use this opportunity of increasing heightened attention to call attention to other crises, other refugee situations in Afghanistan, there are still Afghan refugees coming to the United States that local NGOs are directly supporting.

[00:05:57] And while everyone's talking about refugees, I wonder if we, you can call attention to other crises that are happening as well. So definitely something we'll keep an eye on.

[00:06:07] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this is about crypto donation platform, the giving block, joining forces with payment processing company shift four. So in a press release. Provided by the giving block this week, they announced the biggest crypto philanthropy campaign in series and history.

[00:06:28] So the giving block is a crypto donation platform service company, and they are teaming up with this payment processing company shipped for shift four, excuse me. And they'll be offer. Crypto philanthropy options to nearly 200,000 of shift fours, merchants. And there's also millions of dollars in Don donation matching pools that in some ways, this has the potential to really change the game when it comes to crypto philanthropy with lots of merchants involved and huge ability to reach different customers.

[00:07:03] Full disclosure. The giving block is a client of whole whale, the publisher of this newsletter, but George, this could represent a really big moment in the world of crypto philanthropy. What are your thoughts on this?

[00:07:16] I'm really excited about this. And as you mentioned they're a client and this?

[00:07:20] is a a pretty big purchase showing that there is a lot of growth to come and opportunity there in crypto philanthropy and helping giving block become and cement themselves as the leader in terms of solutions there.

[00:07:33] I was also excited that shift for CEO Jared eman. We'll match 10 million in crypto, which is just awesome and donations on the giving block. So it's also a nice level boost to to encourage that giving

[00:07:45] Absolutely. You'd love to see matching when it comes to when it becomes millions of dollars. That's lots of impact. That's exciting. All right. Shall we dive into the summary?

[00:07:55] Let's get to it.

[00:07:56] All right. Our first story comes from Politico and this is about a liberal donor by the Swiss born billionaire, Hans York, vice. And I apologize cuz I know I mispronounce that, but this billionaire sent 31 million to the 1630 fund, which is a. Quote unquote, dark money fund on the left political action fund.

[00:08:25] That spent approximately 56 million in 2020. So we talk a lot about money moving around via nonprofits on this podcast. And this is just another example of. Quite frankly, the scale of money churning through various organizations and how it impacts our politics. And I don't have a specific take on this, but whenever a story pops up in our feed and it starts talking about 20, 30, $50 million it gets our attention.

[00:08:58] And I think it again, brings to the forefront. Lots of conversations about just the amount of money sloshing around. In American politics on whether or not this is healthy.

[00:09:08] Yeah. According to that nine 90, the 1630 fund has become massive growing from what it used to be. If. You million of dollars in revenue a year in the last decade to 400 million in the final year of the Trump presidency. I think that's not insignificant going to, to something of that size and scope.

[00:09:30] Absolutely. That's a lot of money. And I think that, I think it's time that we have renewed conversations about campaign finance and lots of these organizations, which quite frankly are not household names. And how they're influencing elections, politics, ballot measures, that sort of thing, a across the whole spectrum, the whole ideological political spectrum as well.

[00:09:53] It happens on both sides. So an interesting conversation. And a story will follow going into this year. Of course, the 2022 midterms, which should be another record spending year for midterms, but something will continue to track.

[00:10:08] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from the new humanitarian. This is a source that we've not yet featured on the podcast, but one that does really good, critical analysis of the humanitarian and international NGO sector. They provide lots of really interesting analysis and opinions.

[00:10:26] Often with the perspective of trying to improve the humanitarian industry as a whole, but they have this article called beyond Ukraine, eight more humanitarian disasters that demand your attention. And it does a really good job of highlighting different crises. Across the world beyond Ukraine, it talks about crisis in the horn of Africa, talks about the number of millions of peoples being impacted there.

[00:10:55] Me on Mar. Which unfortunately just saw a coup and just yesterday, secretary of state, Tony blink, officially called what was happening in Myanmar a genocide. It takes a long time for governments to get to that distinction because genocide actually has legal requirements, not requirements to say, but it has legal parameters.

[00:11:14] And I wanted to just surface this article because I think it offers really. Interesting perspectives on how we respond to humanitarian crises. And right now the crisis in Ukraine is nothing short of extreme and requires all the attention. But I think at the same time, there are lots of other crises that.

[00:11:32] Also require attention and for nonprofits, I think this can be an interesting moment of heightened attention when people are especially in tune to refugee crises, for example, to acknowledge that there are other ongoing refugee crises around the world in Myanmar, in Afghanistan. Lots of different places.

[00:11:54] So Georgia, I wonder what your perspective is on this kind of analysis and using this moment to bring other crises to the forefront as well.

[00:12:02] Hopefully the infrastructure that is currently being built up to support the millions. Of displaced people and refugees from Ukraine, that type of infrastructure and support will hopefully include the ability and capacity for these organizations and institutions to take on refugees from other areas.

[00:12:25] And it's especially important to note. And I'm glad you included this, that when there is a sort of massive focus a world. Attention grabbing event, as we were just talking about, it sucks, the oxygen out. It sucks. The the attention which money follows quite closely from other areas. So all things being equal, it is probably a very bad time.

[00:12:46] It's always a bad time to be a refugee, to be somebody in a place of conflict in crisis. But especially when there is a larger one overshadowing, it it's easy to miss. Unfortunately other people, regions and communities in need.

[00:13:02] Absolut. I think that is a great point. And to your point about infrastructure, I think what you're seeing is a lot of organizations that are able to respond to the crisis in Ukraine have been building infrastructure for quite a while. Ukraine has been fighting a war for quite a while. Doctors with borders has been operating there for quite a while and have in so many other places.

[00:13:25] So it's really tremendous to see NGOs and nonprofits. When they have that on the ground infrastructure, they're ready to go. When the crisis happens, they're the first responders there. So building capacity, not just in Eastern Europe, but all over the world is vitally important.

[00:13:42] All right. Our next story is about a organization called free will. They are a social good enterprise. That quote is at the nexus of philanthropy and a estate planning and quote, and they have announced it is raised. 30 million in series B funding led by ban capital double impact. The takeaway from this is you have an organization that is supporting estate planning and planned giving that has just gotten injected with a ton of money and funding to hopefully help nonprofits.

[00:14:19] And other charities increase their ability to process and accept planned giving as a vehicle for fundraising and George. We were talking right before the podcast about why this is so important at this moment. And I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[00:14:34] Yeah, free will is a pretty elegant tool I'd say for creating will and we're entering into the largest wealth transfer in human history. If you're talking about the boomer generation passing on their wealth and life's assets to the following generation and it's it can be A's topic to talk about it's not about death.

[00:14:56] It's about. Legacy. And it's about an opportunity, frankly, for a lot of nonprofits to include the potential question in ways of bringing up big quests for the organization, we had a previous podcast with with an expert on that topic that will include in the show notes as well.

[00:15:12] Absolutely. That's a great perspective. All right. Our next story comes from my CBS four.com local CBS four news affiliate out of Florida. And the title of this story is paint at the pump. Gas prices impact north central, Florida nonprofit, and the story delves into how nonprofit organization children's table, which provides food and other services to underserved folks in their community is really struggling because of rising food costs and gas costs.

[00:15:47] They move lots of physical goods across the state food and whatnot, and. They have big vans, big truck type things. And when gas prices go up, they start to feel it. So we just wanted to, I think, highlight this story and show that these kind of macro economic issues, gas prices, food prices, inflation, not entirely separate.

[00:16:09] Unfortunately the global events you've been discussing this has real impact for nonprofits and just acknowledging that and the story here.

[00:16:16] We saw a lot of these stories. I just happened to throw a dart at you north central Florida. But this story is certainly popping up on a lot of locals. Anybody who is. Bringing resources that last mile to underserved in resource communities is dealing with very direct cost at the pump type of pieces that don't necessarily quickly translate into increased revenue.

[00:16:40] Right? There's no sort of, Hey, sorry We delivered this meal for you. It's gonna cost extra actually. No this is done by the volunteers were doing this out of pocket to provide this service. So it's pretty tough to I think. Impact a lot of nonprofits, locally, local community based organizations that are doing this.

[00:16:56] Also I just did a quick look up on that last topic about planned giving. Our friend is Tony martini planned giving accelerator.com. Just to give him a little plug here, planned giving accelerator.com. Look, he's helping folks do these planned giving programs and walks your fundraisers through to avoid the common mistakes and demystify itself.

[00:17:16] Shout out there for a resource.

[00:17:18] We love a good shout out. Thank you for sharing. All right, George, we don't have a feel good today, but instead we're going to bring up an opinion piece and this comes courtesy of tablet magazine, and the title is called. What happens when a buffet buys your town? George, I know you have thoughts. What, what stuck out to you about this?

[00:17:38] There's a lot that stuck out to this and it's just wonderfully written first off, just wonderfully written from tablet magazine, and they just do such a brilliant in depth. Look at what happens when Peter buffet one of the children of Warren buffet is running the Novo foundation.

[00:17:56] With his wife and they had a particular history of giving to certain causes related to women and African American and bipo communities. And then suddenly they just an about face completely just saying, all right, we're done with this?

[00:18:11] type of grant making we're instead going to focus all of our time, attention and wealth on.

[00:18:16] A community in Kingston, New York, and have just gone about rearchitecting the town by writing giant checks, underwriting, various things, creating their own local, like community currency and this type of utopia, borderline potential dis opiate, if potentially, I don't know, say the opinions of a billionaire change.

[00:18:39] I think this is not meant to just throw stones at the Noah foundation or this particular piece, but to abstract more broadly into macro narratives of what happens when you have independently wealthy individuals guiding this much in terms of resource is in philanthropic communities.

[00:18:57] And sometimes the damage that can be done when. Priorities shift on a whim and we've causes that are trying to build for decades long solutions virtually overnight. And it is a cautionary tale to both the people that work, run and support and are probably more important. Certainly reliant maybe on some of these types of philanthropic gifts from.

[00:19:22] Independently wealthy family foundations like this it's worth a read and it's very well written.

[00:19:28] Absolutely. I think you bring up so many questions and this article does a great job of bringing them up as well. Absolutely worth a read in the nonprofit news feed, which you can subscribe to not@nonprofitnewsfeed.com. George. That's it for the podcast

[00:19:45] Thanks, Nick.

[00:19:46] thanks, George.

View Details

2020 Census Undercounted Hispanic, Black, & Indigenous Communities

According to reporting from The New York Times, the 2020 United States census undercounted hard-to-reach communities and disproportionately undercounted Hispanic, Black, and Indigenous Americans. The count was affected not only by the logistical hurdle of counting during the height of the pandemic but also due to attempted political interference by the Trump administration. While experts note that “historically, undercounted populations that are harder to reach through surveys, phone calls and door-to-door canvassing, including Native Americans on reservations, poor urban communities and undocumented immigrants,” the undercount could still affect the political clout of traditionally underserved communities.

Read more ➝

Analysis Shows Russian Oligarchs Gave Millions To U.S. Nonprofits, Museums, Universities

An analysis conducted by the Washington Post shows that Russian oligarchs (loosely referring to Russia’s wealthiest elite, who are often accused of corruption and criminality) have given millions to U.S.-based philanthropic organizations. Wealthy oligarchs close to the Russian government have given millions to organizations like The Guggenheim Museum, MIT, The Kennedy Center, The Clinton Foundation, and the Museum of Modern Art. International sanctions have centered many organizations in the complicated narrative about how to crack down on Russian financial influence in the West.

Read more ➝ Summary

• F.B.I. Sees ‘Massive Fraud’ in Groups’ Food Programs for Needy Children | nytimes.com
• America the generous: U.S. leads globe in giving | Axios
• ‘Kony 2012,’ 10 Years Later | nytimes.com
• Native Americans declare support for Ukraine | Axios

View Details

2020 Census Undercounted Hispanic, Black, & Indigenous Communities

According to reporting from The New York Times, the 2020 United States census undercounted hard-to-reach communities and disproportionately undercounted Hispanic, Black, and Indigenous Americans. The count was affected not only by the logistical hurdle of counting during the height of the pandemic but also due to attempted political interference by the Trump administration. While experts note that “historically, undercounted populations that are harder to reach through surveys, phone calls and door-to-door canvassing, including Native Americans on reservations, poor urban communities and undocumented immigrants,” the undercount could still affect the political clout of traditionally underserved communities.

Read more ➝

Analysis Shows Russian Oligarchs Gave Millions To U.S. Nonprofits, Museums, Universities

An analysis conducted by the Washington Post shows that Russian oligarchs (loosely referring to Russia’s wealthiest elite, who are often accused of corruption and criminality) have given millions to U.S.-based philanthropic organizations. Wealthy oligarchs close to the Russian government have given millions to organizations like The Guggenheim Museum, MIT, The Kennedy Center, The Clinton Foundation, and the Museum of Modern Art. International sanctions have centered many organizations in the complicated narrative about how to crack down on Russian financial influence in the West.

Read more ➝ Summary

• F.B.I. Sees ‘Massive Fraud’ in Groups’ Food Programs for Needy Children | nytimes.com
• America the generous: U.S. leads globe in giving | Axios
• ‘Kony 2012,’ 10 Years Later | nytimes.com
• Native Americans declare support for Ukraine | Axios

View Details

Weekly Nonprofit News.

As Ukrainian Refugee Crisis Becomes Historic In Size, Elements of Media Coverage Criticized For Ahistoric Framing As the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent war enters its second week, the size and scope of the refugee crisis has spiraled into a full-scale disaster of historic proportion. The humanitarian situation in Ukraine has grown dire as reports of the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure have grown into nearly indisputable evidence of war crimes. However, certain media outlets’ framing of the conflict in juxtaposition to the Middle East has raised eyebrows and drawn criticism for “normalizing” violence in non-Western countries. Additionally, while the generosity of European countries taking in refugees should be lauded, international observers have criticized reports that suggest discrimination of ethnic minorities and non-Ukrainian nationals at border crossings.

Read more ➝ Crypto-Donations To Ukraine Surpass $80 Million As the world watches in horror at the atrocities and suffering in Ukraine, cryptocurrency donations have topped over $80 million, according to Yahoo News. Approximately $44 million of those dollars have gone directly to the Ukrainian government. Interestingly, the report finds that donors are more willing to give to established organizations and entities like the Ukrainian government and organizations like the Come Back Alive foundation as opposed to DAOs. Ethereum was the most donated currency, topping Bitcoin.

Read more ➝ Summary

• What 10 Nonprofits Are Doing to Aid Ukraine and Its Refugees
• They Came to Help Migrants. Now, Europe Has Turned on Them
• Nonprofit Civica Plans to Deliver Low-Cost Insulin

Transcript

291-news-3-7-stereo

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed for the week of March 7th, we are talking about the Ukrainian refugee crisis, as well as huge spikes, encrypted donations as always Nick as LA. How's it going?

[00:00:18] What are you seeing? It's knowing good, George. So as you alluded, our first story today, again, is the Ukrainian refugee crisis and some topics around how that's being framed.

[00:00:33] So as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and of course the subsequent war enters its second week, the size and scope of the refugee crisis has spiraled. To a full-scale disaster of quite frankly, historic proportion. The continent of Europe has not seen a refugee crisis. This large since world war two. There's an estimated 1.5 million refugees that have now plead that country.

[00:00:58] The number is expected to go up by millions more. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of internally displaced people as well. It's a disaster and. Long reaching ramifications for the continent of Europe along other similar humanitarian lines. The fighting has grown more intense.

[00:01:17] The Russian invasion has taken a darker turn. There are now daily reports of the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Right now I'm aware that lots of different groups from. Governments to non-governmental groups are now collecting evidence of war crimes in the country. And it's really quite serious and becoming increasingly dire.

[00:01:40] Just just sad news. There's no way to say it. I can add a little bit of color from a contact of mine, not even in Ukraine. But from, in, in Europe itself in the Czech Republic which has. It's self knows a thing or two about being invaded by the Russians. But my contacts said we are shocked and very sad what is happening.

[00:01:58] And we ourselves are very scared as well. This is being felt throughout all of Europe. And the world's quite frankly, however, George, I think an interesting narrative. Is a nuanced story that we wanted to hone was there's two kinds of things that play here. One is there've been reports that non Ukrainian nationals and folks of ethnic minority are having trouble leaving the country and has raised some alarms at the international organizational level.

[00:02:27] And also similarly some media outlets are. Criticized for framing the conflict and juxtaposition to the middle east, saying things along the lines of this is not Baghdad. This is not Syria. This is Europe. And I think both of these kind of go hand in hand with this very Eurocentric perspective of the news.

[00:02:51] And of course, Minimize the impact and significance of this. That's not what we're doing. And these countries taking in refugees should be lauded. Of course. But that being said we're seeing some narratives start to come out that are framing humanitarian crises and potentially a problematic way.

[00:03:09] Recognizing that this happens in many other places in the world and has happened in Europe before as well. So George, I'm wondering what your take is on all this. I think it's

[00:03:20] important, especially as nonprofits Wade into this, which is why we're trying to pick up this angle as nonprofits, working with diverse stakeholders, that you understand that there is a very clear and sometimes not subtle.

[00:03:36] Nuanced microaggressions probably and beyond happening in the news reporting and then not just the news reporting, but the actual facts on the ground when you are in fact talking about the treatment of of white versus black and brown communities in Ukraine, which is alarming to say the least,

[00:03:52] The.

[00:03:54] The problems are pretty clear in that. Also, if you're talking about this from the west I actually see it as a very quick ability for the United States to claim this moral national superiority with very little memory and just to bring the clock back . George W. Bush recently made a statement, condemning Putin's actions invading under false pretenses, another sovereign nation state.

[00:04:26] And I can bring the clock just 20 years to our invasion of Iraq under false pretenses later revealed. And by the way, our current sitting president voted in favor of doing so. And it's not

[00:04:40] that like, oh, this is, which is what a huge statement and underlying problem by saying. This isn't the middle east, this is Europe like

[00:04:47] ouch.

[00:04:48] Like

[00:04:48] you have to check that statement. These are people, these are families. These are communities. And frankly, I'm using a lot of the same words of unjustified invasion of a sovereign [00:05:00] nation under false pretenses by a superior military power. Set to invoke and cause regime change. That sounds pretty much like where we were about 20 years ago.

[00:05:10] I think keeping that in mind would produce better reporting. It would produce better

[00:05:17] communication

[00:05:18] from certainly U S nonprofits as we enter with and understanding that like war capital w is. There's no justification. Now in this moment, it is certainly confusing and it can be hard to say like, how can we be talking about racial equity in a time where we have the largest refugee crisis since world war II?

[00:05:45] It's because we can chew gum and walk it's because we can hold two contrarian thoughts in our mind at the same time. And it's important to do so that we stop making the same mistake. And again,

[00:05:58] yeah, George, I think that's such helpful framing and they think that it's not an either or it's a both, and you can have these thoughts and quite frankly, Eastern Europe has struggled with Racism against refugee communities in the past crises at the Polish border, for example, the Hungarian border, for example, with regards to Syrian and Afghan refugees, respectively and what they're doing now is monumental and how they are treating Ukrainian refugees.

[00:06:30] But I think what we can do is take this moment. Tremendous generosity and humanity and use it to continually work, to be better knowing that even then it's not perfect. But I think really important framing for us nonprofits to understand, as they're thinking about marketing this as they're thinking about framing conversations about health and times of crisis and this sort of thing, and Yeah, I think that's really important nuance.

[00:06:57] When you're also talking about another probably triggering for black and brown communities is the sort of suddenly a lot of countries that we're sorry, we're full. We can't take on any new refugees from other major crises that seem to happen every year. Sorry, we're full is our full to suddenly share.

[00:07:18] We can take on 1.5 million and growing number of refugees come on in. You can't help, but feel like there is a hint of Eurocentrism on that one.

[00:07:27] Yeah, definitely. It is complicated, a lot of these countries do have shared national identities and speak similar languages. So from the political science perspective, you can.

[00:07:39] You hate to say it, but almost expect it. But that being said, I think that juxtaposition is so stark and it opens a lot of questions and leaves room for a lot of improvement as we, as a global community, respond to these type of crises without a doubt. Yeah. Look before we

[00:07:56] go too far doom and gloom, I think it is tremendous to say that the U S is using banks and not tanks that the nation is responding.

[00:08:04] The globe is responding rather than just here comes to us to bungle it up. It's actually taken European us and other support to do things like, turning off swift. So I think there are positive externalities to,

[00:08:19] to that. Absolutely. I agree. I think that when you think in terms of contexts, The response of the EU and the U S in some ways it's never been more cohesive.

[00:08:31] And I hope that we can take that cohesiveness. And what we realized is the value of democracy and push it forward and bring us to a place where we continue tenue to support countries, pursuing democracy. No, not building democratic countries, not playing about that, but supporting those values and work to ensure human rights for everyone.

[00:08:55] So speaking of global generosity we, our next story is about crypto to-do nation, crypto donations to Ukraine surpassing $80 million. The story from Yahoo news. States that cryptocurrency donations have topped over 80 million now, approximately 44 million of those dollars have gone directly to the Ukrainian government.

[00:09:20] I think the Ukrainian government and even Ukrainian military has very interestingly and probably degreed effect made it easy to donate directly into their coffers so that it appears to be largely what's happening here. The report finds that donors are, we're willing to give, to establish organizations and entities like the Ukrainian government organizations like the comeback live foundation as opposed to Dows.

[00:09:44] But George, this is this is a pinnacle moment in a way for crypto donations. What do you think this says. The future of cryptocurrency donation and how we engage with crises as a global community.

[00:09:57] There's a tremendous amount to unpack here. And [00:10:00] if you are simply taking this top-line and running away, you're really missing how monumental it is that for instance, crypto donations are far above what, for instance, like groups like NATO or the UN have sent in or other aid groups have sent in terms of dollars, you are missing the fact that.

[00:10:18] Right now, there is an American giving directly to do Ukrainian government. That's not a thing that has ever happened before, and they're being transparent about how they're using it because you can look at their wallet and see where the money then went. The second order effect could

[00:10:37] be

[00:10:39] potentially, maybe even decrease the ability for us nonprofits that provide their variety of aid.

[00:10:46] To raise as much as they would have. Anyway, I think that inherently must be true because 80 million has been given and is satisfying that how do I help right now in an immediate, impactful way that used to be a niche that nonprofits were uniquely designed to fill. Now that works still needs to be done.

[00:11:09] Make no doubt. And there are, and we have more stories to come about those nonprofits doing that work, but

[00:11:18] it's maybe a weird way to put this, but there may

[00:11:20] be some philanthropic competition between the longstanding of growing ideology around the give directly, not the organization, but the concept of giving how.

[00:11:33] Can I get this money to my perception, speaking as a donor, my perception of the person in need as a threat to disintermediate the nonprofits actions, which again has

[00:11:46] a social impact value in that process. Without a doubt, I think that's a great synthesize there. Of things that we will continue to keep an eye on.

[00:11:56] All right. We can go into the summary now. Just some more stories within our nonprofit news newsletter. Our first one is from nonprofit pro.com and it lists 10 nonprofits that are delivering aid to Ukraine and refugees. A lot of folks will recognize. Some of the names on this list. They're big name organizations.

[00:12:20] They're Ukrainian diaspora organizations. George, I think an interesting narrative here is you're seeing we're both active on LinkedIn and, you see a ton of posts about donate here in here. I think just the important thing to remember is Just do your homework. If you're an organization that is raising money, make sure that you prove your legitimacy.

[00:12:43] I think each and every crisis people get a little more, a little better trying to keep them selves safe when donating to organizations that might be new to them. So a big takeaway for nonprofits is. If you have an annual report, make that easily accessible. If you have a financial statements, your form nine 90, make all of that financially or all of that transparent and available just prove authenticity in this time of enormous giving and people seem to at least really be doing their homework, to finding organizations that are delivering value.

[00:13:14] Yeah. Yeah. And in case you just chimed in randomly in the middle of this episode, see the previous story, crypto donations surpass. Look at

[00:13:22] how the Ukraine is

[00:13:24] promoting Ukrainian Dow and the organizations they're sharing their, their wallet address, but then also talking about no, they didn't do it and Ft airdrops and the use of potential NFTs also from other artists coming into play.

[00:13:40] So I would encourage. You to make sure that one, you have a way of accepting crypto at this point, we have talked about it in the past that getting blocked is a current client of whole Wales, but also the smartest safest way in our opinion, to have a non-profit collect cryptocurrency what's more, is there an opportunity to explore an a D projects?

[00:14:01] I don't know if they were earmarked for. You crane support and aid, you might be able to tap into another pocket of generosity, but now is the time to frankly, raise money as a nonprofit doing this work because the truth is the half-life of compassion is incredibly. And usually spans only two to four weeks fish around large major news events in cycles.

[00:14:25] So now is the moment and it's brutal because now there's also the moment to take action, to build hospitals, to take care of refugees, but you also need that fundraising engine running as fast and as efficiently as possible. Right now, I don't envy the organizations needing to do all this work.

[00:14:40] All right.

[00:14:40] I can take us to our next story. This one comes from the New York times magazine and the title of the story is they came to help migrants. Now, Europe has turned on them. It's a long story. I suggest you read it. You may listen to it as well, but it follows the story of Sarah [00:15:00] Mardine and Sean binder of emergency response center international.

[00:15:05] Which is a small humanitarian aid group and the story touches on a lot of different themes, but among them how. Essentially anti-immigrant attitudes in Greece have hardened, particularly as it relates to migrants crossing from north Africa via the Mediterranean to Southern Europe. We've seen in the past other stories of folks being arrested for helping migrants or rescuing them by these countries. So it adds, I think, more color to the conversation we were having before that there's a lot of work to do. Of course this is a complicated issue. But aid groups in general, Struggling to operate for fear of legal prosecution.

[00:15:49] In, in some of these Mediterranean countries, when it comes to addressing migrants, crossing the Mediterranean. Thanks for

[00:15:55] refining the story. And not too much to add on it, but it tracks to the early. Narratives that we're starting to see brought to life in this

[00:16:03] moment of crisis.

[00:16:04] Absolutely. Another story that we highlighted in the summary, and this comes from the website, diatribe.org, which is a. Tagline is making sense of diabetes, but the article is about a nonprofit pharmaceutical organization called Civica, which is planning to deliver a low cost insulin. So this company or non.

[00:16:29] I should really say announced plans to make generic low cost insulin for everyone, regardless of insurance status, the recommended price for users will be no more than $30 per vile or 50 diet, $55 for a box of five pen cartridges. This follows up on threads of nonprofits filling the gap when it comes to us health care and mitigating.

[00:16:55] Basically the problems with it, quite frankly. And that's the absurd cost of insulin in this country. Just cool to see a nonprofit organization here within the pharmaceutical industry. Stepping up to the plate, I believe their funding comes from different foundations and associations and that sort of thing, but.

[00:17:14] Really interesting. And if this can be replicated and expanded could really make a difference for a lot of people. I love the story super positive.

[00:17:23] And the quote in here in diabetes is arguably America's most expensive chronic condition. And it's heartbreaking that millions of people are rationing their care and putting their lives at risk because they cannot afford insulin.

[00:17:35] There's a point at which certainly max mizing shareholder value makes sense. It gets us these breakthroughs and innovations, but after the profit taking has happened and it is frankly pre. Fundamental and symbol that to develop insulin, the current prices range from $194 down to $43 to bring that price down further means taking out the margin and non-profits are a very clear solution for it.

[00:18:02] I was excited to see this and wish them all of the luck and speed in developing, getting this to

[00:18:08] market. All right, George, have I failed? Good story. I think you owe it to us. All right. This is a good one. We will be going back to Ukraine, but this is as reported by ABC seven, North Carolina affiliate.

[00:18:24] This is an article about. The nonprofit Samaritan's purse which is an international Christian relief organization based out of Greensboro. There is set up a 30 bed hospital in Ukraine, and I think this is really interesting because you're following the situation. You're seeing a lot of people going into Ukraine normal people looking to fight, which is its own thing with its own complexities, but here's what.

[00:18:50] The bottom line here is the us government for complicated reasons has decided they cannot directly involve themselves in Ukraine and not an international relations podcast, but they have decided they will not directly engage with the Russians in Ukraine. Guess what nonprofit organizations can go in, they can represent the world and a humanitarian response without having.

[00:19:16] The same strategic implications of sending in a military. You, George, you said it before perfectly banks, not banks, not tanks, but here it's hospitals, not tanks. So you just love to see a nonprofit stepping up and traveling to across the world to help out. Yeah.

[00:19:32] This is no joke.

[00:19:33] You're walking into an active war zone.

[00:19:36] A land war in Europe is.

[00:19:39] Incredibly dangerous, very hostile, but also a nuance to think about where, the direct aids shipping your crypto donations directly to the Ukrainian government doesn't necessarily get those extra hospitals build simply because they're so focused on a war effort while the humanitarian need is so strong.

[00:19:59] [00:20:00] And so that is why I still think that there is incredible need and. Getting to this type of nonprofit work, where people are bringing to bear resources outside of the country, different ways of helping and supporting the displaced populations that have come and will come from it. So Bravo to them and all that are really putting themselves literally in harm's way.

[00:20:24] Hope they stay safe. All right, Nick. Thanks for summarizing. Thanks, George. Great.

View Details

Weekly Nonprofit News.

As Ukrainian Refugee Crisis Becomes Historic In Size, Elements of Media Coverage Criticized For Ahistoric Framing As the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent war enters its second week, the size and scope of the refugee crisis has spiraled into a full-scale disaster of historic proportion. The humanitarian situation in Ukraine has grown dire as reports of the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure have grown into nearly indisputable evidence of war crimes. However, certain media outlets’ framing of the conflict in juxtaposition to the Middle East has raised eyebrows and drawn criticism for “normalizing” violence in non-Western countries. Additionally, while the generosity of European countries taking in refugees should be lauded, international observers have criticized reports that suggest discrimination of ethnic minorities and non-Ukrainian nationals at border crossings.

Read more ➝ Crypto-Donations To Ukraine Surpass $80 Million As the world watches in horror at the atrocities and suffering in Ukraine, cryptocurrency donations have topped over $80 million, according to Yahoo News. Approximately $44 million of those dollars have gone directly to the Ukrainian government. Interestingly, the report finds that donors are more willing to give to established organizations and entities like the Ukrainian government and organizations like the Come Back Alive foundation as opposed to DAOs. Ethereum was the most donated currency, topping Bitcoin.

Read more ➝ Summary

• What 10 Nonprofits Are Doing to Aid Ukraine and Its Refugees
• They Came to Help Migrants. Now, Europe Has Turned on Them
• Nonprofit Civica Plans to Deliver Low-Cost Insulin

Transcript

291-news-3-7-stereo

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed for the week of March 7th, we are talking about the Ukrainian refugee crisis, as well as huge spikes, encrypted donations as always Nick as LA. How's it going?

[00:00:18] What are you seeing? It's knowing good, George. So as you alluded, our first story today, again, is the Ukrainian refugee crisis and some topics around how that's being framed.

[00:00:33] So as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and of course the subsequent war enters its second week, the size and scope of the refugee crisis has spiraled. To a full-scale disaster of quite frankly, historic proportion. The continent of Europe has not seen a refugee crisis. This large since world war two. There's an estimated 1.5 million refugees that have now plead that country.

[00:00:58] The number is expected to go up by millions more. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of internally displaced people as well. It's a disaster and. Long reaching ramifications for the continent of Europe along other similar humanitarian lines. The fighting has grown more intense.

[00:01:17] The Russian invasion has taken a darker turn. There are now daily reports of the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Right now I'm aware that lots of different groups from. Governments to non-governmental groups are now collecting evidence of war crimes in the country. And it's really quite serious and becoming increasingly dire.

[00:01:40] Just just sad news. There's no way to say it. I can add a little bit of color from a contact of mine, not even in Ukraine. But from, in, in Europe itself in the Czech Republic which has. It's self knows a thing or two about being invaded by the Russians. But my contacts said we are shocked and very sad what is happening.

[00:01:58] And we ourselves are very scared as well. This is being felt throughout all of Europe. And the world's quite frankly, however, George, I think an interesting narrative. Is a nuanced story that we wanted to hone was there's two kinds of things that play here. One is there've been reports that non Ukrainian nationals and folks of ethnic minority are having trouble leaving the country and has raised some alarms at the international organizational level.

[00:02:27] And also similarly some media outlets are. Criticized for framing the conflict and juxtaposition to the middle east, saying things along the lines of this is not Baghdad. This is not Syria. This is Europe. And I think both of these kind of go hand in hand with this very Eurocentric perspective of the news.

[00:02:51] And of course, Minimize the impact and significance of this. That's not what we're doing. And these countries taking in refugees should be lauded. Of course. But that being said we're seeing some narratives start to come out that are framing humanitarian crises and potentially a problematic way.

[00:03:09] Recognizing that this happens in many other places in the world and has happened in Europe before as well. So George, I'm wondering what your take is on all this. I think it's

[00:03:20] important, especially as nonprofits Wade into this, which is why we're trying to pick up this angle as nonprofits, working with diverse stakeholders, that you understand that there is a very clear and sometimes not subtle.

[00:03:36] Nuanced microaggressions probably and beyond happening in the news reporting and then not just the news reporting, but the actual facts on the ground when you are in fact talking about the treatment of of white versus black and brown communities in Ukraine, which is alarming to say the least,

[00:03:52] The.

[00:03:54] The problems are pretty clear in that. Also, if you're talking about this from the west I actually see it as a very quick ability for the United States to claim this moral national superiority with very little memory and just to bring the clock back . George W. Bush recently made a statement, condemning Putin's actions invading under false pretenses, another sovereign nation state.

[00:04:26] And I can bring the clock just 20 years to our invasion of Iraq under false pretenses later revealed. And by the way, our current sitting president voted in favor of doing so. And it's not

[00:04:40] that like, oh, this is, which is what a huge statement and underlying problem by saying. This isn't the middle east, this is Europe like

[00:04:47] ouch.

[00:04:48] Like

[00:04:48] you have to check that statement. These are people, these are families. These are communities. And frankly, I'm using a lot of the same words of unjustified invasion of a sovereign [00:05:00] nation under false pretenses by a superior military power. Set to invoke and cause regime change. That sounds pretty much like where we were about 20 years ago.

[00:05:10] I think keeping that in mind would produce better reporting. It would produce better

[00:05:17] communication

[00:05:18] from certainly U S nonprofits as we enter with and understanding that like war capital w is. There's no justification. Now in this moment, it is certainly confusing and it can be hard to say like, how can we be talking about racial equity in a time where we have the largest refugee crisis since world war II?

[00:05:45] It's because we can chew gum and walk it's because we can hold two contrarian thoughts in our mind at the same time. And it's important to do so that we stop making the same mistake. And again,

[00:05:58] yeah, George, I think that's such helpful framing and they think that it's not an either or it's a both, and you can have these thoughts and quite frankly, Eastern Europe has struggled with Racism against refugee communities in the past crises at the Polish border, for example, the Hungarian border, for example, with regards to Syrian and Afghan refugees, respectively and what they're doing now is monumental and how they are treating Ukrainian refugees.

[00:06:30] But I think what we can do is take this moment. Tremendous generosity and humanity and use it to continually work, to be better knowing that even then it's not perfect. But I think really important framing for us nonprofits to understand, as they're thinking about marketing this as they're thinking about framing conversations about health and times of crisis and this sort of thing, and Yeah, I think that's really important nuance.

[00:06:57] When you're also talking about another probably triggering for black and brown communities is the sort of suddenly a lot of countries that we're sorry, we're full. We can't take on any new refugees from other major crises that seem to happen every year. Sorry, we're full is our full to suddenly share.

[00:07:18] We can take on 1.5 million and growing number of refugees come on in. You can't help, but feel like there is a hint of Eurocentrism on that one.

[00:07:27] Yeah, definitely. It is complicated, a lot of these countries do have shared national identities and speak similar languages. So from the political science perspective, you can.

[00:07:39] You hate to say it, but almost expect it. But that being said, I think that juxtaposition is so stark and it opens a lot of questions and leaves room for a lot of improvement as we, as a global community, respond to these type of crises without a doubt. Yeah. Look before we

[00:07:56] go too far doom and gloom, I think it is tremendous to say that the U S is using banks and not tanks that the nation is responding.

[00:08:04] The globe is responding rather than just here comes to us to bungle it up. It's actually taken European us and other support to do things like, turning off swift. So I think there are positive externalities to,

[00:08:19] to that. Absolutely. I agree. I think that when you think in terms of contexts, The response of the EU and the U S in some ways it's never been more cohesive.

[00:08:31] And I hope that we can take that cohesiveness. And what we realized is the value of democracy and push it forward and bring us to a place where we continue tenue to support countries, pursuing democracy. No, not building democratic countries, not playing about that, but supporting those values and work to ensure human rights for everyone.

