You’re smart and caring. I’ll bet you serve on a nonprofit board. This post is for you.

(Or, more specifically, for your executive director.)

Boards approve a nonprofit’s annual budget. They approve the program cost, and the revenue needed to fund the programs and infrastructure to support those programs (like PEOPLE, sites, and all that critically important, unglamorous stuff).

That means that every board member must help to raise the revenue that funds your nonprofit’s programs.

Drum roll … and eye roll

This week I was having a free fundraising strategy call with a small nonprofit. (Want one? You can schedule here.) The longtime executive director said something like this.

Um, no. If the board isn’t giving, then getting new people to join a non-giving board won’t fix that problem. Only one person can – well, actually, two people:

The executive director needs to set the expectation of board giving, and

The board chair needs to ask their peers to give. Every darned fiscal year.

If you’re serving on a board and haven’t been asked to give, bring it up at a board meeting! Suggest that you discuss and adopt a Give/Get Policy for all board members to meet the fiduciary responsibility that each of you has to support the financial stability of the organization you serve. It’s part of your governance role. And you can do something that no staff member can do: make a peer-to-peer ask. People give to people.

Here’s the language to make board giving matter-of-fact and no-drama. (Download this template from cultivategiving.com/give-get.)

It’s time to get over the amorphous “fear of fundraising” that appears like some perverse badge of honor among nonprofit board members.

So here’s how to get unafraid of fundraising.

Three simple steps to a board that fundraises

1. Set up a fundraising (or development) committee if you don’t already have one. If your board is small, ask everyone to serve on the fundraising committee.

2. Automatically assign every new board member to the fundraising committee. That sets a culture of philanthropy for your board – fundraising is just something that everyone does. No big deal.

3. The first task of the fundraising committee is to call donors who made a gift in the past 12 months and ask one question:

IMHO this is the best conversation we can have with another human! It’s not asking about money, it’s a chance to talk about values. It’s an opportunity to learn (and share) why we care.

Does that sound scary to you?

These weekly posts are all about giving. It’s the ultimate sense of personal agency in changing the world around us. Pick one thing. Start with baby steps. (Yay for you! You’re doing something by giving.) And then invite others to join you. That all fundraising is.

Things feel hard around us. This is easy. Just give.

Quarterly office hours are today at 10am PT! Join our discussion of Giving Clubs, or any other philanthropic curiosity.

Use this link.

(Usually it’s the 14th of the middle month each quarter, but I was goofing off last week in the mountains and completely off the grid. :)

When it comes to fundraising and nonprofits, I’ve made lots of mistakes. Nearly all of them have been because I made an assumption about something.

Why someone gives. [This is a great question to ask just about anyone, but every time I’ve guessed it about a donor I’ve been wrong.]

What kinds of shoes do soccer-loving Rwandan kids at an orphanage need? [One of the most embarrassing cultural blunders we made as a family. You can read all about it here.]

Sending an email counts as communicating with someone. [It doesn’t. A phone call does. An email is entirely one-sided until that person replies.]

My brilliant, nonprofit-founder, huge-hearted friend Robin and I love to banter about fundraising. Lately, more often than not we are talking about making this “last third” of our lives count. Family is central, as are friends.

But so is giving back.

Recently, we explored some of our assumptions about voluntourism.

As tourists, it’s easy to be oblivious about needs and challenges of people living in the places we visit. We don’t get much of a sense of that from a cruise ship, resort, or romantic hideaway.

And does learning about local issues add to — or conflict with — a relaxing vacation? It seems that it could create an interesting and meaningful experience, especially for a group of friends, or families traveling with children or teens.

I honestly don’t know the answer. And I hope you will share your own feelings and experiences about voluntourism.

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At least one person calls me a Luddite because of my aversion to Alexa and AI. (It’s not entirely true, but I do have a fear of loosing my ability to think and be resourceful.)

Robin, on the other hand, loves to ask ChatGPT. So we created a cruise scenario, where a stop in port might offer a chance to volunteer with a local organization.

How might it look to volunteer during a visit to Puerto Vallarta?

Of course, it absolutely has to work for the local organization. Their staff is busy, and a financial contribution must be part of any volunteer experience. After all, they’re in the business of doing the work, not planning tourist excursions!

Here are AI-suggested tips for a hands-on visit to a community program in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico:

1. Set it up weeks before arrival.

2. Arrange your own transportation.

3. Be clear about your limited time in port (or in town, if you’re staying on land).

4. Ask the organization what would be genuinely helpful to them. What do they need? (Rather than what you think they might need.)

5. Make an unrestricted donation when (or before) you volunteer.

6. Confirm organization details and volunteer project logistics multiple ways: online, by email, and even by text/phone. (WhatsApp is generally preferred abroad.)

These were the Puerta Vallarta organizations recommended by AI:

• VallartaCares.org offers food assistance and operates a community kitchen that welcomes volunteers and donors.

• The International Friendship Club (ifcvallarta.org) connects volunteers with local community organizations providing education, social services, and cleft palate programs.

• The SPCA animal rescue and shelter offers volunteer opportunities (spcapvr.com/volunteer) walking dogs, providing recovery care in veterinary clinics, and tabling at educational events.

• The Sula Society (thesulasociety.com/volunteer) animal rescue has a list of volunteer roles that include bathing dogs or washing kennels, transporting adoptees to certain areas, socializing puppies, and helping out in the office.

• PVangels.com is a hub of local organizations, and you could dig into the partners listed by issue area to see if any have volunteer opportunities. (A nice resource for local giving, but I think AI missed the mark on the assignment to find volunteer roles!)

Just planting a seed here — for myself, too. There are a lot of logistics that go into planning a trip. I wonder how hard it would be to include volunteering at a local organization the next time I travel.

I would love to hear your thoughts — or if you know someone in the cruise business whose opinion I could ask.

I’m so lucky to live on the water (in a houseboat) and sail with my partner, but it’s the mountains that are my happy place.

My head is spinning with all the topics I want to share and ponder and hear your thoughts! Like…

Hearing “things are bad, but I just can’t do anything that makes a difference.” (Noooooo!)

’s recent thoughts on taking action and philanthropy.

The Lightworkers documentary with 52 brilliant and thoughtful people sharing their encouragement on things we can do.

Learning about another great youth empowerment group called Leaders We Deserve that got four of four young primary candidates elected in the past weeks. (Change is a coming.)

And so much more! But it will all have to wait.

Including our regularly scheduled office hours for paid subscribers. (Oops.)

The wild mountains are calling me.

We all need a happy place. (Not to mention a chance to get away from technology and the never-ending to-do lists.)

What’s yours?

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I’m off to a slow start today. It’s my dad’s birthday. He passed three years ago at the age of 95, still sharp as a tack and living independently. We should all be so lucky. I have my partner John to thank for keeping his birthday on our shared calendar. It invites me to sit with my full range of feelings about dad on his special day.

So thanks for bearing with me being a little late. Looks like I’m taking baby steps today, too.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about getting unstuck on giving.

I’m a fan of baby steps. That applies to just about everything I do, including how and where I give.

So here are my steps to help you move forward with some small gifts. Together, what we give matters.

Step into details about what, who, and where

If you read my post on how to start thinking about what, who, and where we want to make a difference, then maybe you’re already seeing community needs in a different way. Let’s dig in, shall we?

One singular question shapes our giving:

What moves me the most right now?

Here’s what we see when we look more closely at what, who, and where we want to create impact.

• Direct services for people. This can include:

  • Social services — health, food, shelter, disaster relief.

  • Vulnerable populations who face systemic barriers — elders, foster youth, girls/women, LGBTQ, other abled, low-income, residents of specific geographic regions, ethnic groups.

