Hi everyone, you must be as exhausted as I am by the relentless awfulness that’s going on everywhere in the world. But please pay attention to Sudan, where there is a genocide taking place, with thousands recently massacred, including children, and millions displaced and starving. And like with all other genocides, the West is complicit, with the US and other nations supplying weapons to the United Arab Emirates, which backs the terrorist paramilitary force RSF that’s committing horrific atrocities against civilians. Here’s an article on Truthout to give you some context.
We must also pay attention to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where millions of civilians are killed and starved. And those of us who are using smart phones, electric vehicles, and AI, which is basically all of us, are complicit, as DRC supplies a lot of the cobalt and other materials needed for us to have these things. Here’s more information.
I know this is a lot, and I’m also just starting to be educated on these issues. But our governments, our tax dollars, and our everyday usage of technology like smart phones and AI help fuel the suffering and death of millions around the world. Please be vocal about Sudan and Congo, exert pressure on your elected officials to pay attention and act, and donate to local organizations providing humanitarian services.
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A few years ago, when I was leading a nonprofit, I was trying to hire a consultant to do something, probably a strategic planning process. One of the candidates asked, “Are you looking for more of a facilitative consultant, or one that’s more prescriptive?” She meant were we looking for a consultant who would help the team reach its own conclusions, or one who is actively providing recommendations about what the org should do.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot as the field of philanthropic advising has been growing significantly, thanks to the exponential rise of Donor-Advised Funds (DAF) and other wealth-hoarding vehicles. But as this article points out, philanthropic advising is kind of a “Wild West,” with few standardizations or agreed-upon best-practices.
However, that might be a good thing. We have seen how toxic many of the “best practices” we’ve entrenched in fundraising over the past few decades have been, such as treating donors like heroes and shielding them from difficult conversations about the inequitable origins of wealth. Maybe during philanthropic advising’s nascent stage, we can prevent some of these pitfalls before they gain too much ground.
One of these pitfalls I see is philanthropic advisors adopting a “facilitative” stance to their work, where they believe their job is just to be a neutral party that’s there to help the wealthy give out money, but they themselves don’t really push an agenda or encourage donors to give to one issue over another. They are just a vehicle connecting donors to what the donors care about.
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A few years ago, when I was leading a nonprofit, I was trying to hire a consultant to do something, probably a strategic planning process. One of the candidates asked, “Are you looking for more of a facilitative consultant, or one that’s more prescriptive?” She meant were we looking for a consultant who would help the team reach its own conclusions, or one who is actively providing recommendations about what the org should do.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot as the field of philanthropic advising has been growing significantly, thanks to the exponential rise of Donor-Advised Funds (DAF) and other wealth-hoarding vehicles. But as this article points out, philanthropic advising is kind of a “Wild West,” with few standardizations or agreed-upon best-practices.
However, that might be a good thing. We have seen how toxic many of the “best practices” we’ve entrenched in fundraising over the past few decades have been, such as treating donors like heroes and shielding them from difficult conversations about the inequitable origins of wealth. Maybe during philanthropic advising’s nascent stage, we can prevent some of these pitfalls before they gain too much ground.
One of these pitfalls I see is philanthropic advisors adopting a “facilitative” stance to their work, where they believe their job is just to be a neutral party that’s there to help the wealthy give out money, but they themselves don’t really push an agenda or encourage donors to give to one issue over another. They are just a vehicle connecting donors to what the donors care about.
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Read full article here.