[00:08:55] So speaking of global generosity we, our next story is about crypto to-do nation, crypto donations to Ukraine surpassing $80 million. The story from Yahoo news. States that cryptocurrency donations have topped over 80 million now, approximately 44 million of those dollars have gone directly to the Ukrainian government.

[00:09:20] I think the Ukrainian government and even Ukrainian military has very interestingly and probably degreed effect made it easy to donate directly into their coffers so that it appears to be largely what's happening here. The report finds that donors are, we're willing to give, to establish organizations and entities like the Ukrainian government organizations like the comeback live foundation as opposed to Dows.

[00:09:44] But George, this is this is a pinnacle moment in a way for crypto donations. What do you think this says. The future of cryptocurrency donation and how we engage with crises as a global community.

[00:09:57] There's a tremendous amount to unpack here. And [00:10:00] if you are simply taking this top-line and running away, you're really missing how monumental it is that for instance, crypto donations are far above what, for instance, like groups like NATO or the UN have sent in or other aid groups have sent in terms of dollars, you are missing the fact that.

[00:10:18] Right now, there is an American giving directly to do Ukrainian government. That's not a thing that has ever happened before, and they're being transparent about how they're using it because you can look at their wallet and see where the money then went. The second order effect could

[00:10:37] be

[00:10:39] potentially, maybe even decrease the ability for us nonprofits that provide their variety of aid.

[00:10:46] To raise as much as they would have. Anyway, I think that inherently must be true because 80 million has been given and is satisfying that how do I help right now in an immediate, impactful way that used to be a niche that nonprofits were uniquely designed to fill. Now that works still needs to be done.

[00:11:09] Make no doubt. And there are, and we have more stories to come about those nonprofits doing that work, but

[00:11:18] it's maybe a weird way to put this, but there may

[00:11:20] be some philanthropic competition between the longstanding of growing ideology around the give directly, not the organization, but the concept of giving how.

[00:11:33] Can I get this money to my perception, speaking as a donor, my perception of the person in need as a threat to disintermediate the nonprofits actions, which again has

[00:11:46] a social impact value in that process. Without a doubt, I think that's a great synthesize there. Of things that we will continue to keep an eye on.

[00:11:56] All right. We can go into the summary now. Just some more stories within our nonprofit news newsletter. Our first one is from nonprofit pro.com and it lists 10 nonprofits that are delivering aid to Ukraine and refugees. A lot of folks will recognize. Some of the names on this list. They're big name organizations.

[00:12:20] They're Ukrainian diaspora organizations. George, I think an interesting narrative here is you're seeing we're both active on LinkedIn and, you see a ton of posts about donate here in here. I think just the important thing to remember is Just do your homework. If you're an organization that is raising money, make sure that you prove your legitimacy.

[00:12:43] I think each and every crisis people get a little more, a little better trying to keep them selves safe when donating to organizations that might be new to them. So a big takeaway for nonprofits is. If you have an annual report, make that easily accessible. If you have a financial statements, your form nine 90, make all of that financially or all of that transparent and available just prove authenticity in this time of enormous giving and people seem to at least really be doing their homework, to finding organizations that are delivering value.

[00:13:14] Yeah. Yeah. And in case you just chimed in randomly in the middle of this episode, see the previous story, crypto donations surpass. Look at

[00:13:22] how the Ukraine is

[00:13:24] promoting Ukrainian Dow and the organizations they're sharing their, their wallet address, but then also talking about no, they didn't do it and Ft airdrops and the use of potential NFTs also from other artists coming into play.

[00:13:40] So I would encourage. You to make sure that one, you have a way of accepting crypto at this point, we have talked about it in the past that getting blocked is a current client of whole Wales, but also the smartest safest way in our opinion, to have a non-profit collect cryptocurrency what's more, is there an opportunity to explore an a D projects?

[00:14:01] I don't know if they were earmarked for. You crane support and aid, you might be able to tap into another pocket of generosity, but now is the time to frankly, raise money as a nonprofit doing this work because the truth is the half-life of compassion is incredibly. And usually spans only two to four weeks fish around large major news events in cycles.

[00:14:25] So now is the moment and it's brutal because now there's also the moment to take action, to build hospitals, to take care of refugees, but you also need that fundraising engine running as fast and as efficiently as possible. Right now, I don't envy the organizations needing to do all this work.

[00:14:40] All right.

[00:14:40] I can take us to our next story. This one comes from the New York times magazine and the title of the story is they came to help migrants. Now, Europe has turned on them. It's a long story. I suggest you read it. You may listen to it as well, but it follows the story of Sarah [00:15:00] Mardine and Sean binder of emergency response center international.

[00:15:05] Which is a small humanitarian aid group and the story touches on a lot of different themes, but among them how. Essentially anti-immigrant attitudes in Greece have hardened, particularly as it relates to migrants crossing from north Africa via the Mediterranean to Southern Europe. We've seen in the past other stories of folks being arrested for helping migrants or rescuing them by these countries. So it adds, I think, more color to the conversation we were having before that there's a lot of work to do. Of course this is a complicated issue. But aid groups in general, Struggling to operate for fear of legal prosecution.

[00:15:49] In, in some of these Mediterranean countries, when it comes to addressing migrants, crossing the Mediterranean. Thanks for

[00:15:55] refining the story. And not too much to add on it, but it tracks to the early. Narratives that we're starting to see brought to life in this

[00:16:03] moment of crisis.

[00:16:04] Absolutely. Another story that we highlighted in the summary, and this comes from the website, diatribe.org, which is a. Tagline is making sense of diabetes, but the article is about a nonprofit pharmaceutical organization called Civica, which is planning to deliver a low cost insulin. So this company or non.

[00:16:29] I should really say announced plans to make generic low cost insulin for everyone, regardless of insurance status, the recommended price for users will be no more than $30 per vile or 50 diet, $55 for a box of five pen cartridges. This follows up on threads of nonprofits filling the gap when it comes to us health care and mitigating.

[00:16:55] Basically the problems with it, quite frankly. And that's the absurd cost of insulin in this country. Just cool to see a nonprofit organization here within the pharmaceutical industry. Stepping up to the plate, I believe their funding comes from different foundations and associations and that sort of thing, but.

[00:17:14] Really interesting. And if this can be replicated and expanded could really make a difference for a lot of people. I love the story super positive.

[00:17:23] And the quote in here in diabetes is arguably America's most expensive chronic condition. And it's heartbreaking that millions of people are rationing their care and putting their lives at risk because they cannot afford insulin.

[00:17:35] There's a point at which certainly max mizing shareholder value makes sense. It gets us these breakthroughs and innovations, but after the profit taking has happened and it is frankly pre. Fundamental and symbol that to develop insulin, the current prices range from $194 down to $43 to bring that price down further means taking out the margin and non-profits are a very clear solution for it.

[00:18:02] I was excited to see this and wish them all of the luck and speed in developing, getting this to

[00:18:08] market. All right, George, have I failed? Good story. I think you owe it to us. All right. This is a good one. We will be going back to Ukraine, but this is as reported by ABC seven, North Carolina affiliate.

[00:18:24] This is an article about. The nonprofit Samaritan's purse which is an international Christian relief organization based out of Greensboro. There is set up a 30 bed hospital in Ukraine, and I think this is really interesting because you're following the situation. You're seeing a lot of people going into Ukraine normal people looking to fight, which is its own thing with its own complexities, but here's what.

[00:18:50] The bottom line here is the us government for complicated reasons has decided they cannot directly involve themselves in Ukraine and not an international relations podcast, but they have decided they will not directly engage with the Russians in Ukraine. Guess what nonprofit organizations can go in, they can represent the world and a humanitarian response without having.

[00:19:16] The same strategic implications of sending in a military. You, George, you said it before perfectly banks, not banks, not tanks, but here it's hospitals, not tanks. So you just love to see a nonprofit stepping up and traveling to across the world to help out. Yeah.

[00:19:32] This is no joke.

[00:19:33] You're walking into an active war zone.

[00:19:36] A land war in Europe is.

[00:19:39] Incredibly dangerous, very hostile, but also a nuance to think about where, the direct aids shipping your crypto donations directly to the Ukrainian government doesn't necessarily get those extra hospitals build simply because they're so focused on a war effort while the humanitarian need is so strong.

[00:19:59] [00:20:00] And so that is why I still think that there is incredible need and. Getting to this type of nonprofit work, where people are bringing to bear resources outside of the country, different ways of helping and supporting the displaced populations that have come and will come from it. So Bravo to them and all that are really putting themselves literally in harm's way.

[00:20:24] Hope they stay safe. All right, Nick. Thanks for summarizing. Thanks, George. Great.

View Details

Russia Invades Ukraine, Triggers Full Scale War & Humanitarian Catastrophe

Early Thursday morning, Russian ground troops launched an all-out war against Ukraine, with the assumed intention of overtaking the entire country and overthrowing its government. Here are 5 key takeaways from the NGO and humanitarian perspective:

1. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees now estimates half a million Ukrainian refugees have entered neighboring countries, especially Poland, Hungary, & Romania.
2. According to the Ukrainian military, hundreds of Ukrainians, including civilians, have been killed. Calls have been made to gather evidence of war crimes to be presented to the International Criminal Court.
3. Doctors Without Borders, known for often being the first to arrive and last to leave during the conflict, announced they were forced to “halt [their] activities” in Ukraine
4. Patreon Suspends Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive For 'Funding Military Activity'
5. The World Food Programme estimates that 50% of its grain comes from Ukraine and Russia, and warns that war could impact global food security.

Social Media Facilitates Global Outrage, Large-Scale Grassroots Mobilization

Condemnation of Putin’s actions have united the western world with a cohesiveness not seen in decades. Global protests and grassroots humanitarian action are being broadcast to the world via social media. Here are 5 key takeaways from the global perspective:

1. The world erupted in emphatic protest against Putin’s actions and in support of Ukrainians. From Madrid to Berlin to New York to London, protestors chanted colorful slogans that had blown up on social media that show the spirit of Ukrainian resolve.
2. A grassroots humanitarian mobilization effort has begun in Eastern Europe to support the now estimated half a million refugees. Efforts are underway in Poland, Romania, and Hungary. Even in the Czech Republic, which doesn’t border Ukraine, volunteers are being asked to drive to the Polish border to assist.
3. The Ukrainian diaspora community have used social media to consolidate ways to help contribute to solidarity as well as donate to local organizations.
4. Ukraine's Twitter account messaged out their Crypto wallet addresses and have received nearly $15M in contributions.
5. Russia has been trying to stamp out unofficial narratives of the war by blocking and or slowing major social media platforms. Major U.S.-based social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube have prohibited Russian state-owned media outlets including RT from advertising.

View Details

Russia Invades Ukraine, Triggers Full Scale War & Humanitarian Catastrophe

Early Thursday morning, Russian ground troops launched an all-out war against Ukraine, with the assumed intention of overtaking the entire country and overthrowing its government. Here are 5 key takeaways from the NGO and humanitarian perspective:

1. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees now estimates half a million Ukrainian refugees have entered neighboring countries, especially Poland, Hungary, & Romania.
2. According to the Ukrainian military, hundreds of Ukrainians, including civilians, have been killed. Calls have been made to gather evidence of war crimes to be presented to the International Criminal Court.
3. Doctors Without Borders, known for often being the first to arrive and last to leave during the conflict, announced they were forced to “halt [their] activities” in Ukraine
4. Patreon Suspends Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive For 'Funding Military Activity'
5. The World Food Programme estimates that 50% of its grain comes from Ukraine and Russia, and warns that war could impact global food security.

Social Media Facilitates Global Outrage, Large-Scale Grassroots Mobilization

Condemnation of Putin’s actions have united the western world with a cohesiveness not seen in decades. Global protests and grassroots humanitarian action are being broadcast to the world via social media. Here are 5 key takeaways from the global perspective:

1. The world erupted in emphatic protest against Putin’s actions and in support of Ukrainians. From Madrid to Berlin to New York to London, protestors chanted colorful slogans that had blown up on social media that show the spirit of Ukrainian resolve.
2. A grassroots humanitarian mobilization effort has begun in Eastern Europe to support the now estimated half a million refugees. Efforts are underway in Poland, Romania, and Hungary. Even in the Czech Republic, which doesn’t border Ukraine, volunteers are being asked to drive to the Polish border to assist.
3. The Ukrainian diaspora community have used social media to consolidate ways to help contribute to solidarity as well as donate to local organizations.
4. Ukraine's Twitter account messaged out their Crypto wallet addresses and have received nearly $15M in contributions.
5. Russia has been trying to stamp out unofficial narratives of the war by blocking and or slowing major social media platforms. Major U.S.-based social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube have prohibited Russian state-owned media outlets including RT from advertising.

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Isabelle Brauer, Fundraising Manager at Whole Whale shares a few insights from the newest Whole Whale University Nonprofit Fundraising course.

You can’t automate empathy, but you CAN automate a thank you. We all care about our donors but sometimes get lost juggling the ‘human touch’ of nurturing leads and manually completing tasks on time. Creating and sustaining a robust supporter base is one of the most important things your team can do to support your organization, but building relationships with donors often involves time-consuming repetitive tasks.

One of the most significant sources of nonprofit professional pride is also one of the greatest difficulties: one person is doing the work of 3 people! Recent research states 86% of fundraisers believe technology can automate manual tasks that divert them from their most important task: Raising critical funds to support key programming.

Ready to spend more of your time relationship-building and less time on repetitive, tedious tasks? Join Whole Whale Fundraising Manager Isabelle Brauer as she shares 7 automated tactics – from easy to hard to execute – nurture leads to donors.

View Details

Weekly news for the nonprofit sector.

Nonprofits & NGOs Prepare As The Russia <> Ukraine Standoff Becomes Dire As the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, the nonprofit organization Project Dynamo has announced it is preparing for the potential emergency evacuation of Americans from Ukraine. The organization, initially formed to aid in the evacuation from Afghanistan, is just one of many civil society and NGO organization focused on preparing for the fallout of a potential war. The Russian military has approximately 140,000 troops surrounding Ukraine on all but its western border. On Friday, the U.S. government advised all American citizens to leave the country within 48 hours. While official intelligence publicly referenced by the U.S. notes that an invasion is not certain, that intelligence has assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has assembled the necessary military force to launch an attack should he chose to do so.

Read more ➝ The Great U.S. Volunteer Shortage & CEO Transition at VolunteerMatch Greg Baldwin, CEO and President of VolunteerMatch, says that the number of open nonprofit volunteer opening positions needed has increased to approximately 10.5 million at the beginning of 2022. This represents a jump of nearly 2 million open positions since before the pandemic, which saw a need for 8.5 million volunteers. Macro trends related to the shifting impact of the pandemic have resulted in a shortage of volunteers felt by nonprofits large and small across the country. Baldwin joins Whole Whale (the publisher of this newsletter) CEO George Weiner to discuss this volunteer shortage as well as VolunteerMatch’s process for finding a replacement CEO after his scheduled departure.

Read more ➝ Summary:

• Eminem takes a knee during the Super Bowl halftime show | wbur.org
• How the National Butterfly Center Became the Center of Online Lies | nytimes.com
• For the first time in its history, Facebook is in decline. Has the tech giant begun to crumble? | the Guardian
• Salary competition adds to staffing challenges for nonprofits | MiBiz: West Michigan Business News

View Details

Weekly news for the nonprofit sector.

Nonprofits & NGOs Prepare As The Russia <> Ukraine Standoff Becomes Dire As the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, the nonprofit organization Project Dynamo has announced it is preparing for the potential emergency evacuation of Americans from Ukraine. The organization, initially formed to aid in the evacuation from Afghanistan, is just one of many civil society and NGO organization focused on preparing for the fallout of a potential war. The Russian military has approximately 140,000 troops surrounding Ukraine on all but its western border. On Friday, the U.S. government advised all American citizens to leave the country within 48 hours. While official intelligence publicly referenced by the U.S. notes that an invasion is not certain, that intelligence has assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has assembled the necessary military force to launch an attack should he chose to do so.

Read more ➝ The Great U.S. Volunteer Shortage & CEO Transition at VolunteerMatch Greg Baldwin, CEO and President of VolunteerMatch, says that the number of open nonprofit volunteer opening positions needed has increased to approximately 10.5 million at the beginning of 2022. This represents a jump of nearly 2 million open positions since before the pandemic, which saw a need for 8.5 million volunteers. Macro trends related to the shifting impact of the pandemic have resulted in a shortage of volunteers felt by nonprofits large and small across the country. Baldwin joins Whole Whale (the publisher of this newsletter) CEO George Weiner to discuss this volunteer shortage as well as VolunteerMatch’s process for finding a replacement CEO after his scheduled departure.

Read more ➝ Summary:

• Eminem takes a knee during the Super Bowl halftime show | wbur.org
• How the National Butterfly Center Became the Center of Online Lies | nytimes.com
• For the first time in its history, Facebook is in decline. Has the tech giant begun to crumble? | the Guardian
• Salary competition adds to staffing challenges for nonprofits | MiBiz: West Michigan Business News

View Details

Greg Baldwin CEO and President talks about the current needs for volunteers across the VolunteerMatch network. What are the macro factors causing the return to normal volunteering behaviors and what can nonprofits do?

Greg also discusses the CEO transition and how the organization is approaching finding his replacement.

VolunteerMatch is the most effective way to recruit highly qualified volunteers for your nonprofit. We match you with people who are passionate about and committed to your cause, and who can help when and where you need them.

And because volunteers are often donors as well, we make it easy for them to contribute their time and money.

The Topline numbers from VolunteerMatch

• 8.5 Million were needed pre-COVID
• 4.35 Million were needed in 2021 Jan
• The number is now 10.5 Million open opportunities starting 2022

Open jobs at VolunteerMatch.

Interested in the CEO role: contact Russell Reynolds.

About Greg Baldwin

Greg Baldwin is the CEO at VolunteerMatch. He joined what is now VolunteerMatch in the spring of 1998 as its Chief Imagination Officer to finish hot-wiring the Internet to help everybody find a great place to volunteer. Today, VolunteerMatch is the web's largest volunteer engagement network strengthening communities and organizations across the country by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect. Greg completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University in 1990 with a degree in Public Policy. He is a life-long volunteer and currently lives in the Bay Area with his wife Kathryn and kids Ellie and Matt.

Transcript

George Weiner (00:03): Welcome to the using the whole whale podcast, where we learn from leaders about new ideas and digital strategies, making a difference in the social impact world. This podcast is a proud production of whole whale, a B Corp digital. Thank you for joining us now. Let's go learn something

George Weiner (00:25): Today on the whole whale podcast. We have an old friend guest, regular almost I'd say Greg Baldwin, the CEO president of volunteer match. How's going, Greg?

Greg Baldwin (00:38): Hello! Good to be back.

George Weiner (00:40): Yeah. Well after, after your last appearance the ratings spiked. So we had to have you back, even though the news was maybe not that happy, but the annual state of what the heck is going on in volunteering in America. I can't actually imagine a better guest to, to tell us about what's going on.

Greg Baldwin (01:02): Well I'm glad I did not get kicked off the show after my,,irst couple of appearances. So I'm glad to be back even when I'm sharing, not the greatest news, t I will, I will, ,f your listeners at home, there are a lot of bright spots and a lot of important things that are happening right now that bode well for the future of volunteering

George Weiner (01:19): On a macro level. I'll just say, you know, we keep an eye on trends and, and stories through the news and through our partners. And frankly, what we have seen is that in short, there is a volunteer shortage and maybe that's a confluence of factors working together with ongoing effects of COVID of work from home and being maybe more remote. And it's all still coming together, but ultimately, you know, even labor markets could be, could be pinching this. So it's hard to sus out what's going on. So like right to the source of data, like what have you seen in your backyard for this?

Greg Baldwin (01:57): So 100% the, you know, the COVID pandemic, the lingering, you know, go from pandemic, make into a chronic situation that continues to require vigilance on the part of both nonprofits and volunteers. When it comes to getting together in groups, the face to face volunteer programs that nonprofits have relied on forever have remain devastated by the effects COVID 19 and it's social distancing and it's ongoing fear and it's just cautious behavior, all are conspiring to get in the way of what have been, you know, the volunteering experiences for lots and lots of Americans over the years think walkathons, you know, beach day cleanups habitat for humanity builds. All of those types of activities have been negatively impacted, not just because volunteers are afraid to show up, but in many cases, because nonprofits are just not running those events anymore. So it's both a supply and demand have been impacted.

Greg Baldwin (02:59): It's a lot like the restaurant business in many ways where you've just got nonprofits that are not gonna do their annual walkathon or ride or fundraising event that brings together big groups of volunteers. And you've got volunteers that are, you know, looking for opportunities that don't open them up to having to interact with a whole bunch of people at a, you know, at a food bank. For instance, it's another great area where the food banks more than many organizations have really been on the front lines of the impact of having their volunteers no longer available. And that is still, we are not in full recovery phase this year. We did see you some bright spots. We saw some recovery depending on where you live, but if you're living in a place like San Francisco with, you know, continuing very strict restrictions on, you know, masking up and being together, you're still seeing a lot of volunteers on the sidelines.

George Weiner (03:56): Can you give us some high level numbers of, of what you saw 2021, 2020?

Greg Baldwin (04:02): Yeah. So, you know, here's kind of, here's the good news underneath all of the, kind of the macro, it's still a really tough time. At the beginning of this year, we had 4 million open positions on volunteer match beginning of 2020. So this is in a January one, 20 T 24.35 million volunteers needed. So that's kind of a measure of the demand for volunteers in the network pre COVID. That number was 8.5 million. So, you know, you, half of the inventory, half of the demand was you know, half of the demand was eliminated as a result of the pandemic as of the end, as of just now this morning. Uif you go on to volunteer match, we now have rebounded where there's actually a need for 10 million volunteers. So from 4 million to 10 million, and that number is that from the beginning of the year, beginning of the year to, you know, to, as of this morning, that's the timeframe you're looking at.

Greg Baldwin (05:07): The 10.5 million volunteers needed, you can see on volunteer matches home base. That's kind of one of our primary metrics that we're always keeping track of. The reason for that change is nonprofits are coming back online. We do some big consumers of volunteers that are kind rebooting their programs, and some of them are rebooting in the virtual space. So that, which is great news. So it's many organizations have now found ways to translate their volunteering programs into virtual experiences. And that's been great. So that's news where it's not quite as good news, is that in the total number of volunteers that are actually using the system, kind of the number of visitors to the system this year is down, you know, remains down from where it was in past year or so number of people seeking opportunities. So this is unique users to the system. As of last year, the end of last year we had in 2020, we had a total of set 7.8 million visitors in 2020 in 2021, total number of unique visitors only grew to 9 million, 300,000. So still an increase moving in the right direction. But pre COVID, we were at 13, 14, 15 million unique users a year. So those numbers are definitely not back to where they were. So your macro narrative. Yeah. There's definitely a volunteer shortage.

George Weiner (06:46): Yeah. I'm kind of curious in coming back to that you said 10 million current open roughly.

Greg Baldwin (06:52): Yeah.

George Weiner (06:52): What percent is virtual of that?

Greg Baldwin (06:56): About 25%. And that's up from what had been, you know, more like five, 10%, the, the, the number of virtual opportunities. And I could go back and actually look specifically about how much of that growth has been virtual, but what we're also seeing a return to in, in some states, you've got a very D you know, kind of framework for return to work. And I will say in places like Texas, where we've got a real strong footprint volunteering has been less restricted by local regulations than it is in other places. And as you know, you know, in San Francisco, it's still, you know, the food bank is still really, really struggling. Uyou can go in with the masks on, but people are just being cautious. Some, you know, some demographics and some cities are more cautious about a return to kind of normalcy than other places.

George Weiner (07:51): Yeah. And you

Greg Baldwin (07:52): See not to get into the politics of it all, but those are real, you know, those are, those are real, real constraints to volunteering.

George Weiner (08:00): I mean, huge, huge, and the overall volunteering search in, in terms of looking at Google trends, you, I mean, you see it, it drops by a third roughly depending on one year over year minimum on the other side, virtual volunteering, you know, spikes like four X, it goes from like, what is this to like, oh, let's go find this.

Greg Baldwin (08:17): Yeah. It was a niche play for years. Voer match had been supporting virtual volunteering since we began in 2000, you know, 1999, we had a virtual checkbox and it was things you can do from virtually anywhere using your computer and your, you know, your phone and telecommunications. But now that, that, that, that segment of the market has been transformed because it's no longer, you know, just using your computer and being a, you know, a technologist, you can do mentoring programs using in zoom, right? Big brothers and big sisters. That's a whole different way of thinking about what the future of anywhere, where you're building relationships as part of your volunteer experience, just like this is a completely changed world. And all of our meetings are on zoom. There's a whole world of new volunteer opportunities that have been virtualized, which is great.

George Weiner (09:09): Yes. However, 75% of this overwhelming demand still requires boots on the ground. Go get it done.

Greg Baldwin (09:16): There's a whole hybrid world. Now that is you know, we don't even have the tools right now to track. So this is more anecdotal. But one of the things that we learned in the pandemic is we used to think that virtual volunteering is, you know, someone lives in Wisconsin and they wanna volunteer for a mentoring pro or, you know, they crisis text line, right. And they could do it from anywhere. Doesn't matter where you live. And you can be a part of a, of a program where you can give your time and talent back virtually. And it feels great. What we learned during the pandemic though, is given the choice, people would prefer to volunteer remotely for a local organization. So if I wanna be in, if I wanna give back to big brothers and big sisters, and there's a big brothers and big sisters in every city in America, I would prefer to be a remote volunteer for big brothers and big sisters in Berkeley, where I live versus Los Angeles versus New York.

Greg Baldwin (10:15): That's a whole new CA category that we weren't optimized for prior to the pandemic that in and in part of our work with the gates foundation over the pandemic, we realized that the way we had been thinking about virtual, where geography didn't matter, isn't the way it works in real life. In many there's kind of a continuum. Some people just wanna involve volunteer for a cause that they care about, and they don't care where it is, but there's a whole hybrid area, which is not true virtual volunteering, because you might interact with someone on a, you know, at, at the local office at some level. But you could do more of your volunteering mentoring or whatever it may be using, you know, zoom or something like, like that. We're not tracking that. Well, we don't have the systems to track that hybrid volunteering, but it's definitely a new piece of the puzzle where, you know, there's traditional face to face a big outdoor event, think, you know, habitat for humanity build. And now there's a whole bunch of folks that are volunteering really remotely with a local organization, you know, using zoom. But it matters that they're still part of a local organization that is doing work in a local community. And it's not as if geography doesn't matter, which is kind of what we thought virtual volunteering was pre pandemic.

George Weiner (11:32): So how much of the volunteer shortage is also the fact that older generations are frankly, potentially higher at risk and are not, you know, picking up the shovel,,ecause I know that was a, a large part of a volunteering base that, you know, fueled an amazing size of a volunteer economy in the United States to the tune of, to some reports, you know, nearly 300 billion a year. If you're looking back 20 18, 20 19, when the engine was running for Americans that just did work needed to be done and like generated value.

Greg Baldwin (12:06): So this is gonna make your skin crawl as a data guy, but all of us who care about volunteering at a national level and attracting national trends to answer questions like, okay, what's the, you know, how many young people are really volunteering versus older generation boomers et cetera, et cetera, greatest generation, the most recent data available that we can chew on to assess this trend is from 2017.

George Weiner (12:35): Hmm.

Greg Baldwin (12:36): Yeah. So we can have this conversation all day long, and I'm happy to wax philosophical about my own attitudes and opinions, but there is no good national data on old versus young anecdotally. In 2017 you had seen, well, actually the trends at that time were very much pointing to the older generations, were volunteering more time, much higher rates of volunteering and that the, you know, the drop off the shortage in volunteering that was looming as of 2017, I think is still out there with a pandemic thrown in the middle is that younger people are not volunteer hearing the way older generations. The, the older you are, the more likely volunteering is to be important to you and that you make the time for it and younger generations, which include all of the millennials. And all those folks are spending a, a smaller and smaller percentage of those folks are volunteering as a

George Weiner (13:33): Pull the Thread. Why?

Greg Baldwin (13:35): Why? My thesis is macro thesis. I think culturally, the role that volunteering plays in communities for younger people. So much of that has been so many of the institutions that really anger, anchor, volunteering have become weaker and weaker over the last 20 years. And I think it, you know, it's a, it's a symptom of the sector's overall strength and influenced in local communities. And, you know, if there's an upside there, there's a, you know, an opportunity for civil society and the nonprofit sector to be, to modernize itself become more relevant and engaged. But the, you know, the, the quick thesis was look, nobody wants to go volunteer anymore for an organization where you're gonna be a docent for the next 30 years and locked into, you know, some science volunteer position that sure might have been great for folks that were in the, you know, the greatest generation, young people wanna be able to, you know, volunteer, you know, on demand when it fits into their schedule.

Greg Baldwin (14:43): And there are very few nonprofit organizations that have been able to keep up with that demographic shift and create opportunities that cater to that, you know, that new audience, that's not looking to make a long term commitment and you get all that kind of tension of the slacktivism and, you know, micro volunteering where that that's been a big narrative over the last decade that really just hasn't panned into panned out into anything really that's turned into genuine long term social impact. You know, the, the thesis that you could be at the bus stop or whatever, and, you know, contribute 10, 15 minutes to volunteering and be a part of changing the world. The, the capacity to really turn that into a, a force for good has been spotty at best disconnect in the marketplace between the demand available demand from volunteers and what people wanna do. Those, those marketplaces, you know, volunteer match has been at that intersection, but there's a lot of other distractions right now that are taking young people's eye off the, the, you know, the opportunities to give back. It feels like if you go online and you give someone a thumbs up, you and you know, that can feel like enough.

George Weiner (15:55): Well, yes and no. Has it maybe changed what it manifests as when you look at, you know, what happened last summer during black lives matter and the social organizing that happened? You know, I don't know if those folks are considered volunteers anymore, but it does

Greg Baldwin (16:13): Certainly point

George Weiner (16:14): Check a generations saying this is how I'm contributing with, you know, my feet and my voice and me.

Greg Baldwin (16:21): Yeah. 100%. Yeah. If I could wave my magic wand, we'd have current, you know, 20, 21 data that we could like bump these competing pieces up against. Yeah. And see, you know, what the data, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of that, but I w I agree that what we have been measuring would no longer capture a lot of activity. That feels an awful lot, like a different expression of a very similar idea. Black lives matter, a great point. People are organized. They're, they're giving back, they're not getting paid. They're doing something which looks at an awful lot, like volunteering. What's different is they're not doing it for the United way. They're not doing it for big brothers and big sisters. They have self-organized that would 100% probably not get counted, given the methodologies that have been used in the past to count,,ro-social volunteering behaviors. So, yeah, we got a lot of problems. Not only do we have crappy data, but even if we have the data that we used to rely on, it should be better and calibrate it against new norms and expectations of what it means to give back. Do we not have enough to do already come on?

George Weiner (17:31): What are the bits of advice? And maybe we can pick it out from our current conversation that you have for an organization that is effectively competing capital C competing yeah. For the attention necessary to get the volunteers needed, to do the work that they have promised. Yeah. And essentially their, their entire models are built on. And like, we're, we're dangerously close to saying that, you know, is this a macro trend, unfortunately, of the reshaping of how the rising generation will give of their time without the structure of classic profits?

Greg Baldwin (18:10): One of the most reassuring things that's come out of spending 20 years in this space is despite its dysfunction and bad ideas. And you know, all of the things that you can criticize about, you know, the field and the nonprofit sector, what has endured in my view is that despite the hiccups and the ups and downs, we have not managed to eliminate the natural disposition for people to want to be collaborative and cooperative and given back and give back, given those opportunities. Like we, we haven't ruined human nature over the last 20 years. Human nature is good and bad, but there's still something inside people that we wants yearns for opportunities to be a part of something larger, have a sense of purpose and make meaningful contributions to their communities and to those outside their immediate family. That is great. We haven't killed that off so we can, we can hang on to that.

Greg Baldwin (19:04): Moving forward. The advice I give to nonprofits all the time over and over is don't underestimate make. People's willingness to be generous if you give them a purpose and an opportunity to give back in a way that feels meaningful. Most Mo the biggest problem with most volunteer programs in my view is that they underestimate people's willingness to be generous and give back rather than overestimate it. And when you underestimate, it's like, we can't like, I mean, we don't, these people are doing it for free, so don't, let's not make it too taxing. Let's just let 'em, you know, shuffle papers do something like the task itself is calibrated to low expectations rather than high expectations. The programs that have been most successful in my view are programs that have big, bold, old opportunities for people to contribute and give back and have a sense of purpose that is aligned with the vision and the strategy for the nonprofit organization.

Greg Baldwin (20:04): And if you do that and you give people an opportunity to feel like they're a part of something larger and important, they'll do almost anything for you. I mean, look at the food bank, you go over the food bank. If you didn't believe that you were a part of helping to solve the hunger crisis, and they didn't tell you before you started volunteering that 25% of people in the bay area go to bed hungry, or kids in the bay area go to bed hungry, would you pack baloney for four hours? No, you would not. You pack Bo for four hours at the food bank because you see the bigger picture that it's contributing to something that's worthwhile and important. And we need everybody's help. That is, you know, alive and well. And some organizations, there are high performers in that category. Food banks are among I think, the best at doing it. But all of the core programs have a sense of purpose and meaning that draws people in. And if you, if you capture that and then you create real opportunities to engage, that's the recipe for success all across the sector that

George Weiner (21:06): We, the ingredients yeah. Ingredients there, pun intended urgency. Yeah. And impact immediately demonstrated. U

Greg Baldwin (21:17): Yes. Just overlaid with a sense of purpose, which is, you know, just transcends beyond you're just in this to get ahead. No, that's not, that's not how volunteering works volunteering. When, when you're invited to be a part of, you know, the future of some, somebody in your community's ability to go to school, get a job, mentoring programs, cleaning up your community, cleaning up your environment, you know, protecting the wilderness, finding new opportunities for creative expression for your community. Like those purpose, it's all built around purpose. And then the urgency. And then what is my work? How does my work contribute to that? Yeah. Those are the things that you gotta get lined up. And when you do, people will be extraordinarily generous with their time. And if you don't get it lined up, no amount of making it easier and less taxing will ever fill the purpose void. And you'll always have a shortage of people willing to help you out.

George Weiner (22:19): Well, Greg, that's a dangerous, hot take people, still good - Greg Baldwin. So A bright spot, a bright spot that you were mentioning around CSR companies doing better. What have you seen with regard to a corporate response to this volunteer need?

Greg Baldwin (22:40): 2021 was one of the best years volunteer match has ever had in building new partnerships with companies who are using the volunteer match network and the information, the opportunities as a foundation for their employee volunteer program. As we all know, the knock on employee volunteer programs has always been that it caters more to, you know, what can be done in four hours. The kind of done in a day experiences, not calibrated sufficiently to the actual needs and opportunities of nonprofits in their local community. So you end up with the classic stories of companies going to paint a gymnasium, or, you know, the paint, the the rec room at the boys and girls club, you know, a different color than it was last year. Not because the key kids, you know, it's not really helpful, but it's what you could do with 150 people for four hours.

Greg Baldwin (23:37): You paint the rec room again, that I think the, the fact that last year we had 27 new what we call API subscribers. These are companies that are subscribing to the volunteer match network using one of the big CSR technology programs that the, you know, the big dogs right now are Benevity, who's a, you know, now a billion dollar CSR workplace giving company black bod, they have the, the, your cause platform that has become a real player in the CSR ESG. Again, workplace giving space, cyber grants is another big player in the space recently just

George Weiner (24:20): Purchased as I

Greg Baldwin (24:20): Remember. Yep. Just purchased network for good. So there's real competition and that's great. And we're seeing that competition producing a, an environment where more and more companies are interested in making sure their employees have access, not to just a, you know, one beach day cleanup or one playground build, but access to a wide variety of volunteer opportunities and the real needs of the local nonprofits in their community. So employees have the op more possibilities to put their time and talent to good use for an organization that really needs it and less of the we'll volunteer Thursday afternoon, and it'll feel good and will paint the record room again, whether that's needed, or that for me, is a very hopeful trajectory for the future of corporate engagement, being defined by the capacity for companies to really put their talent and skills to good use in the community at scale in ways that it wasn't being done a decade ago

George Weiner (25:30): With the rise of ESG type companies, where you have this sort of, you know, extra bottom line of environmental and social responsibilities and governance making their way in. How much of that, just to be honest, is, is branding from where you sit,,nd how much of it is an actual shift of frankly, an industry whose bottom line is the bottom line.

Greg Baldwin (25:55): Great question. I have come to believe that the real trajectory underneath all of that is that we have not made companies more altruistic, which some people believe is what's happening. I believe that what's happening is that it has become harder and harder to be profitable. If you're only objective is to take advantage of other people that are not you in order to increase your quarterly shareholder value and that strategic, it is smarter for companies to have an active, an active strategy for contributing to the community in ways that are aligned with their business than to ignore it. So we haven't made companies more nice. We've just made them more strategic and extracting value from local communities is no longer a viable strategy for a big company. You can no longer be. We're an oil company, and we're just gonna squeeze every last drop of oil out of the world and leave devastation in our path.

