🥁 The latest newsletter from The Commons is live, with this big news: We’ve launched 💬 The Commons in Conversation 💬, a series of one-on-one interviews here on LinkedIn with nonprofit and philanthropy leaders about how to bring Americans together and close the country’s divides. In our first conversation, the Chronicle’s Stacy Palmer and Drew Lindsay previewed the first guests for the series as well as upcoming stories in #TheCommons. Click through to listen in on the chat and see who our upcoming guests are.
➕ Plus: we've got an "editor’s pick" roundup of three recent stories featuring nonprofit leaders sharing their stories of how (and why) they were called to serve.
Thank you Stacy Palmer for the opportunity to share what motivates me to drive positive change. Sending equal appreciation to Drew Lindsay! It was an honor to spotlight my new commitment at Liberty Fellowship & invite others to follow our success!
I think there is a real opportunity to weave together pieces of social justice, high growth business, technology innovation and other great ideas into something that actually is better at generating social impact.
Advancing Social Equity in Education and Workforce through Research, Evaluation, and Learning
SSIR has been publishing many great pieces lately. This article offers a critique and possible solutions to how we engage those working in our nonprofit organizations. This snippet gets at part of the problem.
"As carbon copies of for-profit corporations, virtually every nonprofit organization I encountered, most of which were social-justice-oriented, functioned according to the 18th-century premise that workers must be managed, and that management is responsible for ensuring worker production and compliance. Despite our desire to honor our shared humanity, our policies, values statements, and supervision practices suggested expectations that workers conduct themselves as cognitive machines: thinking beings lacking feelings and unmoved by their own nervous systems."
https://lnkd.in/evp8K2j3
SSIR has been publishing many great pieces lately. This article offers a critique and possible solutions to how we engage those working in our nonprofit organizations. This snippet gets at part of the problem.
"As carbon copies of for-profit corporations, virtually every nonprofit organization I encountered, most of which were social-justice-oriented, functioned according to the 18th-century premise that workers must be managed, and that management is responsible for ensuring worker production and compliance. Despite our desire to honor our shared humanity, our policies, values statements, and supervision practices suggested expectations that workers conduct themselves as cognitive machines: thinking beings lacking feelings and unmoved by their own nervous systems."
https://lnkd.in/evp8K2j3
Three things resonating deeply from this read I’m bringing into 2024 —
If nothing changes, nothing changes: systems are designed to drive particular kinds of outcomes. We miss out on impact + innovation potential when we don’t critically examine that influence.
Learn from what works: to bring impact work to life and help it thrive and sustain, nature is a rich source of learning and insight.
Start where you are: systems change can feel much more approachable and actionable at an organizational and individual leader level.
Advancing Social Equity in Education and Workforce through Research, Evaluation, and Learning
SSIR has been publishing many great pieces lately. This article offers a critique and possible solutions to how we engage those working in our nonprofit organizations. This snippet gets at part of the problem.
"As carbon copies of for-profit corporations, virtually every nonprofit organization I encountered, most of which were social-justice-oriented, functioned according to the 18th-century premise that workers must be managed, and that management is responsible for ensuring worker production and compliance. Despite our desire to honor our shared humanity, our policies, values statements, and supervision practices suggested expectations that workers conduct themselves as cognitive machines: thinking beings lacking feelings and unmoved by their own nervous systems."
https://lnkd.in/evp8K2j3
We believe it’s time to dramatically reimagine the power dynamic between donors and those they fund.
How many of you running nonprofits have spent years of your life honing your ability to present your organization’s work in the best possible light to funders?
Of course this is essential, but our founder Chandler Arnold is also becoming increasingly candid about the unintended consequences of giving in to this temptation of presenting perfection.
What if this power dynamic were different? What if funders took proactive steps to *make* it different?
Imagine a world in which — in addition to celebrating all of a nonprofit’s impressive wins, nonprofit leaders could also speak candidly with funders about their challenges, and — dare we say it? — their failures.
It IS possible to change this entrenched power dynamic, but it takes work. And this work almost always need to start with the funder.
But, when it works, magic happens. When traditional power dynamics are replaced with trust on both sides, nonprofit leaders are suddenly able to be much more candid about obstacles, complications, and failures… offering funders the opportunity to provide additional resources where they are needed most.
