Nonprofit AF

Exploring the fun and frustrations of nonprofit work

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These adorable puppies need your help to keep 501c3s nonpartisan

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[Image description: It’s an adorable little chihuahua puppy! It’s light brown with a cute wittle button nose and big dark eyes! This puppy thinks nonprofits should remain nonpartisan and focus on issues. All images on this post obtained from Pixabay.com]
Happy Monday, everyone. Today, I am asking you to take action to keep our sector nonpartisan. For the past few months, you’ve probably heard bits of information about the Johnson Amendment. And like me, you probably thought, “Argh, I don’t have time to pay attention to every horrible policy decision that’s coming down the line! I should probably read up on the Johnson Amendment, but I have enough to deal with. I’m going to binge-watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. #selfcare.”

I can’t blame you. Kimmy’s hilarious, and it’s been exhausting trying to keep up with everything in the news. But, as boring as the Johnson Amendment is, it has served our community well for over 60 years, and now it is being threatened. Our sector and the people we serve could be seriously screwed if we don’t do something now. So I am asking you to learn about this issue and to sign this letter if you haven’t. Actually, these adorable puppies are asking you to learn about this issue and to sign the letter. Do you want to let these puppies down? I didn’t think so.Continue reading →

23 quotes by famous people if they had worked in nonprofit

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[Image description: A grey-scale drawing of Muhammad Ali’s face. He is looking to his left. Image obtained from Pixabay.com]
Hi everyone. I was on vacation this week, so did not have the mental energy to write a serious post. So here are quotes by famous people if they had worked in nonprofit. Check out the previous installments and write yours in the comment section.Continue reading →

The downsides of linear thinking, and why we need to embrace failure

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[Image description: An abstract image made by computer, probably using mathematical equations to generate fractals. There grey and white and patterned spheres, sheets, columns, all bending and connecting and confusing. Image obtained from Pixabay.com]
The world is complex. Therefore, to put order to things, we try to become more organized and linear in many aspects of life and existence: In battle: first we send the scouts to check out lay of the land and our enemies’ strengths and weaknesses, then we send in the infantry. In marriage: First, we date, then we have the parents meet, then we get married. In going to IKEA: First we spend 30 minutes finding parking, then we get panic attacks in the lamps aisle, then we get into fights with our partner.

In the nonprofit sector, this linear sort of thinking is pervasive, seeping into every aspect of our work, manifesting in things such as:Continue reading →

Imagine if Apple had to run like a nonprofit

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We nonprofits deal with unique challenges that our for-profit colleagues never have to think about. If you ever sat in the dark for hours listening to REM and eating Otter Pops and wondering what it would like for a large for-profit like Apple to have to run like a nonprofit, wonder no more! I’ve done it for you this week! (What, like your vacation is so much more interesting). And I asked NAF’s web designer and artist, Stacy Nguyen, to draw up some comics.

At the retail store

Customer: Hi, I’d like to buy this latest iPhone. How much is it?

Apple employee: $700 dollars.

Customer: Here you go. But I want most of this money to be spent on direct costs. No more than $70 should be going to indirect costs like rent, insurance, etc. I also don’t want any of this $700 to go toward advertisement or staff salaries.

Apple employee: We’ll designate these restrictions in our systems.

Customer: At the end of the year, I’d like a report on what you spent this money on.

Apple employee: We provide quarterly financial reports, and would be glad—

Customer: No no no. I don’t want the financial reports on your entire company. I only want a report on what my $700 specifically was spent on. Only my $700.

Apple employee: OK…Would you like to be added to our e-newsletter list?Continue reading →

So, you think nonprofits should be taxed

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[Image description: A stack of nine shiny gold coins on grey background. Image obtained from Pixabay.com. Wait, on second look, these might actually be chocolate coins!]
Every once a while, I encounter people who think nonprofits are getting it easy and should be paying taxes. “Rabble rabble,” they rabble, “why should only businesses pay taxes! Especially when most charities are scams, with the majority of their money going to their fat-cat CEOs’ pockets. Rabble!”

Here’s a comment someone made on one of my posts: “If nonprofit is an industry sector, then it is time to start taxing it.” (They also added, in response for my call for the sector to pay our people better: “If you own your own company, and you control the finances, go ahead, pay people more just because. On the other hand in the real world, you sound like a fool on this point.”)

From the tiresome memes and ignorant, bizsplainy blog posts and comments out there, I think some members of the public have this image of nonprofit folks as mustache-twirling con artists sitting at our desks counting piles of gold coins while starving children with trembling eyes beg us in fear for more gruel. “Mooooore?!! Only 2 cents of every dollar is available to purchase gruel, and we’ve spent it all this month!”Continue reading →