Using the Whole Whale - A Nonprofit Podcast

988 Hotline is LIVE! NGOs should be ready (news)

988 Mental Health Crisis Hotline Rolls Out Across Country

The consolidated 988 national mental health hotline rolled out over the weekend, as part of a broader effort to fill gaps in emergency mental health response and access throughout the country. The effort, in large part spearheaded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in conjunction with national and local partners streamlines the public’s ability to talk to a crisis counselor. Years in the making, federal and state governments have spent lots of money to prepare for the rollout, though some questions remain about different states and call centers' ability to handle the volume of calls. The 988 lifelines, as a national helpline, functions 24/7 providing support to people in crisis. The helpline is available for both calls and text messages, giving options to people in crisis for calling for help. Health organizations and other organizations that serve individuals at risk of suicide are advised to promote the 988 helpline through community education campaigns and outreach.

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Summary

 

• Do all sides deserve equal coverage? U.S. journalists and public differ | Pew Research Center 
• Statement by CEO on Newly Released James Webb Space Telescope Images |  Space Foundation
• American Red Cross seeks blood donations to prevent summer shortage | Cleveland19.com 
• 'Queer Eye' Season 6: Where is Chris Baker now? Inside his journey to self-forgiveness | MEAWW
•  

Nonprofit (C)4s Get Ready for Midterms (news)

Nonprofit News Feed.

 

Lots Of Money To Move Around PACs, Super PACs, But Also 501(c)4 Tax-Exempt Orgs This Election Cycle

As the primaries wrap up and the general midterm elections start moving into full swing, more and more money will start flowing through various election spending vehicles, including 501(c)4 organizations, which are sometimes criticized as “dark spending” avenues for political expenditures. 501(c)4 organizations are prohibited by FEC and IRS rules from spending more than 50% on political lobbying or advocacy, though some critics argue that the largest funds might spend beyond that. While 501(c)3 organizations can spend “insubstantial” amounts of money on political lobbying, their 501(c)4 counterparts routinely spend millions during each election cycle. Nonprofits should brace themselves for a tough messaging battle in Q3 to the beginning of Q4 as they go up against political organizations spending millions on advertising, fundraising, lobbying, and the like.

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Summary:

• Violence In Boston nonprofit shut down by board as leaders face fraud and conspiracy charges | WBUR News
• 2021 Lookback Report - GivingTuesday
• NPOs Added $1.4 Trillion To U.S. Economy | The NonProfit Times
• Org created to support Ukrainian children with their art 

 

 

 

 

Transcript:

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed for the week of July 11th, seven 11, always open lots of money, lots of money moving around packs and super packs. As we move into that type of midterm season, Nick, how's going good, George. We can dive right into it. So alluding to that first story, uh, we wanted to talk about at the head of the podcast was that lots of money are moving around packs super PACS, but also 5 0 1 C four tax exempt organizations, this election cycle as in past election cycles.

[00:00:38] So this is something we want to talk about because I think it's important for nonprofit leaders to know that there are tax exempt organizations operating in this space and. Might create messaging challenges and public perception, challenges as we go into what is sure to be another pretty volatile midterm election year.

[00:00:59] So 5 0 1 C four organizations are similar to C3 organizations except they are. Specifically designed for groups that work on advocacy they can spend up to, but no more 50% of their expenditures on advocacy, political lobbying, X, Y, Z some of these orgs, however that are associated with packs doll out millions and millions of dollars.

[00:01:26] We have an article in here about a pack associated with Senate majority pack, uh, or a, a C4 associated with Senate majority pack. Given out tens and tens of millions of dollars to various causes in previous elections. This is just how it works. Right. C four S are increasingly a vehicle for moving money around in the political space.

[00:01:47] C3 organizations can send, spend quote, unquote insubstantial amounts of money on political lobbying. Definitely do research it before you do that, if you're a C3, but the, the takeaway here is that C four S are tax exempted organizations. There's going to be tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars swirling around this year during the.

[00:02:13] Quite frankly, C3 should be aware of that. You might see more news stories about X, Y, and Z tax exempt organization, dark money, this that, how can your organization increase its legitimacy. And the perception that your money is being used for good and being used efficiently. Something else we wanted to point out is that advertising during elections can become notoriously difficult for smaller organizations going up against these massive ones cost per click on ad platforms like Facebook are probably gonna be really hard to compete with.

[00:02:49] There's just a lot of money. Going for what is a finite and ever decreasing attention of the public. So that's kind of at the top of our story, more kind of broad, not necessarily breaking news, but George, what's your takeaway on this? I think during a couple, you know, misnomers, just to circle back on one, is that.

[00:03:09] There's a difference between, uh, C3 and C4 quite, you know, just it's one number apart. But if you donate to a C4, it is not tax deductible. Right. It's very different. C four S are, you know, used both by the. Political left and political right leaning, uh, organizations to shuffle money around. And there's an interesting site, open secrets that really tracks this stuff pretty well to see where, where that money is going.

[00:03:36] The other thing to touch on is that the word in substantial. So in substantial is. Actually not zero. And I think this is a bit of a misnomer for some people who assume that, oh, my nonprofit can't spend a single dime on anything that approaches lobbying otherwise will lose our certification. Not true. So the breakdown is if you are an organization with, uh, less than half a million and and revenue here, the percent that may be spent on lobbying is 20%.

[00:04:06] For organizations under a million it's, uh, a hundred thousand plus 15% of budget over half a million. And then at the highest level, if you're over 1.5 million as an organization, it's 224,000 plus 5% of budget over 1.5 million. I don't know where your definition of insub substantial comes from, but that leaves some room.

[00:04:27] The other reason to bring that up is as it has happened, With Roe V. Wade, there are many organizations now that even by doing the business, they used to do programmatically may actually be looking into this quite deeply because suddenly your, your emails and ads and awareness just about helping women get healthcare for, you know, different areas may suddenly turn into something that looks like lobbying.

[00:04:51] So I would say tightening up your understanding of this moving into election season. Also noting that if you enter into a screaming match and hope to have better ROI than the other person with the, the bull horn. Maybe adjust the strategy. So that was a good note. Thanks. Yeah, of course. George, that's a great call out about, about nonprofits and, and that kind of work.

[00:05:11] There are some organizations that have like sister organizations, a C3, and then a respective C4 counterpart for this exact reason. Right. And quite frankly, with all the issues we talk about on this podcast, uh, it's pretty impossible to avoid the fact that our government and policies. Proposed and voted on by politicians have direct impact on the beneficiaries of nonprofits and communities and programs that they serve and run.

[00:05:38] So, uh, yeah. Great call out there. Shall we move into the summary? Yes, please. All right. This first story is we gotta, we gotta report it out because it's at the top of the top of the feed, top of the news pile here. But this comes from boston.com and it is about an organization. Called violence in Boston.

[00:06:02] And that has just been completely shut down because the two people, uh, leading this organization a couple had exclusive control over violence in Boston's financial accounts from 2017 through at least 2020 and are allegedly Accused of essentially committing, uh, systematic fraud, siphoning off donations, creating fake documents to get, uh, unemployment pandemic, unemployment benefits.

[00:06:28] They knew they weren't qualified for there's lots of counts of wire fraud coming down on, on these at the top. But, uh, supposedly the board had no idea this was happening and the organization just completely folded. Has stopped existing because it's just a, it was a, a, a money, uh, fr it was a fraudulent scheme.

[00:06:51] Uh, I mean, these, these people allegedly kind of, it seems set out to use this as a vehicle, uh, for money, but George, what's your takeaway on this? Yeah, I mean, it's a federal indictment. That's saying that this couple used over 1 million. That was collected in donations between 2017 and 2021 for personal expenses.

[00:07:13] So this isn't a, oh, they're being, you know, overly scrutinized on our financials. Uh, this, this is pretty significant and it's just devastatingly unfortunate that it coincides with, uh, certainly the summer 2020 George Floyd incident, where, you know, they really rose to prominence. Uh, according to the, the reporting on this, the, the highest level takeaway.

[00:07:37] Is understanding the critical importance of board. A board of directors plays in every nonprofit. They are at the very core, financially responsible. They are on the hook. Essentially as stewards of this organization, they've been put in a position of power that is higher than the CEO they can hire and fire.

[00:07:57] That is the most important job a board has. And you are very much derelict in your duties. I'd say as board members. When you are not overseeing the financial health of an organization and attending to that role. So, you know, I would, I would, I would hold that mirror up very, very closely. And I, and I wonder if there isn't, uh, any, uh, legal ramifications for, for that board, uh, because they were siphoning money away from a very important cause a very important.

[00:08:27] Area, uh, of I'm sure programs in, in Boston. And I, all I can think of is like that money routing to, to other places. But I, I look at the board of directors here. I L less so on the, the, the individual couple that most of this article points to

[00:08:42] yeah. George that's, that's a good point. Yeah. Shall we take us into some brighter news, some giving Tuesday trends. I like it. Let's see. All right. So giving Tuesday has, uh, released a new data commons report entitled from scarcity to abundance mapping, the giving ecosystem and it's worldwide generosity survey.

[00:09:06] Uh, it has some interesting stats. I'll I'll I'll, uh, name a couple of them here. 85% of people surveyed globally gave in 2021 that non monetary giving was two X more common than monetary giving, uh, and globally again, in global context, only 5% of people who gave, gave money only. That's a really interesting, only mm-hmm, , that's a really interesting stat.

[00:09:32] I imagine it would be much different for the United States, which has one of the most advanced, you know, nonprofit, social. Impact sectors in the world, but, uh, really interesting stat. Another one is that volunteering for nonprofits has increased 7.4% in 2021 after a severe drop in 2020, but remains far below pre COVID 19 levels in the United States.

[00:09:58] This is something we've talked about even recently on the podcast here. Uh, Then I, I, one third one is that in the United States, giving to non-registered entities was over twice more as common than giving to registered entities. With most people giving to multiple types of recipients. I imagine that's things like go fund Mees and other fundraisers and, and that kind of thing.

[00:10:26] But George, what do we take away from, uh, the summaries of this.

[00:10:30] Yeah, the macro trend certainly is down as we've moved through the, the pandemic and many giving avenues 7% increase in 2021 was, was really great. Uh, actually I am also, I also feel like a, a broken record bringing back the fact that macro giving. I love the sentiment. I love the surveys, the, the fundamental gravity of donations in America.

[00:10:54] Is the simple relationship of the rule of two, the rule of 2%, 2% of our GDP. Tell me what our GDP is, and I'll tell you what pretty much giving is gonna be, because it has been anchored to that roughly since 1970 and. You know, we can, we can look up and down, but right now I'm a little concerned that the retraction potential recession and that net effect of taking 2% of a smaller number.

[00:11:17] So I'm not optimistic about what's gonna happen, unfortunately in 2022. And normally that that sort of consolidation, uh, tends to amplify a power law, but we'll, we'll see, I think it is positive though, that sentiment is, is increasing, is not decreasing. Uh, 82% of Americans affirmed that they gave. And you know, it's a good thing about participation.

[00:11:44] I think that's something that you may want to hang your hat on in a year where just the overall volume will be down, but you really want to keep those transactions, those interactions as also an important measure, uh, of what's going on because the, the tail of the tape can be misled by one large donor, not giving.

[00:12:03] Yet your actual underlying health might be strong. So, uh, keep that in the back of your mind this year, especially fundraisers who are out there trying to hit your number, like obviously hit your number, but you also pay attention to those, those transactions. And look just more than the, uh, the end of this year, because, uh, as this, uh, downturn recession, however you wanna brand it, uh, will come and go.

[00:12:25] But, uh, maintaining the number of unique donors that are connected to your organization will pay dividend. Later. Yeah, George, I think those are great points. And that actually takes us into our next article, which comes from the nonprofit times, which states that nonprofits contributed 1.4 trillion to the nation's economy during the first quarter of 2022, uh, actually exceeding the overall, uh, gross tic product by.

[00:12:55] 1%. But states that despite positive signs and comparable charitable giving in 2020 and 2021, the current 8.5% inflation signals that holding study financially is not good enough for some organizations to maintain staff services and impact to 2021 levels and goes into some things as you were talking about to look at, uh, through the end of 20, 22 as inflation.

[00:13:21] And recessionary concerns come into play. Uh, George what's kind of continuing along that, that macro conversation about giving a nonprofits and the economy. What's your takeaway from this article first? Always a fan of the nonprofit times clearly. No, we, uh, we occasionally like to write, uh, for them over there and I like that they do this summary.

[00:13:41] I like looking. Nonprofits as an economic engine, quite literally generating 1.4 trillion to the us economy, you know, via jobs, making up 10%, roughly speaking of our labor force, I mean, it's huge. And I think oftentimes over overlooked, uh, at that just sort of raw value of what's going on. And usually the, the GDP, just because of the way, the dumb way that GDP, maybe that's as a rant for a future day it isn't properly represented by what nonprofits do, because by the way, our service to each other isn't properly fit into a tiny bucket.

[00:14:16] measured in, uh, zeros and ones and oil and gas, but the, the contribution is real. And, you know, there's a, a number, uh, associated with.

[00:14:26] Yeah, George, I think that's a, a great point. Takes me back to my high school level economics class, trying to remember what goes into a GDP, but this is a cool way. There's actually, there's a little bit more in here. Sorry. I wanna call call to I'll just quote, uh, directly, cuz it speaks to sort of diversity.

[00:14:42] The sector workforce is continuing a trend of losing, uh, racial and ethnic, uh, ethnic diversity proportion of white workers, 70. Call it 78% higher than pre pandemic levels. Uh, generally, uh, the say the racial and ethnic proportions of nonprofit workforce track with demographics of the broader workforce ex except for Hispanic workers currently making up 11% of the nonprofit workforce and 18% of the overall workforce.

[00:15:09] According to the, the data in this, uh, report that they.

[00:15:12] those are pretty striking data. That was, that was one I missed also that's that's striking.