Greg Baldwin (27:16): And that's it and good on us. You just can't get away with that anymore. I think it's a, it's a smarter marketplace that require smarter strategies that are incorporating, you know, what do they got shareholder their capitalism. I really believe that that's changed the framework now, is it gonna solve all of the world's problems? Absolutely not. Can they be a more viable contributor to solutions moving forward? The corporate space? I think they, they are in and they will be moving forward and that's not gonna go away. And as long as you don't mistake it for them being more altruistic and nice that it needs to be aligned with their core strategies. Then I think there's a lot of positive upside there. It's not a silver bullet by any means. It's not the elixir to the world's ills. And oh, by the way, you'll still need an active government and a healthy civil society to make any of that stuff work. That's the other, the other Phantom. And I think misguided assumption is that we only need one sector in the future and that government and civil society, the nonprofit sector will ultimately yield to one giant corporate space. That is also not gonna happen in my view. This one, man.

George Weiner (28:26): Yeah. Well, it's, it's clear that companies and many companies subscribing and adopting ESG standards, by the way. There's no, as far as I can find validating body that is going directly through and saying, you did it, I mean, this is speaking as a B Corp. So we're on other sides of the fence here. I'm over here selling purpose. Good. But let's be clear. I'm an LLC at Delaware. Yep. So there is

Greg Baldwin (28:51): A aligned corresponding to this opportunity to, to align business strategy with the social. Good is also a, a, a new and very real challenge that our, our, this sector will face and our communities are gonna face is it's also never been easier to fake that you care about anything other than making a boatload of money. And that is, you know, teasing that out will require, you know, new frameworks for evaluation and independent standards. And that happens in every sector. And I do think that's, I know some, some folks that are working in that space now, one of our, our former program officer at fidelity, Sarah gel fan is a part of a, a startup that's actually trying to be an independent ESG rating. Mm. Which is awesome. And I think that's a, that's a space that's gonna get a lot of interest in action over the next decade, for sure. Cause you can't, if everyone's just, like I said, we were great.

George Weiner (29:53): Look at there board minutes, you said the words ESG 17 and a half times,

Greg Baldwin (29:57): Look at that, look and look at this slick really, really slick, you know, pamphlet that has so many good looking people doing good in the world

George Weiner (30:05): And the 37 minute trailer. What, what we're good.

Greg Baldwin (30:08): And the, and the soundtrack is fantastic.

George Weiner (30:11): I've heard they got Sting (the artist).

Greg Baldwin (30:12): They got for that. Exactly. So, yeah, you're on top of that. We, we definitely pull

George Weiner (30:18): A thread. I wanna pull this thread a little bit. Are there just and to see where it goes in that sense that I'm, let's say, I'm gonna tell you a story about somebody who's in their twenties currently working at a very ESG positive, but let's just be honest, consumer goods, go get it done in the market type of place where every day I'm reminded of how good that this new bottle of fill in the blank is helping the world,,lleviate all ills, p to bottom, essentially in some senses selling and fulfilling my own personal need for purpose that maybe this purpose that maybe, ,t volunteer sector and volunteer opportunities used to check the box of. Is that a weird thought?

Greg Baldwin (31:03): No. I think that thought all the time, have we replaced a corporate version of altruism, philanthropy, volunteering, giving, giving back for a truer higher, more virtuous form of that? Yeah, I think about that all the time. My reconciliation of that look at also, you know, that tension, there is my belief that what volunteering is at its core and what honestly with the nonprofit sector is at its core is not as what many people ascribe it. It's like here are market problems that can't be solved. So civil society and the nonprofits sector, these are market failures that can only be solved by the nonprofit sector. I don't believe that's what at its core, the value of civil society and the nonprofit sector is really all about what I believe civil society and the nonprofit sector is all about is that people want to live out and express the values that are most important to them in a community of other people.

Greg Baldwin (32:09): The nonprofit sector is a place where you are free from the market expectations, somewhat not entirely free, but you are liberated from the very, very clear market expectations for a for-profit company as very clear objectives and fiduciary responsibilities. So you're free from the constraints that are associated with having to, you know, come up with an idea. That's gonna have a hundred X return on Silicon valley to your investors. And it's also free of the bureaucracy and the majority rules construct of government. And that what you end up with is a space that historically was really much more about religion than it was about boys and girls clubs. And the reason it's so important to a healthy democracy is not because it's gonna solve all of the world's problems that, you know, are all of the, the damage done by, you know, corporate thinking. No, it's really just the place where people are free to organize themselves and live according to their values, whatever those values may or may not be.

Greg Baldwin (33:13): And I think that is what has, you know, when you go back to the Tocqueville interpretation of civil society, it's really more about association as a strategy for people to live their values and have the freedom to do that where you're not gonna be measured by, well, how much money did you make living those values? Now that's not the equation. The, the freedom to do is fundamental to a healthy democracy and it's still alive and well. And I think when you see it through that lens, corporate volunteering is really more about, there is some social capital that is in a building that where there are lots of opportunities for corporations to get aligned around things, values that they also believe are important, and that their employees, they have that shared kind of shared value overlapping,,enn diagram that can be enormously positive, but it will never, ever, ever, ever replace the ability for me and you to decide that we wanna go, you know, we wanna start a, you know, a trail association to protect the, you know, the Berkeley Hills, that that is what civil society and the nonprofit sector is really all about that freedom to associate, to live our values in ways that, mre not economically motivated and not restricted by the constraints of government with, unless you can get a majority of people to agree with you, you can't really start your club, right?

Greg Baldwin (34:47): That's a very longwinded answer. It might be the reason I never get invited back on the show, but there's some there's something in there that I think has been lost in the current narrative about what nonprofit sector is supposed to be about. And there's a lot of people that see the nonprofit sector. And I ask this question, a lot of, of people, you, what's the difference between a library and a Barnes and noble bookstore, explain it to me. And I think for a lot of

George Weiner (35:16): Well, ones at a business, well, one's an actual nonprofit now.

Greg Baldwin (35:20): Well, and I think, you know, we, we can all fall back on the structure, but a lot of people have come to believe that, well, maybe a library is just a barns and noble with a bad business model. And I think that that's, it's that thinking that really gets in the way of understanding the library as a place that originally was, Hey, we can all share the books in this community and we just get together and do that. No one can stop us from sharing the books instead of requiring someone to purchase them. Because think of the, you know, think of what that will mean for future generations of knowledge and kids who have access to all of this information. And it won't be an economic straight on that in other countries, you could prevent that from happen in our democracy, we got together. And if you agreed that you wanted to, you know, start a new hospital or a club for, you know, to, to, to research autism outside the boundaries of, you know, the constraints of the marketplace or government, you're still free to do that.

Greg Baldwin (36:19): That's the magic, that's the secret sauce. It's the liberation from the constraints of the other sectors that make civil society special? Not that we're supposed to be cleaning up, you know, the corporate sector's mess. No that's, and that's, for me, why it will be that that's its future in our country will be more of that, that freedom to associate and do things that you're never gonna have this satisfaction. And will the, the economics will never pan out nor will, you know, nor would we ever wanna have a society where, you know, people, you get 20 people together and they wanna something. And we wanted to start a, you know, a, a water polo club for, you know, Berkeley high school. Like they gave us a, you know, great get after it. We raised some money, go, go, go for it. Don't wait around for that to be, you know, for the school system to have to decide to do that, or for government to decide, or, or God forbid to try to make it profitable. Like that would've meant no water polo club, that's the magic. So corporate volunteering can, you know, it's gonna be great and we can, as long as it becomes a compliment to those ideas, there's, there's nothing but upside it's only when it becomes, you know, an either or that it would become a problem.

George Weiner (37:39): So in of the monologue there, Greg Baldwin, it's in addition to not, instead of

Greg Baldwin (37:45): Yes, companies, better marketing person, that's the bumper sticker. You got it.

George Weiner (37:52): I like it. Random question person walking down the street, you're a, you're a nonprofit, a little bit of a vision. You're got a footprint, whatever it is, you could ask that person for four hours of work or a hundred dollars. What do you do?

Greg Baldwin (38:06): Four hours of work. Absolutely. Absolutely. No question. All the data show all the data show that you're not only gonna get that person engaged, but the likelihood that they'll give you far more than a hundred bucks goes way, way, way, way off. So cake, you eat too. Absolutely create an opportunity. Give time first treasure second.

George Weiner (38:29): Yep. Ask for advice. Get paid twice Baldwin. Got

Greg Baldwin (38:32): It.

George Weiner (38:35): All righty. I came across some other news that volunteer match is looking for, and this is awkward. Your job, another CEO, what is going on

Greg Baldwin (38:48): Volunteer match? I am pleased to announce will be is already in the position of offering this extraordinary opportunity to someone other than me moving forward. And the board has begun a national search, actually, an international search for volunteer matches. Next CEO. I am staying on don't panic yet. If you're at home and I will be here until we make a,,uccessful hand off to the new CEO, but I have never been more bullish on the future of the organization. We got that big gift last year from Mackenzie Scott. Our strategy is humming along, and it's a great opportunity right now for me to, you know, be a part of finding a successor. , Ey can take volunteer maps to, ,y know, a whole nother level over the next decade, cuz there's a lot of work left to be done. And it's a great time to be making that handoff.

Greg Baldwin (39:42): And too often in the nonprofit sector, you know, handoffs are made either as a result of stress, anxiety or failure, not as a, you know, a moment of strength where you can make a clean handoff to get more, that much more horsepower and leadership for what the organiz is gonna need for the next decade. So if you're out there and you want the job, you better get after it, cuz send, send,,our information to Russell Reynolds. You can look online for it. Ume've already got some extraordinary candidates in the pipeline and , 're moving through the interview process with the board and I'm really, really looking for it's a, it's the greatest job I've ever had and one of the greatest jobs in the world and I, ,t next person's gonna, the next person who has this opportunity is gonna be super lucky.

George Weiner (40:27): Yeah. I mean the role of a CEO is, is incredibly varied and I'll just be honest that a lot of non-for-profits, you're the, you're the chief fundraising officer with, with a GRE title. It feels like what is the, the selling proposition and what is the role expectation for the, the new CEO?

Greg Baldwin (40:46): Well, volunteer match, you know, has always been a bit of a hybrid social enterprise, much more than what I think often is thought of as a traditional nonprofit where we, you know, just raise money for you know, for, for some cause that we're passionate about volunteer match has always been an organization that has generated a lot of earned revenue associated with our, our core activities. And I expect that the future CEO of volunteer match will need to be a thought leader will need to be, you know, interfacing with and finding op opportunities to partner with philanthropy and the gates foundation, the RAs foundation and the McKenzie Scotts of the world to continue to align the, continue to create new possibilities for future of the future of volunteering in a digital world. But there more so than most organizations, the board is expecting that the next leader will have a technology and a product and a management background so that the future of the organization will be driven by our capacity to our earned revenue opportunities, as well as philanthropy, but not one or the other.

Greg Baldwin (41:58): And it's definitely less so than most jobs. I think, I think we need a leader and a manager first and then philanthropy can be the thing that, you know, we can continue to build those relationships, but for at least the next couple of years, we will not be dependent on, you know, having to land a five, 10 million philanthropy, you know, nut in order for the organization to continue to operate a decade ago, volunteer match had, you know, covered 100% of our expenses through earned revenue and our current earned revenue strategies, you know, promise that the organization could be in a position to pay the bulk of its annual operating expenses through earned revenue and, and be able to partner with philanthropy on expansion and bold new ideas, not just to keep the lights on.

George Weiner (42:50): Yeah, yeah.

Greg Baldwin (42:51): There's a very different, that's, that's a, that's a luxury the field for sure.

George Weiner (42:56): And a model that you've held up as a possibility of both doing well and also not needing to beg for every check. But rather rather earn it while providing a service. I'm curious because I'm starting to see this a bit more in the circles that we work in, in the nonprofit sector of this, this transition, this a general sort of it's it's time. I'm wondering there's somebody listening right now who maybe at, you know, toward the end of their current desire to work in the career, to be a CEO to hand off, what is the, what is the smoke before fire, if that makes sense of, you know, what, it, it might be time to be planning in earnestness the succession plan. Cause obviously we all have, if I get hit by a bus yeah. All of my good works and hire somebody. Here's the plan. It's two sentences.

Greg Baldwin (43:48): Yeah. Well, all I can answer is for us that the gift McKenzie Scott's gift create a moment where I was no longer anxious about having the capital required for volunteer match, to continue to execute against the strategy that I thought was, you know, the only possible way to move the organization forward, super ambitious. And I think smart and very much aligned with how do we, how do we deliver on our mission, very bridge Spani in and how do we continue to deliver our mission in a way that generates ongoing repeatable operating revenues. So you're not in this yo yoing of having to raise money in order to keep the lights on as we were talking about. And I think for me, you know, the, the smoke before the fire of is it time to transition somewhat ironically is came because that money gave me a sense of confidence that I wouldn't have had, that we could make the transition without that, without that pool of resources that I would've hung on to the job as it were for much, much longer without that gift.

Greg Baldwin (45:02): Not because it made sense, but because I would've been too afraid to hand over a strategy that was as complicated as ours is and, you know, be like, I, we, I think it's great, but good luck if you don't, you know, if you don't land a miracle of, you know, two and a half million in philanthropy by the end of next year, then, you know, you might clip the top of the mountain, you know, cash flow wise in terms of got new earned revenue. So I think for me, I feel like I got lucky, we got lucky. And then I I'm in a place where I've never been more bullish about the future or confident that there's enough gas in the tank, so that the next leader doesn't have to, you know, immediately be in, you know, emergency, you know, philanthropy, fundraising mode, that they have a real runway to continue to execute against the existing strategy. And in doing so, you know, really plan for a 10 year planning horizon, not a, oh my God, we might run outta money, you know, next summer, which is like the worst possible place to be as a leader, I think, or at least in my experience, that's just stressful.

George Weiner (46:09): So don't buy high and sell low, have, have a bit in the tank. And that speaks to the clearly the type of leader you were, where you wanted to leave on that high note. And then that in that place where it is ready to succeed, positioned yeah. To, to move forward rather than like, oh man, this, this car's outta gas. Good luck everybody. And you're like, I looked good, but just until the door shuts.

Greg Baldwin (46:33): Yeah. I think, you know, that that's, it's, you know, from what is it, it's the scarcity mentality of hanging on because it can't survive without me to being in a place now where I feel like the organization is extraordinarily well positioned for the future. And you're not just, you know, good luck, hope you get hope, you make it sort of handoff. And I think that doesn't happen that often in the nonprofit sector, you know, regrettably and, and a lot of it just comes from access to capital. Again, you know, the, the, the, the capacity to have the resources to do this type of planning, you know, is sadly a luxury in the, this space too often. And only, you know, only a few organizations are, you know, in a position to do it as successfully as it needs to be done for organizations to really have a true succession plan and not just, oh, you know, we ran outta time and money, so we need somebody new.

George Weiner (47:35): What do you got? Tell me, throw me somebody.

Greg Baldwin (47:37): Exactly.

George Weiner (47:40): All right. Well, one more time. You're looking for a CEO. The doors are open Russell Reynolds. You can find the links in our show notes, any other you should take this job because notes for people listening.

Greg Baldwin (47:54): Yeah, I think for me, this job gave creates an opportunity for the, for the right leader to operate at the intersection of the corporate space, the government space and the nonprofit sector, and, and see technology as an infrastructure play that will have an enduring the possibility to just leave a lasting and enduring benefit on our communities and our kids and on the corporate space. And I can't think of another job, honestly, that affords you, that we'll afford a new leader, that opportunity to operate at the intersection of so many interesting and significant ideas. And and in evolving trends in, in what the future of our communities and our democracy and our society is gonna look like can't get it on the corporate space alone. I don't and see those opportunities in government and volunteer match is just uniquely positioned at that intersection. And for the right leader, it's gonna be a ticket to have conversations with anybody and, you know, in any sector, in any leaders that I think has been one of the things that has been most exciting for me, and most enjoyable to be able to talk with, you know, Google and to talk with the gates foundation, to be able to talk with, you know, the state of California, that's all part of the day to day at volunteer match.

Greg Baldwin (49:18): And there are not many jobs where you can operate across those intersections. So, you know, so seamlessly and, and, and, and fundamentally, and it's so necessary that, that, that work getting the sectors lined up around volunteering is gonna be, you know, it's part of future, cuz volunteering has never been just you know, stuck in the nonprofit sector. It cuts across government and the corporate sectors in such profound ways that you have to be operating at that intersection. So maybe the, the, the call is if that's intriguing this a great job, if that's terrifying, then I'm sure there's other great jobs available on link 10 today.

George Weiner (49:55): In summary, if you care about the future of civil democracy and our ability to volunteer and give to each other this job, maybe this job for you, Greg, thank you so much and possibly amazing what has been built and thank you for spending generously of your time with us today.

Greg Baldwin (50:12): Always a pleasure, glad to do it. And thanks for the opportunity inviting me back. And hopefully you'll have me back when I have my next new job.

George Weiner (50:19): Absolutely not.

Greg Baldwin (50:22): Or you'll just bring in the next guest will be more succinct and much better at using the available time. Thanks again. Bye.

George Weiner (50:32): This has been using the whole whale podcast. If you wanna keep learning more about these topics and others head on over to whole whale.com/university to keep learning with us. Thanks as always to Greg Thomas music.org, his tunes that underwrite our tracks. They're fantastic. Hope you're doing well, Greg. And just a reminder subscribes really help us on any platform that you listen to us on. Please give a thought to click and subscribe and maybe even a comment because we like hearing from you.

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Weekly nonprofit news summary from hundreds of sources.

Crisis Text Line Ends Data-Sharing Relationship With For-Profit Entity As reported by Politico and other outlets, Crisis Text Line has ended its data sharing relationship with for-profit spin-off organization Loris.ai, which uses data to inform customer service software. Crisis Text Line, which uses a text-based approach to provide crisis support to those contemplating self-harm or suicide, stated that while “the data is handled securely, anonymized and scrubbed of personally identifiable information,” “we have ended our data-sharing relationship with Loris.” The change came amid criticism from privacy experts and lawmakers including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Crisis Text Line is a former client of Whole Whale, the publisher of this newsletter.

Read more ➝ GoFundMe At Center Of International Dispute Over Funds To Anti-Vaccine Mandate Trucker Protests As anti-Vaccine mandate protests led by truckers have forced Ottowa to declare a state of emergency, GoFundMe finds itself at the center of a complicated dispute over individual contributions to the protest movement. As reported by the Washington Post, the fundraiser for the convey had generated over $8 million in funds, of which $1 million had been distributed. After determining with local police that “previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation,” the company announced they would no longer distribute the remaining funds. The move drew ire from conservative lawmakers on both sides of the border and raises complicated questions about the role of decentralized fundraising with regards to disruptive protest movements.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Tribes Reach $590 Million Opioid Settlement With Johnson & Johnson | NY Times
• Cryptocurrency users are creating “decentralized autonomous organizations” that function as nonprofits | Philanthropy Daily
• The Jed Foundation Receives $15 Million Gift from MacKenzie Scott | businesswire.com
• Melinda French Gates No Longer Pledges Bulk of Her Wealth to Gates Foundation | WSJ
• Nonprofit uses Super Bowl parties as way to help homeless | Santa Monica Daily Press

View Details

Weekly nonprofit news summary from hundreds of sources.

Crisis Text Line Ends Data-Sharing Relationship With For-Profit Entity As reported by Politico and other outlets, Crisis Text Line has ended its data sharing relationship with for-profit spin-off organization Loris.ai, which uses data to inform customer service software. Crisis Text Line, which uses a text-based approach to provide crisis support to those contemplating self-harm or suicide, stated that while “the data is handled securely, anonymized and scrubbed of personally identifiable information,” “we have ended our data-sharing relationship with Loris.” The change came amid criticism from privacy experts and lawmakers including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Crisis Text Line is a former client of Whole Whale, the publisher of this newsletter.

Read more ➝ GoFundMe At Center Of International Dispute Over Funds To Anti-Vaccine Mandate Trucker Protests As anti-Vaccine mandate protests led by truckers have forced Ottowa to declare a state of emergency, GoFundMe finds itself at the center of a complicated dispute over individual contributions to the protest movement. As reported by the Washington Post, the fundraiser for the convey had generated over $8 million in funds, of which $1 million had been distributed. After determining with local police that “previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation,” the company announced they would no longer distribute the remaining funds. The move drew ire from conservative lawmakers on both sides of the border and raises complicated questions about the role of decentralized fundraising with regards to disruptive protest movements.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Tribes Reach $590 Million Opioid Settlement With Johnson & Johnson | NY Times
• Cryptocurrency users are creating “decentralized autonomous organizations” that function as nonprofits | Philanthropy Daily
• The Jed Foundation Receives $15 Million Gift from MacKenzie Scott | businesswire.com
• Melinda French Gates No Longer Pledges Bulk of Her Wealth to Gates Foundation | WSJ
• Nonprofit uses Super Bowl parties as way to help homeless | Santa Monica Daily Press

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A lively discussion with Pat Duffy, the co-founder of The Giving Block about where crypto philanthropy is and important lessons from 2021. Is it time for your nonprofit to start accepting cryptocurrency? What are the questions and issues that might come up? We discuss the topic in depth.

Data from 2021 in Crypto Philanthropy from The Giving Block

• The total donation volume on The Giving Block in 2021 was $69,644,535, an increase of 1,558% from 2020.
• The average crypto donation size on The Giving Block in 2021 was $10,455, an increase of 236% from the previous year.
• NFT projects donated $12.3 million to charities via The Giving Block in 2021.
• Crypto donation volume increased every single quarter in 2021.
• The Giving Block’s Cause Funds (index funds for crypto philanthropy), established in November, raised $418,200 in their first two months.
• The Giving Block’s Crypto Adoption Fund (a mission-agnostic index fund for all pro-crypto nonprofits on the platform), established in November, raised $444,700 in its first two months.

Transcript

George: [00:00:00] Well, we have a returning guest, the one and only pat Duffy co-founder of the giving block. And pat, welcome back also, I'll disclose we're enjoying our work with you over here at whole

Pat: whale has gone. Okay, great. Thank you for abdomen. Your, uh, your voice just got a lot smoother when you started the recording.

You

George: know what I realized if I start in my, and like, you know this after listening, uh, my pitch giggle, um, which frankly I in, I could edit it out or the more energetic people have a hard time catching up to speed, but don't worry.

Pat: It'll come back. Yeah. It's like when you walk up behind somebody, can't start a full volume.

You gotta use a man. He's got he's

George: people into it. I think similar watch this smooth transition as into. You can't have a hard transition. People think it's something foreign and foreign is scary and unknown. And so I [00:01:00] like having you on to kind of go through the world of where we are in crypto philanthropy, uh, what we can expect.

And we'll play today a little bit on some devil's advocate, which I have some fiendishly

Pat: clever

George: now, not that clever, but very, very worrisome maybe questions that. Are being discussed at the executive level in boardrooms about whether we make this leap in to crypto and accepting crypto donations. So to start, how did 2021 go

Pat: great, better than a better than we expected?

Yeah, going into 2021, we had 120 non-profits. We had raised, uh, millions of dollars in the month of December for the first time. It was very exciting for us, the platform like we had raised about that much, our entire history combined. Um, so amazing out of year in 2020, and then, [00:02:00] uh, beat our end of year in January, starting January, 2021.

Which we found super surprising. I should say we beat in Q1 in January. Um, Q2 B Q1, Q3, Q2, and Q4 was explosive end of year non-cash asset giving as usual. Um, so we ended up raising about 70 million on the platform, like the crowdfunding component with the charities we work with on a contract basis. Um, and then in terms of like DAF partners, the behind the scenes institutional adoption of.

Saying like the, the biggest staff that we work with now, um, did almost $400 million in encrypted and nations on this larger kind of high-end, but behind the scenes. Um, so we're building out an annual report now trying to figure out what happened last year. We've got the numbers coming together. We're trying to figure out if it was like, just over, just under, uh, like a billion dollars in total crypto giving from this handful of.

Crazy billionaires, are [00:03:00] it around nine figures? And then these big institutional platforms that aren't as out there with their stats. Um, but we're pulling altogether, but long story short, really big year. So across all

George: platforms you're trying to aggregate

Pat: or just through your pipes. Yeah. These are like, uh, in general, like when we talk about numbers, there's like, I guess three different layers there's outside of us.

There's institutional, but using our pipes and there's crowdfunding. I don't think it's a, I think a lot of platforms will fumble in institutional giving for like charity crowdfunding stuff. And they think that's like a big pie that everyone is getting an equal, um, shout out. But it's not really like if a donor connects behind the scenes with a donor advised fund account, it sends a hundred million dollars somewhere.

Like that's not the same as like what you can get on a giving Tuesday. So would like to separate those numbers out. So institutional explosive growth. The crowdfunding piece, like the charity contracts, which is our bread and butter and platforms built on, um, 70 million bucks outpaced our client growth.

So we went [00:04:00] from 120 clients to over 1200 by the end of the year. And the average program size still increased, uh, despite a 10 X client base growth.

George: I'm really interested in that idea of the distribution across a number of nonprofits because in my mind, We're still in a very much winner take all environment.

And my instinct is that this is probably an extreme parallel meaning that there are probably some favorites of crypto philanthropists and donors saying like, I want it all to go to the, you know, the charity waters of our group. And that's where most of the money goes. Is that what's happening? Are you seeing more of a longer tail

Pat: district?

No, because of the way we do business, I guess there's two main reasons. One is we don't do a donate crypto button one. We think that's a really silly way to tackle a nascent fundraising area. So just passively [00:05:00] slap a donate crypto option on your site and not attack it as a donor demographic. There's just too many donors using this stuff.

There's too much money out there. So every client we work with, even on the lowest end there's. Active strategy. Um, even if it's just using collective resources. Um, so as a result, just like in general, five figure programs are the norm. And we're about to have 200 programs that are six figure plus. Um, so like the answer is now, it's not like all I ran at the top.

However, there are some, like, of course rockstar performers, even within that 200 organization, what's that six figure. Plus when you get into the. Um, the seven figures and you start seeing these programs that are really crushing it at the top that are non-institutional. They're like getting this from mostly new donors.

Uh, these are groups that have like a crypto fundraising identity. Um, they're, they're targeting crypto users throughout the year. They're building a crypto specific end of year pillar that bakes into their campaign plan. Um, and then they're carrying those donors with them [00:06:00] year over year. They're not like trying to get a crypto donation and then shut the valve off.

Like they're stewarding people in a crypto specific. On an annual basis. And every attention is definitely year over year, um, meeting them to kind of ramp their programs really consistently. So if I heard right,

George: what you did last year, essentially equates to what you did for the past four years back of a napkin?

Pat: Pretty much. Yeah. It stayed, uh, in keeping with that, just in the sense that like, we didn't see this big. Tipping point where suddenly the nonprofit have been with us since 2018, we're just breaking it all in and the newbies couldn't get ahead. Um, we've still got, you know, hundreds of nonprofits that just came through right at the end of the year, and they're still just getting their feet wet.

Um, but any nonprofit that's, that's been with us for a year for the most part has a five plus program, like almost universally. And then for the folks that don't, maybe we work really hard to make sure that's a consistent result. Otherwise you probably should. Fundraising grip. That would just [00:07:00] be a bit of a distraction.

Talk to me about the

George: sentiment at a nonprofit and would, it's hard to archetype, but one that if I threw, you know, if I threw the dart, I'd hit the median, uh, not the one making six figures that turned on crypto as a donation vehicle last

Pat: year and

George: how seriously they are maybe now taking it or. Contrary being like set it and forget it, leave it in the corner.

I don't get it. Money showed up. Like, where's the sentiment and understanding of like, Hey, there's more money here.

Pat: Cool. Yeah. Um, it is interesting how nonprofits ever respond to this success? It's almost never the latter where it's just like, oh, we're getting free money. Perfect. Like let's not pay attention to that.

And usually when you get a new, yeah, a new revenue source, like when you, when you have this. Uh, you know, diversified revenue pillar. You're like, okay, we should probably [00:08:00] maybe pay more attention to this. It's usually the opposite. It's a big narrative. We fight in general just because every other payment method, it looks that way.

Right? Like no one is going to their gala and being like where my stock people at. And you've got like a table in the back. They're like, yes, like this is so fun. You're taking stocks. We are stock guys. Like it's kind of. You know, wings over Walters from MDI and kind of think of, maybe it looks like that, but, um, there's no identity, there's no donor demographics, other payment methods.

So it's, uh, you have to like reverse engineer, um, how we have that conversation with the nonprofits kind of build it back up from scratch. So it's usually the opposite. There's a handful of small, deliberate nonprofits who still sign up with us first other platforms, but they're more like take the headaches out of crypto.

Otherwise they would just go like, try to find some Shopify for cryptocurrency, just plug something in or pass. Um, but most of the groups are coming and trying to fundraise crypto acts. They know what they think that is because usually different from case to case. Sometimes they like try tweet, nothing happens.

They shut it down for a few [00:09:00] months and don't pay any attention. Now, when they get to your point, you know, a $10,000 dollar crypto donation that comes in out of nowhere, they're usually a little too, uh, jacked up and they kind of go in an ebb and flow. They'll spend the whole month trying to figure out how to tap into crypto users on.

And then get frustrated and disappear. And so the month of December, so, um, we're really focused on like that year round consistent, like, let's look at how you fundraise. What's the low hanging fruit. Maybe it's a major gifts program you work on internally. Maybe you have a big Twitter presence. Maybe it's a corporate giving angle for like an event series that you have, but, um, starting with whatever is most conducive to you being successful.

Um, and that's usually what, what ends up. Yeah. I mean, given

George: that mass majority of depends on when you're listening to this of Americans do not have a crypto wallet or the capacity to give I'd imagine most strategies revolve probably around more of the high net worth mindset, potentially of what it looks like [00:10:00] to consider, you know, capital level gifts or a significant level of gifts versus, you know, donate a dollar.

Don't worry. The gas fees are 50 times

Pat: that yeah, no, it it's a. Blend. It depends on the organization. You are, there are some big institutions, you know, like a, a big university that's in the bay area or something, um, versus like a crowdfunding nonprofit that builds animal shelters and has a popular YouTube channel.

Um, depending on what kind of a nonprofit. You'll see some, non-profits taking the millennial gen Z traditional fundraising approach, but targeting crypto specifically because they consume a lot of content. They're younger on average, they're, they're energized by that. And they're looking for a place to get together and have fun.

Um, so there's these young donors, but then you also have like so much wealth held in these handful of hands where they're just hyper incentivized to get this way. And then other folks are just building out like a major gifts, uh, packet, and then they're delivering it to these wealth advisors. [00:11:00] That they've built a network up, uh, you know, over a decade.

And then they have this handout that goes to their use every year to make a donation. Now they're like making this crypto option node and they're turning, you know, a $50,000 donation into a $5 million donation, a handful of times, because they're finding that big hit for this one person has like a hypertext sentence, get just this way just this year.

Um, so like, it really does look totally different from charity to charity. I was like how you fundraise and what your existing program. And then it depends on, um, you know, ROI, like what is the energy? It could look like for a non-profit to figure out Twitter for the first time, just to get a crypto donor base.

It's like, if that's where you're figuring out sweater, it's probably not the best place to start. I mean,

George: let's pull on that thread. There seems to be a unique difference between classic donor communications. The typical

Pat: donor, a nonprofit has

George: right now versus the crypto donor, the crypto philanthropist.

And that might. What are

Pat: [00:12:00] the,

George: I'll give you three points. What are the three differentiating points that you'd say, like, if I were to have, you know, two people hide behind door number one and door number two, and you can only ask them these questions. Like what would those questions be to figure out which was honor or what would be the way that you'd be like, those two are very different people for these reasons.

Pat: How dare you arbitrarily restrict. Without, without having a prepared response there. I'll see. I'll try to keep it tight, I guess. Maybe you're trying try to insinuate something, uh, about the length of answers. Uh, generally speaking, um, you know, there's, uh, the demographic pieces, right? They are, um, younger, late twenties, early thirties.

They are tech savvy. They're financially. Yeah. There are impacts motivated. The fidelity report came out this past year. If you are a crypto user giving through their DAF, or you are a stock investor, a crypto users are 50% more likely to give a thousand dollars or more. [00:13:00] Um, so it's dramatic. Like they're, they're more, impact-driven partially probably because like they're on this cutting edge technology and they're getting a rush out of it.

Like these early refusers, especially are kind of attracted to it for a particular reason. And then once it goes mainstream, maybe they'll move on to something. So you have this innovative, younger tech savvy audience, they use, uh, you know, Twitter, Reddit, more kind of modern social media and search engine functionality than you would expect.

And then on the high end, um, they're probably, you know, motivated by gains. So like if you're trying to, I guess, um, figure out if someone is a crypto user or not a crypto user to your original question. And you're trying to ask some, a couple of questions about asking them if they're into a crypto, you'd probably want to know like how deep they are in technology.

You'd want to know like how financially literate they are. Like they would know about like index fund investing and other types of investment modules, um, depending on how diversified they are. And then just age is a thing. [00:14:00] If you look at 50% of millennial billionaires, have a quarter or more of their wealth in crypto already.

And I think that's as a. 2019 is when that MSNBC, uh, big survey came out. Uh, that number goes up every year. So if you have a young, a wealthy individual who's financially literate, tech savvy, um, a very desirable donor demographic, of course, the, the odds are every single year, more likely that they are going to be a crypto user and with almost 300 million crypto users already, um, it's more than largely.

Now to, to be worthy of tackling. And every year that goes by, it becomes or incentivize and from the

George: demographic is first off, super helpful to know. And those listening right now, taking notes, being like, oh, I get it. So if I'm segmenting my existing audience, that might be an interesting place to start.

I'm now wondering, let's say I'm a, you know, an [00:15:00] advocacy organization for ex. It seems like just if I were to map out the time between nine, our analogy here of a door, number one and door, number two, you have shown her versus the crypto donor, that there is a, almost a philosophical that leads to caring about different causes and prioritization of different causes than a traditional donor.

And maybe that's unfair because like I'm using the word like average donor that gives across the. Education to animal welfare, to, you know, advocacy, to gun rights, to, you know, these classic pieces. It has seemed to me early on that there are different causes that maybe come to the top of the list, or even the framing of what you do at your existing organization that might appeal more to door.

Number one, our crypto donor versus door. Number two,

Pat: our classic donor. Yeah. Uh, good news and bad news. [00:16:00] I guess on that question. Um, the bad news is it's not a consistent, I guess there there's no, as far as we can tell, um, big ideological differences between them because you, you get this blinded older crypto users tend to be more libertarian than I guess, conservative, but this is just for like basic polling.

So you've got the conservative aspects of conservatives and from an economic standpoint, but not on social. Um, and then younger folks are, you know, younger folks, they've more predictable patterns, but they go across kind of the same areas that are popular across the nonprofit sector. Um, so not like a big gap.

It'd be nice if was just like, just environmental groups are crushing it here, everyone else, like they'll pay attention and environmental groups. Like it's a must have, like, you have to just do that when we can just like focus our strategies on that. That would be our, our client base. It seems to be general donor behavior [00:17:00] to go across other like age seems to be a better indicator than the crypto piece terms of what they choose.

However, in terms of conversion rates, based on those organizations who they end up choosing and actually give to the biggest differentiator is just like making a space for them. Um, by that, I mean, nonprofits. Uh, there's a difference between adding a donate crypto option versus saying you have a crypto fundraising program and you're going to set a crypto specific goal.

And every $10,000 you'd given cryptocurrency builds a house or puts a kid through a clinical trial. And then the graphic on Twitter shows how much crypto users have enabled their nonprofits mission over this year. And this is the page where you can donate crypto. And here is our crypto specific milestone toward a crypto specific goal.

That's kind of it, you can think about it almost like, like culture versus follow culture, which we talk to our clients about a lot. Like if you're trying to fundraise, when we do our big end of year campaign, like the bag season stuff that we do in crypto giving Tuesday [00:18:00] off the giving Tuesday foundation, if you're going out there and you're looking for likes slash looking for donations, um, that's, uh, inferior strategy to looking for follows slash looking for donors, right?

People. With the mission and find a place where they go, I want to give, and I want to see where this thing goes, if you like the cause. And if you're part of the crypto community, so you're probably super into crypto, it's your culture, it's your life. And you wake up and check your social media. Like that's the kind of concept and you're looking for.

Um, people are into it are very, and so people know that you have a friend who will shut up about it. Um, when those two things get birched, uh, donors go, okay, I'll send a donation to this thing and I want to be a part of crypto communities. Um, this particular cause, and I want to know what people like me are doing to make a change here.

