Nonprofit AF

Exploring the fun and frustrations of nonprofit work

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Donors and funders, instead of freaking out or being numb, here are things you can do to fight fascism:

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[Image description: Three cats peering out from a partially open wooden door. Two cats are white and grey and one is white and orange. Image by PhilippT on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, quick announcement: If you’re free this Friday, September 12th, at 11am Pacific Time, please join me and Edgar Villanueva for an Instagram Live conversation. We’ll be talking about my new book and what our sector needs to do to fight fascism. Just get onto Instagram at that time and go to Edgar’s IG page @villanuevaedgar or my page @nonprofitaf.

I just attended a wonderful retreat put on by Solidaire Network, a network of progressive funders, donors, and movement leaders. The attendees were all very attractive, but that could be because they were all talking about fighting fascism and saving democracy, and nothing revs my engine more than those things, if you know what I mean (wink). Everyone was clear-eyed about the serious threats facing our world, but there were also many moments of authentic joy, humor, healing, and community. I felt so at home that I didn’t even engage in my usual coping strategy of stealing as many snacks and office supplies as possible.

Thank you Solidaire for inviting me, and for letting me debut my nonprofit-themed stand-up comedy set. I had a great time and left with much to be grateful for. And also much to think about.

During a particularly compelling session at the retreat, leaders who are on the ground sounded the alarm about the short timeline we all have to block and reverse the US’s rapid descent into fascism. Basically, we have less than a year. Even as you read this, right-wing forces are solidifying their grasps on every aspect of society. Federal troops occupy DC, and Trump threatens to send soldiers to Chicago, with other progressive-leaning bases to follow. ICE continues to disappear people. Multiple g3nocides are still taking place. The State continues punishing the press for reporting on the horrific things it’s doing. The Supreme Court just ruled that racial profiling is OK. And of course, our sector continues to be weakened so we are in survival mode and can’t fully fight back. This is still just the beginning.

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Foundation trustees, help save democracy or get out of the way

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[Image description: A light-grey bird, standing on a wire, looking to the left with a rather serious expression. Image by balouriarajesh at Pixabay]

Hi everyone, I’m thinking of all my friends and colleagues in Canada, who just achieved a resounding election victory against their version of MAGA; this came after the horrific tragedy over the weekend at the Lapu Lapu Day Festival.

Last week, I gave a keynote at a conference of funders who were mostly awesome and fired up to advance DEI and fight to save democracy. During the Q&A, however, a program officer asked, “How do we make change happen when the people with all the power at our foundations are not in the room?”

By that, of course, he meant foundation board members, aka trustees. This is a dynamic we see across the sector: Foundation staff who get it, who want to do things differently and better, and who leave these gatherings inspired only to be quickly demoralized when they go back to their workplaces and must deal with their foundation trustees, who are often the biggest barriers to progress in our field.

Foundation trustees, if you are reading this, thank you; just the fact that these words somehow reached you is a miracle, as we don’t ever see or hear from many of you. Right now, everything is on fire as the right-wing dismantles every institution keeping democracy and society intact. Nonprofits and foundation are trying to work together to fight this authoritarian regime. You play a vital role. But for you to be effective in that role, there are a few things we need you to understand. These are things your program officers want to tell you but usually can’t due to power dynamics:

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Funders, here’s the blueprint for saving democracy

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[Image description: A protestor in front of a tent, surrounded by several signs. One that stands out says “Stay the course, this will happen to YOU” accompanied by several pictures of war and suffering. Image by greyerbaby on Pixabay]

Two weeks ago, I met with a colleague who was invited to a convening of funders in Seattle. He reported that the funders present were wringing their hands, unsure of what their foundations should be doing to respond to the rapid dismantling of democracy and the exponential increase in suffering communities are facing.

This week, David Callahan of Inside Philanthropy wrote a post on LinkedIn reporting similar dynamics of tentativeness among funders across the sector. David suggests several possible reasons for the hesitation, including shellshock from the cruelty and chaos unleashed by this administration, as well as funders’ lack of knowledge and confidence as to what strategies would work to counter it. While David and I agree on a lot of things, it’s this last point he makes where we may differ in opinions:

“Third, there’s only so much that funders can or should do to lead. Philanthropy’s main role is to support civil society groups, who rightly should be out front in the pushback to Trump’s actions. If those organizations aren’t coalescing around a set of promising big strategies — and there’s no sign they are — funders have limited options. They can’t bankroll grand new plans to fight MAGA if such plans don’t yet exist.

“Or, as one foundation CEO told me, ‘People keep yelling at us to give out more money, but for what?’”

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National orgs must step up to help nonprofits and our communities as we face this fascist sh!tstorm

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[Image description: A street packed with protestors holding signs. One says “Capitalism kills our future” and another sign says “It IS an emergency.” Image by LeoSch on Pixabay]

About 15 years ago, I was invited to speak on a panel at a conference run by a large, well-funded national organization whose mission was to represent the entire nonprofit sector. The entry fee for this 3-day conference was $2200, which my org with a budget of $500K couldn’t afford. The panel organizer asked me to apply for a scholarship, which I did, but it wasn’t successful. “Sorry,” I said, “I can’t speak on the panel because my scholarship application got rejected.” She was able to convince the organization to let me in.

Those were three surreal days. I felt like an unwashed peasant who had sneaked into the royal ball. But that dissonance tapered off, and I was disappointed at how a space full of the most powerful nonprofit organizations and leaders were focused on some of the most banal topics possible (“Legal compliance for foundations” “How to lower overhead costs” “The art of keeping donors happy” “Signs someone from a small organization has crashed your conference”). I stuffed my tote bag with as many free swag items and snacks as I could get, consolation prizes for the disillusionment I felt at our sector’s leadership.

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It’s Time for Left-Leaning Funders to Fully Fund and Engage in Political Warfare

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[Image description: A house or barn completely engulfed in flames at night. Image by Stephen Radford on Unsplash]

Hi everyone, this week is my birthday, when I’m officially a year older. But joke’s on the universe, since I’ve always looked ten years older than my biological age! If you’d like to help me celebrate, please donate $44 (or whatever you can afford) to nonprofits serving transgender people and advancing trans rights, such as the Trans Continental Pipe and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute.

Also, at the advice of our colleague Thaddeus Squire in his article “Four Ways the Nonprofit Sector Can Tell the Trump Administration to F**k Off,” I’m forming a religion, Vuism, to fight injustice, since religious organizations have almost zero oversight in this country and can take tax-deductible donations. Part of Vuism is the observance of Vumas on March 12, which requires all nonprofit professionals take the day off, eat hummus, and use the Oxford Comma to send one another good wishes.

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Over the past few days, you may have noticed the uptick in conversations regarding foundations’ increasing their payout rate during this sharknado shitstorm of fascism, cruelty, and ignorance (Marked by things like people protesting and destroying posters at a neuroscience conference in Orlando because scientists were talking about “diversity of efferent firing in the cochlea” and these MAGAts’ hate-infused brains thought it was about DEI and started foaming at the mouth).

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