  • Legal protections — domestic violence, reentry for the formerly incarcerated, racial equity, immigrant rights, indigenous rights.

  • Health — mental or physical wellness, diseases, disorders, medical/dental care, midwifery and maternal healthcare, addiction and recovery services.

  • Housing — shelters, services for the homeless or unhoused, first-time homebuyers, housing vouchers or subsidies, reversing the discrimination from red-lining title deed restrictions.

  • Recreation — sports, fitness, outdoors activities, parks, playgrounds, healthy eating active living (HEAL), mental health benefits of getting off screens and out in nature.

• Access to education, opportunity and information, including:

  • Youth focused – pre-K or K-12 schools, scholarships, college.

  • Career focused – workforce development, career pathways, employment, apprenticeships, anti-poverty, financial literacy, income equality, adults re-entering the workforce, access to tech and high-paying jobs.

  • Research – scientific, technology, policy.

  • Journalism – nonpartisan newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, and online media.

• Care for animals or nature:

  • Environment, conservation, habitat protection, mitigation corridors, parklands, open space.

  • Climate change, emissions control, renewable energy.

  • Species protection, animal rights, animal rescue, zoos/museums as education.

  • Food, agriculture, restorative land management practices.

• Civil rights and humanitarian protections, such as:

  • Participatory — social action, democracy, civic.

  • Emergency — Disaster response, political asylum.

  • Global — international, diplomatic, conflict.

  • Equity — anti-racism, legal services, immigration.

  • Women’s equality — safety, health, reproductive rights, maternal health.

  • Geographic – regional issues and access to opportunity, housing discrimination.

Of course, there’s overlap among these issues (what) and populations most affected (who). As for the where, a word about geographies…

Remember when the expression “global is local” became a big thing? We pride ourselves on being world citizens. In philanthropy, it seems the reverse can be true: it feels easier to make an impact locally. We see inequities around us and understand that there are needs closer to home. So why not start with supporting our neighbors?

After the 2020 election, I saw a data visualization graphic that really challenged my assumptions of words like local, community, and identity.

But I digress. Back to the what, who, and where of your giving and impact.

What baby steps are next? Pick 3 nonprofits.

You’re thinking about issues and picking one that matters to you right now. Think of it as a funnel to guide you towards specific nonprofit organizations, by asking:

• What makes this problem difficult to solve?

• What kinds of strategies are changing this issue for the better?

• Who does this work?

In a future issue, I’ll talk about ways to find nonprofits that are a good fit, rating sites, online searches, and things like:

• Theories of change

• Up/downstream interventions

• Collaborations

But I promise not to make it wonky.

What issue matters most to you? And what and who have I left off the lists above?

I’d love to learn from you.

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I’m paying attention to better ways I can say things. One is through language, the words I choose to use.

I so appreciate Fighting Talk’s weekly wisdom from on inclusive language and accessible communication. At times I read it and am embarrassed to think, Hmmm, I never thought about that (or excited to share with my kids, I know this! I’m not as out of touch as you think.)

I love how one of my favorite clients — The Outwords Archive — used to ask me, What do you think? on a particular donor message about their impact as a storytelling platform connecting LGBTQ+ elders and youth. My reply always started laughingly with, Well, as a cisgender, heterosexual, white woman, I think…

Both of these make me pay attention to the words I choose to use, and I’m grateful.

Learning about words I don’t understand

And then there are the words that I completely misunderstand. For example, the word movements. This summer, I’ve enjoyed meeting colleagues who are doing amazing work in movements. They’ve taught me a lot.

Movement is a word that I’m thinking about in entirely new ways. “Grassroots” is one I use a lot, since my work focuses on helping small nonprofits connect with individual donors. But movement is different. It felt a little scary to me, and I wondered why.

Movement means “physical motion, a social or political group goal, or a section of a musical piece. It describes changing place, an organized campaign, or the inner gears of a clock.” [Love the miscellany—and harmony—of uses of this word!]

When I attended the Youth Power Fund convening in Long Beach last month, they educated me about movements.

I realized that I had always thought about movements in the sense of labor movements (something that was unfamiliar) or the Black Panthers (something from the past). Having the privilege of growing up in a middle class family, I’ve had limited experience with labor unions — beyond studying them in school and having friends in union jobs.

(My childhood must really have been upper middle class. I appreciate Zohran Mamdani’s definition of middle class as people working to meet life’s basic necessities. I wanted for nothing as a child, yet my parents were always fighting about money.)

Ever since having the long ago chance to be development director of a public health clinic serving historic Black communities, I’ve looked for ways to disrupt economic and racial barriers. Still, I wasn’t seeing the movements behind the work that needs to be done. Thanks to Josh Lee and his team, and the many youth movements funded by Youth Power Fund, I now see a movement as a community-led effort to change systems that prevent that community from thriving.

Stumbling through explanations

That same YPF conference in June also left me feeling like I’d made the most idiotic table introduction possible. Intimidated by the young leaders and established foundation funders seated at my table, I used too many words to “explain” why I was there. I’ve learned to say something much simpler.

I’m here to learn as an ally.

Seeking to explain and understand donor advised funds for good — those that encourage robust distributions, invest their assets in social impact, and actively educate donors about movements — I’ve stumbled through how to describe these DAF vendors in a way that makes sense (to me or anyone else). I know they leverage money for good, but explaining in simple terms how they do that does not feel easy.

These explorations to learn more led to an absolutely wonderful conversation this week with folks at RSF — Regenerative Social Finance. RSF’s online about-us page says:

We work with changemakers who use money as a tool for good. Together, we put resources to work toward regeneration.

Regenerative. Not a word I use a lot, but a word that’s easy to understand intuitively as good things that are self-sustaining and flourishing.

Regenerative means “able to regrow, renew, or restore something damaged. Key areas using this concept include agriculture, medicine, and energy systems.” (Or hear how it works from Gabe Brown, credited with starting regenerative farming.)

And RSF’s home page has some of the best language I’ve ever seen.

This is at the heart of what I believe.

Money is something we all have at some level. We see gobs of money around us. Sometimes at an inconceivable amount where you can’t help wonder, Why does anyone need that much money?

For lots of us who have a bit more money than Mamdani’s description of meeting life’s basic needs, we can use it to finance change.

And those are two words that challenge me every day to find better ways to do things.

Give a gift subscription

Tonight is book club, and it got me to thinking.

For 20 years I’ve been in a book club. These interesting, accomplished women are also a lot of fun. Most joined when we had young children (who are now young adults). We’ve read things we’ve loved, things we loathed, and things somewhere in between.

Of our hundreds of books read over the years, sometimes the how (read or listen?) mattered more than the what. Each discussion illuminates some lovely and unexpected, deeply personal connection of hope, fear, grief, or celebration. And absolutely every single gathering leaves us with a feeling of joy and appreciation from our shared time together.

With other dear friends, I’ve been having conversations about the Big Questions of Life — to me personally, and in this world around me. Over meals or walks we ponder…

When I meld these communities of friendship and connection, I get something that sounds a lot like this:

What do I appreciate?

What do I fear?

Where do I want to dig in and understand things better?

How do I want to spend my time, and with whom?

It seems these might also be questions I’d ask as part of a Giving Club. It could be a place to build confidence while we explore these kinds of questions. Or maybe we’ll ask about uncertainties that keep us from giving, like:

What if I make the wrong decision about where, when, and how much I give?

I often wonder about the ways those kinds of fears hold us back. After all, we only get better at things by doing them.

Coming together to give

Maybe we come to institutions to help us focus our philanthropy. I’m thinking of donor advised funds and am really hoping that people open DAFs for giving — rather than tax benefit — reasons. There are some good DAFs out there. And some disappointing ones.