And I want to know when we, as community hit a certain milestone. Um, so yeah, just the, the nonprofits who make that space, small, medium, and large kind of, regardless of mission, they have the biggest impact. Um, even when more traditional [00:19:00] charities in a different sector seem to be getting. It's helpful because

George: I think it can be similar to the way we look at, you know, how credit card processing back in the day made its way onto the internet and people who said, oh, you need is a donate button.

And it was like watching that come in and then mobile, mobile coming over and me, like, you have to make sure your, your mobile web experience can, you know, what a render so that someone can give on a phone who would ever give on a phone. That doesn't make sense and like, oh wait a minute. Absolutely. This is uniquely different because you're not just saying, Hey, you know, by the way you need the technology, we're not even at full, near full adoption to be clear near full adoption for non-profits accepting cryptocurrency and safe, reliable ways, but more so you're saying it

Pat: has to be paired with.

George: The actual ask the campaign, the unique, this is the crypto side of our target versus like throw it into this giant bucket. It's almost like the community wants to see. And you could imagine [00:20:00] even compete against the Fiat you like last year Fiat be crypto. What do you think of that crypto?

Pat: Yeah. We've been seeing more of that with stocks too, when they have these kinds of wall street campaigns, because the youngest stock stocks, it's pronounced stocks number, never go down.

Um, that's funny, but yeah, like they're doing these competitions cause like these, uh, it's the same. I mean, if you George, no, just cause you're you're into crypto. Like you just, they do it as a technology. Like it's the same thing with wealth advisors where it's like. They're not getting into crypto. It's like 95% of hedge funds.

Now either have crypto or they're diversifying intimate banks, or like putting capital into a company's treasury man. Like everyone's getting into it. Not because they want to, but because like for wealth management, for instance, eventually like grandpa is going to pass away. And the person who gets that money is like exponentially more like.

To be diversifying into [00:21:00] crypto. And if you're like a wealth advisor, you're not like really up to speed on all the crypto stuff they want to do with that billion dollar pile of money. Like you're out, like the Capitol is moving off platform like wealth advisors are scrambling for that base. Um, anyway, back to your question, though, in short non-profits are doing the same thing where they have like these wall street type campaigns, a lot of our New York, um, profits, their gallows, whatever else it is, but like the younger wall street.

They're like working on stock related stuff for companies that don't do anything if they're related, but like all of their money in their paycheck is going into like crypto in NFTs. So now they're trying to engage the younger crowd that's coming through these wall street specific type initiatives, campaigns, advisory groups, and they're using crypto is like this incentive to like, get those sorts of younger folks onto their boards or engage with their fans or just driving in more donations.

And same thing with universities, right? That's how they set the hook. Every year. They're graduating a class of 22 year olds every year. They're obviously dramatically more likely to be throwing their money into crypto and have a big tax set up to give the [00:22:00] appreciated crypto instead of their cash and their stocks.

So it's a great way to set a Hawk and establish like a giving relationship. Um, it's very much eyeing toward like where's the next generation of donors going and are we going to be in a position to be successful? I mean, you were

George: talking about the largest wealth transfer in arguably human history with the, you know, the generation of boomers passing on just incredible consolidation of wealth into this rising generation who you have already identified.

And based on many, a poll are, you know, leveraged in at 25% increasing, depending on who, where and how saying like, yeah. So that is a percentage of my portfolio and there it goes. And part of my giving. Identity is giving via a crypto, which, you know, we talked about our last podcast has significant tax advantages because, uh, you do not have to bring it into a taxable event, into Fiat and then make the dimension.

You can simply transfer it right then and there, uh, [00:23:00] you know, pretty

Pat: seamlessly. Yeah, that's, that's pretty much the whole thing. It's the same reason why non-cash assets. It's so gigantic versus credit cards. If you can give a million dollars in cryptocurrency, right? And then it would have been in the real world or 700 grand pay state and federal cap gains taxes, and it could be worth a million.

You can give the full million to a charity and you can take the million bucks in cash. We're going to donate and just buy new Bitcoin or whatever else. Um, you end up with the exact same crypto position, but it's at today's cost basis. You literally know, or own no taxes. So there, you got your million dollar write off and you.

300 grand at capital gains taxes. If you try to tell that person to not give that way, it's pretty hard to earn their business. Yeah, that

George: makes a lot of sense. I want to touch on something that might be a touch, more esoteric, but I see quite a bit in the crypto space of the rise of, uh, [00:24:00] decentralized autonomous organizations Dows and various NFT projects, non fungible token.

And in that ecosystem, it seems like one of the new marketing mechanisms, the gimmick to buy in gimmick reason, motivation is impart X amount of money is going to go to charity. What is your thought on one from the perspective of a nonprofit? How do, how do I get some of that please? And.

Pat: To how

George: does giving block potentially pay into this broker, these relationships and

Pat: work in this sphere?

Yeah, NFTs and Dows were like a big growth area for us last year, NFTs in particular. Um, just to explain it, people were donating crypto from NFC proceeds like 95% of the time. So we called it like NFT related fundraising. It's coming from NFC creators, projects, platforms, artists, et cetera. All crafted, but like millions of dollars a month now, and donation going from [00:25:00] the NFTE community, which is super cool and a Dallas or a bit of a rising stars.

There's two angles on this. There's, non-profits creating Dows, which they're starting to do a little bit. We end up as a firm being more of the fun police and like the, the unlocker of dreams, which I know is not fun to hear if you're like just getting into crypto and you want to go deep for six months.

Um, yeah, I think, uh, one interesting one that's being explored is, uh, I guess WaterAid, uh, Over there. Who's electric. She's done a lot of really innovative crypto fundraising stuff. So shout out to her, but she's, she wants to start one called system of a Dao, which is hilarious and like incredibly thoughtful, um, the way she has it put together in short, it's pretty much like, um, you know, there's this contractual element where people can participate in the system and they all kind of get a say in where it goes and what it does.

There's a assessment of governance. That's more Democrat. Um, and then the capital that goes into these [00:26:00] systems can be distributed outward in a predetermined. When I say to a nonprofit, uh, the way we work with them is a lot less complicated than I think people think they just pretty much need a, you know, a wallet address for the under symbiont so they can build into their contracts.

And then in that case it would be a nonprofit. So they tend to come to us to tell us what sort of thing they're into, you know, we're into the environment or, or to social impacts, whatever it might be. Walk us through these different non-profits on your platform, or let us use one of your index funds slash corresponds to like build kind of a bundle that we can send one transaction.

So, and you just hook it up to the contracts at the end, and that's where the, uh, the crypto ends up.

George: I'm wondering what phase two of this looks like. If you follow me that when early stage, you know, web one to web two non-profits the sector in general was like, how do I get a donate button on this? And then how do I get money, money, money from this?

And then they realize, oh wow. We can create things. Like, I [00:27:00] don't know, donors choose. Classrooms and innovative ways and Kiva, you know, uh, well-known darling of, uh, just how you can deploy micro finance, uh, in incredible ways across the world. How, how long do you think it will be before we realize that this is more than just another donate button for the sector?

Pat: I think we're more or less getting there. It's funny at the high end of the sector, it's already kind of. A done deal. Like we're, we're getting close to a a hundred organizations. This is faith-based organizations, universities charities, healthcare networks. They get any 5 0 1 C3. Um, we're we're about to pass a hundred groups that are nine figures plus.

Some 10 figure organizations. So like the big players are tapping into this pretty effectively, but they had big teams, red, Dave innovation budgets. They get to things first, usually. Um, but they're really doubling down. Like we've seen the St. [00:28:00] Jude save the children, American cancer society United way worldwide take.

These are all organizations that came to us after having fundraised crypto on their own for a multi-year period for the most part. And they're like, let's build a program now rather than have a button. They kind of set the pace of play and because they're leading and building like pretty serious programs and getting donations for notable people in companies and partnerships, that's a big driver.

Um, but ultimately, like, I think a lot of this is going to come down to the degree to which John Cash asset giving becomes popularized across the actual software solution. So like a lot of nonprofits getting trapped because of the integrations they end up with. Will not name names, but there are some platforms that have D you know, they'll take like a bit pay or like, you know, any equivalent Shopify for cryptocurrency.

And they'll just like plug it into a donation, Gabe. And of course it wreaks havoc. The average crypto donation is $11,000 on our platform. The average credit card donation is like usually 110 bucks, 120, whatever report you look at 1 [00:29:00] 28, maybe it was the most recent one. Um, like don't send those people through the same process.

Obviously we get, non-profits ask us all the time, like let's set up a monthly giving options, like. We talking about it's like, why would you, you got 20 bucks a month. If you want $11,000, like this is a tax offset opportunity. These people need to be treated differently. So I, I think unfortunately, a lot of charities will interface with crypto for the first time they were like a non crypto specific, um, or crypto philanthropy specific, um, process, which is a bummer because they're like we put this on our side for a year and nothing happened.

I guess crypto is stupid. It's like, Not necessarily trillions of dollars in it, people are doing all right. Um, so that'll have to add, so ultimately the, the service providers will need some sort of like, you know, a Stripe equivalent to emergence of crypto becoming a normalized part of that process. Um, and then that process is obviously going to have to accommodate a new donation method effectively.

So people coming in and picking say their donation [00:30:00] method first, and then being stewarded differently instead of having. Go through a traditional donation process and then picking a donation method at the end, regardless of the tax implications, are there their underlying reason to pick whatever that payment method might be?

I think we'll, we'll hopefully invert is non-cash asset giving becomes easier to do, and then therefore more popularized because it's in, I mean, you notice, but the math works out. It's just as easy to send crypto stocks. They would literally be. Cash giving. It's a silly thing to do. It's as crazy as like you're going to pull out the asset

George: experience the, uh, the tax event and then make the move.

Pat: You gotta eat a big bill for no reason. Every time you, you don't donate non-cash assets. So it's up to the industry to, to make that process available to donors and education, um, as important as well.

George: I personally only donate.

Pat: Yeah, it's a size of corn. C'mon hard commodity shout out to, to write us out as charitable, making it easy for all the [00:31:00] craziness assets.

I want to

George: just reiterate this really quickly because one of my agenda points here was trying to separate the way you talk to the way you experience, the way you strategize around. A Fiat owner versus a crypto donor. And I think I isolated net one statement. I just want to make sure it doesn't get lost wherein you're saying that if it's just the one page, donate everything you want here, one of the things you've done is anchor them to an incredibly low price

Pat: of like, Hey, we're

George: looking for a hundred dollars.

You're not, you're looking for world changing amounts of fricking money

Pat: to do your job. Now

George: let's talk about what you. And you want that experience on a crypto focused narrative page layout set up, which you know, is evolving and has to be customized to your message, what you're trying to achieve, blend it over with what you know, you can discern about what that Venn diagram and the crypto mindset.

Pat: Yeah, that's it. We, [00:32:00] we are the fucking police for the most part. We get so many charities and they come and fall and we just killed their dreams. They want to sign up with us because they want to do, like, they'll see like our NFC drop with Sotheby's or something. And they're like, let's do an NFT drop. And I'm like, we have to search engine, optimize your page for NA where's my punk.

Where's my, every punk

George: just gave us their punk like great idea. Excellent idea.

Pat: What is.

George: It's very

Pat: early days and killers. Yeah. We were coming to like jazz heads in 2018. We were all jacked up and they were like, yes, like no one was buying in. So we were like, we'll do anything. And like, when they wanted to do creative stuff, we're like, let's do it.

Let's do it. All right. Now tell us so much more. It was way more fun and exciting and, and dramatically less. Um, but yeah, you, you nailed it. Like the user experience all the way down to like that call to action. And like that call to action has a link to it, which is a donate crypto specific page with a description that actually [00:33:00] works for that person as in the thumbnail that applies to them.

And it's like, okay, now that image is drawing the eye. And when you get there, like there's actual language around the tax portion of this and the FAQ is necessary to create a conversion and then they have the resources they need. If they want to give something to that. In whatever your solution is. So they have that roundabout way to send that like low and mid cap crypto, and it all feels seamless.

It actually gets done. Like there's just a lot of volume trapped in a very complicated process that I wish we could put on a bumper sticker. Um, but thank you for drawing attention to that and helping I have one

George: more, uh, question now I have two more questions, one donating FAA, uh, and FTS. That's a thing.

Now we can donate NFTs.

Pat: So non-pro have to be this

George: tall to ride the ride or not a scam to ride the ride. What?

Pat: Oh yeah. It's the scam part is actually not that big of a concern. Um, again, if these using crypto, this is a big misconception of crypto also like there's 10 X, less elicit activity per [00:34:00] capita, encrypted than traditional finance.

So like the media loves crypto scams more than regular scams because it's, it's got a Bitcoin logo and it's just a little bit more fun. Um, But it's just, it's dramatically less likely to have an encrypted elsewhere. It just feels a little bit scarier and crazier. Um, so anyway, the NFTE piece yet, we haven't had any concerns on that front unencrypt that we're entertained, but we do have a lot of donors and nonprofits who don't know the best way to give.

So like we get nonprofits going to donors or platforms like asking them for some NFTs and then the platform. Oh, okay. We can talk to an artist. We can like mend some, I guess, on behalf of the charity it's like, and then we'll sell them on the platform and then you guys would have the crypto proceeds.

It'll go. I thought we could have them. And then we could do like a NFT gallery and they're like, oh, I guess you, I guess you could do that. And the, we have to come in and we're like, what are you. We need to get the money. It's not even that. It's just [00:35:00] like they have a good, like, it's not that it's a bad idea.

It's just that when it comes to NFC philanthropy, there are an infinite number of ways that it could go. And again, 95%, I said this at the beginning, ends up with a crypto transaction to a charity at the end of what is an NFT drop that happens on a platform that already exists or not being minted by the charity, but the artist instead, and then the.

Come through and CryptoGoss bats when people are purchasing them with, and then that pool of funds goes to the charity and it's all happening as a result of this amazing NFC movement. But it's not like a bunch of NFTs are being given to a charity and of the charities, like holding them and creating galleries or, uh, like auctioning them off individually from an account that the charity owns.

And like they're hooking up their own Medimap wallets to, you know, open sea or whatever else it might be. NFT philanthropy for the most part is the platforms where they go just like a crypto exchange work with a set of like Gemini gives day or whatever, just be a platform wanting to do like our NF Tuesday.

We did this past year where they'll do a drop on [00:36:00] behalf of different charities or fellow profit movement or artists. We'll all throw in as a part of a collaborative and be like all of our fees on this day. Like we're sending them all to this charity that we all love or whatever it might. Most of them, that's actually getting to the charity via crypto, but like the driving force in the impetus is at FTS.

However, whether or not if T is hyper appreciated and in the hands of one individual and they bought it for a thousand bucks, now it's worth a million. And they're like, I want to give this to a charity directly. And if I sell it, it'll trigger a taxable event, then you have to take that. But there's no reason that the charities individually need a specific solution to process that in-house we use pretty much, uh, we had one donor buys.

Partner that we've created a system for them to be able to process. And they just mastered that exact scenario of like how to process that. So it's not like every non-profit that we work with. You know, we need 1300 nonprofits to develop a new set of Headspace, to like process these sorts of donations and answer those types of questions.

Um, eventually if it becomes so common that people are [00:37:00] coming through the interface and wanting to throw an NFT at a charity very consistently, then we'll have to update the solution. And then also. FAQ is then also update the way the charities fundraise. And when they call for crypto, maybe they're calling for crypto ad NFTE.

So they're creating separate goals and standards. So like that could be on the horizon, but it's not there yet. NFTs are driving millions of dollars every month in crypto philanthropy. Um, so it's just, uh, an important distinction. Eventually there might be a lot of direct NFT transfers, but still very small.

Thanks for person through

George: that into, I mean, I love the details. Um, Alrighty. I want to move into a little, a little devil's advocate of there are holdouts are quite a number of holdouts, whether intentionally or simply too busy. I want to just go through what might be in the back of the mind of an executive or a fundraising director right now.

Who's like, you know, we gotta wait on this thing I heard it's this, this, this, you ready? Okay. And you're responding. You respond as you need to. [00:38:00] Uh, clearly it's been seen the proof of work. I read it somewhere in a paper is incredibly taxing on the environment. It is basically a small country and order of operation.

I heard one NFT is like the amount of energy it takes for an American in a given month. That seems like if we're going to participate in this, that it actually is, is, is hurting. The environment and maybe even a cause that were Jason to what say you.

Pat: Yeah, it's, it's a, it's just like a logical fallacy, I guess.

It it's interesting. Um, and perfect work needs to get more efficient, but it's just, it's a multi-varied thing when people look at in general, so people like want to know how bad is money for the environment. You have to think about all the environmental costs of. Right. Like, like what is the alternative?

So first of all, you have to like weigh them against each other. It's very, we always say it's very similar. Like when a Tesla, it's a woman on a bicycle, especially like in the early days, people were like, we got to stop making these things and it's like this shouldn't we take 10,000 [00:39:00] driving hours of a Tesla and then take 10,000 driving hours of human beings and see if it's either more efficient already.

If so, then we should only be making that money. If it's not as efficient, let's figure out like, what is the timeline for it to be. More efficient. Right? We should think long-term about like what that would actually look like, rather than just saying if there's ever a risk with that technology, then that means we shouldn't have it.

Um, in short is cryptocurrency that uses proof of work more taxing on the environment than the traditional financial system, I would say no. And if you make an argument that it is more taxing, like on a per transaction basis, the traditional financial system it's so. Just to make it pretty arbitrary to say that, like you shouldn't send crypto to a environmental charity, but you should send dollars.

Despite the fact that you have like an infinite series of skyscrapers from their conditioning and millions of cars commuting to, and from locations and burning billions of credit cards that end up in landfills and. The loan offices, you can go all across it. So like the, the infrastructural component, how much [00:40:00] energy it uses needs to become more efficient for sure.

But if you compare it to alternative ways to send money to a nonprofit, to say that it's worse would be like a pretty close call. And if you can, like ethically say. Using dollars despite like the burden that they do on the economy, then it'd be pretty ludicrous to say that like a single transaction of sending a hundred thousand dollars to like an environmental nonprofit, because crypto isn't as efficient as it should be means.

Like I'm not going to send that money to the nonprofit. It's just a cost benefit analysis. If you're sending, I guess like 5 cents or something to an environmental nonprofit over and over and over. Maybe not, you're probably doing a net negative, but for like, non-profits that fundraising it's just like, is the value of the money that you're getting the crypto you received versus the environmental impact, the single transaction worth it.

And you'd have to be pretty silly to say it's not at almost any level other than like a micro conation. I think

George: there's part of the, the math, which I've [00:41:00] seen speaking as my devil's advocate here. That is certainly you can math it both ways. Uh, in terms of the, what about ism of a, what about Fiat? What about this zoom call that you happen to use on Tuesday?

What about, uh, you know, the plane you had to fly in order to get to that last meeting? There are trade-offs and we have to make them in it's a complex world, however, Is it also a problem that a predominant narrative with Fiat donors and supporters potentially is that if crypto then bad for the environment, for whatever reasons, is there an emotional threat to my organization by simply having crypto messaging coming from my main account, because guess what?

Who's going to see it. Um, does the upside negate the potential emotional

Pat: risk? It's a, it's a choice that folks have to make, like whether or not being right is worth the argument. Um, it depends. It's our fastest [00:42:00] growing charity demographic. For sure. Environmental groups are just giving crypto users and companies the opportunity to more or less, you know, offset the environmental impact.

Another big confusing variable is like not using crypto. Doesn't make it less taxing on the right. The amount of energy it takes is to reconcile a block. It's not for an individual transaction. That's why the map is always throw. So like not throwing another transaction into that block or taking your, you know, throwing another one and it doesn't change it.

The bigger the network becomes, the more people using any cryptocurrency, the more efficient it becomes because you're processing using the same amount of energy, a larger. Is it so it's anyway, it's just a misconception. So a lot of environmental nonprofits just recognize that to not accept cryptocurrency, doesn't help the environment.

And by accepting cryptocurrency, that means crypto ends up in your hands, which you've used for environmental purposes, which is obviously a net positive. So like, if you care about what it's true, then they accept it. But you're right in the sense that like, is it worth [00:43:00] like a PR issue or is it worth having this argument?

Even if we are right. Could it hurt our credibility. Is it worth the energy of having to explain to everyone how this actually works? Some people say no. Um, it's still definitely our fastest growing demo because enough environmental organizations are like on a per transaction basis. This is clearly a net positive to which we say, come on, you know, water's more, is there any fear

George: warranted on a warranted around guilt by association with potentially.

Uh, accepting a token that then gets revealed to be a scam, a rug pool or something like that. Well, this charity was accepting this and like, wait a minute. If our, if our door is open, anything can wander in. And suddenly, you know, you know, the Taluk is sending me a whole bunch of Dogecoin that by the way, is, is doing whatever it's going to

Pat: do.

Yeah. It's, it's not a threat depending on how you set it up. [00:44:00] Uh, a really important thing we touched on earlier, which we should probably dig into a bit more is the way we set up every nonprofit is with an exchange account with like the most careful exchange in the U S so like the, the actual interface you're using on your site and the direct donations you accept, and cryptocurrencies is a reduced less than the top cryptos that account for about 95% of crypto donations.

And then there is that 5% out there. There are seven figure plus donations that happen in these small and mid cap cryptocurrencies, um, that do require more through diligence and kind of a lookout. Um, so if you set up an account with like a, or if you even go directly to like a very careful exchange that you have that limited selection, now what happens are these one-off scenarios where if a.

A donor, a community of donors that are like building some new token or project come to you and they want to transfer about your tokens to you that are not listed on your exchange. Then what you need to do is like have a partner like ourselves. And unlike the folks who we refer to as experts, they're pretty [00:45:00] much determined.

Like, is this a new token worth quote unquote listing? And won't actually change the price. Should we accept it through, you know, our third party, um, that partner who can process complex crypto assets. And if the, you know, in triangulation, we all agree. It's like, this is still like a top 100 cryptocurrency that doesn't appear to be listed just because it's not a priority from a volume standpoint, but it's not high risk, then you would take it.

Um, and then if not, and it would be because like we, or the exchange or, or one of our partners would red fly it for some reason. It, again, Um, but non-profits, shouldn't be making that decision in general. It's just like, would you accept the stock? It's like, that's an S and P 500. Is that a question? That's a NASDAQ question.

It's not like up to you to determine if a stock is legitimately representative of a company. Um, like that should be done by legal and compliance folks. All right.

George: You don't have to follow me on this one. Okay. What is the danger of. Saying [00:46:00] and maybe putting out to the community, uh, we accept Bitcoin would, which would be a natural message and an average Fiat donor coming and being like that's so elitist, they only accept $37,000 donations because that's the price of Bitcoin right now.

They only accept these like large units of money

Pat: that doesn't happen. That's never been a thought, how dare you? What you're really asking is. Some nonprofits don't know that Bitcoin is divisible, but you're not actually worried that a donor would be mad at the non-profit because they think that God is not to visible and they're calling them us.

Do you think that's actually, there's a bucket of second order

George: effects and one of them, and one of, if you believe that, no, if you believe in a poll that everyone realizes that actually this is a fractional currency system, um, divided on the blockchain. Like you're gonna miss some people. Yeah, by the, the overall joke aside narrative saying like, is this mean like, oh, you don't [00:47:00] need my money because you're now this, you know, crypto accepting elitist or libertarian type of institution.

Pat: No, that's not a thing. You could have a donor who doesn't like crypto cur. But I think those people are relatively rare. You got a lot of people going out and get it. You know what I mean? Like early days of the internet where they're like, what about the, the Google? You know, you get some of that kind of, I don't think there's a lot of anti crypto people.

You've got policy makers who are, who are paid to be more or less just because they represent different interests, but there aren't a whole lot of individual sort of like against what it might be other than of course the, the environmental. Which is an unfortunate misconception, which is mostly funded of course, by third-party to benefit by that not being a thing, some being within our own, which we're obviously aware of.

There are some cryptocurrencies that don't use proof of work who love funding, those sorts of hit pieces and research papers, um, because it's, you know, politically convenient. But now in terms of the fact that to answer your first point, [00:48:00] like crypto is divisible, you can send a dollar in Bitcoin anywhere.

And a couple seconds, if not, you know, a couple of minutes and you can also send a billion dollars anywhere in the world, a couple of seconds, if not a couple of minutes, it's kind of what makes it awesome. Are one of many things. Um, I don't imagine there whole lot of donors who will get mad because you accept something that has a high unit value.

I think it'd be similar. Like if they went to sentence stock and they saw the Tesla was an option, they were like, that's a very high share price. I guess they don't need my money. And it's like, well, I mean, that's just a stock that exists. I don't know if your caricature exists, I guess, is what I'm getting at.

It's a bad question. It shouldn't have made it to the podcast,

George: not editing it out. You have an open wallet address. There's basically the ability for anyone to send money into it or to send whatever it wants at a, at an address

Pat: as a nonprofit. No, Nope. Not the way we do it. That's a great question. That's

George: the difference then?

So if you just had an open [00:49:00] wallet, anyone could send you absolutely anything. And by the way, it would be public

Pat: and they could see every transaction that ever went into and out of that wall, which is also why people get confused. They think crypto's like dark web plumbing, if that's because it was in the early days.

Not because it's hard to track, but because no one was tracking it because there were like 80 guys in their base. You know, trying to like buy missiles and just like, that's all that was going on for like a little while. I, I, I made it more extreme as a bit foods, mostly. Yeah. People buying like mushrooms.

Um, so anyway, they've used a great form of money to use when no one's tracking it because it's a completely verifiable financial system that works perfectly. So you can take exactly now, like when money gets from position to position B, you don't need any banks or intermediaries, great way to sell drugs online.

That's it? People start tracking it. And then you realize it's an immutable ledger and not one Bitcoin transaction has ever been changed since the origin of the technology. Literally not one book [00:50:00] cooked. So that means like the DEA quote or whatever, though. We love catching people with crypto. It's like, when you find it with cash, you find their phones.

When you find them with crypto, you find their books and it's like, yeah, if you find someone with a crypto, you can see literally every transaction that's ever gone into route it. So if you are a public facing institution and you're looking for radical. Transparency, you can pop one of the wallets off of our system, make it public, run a fundraiser, and then have a report and analysis on it.

And everyone can see in a completely verifiable unchangeable, immutable record. Exactly what went down. That's a fun little experiment for your general fundraising needs as if you're say a religious institution or, you know, whatever it might be. And you're more private with your financial record keeping you want to use dynamic wallet addresses to generate a new one for each donor, which is our default system.

George: That you have an excellent job answering my questions from the rational to the ridiculous. Well done again. I think we all have to deal with, you know, some of the realities and some of the perceived realities. You did a good job narrating that. Thanks for spending a ton of time explaining all of [00:51:00] this.

How do people find you? How do people help

Pat: you? Yeah, finding us, uh, the giving block.com. If you're curious about crypto, you want to just like drill somebody with questions from this podcast, write them all down and then just grab a time. You can just click book a demo, um, click accept crypto and booking demos, the first option, and just like, get a demo of what it looks like to accept crypto.

And just one of our, our, our fine account executives. Um, even like a one-off support question, let's say you're a nonprofit already accepting crypto. Even if you don't use us just support the giving block. Just shoot over a note. If you have a question about something you're operating a wallet that you opened with, like Greg and accounting, you're like, this is a disaster.

You can start there. Hopefully we can be helpful. Um, then how you can help us. If you are a nonprofit services company and you want the crypto option or API is electric, you can plug it in. It makes it really easy. And then just leverage our support networks. You know, if the turnover on your team and do a crypto expert with.

Obviously not the top priority. [00:52:00] Um, and if you are a nonprofit crypto user, anyone else who wants to partner with us do something outside of using our solution that involves crypto philanthropy, journalists, et cetera, just hit us up. We'll get you whatever data we can or collaborate on a fundraiser together or whatever it might be, where we're down to dope that we're rooting for your

George: success.

We love how you were turning so much cryptocurrency into social impact.

Pat: Best of luck. Thanks so much good luck to you, George, for another good year.

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Nonprofit news for the week of Jan 24th, 2022.

‘Red Flags’ At Nonprofit Backing U.S. Capitol Rioters Experts see lots to worry about with the far-right endorsed Patriot Freedom Fund, a registered nonprofit organization fundraising money to support people charged with crimes involving the events of January 6th, 2021. As reported by NPR, the fund, led by an avid supporter of the U.S. Capitol rioters, and backed by far-right nationalists (chiefly Steve Bannon) , is sourcing donations using cryptocurrency. However, many nonprofit experts and even backers themselves are upset with the lack of transparency, lack of independent oversight, and potential failure to meet legal requirements. Laurie Styron, chief executive of rating organization CharityWatch, said the fund would undoubtedly receive a failing grade.

Read more ➝ ICRC Data Breached By Hackers As reported by The NonProfit Times, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements have been targeted by hackers in what amounts to a significant data breach. Nearly 515,000 clients have had data stolen, according to organization communications. Those clients were part of the effort to help “people separated by migration, violence, war and other causes,” according to The NonProfit Times.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Chicago Public Media acquiring Chicago Sun-Times as nonprofit newsroom (The Spokesman Review)
• FBI investigates Minnesota nonprofit for allegedly misusing millions of dollars meant to feed kids (KARE11.com)
• Nonprofit proposes $50 million low-cost housing project on industrial site near Truax Field on North Side (madison.com)
• Bay Area Student-Run Nonprofit Offers Free STEAM Virtual Classes (Patch.com)

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Nonprofit news for the week of Jan 24th, 2022.

‘Red Flags’ At Nonprofit Backing U.S. Capitol Rioters Experts see lots to worry about with the far-right endorsed Patriot Freedom Fund, a registered nonprofit organization fundraising money to support people charged with crimes involving the events of January 6th, 2021. As reported by NPR, the fund, led by an avid supporter of the U.S. Capitol rioters, and backed by far-right nationalists (chiefly Steve Bannon) , is sourcing donations using cryptocurrency. However, many nonprofit experts and even backers themselves are upset with the lack of transparency, lack of independent oversight, and potential failure to meet legal requirements. Laurie Styron, chief executive of rating organization CharityWatch, said the fund would undoubtedly receive a failing grade.

Read more ➝ ICRC Data Breached By Hackers As reported by The NonProfit Times, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements have been targeted by hackers in what amounts to a significant data breach. Nearly 515,000 clients have had data stolen, according to organization communications. Those clients were part of the effort to help “people separated by migration, violence, war and other causes,” according to The NonProfit Times.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Chicago Public Media acquiring Chicago Sun-Times as nonprofit newsroom (The Spokesman Review)
• FBI investigates Minnesota nonprofit for allegedly misusing millions of dollars meant to feed kids (KARE11.com)
• Nonprofit proposes $50 million low-cost housing project on industrial site near Truax Field on North Side (madison.com)
• Bay Area Student-Run Nonprofit Offers Free STEAM Virtual Classes (Patch.com)

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Nonprofit news summary.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Draws Thousands To Community Service Across Country From Des Moines to Portland to Charleston and everywhere in between, thousands of volunteers across the country participated in a national day of service, often in partnership with local-based nonprofit and community organizations. MLK Day is the only federally-recognized national day of service and is usually focused on helping local communities. This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day also saw renewed calls for commitments to civil rights ideals from community leaders and activists.

Read more ➝ Acquisition of Classy By GoFundMe Represents Continued, Fast-Paced Consolidation Of Nonprofit Fundraising Space As reported by The NonProfit Times, nonprofit fundraising platform Classy has been purchased by the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe. We encourage readers to read the full report in The NonProfit Times. Over $1.1 billion was raised on the Classy platform in 2021 alone, and since its inception, GoFundMe has raised more than $15 billion. This most recent announcement comes on the heels of the purchase of EveryAction by a private equity firm, and the Blackbaud purchase of Everfi for $750 million. All three deals have been publicly announced within the last two weeks.

Read more ➝ Summary * 2020 Census Memo Cites ‘Unprecedented’ Meddling by Trump Administration (NY Times) * Twin Cities nonprofits face critical shortages of volunteers amid omicron surge (Star Tribune) * How Nonprofits Helped Fuel the Opioid Crisis (The Chronicle of Philanthropy) * A Look Inside NYC’s Supervised Drug-Injection Sites, The First In The Nation (Gothamist) * Local pet adoption nonprofit honors Betty White, holds fundraiser as part of nationwide challenge (CBS17.com)

View Details

Nonprofit news summary.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Draws Thousands To Community Service Across Country From Des Moines to Portland to Charleston and everywhere in between, thousands of volunteers across the country participated in a national day of service, often in partnership with local-based nonprofit and community organizations. MLK Day is the only federally-recognized national day of service and is usually focused on helping local communities. This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day also saw renewed calls for commitments to civil rights ideals from community leaders and activists.

Read more ➝ Acquisition of Classy By GoFundMe Represents Continued, Fast-Paced Consolidation Of Nonprofit Fundraising Space As reported by The NonProfit Times, nonprofit fundraising platform Classy has been purchased by the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe. We encourage readers to read the full report in The NonProfit Times. Over $1.1 billion was raised on the Classy platform in 2021 alone, and since its inception, GoFundMe has raised more than $15 billion. This most recent announcement comes on the heels of the purchase of EveryAction by a private equity firm, and the Blackbaud purchase of Everfi for $750 million. All three deals have been publicly announced within the last two weeks.

Read more ➝ Summary * 2020 Census Memo Cites ‘Unprecedented’ Meddling by Trump Administration (NY Times) * Twin Cities nonprofits face critical shortages of volunteers amid omicron surge (Star Tribune) * How Nonprofits Helped Fuel the Opioid Crisis (The Chronicle of Philanthropy) * A Look Inside NYC’s Supervised Drug-Injection Sites, The First In The Nation (Gothamist) * Local pet adoption nonprofit honors Betty White, holds fundraiser as part of nationwide challenge (CBS17.com)

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Nonprofit News for mid January.

Acquisition of Network For Good, Backed By Provide Equity Firm, Rolls Up Numerous Nonprofit Technology Products The same venture firm that brought EveryAction, Social Solutions and CyberGrants under one corporate roof has added Network For Good to its roster. The as yet unnamed umbrella firm is being funded by UK-based private equity group Apax Partners LLP. As reported by The Nonprofit Times, “terms of the deal were not disclosed but industry experts estimated the addition to be worth north of $300 million and a combined value in the neighborhood of $3 billion for the combined operations.” Network For Good operates both a tax exempt organization and a B Corps tech company that manages the CRM. Coupled with EveryAction’s recent acquisitions, EveryAction, Salsa Labs, GiveGab, Mobilize, Social Solutions, CyberGrants and other nonprofit tech platforms now are all backed by the same PE firm representing a consolidation of the space.

Read more ➝ Pew Research Center Releases Top 2021 Findings The Pew Research Center has released a cohesive roundup of top social trends and findings throughout 2021. Nonprofit organizations should stay on top of larger narrative shifts, national conversations, and a changing landscape when it comes to public engagement, particularly on social and political issues. Among these findings: 72% of Americans say they know someone who was hospitalized or died from Covid-19, voter turnout increased in every single state in 2020, and the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans has increased 10% from a decade ago.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Bill Would Revoke Nonprofit Status for Anti-Democracy Groups (KQED)
• Thousands of Kentuckians in need as staffing shortages extend to necessary nonprofits (WLKY)
• New Orleans Nonprofit Shares How Betty White Helped Save Animals During Hurricane Katrina (PEOPLE)

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Nonprofit News for mid January.

Acquisition of Network For Good, Backed By Provide Equity Firm, Rolls Up Numerous Nonprofit Technology Products The same venture firm that brought EveryAction, Social Solutions and CyberGrants under one corporate roof has added Network For Good to its roster. The as yet unnamed umbrella firm is being funded by UK-based private equity group Apax Partners LLP. As reported by The Nonprofit Times, “terms of the deal were not disclosed but industry experts estimated the addition to be worth north of $300 million and a combined value in the neighborhood of $3 billion for the combined operations.” Network For Good operates both a tax exempt organization and a B Corps tech company that manages the CRM. Coupled with EveryAction’s recent acquisitions, EveryAction, Salsa Labs, GiveGab, Mobilize, Social Solutions, CyberGrants and other nonprofit tech platforms now are all backed by the same PE firm representing a consolidation of the space.

Read more ➝ Pew Research Center Releases Top 2021 Findings The Pew Research Center has released a cohesive roundup of top social trends and findings throughout 2021. Nonprofit organizations should stay on top of larger narrative shifts, national conversations, and a changing landscape when it comes to public engagement, particularly on social and political issues. Among these findings: 72% of Americans say they know someone who was hospitalized or died from Covid-19, voter turnout increased in every single state in 2020, and the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans has increased 10% from a decade ago.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Bill Would Revoke Nonprofit Status for Anti-Democracy Groups (KQED)
• Thousands of Kentuckians in need as staffing shortages extend to necessary nonprofits (WLKY)
• New Orleans Nonprofit Shares How Betty White Helped Save Animals During Hurricane Katrina (PEOPLE)

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Special podcast feature on a recent research report revealing how many children have lost parents due to COVID. Whole Whale's Nick Azualy interviews Dan Treglia about the report recently featured in the New York Times.