[00:15:18] We'll have to dive into that slide. It's holding up that, right. It's just like, it's holding up that mirror of being like, you know, here's the, here are the macro trends. Like we can use the language, we can, you know, put out the. Put out the campaigns, all we want, but you know, when you look at your own labor, uh, it's an important thing to note, especially if you're serving, uh, those communities, uh, directly and saying like, what is, what is our complexion juxtaposed with our stakeholders?

[00:15:44] Absolutely. All

[00:15:45] right, George, what about a fun feel? Good story. We actually have one. We, we did our job. This. We actually, we actually have one, it's not so much a story, but just more a cool project. This is a website called Leica, L E L E K a.me dot E. And it is a website that essentially you can buy digital art made by.

[00:16:10] Kids from Ukraine, kids in Ukraine and kids in the Ukrainian diaspora and the funds go directly to them. Uh, this is a UK based, uh, organization. They're registered as a non-for-profit company, but they're not a charity. But, uh, there's tons of cool artwork here and they're all around, uh, seven pounds.

[00:16:34] I think that's the, what I think the. Oh, that's the, is the weight. It's the currency. I was like the currency, the currency. These kids are churn out some high, high volume. Could you imagine the shipping on that? No, but for seven pounds you could be the proud owner of a digital copy of this really cool artwork made by kids going through what can only be, uh, a heartbreaking time.

[00:16:59] And, uh, the money goes directly to, to those kids. And. Uh, kids, families, bank accounts. So just a cool project. And you're seeing lots of really cool social impact like tech, uh, spring up from this, uh, this crisis. And, uh, you know, we talked about crypto philanthropy and, and this, that, and the other, but just another cool little project to help people in this trying time.

[00:17:25] Yeah, my only, my only critique here is. It was a huge opportunity to turn these into NFTs and sell them. Uh, instead you can, uh, you can choose to donate and download.

[00:17:34] They reach out to them, see if they wanna wanna help moving this into the, the crypto philanthropy world. Anyway, Nick, thanks for bringing this. Thanks for summarizing. Thanks George. Talk next week.

National Volunteer Shortage Threatens Stability of NGOs (news)

 

NonprofitNewsFeed.com 

National Volunteer Shortage Threatens Stability of Nonprofit Programming

Nonprofits in Arizona are having a hard time getting volunteers to come back compared to pre-Covid times, as reported by Axios. This represents a continuation of a broader trend since the onset of the pandemic, where nonprofits have seen volunteer participation decline nationally. Nonprofits like the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central and Northern Arizona say they may have to stop providing meals because of increased costs and lack of volunteers. Higher gas prices, coupled with fewer work-associated volunteer outings as well as remaining concerns about Covid may have contributed to the decrease. This animal nonprofit in California is entirely volunteer-run and has seen funding decrease by 30% since the onset of the pandemic. Decreases in volunteer participation threaten the stability of the hundreds of thousands of volunteer-led organizations throughout the country.

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Summary

 

• 76 Fake Charities Shared a Mailbox. The I.R.S. Kept Approving More. | NYT
• Nonprofit calls out Tesla for not disclosing enough environmental data | Teslarati 
• W3C Announces Plans To Launch as Nonprofit Org | Redmond Channel Partner 
• Opinion | Democrats Are Having a Purity-Test Problem at Exactly the Wrong Time | NYT
• 10 years after launch, Hamden nonprofit has repaired 173 homes for veterans | New Haven Register
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Rough Transcription

[00:00:00] This week on the nonprofit news feed, we're talking about, uh, national volunteer shortage as it rolls out and continues, Nick, how's it going? It's going good, George, how are you? First week of July? We are we're in the, I guess that means the second half of the year we're doing it. We're doing it. We're now in Q3.

[00:00:23] Oh, everything's gonna look brighter, shinier and better forget Q1 and Q2 of this year, they were junk. Things are gonna be completely new and fresh and a lot of nonprofits starting their new fiscal years. So, you know, you can, you can, re-plan based on the new information. Absolutely. I'm bullish on the success of Q3, but let's go right into it.

[00:00:46] Our first story comes, uh, as we talk about an increasing trend, which is a national volunteer shortage, that's threatening the stability of nonprofit programming. So as reported by AIOS nonprofits in Arizona in particular are having a hard time getting volunteers to come back compared. Pre COVID times.

[00:01:10] And while this represents a broader trend, the article talks about how nonprofits like the Ronald McDonald's house charities of central and Northern Arizona say they may have to stop providing meals because of increased costs and lack of volunteers, some of the contributing factors or potentially higher gas prices.

[00:01:29] Coupled with fewer work associated volunteer events, as well as of course remaining concerns about COVID that may have contributed to the decrease in the first place. Um, so just a small anecdote, but from a trend that we've been tracking for a while that we know is occurring nationally, George, what's your thoughts on.

[00:01:50] We talked about this early with volunteer match as well, the CEO, Greg Baldwin at the time of saying like, what are you seeing? And it, you know, it was clear that there were a lot more opportunities being posted than there were, uh, people necessarily filling them and to continue that. Into this year, corporate volunteering.

[00:02:09] Right? What does it mean when we're not all in the office together, doing things together, local and community. What does it look like over time? As we have maybe moved away from central areas in certain communities? As part of the like work from work from home, the second order effects are, are pretty real where maybe people are staying inside or staying more local more often because of gas.

[00:02:31] Like all of those things add up. And then unfortunately, you know, we see where we see a few of these stories. There's certainly many more, there's another one in the California, um, reporting where they are saying like a local animal shelter, not having enough volunteers. So if you see these stories, as we do, we kind of pull 'em together and say like, there are some second order effects there.

[00:02:52] Yeah, absolutely. Something will continue to follow, but just wanted to call out again, is one of those bigger trends we like to talk about on this podcast? Yeah. The other piece, when you have fewer volunteers, a volunteer is, and this comes from the data inside of volunteer match, 10 times more likely to donate 10 times more likely to donate than somebody who's not volunteered.

[00:03:11] So as you approach. Q4 knowing when you're supposed to be getting and converting donors in particular at higher numbers. This can have that type of downstream effect as well on mid to small nonprofits with high volunteer dependencies and relationships that if you are volunteer, numbers are lagging. So two will probably your donation numbers when it comes that time of year.

[00:03:36] Definitely. All right, George, shall we move into the summary please? All right. Our first story is kind of a wild one, and this comes from the New York times. Um, the the title of this article is 76 fake charities, shared a mailbox. The IRS kept approving more. So it turns out this dude in Staten island kept on registering.

[00:04:01] Fake nonprofits, but kept getting them approved by the IRS. Um, so this guy's registered nonprofits that don't exist such as the United way of, um, Ohio. Which he registered outta Staten island, the American cancer society of Michigan, which was also registered outta Staten island and did this 70 to 80 times getting IRS approval each time.

[00:04:29] This is just one of those classic fascinating New York characters. Uh, he was kind of ha has a history of. Shady wall street pump and dump schemes in the eighties, worked with an associated of the Gambino crime family. And now is living in Manhattan. Uh, the reporters talk to him and he says that he regrets it and is now on the right path now.

[00:04:53] But the IRS approved these charities, which is pretty incredible. Um, and yeah, I guess this goes back to our, our story of not all nonprofits are good, but he ultimately did defraud people of approximately 150,000 in donations to these fake charities. That's what they were for, for fraudulently, you know, siphoning, uh, donations away from legitimate charities, like the American cancer society.

[00:05:22] Uh, but yeah, kind of, kind of a wild tale. What's your takeaway here, George, just to reiterate this statement. That is almost a mantra here at whole. Where, where, where it is just because you have a 5 0 1 C three does not mean you are doing good in this world. And this is Testament. So making sure that as a donor you're checking the validity of the organization you're donating to is crucial, but also here's a powerful reminder for every nonprofit, especially those that rely on brand national.

[00:05:57] Brand and reputation. These are things that probably should have come up in a reputation, defense search and monitoring that should probably go on. If you're the United way, you should have an eye on this. If you're an American cancer cancer organization, you should have an eye on organizations that are popping up and looking to essentially.

[00:06:23] Mislead donors with brand, uh, adjacent and sort of mimicking your, your brand, uh, IP. And, you know, you work hard to create it. You should also spend capital time, money, whatever you wanna put towards that. You should spend that toward analyzing whether or not there are. These types of scams in there and, and file those cease desist, uh, letters and notices through there.

[00:06:50] Uh, the other piece here, which, you know, kind of, kind of resounded a little disturbingly on the nose for me is the quote that he had here is if you file something with an agency, he said, and they approve it. Do you think it's illegal? So technically, I guess like the approving of it like happened, the IRS looked that and said like, yep, that looks right.

[00:07:12] 72 freaking times. Okay. The part where you get into illegal is raising funds under somebody else's name that that's, um, you know, uh, runs a but of false advertising, misrepresentation and fraud. Yeah, absolutely. And George, just back to your point about, uh, You know, that brand protection and awareness piece, this is a little less sinister, but might be a tangible piece of information for our listeners is that you should be every organization should Google themselves.

[00:07:44] In a search engine and see what comes up, um, because if you're a larger or medium or larger size organization, there is a chance that a competitive a competitor organization is bidding against you. Uh, in terms of advertising. And again, not a little bit different. This is obviously all course kosher. It's not illegal, it's a strategy, but when it comes to brand protection, uh, that's an important thing to do.

[00:08:10] How do you. Show up in Google search. How do you appear on the internet? Are there organizations with similar names that are kind of, uh, milking that similarity for, for what it's worth, you know, and, and that, that kind of stuff is important. So I think you bring up a really good point, even if it's totally above board and legitimate, still important to know what your competitors, who your competitors are and what they're doing.

[00:08:34] Yeah. As if he didn't have enough things to do, but there was real money associated with this, right. There was 150, $2,000 that didn't find its way to those handful of charities. So what is the cost of, of not doing brand defense? You tell me

[00:08:48] wise is words. All right. I'll take us into our next story. And this one is about a nonprofit calling out Tesla for not disclosing enough environmental data. Um, so. Uh, Tesla, of course, one of the, the. You know, most traded and talked about companies on wall street is being called out by an organization called CDP, which is a global nonprofit that runs an environmental disclosure system for companies, city, states, and regions.

[00:09:20] Um, and they've called out te Tesla for not disclosing, um, the environmental impact of their company along with other. Major companies that are, are traded. Um, Tesla got actually downgraded off of the S and P five hundreds ESG index last year, which is the environmental, social and governance index, which is supposed to be, uh, you know, presumably socially and environmentally conscious companies.

[00:09:47] And they actually got kicked off that list. LA last year, much to the chagrin of the company's, uh, current chief executive. This is kind of interesting. And I think it's important and goes into the narrative that nonprofits have a power and a legitimacy to call out companies that need to improve their practices for social and environmental reasons.

[00:10:10] And that this is getting picked up, I think is, uh, is definitely a good thing. We only need more accountability, not less. What I like about CDP is also that they are essentially leveraging corporate markets and structure to. Improved disclosures with regard to environmental impacts in a very real way.

[00:10:32] This isn't just a article published over here on the side. This actually affects the way that your company is listed, which matters very much when you're talking about how fund distributions work and how, you know, we mentioned DSG fund investing works. And I picked up on the story because I remember Elon Musk as with many things.

[00:10:53] Moaning on Twitter as he is, want to do, uh, about how organizations like Exxon are on an ESG list, but yet Tesla has fallen off. And frankly, I was wondering like how that happened and like, here you go. Like they aren't disclosing how the organization is impacting and has an environmental footprint. And I think it's important to note because on the surface, yeah, they have revolutionized and moved forward by orders of probably decades.

[00:11:19] The electric car movement in America. However, to just tell that story and not also talk about the net effects of lithium mining internationally, and what that actually means in the environment is a misstep. You, you sort of assume you've solved the problem by not looking at the process. And so I, I think a full disclosure of what that, uh, mineral extraction costs is, is important.

[00:11:45] You know, are we trading one evil for another. And to what level? So you went on the list, go disclose. Yeah, I agree. I think this is a case of don't let perfect be the enemy a good, uh, but transparency is still important. Right. Um, so I totally agree with that. Take. all right. Our next story is that w three C is announcing plans to launch or relaunch as a non-profit organization.

[00:12:16] So w three C is, has to do with internet standards and governance, and they're relaunching has a non-profit George, I'm just gonna toss this over. I just have a soft spot for, I, I grew up with looking at w three C training and learning materials and how they've guided the fundamental underpinnings of HTML and CSS, the things that make your websites bright, poppy sparkly, and, uh, friendly enough.

[00:12:44] It, it just is a, been a tremendous organization just in, you know, sort of my, uh, my journey in, in web. And I like seeing them turn to the social good. Uh, for, from the, for profit to the, uh, to the, to the nonprofit W3C was originally founded in 1994 by Tim burner's Lee widely credited as the principal web inventor, much to the chagrin of others.

[00:13:11] claim claiming internet, uh, authority. Yeah, it's a, it's actually honestly amazing how much these kind of small organizations and most people have never heard of contribute so much to the infrastructure of the internet. Um, so, I mean, if you talk about accessibility, right? Like web accessibility standards that have allowed and made sure that folks that have, uh, issues with colorblindness or interested in web readers and the standards that have allowed, uh, the, a true diversity of individuals ranging of ability to access the evidence information.

[00:13:50] Like these are the folks that are helping look out for, for those as well. Absolutely. All right. Shall I take us into our next story? All right. This one is. Little controversial. I'll put it out there. This was an opinion in the New York times. Um, and the opinion is that Democrats are having a purity test problem at exactly the wrong time.

[00:14:16] And the title I think is slightly misleading. And the reason it's included on this summary is because it largely talks about progressive non-profits and. Civil society groups, um, and generally nonprofits and, and activist groups, uh, within the left. And the general thesis of this opinion is that there is a lot of tension between older, potentially more traditional, but also still liberal leaders of these organizations and younger, more diverse, uh, Up comers up and coming people in this organization who are pushing for change more aggression aggressively than their older counterparts.

