Nonprofit AF

Scary Nonprofit Stories for Halloween, 2024

Posted on October 28, 2024October 28, 2024 by Vu

[Image description: A lit up jack-o-lantern with a wide grin stands at the end of a still lake. Behind it, and in the reflections in the water, stand several tall leafless trees, with orange sunlight streaming through them. Image by ELG21 on Pixabay]

Hi everyone, as Halloween is coming up, here are some stories guaranteed to give you shivers. As usual, they are not for the faint of heart, so don’t read them by yourself. Write your scary stories in the comment section.

BURIED

The nonprofit was small and scrappy. The staff prided themselves on being resourceful, so they always took whatever free stuff that was offered and hardly ever threw anything away. A pallet of math text books. 3,000 swag pens from another org that had shuttered. 200 infinity scarves.

One day, their event coordinator went missing, his phone left behind mysteriously at his cubicle. For days the community searched for him, with no signs of his whereabouts. Sometimes, though, the staff could swear they heard pounding or scratching coming from the walls.

Dirt-cheap and easy nonprofit Halloween costumes! [video]

Posted on October 22, 2024October 22, 2024 by Vu

Hi everyone, this week, on October 24^th at 12pm Pacific Time, I’ll be in discussion on the topic of imposter syndrome with Esther Saehyun Lee and Aleeka Morgan. It’s FREE; captions enabled. Register here. Read Esther’s essay “You’re not feeling imposter syndrome, you are an imposter: Identity and belonging in nonprofit work” by Esther in advance.

Halloween is coming up, and you’re probably invited to a bunch of parties. Of course, if you’re a nonprofit professional, you probably don’t have much money to spend on costumes, nor time to make something elaborate.

So here are some costumes that are quick and easy and can be put together with stuff you probably already have! Check it out, as well as last year’s costume ideas below (I don’t know how anything can beat “Strategic Flan”), and add your costume ideas in the comment section!

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Last year’s costume ideas, still relevant for this year:

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

Posted on October 14, 2024October 16, 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!”