More than 167,000 children have been robbed, by COVID-19, of a parent, grandparent, or other in-home caregiver on whom they had relied for their social, developmental needs. This estimate is from a new report from COVID Collaborative and Social Policy Analytics that explores the number, characteristics, and needs of these highly vulnerable children and offers policymakers a way forward to help them.

The effort was led by Dan Treglia, who joins us on this episode of Using the Whole Whale. Dan is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, CEO of Social Policy Analytics, and our Research and Evaluation Whaler.

Read the report here. Want to learn more about the study, or how your nonprofit can help these children? Reach out to Dan at dtreglia@gmail.com.

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Nonprofit News summary.

Nonprofits Struggle To Compete With For-Profit Businesses For Staff Amid rising inflation, rising wages, decreased unemployment, and the so-called “great resignation,” nonprofit organizations are struggling to maintain and hire staff, according to reporting from The New York Times. While for-profit businesses lost more jobs during the pandemic, the nonprofit sector has struggled more to rehire, according to recent data. Total nonprofit employment was 4.8% below pre-pandemic levels, compared with for-profit companies that see just a 1.5% gap. Amid higher costs of living and other external factors, nonprofits are often struggling to offer wages to maintain or rehire staff, due largely to fixed and limited financial resources.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Franklin A. Thomas, Pathbreaking Ford Foundation President, Dies at 87 (NY Times)
• How the merger of United Way and other organizations will impact Knoxville nonprofits in 2022
• Russian Court Orders Liquidation of the Human Rights Group Memorial
• Third Quarter Fundraising: Dollars Increased From Fewer Gifts (NP Times)
• Oregon nonprofit that helps homeless families gets grant from Jeff Bezos' Day 1 Families Fund

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Nonprofit News summary.

Nonprofits Struggle To Compete With For-Profit Businesses For Staff Amid rising inflation, rising wages, decreased unemployment, and the so-called “great resignation,” nonprofit organizations are struggling to maintain and hire staff, according to reporting from The New York Times. While for-profit businesses lost more jobs during the pandemic, the nonprofit sector has struggled more to rehire, according to recent data. Total nonprofit employment was 4.8% below pre-pandemic levels, compared with for-profit companies that see just a 1.5% gap. Amid higher costs of living and other external factors, nonprofits are often struggling to offer wages to maintain or rehire staff, due largely to fixed and limited financial resources.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Franklin A. Thomas, Pathbreaking Ford Foundation President, Dies at 87 (NY Times)
• How the merger of United Way and other organizations will impact Knoxville nonprofits in 2022
• Russian Court Orders Liquidation of the Human Rights Group Memorial
• Third Quarter Fundraising: Dollars Increased From Fewer Gifts (NP Times)
• Oregon nonprofit that helps homeless families gets grant from Jeff Bezos' Day 1 Families Fund

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Nick Azulay, Maura Paxton and George Weiner share their predictions for the nonprofit industry in 2022. They cover Email shifts, USPS hikes, social movements associated with the election and potential Roe V. Wade rulings and many other trends that may come. 

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Nonprofit news in December.

Nonprofit Job Gains Slow As Sector Approaches Pre-Pandemic Employment Levels According to data from the Center for Civil Society Studies (CCSS) at Johns Hopkins University as reported by the Nonprofit Times, nonprofit job growth slowed in November but shows that most nonprofit categories are expected to achieve near full employment by the end of the year. While nonprofits have recovered nearly 70% of lost jobs since the beginning of the pandemic, there remain approximately 485,000 missing jobs (of the initial 1.64 million lost). Nonprofit arts and entertainment organizations have seen the slowest recovery, down 13% of their jobs compared to before the pandemic.

Read more ➝ What To Know About The Log4j Vulnerability Nonprofit open-source software organization Apache Software Foundation has announced a vulnerability that, left unresolved, poses a glaring cybersecurity threat across global commercial, corporate, and government networks. The Log4j vulnerability opens up the possibility of a significant breach in the form of malware, ransomware, and other attacks. The U.S. government has been working alongside cybersecurity experts to determine next steps while Microsoft has already identified threats from suspected state-backed actors in China and Iran. Read more about how companies are addressing the problem.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Environmental nonprofits receive just 2% of charitable dollars (Fast Company).
• How NFTs are helping charities and nonprofits fundraise (Denver Channel)
• Nonprofit Nazareth Child and Family Connection, nonprofits feel effects of 'great resignation' - Salisbury Post
• Foster care crisis is 'out of control' in Texas, with both children and staff in danger
• Letters to Santa in Braille: How a Lancaster nonprofit is helping kids who are visually impaired this Christmas (Lancaster Online)

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Nonprofit news in December.

Nonprofit Job Gains Slow As Sector Approaches Pre-Pandemic Employment Levels According to data from the Center for Civil Society Studies (CCSS) at Johns Hopkins University as reported by the Nonprofit Times, nonprofit job growth slowed in November but shows that most nonprofit categories are expected to achieve near full employment by the end of the year. While nonprofits have recovered nearly 70% of lost jobs since the beginning of the pandemic, there remain approximately 485,000 missing jobs (of the initial 1.64 million lost). Nonprofit arts and entertainment organizations have seen the slowest recovery, down 13% of their jobs compared to before the pandemic.

Read more ➝ What To Know About The Log4j Vulnerability Nonprofit open-source software organization Apache Software Foundation has announced a vulnerability that, left unresolved, poses a glaring cybersecurity threat across global commercial, corporate, and government networks. The Log4j vulnerability opens up the possibility of a significant breach in the form of malware, ransomware, and other attacks. The U.S. government has been working alongside cybersecurity experts to determine next steps while Microsoft has already identified threats from suspected state-backed actors in China and Iran. Read more about how companies are addressing the problem.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Environmental nonprofits receive just 2% of charitable dollars (Fast Company).
• How NFTs are helping charities and nonprofits fundraise (Denver Channel)
• Nonprofit Nazareth Child and Family Connection, nonprofits feel effects of 'great resignation' - Salisbury Post
• Foster care crisis is 'out of control' in Texas, with both children and staff in danger
• Letters to Santa in Braille: How a Lancaster nonprofit is helping kids who are visually impaired this Christmas (Lancaster Online)

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We talk with Magali the Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer at atlasGO about how the platform saw an explosion of use during the pandemic. The most popular activities used to fundraise quickly expanded beyond walks and runs to things like gardening for a cause and atlasGO supported all of them.  

About Magali Mathieu

Magali is the Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer at atlasGO.  She drives all things revenue through partnerships, sales & marketing at atlasGO.  A social entrepreneur with a personal mission to become the best version of herself by healing and helping others heal. She's leading the way: normalizing self-care, a 200hr+ Certified yoga teacher and Health Coach in the making. 

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Nonprofit news for the week of December 6th, 2021

GivingTuesday Raises Record $2.7 Billion In Donations Annual day of generosity GivingTuesday has generated approximately $2.7 billion in donations, according to the folks at givingtuesday.org. The record-setting day of generosity topped 2020’s giving sum by 9%. While the increase in donations from 2019 to 2020 was, percentage-wise, much higher, 2021’s total donations still set a record. Learn more about GivingTuesday’s efforts to understand philanthropic and charitable generosity through their GivingTuesday Data Commons.

Read more ➝ Clinton Foundation Donations Drop 75% Since Presidential Run The Clinton Foundation, an international-facing organization focused on numerous programs like international sustainability and leadership development, saw a decrease in charitable donations of nearly 75% since its peak during Hillary Clinton’s presidential run. While the organization says it was able to fully fund programs by tapping into its significant endowment, the foundation says it was hurt by the inability to host in-person fundraising events. More broadly, the organization is experiencing a financial trough as the celebrity politicians who founded it continues to recede from the public arena.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Ex-Stripe execs, VCs launch new nonprofit to promote ‘responsible’ innovation
• Nonprofit shows dignity to Indigenous asylum-seekers who are ‘bullied’ south of the border
• Nonprofit launches ‘Black City Hall’ to address gaps in access to critical services - The Boston Globe
• $2.4M Donated for Crypto Tuesday
• Big day for miniature horses: Ribbon cutting opens therapy nonprofit's grant-supported new barn

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Nonprofit news for the week of December 6th, 2021

GivingTuesday Raises Record $2.7 Billion In Donations Annual day of generosity GivingTuesday has generated approximately $2.7 billion in donations, according to the folks at givingtuesday.org. The record-setting day of generosity topped 2020’s giving sum by 9%. While the increase in donations from 2019 to 2020 was, percentage-wise, much higher, 2021’s total donations still set a record. Learn more about GivingTuesday’s efforts to understand philanthropic and charitable generosity through their GivingTuesday Data Commons.

Read more ➝ Clinton Foundation Donations Drop 75% Since Presidential Run The Clinton Foundation, an international-facing organization focused on numerous programs like international sustainability and leadership development, saw a decrease in charitable donations of nearly 75% since its peak during Hillary Clinton’s presidential run. While the organization says it was able to fully fund programs by tapping into its significant endowment, the foundation says it was hurt by the inability to host in-person fundraising events. More broadly, the organization is experiencing a financial trough as the celebrity politicians who founded it continues to recede from the public arena.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Ex-Stripe execs, VCs launch new nonprofit to promote ‘responsible’ innovation
• Nonprofit shows dignity to Indigenous asylum-seekers who are ‘bullied’ south of the border
• Nonprofit launches ‘Black City Hall’ to address gaps in access to critical services - The Boston Globe
• $2.4M Donated for Crypto Tuesday
• Big day for miniature horses: Ribbon cutting opens therapy nonprofit's grant-supported new barn

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The study was conducted from Form 990 data from 7,171 U.S. 501(c)(3) organizations with $1 to $10 million in revenue from 2018-2019 courtesy of Cause IQ (filing years 2019 and 2020). The goal was to create a large enough sample size to answer questions about advertising size for nonprofits that rely on common funding methods. 

There are 1.44 million 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, about 5% (72k) are between $1M and $10M in revenue, 1.5% (21.5k) are above $10M. 

This study represents a full population of nonprofits that fit the study criteria. The study criteria removed chapter organizations, childcare educational institutions, organizations with no employees, and hospitals because of their different revenue-generating operating structures. 

This study relies on the reported advertising field in the Form 990. The IRS defines the advertising field (line 11 on section 9 of Form 990), as ad spend itself anddirect costs for independent contractors executing said ad spend. However, line 11e may also include some of the costs associated with advertising consultants and is determined by the organization’s filing decision. 

This study is a partnership with Whole Whale, a B Corp digital agency that helps nonprofits use their resources wisely and Cause IQ, the leading nonprofit data platform.

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George Weiner interviews Ali Glazer, Advertising Lead at Whole Whale about the current digital ads landscape and where the Google Ad Grant is. Set it and forget it doesn't work for end-of-year campaigns and there are some great updates that can lead to increased donations. 

Ali walks through some of her favorite tactics and discusses the upcoming Google Ad Grant cohort in 2022.

Resources:

• Google Ad Grant Cohort
• free Google Ads Guide
• Google ad grant online course for nonprofits

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Nonprofit News summary Prediction: GivingTuesday To Generate Over $3 Billion In Donation Revenue Nonprofit digital marketing agency Whole Whale predicts that for the first time ever, GivingTuesday will generate over $3 Billion in revenue. While 2020 saw unprecedented charitable giving in the throws of the pandemic, the agency predicts revenue will surpass that record. “Based on our analysis that incorporates an adjusted linear regression, trends in Google Search terms around “Giving Tuesday,” and national giving trends, we predict that $3.048 Billion will be raised on Giving Tuesday 2021. This will be a 27% or $648 million increase over 2020’s record-breaking $2.4B.” (Disclosure that Whole Whale is the creator of this newsletter)

Read more ➝ Food Pantries Feeling The Brunt of Inflation & Supply Chain Issues Food pantries across the country are feeling the brunt of both supply chain issues and higher costs of food going into the holiday season, according to local reporting. “The price of meat, turkeys, ground beef, you name it, the price of meat has just skyrocketed. It’s hard to get your hands on mass quantities or turkeys and we will be feeding mass quantities of people this holiday season,” according to nonprofit Loaves and Fishes - Friendship Trays CEO Tina Postel. Newly released economic data shows that inflation has reached a 30-year high.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Digital Currencies Are Shiny, New And Some Are Unstable
• Fraudsters siphon $830,000 meant for homelessness nonprofit – KIRO 7 News
• A King County nonprofit raises all staff salaries to $70,000 minimum. Will more organizations follow?
• Duke students' nonprofit Operation Climate tackles science misinformation through storytelling

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Nonprofit News summary Prediction: GivingTuesday To Generate Over $3 Billion In Donation Revenue Nonprofit digital marketing agency Whole Whale predicts that for the first time ever, GivingTuesday will generate over $3 Billion in revenue. While 2020 saw unprecedented charitable giving in the throws of the pandemic, the agency predicts revenue will surpass that record. “Based on our analysis that incorporates an adjusted linear regression, trends in Google Search terms around “Giving Tuesday,” and national giving trends, we predict that $3.048 Billion will be raised on Giving Tuesday 2021. This will be a 27% or $648 million increase over 2020’s record-breaking $2.4B.” (Disclosure that Whole Whale is the creator of this newsletter)

Read more ➝ Food Pantries Feeling The Brunt of Inflation & Supply Chain Issues Food pantries across the country are feeling the brunt of both supply chain issues and higher costs of food going into the holiday season, according to local reporting. “The price of meat, turkeys, ground beef, you name it, the price of meat has just skyrocketed. It’s hard to get your hands on mass quantities or turkeys and we will be feeding mass quantities of people this holiday season,” according to nonprofit Loaves and Fishes - Friendship Trays CEO Tina Postel. Newly released economic data shows that inflation has reached a 30-year high.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Digital Currencies Are Shiny, New And Some Are Unstable
• Fraudsters siphon $830,000 meant for homelessness nonprofit – KIRO 7 News
• A King County nonprofit raises all staff salaries to $70,000 minimum. Will more organizations follow?
• Duke students' nonprofit Operation Climate tackles science misinformation through storytelling

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Nonprofit News for 11/8/2021

Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Passes, Includes Energy Updates For Nonprofits The $1-trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Friday, to become one of the most significant investments in infrastructure in U.S. history. The bill includes provisions for helping religious and nonprofit organizations update the sustainability of their spaces and buildings, according to reporting by Haaretz. “The Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act in the bipartisan infrastructure bill fixes that by providing critical funds for nonprofits to upgrade decades-old buildings with inefficient heating and cooling systems, lowering energy costs and reducing their environmental impact,” according to Elana Broitman, the senior vice president for public affairs at the Jewish Federations of North America. The funding includes up to $50 million in grants as part of the program.

Read more ➝ Governments and Private Foundations Announce $1.6 Billion In Support of Indigenous People Governments including those of the U.K., Germany, Norway, U.S., and the Netherlands have announced, in partnership with numerous private foundations, a $1.6 billion pledge to support indigenous communities at the COP26 climate summit. The program seeks to both promote anti-deforestation efforts and support local communities. The Ford Foundation, one of the initiative's partners, notes that “a growing body of evidence shows that Indigenous Peoples are the most effective guardians of biodiverse tropical forests.” The partnership seeks to include local and indigenous communities in the decision-making process regarding climate mitigation. “Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage half the world’s land and care for an astonishing 80% of Earth’s biodiversity,” according to the press release.

Read more ➝ Summary

• EducationSuperHighway eyes free WiFi to solve the digital divide
• WFP chief responds to Elon Musk's challenge on world hunger - CNN Video
• Jeff Bezos pledges $2 billion toward combatting deforestation

• NFTuesday - The Giving Block

• Nonprofit helps those with former convictions find jobs
• Logging Off Facebook: What Comes Next?

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Nonprofit News for 11/8/2021

Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Passes, Includes Energy Updates For Nonprofits The $1-trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Friday, to become one of the most significant investments in infrastructure in U.S. history. The bill includes provisions for helping religious and nonprofit organizations update the sustainability of their spaces and buildings, according to reporting by Haaretz. “The Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act in the bipartisan infrastructure bill fixes that by providing critical funds for nonprofits to upgrade decades-old buildings with inefficient heating and cooling systems, lowering energy costs and reducing their environmental impact,” according to Elana Broitman, the senior vice president for public affairs at the Jewish Federations of North America. The funding includes up to $50 million in grants as part of the program.

Read more ➝ Governments and Private Foundations Announce $1.6 Billion In Support of Indigenous People Governments including those of the U.K., Germany, Norway, U.S., and the Netherlands have announced, in partnership with numerous private foundations, a $1.6 billion pledge to support indigenous communities at the COP26 climate summit. The program seeks to both promote anti-deforestation efforts and support local communities. The Ford Foundation, one of the initiative's partners, notes that “a growing body of evidence shows that Indigenous Peoples are the most effective guardians of biodiverse tropical forests.” The partnership seeks to include local and indigenous communities in the decision-making process regarding climate mitigation. “Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage half the world’s land and care for an astonishing 80% of Earth’s biodiversity,” according to the press release.

Read more ➝ Summary

• EducationSuperHighway eyes free WiFi to solve the digital divide
• WFP chief responds to Elon Musk's challenge on world hunger - CNN Video
• Jeff Bezos pledges $2 billion toward combatting deforestation

• NFTuesday - The Giving Block

• Nonprofit helps those with former convictions find jobs
• Logging Off Facebook: What Comes Next?

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On this episode George, Chief Whaler of Whole Whale does an exit interview podcast with Janai Cornwell, Senior Digital Advertising Associate. They talk about what is great about learning at an agency, the decision to go in-house at a nonprofit, and why mobile matters in ads. 

Janai on LinkedIn

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Climate Takes Center Stage At COP26 Summit In Glasgow

The world’s attention is focused on Glasgow this week as the global COP26 climate conference begins. With world leaders like Joe Biden and Narendra Modi in attendance, the summit will again push collective climate action to the forefront of a global conversation about sustainability. The summit, which has drawn lots of attention including from grassroots activists, is seen by many as a follow-up to the previous meeting of this scale held in Paris. This summit represents one of the rare instances where nations, NGOs, and International Organizations meet to collectively debate the next steps for addressing the climate emergency. Notably absent are the leaders of China and Russia, two of the top four climate emissions emitters.

Read more ➝

The 2021 Nonprofit Advertising Benchmark Study: $12k is the mean

Certified B Corps digital agency Whole Whale, the creators of this fine newsletter, have released a nonprofit advertising study designed to give nonprofit communication professionals a look into broader trends in how the industry approaches digital advertising. Based on data from over 7,100 organizations, the study includes advertising insights broken down by an organization’s age, size, type, and number of employees. The report is publicly available for free, and the dashboard plus raw data is available for purchase. This study is a partnership between Whole Whale and Cause IQ, the leading nonprofit data platform, and the data sampled are representative of the organizations that fit the study criteria.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Build Back Better bill includes $100 million boost for Nonprofit Security Grant Program
• Charity Navigator Adjusts Methodology Due To Pandemic
• Countdown to GivingTuesday: Drafting Communications
• Nonprofit makes composting as fun as smashing pumpkins

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Climate Takes Center Stage At COP26 Summit In Glasgow

The world’s attention is focused on Glasgow this week as the global COP26 climate conference begins. With world leaders like Joe Biden and Narendra Modi in attendance, the summit will again push collective climate action to the forefront of a global conversation about sustainability. The summit, which has drawn lots of attention including from grassroots activists, is seen by many as a follow-up to the previous meeting of this scale held in Paris. This summit represents one of the rare instances where nations, NGOs, and International Organizations meet to collectively debate the next steps for addressing the climate emergency. Notably absent are the leaders of China and Russia, two of the top four climate emissions emitters.

Read more ➝

The 2021 Nonprofit Advertising Benchmark Study: $12k is the mean

Certified B Corps digital agency Whole Whale, the creators of this fine newsletter, have released a nonprofit advertising study designed to give nonprofit communication professionals a look into broader trends in how the industry approaches digital advertising. Based on data from over 7,100 organizations, the study includes advertising insights broken down by an organization’s age, size, type, and number of employees. The report is publicly available for free, and the dashboard plus raw data is available for purchase. This study is a partnership between Whole Whale and Cause IQ, the leading nonprofit data platform, and the data sampled are representative of the organizations that fit the study criteria.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Build Back Better bill includes $100 million boost for Nonprofit Security Grant Program
• Charity Navigator Adjusts Methodology Due To Pandemic
• Countdown to GivingTuesday: Drafting Communications
• Nonprofit makes composting as fun as smashing pumpkins

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Interview with Marielle Sumergido, Senior Strategist and product lead for The Inclusivity Tool by Whole Whale. Also joining in the conversation about how we think about and use inclusive language online is Leo Quintero, Founder of  Quintessential Tools, a DEI Consulting company. 

The inclusivity tool is a tool that scrapes a URL that you input and analyzes the text on the page. You’ll get warnings for any language on the page that could be considered offensive, as well as any alternative language to use in its place.

• Use InclusivityTool.com to check your website.
• Learn more about the tool here!

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Nonprofit news for the week of Oct 25th, 2021

Hong Kong nonprofits are forced to leave and Facebook Whistleblower is supported by nonprofit.

Amnesty International Forced To Pull Out of Hong Kong International human rights organization Amnesty International has announced that it will be pulling its operations out of Hong Kong, according to a press release. The decision comes on the heels of Hong Kong’s controversial new national security law, which makes it incredibly difficult for groups like Amnesty to operate. The law, which was introduced in June of 2020, has already been used to crack down on non-violent political protest and stifle civil society and other activist groups. According to reporting from The Guardian, more than 35 other civil society groups have also been forced to shut down under the threat of arrest. Amnesty says local offices will close by the end of the month while its regional headquarters will shut down by the end of the year.

Read more ➝ Nonprofit Group Backs Facebook Whistleblower In Huge Gamble The nonprofit Whistleblower Aid says that it’s seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel” after secretly working with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, according to a report from the Washington Post. The nonprofit, which had an operating budget of only $2 million, has taken on the huge task of representing one of the highest-profile corporate whistleblowers of the decade, who went public with internal Facebook reports that show it was aware of potential harm. The nonprofit was forced to divert a huge amount of resources to a singular case in a huge gamble that seems to be paying off, according to Libby Liu, chief executive of Whistleblower Aid. The organization provides things like free legal protection, security, and even mental health support for whistleblowers.

Read more ➝ Summary

• US surgeons test pig kidney transplant in a human
• Hundreds of children waiting for adoption in Ala. foster care system, nonprofit holds fundraiser
• Gates Foundation invests $120 mn for Covid pill access
• Nonprofit pilot program to bring 50 housing pods for homeless in Kzoo

🤩 Sponsored: Online Courses for Nonprofits Whole Whale University and free and low-cost courses to increase traffic and fundraising.

• HOW TO RUN EFFECTIVE FACEBOOK FUNDRAISERS
• CONTENT MARKETING + SEO TO DRIVE IMPACT
• ONLINE FUNDRAISING ESSENTIALS

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Nonprofit news for the week of Oct 25th, 2021

Hong Kong nonprofits are forced to leave and Facebook Whistleblower is supported by nonprofit.

Amnesty International Forced To Pull Out of Hong Kong International human rights organization Amnesty International has announced that it will be pulling its operations out of Hong Kong, according to a press release. The decision comes on the heels of Hong Kong’s controversial new national security law, which makes it incredibly difficult for groups like Amnesty to operate. The law, which was introduced in June of 2020, has already been used to crack down on non-violent political protest and stifle civil society and other activist groups. According to reporting from The Guardian, more than 35 other civil society groups have also been forced to shut down under the threat of arrest. Amnesty says local offices will close by the end of the month while its regional headquarters will shut down by the end of the year.

Read more ➝ Nonprofit Group Backs Facebook Whistleblower In Huge Gamble The nonprofit Whistleblower Aid says that it’s seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel” after secretly working with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, according to a report from the Washington Post. The nonprofit, which had an operating budget of only $2 million, has taken on the huge task of representing one of the highest-profile corporate whistleblowers of the decade, who went public with internal Facebook reports that show it was aware of potential harm. The nonprofit was forced to divert a huge amount of resources to a singular case in a huge gamble that seems to be paying off, according to Libby Liu, chief executive of Whistleblower Aid. The organization provides things like free legal protection, security, and even mental health support for whistleblowers.

Read more ➝ Summary

• US surgeons test pig kidney transplant in a human
• Hundreds of children waiting for adoption in Ala. foster care system, nonprofit holds fundraiser
• Gates Foundation invests $120 mn for Covid pill access
• Nonprofit pilot program to bring 50 housing pods for homeless in Kzoo

🤩 Sponsored: Online Courses for Nonprofits Whole Whale University and free and low-cost courses to increase traffic and fundraising.

• HOW TO RUN EFFECTIVE FACEBOOK FUNDRAISERS
• CONTENT MARKETING + SEO TO DRIVE IMPACT
• ONLINE FUNDRAISING ESSENTIALS

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Training conversation with Whole Whale team about copywriting best practices for nonprofits. Maura Paxton, Digital Optimization Manager and Sarah Homet, Digital Marketing Associate share approaches to writing ads and useful frameworks.

We explore the relationship between emotional energy and the power of the right copy to evoke action.

Resources:

• AIDA: https://www.truesense.com/ringer/aida-essential-direct-response-fundraising-truths
• ACCA: https://learnlandingpages.com/landing-page-design/ (lots of formulas, starting with AIDA and ACCA)
• Questions in headlines (Marketing Experiments study): https://marketingexperiments.com/value-proposition/optimizing-headlines
• Fogg Behavioral Model: https://behaviormodel.org/
• keyword + benefit: https://www.invespcro.com/blog/elements-effective-ad-copy-benefits/
• keyword question : https://www.acquisio.com/blog/agency/6-ppc-ad-copy-formulas-for-highly-clickable-ads/
• emotional matrix: https://www.wholewhale.com/tips/clickbait-works-can-use-good/
• Plutchik's Wheel of Emotion: https://martecgroup.com/using-plutchiks-wheel-of-emotions-in-market-research/

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Nonprofit news for the week of October 18th, 2021

Nonprofit Fundraising Off Of Breast Cancer Has “Deep Ties” To Scam PAC Groups In an investigative report done by OpenSecrets and The Daily Beast, the nonprofit The American Breast Cancer Coalition appears to be a “scheme to extract millions of dollars in donations, mostly from small donors.” Since the organization was launched two years ago it has brought in nearly $3.5 million, most of which gets kicked back to a telemarketing company that was fined $56 million last year for fraud. The group is not a 501(c)3 but is instead registered as a special type of PAC, which allows it to skirt the usual legal and financial transparency requirements. This particular case represents a broader trend of sketchy political groups masquerading as honest charities, according to the report. The FBI has a handy list of tips for avoiding charity scams during the holidays.

Read more ➝ U.S. Missionaries & Aid Workers Kidnapped In Haiti 16 American missionaries and one Canadian were kidnapped in Haiti over the weekend, according to reports. The kidnapped included 5 children. The missionaries, associated with Christian Aid Ministries, were working as aid workers in the region when they were kidnapped by a large, heavily armed gang. The threat of violence to not only foreign aid workers but Haitians themselves indicates the fragility of a country continuously teetering on the brink of collapse following the assassination of its President and a deadly earthquake earlier this year. This story highlights the immense danger and complexity faced by aid organizations operating “in the field,” particularly those working in underdeveloped countries in response to conflict, disaster, and other humanitarian catastrophes.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Pittsburgh nonprofit Hello Neighbor to resettle 250 refugees within next year
• Who Are the Quiet Leaders in Sustainer Giving?
• 2021 Luminate Online Benchmark Report
• Right-Wing Nonprofit Lavishes Millions on Top Brass
• Pups parade Halloween costumes for New Jersey community library fundraiser

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Nonprofit news for the week of October 18th, 2021

Nonprofit Fundraising Off Of Breast Cancer Has “Deep Ties” To Scam PAC Groups In an investigative report done by OpenSecrets and The Daily Beast, the nonprofit The American Breast Cancer Coalition appears to be a “scheme to extract millions of dollars in donations, mostly from small donors.” Since the organization was launched two years ago it has brought in nearly $3.5 million, most of which gets kicked back to a telemarketing company that was fined $56 million last year for fraud. The group is not a 501(c)3 but is instead registered as a special type of PAC, which allows it to skirt the usual legal and financial transparency requirements. This particular case represents a broader trend of sketchy political groups masquerading as honest charities, according to the report. The FBI has a handy list of tips for avoiding charity scams during the holidays.

Read more ➝ U.S. Missionaries & Aid Workers Kidnapped In Haiti 16 American missionaries and one Canadian were kidnapped in Haiti over the weekend, according to reports. The kidnapped included 5 children. The missionaries, associated with Christian Aid Ministries, were working as aid workers in the region when they were kidnapped by a large, heavily armed gang. The threat of violence to not only foreign aid workers but Haitians themselves indicates the fragility of a country continuously teetering on the brink of collapse following the assassination of its President and a deadly earthquake earlier this year. This story highlights the immense danger and complexity faced by aid organizations operating “in the field,” particularly those working in underdeveloped countries in response to conflict, disaster, and other humanitarian catastrophes.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Pittsburgh nonprofit Hello Neighbor to resettle 250 refugees within next year
• Who Are the Quiet Leaders in Sustainer Giving?
• 2021 Luminate Online Benchmark Report
• Right-Wing Nonprofit Lavishes Millions on Top Brass
• Pups parade Halloween costumes for New Jersey community library fundraiser

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Earthquake Rattles Haiti, Nonprofits & NGOs Step Up In Shadow of Previous Quake Response A 7.2-magnitude earthquake rattled Haiti over the weekend, a devastating blow for a country already in the midst of a severe political crisis. The quake, the epicenter of which was located west of Port-au-Prince, initially seemed less catastrophic as it occurred in a less densely populated area, but the emergency need still exists. While the last earthquake response generated unprecedented levels of giving (as well as scrutiny of the effectiveness of vast sums raised) the need again exists for disaster response. Major disaster response organizations, like Americares, already have campaigns set up to direct aid. This Massachusetts-based but local Haitian organization is one of many established local organizations that are well-equipped to help communities on the ground. The Chief Executive of the organization, Mission E4, says that "organizations who are not established already, who don't speak the language, who don't already understand the culture, it takes them a lot longer to get up and running,” and would “encourage people to fund organizations who are already there and established.”

Kabul Falls To Taliban, NGO & Activist Progress Set Back With Unprecedented Speed After 20 years of U.S. military presence, the withdrawal of U.S. troops has culminated in chaos as the Taliban has taken control of Kabul, the Afghan capital. After progress on fronts like girls’ education, and human rights, the country again faces the rule of the Taliban, with strict, terror-adjacent laws and rules. This Seattle-based nonprofit that operates in Afghanistan is concerned about the safety and well-being of both the girls they’ve taught and the teachers they’ve hired. The setback to the organization, Sahar, and others just like might be the tip of the iceberg for NGOs that operate in the region.

Summary

• To stop another COVID wave, fund the nonprofits that vulnerable Bay Area residents trust
• USF nonprofit accounting manager steals millions, spends on "adult" website
• Meet Our 2021 John W. Gardner Leadership Award Recipients – Dr. Gail C. Christopher and Professor john a. powell
• Begins Monday: Louisiana COVID relief program offering up to $25K to nonprofits, small businesses

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Earthquake Rattles Haiti, Nonprofits & NGOs Step Up In Shadow of Previous Quake Response A 7.2-magnitude earthquake rattled Haiti over the weekend, a devastating blow for a country already in the midst of a severe political crisis. The quake, the epicenter of which was located west of Port-au-Prince, initially seemed less catastrophic as it occurred in a less densely populated area, but the emergency need still exists. While the last earthquake response generated unprecedented levels of giving (as well as scrutiny of the effectiveness of vast sums raised) the need again exists for disaster response. Major disaster response organizations, like Americares, already have campaigns set up to direct aid. This Massachusetts-based but local Haitian organization is one of many established local organizations that are well-equipped to help communities on the ground. The Chief Executive of the organization, Mission E4, says that "organizations who are not established already, who don't speak the language, who don't already understand the culture, it takes them a lot longer to get up and running,” and would “encourage people to fund organizations who are already there and established.”

Kabul Falls To Taliban, NGO & Activist Progress Set Back With Unprecedented Speed After 20 years of U.S. military presence, the withdrawal of U.S. troops has culminated in chaos as the Taliban has taken control of Kabul, the Afghan capital. After progress on fronts like girls’ education, and human rights, the country again faces the rule of the Taliban, with strict, terror-adjacent laws and rules. This Seattle-based nonprofit that operates in Afghanistan is concerned about the safety and well-being of both the girls they’ve taught and the teachers they’ve hired. The setback to the organization, Sahar, and others just like might be the tip of the iceberg for NGOs that operate in the region.

Summary

• To stop another COVID wave, fund the nonprofits that vulnerable Bay Area residents trust
• USF nonprofit accounting manager steals millions, spends on "adult" website
• Meet Our 2021 John W. Gardner Leadership Award Recipients – Dr. Gail C. Christopher and Professor john a. powell
• Begins Monday: Louisiana COVID relief program offering up to $25K to nonprofits, small businesses

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ASPCA Faces Criticism Over Programming Expense Ratio The ASCPA, known as one of the largest and most publicly visible animal welfare nonprofits within the United States, is facing criticism highlighted in this CBS News spot over how it spends its donations. According to the report, only 47% of all donations go towards programs that directly help animals, while the rest goes to “public education,” “fundraising,” and “management.” The ASPCA gained notoriety for its heartbreaking TV commercials of animals in need, but according to some perspectives, these advertisements don’t tell the full picture of how that money is being spent. Of the 2 billion raised since 2008, the ASPCA gave only 7% of the total raised to local SPCA affiliated local groups, while a much larger percentage goes to national fundraising campaigns.

Read more ➝ New Report Shows Less Than Half of U.S. Households Donate To Charity In a report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, for the first time, less than half of U.S. households gave money to charity, as reported by The Times Leader. While the report’s data is only as recent as 2018, it shows that the trend is downward in terms of the percentage of Americans who are donating. Coupled with record-level giving in 2020, the picture created by these studies is that philanthropic and charitable giving is consolidating, that is, being initiated by a more select group of people.

Read more ➝

Summary

• If You Want to Work for Our Nonprofit, You Need to Get Vaccinated
• Owner donates $28 million Biloxi casino site to a MS Coast nonprofit
• Catalytic converters stolen from Columbus nonprofit's meal delivery vans, other vehicles
• NPT Power & Influence Top 50 (2021)

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ASPCA Faces Criticism Over Programming Expense Ratio The ASCPA, known as one of the largest and most publicly visible animal welfare nonprofits within the United States, is facing criticism highlighted in this CBS News spot over how it spends its donations. According to the report, only 47% of all donations go towards programs that directly help animals, while the rest goes to “public education,” “fundraising,” and “management.” The ASPCA gained notoriety for its heartbreaking TV commercials of animals in need, but according to some perspectives, these advertisements don’t tell the full picture of how that money is being spent. Of the 2 billion raised since 2008, the ASPCA gave only 7% of the total raised to local SPCA affiliated local groups, while a much larger percentage goes to national fundraising campaigns.

Read more ➝ New Report Shows Less Than Half of U.S. Households Donate To Charity In a report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, for the first time, less than half of U.S. households gave money to charity, as reported by The Times Leader. While the report’s data is only as recent as 2018, it shows that the trend is downward in terms of the percentage of Americans who are donating. Coupled with record-level giving in 2020, the picture created by these studies is that philanthropic and charitable giving is consolidating, that is, being initiated by a more select group of people.

Read more ➝

Summary

• If You Want to Work for Our Nonprofit, You Need to Get Vaccinated
• Owner donates $28 million Biloxi casino site to a MS Coast nonprofit
• Catalytic converters stolen from Columbus nonprofit's meal delivery vans, other vehicles
• NPT Power & Influence Top 50 (2021)

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After two great years at Whole Whale, Kariesha Martinez, Senior Marketing Associate is moving on. She shares how the Whole Whale Fellowship program works, what she learned over two years and other advice/thoughts for the company.

Kariesha Martinez

Senior Marketing Associate LinkedIn Kariesha is the Digital Advertising Whaler where she runs paid advertising campaigns across Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, manages Google Ad Grant accounts, and completes insight reports for some of Whole Whale’s amazing clients. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University, double majoring in Psychology and African American Studies, with a concentration in Film. Her interest in film has drawn her to the intersection of multimedia and social media, and with the help of her psychology degree, she hopes to integrate her knowledge of human behavior and thought processes to digital advertising.

