Funder Relations

Answers on grant reports if nonprofits were brutally honest with funders

Hi everyone, this Friday is my birthday. If you want to help me celebrate, please donate to Mujer Al Volante, an awesome organization with the mission of helping “immigrant women become independent and empowered through obtaining a driver’s license, financial sustainability, and community support.” Mujer Al Volante does amazing

Donor Relations

White development colleagues, we need to talk about fundraiser fragility

Hi everyone. This post today will likely ruffle some feathers. I only ask that you read it with an open mind, and maybe while eating a bar of dark chocolate (it reduces stress). If you’re a regular reader of my ramblings, you know that I frequently point out various

Capacity Building

Stop expecting nonprofits to merge. It’s annoying.

A long while ago, I directed a small nonprofit that focused on supporting the Vietnamese and other immigrant and refugee communities. A question that I got asked constantly was “Why aren’t you merging with the other nonprofit that is focused on supporting the Vietnamese and other immigrant and refugee

Funder Relations

8 nonprofit-themed mocktails for your virtual holiday parties

Hi everyone, I’ll be taking my annual two weeks break from writing so this will be the last post of 2020. I’ll be back on January 4th. As this is the last post of this year, I thought about doing something meaningful, like “Important Lessons We Learned During

Funder Relations

Funders, back up your equity statements with actual cash to BIPOC communities

Hi everyone, thank you to all of you who expressed concerns for my sister on her COVID recovery, which I mentioned last week. She’s getting well enough for us to resume our ongoing sibling bickering over inane things, so I think that’s good. Before we get into today’

Funder Relations

Foundations, stop playing the reckless game of Funding-Chicken

Hi everyone. Quick reminder: The second part of the Philanthropic Reforms town halls is today, 10/5, at 11am PT, where several prominent sector leaders will be exploring policies and strategies on foundations and Donor-Advised Funds to prevent wealth hoarding and tax evasion. This is the follow-up from the first

Funder Relations

Not showing the salary range in job postings is archaic and inequitable. So why do we keep doing it?

Hi everyone, quick reminder, if you’re free next Monday 9/21 at 11am PT, join me on this webinar to discuss wealth hoarding and tax avoidance. We’ll be focused on these questions: “What are the current rules governing philanthropy, especially foundations and donor-advised funds? How do these operate

Donor Relations

Wealth hoarding, tax avoidance, and how nonprofits are complicit

Happy September, everyone. Holy hummus, it’s September! Fellow parents with school-age children, I hope you are doing ok. Hang in there. We’ll make it through this together. When things get tough with virtual schooling, just remember the old adage: “The days are long, but the years are—You

data

9 crappy paradoxes that shape nonprofit and philanthropy

Hi everyone, quick announcement: Please put August 10th at 12:00pm Pacific Time on your calendar for Community-Centric Fundraising’s first town hall meeting. Sign up here and we'll send you the zoom link. Until then, the (CCF) Hub is designed to provide alternatives to our default white-centric

Community Engagement

Toxic intellectualization: How progressives’ addiction to overthinking is sabotaging our work

Hi everyone, quick announcement: if you are a funder, please join this webinar this Wednesday 7/29 at 1pm ET, led by NDLON and Hispanics in Philanthropy, where you will hear about the impact the pandemic has had on day laborers, domestic workers, and other low-wage earners, the organizations that

Funder Relations

Privilege, power, and personal conflicts: The forces preventing change in nonprofit and philanthropy

Hi everyone. Apologies, this post will likely be long, poorly edited, and not have as many links to sources and I would like. I haven’t slept much, and even with a partner who is an experienced educator, parenting and crisis-schooling two small children have been fun but challenging. As

community organizing

Have nonprofit and philanthropy become the “white moderate” that Dr. King warned us about?

Over the past few days, I have been thinking of George Floyd’s brutal murder by the police and of the protests happening in Minneapolis, nationwide, and globally, as I know many of you are. I am at a loss on what to do and how to support our Black