nonprofit field - Nonprofit AF (Page 7)

Board Relations

Why more and more executive directors of color are leaving their positions, and what we need to do about it

Hi everyone. This post will be longer than normal, so to keep your attention, I've added pictures of pandas. The pandas have nothing to do with the content of this post. They are just pandas. Some of you may know, if you are on our mailing list, that

data

If progressives want change, we must play the game differently. Here are five things we must do.

Hi everyone, apologies in advance, this post will be more serious and political than usual and I am sure will be polarizing. The Virginia Beach mass shooting has been on my mind. I am thinking of how New Zealand was able to pass gun-control bills within a matter of days

Community Engagement

We need fewer theories of change and more community organizing

Hi everyone, quick disclaimer. I am still bitter and annoyed over the Game of Thrones finale, which I am sure many of you can relate, so this blog post may be affected with occasional spoiler-free snarkiness that may not make any sense if you haven't kept up with

Capacity Building

The Mycelium Model for capacity builders, professional associations, funders, and other support organizations

Hi everyone, if you haven’t filled out the Fundraising Perception Survey, please do so. It’ll take 10 minutes and I will send you a baby bunny. (OK, I was just told by our lead evaluator that bribing people with adorable pets would bias the results, so strike that)

nonprofit field

The privilege to fail: How the benefits of trust and failure are not equitably distributed

Hi everyone, as usual, Game of Thrones is back on, with the Battle at Winterfell coming tonight, so the quality of this post may likely decrease. Don’t @ me, bro. Or whatever. See, I warned you. A while ago, I wrote “Is Equity the new coconut water?” which likened the

nonprofit field

If you’re feeling hopeless of late, remember that your work matters and you do too

Hi everyone, the last few weeks have been rough. I was glad to end it with the #NonprofitHaiku contest to bring some levity and humor. A colleague on Twitter, though, pointed out the seriousness of all the challenges we face beneath the lightheartedness: “It's a cute joke that

Grantwriting

25 beautiful and profound haiku about nonprofit work

Hi everyone, Thank you to all of you who participated in Unicorns Unite’s first-ever #NonprofitHaiku contest on Twitter. Apologies for being late in judging the winners. Here they are below. Co-authors Jessamyn Shams-Lau, Jane Leu, and I each picked our favorites. They varied a lot. I put those in

nonprofit field

Solutions Privilege: How privilege shapes the expectations of solutions, and why it’s bad for our work addressing systemic injustice

Hi everyone, quick disclaimers. Game of Thrones is back, and it runs on Sunday nights, when I’m usually doing my writing, so the next several blog posts will likely decrease in quality and coherence. The last few days also found my kids with food poisoning. I will spare you

nonprofit field

20 simple things you can do to help end the Nonprofit Hunger Games

Hi everyone, a couple of things before we get started. First of all, April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, Unicorns Unite (a book I co-authored on funding dynamics) is having a #NonprofitHaiku contest on Twitter. Tweet out a haiku by 4/12, tag it with #NonprofitHaiku, and by

nonprofit field

So you don’t think race, equity, diversity, and inclusion are relevant to your mission

Hi everyone, this post may be a little shorter than usual, due to a few few full-blown tantrums from my little ones over the course of the day. One involved a potty training accident that required a thorough hose-down in the bathtub. I am slightly frazzled and not very lucid.

nonprofit field

“Does this board member spark joy?” How to tidy your organization using the KonMari method

Have you noticed how we in this sector tend to hoard stuff? There are several reasons for this. First, we are trained to be thrappy, which is a combination of “thrifty” and “scrappy,” to keep our “overhead” low. Second, because we are empathetic, even to inanimate objects, and just the

nonprofit field

People of color, we need to address our own anti-Blackness and how we may be perpetuating injustice

Hi everyone, this post is going to be serious. I know that Black History was last month, but I am hoping that by running this in March, it serves as a small reminder that we need to have these conversations throughout the year. This post today will talk about how