Next in Nonprofits

Giving Circles with Sara Lomelin

Sara Lomelin is the CEO of Philanthropy Together, with a mission "to democratize and diversify philanthropy through the power of collective giving." Sara joins host Steve Boland to talk about the power of collective giving in community.

Philanthropy Together offers layers of tools to support communal giving, from starting new giving circles to now a Lauchpad for Nonprofits offering to support charities in building their own donor-connected giving. Sara discusses the long-time use of circles, and also the newer tools like Grapevine to support them. She talks about expanded giving tactics which may include tax-deductible gifts, but may also be impacted by community decisions such as funding informal mutual aid networks. Philanthropy Today is specifically interested in how these tools may shift the historic inequities in charitable giving, leveling the field for efforts led by people of color, gender-diverse leaders, and more.

Equity in philanthropy

Noelani Pearl Hernandez is the Vice President, Culture & Leadership at Charity Navigator, whose mission "is to make impactful giving easier for all ". Carly Bad Heart Bull is the Executive Director of Native Ways Federation, which "strengthen(s) the circle of giving by uniting Native organizations, supporting Native communities, and observing the highest level of ethical standards."

Carly and Noelani join host Steve Boland to discuss equity in philanthropic giving. They talk about defining equity in this context, about organizations that are Native-led v. Native-serving, and what measures are changing when donors and philanthropy talk about seeking equity in giving. Carly contributed blog ideas on these topics on the Charity Navigator site.

Charity Navigator's Encompass Rating system offers a holistic view of a charity’s effectiveness and reliability beyond just finances and dives into the overall health of a charity’s programs making it possible to present a full and fair picture of an organization. Carly encourages listeners to consider action via Native Nonprofit Day, a national giving day in coming back in 2024.

Donor acquisition with Matt Stokes

Matt Stokes is the Senior Associate Director, Prospect Management and Research at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Matt joins host Steve Boland to talk about the field of prospect management, especially focusing on bringing new donors to a nonprofit mission.

Matt shares his experience on thoughts on how to connect with potential donors, tools that support that work, peer-supported giving campaigns for outreach, challenges in the nonprofit sector in how people view philanthropy and much more.

Giving USA 2022 with Rasheeda Childress and Emily Haynes

Rasheeda Childress is the senior editor for fundraising at the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Emily Haynes is a senior reporter at the Chronicle of Philanthropy. They recently authored a review of findings from the Giving USA 2022 report. (infographic summary here.)

Emily and Rasheeda join host Steve Boland to talk about the early learnings from the 2022 Giving USA numbers. International giving is up - even in inflation-adjusted terms - but many other sectors are down both in real terms and in inflation-adjusted dollars. The value of major donors may be shifting as potential opens up for smaller- and medium-sized donations. Giving to foundations and donor-advised funds impacts the investments those tools are making in charities. Rasheeda and Emily also discuss the potential impacts of non-charitable giving as tax deductions have become less important to more donors due to the 2018 changes in standard deductions.

Nonprofits, ethics, and AI with Kari Aanestad

Kari Aanestad is the Associate Director of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, which "works to inform, promote, connect, and strengthen individual nonprofits and the nonprofit sector." Kari is also the Co-Director of Grant Advisor, "safe way to anonymously give and receive feedback on grantmaking."

Kari joins host Steve Boland to talk about the emerging tools in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what their use may mean in the nonprofit sector. One of the most prevalent forms being adopted today is ChatGPT, a Large Language Model (LLM) which users can ask to write anything from song lyrics to grant applications. Kari and Steve are not experts in the science (very few people are!) but discuss the pros and cons of using such tools in nonprofit work. They talk about cultural bias in AI, the ethics of contributing to such systems, using AI as a writing prompt rather than replacing writers, and just what may be the "existential risks" some AI developers are warning against.

State of Modern Philanthropy Report with Michelle Boggs

Michelle Boggs is the Executive Nonprofit Industry Advisory for Classy, a "a giving platform that enables nonprofits to connect supporters with the causes they care about." Classy is now part of Go Fund Me, the "#1 and most trusted leader in online fundraising."

Classy and Go Fund Me have released the 2023 State of Modern Philanthropy Report, exploring what works and challenges the data are showing in connecting with donors online. Topics include the most impactful social media channels for connections and conversions, the importance of peer-supported fundraising for donor acquisition, how larger donors may be more likely to make additional gifts later, and more.

Classy's Collaborative Conference is coming to Philadelphia on June 7 and 8. Podcast listeners are encouraged to register at a 50% discount using the code NEXTINNONPROFITS.

Project WHY with Arielle Zappia

Arielle Zappia is the Founder and CEO of Project WHY, “to facilitate genuine empathy through understanding homeless people’s individual stories”. Arielle joins host Steve Boland to talk about the importance of story not only in fund development work but in the mission work of connecting communities to the impact of a nonprofit in the community. Arielle discusses this history of Project WHY, working with partner organizations around story, honoring the choices of individuals in telling their own stories and more.

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Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (LEAD) with Latasha Jennings

Latasha Jennings is the Project Lead at Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (LEAD) which "provides harm reduction-based, intensive case management to individuals who come into repeated contact with law enforcement due to unmet behavioral health needs, homelessness, and/or extreme poverty."

LEAD practices have evolved in other cities, and are being brought in a new partnership to the Lake Street corridor in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Latasha joins host Steve Boland to talk about nonprofit organizations work in collaboration in a space which has often been relegated to public safety/civil service employees, how a movement builds trust in a community, and how to measure change.

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The Bold Promise with Fieldtrip’s Jane Pfieffer

Jane Pfieffer is the founder and president of Fieldtrip, "a cause-driven agency that amplifies nonprofits and the impact they make."

Jane joins host Steve Boland to talk about the ideas Fieldtrip uses with charities to move potential supporters or clients to action. Listeners can see Jane talk about some of these ideas in her Mission Multiplier series on the Fieldtrip website (or directly on YouTube). Jane and Steve talk about the idea of the Bold Promise - telling your community how you are delivering on an important and big need in your community.

Federated communication ”Fediverse” with Aral Balkan

Aral Balkan is co-founder of Small Technology Foundation, which is promoting "everyday tools for everyday people designed to increase human welfare, not corporate profits." Aral and his Small Technology co-founder Laura Kalbag have been advocating for regulation of surveillance capitalism, investment in ethical alternatives, and carrying out research and development on ethical alternatives.

Aral joins host Steve Boland to discuss decentralized social communication tools for nonprofit organizations (and everyone else!). Aral talks about federated communications tools (the Fediverse) like Mastodon (microblogging like Twitter but without corporate ownership), PixelFed (more image focused like Instagram) and many other ideas. Aral discusses the problematic relationship between charities seeking to have real engagement with audiences and how corporate platforms interfere at best, or undermine those efforts. Federate tools for communication and the small web in general puts more control in the hands of users and removes algorithms from the communications outreach loop for charities.

A program note: There was a microphone selection problem during this recording which has Steve sounding a bit muffled and far away. Aral sounds great, so please bear with the audio issue to get all the great information from Aral! More info at NextInNonprofits.com/podcast!