[00:15:03] And the, uh, this particular opinion is that that tension, um, is causing turmoil at these organizations. And, you know, this is a point of view. It's, it's an opinion. Uh, but it's certainly an interesting thing to chew on. And I know we've previously talked about a story here. A C L U uh, was kind of at this center of, uh, you know, fierce protection with simple liberties, which doesn't always necessarily align with, uh, you know, progressive ideas and values, um, as just one kind of anecdote.

[00:15:36] Uh, but George, what, what's your takeaway from this opinion? What should nonprofits be thinking about? Because whether or not you agree with this opinion or not, uh, I'm sure that this is coming up in some way or another. Tons of organizations

[00:15:52] first off, this is, uh, a difficult issue and to not talk about what any sort of policy brought and implemented to, uh, at an extreme, or even in the wrong way. And it's in that potential negative effects, uh, is a misstep. So. I don't know if this particular article nails all of it in the right way, but I think it's an interesting conversation to have, and it does actually call, um, it does call in a lot of actual quotes from actual leaders and, you know, I'll try to find one particular quote.

[00:16:30] We talked through this Ryan Grimm's June 13th intercept piece elephant in the room, meltdowns have brought the progressive advocacy groups to a standstill at a critical moment in the world's history. And so this assessment, you know, As you mentioned touches on the a C L U. They mentioned the gut mocker Institute.

[00:16:47] They talk to some people who are, um, you know, only were anonymously talking about the issue. And in one part, just to quote this. Article, uh, consultant who works primarily for nonprofit advocacy groups only spoke anonymously, uh, mentioned that in this quote, uh, she said regularly sees routine disputes over salaries and assignments turned into civil rights issues, making them extremely difficult to resolve under ordinary circumstances.

[00:17:18] The failure to give someone a raise, even when it is a black boss becomes a matter of structural racism. She said, and. It continues on with these sort of anecdotal points, I think, to try to prove a macro narrative that I personally need to see more data around. However, with that, you know, a number of citations in these issues and well known organizations, uh, that are clearly cherry picked, there can be a kernel of, of truth, where there is a, a sort of paralyzing inefficiency to the way that DEI might be.

[00:17:53] Sadly weaponized in certain situations where it doesn't need to be. And whenever you misuse something, you're actually doing a greater disservice to your true end goal, uh, than implementing it in the right way. But I think it's, there's a kernel of truth here where I think there are a lot of progressive organizations struggling with maintaining their mission.

[00:18:15] With a higher expectation of DEI, D E I B in, in the organization in the way they, they do work. And that's not just from the senior level, but also at, it sounds like in this, the, the junior level of how you communicate these things without weaponizing them. To the detriment of the organization's outcomes.

[00:18:34] It's a complex issue, but to not talk about it, like you brought it in and you're like, oh, I don't know if we should pull it in. And I was like, this is fascinating. And, and maybe an important conversation and way for you to take this article and send it to your organization and be like, what do we think?

[00:18:48] Is there anything thing here? Yeah, George, I think that's, that's an interesting take. And kind of like the other side of this is they talk about, um, how. there's did that, this tension between kind of the, the institutional, uh, structure of an organization and new people who are coming in to create change.

[00:19:08] And it talks about how just a lot of these organizations are undergoing really rapid change very quickly. Um, and that in and of itself, uh, Is potentially just bringing kind of these, these issues to the surface and something that a lot of, um, institutions are, are wrangling right now. Um, you know, I think some people would say for the better, some people would say to the detriment of mission, right.

[00:19:34] Uh, but either way, I think a really important, uh, opinion here. Um, definitely again, that and opinion, but, um, interesting conversation, nonetheless, and I am trying to also. Keep an eye on whether or not we're talking about the perennial generational shift in work and power that plays out frankly, every 20, 30 years versus our.

[00:20:05] People just using at the executive level or at the opinion level, DEI is the broad brush for saying like, Hey, guess what? There's a, you know, a generational power struggle happening. And this is just the, the way that we're going to paint it as a narrative. And so I try to see as best I can. However, I, I think I'm, I'm probably too close to the problem.

[00:20:27] Speaking as somebody who straddles as an elder millennial in it.

[00:20:30] Yeah, it's interesting. One of the things in there and George, this is not you, but, um, it said that boomers are the boomers are the whitest, uh, generation in American history. And it talks about how whiteness as a racial identity, wasn't really cohesive until the boomers generation, right. A hundred years ago.

[00:20:51] It wasn't. Are you white? It was, are you Italian? Are you Irish? And of course. There's a lot of tension there. Um, but that organization. uh, that generation is some of the least diverse and gen Z is the most diverse. Um, and it talks about that, that imbalance now that gen Z's entering the workforce, and it's actually kind of really interesting.

[00:21:11] There's lots of articles about gen Z, even on kind of less, uh, less challenging issues like about, you know, offices versus open floor plans. Um, Uh, that are coming into question it's, it's kind of interesting to see out. Um, I think there is, I think there is kind of a, a shift happening, but interesting.

[00:21:31] Interesting to say the least.

[00:21:32] All right, George, we've waited for this moment for so long. How about a feel, good story. Did we actually do it? Did we find feel good stories and I didn't, uh, I didn't let you down on my. no, we found a feel good story. Um, this one comes from the new Haven register and it talks about how 10 years after launch a nonprofit in Hamden has repaired 173 homes for veterans.

[00:22:01] Butch is incredible. Uh, veteran homelessness is one of the saddest and kind of most ingrained problems in this country. Um, but it talks. In this article, how one veteran, um, and, uh, the nonprofit is really working to, to help folks, uh, kind of get a leg out when it comes to housing. Uh, the organization is called house of heroes, um, and they do really great work.

[00:22:28] So just wanted to highlight an organization doing awesome work. Hundred 73 houses is awesome. And especially coming off of July 4th, where we celebrate our nation heroes and the people that have lost their lives for our freedoms, it is, uh, great nonprofit doing great things. So hats off hats off to them, little quote we ended with I'll just shout it.

[00:22:50] The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity, Amelia Earhart. So I like this mindset of. Especially when things are maybe frustrating when you feel like there's too many problems. Remember the difficult thing is that first step. And then, and then it's about execution. So great words from a great woman.

[00:23:14] All right, Nick. See you out there. Thanks for the ongoing support and reporting. Of course. Talk next week.

Roe v. Wade Repeal Upends Nearly 50 Years Of Constitutional Abortion Protection (news)

 

Roe v. Wade Repeal Upends Nearly 50 Years Of Constitutional Abortion Protection; Access To Abortions Enters Into State-By-State Public Policy Frenzy

Nearly 50 years of the constitutionally-upheld right to abortion access came to an end on Friday with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. The decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito with additional concurring opinions by conservative justices including Clarence Thomas, immediately ended federal protection for a woman’s right to abortion. The right to abortion  is now a legal question left entirely up to the states, reflecting a public policy landscape upended into chaos. The legal landscape of abortion access across America is complex, with some states that have trigger laws that instantly banned abortion with this decision, and others have dormant laws that have suddenly become viable. The decision comes despite Pew Research polling suggesting that 61% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In addition to partisan and religious divides, among the most salient demographic determinants of American’s feelings on abortion stem from respondants’ age, with young people under 29 indicating 74% in favor of abortion legality in all or most cases.

Read more ➝
 

Summary:

• Biden signs gun safety bill into law : NPR | NPR.org 
• The New Humanitarian | Ukraine aid response shifts gears for the long haul | The New Humanitarian
• Health Care Debt In The U.S.: The Broad Consequences Of Medical And Dental Bills – Main Findings – 9957 | KFF

Did DAFs Just Lose $38 billion? (news)

Market Volatility Has Potential To Impact DAFs & Crypto Philanthropy

Major philanthropy trends over the past several years have included the rise of crypto philanthropy and donor-advised funds, alternate forms of giving that may see the trickle-down impacts of the current bear market and overall market volatility. Donor-advised funds, or DAFs, have seen a surge in popularity over the past several years as market-tied vehicles for philanthropic giving with an estimated $160 billion according to NP Trust. While DAFs receive criticism for their sometimes conservative disbursement and lack of immediate impact, another potential flag is that they are affected by market volatility.

This will potentially impact giving because of the percent based donation targets for these funds which hover around 20% according to NP Trust. With the S&P 500 down ~20% on the year, and having its worst week since the start of 2020, contributions within the past year to these funds may have decreased in value by as much as $38B. Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that serves as another popular vehicle of charitable giving, is worth less than ⅓ of its peak value in November of last year, potentially diminishing enthusiasm for charitable donations among investors.

The Giving Block, a major player in the crypto-donation space, offers DAF investment options that are susceptible to changes in the market landscape. This might be a rough year for overall donations from these sources, though it would be worse if this were happening in December...

Read more ➝

Summary:

• New Survey Ranks Most Trusted Nonprofits | NonProfit PRO
• Juneteenth in Galveston: Honoring State Rep. Al Edwards | khou.com
• How Houston Moved 25,000 People From the Streets Into Homes of Their Own | nytimes.com

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Today on the nonprofit news feed. We're talking about what the market drop might mean to donations. Nick, how's it going? It's going good, George, how are you? I'm doing alright today. That's good because we're about to go into a kind of complicated, but really. Uh, timebound story, really relevant story. And that is that market volatility has the potential to impact DAFs and crypto philanthropy.

[00:00:30] So two major philanthropy trends that we've been following over the past couple years on this podcast have been the increase in contributions to DAFs, which are donor advised funds, as well as the increase in crypto philanthropy. Now DS have seen a surgeon popularity and their vehicles for Phil philanthropic giving with an estimated $160 billion in value, according to nonprofit trust and DAS received some criticism for, uh, you know, maybe lackluster rates of disbursement and.

[00:01:06] Lack of immediate impact something else that is a potential downside of, uh, putting your charitable giving into the markets essentially is that the S and P 500 is down 20% over the year, just had its worst week. And that. Any kind of asset in the market is being hit right now. Uh, the flip side of that on the crypto side is that crypto is way down essentially crashed.

[00:01:35] Uh, Bitcoin is at less than a third of its value than it was at its peak in the fall. And that is likely to have, uh, put negative pressure. People who might otherwise be thinking of, uh, donating cryptocurrencies to nonprofits, which is another trend. So their overall story here is that, uh, the markets may be messing with these alternate forms of charitable giving this year.

[00:02:05] George, what are your thoughts? I'll say the larger story is around. I think DAFs, the donor advised funds, which are essentially, you know, donate now give later ish in this optimistic look of money. You'll appreciate over time because it's, you know, in the market. And just back at the napkin, we put in our newsletter that.

[00:02:27] You know, this could mean as much as 38 billion. If you're just talking about math, 20% drop 20% of 160 billion. So 38 billion could be off the table. Now bringing that downstream one more touch. There's an average number, according to the nonprofit trust of 20% given. So this sort of percentage based giving of DAFs.

[00:02:48] So what does that mean? Maybe about seven to 8 billion, just less on total giving from these DAFs. This. Which is a lot of money and looking at it, I often have gotten frustrated about donor advised funds because of this. Tax break for donations that there's no even minimum mandatory for, for giving. And so it grows or sinks in the market.

[00:03:15] Now the frustrating thing to me is that guess what, when the market drops by this much, and the economy potentially is going to be struggling and nonprofits are gonna need it most, it's the exact wrong time to be decreased, the amount of money flowing into the social impact sector. So you've sort of.

[00:03:32] Double down and tied an anchor on bad moments so that when black Swan events happen, when social, you know, social need's at its highest, you're at your riskiest, like it makes me frustrated. There's a thing that frustrates me with regard to crypto. It's a smaller market. It's less than a trillion dollars in total market cap right now.

[00:03:51] Will this impact current donations? Yes. However, it is much smaller than I think the total opportunity when we're talking about donor advised funds. It's not all doom and boom. No, here's what I'll say. It would be a lot worse if this were happening in Q4. The hope here is that there is a rally that there is a much better optimistic mood for giving when most of our donations do happen in Q4 and in December.

[00:04:18] So frankly, a summer slump. Isn't the worst thing. Although I feel for you, if you just launched your capital campaign, that's that's, that's the hot take for you, Nick.

[00:04:28] George. That's a pretty good hot take. Uh, I guess we'll see where we're at in December. I'll talk to you in Q4. I'm hoping gonna have a bull market. It's gonna be, it's gonna be great, but, uh, no, I agree with you. I, I appreciate what you said that we at um, when the market is volatile, the donations and the funds within DAF.

[00:04:53] Are at their riskiest at the moment that people need it the most. And I think we saw that in 2008, when, you know, people were relying on, uh, you know, the social impact space for help, uh, more than ever. And it was, uh, a slow recovery. So some things to keep an eye on.

[00:05:14] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this one comes from nonprofit pro and it's about new survey ranking. The most trusted. Nonprofits. And we've talked a little bit about nonprofit trust on this show and have talked about how nonprofits are one of the most trusted social institutions uh, in our, our kind of, uh, Social fabric.

[00:05:45] But it talked about respondents who lost trust in a nonprofit. And they were asked about the ways in which their behavior changed and a result and of people who lost, uh, trust that says that 45% stopped considering giving to a nonprofit and started giving to different nonprofits. So that's kind of interesting, George, what was your takeaway from this survey?

[00:06:07] It's just very interesting to me to like quantify and rank organizations like St. Jude versus make Aish versus habitat for humanity, you know, all of which are in the top 10. And it's, uh, it's an interesting rubric that is, uh, Definitely corollary two donations to the willingness of people to say, Hey, I trust you.

[00:06:31] And I trust you with my money, right. That that's the, that's how you finish that sentence. It might be an interesting approach for your organization to maybe create these types of surveys in industries. Right. Rather than like nationally across industries. In verticals. I think there's a lot of opportunity there, uh, to do that.