As an alumna of Prep for Prep, an NYC based non-profit dedicated to putting middle school students into the top independent schools in the city, Kariesha has always been an advocate for accessibility and equal opportunity. Throughout her senior year, she co-founded MediaHaven, an organization meant to connect young professionals of color to leaders in the media and tech industries. With the help of her co-founders, they were able to hold informative events lead by professionals of color for students of color to Wesleyan, and even a trip for six to Blavity’s annual tech conference, AfroTech.

When not in the office, Kariesha can be found watching low-budget Netflix rom-coms, trying a new restaurant, or finding the perfect gif to post on Twitter.

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Nonprofit news for the week of 7/26/2021.

Bezos Blasts Off Into Space, Donates $200 Million Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and the world’s wealthiest human, has announced a $200 million donation to the activist Van Jones and humanitarian chef José Andrés. The money, with no strings attached, was part of Bezos’ new “Courage and Civility Award.” Bezos announced the award shortly after returning to earth from a ride to space via his aerospace company Blue Origin’s spaceship.

Read more ➝ New Report On Trust In Civil Society Released The report, published by Independent Sector, finds that trust in institutions overall is declining across America, and that nonprofits and philanthropic organizations are not immune from this trend. While overall trust remains high, residents with lower income, lower education levels, and those who live in rural communities contributed to the downward tick in trust. Gen Z also exhibited decrease metrics when it comes to these institutions. How the public perceives nonprofits and philanthropic organizations broadly needs to be at the forefront of conversations around nonprofit development, fundraising, communication, and marketing.

Read more ➝ Summary * "Your Shot Texas" Boosts Vaccinations With Nonprofit Grant Money * Bloomberg To Fund Tech Upgrades For The Arts * Red Cross signals blood emergency with lack of donations * A Nonprofits flowers carry meaning at The Tokyo Olympics

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Nonprofit news for the week of 7/26/2021.

Bezos Blasts Off Into Space, Donates $200 Million Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and the world’s wealthiest human, has announced a $200 million donation to the activist Van Jones and humanitarian chef José Andrés. The money, with no strings attached, was part of Bezos’ new “Courage and Civility Award.” Bezos announced the award shortly after returning to earth from a ride to space via his aerospace company Blue Origin’s spaceship.

Read more ➝ New Report On Trust In Civil Society Released The report, published by Independent Sector, finds that trust in institutions overall is declining across America, and that nonprofits and philanthropic organizations are not immune from this trend. While overall trust remains high, residents with lower income, lower education levels, and those who live in rural communities contributed to the downward tick in trust. Gen Z also exhibited decrease metrics when it comes to these institutions. How the public perceives nonprofits and philanthropic organizations broadly needs to be at the forefront of conversations around nonprofit development, fundraising, communication, and marketing.

Read more ➝ Summary * "Your Shot Texas" Boosts Vaccinations With Nonprofit Grant Money * Bloomberg To Fund Tech Upgrades For The Arts * Red Cross signals blood emergency with lack of donations * A Nonprofits flowers carry meaning at The Tokyo Olympics

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200 Nonprofits Close In Minnesota, Indicative of Larger Trend Between April of 2020 and March of 2021, 186 nonprofits stopped operations, according to data from the state of Minnesota. Hundreds of other nonprofits are believed to have downsized operations dramatically, indicating a substantial trend. Health, arts, and religious organizations were hurt most substantially. While this data only reflects nonprofits within Minnesota, Candid estimates that nearly one-third of nonprofits are in danger of closing within the next two years nationally. Coupled with record giving in 2020, this broad trend is indicative of an industry that’s slowly consolidating, as funding and resources increasingly flow to larger organizations at the expense of smaller organizations.

Read more ➝ Steph Curry Partners With Nonprofit Venture NinetyToZero To Bridge Racial Wealth Gap NBA superstar Steph Curry has partnered up with the nonprofit project NinetyToZero, which seeks to bridge the vast racial wealth divide within American society. The new organization, incubated by the Robinhood Foundation in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Starbucks, took its name from the reported disparity of wealth in America, particularly that white Americans hold approximately 90% more wealth than black Americans. With additional support from the ACLU and prominent figures in the social philanthropy world, the estimated economic benefit of closing the racial wealth gap in America is $1.5 trillion over the next decade.

Read more ➝ Summary

• With Donations Declining, LA Nonprofits Face Post-Pandemic Challenges
• Wes Moore, author and former nonprofit executive, launches campaign for Maryland governor
• Largest solar project for nonprofit organization in West Virginia nearly complete
• Journalists, activists among firm’s spyware targets, nonprofits say

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200 Nonprofits Close In Minnesota, Indicative of Larger Trend Between April of 2020 and March of 2021, 186 nonprofits stopped operations, according to data from the state of Minnesota. Hundreds of other nonprofits are believed to have downsized operations dramatically, indicating a substantial trend. Health, arts, and religious organizations were hurt most substantially. While this data only reflects nonprofits within Minnesota, Candid estimates that nearly one-third of nonprofits are in danger of closing within the next two years nationally. Coupled with record giving in 2020, this broad trend is indicative of an industry that’s slowly consolidating, as funding and resources increasingly flow to larger organizations at the expense of smaller organizations.

Read more ➝ Steph Curry Partners With Nonprofit Venture NinetyToZero To Bridge Racial Wealth Gap NBA superstar Steph Curry has partnered up with the nonprofit project NinetyToZero, which seeks to bridge the vast racial wealth divide within American society. The new organization, incubated by the Robinhood Foundation in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Starbucks, took its name from the reported disparity of wealth in America, particularly that white Americans hold approximately 90% more wealth than black Americans. With additional support from the ACLU and prominent figures in the social philanthropy world, the estimated economic benefit of closing the racial wealth gap in America is $1.5 trillion over the next decade.

Read more ➝ Summary

• With Donations Declining, LA Nonprofits Face Post-Pandemic Challenges
• Wes Moore, author and former nonprofit executive, launches campaign for Maryland governor
• Largest solar project for nonprofit organization in West Virginia nearly complete
• Journalists, activists among firm’s spyware targets, nonprofits say

View Details

Online Fundraising Platforms Face Fresh Scrutiny New scrutiny is being applied to the donation fundraising tactics of political fundraising platforms. After a New York Times expose highlighting potentially deceptive practices was released in April, fresh criticism has come in the form of an open inquiry being led by four democratic state attorneys general. The inquiry is into both the Republican platform WinRed and the Democratic platform ActBlue. Nonprofits, particularly those in the political and advocacy spaces, should watch this narrative closely as new rules may arise regarding how campaign-affiliated companies and organizations can procure online donations from the public.

Read more ➝ FrontlineSMS Closes After 15 Years The professional SMS messaging service FrontlineSMS has announced that it will be closing. The service, which provided users with a primarily free platform to communicate via SMS, will continue to be available as a free, fully open-source software on Windows, Mac, and Linux. In an open letter, FrontlineSMS CEO writes that “our products have been continuously used by community groups, service providers, and national governments alike, reaching tens of thousands of people a year. Over the last 15 years, we’ve supported users in 200 countries around the world with primarily free tools and support. We’ve been part of peer-reviewed academic studies, ground-breaking journalism, and the transformational change of life-saving systems – both as subject and as service provider.”

Read more ➝ Summary

• Black women push for racial equity at nonprofits
• Gates Foundation staff are 'freaking out' about the nonprofit's future as Bill and Melinda divorce, an insider reportedly said
• Attorney generals looking into online fundraising practices: reports
• How nonprofit leader Catherine Howarth got HSBC to swear off coal

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Online Fundraising Platforms Face Fresh Scrutiny New scrutiny is being applied to the donation fundraising tactics of political fundraising platforms. After a New York Times expose highlighting potentially deceptive practices was released in April, fresh criticism has come in the form of an open inquiry being led by four democratic state attorneys general. The inquiry is into both the Republican platform WinRed and the Democratic platform ActBlue. Nonprofits, particularly those in the political and advocacy spaces, should watch this narrative closely as new rules may arise regarding how campaign-affiliated companies and organizations can procure online donations from the public.

Read more ➝ FrontlineSMS Closes After 15 Years The professional SMS messaging service FrontlineSMS has announced that it will be closing. The service, which provided users with a primarily free platform to communicate via SMS, will continue to be available as a free, fully open-source software on Windows, Mac, and Linux. In an open letter, FrontlineSMS CEO writes that “our products have been continuously used by community groups, service providers, and national governments alike, reaching tens of thousands of people a year. Over the last 15 years, we’ve supported users in 200 countries around the world with primarily free tools and support. We’ve been part of peer-reviewed academic studies, ground-breaking journalism, and the transformational change of life-saving systems – both as subject and as service provider.”

Read more ➝ Summary

• Black women push for racial equity at nonprofits
• Gates Foundation staff are 'freaking out' about the nonprofit's future as Bill and Melinda divorce, an insider reportedly said
• Attorney generals looking into online fundraising practices: reports
• How nonprofit leader Catherine Howarth got HSBC to swear off coal

View Details

Summary of nonprofit news.

Supreme Court Throws Out Nonprofit Donor Disclosure Law Last Thursday the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a 6-3 ruling that California could no longer require nonprofits to submit donor information to the state. Advocates of the law say it adds donor and transparency to the finances of organizations that may serve as a vehicle for unscrupulous influence, while Americans for Prosperity (which brought the case) argues that such donations are a first amendment issue. This case, like the landmark Citizens United v FEC before it, could make the job of watchdog oversight over not only nonprofit contributions but political campaign contributions harder to monitor.

Read more ➝ NCAA Allows Players To Profit Off of Name, Image, Likeness A NCAA rule change, coupled with new state laws, has opened up the door for NCAA college-level athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness, in a reset that will likely reverberate throughout the college sports world. Private universities with NCAA programs are nearly all operated as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, and this ruling represents the potential for a seismic shift in the way that such institutions relate to their student-athletes. The push for athletes to profit off of their name is not entirely separate from modern social justice issues and the reckoning on race that has accelerated in recent years. Nonprofit institutions, both big and small, should be attentive to cultural shifts and evolving norms that have the ability to change entire sectors of the nonprofit tax-exempt world.

Read more ➝ Summary

• 2U set to acquire nonprofit edX for deal north of $600M – TechCrunch
• Nonprofit: Number of drownings in Great Lakes jumps in 2021
• Parkland Nonprofit Raises Funds for Surfside Families

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Summary of nonprofit news.

Supreme Court Throws Out Nonprofit Donor Disclosure Law Last Thursday the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a 6-3 ruling that California could no longer require nonprofits to submit donor information to the state. Advocates of the law say it adds donor and transparency to the finances of organizations that may serve as a vehicle for unscrupulous influence, while Americans for Prosperity (which brought the case) argues that such donations are a first amendment issue. This case, like the landmark Citizens United v FEC before it, could make the job of watchdog oversight over not only nonprofit contributions but political campaign contributions harder to monitor.

Read more ➝ NCAA Allows Players To Profit Off of Name, Image, Likeness A NCAA rule change, coupled with new state laws, has opened up the door for NCAA college-level athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness, in a reset that will likely reverberate throughout the college sports world. Private universities with NCAA programs are nearly all operated as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, and this ruling represents the potential for a seismic shift in the way that such institutions relate to their student-athletes. The push for athletes to profit off of their name is not entirely separate from modern social justice issues and the reckoning on race that has accelerated in recent years. Nonprofit institutions, both big and small, should be attentive to cultural shifts and evolving norms that have the ability to change entire sectors of the nonprofit tax-exempt world.

Read more ➝ Summary

• 2U set to acquire nonprofit edX for deal north of $600M – TechCrunch
• Nonprofit: Number of drownings in Great Lakes jumps in 2021
• Parkland Nonprofit Raises Funds for Surfside Families

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An exit interview with Ann, Technical Creative Director of WholeWhale.com reflecting on lessons she learned during her 7 years with the company.

Ann Nguyen

Technical Creative Director

On Social https://www.linkedin.com/in/nguyenannhttps://twitter.com/annnnnguyen

Ann joined Whole Whale in 2013 and has been making splashes since then in the areas of design, development, and A/B testing.

She keeps the New York team afloat and works directly with clients on using design and tech to scale their impact. During her time at Whole Whale, Ann has overseen site builds that include DREAM, the LAMP, and Donate Life America. Beyond website development, Ann has led the charge on work with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the One Love Foundation, Charitybuzz, Prizeo, and United Way ALICE. Ann is also the product manager behind Lighthouse by Whole Whale and is currently working with Power Poetry on their Poetry Genome, a tool that uses machine learning to generate a percentage comparison to various writers based on the theme, style, and content of any poem on the site. Both classic and contemporary writers are represented in different sections of our Genome (shoutout to Shakespeare and Kendrick).

Ann is a regular speaker and lecturer on nonprofit tech topics. She’s presented on machine learning for good and A/B testing for organ donations at the 2018 Strata Data Conference in San José, and spoke at the 2018 Strata Data Conference in New York on “How to Be Aggressively Tone-Deaf Using Data (or, We Should all Be For-Benefits).” 2018 also saw Ann copresent on A/B testing with the Wikimedia Foundation at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans. Ann has guest lectured at NYU, Columbia University, and Sarah Lawrence College. She also frequently joins design discussions at various panels from the Lowline to the White House.

Before joining Whole Whale, Ann worked with a wide range of organizations, including the Ford Foundation, SumAll Foundation, and Bitly.

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Nonprofit news for the week of 6/28/2021

Warren Buffett Gives Away $4.1 Billion To Charity, Steps Down From Gates Foundation Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world, has announced a donation of nearly $4.1 billion to charity. This donation comes on the heels of other massive philanthropic donations from wealthy individuals like MacKenzie Scott. Buffet has previously said he seeks to give nearly all his money away to philanthropic causes. Also last week it was announced that Warren Buffett would be stepping down from the board of the Gates Foundation, just weeks after the divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates.

Read more ➝ Raiders DE Carl Nassib Comes Out, Gives $100k To Trevor Project Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out last week, making him the first active NFL football player to come out as gay. In the announcement video, Nassib states his intention to donate $100k to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ+ youth.

Read more ➝ Summary * Woman Gets 6 Years in Prison for Embezzling From Nonprofits * Nonprofit News Media Pace Picking Up * House GOP Members Demand Details of $350 Million in Grants From Nonprofit in 2020 Election * Former drug dealer sparks nonprofit to train more young people to be welders for shipbuilding and repair

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Nonprofit news for the week of 6/28/2021

Warren Buffett Gives Away $4.1 Billion To Charity, Steps Down From Gates Foundation Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world, has announced a donation of nearly $4.1 billion to charity. This donation comes on the heels of other massive philanthropic donations from wealthy individuals like MacKenzie Scott. Buffet has previously said he seeks to give nearly all his money away to philanthropic causes. Also last week it was announced that Warren Buffett would be stepping down from the board of the Gates Foundation, just weeks after the divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates.

Read more ➝ Raiders DE Carl Nassib Comes Out, Gives $100k To Trevor Project Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out last week, making him the first active NFL football player to come out as gay. In the announcement video, Nassib states his intention to donate $100k to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ+ youth.

Read more ➝ Summary * Woman Gets 6 Years in Prison for Embezzling From Nonprofits * Nonprofit News Media Pace Picking Up * House GOP Members Demand Details of $350 Million in Grants From Nonprofit in 2020 Election * Former drug dealer sparks nonprofit to train more young people to be welders for shipbuilding and repair

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We interview Quincy Larson, the founder and a teacher at freeCodeCamp.org. freeCodeCamp is a nonprofit community that helps millions of people learn to code 100% for free helping thousands of people find their first coding job. Quincy shares how the organization got started, built a strong volunteer base and grew its amazing educational library course by course.

Learn more and support at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/

Transcript

George Weiner (00:04): This week on the podcast, we are thrilled to have the executive director Quincy Larson of freecodecamp.org, Quincy, how's it going? Hey, it's going great.

New Speaker (00:16): How about you, George? I'm doing well today. I was thrilled when I reached out because frankly, a lot of the staff at whole whale end up on free code camp for, for learning and going going up the curve on, on various tech, like HTML, JavaScript. What have you. And so I was wondering just from the start I feel like the name says a lot, but in your words, Quincy, what what is it that free code camp does?

Quincy Larson (00:45): Sure. So we help people around the world learn to code for free. We have a giant curriculum that you can do end to end, or you can skip around in it, but it'll basically bring you up to speed with what kinds of skills you would need. If you wanted to go get a job as a developer or potentially create like a technology focused NGO or startup.

George Weiner (01:08): I feel like that was so simple for how actually complex I feel like this platform is, and just like top, top line stats here, you know, you have on here located like 6,000 plus tutorials and according to your sites, since 2014, more than 40,000 graduates have gotten jobs at tech companies. And that's incredible.

Quincy Larson (01:31): Thanks. Yeah, it's it's just, we've been working really hard, pretty steadily for the past seven years and just, just grind and grind in that way. But yeah, we've gotten plenty of lucky breaks along the way. It's just a, to like everyday, just, just putting in for a little bit of a forward momentum on things.

George Weiner (01:52): I love the sort of seven year overnight successes and people look at you. Oh, you do like popped up everywhere for context. I feel like when you're sitting in a nonprofit ecosystem, it can be hard to understand certain competitive environments, but you were up against some of the best well funded startups in the game. You know, you're talking about like code academy or Coursera. How have you sort of been able to fight in that competitive and ecosystem as a nonprofit going up against, you know, multi-million, I think some are billion dollar competitors here.

Quincy Larson (02:31): Yeah. Well, I don't look at them as competitors. I look at them as allies in the effort to help people get technology skills. We're fortunate to be in a space that's like expanding really rapidly. I mean, technology skills are becoming more and more valuable every day to, without going off on a long sermon, you know, used to be that you didn't need to know how to read if you were like a farmer out in the middle of middle America, for example. And at some point it just became understood that yes, even though you're a farmer, you should know how to read and same thing with like drawing, driving a car, for example. And then in the nineties, people needed to learn how to use Microsoft office. And now in the 2020s, people need to learn how to use, you know, basic web development tools, basic data analysis tools low-code no-code tools.

Quincy Larson (03:22): And of course just understanding conceptually how web servers work, how mobile apps work, those kinds of things, privacy security. So there's a tremendous amount to be taught. So the way I look at you know, like you Udacity Codeacademy tree house, those were some of the, those are some of the bigger organizations in the space. Even like Harvard has CS 50. So there are a lot of university programs is like, Hey, we want to ally ourselves with you all. We're we're a tiny non-profit like we don't have the resources to compete with anybody really. Rather we'd, we'd like to build alliances and see if we can help your mission. And if we can find ways to cooperate. So that's been our strategy.

George Weiner (04:11): How has that partnership been going? Cause sometimes I feel like it's a sure we're all frenemies here, but at a certain point you know, as it has it worked to, to grow it, or is it that you simply have a massive audience and you can be generous with that audience just like tick to cut directly to it. Or has it been key to your growth and that you have partnerships with some of these folks?

Quincy Larson (04:35): Yeah, like I can go into a little details on some of the partnerships like we've worked with, like, of course, like big software companies, we've accepted grants from them to create courses and publish those courses on our YouTube channel. And also just created like textual tutorials on a lot of topics. We've worked with some of the other course creators as well. If you look at our YouTube channel, for example, you'll see just there've been more than a hundred different kind of independent programming content creators who who've done kind of crossovers with us and things like that. So I think this philosophy, it's not just a matter of us being like being extremely lucky and, and being generous, but I genuinely do believe that, you know, if, if you approach things, not from an adversarial standpoint, but instead of like how you can leverage, what's already out there to help your own learners better.

Quincy Larson (05:32): For example, with, with tree house, which is a really awesome, I mean there are for profit, but a lot of the things they do I think are kind of spiritually similar to what nonprofits do. They have a lot of programs to focus on you know equality, diversity inclusion, and trying to get people in, into jobs. And they've got like this huge catalog of courses and we were able to work with them to take some of those courses and, and cast them out to a wider audience for free through, through our YouTube channel. So yeah, that's a long answer, but, but I, I really do. I don't, I think competition is overrated and it's it there's, I think it's something that humans kind of intrinsically like fixate on just because like the nature of like sports, the nature of war, all these things, there's like a winner and there's a loser, but in the real world, often there are many winners and there's like an equilibrium where many organizations can be in play. And some of them specialize on some, in some areas and some of them specialize in other areas. So I don't, I don't see education is like a winner takes all type feel it, I really do believe that there can be many, many winners just like there are 5,000 universities in the United States. There's not just like one university. That's kind of like a conglomerate, whatever the word is absorb all the other universities, right?

George Weiner (07:02): Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think that abundance mindset is really key when you are approaching partners in in dealing in good faith. I want to move into like the education component, because I think that in large part is the secret of your success and something. I want our listeners to kind of take away because there's a brilliance in the way that it seems like you build giant pillar on tenant. Like you create these pieces that are modular mind you, but they're sequential. They're carefully broken down rather than one-off lesson on Python and a one-off lesson on HTML. And we have this article over here, this seems wildly methodical and modular, and like just planned out, like you're just putting brick five brick by brick, into entities courses. Can you maybe unpack how you approached it? These pieces that are modular mind you, but they're sequential, they're carefully broken down rather than one-off lesson on Python and a one-off lesson on HTML. And we've got this article over here. This seems wildly methodical and modular, and like just planned out, like you're just putting brick by brick, by brick, into entities courses. Can you maybe unpack how you approached it? You know, how much of this was like planned from day one? You're like someday I shall have over 6,000 resources perfectly organized.

Quincy Larson (08:27): Yeah. So I break everything down into curricular and extracurricular. So free code camp. We have a core curriculum that we the most, that's what most people think of when they think of free code camp.org, they think of our linear curriculum and it's, it's non branching. It it's like I liken it to like universities from like the 18 hundreds before the invention of majors and electives and all of these other things back when, like, basically everybody learned the exact same thing and it was just the stuff they needed to know. And if you look at like medical school and law school to some extent like business school still like this, right there, there may be like, you, you become a generalist in school and then you specialize on the job through like residency or through some sort of you know, associate period. And I, I think that's how like developer education should be.

Quincy Larson (09:17): So we have this linear curriculum that if you were to literally go through all of it and not stop to get a job, like most people stop at some point, get a job and then they'll come back and learn even more. And then they'll go get a better job or they'll get a promotion within their current job. It's designed that you can do like lifelong learning over the course of like years and years, and still have plenty of stuff that you haven't learned yet. That is right there waiting for you when you get time to learn. And that is you know, engineered that way. My original vision for free code camp was that it would be kind of just like a single progression of skills and that we'd front load, the most useful skills where the jobs were most bountiful, which is web development.

Quincy Larson (10:00): And then you'd get more into, you know, skills like a DevOps type skills. And eventually you get into machine learning and data science skills, if you stuck with it. And that mirrors a lot of like what the makeup of the industry looks like in the sense that like, usually you've got your undergraduates, like university grads or people that went to like vocational school, they're doing web development, and then you've got your graduate students doing a lot of the you know, dev ops and data science stuff. And then you've, you've got your like PhDs who lead like data science for like an entire organization or so like, you can go really, really deep. I mean you could easily be like a university professor working at Stanford. Like some of these people who created the original boots, massive open online courses fit this category.

Quincy Larson (10:50): They'd worked in private industry building these you know, self-driving car systems or you know, creating systems that, that did all kinds of like kind of filtering for like search hinges and things like that. And, you know, they, they can create these kinds of masterclasses in these subjects. We wanted to be able to have a linear progression that took people to where they could actually get to that. Like, there's this big, what we call it, desert of despair where you start off and there are tons of really good introductory resources. And then those dry up and you're left with extremely advanced, like academic papers and conference talks and things like that that are much harder to grok. So free code camp kind of represents like a bridge from the beginner across that desert of despair into the more advanced resources. And then we have our extracurricular learning resources which, you know, more than a thousand courses on YouTube more than I think it's like 750 tutorials. We haven't the number on our search engine, but we publish like 10 or 20 years.

George Weiner (11:56): So many pieces here and threads on sort of content creation. I want to, I want to put a pin in that. I want to come back to the chasm that, that is here, putting a pin, arguing that how on earth do you create so much content quality content that's in line with your standards and guides? Like if you have an engine running behind there that is churning out these pieces, obviously, you know, your site is an LMS in and of itself and you're pulling in and leveraging very intelligently mind. You notice that will YouTube. It's not just hidden video on your site. That's not search index, like you're out there casting. And then come back to, what is your process and engine and staff creating this content? Like what what's behind this.

Quincy Larson (12:42): Yeah, yeah. So a vast majority of our learning resources are created by volunteers. People from industry, people from academia who want to help people learn and are kind enough to share their learning resources with us, a lot of is created like kind of exclusively for free code camp. And some of it is shared, like for example, like a university, like Harvard shared their CS, [inaudible] computer science, 50 courses, the most popular computer science course on the planet. And they shared both like their main curriculum and their game to development curriculum, and we publish those. And so that's a pretty good example of like, when you got David Malin from Harvard who is incredibly insightful in the way he teaches, like he's taught computer science for so long, you could argue that he's like a rockstar teacher, if there is one. Right.

Quincy Larson (13:36): So I mean, that does a lot of the workforce. We just talked to David Malin and we're like, Hey, could we cross publish this? And then also like a lot of times university professors will publish their work as like creative comments and we can reach out to them and like, Hey, this is fantastic. Could we publish this on the free cocaine panel? So we also get a lot of people who are gradually building up like their presence on YouTube, a lot of experience, classroom teachers, and also just practitioners from the field who want to teach these programming concepts. And so we'll kind of, anthologized some of their courses and publish those. And then as far as the text-based tutorials what I do is I work closely with the editorial team and I'm on the editorial team of Frigo camp.

Quincy Larson (14:20): And we we identify people who are really good at teaching through text. And we, I meet with them and I'm like, Hey, if you're interested in reaching a lot of people and helping a lot of people, we can help you. And then I help figure out what articles we should write. And I, I coordinate with them on topics and headlines. And I personally have written, I think, like four or 500 tutorials and Bo has written like several hundred and he runs our YouTube channel and Abby runs like the main editorial team. So, so it's just, it's just a small handful of people. Like the actual free code contains less than 20 people. But we haven't mentioned our budget yet, but it's like less like 2019 was $498,000. So we're operating on like a very lean budget. And as a result, a lot of people are working part-time or and most of the

George Weiner (15:16): Work. Yeah. That's why, like, I think just to remind people that all of that being done for, you know, less than half a million is is incredible. And I feel like I want there there's somebody listening right now. Who's trying to get their first 10 volunteers to show up. And it's, it's kind of, I think sometimes like frustrating to be like, yeah, of course you can go get the rockstar of Harvard to go teach this course because you have the flywheel running. Talk to me about how you got that first 10 volunteers. Like, what was the sales pitch you didn't have? What is it, how many people like over a million a month or something through the system? Like, just in terms of traffic, what is the,

Quincy Larson (16:02): Yeah, we do about a million.

George Weiner (16:03): A, yeah, that's real traffic. That's real audience. And then, and then, and I can see when you go to somebody, Hey, would you like to reach half a million per day? And you're like, yes, please. I want to have an impact. Well, here you go. Talk to me about the first 10 volunteers and what that looked like.

Quincy Larson (16:19): Yeah. So man is, it was pretty well cause I was like staying up, like I was basically working like 120 hours a week maybe during the early days. So I, I came from like San Francisco startup culture and you really threw yourself into the gear, so to speak. I had built a lot of projects and this is going to be a little over biographical help. You will indulge me. But I had worked as a software engineer. My background was in teaching. I was a school director and a classroom teacher until I was about 31 years old. And that's when I decided I one to learned to code. I just automated some aspects of our school to free the teachers up so that they could work more closely with students and not have to spend as much time with their desks.

Quincy Larson (17:05): And that worked really well. And I was amazed at how much I could accomplish just some guy in the suit who didn't know anything about technology, like writing some very basic scripts Googling around and stuff. And so I, I eventually properly learned how to do software engineering. I just spent like seven months going to hackathons and using free online resources, lots of free textbooks and things like that, hanging out with the library. And I was able to get a job as a software engineer. And then, so I kind of went through that process myself in that autobiographical like that, that informs a lot of the curriculum development is like me as a career changer, mid career, like figuring out how technology works and how to like actually get things done with it, getting freelance clients, applying for jobs, all those things.

Quincy Larson (17:50): So by the time that I got to this project, this was after several failed projects and just burning through my savings. My wife we had benefits through her company. Thankfully we were just living in the San Francisco bay area and I was going to all of these types of events and stuff. And just, I created the chat room. I didn't think this was going to work. I built the first version of free code camp in like three days and launched it and started tweeting about it. And just got, I got people in the chat room together and chats very powerful, especially for like building like an immediate bond with people just hanging out and volume, as opposed to like, you know, quantity as opposed to quality, which I think you get quality better on like forums and things like that. But in China it's really good for just quickly building rapport.

Quincy Larson (18:34): And so I just had people, like, I stayed in the chat room all day, well, building different functionality on the site and people would come in and like, oh, this is great. Like, is there a way I can get involved? Can I help? And so, yeah, like just having that chat room, having people come in there, I was able to convince people gradually like, yeah, we could use help. Like, like everybody has opinions on how things should be done and you don't necessarily want to listen to those opinions. But if they have, if they want to, like, we have this term agile project development spiking on things where they're basically taking low stakes risks, just trying to build something out and seeing what happens, you know, creating a proof of concept. So we got a bunch of people doing that. And then, you know, people eventually like started improving the curriculum.

Quincy Larson (19:16): And so it was, it was people being frustrated that the curriculum was so mediocre. Cause it was the product of just me and gradually like incorporating their feedback. And, and then it became much more robust. People started getting jobs. People were getting jobs because they were like, yeah, I designed this curriculum, you know, like people would like, they'd be in interviews and they'd be like, oh, you know, can you, you know, invert like a binary search tree or something like that. And they'd be like, yeah, actually here's like an entire article I wrote about how to do it, like your heart. So that sort of thing, like, like people getting jobs in that that fed the forward momentum of the volunteerism. Well, thank

George Weiner (19:51): You for sharing that. I think the backstory is incredibly helpful because from the outside it's easy to sort of paint a brush and be like, oh, obviously here's this like rock star coder and just whipped it up. And, you know, suddenly people were knocking down their door and like, I think it's it reminds me of starting kind of right at the beginning with the right culture. And as you said, you were not going after quantity. It was a quality of interaction and, and sort of creating it in public and saying, you know what, this may not be the best tutorial for this particular web dev, but you sort of then incite people to join you and help you. And I think for some organizations back that can be tough. It has to be perfectly polished before it's pushed. So where's the room for volunteers to step in. One more question actually about the volunteers, because this comes up a lot for us. How do you manage this many folks? Is there like an extra and cool saying like, all right, this is the project. Like, because it can be running, you know, hurting, hurting cats in our hurricane situation with, with some volunteers, especially if you're talking about like projects where they're touching your code or content.

Quincy Larson (21:02): Yeah. So systems and they're not just software systems. A lot of them are just Google forms and, you know, Google sheets and, and, you know, the proverbial, duct tape and bubblegum that holds most organizations together. I don't want you to think that we've got like state-of-the-art, you know CRMs for working with volunteers or anything. I'm sure some organizations do that. But there there's a lot of, like, I spent a huge amount of time responding to emails and interacting with volunteers like I've had hundreds, hundreds of meetings with tutorial authors where I've gotten to know them and a big part, like, like I don't, I'm not like a particularly telling that person in my opinion, like, but one skill I have is like, I'm really good at like memorizing names and memorizing facts and like recognizing people and remembering the moment that they told me about like their own journey into coding or you know, like remembering, oh, that person's from Calgary.

Quincy Larson (22:00): And they worked as a roughneck for like 10 years before they learned to code. And like now I, I can remember that when I talked to him, I've got that kind of like, that lived experience that they shared with me to draw on. So it, it kind of informs how I interact with them and like the topics I bring up with them and stuff. So a lot of it is just the ability to like, hold in your head, hundreds of volunteers at a time, or potentially thousands in a more kind of broad strokes way and really make it your business. Like, like as a nonprofit founder, you know, for a startup founder, there are these three things that every startup founder is supposed to do. Right. And one is set the vision for the organization. Two is make sure you don't run out of money and three is bring on the right people.

Quincy Larson (22:47): And if you look at it that way with, with nonprofits, you know, they're basically the same three things. But instead of like bringing on the right people in the form of just employees, nonprofits also have that additional dimension that like they do have the ability to encourage people to volunteer through you know, kind of like a mission driven approach that like a for-profit corporation would have a harder time convincing people to do. I mean, some, some do, for example, Google has like Google tools, usergroup which is, you know, volunteers contributing and helping run local events and things like that. And a lot of a lot of corporations have that kind of fanfare that they can, that they can have volunteers do that. But as a nonprofit, like you have such a big edge because you can like, there's, you've just immediately removed a lot of the skepticism and cynicism that people feel toward volunteering because you're clearly in this because you care about the mission. Otherwise you wouldn't be a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit, cause there's all these additional compliance issues. And it like, like being a nonprofit, like being at a startup on hard mode in many respects.

George Weiner (23:59): Yeah. I remember like 10 years ago trying to decide if I should make more whale at non-profit or for-profit and knowing what I know about nonprofits, I was like, why would I want to go into battle with one arm behind my back? And so, you know, there are advantages and it's awesome that you're able to leverage those, but I dunno. Do you ever have a second thoughts?

Quincy Larson (24:21): No. Cause I really just don't think that that like, like obviously I don't have any equity, so I'm just a paid employee, like, like everybody else. So, you know, they're there, what happens if something bad happens to me? Like when my family have any recourse, my wife have to you know, cover all the expenses, things like that, like pop into my mind, but that's really the only downside I think, is not getting rich. The upside is you get to work with the kind of people who don't care as much about getting rich and care a lot more about the mission of the organization. So yeah I, I don't regret it at all. And I don't really think about like, oh, what if it was a startup or whatever? Like, there's a good chance, like with all the different variables and stuff that wouldn't have worked as a startup or some something else would have happened in, like, we've been like an investor would have pulled us in a different direction.

Quincy Larson (25:21): And we wouldn't be doing the same kind of work we're doing for the same kind of people, which is to say, you know, people around the world who want to learn to code, many of whom are in the, you know, 50% of people who live off less than $5 and 50 cents a day, right. They that even putting a credit card form up immediately that their own bank, they can't get through that, you know we're, we're able to make these resources accessible to everybody regardless of socioeconomic background. And increasingly regardless of like physical, like abilities and also internet connectivity, other considerations. So, you know, I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. Really. I'm really glad in retrospect that I've made the decisions I've made as far as being in.

George Weiner (26:05): Yeah. I mean, that's a perfect, a perfect narrative of doing it and enjoying what you're doing. And sometimes that lets you go farther than possibly possible in the other direction. The point I wanted to come back to holding is daunting. How do you deal with the, where do I start question a the, where do I start problem and be the sort of crop of sorrow, the chasm of of the point where someone's like, I took a couple and then I dropped off the, you know, it's, it's more than a common critique. It's a proven issue with online learning. And I think a lot of nonprofits when they're saying like, oh, sure, cause we, we try to encourage a lot of our clients. And also a lot of folks that look at our content of course certify their competency to core SIFY things that their stakeholders can do. Asynchronously, meaning like you have upgrade grade at once you package it properly and then let your audience run with it. We have seen tremendous, tremendous success coming from it. However, and what about the, where do I start and how do you deal with the drop-off ectoplasm?

Quincy Larson (27:24): Yeah, that's a great question. So this is not like an easy question to answer. And if you look at like you know, MOOCs, massive open online courses historically they've had very high attrition rates, but you have to consider they're free and people have literally no skin in the game. Like they invested a little bit of time, maybe gave, gave out their email address and like a signup form. And if they learned anything, I mean, that's, that's great, but you're right. Like that's, that's a net positive. So the reality that I've come to accept is like accountability mechanisms do work. If, if you get somebody involved in like say 100 days of code, which is the hashtag that a lot of people use they try to do 100 days of coding at least 30 minutes a day and tweeting about their progress and things like that.

Quincy Larson (28:13): That works. I mean, it really does. I would say that if you're trying to learn to code and you get involved in that hashtag you probably doubled your chances of making significant progress inside a year. One of the things to acknowledge though, is life gets in the way people do get like we're human, we're not machines that can just grind away at something. Some people have more motivation than others, some, both intrinsic or extrinsic. Certainly during the pandemic, that's increased the amount of extrinsic motivation that people have because they're seeing that, like, I don't want to be in a job where, you know, I'm essentially risking my life every day just to, just to do what I need to do and provide for my family. So that was, you know, people had been redoubling their efforts trying to gain new skills, seeing, I guess the fragility of the system we have place and, and software development job that you can do remotely, you can do it asynchronously.