We come together where we live as part of giving circles, where each person contributes a set amount and then, together, we make grants to local nonprofits with the collective donations. Philanthropy Together, created by Grapevine and funded in part by the Gates Foundation, is a wonderful resource to find a giving circle by geography or focus area. Many of these have modest gift levels to participate.

Coming together to eat

And then there’s always the appeal of a meal.

As Alissa Wilkinson says it, in her wonderful book, Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Woman:

I especially love this. “… the little world that’s been created here at this dinner party is not just a place to eat or make friends. It’s a more dangerous space—a gathering where flinty iron strikes against iron, throwing sparks on your own mind. It’s where the world gets prodded and pulled and stretched and even snapped.”

And she encourages that we not be shy about connecting with someone afterwards.

For that long ago houseboat-hosted book club, I had 13 people for a meal in a 330 square foot space. Beds and benches became tables. Believe me when I say it’s not about the place or the food.

It’s about the people and the conversation.

I’m not in a Giving Club yet. Are you? Want to be in one together?

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You may be way ahead of me on this, but sometimes it feels hard knowing where to give. The issues to support and opportunities to create impact are as diverse as humans ourselves.

Where to start? Right here.

Here’s what I know. Now that we’re thinking about it, we’ll see community needs all around us.

As we walk or drive through our daily routine, read or search online, or ask family and friends, our curiosity defines our interests. Nonprofits create hope. The nonprofit work being done around us, whether near or far, is fascinating and awe inspiring.

Does everyone in my community have enough to eat?

What programs take care of isolated elders living alone?

Where do the unhoused gather? Who serves them?

How do federal spending cuts affect places I go and services we need in my county and state?

I care about youth having opportunities for careers, financial literacy, and wellness. What organizations support them?

Passion makes for a purposeful life, and nonprofit organizations are vehicles for us to fuel — and fund — our passion. They are run by experts in the field with deep knowledge on complex issues. They create positive change in our communities and world. They sustain and improve us.

And that’s where we come in. As donors.

There are so many issue areas — so many things that don’t seem to work well. People, animals, and natural resources suffer. With nearly 1.5M nonprofit organizations out there, we can’t fund it all. But each of us can fund some change.

So start with something that you believe is important. There’s no wrong answer here.

What moves you?

Giving is personal. Only you can answer the most important question about where to give. What concerns you?

We get inspiration from many sources, but this is about what matters to you, not the talking heads, not your neighbors. This is about your interests, no one else’s.

After years of working with really smart donors in my role as a major gift officer and development director, I mostly saw people give from the heart, not the head.

Mostly, use your common sense and start with small steps.

Step 1: What, who and where?

Ask yourself these 3 questions about your interests:

1. WHAT is the issue that I care about the most? Is it education, environment, health, racial equity, or something else? (It makes it feel a lot easier to start with one, and add others later.)

2. WHO is the population I’d most like to support? Are you concerned about youth, elders, women, LGBTQ+, immigrants, low-income, charismatic megafauna (a favorite expression from my Nature Conservancy days), or another member of our planet?

3. WHERE is the place I’d most like to have an impact? It could be your own backyard, a place you’ve visited, or somewhere you learned about in a book, article or film. Geographic scope can be local, regional, national, or global.

Perhaps a friend or family member has suffered from a disease or barrier. Maybe you’ve traveled somewhere and asked, Who has cared for this place? Or you’ve wondered what programs support young people’s leadership. Perhaps you’re thinking about nonpartisan sources for impartial news and good data.

There’s a book I love called The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. He’s writing about the startup world, but it applies to absolutely any kind of project. The gist of it is:

Starting is more important than perfecting. You can always improve, and you don’t know what works until you start with something.

Start with one issue that moves you. Add or refine later, as you learn more.

Start small and grow.

What’s next?

I’ll continue weaving this thread and share some ways to think about the social impact that nonprofits create.

I have a good list of nonprofit issue areas. The issues often cross and intersect. It’s simply a framework to think about what we care about the most, and why.

We’ll think about ways nonprofits create change — models for service delivery, upstream intervention, or collaboration; working locally, regionally, nationally or globally — all offer exciting options to invest our time, talent, and treasure.

And we’ll talk about what can hold us back. Fear from giving to the “wrong” nonprofit (whatever that may be) shouldn’t. The best time to give is now, even if you feel you’ll have more to give later.

I promise not to make this wonky. And I’ll share some examples from my own interests, just for fun. Hope you’ll share yours too!

If this is an exercise that interest you, let’s talk. I love to do philanthropic education to help donors find their passion while learning about community issues.

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And, of course, I’d love to hear what, who, and where interests you…

I’ve been learning about movements, and what I can do as an individual that really makes a difference in the world around me.

One forum is Justice Funders, a group I admire for its work with foundations. I’ve been listening to their wisdom and guidelines, developed with institutional funders, and seeing how I might apply them to manage my own investments — personal, retirement, and philanthropic — towards a more regenerative and just economy.

With more than $326 billion sitting in donor-advised funds (DAFs), where you hold your DAF matters. Here’s an example:

In a Justice Funders meeting this week, participants suggested a few resources on mobilizing DAFs for good …

Free Your DAF offers information and a toolkit to host a DAF at a progressive institution, which aligns with my own values. (A Google search showed donorstrust.org as a vendor of DAFs focused on conservative or libertarian values. I take offense to “faith-based” beliefs being political, so left that part of their description out.)

Half My DAF offers up to $25,000 in matching grants to nonprofits recommended by donors who commit to spending 50% of their DAF by October 2026. Matches come from general funds, and also through funding focused on reproductive health, maternal/infant health in Africa, education in underserved communities, and gender equity. (If you have a DAF anywhere, you can request a grant to every nonprofit you fund. Share #HalfMyDAF to remind others.)

Both sites offer great resources to mobilize DAF funds from money that just sits there, to money creating change in the community.

Thinking of starting a DAF?

Below is a list of progressive DAF vendors recommended by Free Your DAF. (If you already have a DAF, you can “grant” funds from one DAF to another to move your money to a different vendor.)

Many DAFs have minimums of $5,000. If we choose a DAF vendor focused on giving (rather than accumulating), DAF assets can be a powerful way to give with impact.

• Assets Under Movement (formerly Amalgamated Foundation) offers DAFs and philanthropic advising for individuals, and administrative support for nonprofits fundraising collaboratively or launching emerging initiatives.

• Common Counsel Foundation provides philanthropic services and DAFs to mobilize capital towards movements and social impact.

• NEO Philanthropy offers collaborative funds focused on immigrant justice and voting rights infrastructure in states with historically underrepresented communities.

• New Venture Fund serves nine global regions where they invest in capacity building and innovation for change makers.

• New World Foundation offers pooled funds and DAFs, with a focus on civic engagement, economic opportunity and mobility, and climate and health.

• Proteus Fund offers donor collaboratives through 4 giving funds focused on: free speech, money in politics, and judicial integrity; rights, faith, and democracy (love how those go together!); civil rights, inclusion, and culture; and intersectional racial justice.

• Tides Foundation offers DAFs, funds for collective action and social change leaders, impact investing, and philanthropic advising.

• Free Your DAF has additional lists of DAF providers focused on national, identity-based, state, and local progressive issues.

To their lists, I’ll add:

• Regenerative Social Finance (RSF) offers DAFs, investments in community impact notes, and loans for social enterprises.

• Movement Strategy Center offers DAFs focused on funding movements and grassroots change.

• Friends Fiduciary Corporation brings Quaker values to investment management and DAFs.

• Philanthropic Ventures Foundation offers DAFs and “creative, responsive, unorthodox, hands on grantmaking“ to engage creative donors and community partners in grassroots philanthropy via radical collaboration.