[00:06:52] I know I'm giving away this idea, but we just have too many other things to pursue. So take a look at it because we can see that it is corollary to giving. And that is very important to organizations. I agree. Although my, my gripe is this kind is kind of like the Grammys it's essentially just the most popular is gonna be at the, the top of the list, you know?

[00:07:14] But yeah. Yeah. It's name brand awareness, which is why I said there's opportunity in niche, right. In, in, in vertical. Exactly exactly. You know, the, the top 67 most trusted nonprofits of the PICU U area. That's gonna crush. Come on. Oh yeah. oh yeah. I love it. All right. Uh, we gotta talk about it this weekend.

[00:07:37] This. Juneteenth. It was observed on Monday. We are recording this on Tuesday and this comes from K H O u.com and it talks about how they were honoring, uh, Al Edwards. Who was the late former state representative from Houston who worked tirelessly to make Juneteenth a state holiday Juneteenth of course, uh, the day in which the last slaves were essentially freed or in the case that the news had traveled to them, that they were in fact, uh, free and.

[00:08:16] Yeah, just kind of cool to honor this point in history and how far we've come. We actually looked it up before the podcast. It became a federal holiday last year. So this is our second year celebrating Juneteenth at, as a federal holiday. But of course has been celebrated for quite a while. Especially by folks in Texas.

[00:08:34] Yeah. It's a

[00:08:35] wonderful sort of legacy and accomplishment to have this as a, gone from a state holiday to a national holiday that is now. Definitely being observed. And just to note, you know, Edward's passed away in, in 2020. So again, a tremendous, uh, legacy to, to behold and clearly, you know, by 2020 hopefully saw that this was definitely coming in as a, as a national quality.

[00:08:58] So, uh, a good time to remember and, and great time to. Remember the American history for, for what it was as a, as a truth where it took two years, despite legislation and rules being changed, where, where people were still essentially slaved in Texas. Absolutely. All right, George, this will be our last story for the podcast, but we wanted to quickly highlight one from the New York times.

[00:09:24] That's been making the rounds on social media and it's a feature story, so it's quite long, but I think really. Reading and the title is how Houston moved 25,000 people from the streets into homes of their own. And the, the subtitle is the nation's fourth largest city. Hasn't solved homelessness, but its remarkable progress can suggest a way forward.

[00:09:46] And the overall, just as the story is really quite remarkable coalition building and uh, uh, pooling of assets and. Drive towards one goal, which is essentially a housing first model. You know, every organization has its needs, its objectives, this, that, and the other but kind of a really interesting saga of how all these different pieces, uh, came together to help folks who were homeless, get into homes.

[00:10:19] And goes through like the bureaucracy of it. It's, it's a little bit too in depth for a long, uh, a short form podcast like this, but it talks about streamlining the bureaucratic process from 76 steps to, uh, uh, and 720 days to only 32 days. It's it's really quite remarkable. So we really, uh, suggest reading it.

[00:10:41] Yeah, the TLDR is when you reduce friction, you get better results. Fewer people have to wait fewer days. It goes from, you know, a few years to a month. That's life changing. This is awesome. And something to note when you're at a nonprofit, dealing with public policies, look for the friction and look to reduce.

[00:11:02] Absolutely. All right. Any, uh, any feel good stories for us

[00:11:06] sure. George, I gotta feel good story for you. This comes from news journal, online.com and this story is about a guy named Dan friend who decided he wanted to bring 140 ton world war II tugboat from Sweden back to the land where it was built. And it kind of goes through the, the saga of how he's able to bring this, uh, piece of history home and working with the DIAND. Historic trust and a couple other organizations.

[00:11:34] And, and they got a donor for $200,000 to bring this world Wari, tug, bat tugboat back to where it was built. And I think it goes into this larger narrative about how important. History is in, in shaping our, our communities, our, our sense of identity, who we are. And honestly, just a really interesting and cool piece of history.

[00:11:55] It looks like there's a diplomatic narrative here. They, they worked with the us embassy in Sweden. Uh, so just kind of a, a, a cool story. Yeah. And also it's for a Memorial day celebration in particular. So consider with the holidays coming. How your nonprofit might be able to entice donors to bring back historical elements, celebrations, and moments that help us, uh, remember our past and support, uh, social impact today.

[00:12:22] Thanks Nick. Thanks George.

 

 

Brookings Institution President Resigns Amid FBI Probe (news)

Nonprofitnewsfeed.com

 

Brookings Institution President Resigns Amid FBI Foreign Lobbying Probe

 

Brookings Institution President John Allen has resigned after national press outlets reported he was under FBI investigation for undisclosed lobbying efforts on behalf of the government of Qatar. While Allen denies any wrongdoing, he was revealed in court filings to be the target of an FBI probe into violations of FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act), which requires the registration of anyone conducting lobbying activities on behalf of foreign governments. Court documents also show he lied to federal investigators and attempted to withhold evidence saught by a federal subpoena. Allen, a retired four star U.S. Marine Corps general and former commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, publically resigned on Sunday after being placed on administrative leave. This comes amid increasing scrutiny of foreign influence in D.C.-based think tanks, and represents law enforcement efforts to curb illegal lobbying especially by wealthy Gulf countries like Qatar. Most of these policy-based think tanks are registered 501(c)3’s and wield enormous influence in shaping federal public policy.

 

 

Summary:

 

• Senators reach a bipartisan deal on gun safety legislation : NPR
  NPR.org
• Apple Adds iOS Safety Check for People Facing Domestic Violence
  CNET
• Jennifer Lopez Partners With Microfinance Nonprofit To Give Latina Entrepreneurs $14 Billion Capital Boost | Forbes
• Coastal Bend nonprofit offers summer program for students with special needs | KIIITV.com 
• The Kelsey Ayer Station Groundbreaking Community Celebration | The Kelsey

Complexity of the Catholic Church & Roe v. Wade | CatholicsforChoice.org

Jamie Manson, President of Catholics for Choice joins host George Weiner for a conversation about what the future of their work looks like in the reality of a post Roe v. Wade world. Jamie shares how rogue bishops in the church are actually speaking in direct contrast to the way a majority of Catholics in America feel about the right to choice according to Pew Research (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/20/8-key-findings-about-catholics-and-abortion/). 

 

Jamie also shares how she is keeping her team motivated and healthy in a once-in-a-generation moment at the organization when the stakes have never been higher.

 

 

About Jamie Manson

Jamie Manson is President of Catholics for Choice. For over fifteen years she has been a thought leader and advocate in the field of women’s equality and reproductive rights in the Catholic Church and the public square. For 12 years, she was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter where she was one of the few openly LGBTQ journalists in the Catholic media in the world. She was an often-solitary voice for reproductive freedom and justice and was one of the first to sound the alarm about the right-wing push for religious freedom. 

Jamie’s expertise in Catholicism and sexual ethics was first formed during her studies at Yale with her mentor, Margaret Farley. She edited and wrote the introduction to Changing the Questions: Explorations in Christian Ethics, a collection of writings by Margaret Farley (Orbis Books, 2015). Jamie has published op-eds in the New York Times, NBC Think, Ms. Magazine, and Rewire and has been featured in dozens of media outlets, including NPR, the LA Times, and CNN. She is the recipient of the Sr. Theresa Kane Woman of Vision and Courage Award.

 

Nonprofit Trust Drops 3% Survey Reveals (news)

Nonprofit news for June. 

Independent Sector Releases Survey On Nonprofit Trust 

Independent Sector has released its third annual survey on trust within the nonprofit and civil society sector. The findings show that nonprofits still benefit from strong public trust (56% of respondents say they trust nonprofits), making NPOs among the few social institutions that the majority of the public trust, along with small businesses and community members. However, the sector saw a statistically significant decrease of 3% in trust compared to 2020. The survey also found that education and financial wellbeing drive nonprofit trust, that purpose-driven integrity is essential, and that Gen Z is increasingly skeptical of the nonprofit sector. The survey fielded answers from 3,015 Americans and had a margin of error of +/- 2%.

Read more ➝

 

Summary

 

• 233 mass shootings have happened so far in 2022: nonprofit | The Hill 
• Rising gas prices affect delivery operations for nonprofits | KSHB 41 Kansas City News
• Inflation impacts nonprofit’s ability to feed thousands of kids over the summer | CBS 46 News 
• Small Nonprofits Shouldn't Be Subjected to the Same Payroll Tax as Amazon and ExxonMobil | The Chronicle of Philanthropy 
• Nonprofit helps formerly incarcerated firefighters get jobs | WesternSlopeNow

 

 

 

 

 

Rought Transcript

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed for gosh, June 6th, June 6th, the week of June 6th, we were talking about some of the information coming out of the independent sector on a survey, a non-profit trust, as well as some other headlines related to themes that we've been covering Nick. How's it going?

[00:00:18] Nick: It's gone. Good, George.

[00:00:20] George: Doing all right. Just, I had a wedding last weekend of an in-law's fun. Hadn't been to a wedding for awhile. So good time to celebrate. Hopefully nobody got COVID.

[00:00:31] Nick: That's good. TIS the site TIS the season for weddings.

[00:00:36] George: Yeah. weddings. weddings, and funerals. They go on, no matter what I'll say that.

[00:00:41] Nick: That is true. But bring us back to the nonprofit news. We'll start off with our first story, which comes from independent sector. Independent sector has released its third annual survey on trust within the non-profit and civil society sector. And the findings show that while nonprofits still benefit from strong.

[00:01:02] Trust where 56% of respondents say they still trust non-profits. This is actually a decrease of 3% in overall trust in nonprofits compared to 2020, there are a couple other really interesting findings within the report. One is that nonprofits were the strongest institution when it comes to public trust, beating.

[00:01:27] Legacy institutions like government, the media substantially that being said, there's a couple of interests. Nuances and the data and the survey found that education and financial wellbeing drove non-profit trust. In fact, education level was the prime determinant more than any other demographic determinant of trust in non-profit organizations.

[00:01:53] They also found that gen Z is increasingly skeptical of the nonprofit sector, not having a negative. uh, perspective per se. But not having a positive one either. So the jury is still out on them when it comes to building that trust in non-profits as a social institution. But George, what were your takeaways from these really interesting and important survivors?

[00:02:19] George: yeah, just to start, I always try to find and understand the sample size. In this case, it is a U S general population of 3000 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2%. So any number you hear it's like give or take a couple points. So that's just important to put in mind. I think the differences based on age range, And rising generation being a touch more skeptical is in line, uh, overall positive in terms of this report that I look for is just look, we're talking about people's trust across businesses, government, media, and nonprofits, these four major pillars of information in our society and nonprofits continue to be at the top of it.

[00:03:05] Overall trust erosion, just seemingly undercutting everybody. However, nonprofits just play this incredible role with regard to communicating valuable information at a time of mistrust. And so I, you know, I always like seeing that in terms of nonprofits being up there, but the overall number, I believe slipped 3% for nonprofits, right.

[00:03:28] Nick: It did. Yeah. The overall number. Crease 3%. However, it was still high at 56%. And the only other social institution that was rated that high in the survey were small businesses and just local communities and community of members. So in terms of our social institutions, nonprofits are still the highest, but yes did slip 3%.

[00:03:55] George: I'd say the other piece that I pulled out here is the biggest differentiating demographics. Characteristic is college non-college so more highly educated individuals in this particular survey, uh, were, uh, at a higher likelihood to be trusting the social impact sector, nonprofits and philanthropy.

[00:04:17] Nick: That's an interesting one to me. And I think it goes. I think it's interesting because a lot of nonprofits, particularly those that focus on social welfare, uh, might be helping folks in poverty or who may not have had the ratty opportunity to go to higher education. So maybe an interesting dichotomy between.

[00:04:44] The folks who might be funding contributing, running, and building non-profits versus beneficiaries uh, potential beneficiaries of those services. And of course that's a broad oversimplification, but to me that was, that was somewhat. George, what do you make of gen Z being more skeptical of nonprofits as an institution?

[00:05:07] The, the actual data show that they were more trusting of, uh, crowdfunding, uh, type campaigns and a little bit more enthusiastic about, uh, about donating, for example, to those games.

[00:05:22] George: Part of me is not surprised. Ultimately, rising generations tend to have higher levels of skepticism of institutions that pre-existed, that are run disproportionately sometimes by the other generation. And just, it's like a natural curve of what goes. The rise in, in crowdfunding and crowdfunding philanthropy is it's a personal frustration of mine because I don't believe it is the most intelligent way to distribute funds for a public.

[00:05:49] Good. I think it's the most popular, I think it's the most social, I think it is near term, gratifying, longterm, even potentially destabilize. To say here's how philanthropy should be done. Where as a massive crowd, smarter than an individual who studies a topic, there are times when the crowd is far smarter, but there are other times when, you know, maybe an organization that has got 10 employees doesn't need $45 million in the span of four days.

[00:06:20] Maybe that's a thing that you have to sort of balance. And I think, you know, it's a pendulum, it's a pendulum of a philanthropy that all, uh, Obviously, uh, come and go. And maybe the rising generation pro you know, like coming up, we'll be like, wait a minute. We've seen this show too many times. And the only person who wins in crowdfunding consistently as a crowdfunding platform.

[00:06:41] Okay.

[00:06:42] Nick: That's fair. I guess in turn, gen Z's are, are skeptical. You are, and we are skeptical of gen Z, uh, over simplification again, but.

[00:06:53] George: Yeah, I mean, you also saw this in a macro around crypto, and obviously I've not shied away from being a fan of crypto philanthropy. However, it does also make that crowdfunding a lot easier. I cannot go understated the fact that millions and millions of dollars were sent to the Ukraine without the permission of the guiding powers that be to do so.

[00:07:16] And that's, it feels very gratifying in the most. And you know, who who's to say how, you know, 80 plus million is, is being, being used. And it was something that when you take away the middle people, institutions and controlling bodies in place, like you just get money to where you think it needs to go, and it will have different types of second order effects both positive and negative.