Our company was founded by Chandler Arnold based on “7 radical beliefs about philanthropy, that really shouldn’t be radical at all. Today we are presenting Radical Belief #4.
To learn about the rest of our radical beliefs, stay up-to-date on the experts in our world-class advisory consortium, and learn about innovative advancements across the field of philanthropy – hit that follow button and sign up for our newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/evyYvY8c. The “untraditional” thing about the newsletter is we will only email you, once a quarter.
#expertise#untraditional#thinking#philanthropy#giving#advice#socialimpact#social#impact#realtalk#familyphilanthropy#trustbasedphilanthropy
Put. Down. The. Jargon.
And instead, consider these 3 tips to better communicate what your foundation or organization does:
1. Tell stories about the work you do and the projects you fund
2. Explain goals and the impact of the work clearly
3. If you have to use a jargon term, define it
Two scholars of public interest communication, Aaron J. Zeiler (he/him) and Ann Searight Christiano of the University of Florida surveyed nearly 3,600 Americans and also talked to nonprofit communications professionals to find solutions.
They have some least favorite bits of “philanthro-speak”: DAF, “theory of change”, “capacity building”, center as a verb, “awardee”.
What would you add to the list?
https://buff.ly/3UV2Vg3#philanthropy#foundations#nonprofitmarketing
Human-centered Leadership Coach | Keynote Speaker | Wellness Consultant
Building adult cultures we don't need to heal from | Retaining educators through identity-forward programs
It's hard out here in these non-profit streets! ✋🏾 With full Education portfolios being dissolved and the ESSER cliff hitting our partners, we're hearing mixed messages...
✍🏾 "Your human-centered work is vital, we need your initiatives in every district, school, and classroom to ensure teachers can stay." BUT ALSO "We are shifting our focus to AI and EdTech."
✍🏾"We love that you focus on educators. This staffing shortage is a crisis." BUT ALSO "Adults will come and go, so why don't you just work with kids?"
✍🏾"Wow, 8 of 10 participants are retained- in this teacher shortage, that's impressive." BUT ALSO "We want to continue observing your impact. Maybe consider scaling faster to demonstrate what you can do."
This piece by East Bay Community Foundation is spot on. 🔥 I'm not backing away from serving our mission. AND we need values-aligned, Pro-Black philanthropic partners who see the funding inequities that an organization like The Teaching Well will face and link up with us.
While I feel inspired by this article naming the hard truth, it's also devastating to think that my identity might be negatively impacting my org's funding prospects. But still I rise. ✊🏾 And so will this team.
💡 "Historically, Black-led organizations have less access to unrestricted funding, according to a 2020 report by the consultancy The Bridgespan Group and Echoing Green, a gap that directly undermines the health and wellness of Black-led organizations and their leaders.
The report found that white-led organizations retained budgets 24% larger than those led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Furthermore, organizations with Black female leaders were granted less funding than those led by Black men or white women. Additionally, unrestricted funds of groups with leaders of color were 76% smaller than those with white leaders."
#teacherwellness#philanthropy#nonprofitleadership#blackexcellence#equity#financialfreedom#blackgirlmagic#collectiveaction#systemschange
Black-led organizations lead with less than their white counterparts. A 2020 report found that White-led organizations retained budgets 24% larger than those led by BIPOC leaders and unrestricted funds of groups with leaders of color were 76% smaller than those with White leaders. Our initiative, ASCEND: BLO, supports Black-led organizations in six Bay Area counties and they explore one strategy funders can use to provide the necessary flexibility to BLOs.
"Unrestricted funding is a necessary starting point for all donors and philanthropists aiming to create social change through Black-led organizations."
Read more about the importance of unrestricted funding.
https://lnkd.in/ezYSCaWm
Provided you abide by IRS rules and regulations, you too can build a nonprofit arm within your organization. Of course, it also takes effort, and determining whether you have time and resources for additional reporting is a question you'll need to ask yourself.
Read this article found in Inc. to learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q02fwWgt0#smallbusiness#communityimpact#incmagazine
Thanks for sharing our piece on civic discourse and engagement!