Nonprofit AF

It’s time we acknowledge that “family foundation” is a weird concept

Posted on October 14, 2024October 15, 2024 by Vu

[Image description: A cute little hedgehog in the grass, staring at something to our right. They have white fur and white spines and big dark eyes and a little brown nose. And I checked that this is not AI-generated. Image by szabfer on Pixabay]

A couple of announcements before we tackle today’s topic. In acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples Day, just the annual reminder for all of us that less than one-half a percent of philanthropic dollars go to Native American-led nonprofits in the US, which is disproportional to the Native American population, which is 2.6%. So, funders out there, increase your giving. The rest of us, donate to Native orgs and support Native businesses and individuals.

Meanwhile, a couple of webinars that might interest you. This week on October 17^th at 4:30pm Seattle time, there’s a virtual rally for Harris/Walz, with specific focus on getting more representation for the nonprofit sector in the new administration.

Also, you may have read this amazing essay “You’re not feeling imposter syndrome, you are an imposter: Identity and belonging in nonprofit work” by the brilliant Esther Saehyun Lee. Next week, on October 24^th at 12pm Pacific Time, I’ll be in discussion on this topic with Esther and our colleague Aleeka Morgan (director of Nurturing Wāhine Fund). It’s FREE; captions enabled. Register here [None of us are getting paid for this, so expect a casual conversation probably filled with cussing].

A bootcamp for clueless businesspeople who want to involve themselves in nonprofit!

Posted on October 7, 2024October 9, 2024 by Vu

[Image description: About a dozen people, mostly adults, sitting around a roaring campfire in the dark, surrounded by the silhouettes of trees. One person is holding a guitar. A couple of people are holding books or notebooks. Image by Laura_O on Pixabay]

Hi everyone. Today, a colleague sent me this text: “There’s a CEO of a family foundation who is adamantly against giving unrestricted funding. Do you have a blog post in particular you think would be good for me to send him? He’s a middle-aged white man who has never worked for a nonprofit in his life.” I sent over a couple of posts, including The ethical argument for general operating funds and “How the focus on overhead disenfranchises communities of color and fans the flames of injustice.” There’s lots written on this topic.

Heck, there’s been tons of stuff written about all sorts of topics. But we continue to see colleagues from the for-profit sector come into this sector as donors, funders, volunteers, and board members and have no clue about how things are yet are still adamant they know what’s best for the nonprofits they’re supporting. Worse, like the clueless CEO dude above, they often hold a lot of power.

So, what we need may be fewer articles and webinars, and instead, a week-long immersive overnight boot camp designed to help prepare our friends from other sectors so they can viscerally understand what it’s like for nonprofit professionals. And luckily, because I procrastinated on working on my book today, I already planned out a sample schedule for this boot camp!

Are you perpetuating inequity while engaging in Community-Centric Fundraising?

Posted on September 30, 2024October 1, 2024 by Vu

[Image description: Three fluffy little yellow ducklings, waddling along on the grass, surrounded by tiny white wild floweres. Image by WinniArt on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, the virtual rally to get nonprofits better representation within the White House, and ideally the Harris administration, has been changed from October 24^th to October 17^th at 4:30pm Pacific Time, so please note that in your calendar. It’s free; register HERE.

Over the past four years, one of the most heartening things I’ve seen is the rise of the Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) movement. Organizations are doing really awesome and creative stuff, such as asking their donors to support other nonprofits, getting rid of long-held practices such as “raising the paddle,” and using nontraditional metrics for assessing fundraising success. You can read about a lot of the cool stuff colleagues are thinking and doing at the CCF Hub, edited by the brilliant Chris Talbot-Heindl.

It’s also been heartening for me and other CCF proponents to receive fewer annoying and misinformed comments on this topic: “CCF people don’t care about raising money at all; all they do write angry beat poetry about taxes!” “Woke is broke, and it must be true because it rhymes!” “Vu Le hates donors and thinks you should punch every donor you meet in the face!”

[Video] how to be a demure and mindful funder

Posted on September 23, 2024September 23, 2024 by Vu

Hi everyone, if you’re free this week on September 26th at 4:30pm Pacific Time, please join White House Includes Nonprofits (WHIN)’s virtual gathering to rally the sector to support Harris/Walz and to push for nonprofits to have a seat at the table in the upcoming administration. See the details and register here. Another session is scheduled for October 24th at 4:30pm Pacific Time; join one or ideally both!

I spent a lot of this weekend working on the book, while simultaneously resisting the urge to throw my laptop off a cliff and run away to live a simple life in a small fishing village in another country. Which apparently is a very common temptation for people who attempt to write books!

So, here’s a little video instead. Thanks to colleague Farrah Parkes for the idea. A lot of funders can be more demure and mindful. See you next week!

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Are you engaging in Toxic Niceness and perpetuating inequity? 7 questions to ask yourself

Posted on September 16, 2024October 8, 2024 by Vu

[Image description: A fluffy puppy being embraced by a kitten. In the background is a white heart-shaped jigsaw puzzle with the word Love written on it in red. Image by adamtepl on Pixabay]

Hey everyone. If you are on LinkedIn, you may have seen posts by two of my favorite accounts: Crappy Funding Practices, which publicly names and calls out the malarkey and shenanigans of certain funders (while occasionally giving kudos to really awesome ones), and The Home for Wingless Unicorns, which publicly names the organizations that do not disclose salary on their job postings, because not disclosing salary perpetuates inequity.

Generally, the feedback to these groups has been positive and encouraging. But once in a while, there’s the predictable “Why are you being so mean to people? Why name and shame?! You’d get your message across so much better if you just offer chamomile tea to people and speak to them in a calm soothing voice while swaddling them up like a baby!”