[00:07:46] Nick: Yeah, I think that's, I think that's that's fair. Agree. All right, we'll move on to our next story. And this comes from the hill and is a little bit more sobering. And the hill reports that data from the gun violence archive, which is a nonprofit has supported 233 mass shootings that have taken place so far this year in the United States.

[00:08:11] And this data comes amid the fallout. Several devastating shootings in New York, Texas, Oklahoma. And just with seems like, uh, increasing temperature in the country when it comes to, uh, gun violence. But what struck me about this? Wasn't so much the gun violence as. As terrible as it is not something I'm surprised about sadly, but that the most definitive source on this is actually coming from a nonprofit and the gun violence archive is the go-to source for news organizations and researchers, uh, trying to assess.

[00:08:53] Gun violence and mass shootings in particular in the United States. So really interesting that a nonprofit is stepping up here and filling that void, uh, to provide the public with really vital information that for a long time, The government, for example, was barred from studying you know, government agencies were barred from studying the health effects of gun violence.

[00:09:15] So there was very, oh yeah, this is famously. That rule was lifted only within the past couple of years. But the CDC, I think it's, the CDC wanted to do a research on gun violence and Congress specifically for beta in the allocation of. So there's kind of a dearth of national data on gun violence and mass shootings.

[00:09:43] And the data is all over the place. But it seems that this nonprofit is really kind of DFR Tate of a source of truth on this.

[00:09:51] George: Yeah. I think getting back to definitely check this out. Gun violence, archive.org. I'm embarrassed. I had never seen this nonprofit, but it's a great model for showing how you can use data, information and honesty to hold up the mirror to society and say, this is what the numbers tell us about what's going on.

[00:10:14] This isn't. I mean, as much as you can say, it's like, it's not an agenda here. It's just your, your numbers. You're not doing well by any measure of what's going on here. And the question is, is this, this, you know, what is, what is tolerant? You know, there's twenty twenty one, six hundred and ninety two mass shootings.

[00:10:34] Is that tolerant of a society. I mean, it was tolerant then it was tolerant in 2020 with 610. Mass shootings. It was tolerant by our society in 2019, with 417 mass shootings. At what point, I wonder because the amount of mass shootings per year, it's some sort of threshold. And this organization seems to be asking that direct question by holding the numbers up, uh, as well as other total incidents of guns and other pieces, but the mass shootings.

[00:11:10] Uh, particularly of importance because we made assault rifles legal in this country after having them be illegal throughout the nineties. And we simply let the clock expire on that permission. And now I know they're debating slowly, whether or not that might change, but I think one take a look at gun violence, archive.org, to take a look at how your organization responds to your own cause and your backyard, not just gun violence, but how might data be used in this.

[00:11:37] way?

[00:11:38] To effect change and to hold up that social mirror.

[00:11:41] Nick: Absolutely George, that's a great analysis and I have a little bit more. And formation on the law. I was talking about there's a 19 66, 19 96 rule that passed through Congress, uh, called the Dickey amendment, which barred the CDC and other government research organizations from using funds to quote, to advocate or promote gun control, which was widely seen as essentially prohibiting any study of gun violence.

[00:12:08] Or gun sales, what have you at the federal level, uh, but, uh, here's to have been repealed in 2019. But, uh, the article goes on to quote that there is a decade gap of, uh, data there that needs to be filled in. So like you said, this, this nonprofits doing tremendous, tremendous public service.

[00:12:32] All right, I'll take us into our next story. And this comes from at KSHB 41, Kansas city news, and I'm going to package it with, uh, the next story from CBS 46 news. And these two articles about rising gas prices affecting delivery operations for nonprofits and similarly. Inflation impacting nonprofits ability to feed thousands of kids over the summer.

[00:13:01] So we have two local stories here. One is a nonprofit, uh, you know, the price of gasoline is affecting their ability, uh, to, to move, uh, goods around and their operations. And uh, this other story. Inflation, uh, which we've talked about on this podcast, really impacting food banks and other, uh, services providing nonprofits.

[00:13:23] But, uh, George, do we see this abating anytime soon? Is this going to be a problem for the long-term? Do we think how, how should we think about this kind of a macro economic, or even just a macro level?

[00:13:39] George: So one of the reasons I brought up the articles that I did, I mean, there's so many of these articles about inflation. We talked about it on here, but the shift in the summer is that the school food programs that disproportionately feed a tremendous amount of food, insecure young people in this country through public schools.

[00:13:57] Goes away during the summer. And so there's going to be a different level of food insecurity, hitting families across the country. This summer, while gas continues to rise and food prices continue to clearly hit new inflation highs and the cost of, uh, and the cost of food to feed, uh, is going, you know, that that need, that has to be met and it's disproportionate during the summer.

[00:14:21] So these ones should program. Uh, or something that I was just looking at. And so if your organization is in and around it, I think messaging the urgency associated with a shift that, that could maybe help with fundraising or improving the narrative.

[00:14:36] Nick: Absolutely. I agree. Those programs serve such a vital importance for our school students. And. The summer is hard for a lot of families that don't have not only the those food programs, but even then have to consider things like childcare or paying for camp or whatever it may be. Puts a lot of, a lot of burden on, on folks.

[00:15:00] So that's a great thing to flag. All right, our next article, George, I know this is one, uh, that you're a topic you're passionate about and you're passionate about it because you, in fact wrote this article and the title is small. Non-profits, shouldn't be subjected to the same payroll's hacks as Amazon and Exxon mobile written by you in the Chronicle of philanthropy.

[00:15:26] Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you.

[00:15:30] George: I'm just going to admit, I know this is just shameless. It's shameless for me to bring my own article into our own newsfeed. However, this has been on my mind for probably a couple of years of how effectively the same payroll tax, right? When you pay an employee. That sort of percentage of payroll tax that goes to state and federal, which, you.

[00:15:50] know, 10 to 14% give or take is the same rate that a Facebook exec, sorry, Mehta, exac, or somebody at Exxon or somebody at any other size organization is paying the same percentage rate instead of something like, and maybe you're like, oh, that makes sense.

[00:16:06] It's a flat thing. Except if you look at our income tax, it's a progressive tax. The percent that a billionaire has to pay is more. On paper, at least than somebody making minimum wage yet at the point of sale at the point of the moment where the nonprofit or the fortune 100 company is paying the person, that's the same percentage rate.

[00:16:31] And so I'm suggesting here a policy where in nonprofits that. Our smaller frankly, uh, that are smaller for effectively. I'm calling about a quarter million charities that are operating with less than a hundred employees and less than 5 million in annual revenue. Basically for, you know, a few billion dollars could essentially we could remove the payroll tax.

[00:16:56] They're giving them an extra 10%, uh, operating to either raise wages, to hire people, to serve the communities that they already do. And, and by the way, they are, you know, 5 0 1 C3. So they are doing public good. Uh, and I put the cap on that in terms of the Cypress medical thing is because I don't think a nonprofit with like 10,000 employees is the same.

[00:17:18] Type of situation that a smaller under 100 person nonprofit is. And yeah, it's a, it's a it's part thought experiment, but also part super freaking practical that literally for a cost of 3.7 billion I'd calculated, which could easily be made up with a progressive tax that we're in up a touch more for organizations like Amazon.

[00:17:44] To pay cause they can't get around those taxes the same way they can on income tax on, on their, on their corporate taxes. They can't get away from the fact that they need to pay humans to do work. And that's where a percent is taken out. It'd be pretty easy to move up half a point for organizations that are operating over a billion dollars because they're dodging their freaking taxes.

[00:18:05] Anyway. Anyway, this is a window into how. I get with social impact.

[00:18:12] Nick: We love geekiness onto this podcast. And George I'd hesitate to guess that listeners who've made it this far into the podcast are just as geeky. So I think we are in good company, but I wish I had, I wish I had a room. I

[00:18:27] Uh, we'll look at the data. We'll see many people make it this far. I wish I had a room to, to get you in someone to talk to someone in a suit in a, in a nice office in DC, because I think they need to hear.

[00:18:41] George: Well, I'm not going to give up on this idea. I don't know where to go next. I did get a quote from the independent sector, uh, that, you know, they, they do think it's you know, potentially plausible and they, they said there is, uh, some type of, you know, precedent for this type of tax. But. We'll say, I don't know where to go with it next, but I tend not to let things drop, so I'll keep pushing this.

[00:19:04] And if anybody listening just wants to take this and run with it, please go, go do it. I'll give you the research. Cause I should be doing my real job instead of trying to push something like this,

[00:19:18] Nick: It's for the public. Good. And speaking of public. Good. How about a feel, good story from our favorite.

[00:19:26] George: please.

[00:19:28] Nick: All right. This story comes from a Western slope now.com not entirely sure, but it is about a nonprofit that's helping, helping formerly incarcerated firefighters get jobs. So it's, well-known that, especially out west, including in California, Oregon, and Washington states have relied on incarcerated men and women.

[00:19:52] Wildfires. And that's all, that's a whole other conversation. But they are often trained to perform here at grueling work while earning just a few dollars, sometimes as little as $2 a day. However, there is a nonprofit group with some foundation backing. That's trying to help those firefighters turn their in carceral rated job into a real job.

[00:20:19] Upon, uh, their release. So it's helping folks get the, uh, the certifications they need. Cause they already have the real-world training. I've already been doing it. They basically already are firefighters. But helping incarcerated folks, uh, turn what they learned during, during prison into a career.

[00:20:38] And I think that's really tremendous. It helps, uh, reintegrate firefighters into, or formerly incarcerated folks. Newly firefighters into our communities. It helps them, uh, serve a public good and public benefit. And we interview when the individuals who participated. And he was saying that he felt that he had something to give back to society and was really proud to be able to serve in that capacity.

[00:21:02] So this is a really innovation, innovative program, I think. And I'm for any kind of program that helps formerly incarcerated folks reintegrate into society, uh, because. It reduces recidivism and it has a whole host of other social benefits, but cool to see.

[00:21:20] George: That's a really great quote in here from a a person. Uh, incarcerated and Brandon Smith says when you're incarcerated, you have this stigma of being a public nuisance. Being a firefighter, provided an opportunity for me to give back to community and give myself a sense of pride. It was something I wanted to continue as a way of giving back to the community once I came home.

[00:21:44] But they noted that after his sentence was completed in 2014, it really wasn't clear how to essentially become a firefighter, even though he was. Already trained in that. And so the certificate cations that he received while incarcerated didn't count and he, uh, and he couldn't even apply for some positions do the criminal records.

[00:22:05] So this is a great nonprofit. And by the way, you know, speaking to somebody who's in California, like we need firefighters very, very much so also across the Midwest, because it's going to be a very tough fire season. So hats off to these folks. All right, Nick. Thank you.

[00:22:22] Nick: Thanks, arch.

Gun Rights Advocacy Groups Fill Void Left By NRA (news)

Nonprofit news:

In Wake Of Uvalde School Shooting, Gun Rights Advocacy Groups Fill Void Left By NRA

 

On May 24 a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas killing 19 students, two teachers, and wounding 17 others. The horrific shooting has rekindled the decades-long debate in the United States between gun control and gun rights advocates. Within economically developed countries, the United States by far outnumbers other countries in terms of both gun ownership and gun deaths per capita. Among gun rights advocacy groups, however, the infighting and reputationally-damaged NRA has provided an opportunity for other organizations (many tax-exempt) to fill the void, according to reporting from The Washington Post. The National Association for Gun Rights, a 501(c)4 group that often criticizes the NRA for being too compromising, saw revenue increase to $15 million, up from $6 million in 2019. Other gun rights groups have seen similar increases in revenue and capacity.

Read more ➝

Summary

• Nonprofit Begins Tracking Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in the Midwest | NBC Chicago
• Nonprofits Fighting Gender Violence Have Struggled Since Losing Buffetts' Funding. They Urgently Need More Support. | The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Coloradans asked to take water conservation pledge | 9News.com KUSA
• Tax breaks aren’t prime reason for high-net-worth philanthropy, study finds | CNBC 
• Nonprofit keeps taps Memorial Day tradition alive | Military | kdhnews.com | The Killeen Daily Herald

 

Rough Transcript:

 

[00:00:00] George: This week on the nonprofit news feed we have got in the wake of the Uvalde, the school shooting information about how gun rights advocacy is actually increasing for some nonprofits and a number of other summary articles. Following coming after, uh, this Memorial day weekend, NEC.

[00:00:21] Nick: It's going good, George. We have a lot to cover this week. Of course, the first story we're going to talk about is. Uh, around what happened in your Uvalde and better conversations about gun rights and gun control advocacy groups. So last week on May 24th government opened fire the Robb elementary school in , Texas killing 19 students to teachers.

[00:00:46] And wounding 17 others. And this terrific shooting has rekindled a decades long debate in the United States between gun control and gun rights advocates. Uh, now within economically developed countries, the United States by far outnumbers others in terms of both gun ownership and gun deaths per capita.

[00:01:06] Um, but along the debate about how to solve. You have gun rights, advocacy groups on one side and gun control advocacy groups on the other. Uh, we wanted to highlight an article from the Washington post, which is talking about a little bit of the landscape change on the side of the gun rights advocacy groups.

[00:01:30] We've talked about those on this podcast before how the NRA has suffered from lots of infighting and legal challenges. As a whole has seen its reputation damage quite significantly over the past couple of years. Um, but as the Washington post points out, a lot of other tax exempt organizations now seem to be filling the void, um, and potentially taking the lead on the gun rights.

[00:01:59] Side of the issue here. The national association for gun rights is a 5 0 1 C4 group that often criticizes the NRA for being too compromising saw revenue increase to 15 million up from just 6 million in 2019 on the article sites that lots of other gun rights groups have seen similar increases in revenue and capacity.

[00:02:25] So the takeaway here is that what was. Very consolidated. Uh, landscape in terms of advocacy with one go-to group is now splintering and other groups are taking the place, uh, and serving the role once filled by the NRA. But George, this comes as the NRA held its annual conference in Texas, just three days after the shooting.