Quincy Larson (29:12): And you can do it from anywhere in the world and you can do it pretty piecemeal as well. You know, you don't have to, you can have lots of freelance clients and stuff. So, so there's a lot of carrot there. There's a lot of cake at the end of the maze, right. But you also because it's so complicated it's not as hard. It's not the hardest thing in the world, but anybody who tells you that learning to code is easy, is trying to sell you something it's not easy at it's, it's quite demanding, but at the same time, anybody who's sufficiently motivated can learn it. It's just a matter of sitting down and learning. It just like it was getting, learning, Microsoft Excel or learning you know, how to drive and things like that. Those things are all daunting initially.

Quincy Larson (29:57): The great thing about coding is, again, the resources are free and you don't have to spend a penny. You can do it from anywhere. You can do it at your own pace. There are interactive learning resources like free code camp. And there are also tons of amazing books and video courses and stuff that the community is prepared in. Software development in general has like this hacker ethic as they call it. And a big part of that is the information wants to be free ethos and people are quick to help one another. They don't perceive each other as competitors. All this person's jockeying for my job. Why should I help them? No, because the pie is expanding so quickly. Everybody's pushing things into the software layer. And we're going to see just more and more software jobs. And to some extent, they're going to edge out like older jobs that couldn't easily be automated or they could more easily be automated the way, no, I'm not, I'm not in the camp that like automation is going to destroy everything. And 20 years from now, nobody's going to work. But, but B be wary of people that say that, but also be wary of people who say like software, you shouldn't even bother learning the code cause they're gonna automate it all. Like the thing to note about that is, and I hear people like very educated people will say that sometimes. Yeah. Let me jump in really quickly. Cause I had this note here in the back of his mind

George Weiner (31:14): That may be a term they heard for the first time, no code or low code. What the heck, no code, what do I need to learn code at all? I just by step right by it. So can you unpack a no code real quick? It's

Quincy Larson (31:27): Not the best name. It's not the best name for like a, I guess a movement and suffer. I mean, obviously there's no code. All they've done is they've done most of the coding for you and created like a more usable tool for you. But like if you go all the way back to like 19 94, 19 95, Microsoft had like Microsoft front page, I think is what it was called. And it was basically promising to do all the web development for you. And it, you know, 20, 21, you don't hear about that tool anymore because like the more you automate, like yes, engineers use automation. I don't like go in and start writing byte code. When I'm writing a new program,

Speaker 3 (32:05): I was going to bring this up in the walkway, many, many layers of abstraction I was really looking to.

Quincy Larson (32:12): Yeah. So, so there's nothing wrong with, during waiver. There's nothing wrong with front page, even. I think those, those are tools and it's, it's kind of like, like if you go into if you're a lumberjack and you go into the woods and you're carrying like your trustee acts and you're trying to fill a whole bunch of trees and somebody comes up and they've got a chainsaw, well there's skill involved in building a chainsaw too. Right. so just like anything like developers adopt new tools. And so no code is not you know, a direct substitute for a lot of other tools. It can simplify a lot of things. I think the people most equipped to make good use of no code and low code tools are developers. And I use them myself if I, if I'm in a hurry and I just want to build a quick prototype.

Quincy Larson (32:56): So you know, we're going to be producing a course on some low code tools in the next few months. So, so yeah, just know that these tools are out there, but they're, they're not a panacea, right? You're S you're still gonna need to know how databases work. Certainly even if you don't make CQL craze, like I very rarely make sequel craze. I understand how to make a SQL query. It's kinda like going to go into university. Like a lot of the things you're going to learn, you're not going to have to do that math. You're going to have calculators and stuff, but it's, it's valuable to know how things are working under the hood. And sometimes maybe it's, you can get better performance. The main trade-off with low-code and no-code tools is they're expensive. You're spending dramatically more money handing the bother of doing software development off to some company. And then they maintain these tools. The more you're willing to do yourself, the more money you can save. And that's how an organization like free code camp is there half a million people a day. And then also, you know, have all these other artifacts and resources that are offline and stuff.

George Weiner (34:01): So many rabbit holes. I just want to run down them all. I mean, I have more questions than time would allow. I want to maybe bring up one more topic and actually layer context to it is that I actually am also a self-taught developer and coder from back in the day when I was hired at dosomething.org. Over seven years, I taught myself every single thing required to become the chief technology officer, which was many, many things that I broke, learned, fixed, and then repeated. And w was grateful enough to end up with a really talented team. And I actually started a whole whale because I saw the industry not leveraging the most powerful tool and, you know, recent history probably ever, or, or potential impact. So I love what you were doing. I think there's still a chasm for, for many organizations, many nonprofits, you yourself said you were a teacher and you're like, wait a minute.

George Weiner (35:06): I feel like if you can automate some pieces here, going to the, like, where do I start piece? What is your advice to nonprofits that are, you know, making their way with basic tech talking about, you know, they've got their WordPress site and then they're, they're seemingly constantly getting stuck with maybe internal systems and database pieces. And they're like, ah, we need to keep hiring externally for a solution versus what could they potentially do with free code camp? Where could they direct people? Like how could they use as a tool to get to the level that they need to be, could be, should be

Quincy Larson (35:48): Right. Well, I w my humble advice would be first see who you have on your team. Like don't underestimate their ability to learn technology skills, even if they don't have a technical background. And I was like an English major working as a teacher. And I had very little technical, I knew how to consume technology, like, you know using computers for consumption, but I didn't know how to produce technology through programming. A lot of people can learn these skills and you don't necessarily have to dramatically increase your head count. I think actually that's like, people are your most expensive resource, and there are tons of little resources you can do to like, augment your existing team, especially if they're already there, like they're already part of your culture. They already know one another, you can grow really slowly and responsibly.

Quincy Larson (36:36): One thing I'd say is just, just think about like the trade-off. I mean, if you, for example, if you know, Google grants is like huge windfall to nonprofits I tried to set it up myself and it was extremely frustrating, you know, pig process and, you know, oh, well, how's a course on it. I think we'd probably do way better. You probably say way more than what it costs in terms of like D you know, people hours to just do the course and then like, share it with your team. And, and there are lots of other

George Weiner (37:08): Brought to you by Whole Whale university again.

Quincy Larson (37:13): Thanks, man. Yeah, but seriously, like, like I think, I think people can, you know, you don't want to be completely like nickel and dime yourself, like trying to save on everything. But the biggest expense you can take is like bringing on some developer who is you know, going to cost you maybe a hundred thousand dollars more a year, and just like handing it over and saying like, here you figure it out. A big part of actually managing developers is understanding how the technology works yourself. And that's one of the biggest causes of the death, of like startups in the bay area. And that's why, like, you know, if you try to apply to Y Combinator and you don't have a developer on your team, they're just, they're not going to accept because it's hard to software is hard. And you need to have some basic grasp on how it works conceptually, so you can effectively manage developers. So, you know, I would encourage people just to expand their own skills a little bit and become more comfortable, like expand the frontiers of their comfort zone as far as technology. And you probably don't need to hire a full-time developer. You can probably just take the people you have and teach them. And then later at the very least you'll know what you need and what is beyond your capabilities. And you'll be able to hire smarter.

George Weiner (38:27): Yeah. To package again, look around the existing organization, allow people to step forward, step into it, encourage them, give them the space and then point them toward courses. Obviously you're like find a course that works for you, but by the way, ours are 100% free. Do they jump into, you know, Dave manipulation with Python? Or are they looking, would you recommend to say, actually you should probably start with understanding your web stack,

Quincy Larson (38:57): Right? So if they do, if you all use the free code camp curriculum, it's in a linear progression. That makes sense. Cause we've talked with hundreds of people from industry and like thousands of developers have contributed to this curriculum. It's probably the best single artifact in terms of like being a representative sequence of things that you should learn. It's extremely optimized. Now, there are parts of it that we are continuing to improve and we want to make it more project oriented. There's, there's plenty of room for for development and improvement on the free cocaine curriculum. I don't want to give you the impression that that you're, it you're a fool. If you can't understand it because it's, everything's laid out for, you know, there are a lot of inductive leaks you're going to have to take, you're going to have to do a Google search again and, and wrap your head around these things.

Quincy Larson (39:41): It takes time, but that's a great place to start. And then we have extra curricular topics on, on most technologies. Like if, for example, you had like a huge amount of data and you need to figure out how to work with it. Like you can learn how to use SQL. You can learn how to use Python and a lot of powerful Python libraries for free on frequent camps YouTube channel. And if you just Google things, just look for the free code camp result. And it won't be a bunch of ads like loaded and everything. It'll be like super fast, like everything's super optimized, very accessible. So yeah, like my biggest advice would be like, when you do Google searches for different technical topics, try to find the free code camp one and click on that one. That that will probably be, you know, it'll be edited.

Quincy Larson (40:23): It'll be written by a native English speaker usually or edited by a native English speaker. Anyway, you get the picture. Like there are tons of resources out there. The main thing is do not let yourself be daunted. It's very easy to just throw up your and say, oh, we need to go to the developer. If you don't let yourself be intimidated by technology, just like you, Georgia. I mean, you, you learned over the course of seven years and often become a CTO. That's phenomenal. And I didn't even know that before this conversation, but I'd love to, if you have time, if you want to write about your coding journey, I think that'd be really inspiring for a lot of people. But yeah, don't be daunted and just trust that, like you can learn this if you put in the time and energy and if you don't quit, if you keep coming back, take a break, come back every time the concepts are getting extra, a little bit deeper into your brain your, your muscle memory, as far as like understanding intuitively how things work, it gets a little stronger.

George Weiner (41:16): Yeah. That's a good advice. And it's important to reiterate how simple the call to action is and how could you steal this for your nonprofit or borrow like an artist start here. There's literally a giant yellow button on this side. So it's like, just click this, [inaudible] start. And we're going to take you through what you probably need to know. And, and you've built it in modular way so that when people are asking questions on the Google, when people are asking questions, you are showing up as the answer for that as well. So you're getting both the start here, narrative journey and the opportunities show up and answer questions when people are asking and sorta side door into the building as, as well, because you've opened it up. I think both ways are just, it's perfect architecture for how you scale and get to where you're going.

George Weiner (42:10): And you know, you're talking about this, this motivation in terms of getting people to do things we subscribed to the BJ Fogg behavior, mobility behavior is motivation, ability and trigger. And you're saying like, you generally start with high motivation, but how do we make the barrier lower, the trigger easier and it's free. So, okay. That's, that's pretty darn good. But I think it's an important to know, cause you, you went through quickly, but the accountability there of saying like, oh, here's a community, right? Here's another one. We have a group of people that I'm accountable to. And I'm like checking in with like, how are you doing on your a hundred days? You set this goal. So you have the community, their accountability, and this sort of prize at the end, the five at the end, you're going to get this job.

George Weiner (42:52): You're going to be able to save yourself from having to hire a developer, which may or may not work. You're going to scale up personally and make yourself more marketable in your own company, make your company better and, you know, holding those prices. So those are some elements to play with. If you're a, an executive director sort of listening to this being like, all right, I'm going to just send this around. But if you want to increase the chance of success, think about how Quincy talked about those, those elements. All right. I think we're running toward our rapid fire, unless there is anything you'd like to put a finer point on here. I'm getting a thumbs up. Okay. Okay. Please keep your responses to around 30 seconds. Quincy, what is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in the past year?

Quincy Larson (43:41): Yeah. rocket chat is awesome. So Brazilian company if you use slack have use like Microsoft team, I think is what it's called. This is a self hosted alternative to that, and you just spin up server and your team can jump on there and chat and it's got most of the main features and it's, you own all the data. It's essentially free. The software's open source. You can pay for like a service level agreement and, and hosting from them if you want. But it's been great. We love it. What tech

George Weiner (44:13): Issues are you currently battling with right now? Google

Quincy Larson (44:19): Is doing some th they're kind of raising the bar as far as site performance, free code camp is a coding environment. So it has got a lot of JavaScript. So this is a lot to like load into the browser when you go there. So just stripping things out and figuring out how we can kind of load things like a few hops in to the experience so that like those pages can still have really good lighthouse scores and still

George Weiner (44:42): Rank. Well, what is coming in the next year that has you the most excited,

Quincy Larson (44:48): The data science curriculum, which we're doing a fundraiser for currently, it's almost completely funded and we're gonna create like 12 new certifications around math, computer science and machine learning.

George Weiner (45:03): Talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things. Now.

Quincy Larson (45:08): I think initially we were too dependent on platforms like Facebook groups. I personally was really dependent on like medium and we were getting on a readership on medium and we had to, at one point leave medium. You can like just Google frequent kit, medium, if you're curious of the story behind that, but basically like any growth that you get on other people's platforms, whether that's discord or slack or you know, Twitch or wherever you're, you're trying to just know that it's extremely difficult to move that audience. And a lot of the engagement you're getting is probably just due to the nature of the platform itself. Just you built your castle on somebody else's land and know that, you know, if you have to move, it's just be prepared to it is what I'm saying.

George Weiner (45:56): Do you believe that nonprofits can successfully go out of business?

Quincy Larson (45:59): I think if you've got a team that's working to the extent that you can fulfill your entire mission, like that teams should be repurposed, it's probably an incredible team. So I would say like, yeah, technically you could just disband and like go live in some mountain retreat or whatever, but I think that you should just figure out like a way to like slightly fine-tune your mission to where you've still got plenty of things. Plenty of good that you can do

George Weiner (46:25): Prior the class, you in the hot tub time machine, back to the beginning of founding free code camp, what advice would you give yourself?

Quincy Larson (46:32): I would tell myself to focus less on platforms. Like I said earlier, and to focus more on just building durable stuff that like we had full control over things that like, like mailing lists blogs, things that you have full ownership of, that nobody can really take away from you. Those are the most durable things and I think I could have focused more on. Yeah, but

George Weiner (46:59): It's something you think your organization should stop doing?

Quincy Larson (47:03): We should probably stop worrying so much about what other organizations in the space think of us. Like I'm frequently jumping to the defense of like the university system and saying like, oh, you should get a university degree. Like, it really is the proven path. And I feel like we're carrying a lot of water for these organizations that like really shouldn't need our help. And it's not like they're necessarily reciprocating so far, but yeah, like to some extent, I, I feel like I'm always playing defense for these other organizations and there, you know, hundreds, thousands of times larger than us, they can do that themselves. So that's one thing I'm personally working on is just, just being quiet and not trying to stick up for these giant or powerful organizations. Just because like, my instinct is, oh, you know, they're doing their best, but are they, you know, I don't know. I might be undermining some of the the criticism that might be warranted for these institutions. So yeah, that's, that's one thing I've, I'm trying to get better.

George Weiner (48:00): They gave you a Harry Potter style wand to wave across the social impact sector. What would it do?

Quincy Larson (48:05): It would make it much easier for nonprofits to share information. This is one of the few good podcasts that I've found in the nonprofit space. There, there are some other good ones, but I feel like nonprofits just need to congregate more and share more expertise among one another. Like you look at like incubators and accelerators, like Y Combinator and you know, Techstars and like all these different ecosystems for for-profit entities. Like, it's just amazing the disconnect between like for-profit organizations and the amount of information being shared back and forth and nonprofits. I mean, it feels like there's just so much latent potential there. I mean,

George Weiner (48:46): You get started in the social impact sector.

Quincy Larson (48:49): So I always wanted to do a nonprofit that was in the technology education space or in the education space. And then as I learned more about technology, specifically technology education and free code camp is the first 5 0 1 C3 that I've been involved with in terms of like leadership and stuff.

George Weiner (49:08): What advice would you give college grads currently looking to enter the social impact?

Quincy Larson (49:12): I would say that definitely if you have the resources to be able to pay off your student debt and, and take like a below wage, I mean, there's, there's definitely a movement to like, oh, you know, non-profits can pay. And, and there are some nonprofits that, that pay like, comfortable, like, like Mozilla, for example and some nonprofits just have the money to be able to pay, you know, what their private sector equivalents are. But, but I think realistically you probably, aren't going to be taking a pay cut and that's okay. If you can figure out a way to make it work, it's worth it. Like doing the, doing the work, carrying out the mission is worth so much more being able to like, think about the work you're doing, then say like, oh yeah, I got a new car. Or I got this like significantly larger house in this more nicer neighborhood than I would've otherwise been able to. I feel like there's so much social pressure about around earnings and just too much noise and focus on what's important to you.

George Weiner (50:09): What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or, or didn't?

Quincy Larson (50:15): My parents wanted me to go to university and I did. And in retrospect like that cascade of opportunity did help me quite a bit. Like I was able to go get a graduate degree in China and spend years and years abroad, like learning about how the world works outside of this outside of the U S and so definitely, I would say like their emphasis on, on going to school, even though I dropped out of high school and I wasn't going to go to school, like, like I took the GED, I enrolled in a really cheap state school in Oklahoma city where I grew up in, in that was definitely the right call. And I'm glad that they didn't just let me work at taco bell. Like kind of encouraged me to keep expanding my horizons.

George Weiner (50:59): What is your favorite question to ask people?

Quincy Larson (51:02): I just asked people, what are your, what projects are you working on? Because people may be like working some, a little particularly like, or they may be busy, mostly taking care of like a sick relative or a other kids and stuff. But I think most people do have some sort of project in their minds that like, oh, when I get time, I'm gonna, I'm gonna work on this. And so w what fires them up? You know, what, what really gets them excited in terms of building that's, that's what I asked people. And I think that's the best way to understand what they're really all about beyond just looking at the basic facts that lives.

George Weiner (51:38): All right. Final hardball. How do people find you? How do people help you?

Quincy Larson (51:43): Sure. we would welcome volunteers. We would vote them support if you're able to donate to our non-profit. If you just go to free code camp, that'll work and look around. That's probably the best thing to do. If you Google like code camp donate for code camp, if you want to hear about me personally, just Google Quincy Larson. There are not very many Quincy Larson's, I've got a pretty good distinct name, so yeah, you should be able to find out all that information.

George Weiner (52:12): Oh, I'll definitely disclose that. I'm pretty sure we are a monthly donor as well. I recommend it. And I recommend pointing your organization forward learning@ficocamp.org, Mincey. Thank you so much for, for building this and the work that you're doing, and we'll continue to do to support people finding their journey and code. We appreciate it.

Quincy Larson (52:34): Absolutely. Thank you for everything you're doing for nonprofits through education in sharing these resources,

George Weiner (52:42): This has been using the whole whale podcast. If you want to keep learning more about these topics and others head on over to whole whale.com/university, to keep learning with us. Thanks as always to Greg Thomas music.org for his tunes that underwrite our tracks. They're fantastic. Hope you're doing well, Greg, and just a reminder, subscribes really help us on any platform that you listened to us on. Please give a thought to click and subscribe, and maybe even a comment cause we'd like hearing from you. Yeah.

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Nonprofit news summary for the week of June 22nd, 2021.

Charitable Giving Reaches All-Time High In 2020 - Report

A new Giving USA report says that U.S. charitable giving reached an all-time high of approximately $471 billion. Driven by factors such as an unprecedented pandemic and a broad reckoning over racial violence, giving increased 5.1% from 2019 to 2020 (3.8% when adjusted for inflation). Experts note that a strong finish by financial markets including the S&P 500 (changes in which track with changes in individual and foundation giving) likely contributed to the spike. While individual giving increased 2%, giving from foundations jumped nearly 17% year over year. While lots of nonprofits, especially civil rights organizations, saw increases in funding — arts, culture, and disease-specific organizations saw a decrease. Read more ➝

Juneteenth Now A Federal Holiday Congress has overwhelmingly approved a bill making Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday. With a 415-14 vote in the House of Representatives, June 19th will be officially recognized as a day commemorating the end of slavery in America. This is the first new federal holiday to be authorized since the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Nonprofit journalism grew in 2020 — and individual donors played a large part
• National Young Farmers Coalition | Young Farmers 2020 Accountability Report
• Girl Scouts Stuck With Over 15 Million Boxes of Unsold Cookies
• MacKenzie Scott’s latest round of $2.7B in gifts prioritizes philanthropy infrastructure
• Nonprofit Helps Prisoners Connect With Their Children On Father's Day

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Nonprofit news summary for the week of June 22nd, 2021.

Charitable Giving Reaches All-Time High In 2020 - Report

A new Giving USA report says that U.S. charitable giving reached an all-time high of approximately $471 billion. Driven by factors such as an unprecedented pandemic and a broad reckoning over racial violence, giving increased 5.1% from 2019 to 2020 (3.8% when adjusted for inflation). Experts note that a strong finish by financial markets including the S&P 500 (changes in which track with changes in individual and foundation giving) likely contributed to the spike. While individual giving increased 2%, giving from foundations jumped nearly 17% year over year. While lots of nonprofits, especially civil rights organizations, saw increases in funding — arts, culture, and disease-specific organizations saw a decrease. Read more ➝

Juneteenth Now A Federal Holiday Congress has overwhelmingly approved a bill making Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday. With a 415-14 vote in the House of Representatives, June 19th will be officially recognized as a day commemorating the end of slavery in America. This is the first new federal holiday to be authorized since the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Nonprofit journalism grew in 2020 — and individual donors played a large part
• National Young Farmers Coalition | Young Farmers 2020 Accountability Report
• Girl Scouts Stuck With Over 15 Million Boxes of Unsold Cookies
• MacKenzie Scott’s latest round of $2.7B in gifts prioritizes philanthropy infrastructure
• Nonprofit Helps Prisoners Connect With Their Children On Father's Day

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Nonprofit news summaries for the week of June 14th, 2021.

Featured product: A new Inclusivity Language Tool from Whole Whale. Helping organizations check their websites for inclusive language.

New Federal Legislation Aims To Speed Up Donor Advised Funds’ Impact To Charities New proposed legislation introduced by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) seeks to speed up the process by which donor-advised funds (DAFs) would be disbursed to nonprofit organizations. While controversial within certain philanthropic circles, the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act would establish timeframes for DAF distribution and new rules for DAFs, including both 15 and 50-year options.

Read more ➝

Chicago-based Journalism Nonprofit Wins Pulitzer

The Invisible Institute, a nonprofit news organization based out of the south side of Chicago, along with the staffs of The Marshall Project, Alabama Media Group, and The Indianapolis Star, have won a coveted Pulitzer Prize in the “National Reporting” category for investigative reporting that looked into Police K-9 units.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Big law firms are donating pro bono hours to block unions at legal nonprofits where their partners are board members
• EveryAction’s Acquisition Spree Lands Salsa Labs
• Square Launches $5M Bitcoin Fund to Promote Crypto Inclusion
• What the donor-advised fund payout rate means for philanthropy and how it fits into the bigger charitable giving picture
• How An Oklahoma STEM Nonprofit Is Empowering Students To Digitally Rebuild Tulsa's Black Wall Street

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Nonprofit news summaries for the week of June 14th, 2021.

Featured product: A new Inclusivity Language Tool from Whole Whale. Helping organizations check their websites for inclusive language.

New Federal Legislation Aims To Speed Up Donor Advised Funds’ Impact To Charities New proposed legislation introduced by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) seeks to speed up the process by which donor-advised funds (DAFs) would be disbursed to nonprofit organizations. While controversial within certain philanthropic circles, the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act would establish timeframes for DAF distribution and new rules for DAFs, including both 15 and 50-year options.

Read more ➝

Chicago-based Journalism Nonprofit Wins Pulitzer

The Invisible Institute, a nonprofit news organization based out of the south side of Chicago, along with the staffs of The Marshall Project, Alabama Media Group, and The Indianapolis Star, have won a coveted Pulitzer Prize in the “National Reporting” category for investigative reporting that looked into Police K-9 units.

Read more ➝ Summary

• Big law firms are donating pro bono hours to block unions at legal nonprofits where their partners are board members
• EveryAction’s Acquisition Spree Lands Salsa Labs
• Square Launches $5M Bitcoin Fund to Promote Crypto Inclusion
• What the donor-advised fund payout rate means for philanthropy and how it fits into the bigger charitable giving picture
• How An Oklahoma STEM Nonprofit Is Empowering Students To Digitally Rebuild Tulsa's Black Wall Street

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Interview with Sarika Bansal, Editor and Author of Tread Brightly, a series of curated essays on Ethical Travel. George Weiner interviews Sarika about the themes and topics covered by some of the essays. They also dive into the creation and closing of Sarika's nonprofit BRIGHT Magazine.

About Tread Brightly Are there ways we can turn travel from passive consumption to an active exchange? Is it possible for our travel to leave a positive impact on the lives of others? This book of seventeen original essays and photo-essays, edited by Sarika Bansal, gets to the heart of what it means to travel ethically.

“Tread Brightly” discusses the ethics of orphanage tourism, cruise ships, and study abroad programs. It asks how one’s identity as a traveler—like one’s country of origin, gender, and race—impacts a travel experience. It considers the climate consequences of non-essential travel.

About Sarika

Sarika Bansal is the editor-in-chief of "Tread Brightly." She is an editor, storytelling consultant, and mentor with the Aspen Institute's New Voices Program. She was the founder and editor-in-chief of BRIGHT Magazine, an award-winning digital magazine that told fresh, solutions-oriented stories about social change. Prior to that, she incubated two social impact publications at Medium, developed curriculum for journalists at the Solutions Journalism Network, and served as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Her byline has appeared in the New York Times, Guardian, VICE, and other publications.

She holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

Sarika has lived on five continents, speaks four languages, and is currently based in a cottage in a forest in Nairobi, Kenya. She lives with her husband, daughter, and elderly German shepherd.

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Nonprofit news summaries for June 7th

Direct mail price hikes and a push for transparency in politics by nonprofits.

USPS Price Increase May Lead To Headache For Nonprofits The United States Postal Services (USPS) has filed for an increase in prices averaging nearly 6.9% system-wide, according to the Nonprofit Times. As many nonprofit organizations still rely on direct mail strategies for reaching donors, the average increase of 7.8% for Nonprofit Marketing Mail (NMM) could prove to be disruptive for organizations seeing slim net fundraising revenue from mail outreach. A decrease in mail volume of over 28% over the last decade has put the USPS in an awkward position, forcing it to balance public service with ever-decreasing revenue.

Read more ➝ Political Data Transparency Nonprofits Merge To Form OpenSecrets Two leading “money-in-politics” accountability nonprofits, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP), have merged to form OpenSecrets, a “state-of-the-art democratic accountability organization.” This announcement comes on the heels of a contentious 2020 election that far surpassed previous elections in terms of spending. “This merger brings together decades of expertise, massive data sets, and the kind of analysis that researchers, journalists, advocates and individuals rely on to understand the influence of spending on politics,” according to OpenSecrets Executive Director Sheila Krumholz. Nonprofits, PACs, and other advocacy organizations operating within this space should pay attention to increasing calls for (and expectation of) financial transparency.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Once a Bastion of Free Speech, the A.C.L.U. Faces an Identity Crisis
• Black-led nonprofit receives 'reparations payment' from slaveholder's descendant
• Charity: Water launches celebrity-funded Bitcoin Water Trust
• 50 brands giving back to the LGBTQ community
• Hackers Stole $650,000 From Nonprofit and Got Away, Showing Limits to Law Enforcement’s Reach
• Nonprofit 'spokescat' saving the world one post at a time

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Nonprofit news summaries for June 7th

Direct mail price hikes and a push for transparency in politics by nonprofits.

USPS Price Increase May Lead To Headache For Nonprofits The United States Postal Services (USPS) has filed for an increase in prices averaging nearly 6.9% system-wide, according to the Nonprofit Times. As many nonprofit organizations still rely on direct mail strategies for reaching donors, the average increase of 7.8% for Nonprofit Marketing Mail (NMM) could prove to be disruptive for organizations seeing slim net fundraising revenue from mail outreach. A decrease in mail volume of over 28% over the last decade has put the USPS in an awkward position, forcing it to balance public service with ever-decreasing revenue.

Read more ➝ Political Data Transparency Nonprofits Merge To Form OpenSecrets Two leading “money-in-politics” accountability nonprofits, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP), have merged to form OpenSecrets, a “state-of-the-art democratic accountability organization.” This announcement comes on the heels of a contentious 2020 election that far surpassed previous elections in terms of spending. “This merger brings together decades of expertise, massive data sets, and the kind of analysis that researchers, journalists, advocates and individuals rely on to understand the influence of spending on politics,” according to OpenSecrets Executive Director Sheila Krumholz. Nonprofits, PACs, and other advocacy organizations operating within this space should pay attention to increasing calls for (and expectation of) financial transparency.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Once a Bastion of Free Speech, the A.C.L.U. Faces an Identity Crisis
• Black-led nonprofit receives 'reparations payment' from slaveholder's descendant
• Charity: Water launches celebrity-funded Bitcoin Water Trust
• 50 brands giving back to the LGBTQ community
• Hackers Stole $650,000 From Nonprofit and Got Away, Showing Limits to Law Enforcement’s Reach
• Nonprofit 'spokescat' saving the world one post at a time

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Weekly nonprofit podcast news.

Nonprofit Fights Carbon Emissions With Financial Marketplace University of Chicago professor Michael Greenstone has created a nonprofit called Climate Vault, which could revolutionize how we offset carbon emissions in the marketplace. Using the current cap and trade infrastructure to its advantage, the organization seeks to redirect capital to environmentally-conscious startups in exchange for “pollution permits.” The goal is to merge financial profit with environmental sustainability in hopes of driving investment in products that help the planet in the long-run.

Read more ➝ Nonprofit Advocacy Groups & Native Tribes Team Up To Combat Voter Suppression New voting legislation in Montana, which critics cite as an attempt to suppress the vote of indigenous communities, is facing a legal challenge from a joint effort of multiple tribes and nonprofits. The tribes challenging the legislation include the Blackfeet Nation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Fort Belknap Indian Community and Northern Cheyenne Tribe. These tribes, along with Native get-out-the-vote organizations Western Native Voice and Montana Native Voice, are being represented by the Native American Rights Fund, in conjunction with the ACLU. Not only do nonprofits fill a vital gap in our social safety infrastructure, but they are an essential part of our democratic society, and constitute a rapidly growing civil society movement both in the U.S. and abroad. Read the legal complaint here.

Read more ➝ Summary

• YMCA brings in new CEO to revamp struggling nonprofit
• Greenpeace Stops Accepting Bitcoin Donations, Cites High Energy Use
• Steve Bannon's Nonprofit Sued for Destroying Wild Butterflies' Habitat with Donald Trump's Border Wall
• S.F. nonprofit lost $650,000 to hackers and a 'money mule.' The boss had to investigate it herself
• Nonprofit takes veterans on flights on WWII-era biplane

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Weekly nonprofit podcast news.

Nonprofit Fights Carbon Emissions With Financial Marketplace University of Chicago professor Michael Greenstone has created a nonprofit called Climate Vault, which could revolutionize how we offset carbon emissions in the marketplace. Using the current cap and trade infrastructure to its advantage, the organization seeks to redirect capital to environmentally-conscious startups in exchange for “pollution permits.” The goal is to merge financial profit with environmental sustainability in hopes of driving investment in products that help the planet in the long-run.

Read more ➝ Nonprofit Advocacy Groups & Native Tribes Team Up To Combat Voter Suppression New voting legislation in Montana, which critics cite as an attempt to suppress the vote of indigenous communities, is facing a legal challenge from a joint effort of multiple tribes and nonprofits. The tribes challenging the legislation include the Blackfeet Nation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Fort Belknap Indian Community and Northern Cheyenne Tribe. These tribes, along with Native get-out-the-vote organizations Western Native Voice and Montana Native Voice, are being represented by the Native American Rights Fund, in conjunction with the ACLU. Not only do nonprofits fill a vital gap in our social safety infrastructure, but they are an essential part of our democratic society, and constitute a rapidly growing civil society movement both in the U.S. and abroad. Read the legal complaint here.

Read more ➝ Summary

• YMCA brings in new CEO to revamp struggling nonprofit
• Greenpeace Stops Accepting Bitcoin Donations, Cites High Energy Use
• Steve Bannon's Nonprofit Sued for Destroying Wild Butterflies' Habitat with Donald Trump's Border Wall
• S.F. nonprofit lost $650,000 to hackers and a 'money mule.' The boss had to investigate it herself
• Nonprofit takes veterans on flights on WWII-era biplane

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Karisha Martinez interviews Sam Fankuchen, the Founder & CEO of Golden. 

Volunteering is a proven driver of happiness and provides a myriad of physical, mental and social benefits, from living longer and feeling more fulfilled to increasing the chances of being hired. Because of these benefits, we believe volunteering should be a part of every self-care routine. 

In 2015, Golden launched to do just that by removing all barriers to engaging in service. Volunteers can sign-up for a volunteer opportunity, or "Golden Opportunity", in a click of a button - No more paperwork, wait time or back-and-forth communication. And the best part? The Opportunities are personalized to every individual based on what they like to do for fun. By pairing service with a hobby, we strive to put users in their Golden Moments - when one is carefree, loving life and aware of the feeling. 

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Weekly nonprofit news updates.

Crypto Billionaire Donates $1 Billion In Meme Coin To India The founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, announced that he has donated approximately $1 billion in the meme coin Shiba Inu to nonprofit organizations battling COVID-19 in India. The announcement comes at an interesting moment as philanthropists are increasingly taking up cryptocurrency and disbursing the digital coins to nonprofits. While the volatility of cryptocurrency raises many questions about such donations, nonprofits should increasingly pay attention to this trend as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream.

Read more ➝ Nonprofit Jobs Report Shows Net Increase But Less Significant Growth With the increase in jobs, the nonprofit sector has recovered half of total jobs lost because of the pandemic, according to a new report based on data from the Center for Civil Society Studies (CCSS) at Johns Hopkins University. In line with national job statistics, job growth slowed in April compared to March. While arts, entertainment, & recreation jobs grew 12%, education and health-care sectors lost a small percentage of jobs. Experts say it remains to be seen whether the slowed growth represents a broader trend or a mere “blip” on the monthly job totals.

Read more ➝ * Blood donors needed as regional supply hits "critical "shortage * Kane County paid $483,000 to nonprofit fighting Biden conservation plan * Nike and Crisis Text Line Mental Health Partnership | Well+Good * Gates Foundation Gets Oxygen to India

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Weekly nonprofit news updates.

Crypto Billionaire Donates $1 Billion In Meme Coin To India The founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, announced that he has donated approximately $1 billion in the meme coin Shiba Inu to nonprofit organizations battling COVID-19 in India. The announcement comes at an interesting moment as philanthropists are increasingly taking up cryptocurrency and disbursing the digital coins to nonprofits. While the volatility of cryptocurrency raises many questions about such donations, nonprofits should increasingly pay attention to this trend as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream.

Read more ➝ Nonprofit Jobs Report Shows Net Increase But Less Significant Growth With the increase in jobs, the nonprofit sector has recovered half of total jobs lost because of the pandemic, according to a new report based on data from the Center for Civil Society Studies (CCSS) at Johns Hopkins University. In line with national job statistics, job growth slowed in April compared to March. While arts, entertainment, & recreation jobs grew 12%, education and health-care sectors lost a small percentage of jobs. Experts say it remains to be seen whether the slowed growth represents a broader trend or a mere “blip” on the monthly job totals.

Read more ➝ * Blood donors needed as regional supply hits "critical "shortage * Kane County paid $483,000 to nonprofit fighting Biden conservation plan * Nike and Crisis Text Line Mental Health Partnership | Well+Good * Gates Foundation Gets Oxygen to India

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Bill & Melinda Gates File For Divorce After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda Gates have filed for divorce, rocking one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the process. The Gates Foundation, which began working with providing internet to libraries, now manages nearly $5 billion in annual grants and employs nearly 1,600 people, tackling problems all over the world. The organization has recently given nearly $1.6 billion to fight COVID-19 globally. The New York Times quotes Megan Tompkins-Stange, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, who notes that “the foundation’s $50 billion endowment is in a charitable trust that is irrevocable” that “cannot be removed or divided up as a marital asset.” She says that while change may come, she doesn’t see this “as a big asteroid landing on the field of philanthropy as some of the hyperbole around this has indicated.”

Read more ➝ Nonprofits & Foundations On The Front Lines Of Tackling Vaccine Hesitancy The United States is more and more finding that decreasing demand, not limited supply, is limiting vaccine intake among the general population. Organizations such as the Ad Council, Kaiser Family Foundation and others are working hard to both understand what motivates vaccine hesitancy and then educate the public about vaccines and answer common questions about them. These organizations represent just a few of the nonprofit, philanthropic, and other public policy and health organizations working hard to educate the public at a critical juncture of the pandemic.

Read more ➝ Summary * Twitter launches Tip Jar, a potential pathway to nonprofit donations * A Nonprofit Promised to Preserve Wildlife. Then It Made Millions Claiming It Could Cut Down Trees * What if trees covered half of New Orleans? City teams with nonprofit to try * ‘Every Day We're Getting Survivors': Nonprofit Overwhelmed by Uptick in Domestic Violence Cases

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Bill & Melinda Gates File For Divorce After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda Gates have filed for divorce, rocking one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the process. The Gates Foundation, which began working with providing internet to libraries, now manages nearly $5 billion in annual grants and employs nearly 1,600 people, tackling problems all over the world. The organization has recently given nearly $1.6 billion to fight COVID-19 globally. The New York Times quotes Megan Tompkins-Stange, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, who notes that “the foundation’s $50 billion endowment is in a charitable trust that is irrevocable” that “cannot be removed or divided up as a marital asset.” She says that while change may come, she doesn’t see this “as a big asteroid landing on the field of philanthropy as some of the hyperbole around this has indicated.”

