Script for The Matrix, if it were set in nonprofit and philanthropy

[Image description: A hand, pointing straight at the camera, while concentric circles of ones and zeroes in green text, as well as a curtain of green codes, appear in the foreground and background. Image by geralt on Pixabay]

Welcome back to work, everyone. I hope your holiday break was restful. I was able to hang out with my kids, and when they were asleep, binge-watched all the episodes of Shogun; it was glorious! But now we’re back to the grind, and it is cold and miserable. Sometimes, I think the people who believe we exist in a computer simulation may be on to something, and I find myself looking around, trying to break the fourth wall, hoping whoever is running this simulation would just give us all a reprieve from all this. Maybe they could simulate a world where the forces of good win for once.

Anyway, I’m reminded of the movie The Matrix, where the main character, played by Keanu Reeves, realizes he’s been living in a simulation, trapped along with other humans by sentient machines that are using humans as batteries while creating a fake reality to subdue them and keep them from rebelling. Of course, that makes me think about our sector, and what it would be like if The Matrix were set in nonprofit and philanthropy:

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“What the skibbidi Ohio sigma rizz?!” Gen Alpha slang explained for nonprofit professionals

[Image description: A cute brown baby goat, staring directly at the camera. This goat is the GOAT, no cap. Image by NoName_13 on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, this will be the last blog post before the holiday break. I’ll be back on January 7th. I hope you’re taking some time to rest and recharge and make happy memories with friends and family.

Having two kids who are Gen Alpha (those born 2010 and on) means I have to deal with their sassy remarks all the time. Like when I told the 11-year-old about my prized Casio calculator watch—the height of watch technology back in those days, hundreds of moons ago—and he said “I’m surprised you didn’t just wrap a leaf around your wrist and glue on an acorn!” 

Over the past year, their sassiness started including wacky slang I had never heard before. “Skibbidi Ohio rizz” one would shout, and the other would reply with “gyat,” laughing. When I asked the 11-year-old to explain all this stuff to me, the 8-year-old interrupted with, “Don’t tell Daddy! He’s cringe! If he uses our language, it will plunge us all into chaos!” 

Ha! These little dudes don’t know their father is a master of something called “googling.” 

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Actions you can take to stop “Nonprofit-Killer Bill,” (HR 9495), now that it’s passed through the House and is on its way to the Senate

[Image description: a yellow sign against the sky. It has “Dictatorship” on top and “Democracy” on the bottom. The word Democracy looks old and faded and there’s a red slash through it. Image by geralt on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned HR 9495, a bill that would allow the Trump administration to declare any nonprofit it doesn’t like a “terrorist-supporting organization” and remove its tax status, without any due process. It gets even scarier with the possibility of the Trump administration then seizing the assets of those organizations.

This is a major step toward authoritarian rule. We should be worried and take action. Here is an excerpt of the transcript from Rachel Maddow’s show on November 12 this year, where she warned of the potential horrifying implications of this bill:

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Navigating the guilt of finding joy when the world feels like crap

[Image description: A seedling, with two leaves, growing out of the dirt. Image by EglantineShala on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, I spent the past three days working on one chapter of my new book, tentatively called “Catchy Phrase: Insert Intriguing Subtitle Here.” It’s about reimagining everything in our sector, from how we fundraise, to how we do capacity building and evaluation and hiring, and so on. An entire chapter may be devoted to the role of hummus in our work (just kidding, there will not be). The publisher has been on my case, setting up several intermediate deadlines, which is good, because left to my own devices, I will binge-watch Derry Girls for the eight time.

Anyway, I have been frazzled, so please don’t expect a coherent post this week. Actually, it’s best to anticipate that as the manuscript deadline (March 11th) approaches, I will become more and more unraveled, eventually going full “Jack Nicholson in The Shining,” and these blog posts will become increasingly nonsensical, possibly unhinged. Or worse, I will start reusing jokes, like this The Shining one, not remembering what’s in my head, and what’s already been put down in writing somewhere.

Last Fall, my siblings and kids and I had a pumpkin-carving contest at home. That was super fun. We placed them all outside on the front porch. As the days passed though, the pumpkins started rotting. Too lazy to throw them into the compost bin, I chucked the three moldy abominations into the flower bed, where they became a feast for the neighborhood rodents.

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The WRONG lessons we’ve been learning from this political nightmare, and the RIGHT ones we should learn instead

[Image description: A sad-looking bull dog, lying on the floor, their head facing the camera, but seeming to be staring into the distance. Image by Pitsch on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, a couple of things before we get started. If you’re free on next Tuesday December 3rd at 1pm Pacific and are interested in learning about shared leadership, check out this free webinar by the National Center to Advance Peace for Children, Youth, and Families. There will be Spanish and ASL interpreters.

Also, I’m on BlueSky now at @nonprofitaf.bsky.social. It’s like Twitter, when Twitter was fun and not awful. I encourage everyone to migrate there. We could use more fun and community as we organize the resistance.

I know many of us are still down in the dumps about the election and the future. I’ve been trying to keep calm and rest for the coming battles, but I’ve also been giving myself permission to delight in pettiness. Thanks to colleague Esther Saehyun Lee, I learned about a subreddit called r/LeopardsAteMyFace, which documents those who voted for a certain political party now personally experiencing the negative consequences of their votes.

Schadenfreude aside, we have a long four years ahead of us. On some days, I am optimistic this period of turmoil will ultimately lead to a collective awakening, where the pendulum swings back towards kindness, science, community, and significant social progress. It has happened in the past, where some of humanity’s worst moments are followed by incredible shifts for the better. Maybe many of us won’t benefit from the turnaround, but our kids and grandkids will. That’s something to hope for.

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