[00:02:51] Um, this conference was on last Friday and it's a fraught moment in the United States. And, um, You know, personally, I think that that gun control and gun safety needs to be acted upon and legislative upon. And unfortunately that were happened, but interesting, nonetheless, to see the landscape on the gun rights side, change in pretty significant.

[00:03:12] George: Yeah, it's sort of inevitable the thought that tamping down the NRAS ability to sort of fundraise and operate effectively to assume that that would stop. The progress of guns in this country. And it's unbelievable power in terms of putting money into politics is, is errand, right? It is. It's sort of targeting your energy at the, the wrong enemy because like a hydro, when you cut off its head to more show up in its place, inevitably the source of the money is not going away.

[00:03:51] The amount of guns purchased after an event like this inevitably increases, and that simply puts more money in the hands of manufacturers, which then finds its way inevitably into any functioning non-profit willing to carry the flag of, of gun rights over human. And so, you know, in a moment like this, there's a, you know, a rare opportunity to get the country's attention and to focus on something.

[00:04:18] I am having a hard time finding faith in Congress that immediately chose the bold action of going on vacation and leadership that has just polar polar views. Interesting narratives that I've seen coming out here are, is around the fact that we actually had a ban on assault. Right. Had a band. And if you look at the number of mass shootings prior to 2004, when it went out of the fact where he was put into place in 1994, by president than bill Clinton, the number of mass shootings go up.

[00:04:52] The question that is just hard to reconcile is why, you know, 18 year olds or frankly anyone needs access to high capacity, uh, firearms, if not to kill it. It makes zero sense other than to line the pockets of

[00:05:08] these manufacturers under this like misconceived notion of the right to bear arms and it's absurd extent, you know, why, why draw the line of dissolves? Shouldn't we all have, uh, you know, explosives, why am I put on Dara's watchlist? If I buy a extreme amounts of. It's because you have intent to do harm to large amounts of people.

[00:05:32] There are potential solutions being talked about that that could work. And you mentioned the sort of larger fact of how America has more guns than other countries. You said, uh, a lot more though, you know, and I think it's important to note that our, our guns, our guns per a hundred people are 120 guns per people.

[00:05:52] The next closest is Candace at 34 guns for people. You know that there are more guns than there are people here. Um, and somehow we continue to purchase more. And then that inevitably leads to gun murders per a hundred thousand, which is 30 times worse than Australia's. And a number of times worse than Canada's we're at 3.4 deaths per and Canada is at 0.6.

[00:06:14] So, you know, I think what needs to happen differently this time than the last time we had a tragedy. This magnitude, which was Sally and, you know, Sandy hook, December of 2012 is a reasonable step forward. It's easy to respond extreme to extreme, but I think you, what I'm saying, you, I think. Progressive legislators advocates.

[00:06:43] Non-profits people speaking to this need to couch, the anger and rage and focus on small wins, which feels just painful to say, but small wins and steps toward reasonable controls on. Anywhere that you can gain this, and I'm not going to list the number of policies out there, but there are areas where Americans all can agree and should agree.

[00:07:08] So I think I'm, I'm being a sort of moderate in my expectation, uh, and also analyzing some Google trends and seeing. That so far, we actually haven't hit the overall searches search volume that we saw about a decade ago. Um, in 2013, far from it, in terms of Google trends, searches for gun control as a topic.

[00:07:30] So I haven't seen it take off as high as it probably needs to, to actually move the needle. And again, Congress going on a brave vacation. During this time, uh, is going to slow any potential policy. So the question is for, for how long can the state in the media narrative and hopefully not get taken over also by a counter narrative, which is going to be incredibly attractive to take, which is why the sheriff overseeing this, uh, this, this tragedy chose to wait for.

[00:08:06] Over 15 minutes to take action. And that's, that's not the point. The point is there's an 18 year old who needed medical help and instead he got help from a local gun store.

[00:08:17] Nick: I definitely agree with you. I think to your point for too long folks on the side of the policy debate about wanting stricter gun control have propped up the NRA as this kind of buggy man. But the truth of the matter is. Is ideological divide in this country. And there are a lot of people who repeatedly vote in candidates who are.

[00:08:45] Pro gun. And that, that ideological messaging on the right is, is extreme. And I think it's beyond just money and lobbyist. It's a genuine ideological, perhaps demagogues, but it's an ideological difference. And I think that for folks who are looking for solutions need to understand that it's not just countering dark money and politics, it's actually.

[00:09:09] Changing minds and having those debates and meeting people where they're at to your point about small wins. Um, but something, something we'll continue to watch. And unfortunately I'm not super hopeful as well, but that being said, um, you have to try and, and we'll keep trying. And this year we have a chance to try again.

[00:09:33] So, uh, something, a story and a narrative will continue to be.

[00:09:37] All right, shifting gears a little bit. I can take us into the summary. This one comes from NBC in Chicago, and it's about a nonprofit beginning to track anti Asian hate crimes in the Midwest. So over the course of the pandemic, uh, organizations that track statistics of, um, Uh, hate crimes against Asian Americans have seen in over 300% increase.

[00:10:03] And this particular organization that Asian American foundation is setting up a program to track hate crimes and AAPI violence while providing legal and other support to victims. Um, To build trust, um, and break down barriers with communities, particularly immigrant communities or non native English speaking communities, um, to, to help these folks feel supported in a time where unfortunately, they're seeing a surge in violence against them.

[00:10:33] And I live in New York and there's been really tragically high profile, um, hate crimes against. Asian folks in the New York city area. So there's just something that's, that's very close to us. And I know a lot of here, all of us here at Holwell. So, um, just awesome. Worked from a nonprofit, stepping up to fill that dough, that void when it comes to data and reporting, and that is hugely important when it comes to creating policy decisions and other sorts of interventions to address such violence.

[00:11:05] George: Yeah, I think it's important that. Sir, not the qualitative, but the quantitative on this one, trying to document and get the data of what's going on. So you can really understand the scope of the problem. There's one thing to say, one-off events and like it's easy then for the public to say, oh yeah, but that's just like one lone actor as opposed to the larger incidents going up.

[00:11:28] So yeah, I like this.

[00:11:30] Nick: Okay. All right. Our next story is interesting one, and this comes from the Chronicle of falling anthropy and it talks about how the buffets, um, have stopped funding programs that support women and girls, particularly in the United States. So this article talks about, um, the foundation, um, the, the Novo foundation.

[00:11:55] Uh, quote unquote stunned the nonprofit world by announced thing at the height of the pandemic, that it was halting funding for critical programs, focused on women and girls. And the article goes on to talk with some of the, uh, uh, grant recipient organizations that have been on the receipt had been on the receiving end of such funding, seeing it suddenly dry off.

[00:12:17] And, uh, the, the, the TLDR of this article is. When it comes to corporate philanthropy, single similarly split second decisions can have really lasting and unfortunate ramifications. And, uh, the article kind of goes on to talk about the need for organizations to diversify funding, which is of course easier said than done.

[00:12:40] Um, but George, what's your take on this?

[00:12:42] George: No, we covered the Nova foundation out and shift, and this is just the second order or logical next order effect of that, where, you know, the Nova foundation accounted for or reported 96% of funding for that type of work. And it's. It's it's unfortunate because it does then a cliff and raises questions about, you know, was this?

[00:13:04] you know, especially if they're trying to turn long-term impact, it's hard to do when your funding can drive overnight.

[00:13:09] So, you know, we'll call for much more responsible philanthropy and just, just a warning for anyone who's funding relies heavily 70%, 50% more on one story.

[00:13:19] Nick: All right. Our next story comes from nine news.com K USA. And it's about Coloradans being asked to take a water conservation pledge. This is kind of a cool one. It's called the water 22 pledge, and it includes 22 ways for every Coloradan to save 22 gallons of water every day. And according to this nifty infographic, um, Each Colorado and saves 22 gallons per day.

[00:13:49] That's 8,000 gallons per year, or approximately 48 billion gallons per year for the statewide. So, uh, this of course addressing the, some, uh, climate concerns around, uh, drought and lack of, uh, clean water, um, and, and really, really dangerously low water levels out there. Um, so, uh, I love it. I love this, this kind of educational approach to addressing environmental impacts.

[00:14:19] And of course it takes much more than that, but the fact that this is just one kind of component of that I think is really cool and something we're going to need a hell of a lot more of as we start and continue to tackle the climate crisis.

[00:14:33] George: Yeah. I like stories like these sort of, non-profits stepping up for water crises, which are absolutely going to happen across the west Midwest. This. Based on what they're reporting. I think those, those points are incredibly important, but the practical environmental scientist. That I once potentially wanted to be in, in college, uh, has to also point to the fact that in terms of water consumption, agricultural water use is 89% of Colorado state wide usage.

[00:15:07] So, you know, the, the individuals, you know, cutting back certainly helps, but I think there's also a lot of room for improved farming practices and, uh, smart irrigation systems that can save quite a bit more if we're just being. Logical about it. So, you know, I, I see stories like this. I'm excited about citizens getting in there, but I hope it doesn't stop there.

[00:15:28] And also, you know, allocates for more intelligent, more intelligent ways to save.

[00:15:33] Nick: Absolutely. Our next story is from CNBC and it says the tax breaks. Aren't the prime reason for high net worth philanthropy or. So the study conducted by BNI, BNY Mellon wealth management asserts that in fact, tax benefits are not the primary reason that people donate to charity, um, including, um, hyper wealthy people.

[00:16:03] Um, and the top reasons for charitable giving include they're donated to a special cause they wanted to see impact they, or they want to give back or increase their legacy. Um, so. Maybe the folks who are a little bit too cynical about, uh, charitable giving. So take a look at this and, and of course, you know, there's exceptions well, um, but it restores your faith a little bit, and it talks about interestingly and perhaps more importantly trends amongst younger people, millennials and gen Z while still building up.

[00:16:37] For, as you talk a lot about the greatest wealth transfer in history is about to come our way, um, increasing trends in terms of young people, uh, donating and caring about, uh, social.

[00:16:49] George: Yeah, quoting here. The younger generations are more charitably inclined and they care more about impact and nearly three quarters of high net worth millennials and eight and 10. Gen X-ers investors have a charitable giving strategy according to this report. And I think it's important to note that the, the rising generation and the rising generation of frankly, a million multi-millionaires seem to have that type of lens and probably parked under the effective philanthropy, uh, effective philanthropy, effective altruist type of mantra, where they, you know, the care of where the dollars go in terms of trackable impact into causes and issues that serve a greater.

[00:17:28] Systemic solution. I would say, uh, also, you know, notably people like, um, one of the youngest, uh, new billionaires out there in crypto sandbank, then freed is also said to be making money so that he can spend money aggressively, uh, in, um, in his work. And it's a good trend to be aware of as some, you know, one large donor can, can make a, quite, quite a difference, especially as how.

[00:17:57] Craft your, your narratives and communications to your general audience, because inevitably there are probably a power law dynamic of 1% of that audience has 99% of the wealth.

[00:18:08] Nick: Definitely that's a great analysis and something, I guess we'll see, play out over time, but toward time out, I feel good story to finish.

[00:18:18] George: Um,

[00:18:19] Nick: All right. This comes from KTH news.com, Kilian daily Herald, and it's about a nonprofit keeping them Memorial day, traditional Latifah playing taps. The Mecca Ts multi educational cross-cultural arts of central Texas is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and spreading the awareness of cultural music and dance gathered to play taps.

[00:18:46] Veterans grades and honor of their service and sacrifice this Memorial day. And it talks about Mecca Tech's leader and retired us army criminal, Daniel , who was 90, who began this year's remembrance at the grave of his friend. Um, another former board member of this nonprofit retired Sergeant first class Jose land does.

[00:19:07] So, uh, music can be an important and valuable way to serve. That part of our life journey and, uh, recognizing, um, friends fallen and war celebrating life morning life and just overall expression. Um, he's like, it's really important to me and I know to a lot of other people, and this is great to see a nonprofit, uh, using it to pay their respects this Memorial day.

[00:19:38] George: Beautiful way to remember people that have given the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we enjoy. And so yes, to, to the veterans and to the people that are remembering Memorial day, uh, it's much appreciated and like to see non-profits involved in, in keeping these types of traditions alive. Thanks, Nick.

[00:19:59] Nick: Thanks, George.

 

Do you REALLY need an RFP? | Nonprofit.ist

Interview with Heather Yandow, the founder of Nonprofit.ist, an online resource that helps pair nonprofits with the right consultants; a co-founder of Beehive Collective, a Raleigh-based giving circle; and the creator of Third Space Studio’s Individual Fundraising Benchmark Report.

Host, George Weiner discusses how nonprofits should approach RFPs and finding the right contractor or agency for the type of project they need. 

 

 

Nonprofit.ist Resources 

https://www.nonprofit.ist/home

https://www.nonprofit.ist/rfp

https://www.nonprofit.ist/5questionstoanswer

https://www.thirdspacestudio.com/

Heather Yandow is a collaborative co-conspirator and creative thinker with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world.

Inspired by issues that touch her heart and organizations invested in relationships, Heather gets joy out of helping groups move forward from chaos to clarity. Phrases like “adaptive leadership” and “change management” are sure to get her mind churning.

Before Heather joined Third Space in 2010, she was the Director of Development and Communications with the NC Conservation Network, a statewide network of over 100 organizations focused on protecting North Carolina's environment and public health.

With a personal motto of “just do it,” Heather identifies problems and dreams up actionable solutions. This talent has led to many projects: Heather is the founder of Nonprofit.ist, an online resource that helps pair nonprofits with the right consultants; a co-founder of Beehive Collective, a Raleigh-based giving circle; and the creator of Third Space Studio’s Individual Fundraising Benchmark Report.

 

Rough Transcript

[00:00:00] George: We have got a very fun guest. Heather . Heather is the founder of nonprofit IST that's nonprofit.ist to be clear. And Heather is also a consultant at third space studio. Heather, thanks for joining us. How is.

[00:00:18] Heather: Great. I'm glad to be joining you today.