For our nonprofit friends, many of these also serve as fiscal sponsors, as an alternative to securing independent 501(c)3 status. And remind your donors that they can match 50% of their DAF gifts by applying at #HalfMyDAF.

I think these are interesting ways to meld philanthropy and progressive values.

More importantly, what do you think? If you were to open (or already have) a DAF, I hope you’ll tell us where and why.

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Tomorrow is the 250th anniversary of the United States. It seems like some of our politicians are that old too.

I am absolutely mesmerized by fireworks. Watching them is an all-time favorite, so the 4th has always been a big holiday for me. And I am proud and grateful to live in this country.

Yet this year our independence celebration feels fraught. Fraught with divisive politics, punitive instead of aspirational leadership, grandiose unmonitored spending on the one hand and dire underfunding on the other, and lots of uncertainty about what’s ahead. It doesn’t feel very celebratory.

Over the past year and a half, I’ve been asking myself and others…

Letting my curiosity lead, here are some ideas and organizations I found in about 57 minutes of online sleuthing.

What if there were upper age limits on elected officials?

We have minimum age requirements for many offices, so why not maximum age limits? It would promote succession planning among the best leaders, and make space for younger people to lead.

As you know, I’m a fan of youth leadership. So I asked Wikipedia and Claude AI, “Who is involved with setting age limits for elected officials?” (So much for my degree in political science! I still had to look it up.)

What are the rules now and how do they change?

The U.S. Constitution sets minimum, but not maximum, age thresholds for presidents and members of the Senate and House of Representatives. The minimum age is 35 for presidents, 30 for senators and 25 for representatives, in addition to citizenship requirements; there is no minimum or maximum age for Supreme Court justices. A change would likely require amending the Constitution; states cannot override these constitutional limits. Sounds like a lot of process, which should be the case when making major changes to our executive, legislative, or judicial branches.

Turns out, there is much support for this idea.

• As of 2023, there was strong bilateral support for a maximum age limit on elected officials: 82% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats. A poll this year showed 80% of voters support these limits. Changing the Constitution requires two-thirds vote in both the Senate and House, followed by ratification by three-quarters of the states. It would appear that we have that support. Does my legislator know how I feel? [Find your representative here.]

• In 2023, Representative John James (R-MI) introduced House Joint Resolution 87 to amend the Constitution, placing a maximum age limit that would bar candidates for president, vice president, and members of Congress from running for election if they reached the age of 75 while in office. It will expire from lack of action by the House Committee on the Judiciary on September 5, 2026. Did my legislator take action to move this forward? [Here’s a list of committee members.]

• Minimum ages were established at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, as defined in Article 1. At that time, life expectancies were closer to 40 years. The median age of the U.S. Senate has been increasing: to 65.3 as of January 2023.

• At 81, Ben Franklin was 15 years older than any other signer of the Constitution. Today, he wouldn’t rank among the top 10 oldest members of Congress.

• More than 50% of House Democrats aged 80 or older are running for reelection this year. Statistically, half of people over 80 have cognitive impairment. Why are they running, instead of grooming younger successors who share their values?

• Forced retirement is largely restricted by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), but federal law enforcement, firefighters, and nuclear weapon couriers (57), military personnel (64), and state and local judges (75) have age exceptions. So why not presidents and legislators?

What nonprofits are working on this?

These organizations—all nonpartisan, 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofits—provided the data above:

Wikipedia—one of the most visited websites in the world, is an open-collaboration platform for all to learn and contribute, as part of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Close Up Foundation—founded in 1971 when 18-year-olds got the vote, on the idea that young people from all backgrounds need a better understanding of the democratic process and their responsibility as citizens.

Pew Research Center—offers fact-based research for leaders and everyday people around the world, to enrich public dialogue and support sound decision-making.

Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law—conducts rigorous research and provides analyses of pressing legal and policy issues; considered progressive.

Brookings Institute—provides research and policy strategies focused on expanding economic growth and social opportunity, revitalizing U.S. democratic institutions, and advancing peace and security worldwide; considered moderate.

Harper’s Magazine Foundation article on The Old Guard by Samuel Moyn (May 2026)—educational nonprofit defending independent journalism and sustaining literary excellence since 1850. (See other nonprofit media below.)

Additional for-profit media sources:

Roll Call (publishes when Congress is in session, considered centrist), and Fox News citing May 2026 NPR/PBS News/Marist poll (Fox is considered conservative).

These are my interests. What are yours?

Many 501(c)3 tax-deductible nonprofits also have a 501(c)4 political action arm. Ask Google or AI about the name of a favorite issue or nonprofit + “501c4” or “political action” to learn more.

Here are some other 501(c)3 nonprofits working on political transparency and accountability:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)—nonpartisan government watchdog organization that enforces constitutional provisions, through in-depth investigations and public advocacy work that holds government accountable to the American people and preserves democratic institutions.

Campaign Legal Center—nonpartisan watchdog group focused on campaign finance, voting rights, and government ethics to advance democracy through law.

Where can we get reliable information?

We all see how algorithm-fueled discourse pushes “facts” of questionable sources, while fomenting fear on social media. And financial firms are gutting legacy newsrooms and reporting. Both impair our ability to be the informed citizenry that is vital to a thriving democracy.

It makes these independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan newsrooms even more critical:

ProPublica—a personal favorite that offers investigative journalism in the public interest.

Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR)—believes investigative journalism that moves citizens to action is an essential pillar of our democracy. It includes Reveal podcast and Mother Jones magazine, and is lucky to count among its talented leadership my friend Sara.

The War Horse—military newsroom that provides transparency for $1 trillion spent each year by the VA and Department of Defense, using bulletproof journalism, education programs, and community-building events.

Rebuild Local News—coalition that revitalizes community journalism and advances public policies to counter the collapse of local news.

I know there are many more, and I’d love to learn about them.

What’s your favorite source for news, government accountability, and protecting our democracy for the next 250 years? I hope you’ll join me in being inspired by fireworks tomorrow, and share your thoughts.

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Let’s say that you're traveling somewhere. Could be near home. Or far away. As you find yourself in a new place, you might ask…

I wonder what there is to do around here?

When I’m with my daughter, thrifting is always on the list! (Re-use is big in our household. It may not be philanthropy, but it’s a way of creating change.) Otherwise, I’m off on a hike.

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, between family visits and a youth power conference, I went for a hike in a pocket of wilderness, surrounded on all sides by homes, businesses, and freeways. I found myself asking…

Let’s say I want to make a donation from gratitude, but I don’t know much about local nonprofits. Here’s where I’d start.

Ask myself: What is the issue area that matters to me?

Seems obvious. Yet, as I looked around, I saw many issues that intersect in this place. Which one matters more to me, personally?

Because that’s what giving is — personal.

Here are a few nonprofit issue areas that I saw around me…

I decided it was worth one hour to learn more. I chose two issues, and enlisted my colleague Sian to help. Each of us spent an hour.

Issue #1: Hiking

Using AI and online search, we asked:

• I would like to donate to nonprofits in San Gabriel Valley that focus on land conservation for hikers, and

• What are the top 10 small to mid-sized nonprofits focusing on land conservation and hiking in the San Gabriel Valley?

In about 30 minutes, we got a list that we could match to online 990s and rating sites.

AI recommendations: Issue #1

Many local hikers are familiar with San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders, a volunteer nonprofit that constructs and maintains hiking trails throughout the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest. Donations support the trail infrastructure hikers use directly. Community discussions frequently recommend them for hands-on trail stewardship.

The Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy works nearby. AI’s other recommendation of San Gabriel Mountains Heritage Association was a bit farther east.