Read more ➝ Nonprofits & Foundations On The Front Lines Of Tackling Vaccine Hesitancy The United States is more and more finding that decreasing demand, not limited supply, is limiting vaccine intake among the general population. Organizations such as the Ad Council, Kaiser Family Foundation and others are working hard to both understand what motivates vaccine hesitancy and then educate the public about vaccines and answer common questions about them. These organizations represent just a few of the nonprofit, philanthropic, and other public policy and health organizations working hard to educate the public at a critical juncture of the pandemic.

Read more ➝ Summary * Twitter launches Tip Jar, a potential pathway to nonprofit donations * A Nonprofit Promised to Preserve Wildlife. Then It Made Millions Claiming It Could Cut Down Trees * What if trees covered half of New Orleans? City teams with nonprofit to try * ‘Every Day We're Getting Survivors': Nonprofit Overwhelmed by Uptick in Domestic Violence Cases

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We interview Erline Belton the Author of Your Voice Matters.

Erline Belton is President and CEO of Belton’s Crossing, LLC a real estate Development Corporation and the CEO and Founder of the Lyceum Group, an organizational development-consulting firm. The mission of her consulting firm, The Lyceum Group, is to influence societal and workplace re-thinking to encourage new possibilities. Her life’s work is to be of service to others in their search for truth-based principle and strategies that support positive business results. Her focus is US and international markets. Her most recent international assignments were in South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Cote Te Voire and Zimbabwe. She has spent 25 years as a senior corporate executive in the high technology industry, and in the insurance industry, and eight years in higher education.

“Your Voice Matters,” is a compelling achievement by Erline Belton. Her writings lead readers on a personal journey of self-exploration. Her book helps readers find the courage to speak the unspoken, and to realize the amazing grace of offering their voice and life stories. Speaking what is on your heart, speaking what you are feeling, and thinking opens the pathway to embracing all of who you are and who you alone are meant to be.

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Nonprofit News for the week of May 4th, 2021

Democratic Nonprofit Sues Ahead of Potential Redistricting Fight Off the heels of a contentious and troublesome 2020 census, the next political fight shaping up with substantial impact might be redistricting. Acknowledging these tense political battles yet to come, a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit National Redistricting Action Fund, associated with the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, is filing lawsuits in an attempt to make the results of any political impasses fair. While the specifics of the case or complex, nonprofits and advocacy groups should know that redistricting can significantly impact both national and local politics for a decade. Redistricting alone could mean the difference between a Democrat and GOP - controlled House of Representatives, according to experts. The politics of redistricting are such that in most cases, states themselves decide who ends up in a particular district, actively franchising and disenfranchising communities in the process.

Read more ➝ Atlanta Girl Scouts Left With $3 Million In Unsold Cookies For local Girl Scouts, the fundraising gap left by nearly 700k+ unsold boxes of cookies could mean the difference between affording to be able to partake in scout-related activities and not being able to do so. The decrease in efficacy of door-to-door selling and other more commercial fundraisers should be a warning to nonprofits that so heavily rely on typically in-person fundraisers, especially during the pandemic.

Read more ➝ The Summary... * Independent Sector Statement on the American Families Plan and 28% Deduction Cap * CHERP builds first nonprofit solar panel factory | Claremont Courier * Organ-donation nonprofit Mid-America Transplant plans $10.5M development in Dogtown * New York Life launches $1 billion impact investment initiative * 145 House members call for $360 million in nonprofit security grant funding * Nonprofit hopes to resettle refugee families in Va. town

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Nonprofit News for the week of May 4th, 2021

Democratic Nonprofit Sues Ahead of Potential Redistricting Fight Off the heels of a contentious and troublesome 2020 census, the next political fight shaping up with substantial impact might be redistricting. Acknowledging these tense political battles yet to come, a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit National Redistricting Action Fund, associated with the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, is filing lawsuits in an attempt to make the results of any political impasses fair. While the specifics of the case or complex, nonprofits and advocacy groups should know that redistricting can significantly impact both national and local politics for a decade. Redistricting alone could mean the difference between a Democrat and GOP - controlled House of Representatives, according to experts. The politics of redistricting are such that in most cases, states themselves decide who ends up in a particular district, actively franchising and disenfranchising communities in the process.

Read more ➝ Atlanta Girl Scouts Left With $3 Million In Unsold Cookies For local Girl Scouts, the fundraising gap left by nearly 700k+ unsold boxes of cookies could mean the difference between affording to be able to partake in scout-related activities and not being able to do so. The decrease in efficacy of door-to-door selling and other more commercial fundraisers should be a warning to nonprofits that so heavily rely on typically in-person fundraisers, especially during the pandemic.

Read more ➝ The Summary... * Independent Sector Statement on the American Families Plan and 28% Deduction Cap * CHERP builds first nonprofit solar panel factory | Claremont Courier * Organ-donation nonprofit Mid-America Transplant plans $10.5M development in Dogtown * New York Life launches $1 billion impact investment initiative * 145 House members call for $360 million in nonprofit security grant funding * Nonprofit hopes to resettle refugee families in Va. town

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Meredith Esquivel the Senior Marketing Manager at Whole Whale shares what she has learned after 5 years before leaving for business school.

About Meredith Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithesquivel/

Meredith is fascinated by human behavior, particularly how digital “body language” can inform marketing strategies for social good. Certified in Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Pardot by Salesforce, she is a classic philomath and is always seeking new and engaging ways to communicate with people online.

As an account manager, Meredith leads teams of fellow Whalers to provide best-in-class services to her clients. She has overseen the digital strategies of over 12 nonprofit and for-good organizations, helping them to increase site traffic and drive measurable impact online. Email is currently Meredith’s favorite way to increase the impact of Whole Whale’s clients — she has designed and executed email marketing and lead generation campaigns for Donate Life America, Americares, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Charitybuzz, Rebuilding Together and more. In addition to client management and services, Meredith also leads Whole Whale’s in-house email marketing, and has more than tripled the Whole Whale subscriber list through an integrated lead acquisition strategy (and plenty of A/B testing).

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Supreme Court To Hear Nonprofit Fundraising Case With Broad Implications For Sector On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a case on donor transparency and fundraising with the potential for broad implications for both traditional nonprofits and political organizations. The case centers on a dispute about whether California can mandate that tax-exempt organizations report its top donors to the government. While in theory this reporting would be confidential, the case has broad implications about whether the government can and should track contributions to tax-exempt organizations. This case in some ways tackles an issue similar to the landmark Citizens United v. FEC case of 2010, which greatly changed campaign finance rules and allowed for the greater flow of “dark money” into 502(c)4 political organizations, according to critics. Politicians of both parties are split over their opinion of the case.

M+R 2020 Benchmarks Released, Shows Trends In Nonprofit Fundraising & Marketing Nonprofit communication and marketing firm M+R has released its annual 2020 annual benchmarks report. The report shows that online revenue for nonprofits increased 32% in 2020, with the increased revenue benefiting nonprofits that tackle hunger and poverty the most. The report also shows how nonprofits are doubling down on digital advertising, increasing investments by 33%. The report dives deep into specific digital marketing metrics and is a must-read for organizations seeking to understand their digital performance among their peers.

Summary

• The 2021 Nonprofit 40 Under 40
• City Nonprofits Face 'Financial Catastrophe' Due to Pandemic’s Demands
• Nonprofits gain funding from unusual source: Marijuana sales
• Fundraising Platform Classy Snares $118M In Venture Funds
• Four nonprofits turning Manchester warehouse into shared headquarters

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Supreme Court To Hear Nonprofit Fundraising Case With Broad Implications For Sector On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a case on donor transparency and fundraising with the potential for broad implications for both traditional nonprofits and political organizations. The case centers on a dispute about whether California can mandate that tax-exempt organizations report its top donors to the government. While in theory this reporting would be confidential, the case has broad implications about whether the government can and should track contributions to tax-exempt organizations. This case in some ways tackles an issue similar to the landmark Citizens United v. FEC case of 2010, which greatly changed campaign finance rules and allowed for the greater flow of “dark money” into 502(c)4 political organizations, according to critics. Politicians of both parties are split over their opinion of the case.

M+R 2020 Benchmarks Released, Shows Trends In Nonprofit Fundraising & Marketing Nonprofit communication and marketing firm M+R has released its annual 2020 annual benchmarks report. The report shows that online revenue for nonprofits increased 32% in 2020, with the increased revenue benefiting nonprofits that tackle hunger and poverty the most. The report also shows how nonprofits are doubling down on digital advertising, increasing investments by 33%. The report dives deep into specific digital marketing metrics and is a must-read for organizations seeking to understand their digital performance among their peers.

Summary

• The 2021 Nonprofit 40 Under 40
• City Nonprofits Face 'Financial Catastrophe' Due to Pandemic’s Demands
• Nonprofits gain funding from unusual source: Marijuana sales
• Fundraising Platform Classy Snares $118M In Venture Funds
• Four nonprofits turning Manchester warehouse into shared headquarters

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Host Kariesha Martinez interviews Dan Treglia, PhD about the complexities of affordable housing and the nuance of how San Francisco ended up paying $61k per tent. 

About Dan Treglia

Dan Treglia, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, Associate Director of the Partnership for Effective Public Administration and Leadership Ethics (PEPALE), Senior Research Fellow at United For ALICE, and our Research and Evaluation Whaler. His research focuses on homelessness, housing instability, and income insecurity, and his work on aging homelessness and COVID-19's impact on homelessness has driven national media attention and policymaking. Dr. Treglia has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and a masters in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  Prior to joining Penn, Dr. Treglia managed research and evaluation for New York City's Department of Homeless Services.  He continues to work with nonprofits and state and local governments across the country to ensure that policymakers and practitioners can use the best available evidence in their decision-making.

Learn more about Dan at dantreglia.com.

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Nonprofitnewsfeed.com summary of the week of 4/12/2021

GOP Fundraising Platform Under Fire for Deceptive Donation Forms A recent New York Times article highlighted the potentially deceptive nature of fundraising forms hosted on the GOP’s WinRed donation platform, resulting in the Trump campaign having to issue nearly $122 million in refunds and causing a spike in fraud complaints to banks. These donation landing pages were criticized for aggressively pushing users to become recurring donors by automatically checking off a “Make this a monthly recurring donation” box (a practice not limited to GOP fundraising). The onus on the user to “opt-out” of a recurring donation is being criticized as unethical, especially as the forms became increasingly difficult to navigate as the election drew nearer. The blowback aimed at the campaign, from its own supporters no less, should give pause to any organization seeking to dupe its donors.

Read more ➝ Multiple Alleged Nonprofit CEO Fraud Cases Make News A lot of fraud among nonprofit employees and leaders has made the news this week:

• Former Employee At Nonprofit Charged With Stealing $4.7M
• Religious nonprofit CEO arrested by FBI in fraud case
• 68-year-old woman accused of stealing $4.72 million from Huntington West Virginia nonprofit

Read more ➝ Summary

• Facebook Helps Raise $5 Billion
• The iOS14 Update and Facebook Ads
• America's Charities Named Best Nonprofit to Work For
• Two Philanthropic Strategies Aim to Boost Faltering Local News
• Billionaires John, Laura Arnold to give 5% of wealth yearly
• Union workers at Festus Goodwill reject latest proposal from nonprofit
• Local Nonprofit Advancing Knowledge Of The Holocaust Through Art

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Nonprofitnewsfeed.com summary of the week of 4/12/2021

GOP Fundraising Platform Under Fire for Deceptive Donation Forms A recent New York Times article highlighted the potentially deceptive nature of fundraising forms hosted on the GOP’s WinRed donation platform, resulting in the Trump campaign having to issue nearly $122 million in refunds and causing a spike in fraud complaints to banks. These donation landing pages were criticized for aggressively pushing users to become recurring donors by automatically checking off a “Make this a monthly recurring donation” box (a practice not limited to GOP fundraising). The onus on the user to “opt-out” of a recurring donation is being criticized as unethical, especially as the forms became increasingly difficult to navigate as the election drew nearer. The blowback aimed at the campaign, from its own supporters no less, should give pause to any organization seeking to dupe its donors.

Read more ➝ Multiple Alleged Nonprofit CEO Fraud Cases Make News A lot of fraud among nonprofit employees and leaders has made the news this week:

• Former Employee At Nonprofit Charged With Stealing $4.7M
• Religious nonprofit CEO arrested by FBI in fraud case
• 68-year-old woman accused of stealing $4.72 million from Huntington West Virginia nonprofit

Read more ➝ Summary

• Facebook Helps Raise $5 Billion
• The iOS14 Update and Facebook Ads
• America's Charities Named Best Nonprofit to Work For
• Two Philanthropic Strategies Aim to Boost Faltering Local News
• Billionaires John, Laura Arnold to give 5% of wealth yearly
• Union workers at Festus Goodwill reject latest proposal from nonprofit
• Local Nonprofit Advancing Knowledge Of The Holocaust Through Art

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Micaela Connery, Co-founder of The Kelsey talks about how they use financing and grants to 10x investment in affordably disability housing in San Francisco and San Jose. She also gives her reaction to the $60k per tent that San Francisco paid during the Pandemic.

About Micaela Micaela co-founded The Kelsey with her cousin Kelsey, who continues to inspire and inform the mission and work today. Micaela has been working on inclusion in communities her entire life. She has seen firsthand the housing crisis facing adults with disabilities and their families. As a research fellow at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, she spent a year studying the issue in detail. The Kelsey exists to turn the challenge of disability housing into the opportunity of inclusive community.

Micaela completed her MPP at Harvard Kennedy School focusing on housing, disability inclusion, and community development. She was a Cheng Fellow at the Harvard Social Innovation and Change Initiative where she worked on designing The Kelsey. In 2017, she received her MBA as a Mitchell Scholar in the Smurfit School at University College Dublin. She’s a proud University of Virginia Wahoo. Prior to The Kelsey, Micaela was the founder and CEO of Unified Theater.

More about The Kelsey

Podcast Transcript

George:

This week on the podcast, I have an old friend, Micaela Connery joining us to talk a little bit about her work at The Kelsey. Welcome to the using the Whole Whale podcast where we learn from leaders about new ideas and digital strategies making a difference in the social impact world. This podcast is a proud production of Whole Whale, a B Corp digital agency. Thank you for joining us. Now, let's go learn something.

George:

Micaela, I have known of your work for a very long time, when you founded your first nonprofit now on to your second, it's incredible. But you are the co-founder and CEO of The Kelsey, an amazing group building inclusive housing at scale in some of the toughest [inaudible 00:00:52] San Francisco and down in San Jose I believe, housing for I think it's hundreds of people right now. Is that correct?

Micaela Connery:

That is correct.

George:

And amazing [crosstalk 00:01:00]. Can you tell us a bit about your work?

Micaela Connery:

Yeah, so good to be on, George and great to share The Kelsey's mission and what we're working on. So our mission is to pioneer disability forward housing solutions with the belief that doing so opens doors to homes and opportunities for everyone. So what began with a really personal and issue specific passion around housing for people with disabilities, both started with our co-founder and my cousin Kelsey, and her own personal challenges finding housing in the community, as well as the issues that the millions of Americans with disabilities face and communities all over the country in finding housing that's affordable, accessible and inclusive. So we started with that need and recognize that building integrated community-based housing for people with disabilities and meeting those needs just creates a better housing product for all people and all communities.

Micaela Connery:

And to your point around doing so with a very, you know there are 61 million Americans with disabilities. So thinking about this issue at scale, and thinking about how we influence change, not just for the 240 plus homes in our pipeline, but thinking about how that can expand out to serve millions of people nationally and even more millions globally, is a joint impact and systems change strategy where we both build communities to meet immediate housing needs and demonstrate what's works. And then use that to inform systems level policy, advocacy, community organizing and field building so that we can create the market conditions and remove the barriers in markets, so that inclusive housing for people with and without disabilities becomes the norm. And so we're on our way to doing that as a still relatively young but high impact to date organization.

George:

I feel like I probably understood a good half of that. And this is why I reached out to you. I reached out to you also initially because of an article that came out and I just needed help understanding it. The article coming out in the San Francisco Chronicle talking about the $16 million that was spent on tents, the top line is like $61,000 per tent per year. And I'm like, that's not housing, how's the city spending this much on a tent that doesn't have running water, that doesn't have four strong walls? And here, you're over there building hundreds of units and I don't know, what was your reaction to that? How do you make sense of this for someone like me?

Micaela Connery:

Yeah. So I think my reaction to that is that, as the public and our media is very quick to sort of first of all, the solution was meant in defense of sort of the cost there, this was not meant to be a permanent or perfect solution. This was an emergency solution during a time of COVID, where people were trying to figure out how to keep the unhoused community in San Francisco safe and healthy in the best way possible. But I don't think I doubt anybody would come out and say that this is the long-term solution. But I think sort of the public outcry around that cost, we have to hold public accountability to if you're complaining about the millions of dollars put into that tent community, and you're not also advocating for permanent funding sources and taxpayer subsidized funding sources for affordable permanent housing, ground up development communities.

Micaela Connery:

And or you're not advocating for the development and increased density or increased housing units down the block from where you live or in the neighborhood that you think is so cute, where you'd like to walk in and spend time in. You can't have both parts of that. So it's great to sort of say that these emergency solutions are not cost effective or even not sort of long-term dignified and humane for the people who live there. And in the same vein, then you need to say and what I think should be that solution is publicly financed, ground up development increased density in the city in the neighborhood, where I live and where I work and where I pay taxes. So we're always willing to spend money in sort of a reactive way often, and then easy to critique that spending. And what we need to be looking at is sort of proactive long-term solutions and solutions that leverage.

Micaela Connery:

I think one of the interesting pieces about that article is it brought up that that solution was not eligible for sort of federal partnership and federal reimbursement. So thinking about solutions that how money is spent, but how a piece of money spent on a local level or at a foundation level also was used to unlock other dollars, I think also was a sub note of that conversation but something that is important and equally relevant as we think about affordable housing, in the Bay Area.

George:

In my brain, I try to categorize things. I put this in the firm category of ounce of prevention versus pound of cure. Ounce of prevention, and you could be doing here really is tiny, but ultimately, you find yourself in times of crisis of stress, like a pandemic, but that was building for a long time, but the article needed to get headlines. And it did, because it's an alarming to look at how much a pound of cure costs, how much that actually is. And to the larger point of like, what people are actually paying for, like the other comparable program they were looking at was even more expensive, which is the hotel program, the city spends 300 million thereabouts per year on the on house community in and similar services and it costs them 270, for instance. About 270 per night to put someone who's experiencing homelessness in a hotel.

George:

By the way, that's 100 grand. That's 100 grand a year and guess what happens next year, no new house was built, nothing in the realm of affordability. So I think it's maybe frustrating, because you get to look at how the community reacts. And like all that's like anger and rage and like, "George reached out to me at this moment, because he's like, all fired up and confused." As opposed to like, what about when that prop, whatever was going around? Because in California, those of you who don't live here, we can vote on just about anything including not limited to the flavor of our vape pens that we want to allow. And then you end up seeing a lot of these maybe lost and forgotten bond measures or pieces in municipal or city or state levels that we can vote on, that would lead toward that ounce of prevention. Can you talk a little bit about that? Things that you see right now or things that, like why did we not do this or that with regard to props?

Micaela Connery:

Yeah, so props and measures, depending on whether we're talking sort of at the city or county or state level, that support and I think going back to your hotel are a huge part of supporting solutions here. And I think going back to your hotel example, and sort of getting paying sort of the per night cost to have somebody have a big house and have a roof over their head, I think is looking at sort of one piece of the housing puzzle. So we need to look at sites and land and how and where housing gets built. We need to look at dollars and cents and who pays for and what the cost of that housing is and who's paying for that cost. And then we also do need when we look at the cost of homelessness in a city like San Francisco and anywhere, we're also often talking about supportive services and therapeutic services and medical services and all types of other programming that has nothing to do with sort of the physical space where a person lives.

Micaela Connery:

So it's important to and so it's really easy for people to just talk about the cost to develop housing or the cost per night of a hotel room. But we really need to think holistically about those three pieces of the puzzle, sort of the where the dollars and the and the services. And so when you look at, if you're thinking about the issue of homelessness in the Bay Area, you should be thinking about how you're saying yes to different measures and props that are providing funding for affordable housing, where you live. But it's really easy to have sticker shock and quick responses to a one piece of that puzzle, but it's going to take us thinking across the whole supply chain of affordable and market rate housing. Those two pieces come together toO.

George:

Yeah. There's a lot of sticker shock.

Micaela Connery:

Yeah.

George:

A lot of shocking information. It's like it's shocking at a big number and at a little number because it's frustrating also to watch how small the I guess in this case, the cost per house so that denominator is right, that the single human guy got tent versus like something that maybe could have been planned to three years prior, something that was a bit more permanent. But then in this article, they also quote, which is just shocking, housing costs of $700,000 a unit. I got like, I watched like, flip this house and shit, like you can go and buy. You can buy a house for half of that somewhere else, like what is going on? In my mind, I'm like, "Gosh, move to Nevada or something," like why can't we get the cost down or what goes into this number?"

Micaela Connery:

Yeah, so I think first let's talk about the move to Nevada question, which is I do think I want to be careful around that piece, which is that people talk about, and it's been an ongoing discussion, the disability community of like, it just costs too much to live or too much to build in the Bay Area. And the solution is, people need to look elsewhere. I think that's one not the solution. We as bay area we want to an income diverse community. But I also think, we've seen, it's interesting, the one of our service partners, the Golden Gate Regional Center, which is the agency who provides support for people with developmental disabilities in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties. And their executive director often talks about that people have been priced out of their kind of catchment area, because they can no longer afford to live there.

Micaela Connery:

And when they are priced out, guess what? Sure, they can find somewhere cheaper to live in the Central Valley, although now they're increasing, they're having their own affordable housing crisis and it's sort of bleeding out. But also when we require people to live elsewhere, because they can afford it, we're also requiring them to leave their natural and community support systems, whether that be the person who supports them in their home, or their friends, or their church or their family. So that can't be our solution. And I think the cost of housing, there's a lot of factors. We are underwriting two projects right now, one that will start construction at the end of this year in San Jose, and one about a year behind in San Francisco. And it's just expensive to develop housing [crosstalk 00:12:05].

George:

What are the numbers on those? Can you just tease us with... what can you share?

Micaela Connery:

Yeah, I mean, we're going to come in and about what is average for the region, which is somewhere between 600 and $700,000 a door. And that is the reality of developing in the Bay Area, and particularly developing as we try to engineer costs. You can do things like, take out amenity spaces, or take out accessibility features or value engineering certain sustainable materials and that's [crosstalk 00:12:35].

George:

You're doing 240 units, you said?

Micaela Connery:

Yes.

George:

So you're wielding upwards [inaudible 00:12:42] $160 million right now.

Micaela Connery:

Well, I'm not wielding it personally but yes, we are. We will unlock that. And I think that's also another important piece here is what we wield is the philanthropic dollars, that is sort of the first money in. So in both of our projects that are right around 65 to $75 million development projects, like I said, both around 101, 115, one 112 homes in San Jose in San Francisco, and they're going to be upwards of 70, right around 70, $75 million projects in total. And we will be open sourcing our financials once those numbers are totally, once our financing closes, because that's part of our mission is to be really transparent about how these projects get built and funded. So once the numbers are final and firm, we'll be sharing those with anybody who's interested in seeing them and to what we wield.

Micaela Connery:

I think that's also a really important part of this discussion is how we use philanthropic and private dollars to make these kinds of multi-million dollar several 100 home communities possible, is that we use Philanthropy in the early phase to de risk and acquire sites that are value add development opportunities. Then we bring in the public subsidy in the city partnership to take a huge chunk of the capital with public investment, then we've got sort of the key pieces and go forward and unlock other state federal and philanthropic dollars to round out the capital stack. And so what we wield is yes, we have over 150 million in a housing development portfolio underway right now, and ultimately what our projects will cost, and that's made possible by about $15 million in philanthropy.

Micaela Connery:

So that's really where the Kelsey is singularly focused right now is how do we raise philanthropic dollars so that an individual donor can put in a million dollars into a project to support affordable, inclusive housing. But there are a million dollars isn't just worth a million, it's actually worth 10 million, because we're taking that million and we're lining it up with public subsidy and a permanent mortgage and tax credits and federal dollars to be able to make these communities feasible overall. I think that's when we talked about cost per unit but we should also be talking about value per dollar. Which is like you put in your money, leverage matters a lot, and you put in your philanthropic dollars. Or a city puts in their public subsidy, and how is that being used alongside other capital to create more value and ultimately house more people and a better product?

George:

I think I love hearing you talking about the financial stack and making it open source. And I want to get back to that in a second but I have to take my hat off, and salute full on love. Anytime someone like yourself applies an abundance mindset versus gets trapped in a scarcity mindset, someone who says, oh my gosh, we have like $15 million in our backyard. Like you could have just as easily put up the blinders and been like, all right, let's protect this and let's build 10 units over here on the side, because we can control it. And it would be way too risky to then try to parlay that and take that kind of risk and take that kind of gamble for good, if we're being honest. Like you had to hold your breath and convince a lot of people that, "No, no, we're going somewhere good."

George:

I nod and I see this also in the health sector at times, I have to point to groups like the Michael J. Fox Foundation that do a similar bit of work where they de-risk, this is an important word, especially when talking to the financial folks. De-risk for pharma to work on pharmaceutical research that helps advance Parkinson's and research around Parkinson's disease and finding a cure there. And the same way that you were doing that here, you could have gone there again, and been like, "We're going to take it, we're going to build one unit." But no, you're like, here's an intractable problem you dropped, it was like 60 million folks in our country, fall into the category of disabilities and how you solve that is not 10 units at a time, let's be honest.

George:

You have a big freaking role. And yeah, open sourcing a model like this makes a lot of sense, but I think what I also love is that the advantage, it's like, the strategic advantage is actually in the inclusivity itself, because you open up the door to these other subsidies, you can play it in. I mean, it's kind of incredible. Maybe you can talk a little bit more about designing that at a tangible level and making the case to like, all right, you got the foundation on board, like how do you get the next Domino to fall?

Micaela Connery:

Yeah, well, I think to pick up on the abundance mindset versus a scarcity mindset. If you go on our website, that's actually one of our principles of advocacy and organizing too because for two reasons. One is that when I first started research on this, so when I, like I mentioned in a personal family connection, but I started this from kind of an academic, like what's the problem? And it was looking at where the existing projects were often disability only. And they were often sort of philanthropicly or independently financed by a group of families or one foundation where they were building sort of six units or even 25 units at a time, but they weren't being done alongside public subsidy or the other, even privately financed sort of affordable and market rate housing infrastructure. So it was really important for me when I started this work of one, we don't want to segregate people with disabilities.

Micaela Connery:

And every focus group we did with people with disabilities, they said they didn't want to be segregated. So the sort of inclusive model was both what was kind of qualitatively right. But it was also to your point quantitatively what made sense, because by integrating housing for people with disabilities alongside whether that be other affordable homes or other middle income or other market rate homes. It then opens these projects up to unlocking the public subsidy that is tied to those other housing unit types, and making sure that disability funding doesn't sort of get hold away over there, but it's used to kind of unlock and bring forward and if you do the calculations, sort of on a per unit what needs to be fundraised basis, you're getting a better bang for your buck in the philanthropic raise that we have. In our San Jose project, we have 29 homes.

Micaela Connery:

If we just went and built those 29 homes of the 115 for people with disabilities who use supportive services, we could have to your point exactly gone and just build those 29 homes with private financing, but it would have segregated and it also would have actually on what we had to raise, then equal if not more than what we're having to raise for doing it in this integrated sort of public private partnership model. So that was really key and I'd also say we think a lot about intersectionality and the scarcity mindset that I do fear that if we don't sort of think of the deepest affordability which frankly public sector partnership is required to go into the SSI Reliant lowest income people with disabilities. Which is disproportionately black and brown people with disabilities, we have to look at an abundance mindset and have to recognize the diversity of disability needs and the role that the public and philanthropic sector plays to solve that. And that sort of create these very white and very affluent segregated models that is just not kind of meeting the broadest definition of disability inclusivity.

George:

Yeah. Narrative thread too in here is the service efficiency and community. And definitely back to my obviously like poor thought but I've heard it mentioned before, of like, hey, there's tons of room in Las Vegas, right? I should just build a giant tower out there on the desert. And like, there you go, your cost per units 30k, and you're set, put everybody on an island. And there's so many reasons not to do that. But also like, let's just bring it back to economic arguments, because you've had to make the economic argument. As soon as you walk out of the philanthropic rooms, I know because I know you in your conversations, you're like, "No, no, this makes financial sense." It's going to cost you so much more to bring in the community necessary to serve this population, that's going to put a huge price on this and not to be like that kind of ruthless and pragmatic.

George:

But I feel like you've had to look at the freaking numbers involved and be like, "Look, it's just better anyway you slice it, when you look at the whole person, the whole situation and the ounce of prevention, and how you [inaudible 00:21:36] in community. I think it makes a stronger community in general. And just I don't know if there's any other piece. I want to also touch on the fact that you name yourself as a co-founder, and I also happen to know that you consider Kelsey the other co-founder. I wonder how it's been championing a cause for which you personally, frankly, are not a constituent of, though you have obviously a close relationship. How do you navigate that when you're in the rooms that you're in?

Micaela Connery:

Yeah. So I think of like I mentioned that Kelsey, my cousin had multiple significant disabilities, she actually passed away right around the time that we got our first funding for The Kelsey. So what started off as an organization that was really shaped by her has also become a legacy organization and that's something I take really seriously and I'm really proud of. But I think a lot about what it means to be a leader and allyship of saying that I consider myself an ally of the community of people with disabilities and of disability rights issues, and recognize that I myself have not lived with a disability. Likely as many of us will, I could live with a disability at another point later in my life, but right now I have not had the experience of living with a disability or being a part of the disability community.

Micaela Connery:

And I take that really seriously and what that means to be a leader and how I don't think it should be a requirement that no non-disabled individuals can lead disability rights focused organizations, or disability service efforts or inclusive housing development, as is the case in what I'm doing. I think it would be negative if no people without disabilities thought they could lead or be a part of solutions for people with and without disabilities. But I think it really requires intentionality, and being co-led by people with and without disabilities. So that has come through in my work in big and small ways that the first thing I did when I started thinking about what it would look like to build new solutions and housing for people with disabilities was go talk to people with disabilities, and learn from the leaders of disability rights and service and advocacy organizations across the country.

Micaela Connery:

And also be really willing, which I think leadership as an ally requires even more than any other leadership of being really open to criticism and challenging feedback. So when I first started this organization, I had disability rights advocates, who changed my view on how I approached this from the very start and sort of made me rethink about services and housing models and how that would be delivered. That directly shaped how The Kelsey has looked at our inclusion concierge and our on-site services model and think really intentionally from the feedback of disabled leaders. We did focus groups where we centered people with disabilities and all different types of disabilities and their family members and other community members, so that people with disabilities insights and feedback was embedded in our model from the start. And then we thought about our organization leadership and how we are co-led again, on our board and on our staff to ensure that we have people with disabilities represented and particularly increasing to think about also people of color with disabilities, which is exceptionally important and something that we've also centered on.

Micaela Connery:

So taking that seriously and not being afraid also to name that, I don't have a disability, and there's a power dynamic and a privilege that comes with that, and that I need to be conscious of and recognize every single day in this work. And that doesn't mean my leadership is less valuable or less credible. It just requires the attention to that and not pretending that that's not something that creates the dynamic that needs to be constantly addressed and questioned and pushed forward. So I take that job and that responsibility and what I would say the privilege really seriously.

George:

What do you think The Kelsey is in 10 years?

Micaela Connery:

I think that there is a Kelsey community in every major market in the country, but that there are also Kelsey enabled models of housing that are not called the Kelsey and that aren't run by or supported by the Kelsey directly. But that our advocacy on a systems level or our influence on sort of a field building level has created a whole ecosystem of disability forward including housing options, which I hope and believe that the Kelsey will be the best in class but will be the best in class of a very diverse market of disability inclusive housing. And that's sort of our dream, that we're still operating communities everywhere for anybody who wants to live in them, but that there are other people operating communities that have a lot of similar characteristics. And we're really proud of that, of sort of the groundswell of disability forward housing solutions that are our model and our advocacy in our field building has made possible.

George:

This is just to come back to how unselfishly you care about what you're trying to achieve, to open source your secret sauce of like, this is how you combine these financial models, these subsidies, these city and municipal actors. Like you're giving away the blueprint to coalesce competitors, in many of the same ways that you watch like Elon Musk sort of like not really give a shit when he's like open sourcing a lot of like, lithium ion, drive train designs for the Tesla. He's like, "Shit, we need electric cars. This is just where we need to be. I don't give a shit if I am the one who wins but I know that I need to make a very viable stand to wake up."

George:

And we saw announcements this year, many car companies being like by 20 some odd, it should have been 10 years ago, we're going to get to... Like each one had to capitulate. So I think it is beautiful that you want a field of competitors in 10 years rather than like winner take all.

Micaela Connery:

Yeah, no.

George:

I knew there was a reason I had you on this podcast. How much money would that take? How much money would it take just to get you where you need to in 10 years? Like someone just write a check.

Micaela Connery:

Yeah, I think that if I think about this question a lot that if we essentially, if we wanted to have think about a Kelsey in every state across the country, and we wanted to have a seed like sort of [inaudible 00:28:17]. What if we could do like a search fund for inclusive disability forward housing models? We could kind of do what we did in the Bay Area, that together we can do more community organizing and sort of open source groundswell kind of process and then pick a couple of sites to develop. And we wanted like $10 million to see that in every single state. I think we could make a dent and move this issue permanently forward. So yeah, if somebody would like to write us our $500 million check, I'd be very into us taking this nationwide within 10 years [crosstalk 00:28:49].

George:

You can do 500 all at once, you can do 10 per state as a roll out.

Micaela Connery:

Yeah.

George:

There's your number. 10 will get you 100.

Micaela Connery:

Yeah.

George:

10 will get you 100, come to the table. I love it. All right. I can talk to you forever, about a number of topics, but I'm excited to move in to a rapid fire. All right, you've got 30 seconds ish, to respond to the following. So I'm sure there's questions ahead of time. Hopefully, you are ready, what is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in the last year?

Micaela Connery:

Black, and we love it.

George:

Boy, what tech issues are you currently battling with?

Micaela Connery:

Well, we are definitely continuing to look at website and Zoom and other online Google Docs, Google Sheets, accessibility. So we obviously center on having disabled people with diverse access needs both sensory and cognitive, and people who are blind and people who are deaf. So how to make all especially in this virtual world be fully accessible, whether that be our website, or a Zoom meeting, or our design standards work that we're doing with 600 design elements in Excel spreadsheet of how to make those accessible to a diverse group of people with disabilities. We have a long way to go, I think in making our digital world fully accessible.

George:

What is coming in the next year that has you the most excited?

Micaela Connery:

Groundbreaking on our first project, which feels like a long time coming, but actually is in relative terms been very quick. But we have our first project in San Jose, where we'll put shovels in the ground by the end of 2021 tax credit pending, so I'm really excited to [crosstalk 00:30:34].

George:

I'm getting an invite to that.

Micaela Connery:

You will. For sure.

George:

I'm getting an invite to that?

Micaela Connery:

For sure.

George:

Can you talk about a mistake that you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things now?

Micaela Connery:

So I think to your point around open sourcing of thinking that competition, and you had to sort of hold your secret sauce, and that you had to sort of two things, you had to sort of keep things internal until you really knew exactly how to do it. And you weren't sort of iterative and transparent and recognizing that being iterative and transparent early on allows one your organization to really figure out what your value add in a broader system is and to a rising tide lifts all boats and to bring the whole sector forward. I think in the social impact social entrepreneurship space, especially through kind of the area that you and I met George were like, the first question is always like, what makes you unique? And like why are you like the best and only of what you do?

Micaela Connery:

So I really internalize that as a young social entrepreneur early on thinking that I had to be sort of the only and had to be different which meant that I had to sort of protect ideas and not let them out. And I have really rejected that in phase two of just saying, actually if we are looking for impact at scale transparency and collaboration and open sourcing is going to be required. And if you're really good at what you do, you can open source out the wazoo and you're still going to be the best at what you do. There's just going to be a lot of other really good people doing that as well and that should be the goal.

George:

Do you believe that nonprofits can successfully go out of business?