[00:00:21] George: Well, you know, I came across non-profits, but I've also been watching your work for a while and I laughed because it was similar to a tool that Holwell has tried to build and kind of does on the side. But maybe we can just start with what is a nonprofit just.

[00:00:39] Heather: Good question. So I think of a non-profit is like a florist or a dentist. So a nonprofit is, does a person who has experience with nonprofits. So nonprofit is, is also a website, a directory of nonprofit experts. So coaches, consultants, lawyers, accountants, anybody who can help nonprofits with the challenges they're, they're dealing with.

[00:01:04] So we've got almost 300 folks from across the country as part of our directory and leaders, nonprofit leaders from all over the country can come and find the help that they need there.

[00:01:15] George: And how is a non-profit is just uniquely different than somebody who is working for a for-profit industry. Like, you know, I work on email. Why is the nonprofit is just so important in this equation?

[00:01:32] Heather: I think it's really important because nonprofits have. To some degree, unique set of challenges. We're often resource constrained. We're dealing with different kinds of social issues or behavior change or advocacy that maybe those in the business world might not be. And the nonprofit leadership structure often is really different than what you might have in a for-profit.

[00:01:56] So, if you're working in a nonprofit, you might have to be dealing with a board of directors, but it has a whole lot of influence and power over the decisions that are being made potentially. And that often doesn't exist in the same way in the for-profit world.

[00:02:11] George: And so this site, nonprofit that IST helps people find these professionals, like, how is it, Matt? It sounds like a marketplace.

[00:02:23] Heather: It is a marketplace.

[00:02:24] I, I designed it to be somewhat the Angie's list of nonprofit consultants. We do not have all of the features and Angie's list yet, but it is a place where you can come and. Sorta people you can search by any particular category. You can search by geography. You can look for keywords.

[00:02:45] So if you're looking for a strategic planning consultant in Florida who has experienced with. You can put all of that in there and the system will spit out. Here's a few folks who might fit the less specific you are, the more people you'll get. But we have, I think, a dozen different specialties now.

[00:03:03] And about 40 states, we've got represented.

[00:03:06] George: Interesting. What's the most popular fist somebody is looking for.

[00:03:11] Heather: The most popular is that people are looking for, tends to be fundraising. Unsurprisingly fundraising continues to be the thing that people really need help with and not whether it's figuring out how to ask major donors for.

[00:03:27] funding, setting up bequests, thinking about grant writing, all of those specialties.

[00:03:33] We see a lot of interest in.

[00:03:34] George: So tools, sites marketplaces, like Fiverr have existed for quite some time or Upwork or, you know, fill in the.

[00:03:43] Heather: Yeah.

[00:03:44] George: Why did you decide to create one focused on non-profits?

[00:03:49] Heather: I think what we saw in the, in the world in the marketplace was that there wasn't kind of trusted. just for people who have experience with non-profits. So certainly you could go on Fiverr, you go on Craigslist and find yourself a graphic designer. But if you need someone who really understands strategic planning, or if you want a lawyer who can help with incorporation, Those folks are a little bit harder to find.

[00:04:17] And there was a very fragmented landscape of these directories. So some state nonprofit associations have kind of business directories, some very specific kind of specialties have their own directories, but there was nothing that was really national and that included all of the different kinds of help that non-profits?

[00:04:39] really.

[00:04:39] George: It sounds like a daunting task to try to corral so many independent contractors or small companies. How long have you been building this? How have you been going about adding to the database?

[00:04:53] Heather: So I think it was more daunting than I envisioned. If I had known at the start, how daunting it was, I might not have started. But I began in January of 2019. We got our first expert to be part of the directory. We had a hundred folks by may of that year and opened up to the public. So it's really started getting nonprofit leaders to come and take a look.

[00:05:16] And we've been growing really by word of mouth. So there was a big question when we started, how are we going to credential the people in the directory? How are you going to know that you're getting somebody good? And that for nonprofit consultants is actually a really hard question. There is no one a certificate that we can get.

[00:05:38] There's no, no particular degree. If you're great in one specific area like fundraising, you might have a certification or coaching. But we went round and round about how we were going to credential people and eventually decided that trust is transitive. And so if I trust you as a consultant that you're going to do good work and you trust somebody else who I don't know, then that trust is transitive.

[00:06:05] So I am going to trust that they are also a good consultant. So we have grown by invitation only. So our members can invite. Their colleagues to become part of the network.

[00:06:18] George: Interesting. So it's, if a goes B and B equals C. And see, you could get a drink sometime and hopefully be able to speak the same language. So how does, you know you know, we have a wide audience listening. How would a consultant saying, oh, I want to be on this list. How, how would they go about that then?

[00:06:39] Heather: Good question. So we do Have folks who are not directly connected. There's a way to apply on the website and you just have to answer a couple of questions. One of the other things that I know about consulting is that. One consultant. Isn't great for everybody. So we're not looking to say here's a set of absolutely perfect.

[00:07:01] A plus consultants who are going to work for every person. We're looking to say, here's a set of folks who have some good experience with non-profits who have some trust with their colleagues. And if you're going to hire them, we want you to be a good consumer. We want you to think about how you're actually doing.

[00:07:20] Choose who to work with and make sure that the right fit for you.

[00:07:23] George: Have you ever had to boot somebody for, for, misbehaving?

[00:07:27] Heather: We haven't ever really had to beat anybody for misbehaving?

[00:07:30] I'll tell you that story later.

[00:07:32] George: I love, I love the postscript on that and you know, it's, it's a. It's an important note though, you know, you, you mentioned sort of Angie's list and a part of that is ratings and trust, but at the, at the heart of it, you know, every organization can't be great at doing all of the things. And some percentage of projects just don't go as planned because that's the nature of consulting.

[00:07:56] They have been hired to solve a hard problem, and sometimes it doesn't get solved in the way that everyone hoped. So how do you go about that? I guess as a promise to nonprofits, I assume nonprofits can come on there and post what they need, or look for a professional. Like, what is that type of vetting promise look like.

[00:08:18] Heather: So. Promise that this is a trusted network. We allow people to, for nonprofit consultants, they can post their LinkedIn profile. They can post their email, they can put up testimonials about how great they are. And when nonprofit leaders, when a board member executive director development director comes to look, we really encourage them to think about how they're going to hire well.

[00:08:45] But nonprofits as a website, doesn't get involved in that transaction. We really wanted to make it as frictionless as possible and also free. So for all of our nonprofit leaders who are coming to the site, it's totally free to get in And get access to all of these consultants.

[00:09:02] George: And here's a tough one for you. What about ratings? I immediately think of, as you've mentioned, Angie's list or like a Yelp, I'm saying like, how many stars can I leave people potentially.

[00:09:15] Heather: I've been really hesitant to get into the ratings game. And that is. In part, because I'm not sure in this case they'd be super helpful. I suspect that we would be getting a lot of five-star reviews. And that just in this context, I think people are too nice. I'm not sure that we would actually get the kind of constructive feedback that would be helpful.

[00:09:39] And maybe that's just what I'm telling myself, because I have heartburn about putting that up and having to deal with consultants who might want to take down negative reviews or kind of mediate any of those. Because certainly there are times when I've been a consultant for 12 years. There are times when the work hasn't gone as expected, and it's my fault.

[00:09:59] There are other times when the work hasn't gone as expected and it's actually the client's fault. And so. There's this a lot of a gray area there that I'm hesitant to get into, but is, is definitely on our radar.

[00:10:13] George: I don't know the right answer. I have been in the same game for over a decade, and I'm aware that what happens on Yelp ultimately is the, the polars, right? You end up with extremely happy or extremely frustrated, and that can paint a weird picture and then put no marketplace owner in a weird place. But clearly from a nonprofit perspective, you'd be curious as to sort of number served or something there.

[00:10:42] It's it's hard though. I started this conversation mentioning whole Wales got a similar product, which a, with a much, much, much smaller band. We only look at sort of digital. RFPs website builds for, you know, we originally did this because we don't build websites at whole whale. And there's a lot of things we don't do that whole well, where we want a need, a trusted network.

[00:11:08] You mentioned that sort of transitive property of trust. And so it's like a handful we have less than 20 companies that serve a range of budgets for these types of technical projects and includes like ad-words management. And website dev the problem was, you know, the well, many fold, but just sort of scaling beyond that trust.

[00:11:32] And like, we just, I didn't have the guts to just open up the door wider, but also we didn't have enough projects I'd say to come in. So the two-sided marketplace is super hard. We have. A handful of these RFPs coming in. I'm curious on your side, what does that nonprofit flow look like? What does the, you know, average size you mentioned it's a fundraising fundraising, unsurprised type of consulting people are looking for, but maybe you can paint what that looks like.

[00:12:03] Heather: So we have been actively reaching out about the directory, marketing, the directory, really putting a lot of our budget behind recruiting. Nonprofit leaders to come to the directory. As I said, it's free to join and you've got to join if you really want to dig into somebody's profile. And we've got just over 3000 members now over the past three years.

[00:12:29] So we're doing we're finding that a lot of people are interested in this. The two big ways that folks are finding us one is we invest a lot in Google ads. We have found that that has been a really good way for us to find new. And then also word of mouth. So every time somebody asks me or asks any of the consultants in our directory, do you know somebody who, which we get those questions a lot?

[00:12:56] Our answer is non-profits. So that kind of constant referring back has been really helpful. Because we are not always in the middle of the RFPs the best data that we have about what folks are looking for and what they're getting is from doing some surveys every year. And so we know that folks are finding good people through nonprofits.

[00:13:19] They're getting their projects done. They're recommending it to their friends. They have a pretty high level of satisfaction.

[00:13:25] George: And for our tool, we jokingly called it snorkel. Our front door is an RFP generator. Like we don't let you come into the party unless you have an RFP. Now those three letters, the request for proposals. I know, spark a bit of ire in the consulting space. Maybe you can map out your approach and experience with the RFP.

[00:13:51] Do they don't they dilemma?

[00:13:52] Heather: Yes. So I am anti RFP just to stake my claim. I think that's Absolutely organizations need to get clear about what they're looking for before they approach a consultant, but that is different than having an RFP. An RFP can help you get clarity on some of the questions. How much money do you think.

[00:14:17] When do you want this to be done? What are the big questions are looking to answer? I, have also seen RFPs that are 12 pages long and answer none of that. Right? So they are not necessarily the same thing. I actually asked some consultants on LinkedIn. I put out a post about RFP. And got a lot of great feedback.

[00:14:39] Most folks in a similar situation to me that RFPs are just not what works. And I think they don't work for a couple of reasons. One is often they're really prescriptive and that prescription is either solving the wrong problem or. Putting together a scope of work that just really isn't going to address the need.

[00:15:02] And part of the reason why you want to work with a consultant often is to help diagnose the challenge, help plan out the solution. So if you're already doing that in your RFP, if you've already seen. We're going to have one, two hour board training and one, one hour work session with the executive committee and that's it.

[00:15:21] That's the solution to our problem. Then you're really not using consulting to its full capacity. You're not really using us in a way that's going to be helpful. They also often require a lot of free work. So I am half of a two person consulting firm. We use our time to do the work. And so if you are asking us to put together of five page RFP or five page proposal with lots of responses, we may not ever apply for.

[00:15:53] And that's certainly going to be true for other folks who are not part of larger organizations. So you're kind of skewing your RFPs towards people who have the capacity to sit down and write lots of proposals. And finally they're really impersonal, I think when the best fits come, when you actually have that.

[00:16:15] That personality, when you're able to talk to somebody and you clicked and you both understand the problem, you understand how you're going to work together. Those work styles really mesh and the RFP proposal process really doesn't do that. Well. I just had the best experience and I didn't even get the work, but it was still the best experience I had somebody send me a request for conversations. It was a two page document that included lots of the pieces of an RFP. And at the bottom, it says, if this seems like something you're interested in click here to schedule a 25 minute phone conversation. So I did my partner and I got on the phone. We talked for 25 minutes, fantastic conversation. And at the end of it, he said, okay I'm going to be talking to our executive director.

[00:17:03] And if you move on the next step is a conversation with the two. So that was 25 minutes of our time. 25 minutes of his time. It wasn't the right fit for whatever reason, but that was fine. I would do those calls all day long, rather than write out those large proposals.

[00:17:19] George: I, I wish I could say that. Like that's not perfect because the request for conversation, we see, we get those, like a request for information is also kind of goes by, and it's just so much more efficient. And I will say like, you know, we, we live in an RFP world for project sizes and pieces that. I just have to be part of the DNA of the process.

[00:17:43] You know, one of our approaches is putting out a template that hopefully elicits something usable and it kind of brings somebody through that process, but we don't respond to cold RFPs where we don't get a conversation first. And I think that's an important note. The other piece I'll say about the RFP is it does help focus.

[00:18:03] Sometimes I'd find the project as opposed to. You know, here's a problem. We have no clue what we need. And that's the difference of going to a dentist versus a general practitioner? Do you dentist here, like, let's be clear what the problem is. And so in, in that type of focus, we sort of, we default to the unfortunate RFP.

[00:18:27] But I want to pull back to the size of organization that you somehow end up with. As soon as you kind of like pull together the RFP, you have to assume the type of machinery that can respond to RFP put together those pages. Right? We have a win rate of about anywhere hovering from like 46 to 52%, which means half of our work goes into yield dumpster of, of our.

[00:18:53] How do you think about the budget expectations when it comes to these conversations?

[00:19:01] Heather: The budget expectations from in response to what the non-profit is looking.

[00:19:07] George: Yeah. That awkward conversation about how much does it cost? Well, how much do you have.

[00:19:13] Heather: Yes. So I take my cues from say yes to the dress. And so have you ever seen this though? It is a. is a I don't know what channel is a TLC probably, but it's about women shopping for wedding dresses. And so they walk into a store and there's wedding dresses from, you know, a thousand dollars to a hundred thousand dollars.