Google search results: Issue #1

Active SGV has a project to Protect the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.

The mission of Nature for All is to ensure that everyone in the Los Angeles area has equitable access to the wide range of benefits that nature provides.

Lowelifes Respectable Citizens Club focuses on trail work in Southern California’s Angeles National Forest, fostering conservation, sustainability, and community in Los Angeles County.

So here are a few options where I can donate and volunteer to support hiking.

Issue #2: Native American Peoples and Places

I recommendations: Issue #2

The Gabrieleno Tongva Land Restoration and Stewardship Crew is a Native-led effort that combines Indigenous ecological knowledge with habitat restoration and conservation work in Southern California. As part of the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, their work also includes cultural preservation, stewardship, and advocacy for Indigenous presence and rights in ancestral territory.

Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy is a Tongva led organization with the purpose of stewarding the lands of Tovaangar — the traditional native lands of the greater L.A. basin. Its work includes receiving and managing land, building community for Native people, practicing traditional ceremonies, creating a native archive, and rematriating lands for native culture and ecosystems. [Capitalization is theirs.] More online sleuthing led to profiles on Candid and Charity Navigator, IRS Form 990 listing funders, and various articles in regional and local media.

San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust works on community ownership of land, anti-displacement efforts, and explicitly acknowledges Tongva/Gabrielino ancestral lands. As allies, their model of community stewardship aligns with broader land justice and land return efforts.

The No Canyon Hills campaign is a coalition forged in solidarity with the plant and animal communities of the Verdugo Mountains, ancestral land and unceded territory of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, and the Gabrieleno (Tongva) Band of Mission Indians. Catalyzed by a proposal to build a luxury gated development on 300+ acres of intact native habitat in the Verdugos, they deploy cooperative actions and interventionist strategies across social, political, educational, and legislative registers. [In my photos, you can see their flyer, and also the encroachment of homes into the canyon near the trails.]

Google search results: Issue #2

The Gabrielino-Tongva Nation Community Foundation has no website, but is a nonprofit whose purpose is to improve housing, economic, and social conditions by teaching and supporting the development of businesses run by Gabrielino Tongva Native Americans.

For learning or volunteering, nonprofits manage tribal villages and cultural centers, such as the Gabrielino-Tongva Springs Foundation and its Kuruvungna Village Springs historic site at University High School in West Los Angeles, and tribal councils: the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, Gabrielino Tongva Indians of CA Tribal Council, Gabrieleno-Tongva Indian Tribe, Gabrielino/Tongva Nation, and the State of CA Native American Heritage Commission.

You can do it! It’s easy.

I knew less about LA’s Native lands, so dug in a bit more in Issue #2 — and spent more like 1.5 hours.

Where have you traveled recently that made you want to express appreciation?

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Next week, I’ll share the DIY process that my colleague and research maven Sian suggested for a quick way to find nonprofits based on your interest area.

I’ll also give an insiders peek to what I’m calling a Philanthropic Roadmap. And we’re looking for some beta testers to take the journey! (Send me a reply email or leave a comment if you’d like to be a beta user to find nonprofits to support.)

It seems like good timing. Our country’s 250th anniversary brings up lots of things that we may want to support — and change.

There’s a lot of negativity out there. And I’m done adding to it.

Here’s where I want to focus my energy — and my voice:

Family, of course.

Friends and community.

Making a difference as humans on this planet. I believe that the nonprofit sector gives us a chance to do that.

Goodbye to Follies

For four years, I’ve written (mostly) about how frustrating getting grants is for nonprofits. After all, it’s the rare foundation that offers:

• Funding without lots of strings attached — so nonprofits can get the money they need for every part of their budget (like funding the people who do the work).

• Simple applications or a shared proposal form — so nonprofits spend less staff time writing proposals.

• Giving more than the IRS-mandated minimum 5% of assets each year — Let’s face it. Sitting on 95% of your grant funding is pitiful.

I feel strongly that — in the name of “philanthropy” — foundations amass wealth, rather than distribute it.

And I also recognize that there are more powerful voices calling for action in this space, like of the WhoGives.Substack.com and Break Fake Rules podcast and of NonprofitAF.substack.com. So please subscribe to them if you don’t already.

Today, Funder Follies becomes Cultivate Giving.

Hello to Hope + Action

I’m moving from institutional ridicule to optimism about personal agency.

Giving is something that every one of us can do. Individuals, not foundations, contribute two-thirds of donations to nonprofits. And whatever we have, we have enough to give a little more.

You in?

Philanthropy is one way we exercise our power for change. Voting is another.

In the past weeks, I’ve had experiences that melded the two, and they left me feeling very hopeful and optimistic.

A colleague of many years ago and I reconnected recently. We share so many values, and an intention for making this part of our life matter. It was a conversation that left me feeling invigorated — and eager to attend a League of Women Voters event where she is coming into a leadership role. The mission of the LWV is to empower voters and defend democracy. It is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, non-tax-deductible [501(c)(4)] organization. I went with an interest in learning what their work is all about.

I knew no one there (except my friend). Yet it was a rare social event where every conversation I had focused on something we felt was important. Different people had different passions, but every one was actively involved in doing something about the issue that person cared about. It was so refreshing!

What was even better than the spontaneous conversations I had was the speakers I heard.

What do you get when you mix two dozen white hairs and a few teenage political interns?

Two high school students spoke. This particular chapter of the LWV funds stipends for students interns to dig into one of their program areas.

One student shared what she’s learned from the LWV Climate Change Team, including connections between health, economy, inequity, and climate. She’s written articles about it, attended city commission meetings, and reported on other events. Her knowledge and enthusiasm were infectious.

The other spoke of his time interning with the criminal justice team, and becoming active locally to create change. He spoke eloquently and fiercely about how much he’s learned and how much he cares about these issues.

Honestly, this is more action than I hear from most of my peers. I was lucky to be able to tell one of these young speakers how much their involvement means to me as an older person.

Granting to Youth Power

The other was a conversation with someone who wowed me when I heard him on Glen Galaich’s Break Fake Rules podcast: Josh Lee, Executive Director of the California Youth Power Fund. Josh reminded me that much of the real momentum in the Civil Rights Movement came from transitional age youth under 25.

Click above for his interview, and their boldest among us campaign that believes:

Youth Power Fund regrants 90% of the money they raise, and high school and transitional age youth direct this funding through participatory grantmaking. Those grants support youth organizing, leadership, and advocacy for social, economic, and environmental change.

Three things Josh said have stayed with me:

“Why don’t we think of social justice movements as young people’s movements? Do our older ‘more experienced’ selves take younger ideas less seriously?”

“Youth Power Fund includes teens in our funding decisions because we believe that we get better outcomes when we involve a youth perspective.”

“I haven’t met many who feel passionate about what it means to have young people lead.”

[Just let that last one sink in. Ouch.]

It’s primary season. Like many of you, I’m about to vote.

And give.

Investing my time, talent, and treasure in the next generation of leaders seems like a smart investment with a social return.

I’m thinking about how we get to where we’re going. We have a plan. We have people who lead us, and others who make way so we can enter. We have an on-ramp.

According to Dictionary(.com) and Collins Dictionary (publishing for 200 years, but new to me):

On-ramp (literal meaning): An entrance lane from a street to a high-speed road, the purpose of which is to provide space to accelerate and safely join faster-moving traffic.

On-ramp (figurative/metaphorical meaning): A starting point or entry method into a system, program, or service.

(Emphasis is mine.)

In the nonprofit world, on-ramps look like unrestricted funding. Support to try something. Trust that a nonprofit’s experts are using their best judgment — based on their deep knowledge about the issues and community — to accelerate or amplify impact.

Fund for 3 years. And then repeat.

