Book preview: “Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations Can Build Epic Partnerships”

Posted on by Vu
[Image description: A diagram from the book, featuring drawings of cartoon unicorns holding bullhorns, illustrating the cycle of distrust between foundations and nonprofits]
Hi everyone. About a year ago, I mentioned I was co-authoring a book with two brilliant colleagues, Jessamyn Shams-Lau of the Peery Foundation and Jane Leu of Smarter Good. Many of you backed our Kickstarter project, and guess what? We actually wrote the book! OK, Jessamyn and Jane wrote the book, while I tagged along and tried to offer helpful suggestions like “instead of writing this book, how about we take the money and invest it in this awesome tech start-up I just heard about called Juicero, then get rich and start our own foundation but have headquarters in Oaxaca?”

Anyway, the book is called “Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations Can Build Epic Partnerships” and will be available this Spring, with pre-orders being taken on April 9th, 2018, which is coincidentally World Unicorn Day. Now, you may have some questions, so I’ve anticipated and answered them here: Continue reading “Book preview: “Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations Can Build Epic Partnerships””

We need to change our unhealthy attitude about email before civilization collapses

Posted on by Vu
[Image description: Someone sitting at a wooden desk holding an iPhone. on the desk is an open laptop. The image is only focused on the hands, which have purplish nail polish and a golden ring each, and gadgets. Image by William Iven of Unsplash.com]
If you are like me, your email inbox is an overflowing compost pile of festering guilt and existential despair. I get between 150 to 200 emails per day. Sure, half of them are stupid (although, can we really call a discussion thread focused on Netflix’ breathtaking animated series Castlevania stupid?) But that still leaves 75 to 100 messages that actually need a response or some type of action. It’s impossible to get through all of them. Then they multiply, including the “Did you get my last email?” and “Hey, just following up on the email I sent last week” and “The team noticed you’ve been tearing out your hair and cussing a lot lately when opening your laptop. Are you OK?”

No, I’m not OK. You’re not OK! None of us are OK, OK?! Email is out of control! It’s horrible yet addictive yet efficient yet awful! All of us are looking for ways to manage the murky cesspool that is our emails. If you google “email overwhelm,” it’ll come up with 481,000 hits, including hundreds of articles with advice like “only check your emails at designated time” and “create filters to automatically file many messages” and “do what Jeff Bezos does” (Start a multi-billion dollar tech company and hire people to answer your emails). Continue reading “We need to change our unhealthy attitude about email before civilization collapses”

10 creative tips for staying healthy while working at a nonprofit

Posted on by Vu
[Image description: Two bowls of oatmeal or yogurt, maybe tapioca, topped with an assortment of colorful fruit and spices, including strawberries, raspberries, orange wedges, and star anise. Image by Brooke Lark of Unsplash.com]
Hi everyone. Before we tackle today’s topic, here’s some NAF logo merchandize! Apologies for taking so long. Now you can get a t-shirt or hoodie or mug and declare yourself #nonprofitAF. They make great gifts for nonprofit people, or whimsically confusing gifts for everyone else. 

It is the New Year, which means many of us are thinking of ways to improve ourselves. However, that can be challenging when all of us are so busy doing important stuff to make the world better. Stuff like binge-watching season 4 of Grace and Frankie on Netflix while eating an entire family-sized bag of wavy potato chips (Look, you have your way of making the world better, and I have mine).

So here are a few creative tips to help us be healthier while we do nonprofit work. Special thanks to the NAF Facebook community for all the inspiring suggestions, many of which I’ve combined into the ones here: Continue reading “10 creative tips for staying healthy while working at a nonprofit”

These 12 adorable baby animals are very worried about the US Census and you should be too

Posted on by Vu
[These two baby javelinas are worried about the US Census and its potential to negatively affect funding for many vulnerable communities]
Hi everyone. I wrote a post about the grave consequences of undercounting in the US Census that’s coming up. And it was read by approximately 8 people. So I am re-posting it now with a new title and pictures of baby animals. This is important, and if pictures of baby animals will help us all to pay more attention and to share the message, then I will gladly spend three or four hours during work researching to find the cutest, cuddliest baby animals to display here. Please share this post widely.  Continue reading “These 12 adorable baby animals are very worried about the US Census and you should be too”

The Census is a social justice issue, and we all need to mobilize NOW

Posted on by Vu
[Image description: Three people sitting on a wooden bench in front of what looks like a photography exhibit that includes about 100 black and white photos of various faces, presented in a grid on the wall. Image obtained from Pixabay.com]
Hi everyone. I started writing a humorous post, but then realized that I am not at all in a humorous mood. After reading the news the past few days, I’m starting to see the points of view of “preppers,” people who are building bunkers and stocking up supplies in case things go to $#*%hole. This is the bleakest I’ve felt on a Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Not even looking at pictures of baby animals has helped.

However, as Dr. King once said, “If you can’t fly, then run; if you can’t run, then walk; if you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” We nonprofits have to keep moving forward. People depend on us. We have work to do.

The 2020 Census is coming up. This is an incredibly important process that happens in the US every ten years. The results determine how much federal funding is allocated to each state, as well as how many seats in the US House of Representatives. And this time, more so than others, there is severe risk of vast communities being under-counted, for several reasons. Among them: Continue reading “The Census is a social justice issue, and we all need to mobilize NOW”