[00:19:33] And the bridal consultants, not sales women consultants say. Is there a price point we should pay attention to? This is our price point. We need to respect is there, is there a budget here? And so I lean on that kind of language. So is there a budget I need to keep in mind? Is there a budget you have set aside for this?

[00:19:53] I won't really respond to an RFP. I won't respond to an RFP if it doesn't have a budget in it. Particularly for the kind of work I do. If someone wants a strategic planning process, it really depends on what kind of investment they're looking to make as to what the scope of our work can be. And so oftentimes I will kind of walk folks through that.

[00:20:18] So here's a few different pieces of work we could do if we do all of them. It's a $40,000 project. If we just did this one little piece, it's a $10,000 project, but I need to understand where you are. And so certainly there's budget implications for that. The thing I think we don't often think enough about, especially in the kinds of organizational development projects is what's the bandwidth that the board and the staff have for this.

[00:20:47] So if you're doing a strategic plan or board development, or even in depth fundraising, What else does, does the staff and board have on their mind this year? Are you also going through a diversity equity inclusion project? Are you also celebrating your 40th anniversary? Are you also launching a capital campaign?

[00:21:06] Do you actually have.

[00:21:07] the bandwidth to do this project this year? Or does that help to determine the size of the project as well?

[00:21:15] George: So it's a monetary and a time type of budget.

[00:21:20] Heather: Yes. It's. What resources do you have available for this in the coming year or two years?

[00:21:26] George: It's super important in tough too, because you know, we've seen a lot of folks. Well, I don't want to put a bunch of down this, but I'm going to give you a five page RFP. I just sort of, I'm like, I won't pass that forward because you know, we've got companies on our snorkel list that we'll do a project for $5,000 in $500,000.

[00:21:49] So for you to not give a budget, you're like, okay. I'll, I mean, I'll tell you what happens on the other side. They're like, yeah, we're not going to bother with us. Or what they do is they look at your nine 90 and then they analyze what's going on with the size of the organization and they back into it.

[00:22:05] But this could be a small project for you. You just sort of wasting your own time and others' time by not having that budget range. However, I do see the. Converse there where maybe you're talking about a larger, you know, fundraising effort or a larger project where there could be a range and you want competitive bids, because again, a nonprofit is obliged by its statute to have three competitive bids.

[00:22:36] And if you say I'm going to spend, you know, $60,000 on this project, then you know, like how much competition he gets. So what is your advice? For, for that nuanced game,

[00:22:48] Heather: not all nonprofits need to get the competitive bids but many do threshold on that? Do you know?

[00:22:55] I think it might have to do with the funding source. So it might be like government money. You have to get more beds. A lot of the nonprofits I work with don't have to get those bids if they're smaller and they don't have government funding.

[00:23:07] I think though that when we're talking about. Reacting based on price, choosing based on price, you are not going to get the best consultant for you. So if your only way of judging is price and you're not looking at that fit, you're not looking at experience. You're not looking at work to be done.

[00:23:29] Then I think you're really you're, you're doing yourself a disservice and your organization and disservice. So I. React. Well, when someone says, well, we've got kind of 50 to $60,000, that's our budget range. And here's all the things we want to do. What I see often happens is nonprofit leaders, eyes are bigger than their plates.

[00:23:50] Their desires are bigger than their. So I might describe all the things we could do. And then I find out they've only got a very small budget, but they're still trying to cram all of the different pieces in and figuring out how to get the most bang for their buck, which I do think makes sense. But if someone.

[00:24:09] Does it have a budget, huge red flag for me, they're not taking this seriously. They're not ready to make a significant investment of time and money if they won't share their budget. I think I try to walk them through. Here's why it matters to me what your budget is. Not because I'm going to max it out, but because I want to right-size the work.

[00:24:29] And if they still won't give me a budget, then I think that's a, that's a big question for myself and my colleague, my partner to figure out, do we really want to move forward with this?

[00:24:38] George: Yeah, I think the selection criteria is kind of interesting because if you just choose based on price, the adage of you get what you pay for is like an immutable law of grants. That comes forward. And at that point, you know, you should just go onto Fiverr and have somebody just, you know, go do it for $5.

[00:24:57] You realize there's a point at which that's a ridiculous thing. And you're playing a weird game by going about that. Coming back to that question, though, you know, you have, non-profits waiting into 300, 3000 X, you know, options out there. How. Just the site or do you advise on choosing that? Right? We'll say fundraising consultant.

[00:25:21] Heather: So our advice is to first be clear about what you need. So what's the challenge you're trying to address how many. Do you have to put into it both in terms of money and in terms of time, when do you want it done? Honestly, the wind can be really challenging. So if you have a board retreat next weekend, your pool of consultants is very small, right?

[00:25:46] If you, if we have some time and some bandwidth, you have a much bigger pool of consultants. The other thing I encourage folks to think about is what are those kind of untangible, intangible, unteachable things that you are really looking for in a consultant. So it might be, you're really looking for a particular kind of experience.

[00:26:09] It might be, you are looking for a particular kind of personality. So you might like someone who is super direct. You might like somebody who is really focused on project and task management. You might know that because of the composition of your board and staff, you really want to be sure that the team includes a person of color in the leadership.

[00:26:34] Right? There are a whole lot of characteristics that if you reflect back both on yourself, The organization, the team that's leading this work, you might identify, there's some specific things that we're really looking for. And I think those can be really important.

[00:26:48] George: Yeah. So there's some intangibles that like your style approach, other other factors. And then, you know, you have the conversations, it seems like the large part of this platform as you go on here are folks that fit your filter. Now go have some conversations while also sending some of that information upfront as a maybe request for conversation.

[00:27:10] Heather: Yeah. I mean, it's, maybe it's an Angie's list. I should call it mass.com. Although I don't actually know much about matching anymore. It's to get you to the date, right? Like there's information here. There's background about consultant's experience, but it's really to get you to that conversation.

[00:27:28] to see if there's a match to see if you fit in terms of experience.

[00:27:33] If you see, if you like the questions that consultant is asking you, if they have good questions, answers to the questions you're asking them, it's really about that interaction.

[00:27:43] George: What's the, you mentioned time, what's the recommended amount of time to sort of buffer in, like, I have a project that needs, I know it needs to start at the end of the year. And here's the funny thing that you and I see every fundraising cycle is I need this to start ASAP, which is just the hilarious four letters that we all see.

[00:28:04] What is the recommended amount of time. Let's just play with this game of like, you know, that you're going to need a project in case. When should you start looking for that consultant?

[00:28:15] Heather: It's going to depend on how booked out the consultant is, but I will say at least three months in advance you want to have, have the person in mind be signing the contract three months in advance. That way, if you're having an in-person board retreat or you're launching a fundraising campaign, you've got time to do the pre-work.

[00:28:36] So that might mean that you need to start searching. Four months, five months, depending on what kind of process you want to do to actually select the person. But three months out is for me and for the consultants that I know gives a good bit of flexibility. What do you think

[00:28:53] George: I think the shorter your time to start, the more you're going to end up having to pay for a larger firm that has that type of excess couple.

[00:29:01] And that's just, you know what we have seen over time, for example, we're not taking on clients until July right now, and that data is rapidly moving away. And you know, the, the game is that the smaller, the shop, the less they can afford the availability, meaning that, can I just take on another project right now?

[00:29:21] No, because I book up my months so that I didn't. I have an idol, you know, an idle hour, which is tough because you know, you miss out on projects and pieces that, that happen, but you can't operate like what we would say, high, a low utilization tool, like a fire department where it is fine because we want them to available and be available when the fire happens.

[00:29:47] You just, I think end up with just massive agencies. That you can just cost more and maybe get less personalized. You know, we're a company of 26 people, but when I started, it was a company of me. So I've kind of seen this like grow over time and this game of keeping a plate full while keeping the opportunity to work with great organizations coming in and.

[00:30:12] It always frustrates me when a great organization comes in and like, Hey, we known about this project for six months, but we're calling you right now. And you're like, why didn't you message us? We were going to get to It

[00:30:26] Heather: My favorite is I put you in a grant requests that we were going to do this work with you next year. Okay, fantastic. And why are you telling me on December 15th? Like we needed to

[00:30:39] George: No, but you're in the grant. I wrote you in. Okay.

[00:30:42] Yeah. It's it's you know, about that size and I guess I would, you know, the average size of project, it seems like if these are consultants operating at like less than five people who are under five people, it sounds like that's kind of where the nonprofit is hovers.

[00:31:00] Heather: Yeah, nonprofit consultants. A lot of fix our solar preneurs. We have a lot of small shops. My best guess is that our. The average project, our projects are somewhere between kind of 5,000 and 20,000 with of course, some variability on that on either side. A lot of the folks that we work with a lot of the non-profits are coming and looking for some startup help.

[00:31:26] They're looking for running their first fundraising campaign, doing their first strategic plans. Sometimes those tend to be on the lower budget size, but we certainly have folks or we're looking to do, you know, a statewide communications campaign and need some help.

[00:31:39] George: Yeah, I think that's such a valuable service because I know of so many, like solar printers and small shops out there that do great work, but you know, it's tough to find them sort them out. And you know, these are folks that may come and go out with. The career right there doing it between large organ, like large organization work.

[00:32:00] Heather: Hm.

[00:32:01] George: they'll show up for a while. I'm like, wow, this is great. But you know, it's tough to find that window sometimes. And it seems like a super valuable network for, for folks looking for those servers. All right. Before we go into a rapid fire, I'm just curious, any other final advice for nonprofits that, you know, you want to talk about?

[00:32:20] You know, we touched on the choosing the intangibles time and budget, the request for conversation preferred over request for proposal, any other like, you know, insider tips for people looking to find a consultant on nonprofit.

[00:32:36] Heather: Last thought is that it's probably going to take you. More money, more time, more energy than you think it will. Which is probably true for every. Consulting gig ever. And every house renovation and everything else you do, but as you're really putting together your budget, as you're thinking about the time span for the work, just know that unless you have a lot of experience with consultants, you probably are underestimating.

[00:33:04] And so just go in with a little bit of a flexible mentality about all of those variables.

[00:33:09] George: Yeah. It's like the Murphy's law of home renovation as much time as you have allocated for this, it's going to take more time even after accounting for Murphy's law.

[00:33:18] Heather: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:33:22] George: Alright, rapid fire. Please try to keep your responses shortish. And here we go. What is one tech tool or website that you or your organization has started using in the last year?

[00:33:32] Heather: I am in love with Zapier, which connects all kinds of programs. You can connect your Gmail to your zoom, to your MailChimp. And it kind of, it does zaps back and forth between things. And I love it.

[00:33:49] George: What tech issues are you dealing with right now?

[00:33:51] Heather: I just launched a big survey on survey monkey and the bots found it. And so we finally figured out how to put a question that was, we want to make sure you're human. Tell us about your favorite meal and why, and that is the, the bots figured out how. The answer the multiple choice question about which one of these is not an animal we thought that was going to work.

[00:34:14] It did not. They all knew it was a basketball, but this one seems to work so bots in my survey.

[00:34:20] George: What is coming in the next year that has you the most excited.

[00:34:23] Heather: are about to, for nonprofits launch our, what we're calling our ethos, which is our kind of statement of principles for the consultant community. We're just about done with designing it and we're going to launch it in the next couple of weeks. So I'm really excited.

[00:34:39] to get that out there and, and hear what people have to say.

[00:34:42] George: Can you talk about a mistake you made earlier in your career that shapes the way you do things.

[00:34:47] Heather: Yes. So when I was. It's probably 15 years ago, I was working with, in my volunteer gig. I run a giving circle at that time in Raleigh called the beehive collective. And we were given this wonderful opportunity to host some events at a club in downtown Raleigh over the weekend. And so we were able to host an event on Friday night.

[00:35:09] We had this like. Crazy talent show on Saturday, we had a clothes swap. We used to do that a lot. And then on Sunday night we had this thing called the barrister's ball, just a dance party. Well, nobody showed up to the third event and what I really figured out is how over-saturating her overtaxing, this community that we had, people wanted to show up for it.

[00:35:37] It was just too much. They could not do a Friday night, a Saturday day, a Saturday night. And so they made choices. And so as I think about engaging any kind of community, I really think about kind of what's the, what's the cost of this? What's the trade off of this? How do I really figure out what the carry capacity is of my community or of this organization or whatever, and how do I design for that?

[00:36:01] George: If I were to toss you in a hot tub time machine, back to the beginning of your work, what advice would you. The advice of take more risks try out more new things. Every time I have taken a risk, I have been rewarded for it. And I have really learned a lot and had a great time made progress on my goals, but have often found myself hesitant, especially early in my career to do that.

[00:36:26] what is something you think you should stop doing?

[00:36:28] Heather: Saying yes. Saying yes to all kinds of things work and otherwise

[00:36:34] George: I already gave you a magic wand to wave across the industry.

[00:36:37] Heather: it would stop executive directors from having. Unrealistic expectations about their boards and boards from having unrealistic expectations of their executive director.

[00:36:50] George: How did you get your start in the social impact side?

[00:36:53] Heather: When I was in college, I joined a environmental group, the student environmental action coalition. And from there just kept going and going and going.

[00:37:04] George: What advice did your parents give you that you either followed or didn't.

[00:37:09] Heather: I don't know. Sorry, I didn't.

[00:37:12] prepare.

[00:37:13] George: All right. Final one. How do people find you? How do people have.

[00:37:16] Heather: So you can find me@nonprofit.ist nonprofit assist. You can reach me at Heather at nonprofit that IST and I would love it if you're a nonprofit leader and you want to join. Nonprofit assist and poke around and find some folks who can help you and also follow us on LinkedIn. We got a really active LinkedIn page, and then if you're a consultant and you want to find out more about joining the network, please be in touch.

[00:37:43] I would love to talk to you about it.

[00:37:45] George: Well, thank you for your work and for creating such an amazing tool and resource for the nonprofit community. Good luck. And thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[00:37:54] Heather: Thank you so much for having me. This was place.