I love talking fundraising. It’s all about hope and optimism, and change for good. After all, that’s what donations fund! (Anyone can book time with me to strategize nonprofit revenue. If you’re interested, email me for my schedule link.) And I learn so much in these conversations.

A few weeks ago, I talked to a new nonprofit in a rural area.

• They work in a landscape where other youth-serving nonprofits are justice focused. Their model is different. They focus on substance use preventation and leadership training.

• They meet youth where they are, across ages and schools. They just submitted an MOU to a school district to expand the program.

• Their budget is under $200,000. They have 3 part-time staff. A student intern is building their website.

• Young people find their services the way that young people find most things that matter to them — through word of mouth and social media.

It’s a beautiful model. It makes sense. It’s tuned in to the youth they serve. It’s positive and proactive. It’s what we call an “upstream” intervention; the other youth programs in the area that serve youth after they’re in the justice system are “downstream.”

The founder of this organization took this new program, this starting point, this entry method to Elevate Youth California (EYC) and got a 3-year grant to launch a system/program/service for regional youth. In Year 3 of that grant, Elevate Youth California gave them another 3-year grant to accelerate.

A small nonprofit’s reality.

In these fundraising brainstorms, I always ask about budget size and board involvement. Especially when you’re a small nonprofit, your board’s active participation is absolutely critical. Here’s what that nonprofit founder told me:

We get funding from our 3-year grant and a small event.

We have a board of three directors, but they rarely meet and are not involved. (Having three board members is a criteria to establish a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation and satisfy IRS regulations for tax-exempt status.)

We don’t have a board-approved annual budget, just the one that we submit for grants.

If you’re thinking, that’s crazy, think again. That’s reality for many small nonprofits. They’re doing amazing work with very little infrastructure.

My advice?

My fundraising advice to this nonprofit was, first, to celebrate what they have accomplished in a short time. Impressive! And then to recommend that they focus on their board, not fundraising. They have a perfect on-ramp to provide stable funding for programs while they get their board up to speed.

With a functioning board, a nonprofit creates on-ramps towards accelerating programs and fundraising. In my experience, trying to grow a nonprofit without infrastructure keeps you stuck in the same lane.

Today I celebrate foundations that choose to make grants to build nonprofit infrastructure! Know any?

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Elevate Youth California has made 517 grants in 58 CA counties for $370,187,000. Clearly, they know something about on-ramps, and trusting that bootstrapping, start-up nonprofits can have big impact.

Foundations have wealth and power. No surprise there. And I have money hangups. No surprise there, either (especially to my partner and Follies readers).

But lately I’ve had conversations that make me think about all the innovation that’s possible with donor funding in this wild work of nonprofits. Innovation like this:

• A start-up nonprofit that’s 3 years old and just got its second 3-year unrestricted grant (from the same foundation) to cover operating expense while they test and grow their model. That funder—Elevate Youth California—invested in staff and gave them a 6-year onramp, not an end game.

• Two philanthropic organizations—one that led to the other when they expanded from regional to global—that believed in the power of $10,000 to create major change when you honor the expertise and wisdom of local leaders doing the on-the-ground work. Partners Asia has been so successful with modest, unrestricted grants, that the founders also launched Move 92. I learned about them when a neighbor texted, Are you home? There’s someone I want you to meet. It will take 5 minutes.

• Two community foundations provided support for four organizations to fundraise collaboratively, after they’d been partnering informally for years on programs. (I got to be one of those fundraising consultants. So grateful.) And the result is that they’ve raised nearly $27M—almost 10 times the collective annual budgets of the partner organizations. It wouldn’t have been possible without the initial grants to bring in outside expertise.

It’s all in the timing.

Those examples were from conversations that I’ve had just since the last Follies issue! After I’d drafted this issue, I saw that Glen Galaich, Stupski Foundation CEO and a huge advocate of accelerating grants, spoke on the What the Fundraising? podcast with Mallory Erickson, whom I didn’t know until I heard her speak last week at the Development Executive’s Roundtable conference in Oakland.

I love serendipity. And I wonder if Kevin Bacon is involved in philanthropy, because it feels like we’re all connected by six degrees.

That gives me hope.

And then I think about grants, and painful proposals and reports. (Even though I wrote that four years ago when the Follies launched, it doesn’t seem that much has changed.)

Riddle me this…

I’m thinking that’s what keeps foundations cautious. Being right is precarious, because we can’t risk:

Failure.

Funding something unproven.

Making a mistake with some part of all those millions. (Well, actually, trillions.)

How do we learn to leave our egos at the door? All of us, not just the “well endowed.”

I’m old, but not fearful.

According to Harper’s May issue on the gerontocracy, there are some 30 U.S. legislators over 74, and half of them are running for re-election.

Who thinks that’s a good idea?

Nothing screams “I know more than you do, and I have the power to prove it” more than old people refusing to give up power (or foundations amassing, instead of charitably distributing, wealth).

But think of the influence and legacy they could have by grooming and promoting the next generation to carry forth their ideals!

We can’t really hand-wring about our politicians when it’s just as bad in philanthropy. How many funders have torturous applications, timelines, and reports? Is it really necessary? Sure, it takes a lot of nonprofit time. But it also takes a lot of foundation staff time. It just doesn’t make sense.

Can we agree that diversifying our philanthropic investments is a good idea?

It’s hard to believe that I started my career in pension investment management. Of course, I remember the “sensible” philosophy of having a range of investments (and returns) to even things out, enjoy some upside, and protect from the downside.

How many foundations manage their grantee portfolios the same way?

Making $10,000 no-strings-attached grants to test solutions to big problems sounds downright ingenious. Isn’t this a drop in the bucket that nearly every foundation can afford?

How does it look to say “yes” to most grantee applicants, instead of bragging about how many applications you received and how few you funded?

And to stop insisting that only funders can define meaningful metrics, and must serve as watchdogs for nonprofits. Yuck.

How would it feel to decide that nonprofits have the best pulse on the issues facing the communities they serve? To decide that holding assets is not in your (or my) best philanthropic interest?

It’s spring. Scatter seeds and see what grows. Not everything will. But if you don’t, nothing flourishes.

Yesterday, the Center for Effective Philanthropy published an article that speaks truth from power: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It was a compelling call to action for foundations to value social return (Rs) more than financial return (Rf).

Rethinking Payout: The Hidden Costs of Undervaluing Social Return is the rare, refreshing perspective of a funder saying “we can do better.” I appreciate the honesty of a data analyst—a role that nonprofits never have funding to support—at one of the largest private funders in the U.S. talking about the challenges of nonprofit metrics.

I’ll start with the end. “If we recognize that dollar-denominated models systematically undervalue the true impact of social investment, then …

deploying capital earlier, faster, and in deeper partnership with communities is not just an expression of generosity, it is a sound strategic choice. The society we build for tomorrow will reflect the choices we make today. And those choices should be guided not only by what we can measure, but by what we value.”

Funders are in a unique position to fund impact—aka social return aka Rs. That sounds like a no-brainer, but as this article makes clear, they resist because social impact (Rs) is hard to quantify.

Rs + Rf from foundations → exponential nonprofit impact

Indeed, when funders give generously to values-driven philanthropy, magic can happen.

Here’s an example.

Last year I coached several small organizations on collaborative fundraising to engage individual donors at high levels for regional impact. The impetus came from funders: two foundations funded consultants to drive shared “asks” for transformational gifts. The results were remarkable—nearly $30M committed in less than a year, a 10-fold increase over their collective annual budgets. (I absolutely cannot take credit for the total. Fundraising is a team sport!) It never would have happened without the up-front foundations’ Rs investment in capacity building and staffing.

A few days ago at the Rosso Forum, hosted by the wonderful, unpretentious Development Executives Roundtable, I had the honor of co-presenting about this fundraising collaboration, and how it brought in exponentially more revenue than any one of the nonprofit partners could by going it alone.

This all speaks to the importance of a foundation’s foundational investment in community resources to try to scale impact. Our collaboration was a gamble, and it paid off with big-time Rs. (More on that in a future Follies. Ironically, once the project launched, funding needs moved too quickly for grants: the proposal process was just too slow.)

I’m sharing below some of my favorites from Mr. Pettygrove’s observations on how foundations can rethink payout and their valuation of social return.

As Mr. Pettygrove says, we can do better.

And those with assets and power must lead the way.

Not a week goes by that I don’t see emails from philanthropy publishers and vendors trying to get us to believe that donor advised funds are the shiny new thing in the world of giving. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

What’s so funny?

DAFs don’t give. They’re simply a vehicle for giving. The individuals that create them do. So the answer is: cultivate donors who give through a DAF just like you would any other donor.

Yet these are some of the not-so-clever suggestions last month from experts like the Chronicle of Philanthropy as ways to “get gifts” from DAFs:

“…experts say, the pitch should center on mission and impact — giving DAF holders a compelling reason to direct dollars that are already earmarked for charity toward your organization specifically.” [3/24/26] Ummm, how is that different from cultivating any kind of major gift?

Or the paid webinar [3/5] on Engaging DAF Donors, which suggests that nonprofits “identify existing donors who hold DAFs, encourage this form of giving across many communications channels, and nurture relationships with supporters, even those who choose to remain anonymous.” Again, isn’t that what every fundraiser does?

Or the ubiquitous advice to add this language to your website: “Consider a gift from your donor advised fund. You can send a DAF gift to us at [address] or contact [our fundraiser] for more information.”

I would hope that every nonprofit website has “where to send a check” and their address. Is it really any different for DAFs? I think not.

These are not tears of joy.

What really makes me want to cry about DAFs is their lack of transparency. They can be called just about anything, whether the donor’s real name or a made-up one. They have no disclosure requirement (like an equivalent of a foundation 990 showing gifts made each year). And, worst of all, they have absolutely no required funding disbursement.

Even the pitiful 5% of assets that charitable foundations are required to give each year is better than DAFs. Yet, like foundations, DAF assets have been growing with the market.

In 2024, the National Philanthropic Trust reported that $252B was invested in DAFs. According to this excellent article by Bromme Cole calling for DAF reform, that number is now up to $326B. (Just 17% as much as is squirreled away in foundation assets, which grew to $1.865T as of 3/31/25, but still a sizable sum.)

While DAF assets grow, individuals consistently give around $0.67 of every philanthropic dollar. The modest increase of 6.3% in 2024 was well below the 25% gain of the S&P that year.

The end result? DAFs are yet another financial tool for more wealth not going to nonprofits.

Who are you trying to educate?

Like grants, all the DAF fuss creates more hoops through which nonprofits should jump. Since these vendors are all making money off DAFs, maybe they should do the heavy lifting. Some of my most respected colleagues work in the DAF world, but I really wonder why the focus of DAFs isn’t donor education.

Donors create DAF accounts, so surely they know the DAF is supposed to be used for giving. How about educating DAF donors on community issues, instead of webinars for nonprofits on how to get through the veil shielding DAFs and their funders? Or community foundations could host panel discussions with several local nonprofits sharing their different theories of change for big societal problems. Sign me up (in my role as a donor, not a fundraiser)!

DAFs are good business for the entities that offer them. They make fees on all those assets. For nonprofits, they just add one more barrier to connecting with donors. And I have to ask:

Don’t you want to be in touch with the nonprofits that you support? Then please don’t hide behind a donor advised fund.

If anonymity is your goal, any nonprofit will honor that request and keep your name off their donor recognition lists. Just ask.

Nonprofits’ work is so incredibly difficult. Let’s not make it any harder for them to connect with the people who can support that work.

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A few Follies ago, I wrote about Name Calling and, especially, our company need for a new name.

Sweeping out the (grants) cobwebs

I’ve cleaned up my act by acting on my intentions. Meet Cultivate Giving! Our work is all about building fundraising ease for staff and boards of small nonprofits, so they can build relationships with more donors. While Community Grantwriters told part of our evolution towards sustainable sources of nonprofit revenue, it certainly did not tell the story of what we exclusively do now: not grants.

So we welcome spring with our new name: Cultivate Giving. I took my time getting input from some folks in the nonprofit world, and I have one of them to thank for this new identity. I planned out a 6-week launch plan … and then condensed it into a single week. (Welcome to my life. Once I make up my mind to do something, I am impatient to implement. Just ask my partner John. lol)

And there were lots of cobwebs that I (nearly) got stuck in. As you all know, I’m a fundraiser, not an IT professional! So the process has been challenging and humbling. And also very satisfying. (The AI generated chats for the tech platforms we use have been an amazing resource for some of the specific technical changes I needed to make.)

Speaking of de-bugging

Grants bug me. They represent less than 8% of the funds that foundations can give. They’re absurdly process focused. They’re usually restricted and don’t even fund the time for staff to write (and edit and rewrite) them, or the reports that will be necessary down the road for the “lucky” grant recipient. There’s a lot to dislike about foundation grants.

And they’re not even the biggest source of nonprofit revenue: individual donors are.

Yet, nonprofits always seem to think that grants are the easy money. So that’s how I justified the wrong name for such a long time.

Nonprofits will find us because they’re looking for a grant writer.

Well, that’s what I used to say. Now I’ll just help executive directors and their boards cultivate giving.

Giving thanks too

On this first day of spring, I also give thanks.

Dear Follies Reader, you’ve been patient with me while I was distracted and overwhelmed, embracing and moving forward into a new identity.

More bugs ahead

The other thing that’s been on my mind is DAFs.

DAFs really bug me too. Next week I’ll explain why.

Until then, enjoy spring cleaning—or just celebrating spring!

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Tuesday night I watched our president speak in the annual State of the Union address. It felt a bit like watching a circus, only not as much fun. There was a lot of shaming and blaming. There were claims made that did not seem to be grounded in fact. It got me thinking about the herculean effort that nonprofits put into grant reports. They wouldn’t dream of making unsubstantiated claims. And yet our president does.

Maybe some of them were true. I found myself wanting to keep a list:

1. What he said.

2. What the statistics say.

It’s not hard to substantiate whether unemployment or crime is the lowest, or that church attendance is the highest, “it’s ever been.” (The latter, especially, is a super odd statement for lots of reasons — separation of church and State, and the believability that a president has anything to do with churchgoing are two that come to mind.)

Can you imagine a nonprofit reporting to a foundation with the same kind of hyperbole?

I began to realize it’s just distraction. Facts are not really the point. And those who disagree are tempted to spend our time trying to refute, rather than making the case for what we want. Accuracy does not seem to be something that voters — or, judging by the number of times the majority party rose to give standing ovations on the most outrageous claims of responsibility — or government leaders care about or want.

States of Disunion

I get why people voted for Trump. They love his decisiveness, irrespective of the process or consequences. And despite an animated discussion I had with a dear friend, I don’t believe that Trump supporters are evil or demons. Many of them were churchgoing “good Christians” long before Trump came along. But I do wonder, do they see the blaming and hatred as unchristian?

Disunity feels like the right word for where we are now (politically), and for how it was presented this week. I definitely heard and saw disunion on Tuesday.

It’s more alarming that I see it playing out among my friends and neighbors in the liberal part of the world where I live. My neighbors are good, kind and generous people. Yet I didn’t hear a single one say they would watch Tuesday’s address live. Tolerance is a progressive value. And so is creating change, by standing up for others, especially those with less power.

Being informed about the messaging in the State of Disunion address seemed worthwhile. And the delivery is interesting, even if I don’t agree. The polarization and misleading questions make the issues seem simple. Of course, they’re not.

Stand up if you believe that protecting U.S. citizens’ rights is more important than immigrant rights!

That didn’t seem to apply to the rights of two citizens in Minnesota. And if you stand in support of rights of citizens, does it mean that you endorse our government’s ability to arrest, jail and deport others, irrespective of their legal status? Like couples visiting Disneyland with their (then abandoned) children?

[It’s happened to many, but this was a friend’s neighbor in Mexico. The parents were arrested, sent to different jails, leaving their 7 and 9-year-olds to fend for themselves, and then the father was deported to El Salvador. They were Mexican citizens and residents with legal U.S. tourist visas. I was painfully aware of the privilege and protection of my white skin when I returned this week from San Miguel.]

Maybe now I sound like all those stories told from the presidential podium to demonize others. Unless you are of Native American heritage, every one of us came here as immigrants. In a country and government created by immigrants, how has U.S. citizen come to mean white person?

“Nice” was never a quality that we demanded from politicians. But civil was.

Civil or Civic?

I feel strongly about voting (at the ballot box and with your dollars, where you shop and give). It’s one of the reasons I can’t dislike someone just for voting for Trump. Voting is a right and a privilege, and in this country we can vote by choice, not at gunpoint. I’d rather find a human connection that goes beyond the ballot box, and start to turn this ship around from its course towards disunion.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the ways that any of us can create change, starting with giving modest donations to nonprofits. Choosing a nonprofit to support educates us about issues and solutions, something that is needed “more than it’s ever been.” (Hyperbole can work for us, too.) As I was thinking about the kinds of issue areas that nonprofits support, I found myself looking up civil vs. civic.

Civic: of or relating to a town or city, or the people who live in it; often used with leadership or pride.

Civil: relating to the ordinary people of a country; not military or religious; often used with unrest, society, and disorder.

It seems that civic engagement can be a path towards more civil engagement. Even — or maybe especially — if that means listening to those who upset, offend, or enrage us.

I anticipate a flood of unsubscribes. How could she say that about talking to Trump voters?! But I hope we’ll all be part of the solution, rather than reinforcing our disunion through our own indignation over how this country is running right now. We are a mighty force when we speak up.

Tolerance is a progressive value. Please share the ways that you are creating change, or standing up for others with less power. Some ideas:

I’m talking to all kinds of voters through Ground Truth, and supporting Ruth’s List Florida, where I have family.

My partner John supports Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Frequent Follies’ reader and commenter Richard recommends the (Quaker) Friends Committee on National Legislation as an unbiased source of information and action in trying times.

And there’s always the Southern Environmental Law Center, Public Rights Project that partners with local governments, Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), the ACLU, Campaign Legal Center, State Democracy Defenders Fund, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and others you can find in your own quick online search.

But yours are the stories I want to hear, so please…

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My dad wanted me to be an investment banker, but I couldn’t see the soul in it. So, while my college friends moved into high-paying jobs in finance, I tried a variety of career paths. Turns out, the one that spoke to me wasn’t a paid job at all, it was what I was doing in my free time: volunteering.

All that work planning nonprofit events filled me up in a way that my day job didn’t. I took the fundraising plunge: first as a nonprofit event planner, then a major gift officer for a huge nonprofit and development director for a few smaller nonprofits. Decades later, I feel incredibly lucky for all the fascinating people I have met on both sides of a nonprofit’s work: staff and donors.

I’ll never forget the donor I met — a senior executive at a big finance firm — who told me, “Melanie, you shouldn’t be talking to me. You should be talking to Joe Smith. He has much more money than I do.” (You have enough to make a nice gift, I thought.)

It’s a theme I’ve seen repeated time and again.

“I don’t have enough money to make change, and I feel powerless to do anything about the problems I see in the world around me.”

Do you believe that others with lots more money are the only ones who can make a difference? The statistics say otherwise. Ordinary people, like you and me, fuel philanthropy. We fund the nonprofit organizations making change in our communities and in our world.

I’m writing from the United States. In this country, we seem to share a common value – an aversion to paying taxes. In the more socialist economies of Europe and elsewhere, those higher taxes fund a social safety net that provides education to the young, security to elders, healthcare to all, and a shared investment in the environment that sustains our natural resources and interrelated ecosystems. Here, those services are provided by the nonprofit sector.

The bad news? There are 1.6 million nonprofits in this country delivering a nearly infinite number of programs and services. The good news? We get to choose what to support, based on our personal values and opinions. And that support – through charitable giving and volunteering – funds the intricate, sometimes perplexing, always inspiring world of nonprofit organizations.

Doing good, we call it. And at a time when our world seems to be spinning out of control, and information overload can paralyze us, philanthropy is the ultimate agent of change.

Nonprofits are a lot like startups — they exist to do something incredibly difficult and, often, world changing. They attract smart minds and big hearts. Their work is risky, and the stakes are high. It’s a place where our money can really make a difference in the larger world. And the path towards seeing ourselves as “philanthropists” begins with our most deeply held beliefs, plus a few baby steps towards acting on them.

I’ve been giving small amounts each month to more local causes. Sometimes I give for fun in appreciation of an experience, and even make those gifts monthly because that’s when every nonprofit needs the funding! My partner and I have realized that we can give more.

As we fall into philanthropy, I’m curious…

What was your first gift?

What concerns you now and, as a result, where do you give?

What holds you back from giving a little more?

I know these are deeply personal questions, and I’m grateful to hear what you care about in this big, sometimes scary, world.

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As you may know, How I Built This is one of my favorite podcasts. Guy Raz is a terrific interviewer, and I love the way his personality and humility come through when he talks with start-up founders.

After all, nonprofits are a lot like start-ups: they do really difficult, world-changing work. (Now, if only they had more risk-tolerant funders…)

About this time last year, Guy interviewed the founder of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day products. Her fundraising stories made me laugh out loud. They sounded just like some meetings I’ve had with donors.

Undeterred by “No.”

Fundraising is all about storytelling and connecting over something personal. Getting to “Yes” includes a lot of “No.” (And that takes me all the way back to Folly #1 and my favorite donor story.)

Conversations with donors can lead to some unexpected and lovely shared interests. (And some really unusual ones—for one board member of a nonprofit client, it was miniature pigs. You never know. It’s why talking to donors can be so much fun.)

In this HIBT interview, two things about Monica really stuck with me:

1. Mrs. Meyer’s product line was inspired by Monica (Meyer) Nassif’s mom.

2. Monica has a fabulous sense of humor, especially her ability to laugh at herself.

And aren’t those the same qualities that bring out the best in philanthropy? What we do is inspired by those we care about, and laughter makes everything feel easier.

Monica said that she met a lot of characters. And then she tells a story about an old guy who smokes like a chimney and offers her $1M in cash if he keeps their formulas for the first few years.

She got out of there as fast as she could, but she learned the importance of owning all the formulas for their soaps and cleaning products.

Monica was trying to raise $800,000. Her big success came from someone a friend mentioned—he lived in her community and had invested in other businesses. She spent six months finding and connecting with him, and they finally met. And he invested. (He was an older man, and his wisdom was for her to stop smiling so much in meetings with investors. It was a business meeting, not a popularity contest.)

Even the worst donor meeting has pearls of wisdom that help us forge ahead and get it right.

Here’s a link to Monica and Guy’s interview on How I Built This Lab, from 2/17/25. (Skip ahead to minutes 38-42 for the fundraising storytelling, and let me know what you learned for your own fundraising!)

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