Reality of Recycling Comes To Forefront As Environmental Concerns Peak Nonprofit Greenpeace has released a new report acknowledging the gross inefficiencies and near futility of recycling, as reported by Grist . The report highlights that even while the use of plastics across the world surges, the amount of plastic that gets recycled has decreased, a symptom of a solution no match for the scale of a problem it hopes to address. Greenpeace states that “U.S. households generated an estimated 51 mi...
Nov 07, 2022•18 min•Ep. 303
Interview with Dave Chandrasekaran, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Voter Empowerment Project . VEP leverages skilled volunteers to help front-line community-based organizations that work on voter engagement. Dave shares how they engage volunteers to support communities over time rather than just every 2 years. Learn how trust was built with CBO's over time and how skill-based volunteering is creating amazing impact. The Voter Empowerment Project (VEP) is a grassroots initiative that la...
Nov 02, 2022•52 min•Ep. 302
Reactions, And Worries, As Musk Twitter’s Takeover Is Finalized Elon Musk’s $44 Billion takeover of Twitter was completed last week, with Musk officially becoming the owner and de-facto CEO of the influential social media platform. The drawn-out saga of the acquisition, which at times seemed like it would fall through, marks the beginning of a new chapter for a platform now run by one of its most prominent users. Musk's ownership has raised new questions about content moderation, rules around sp...
Nov 01, 2022•23 min•Ep. 301
Girl Scouts Get $85 Million Donation From MacKenzie Scott MacKenzie Scott, known for historic billion-dollar donations continues to change nonprofits’ fortunes, this time with an $85 million donation to the Girl Scouts of USA. The donation is the single largest donation in the organization’s history since its founding in 1912, and will help the organization recoup a loss of programming and membership as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reporting from KUSA.com. According to the rep...
Oct 25, 2022•21 min•Ep. 300
“Big Lie” -Affiliated Nonprofits Scrutinized By Authorities On Eve of Midterm General Election Two organizations associated with the “Big Lie,” the disproved conspiracy that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, face scrutiny for financial impropriety. The Arizona Attorney General (a Republican who as recently as 2020 courted Trump’s endorsement) has asked the FBI and IRS to probe the nonprofit organization True The Vote, an organization that purported to document unfounded claims of ...
Oct 18, 2022•19 min•Ep. 299
Discussion with Farra Trompeter, Co-director of Big Duck, and George Weiner about the 10th anniversary of Giving Tuesday. How should your organization approach this year's event on November 29th? Will Giving Tuesday raise a new record on the day? Whole Whale predicts it will . Should your organization adopt a new 'Collective' giving approach to the day? Farra talks through a recent post about collective giving how to bring a spirit of abundance and consider how you can use this day to educate an...
Oct 18, 2022•32 min•Ep. 298
Weekly Nonprofit News summaries. In Win For Criminal Justice Advocates, Biden Pardons Marijuana Charges & Orders Evaluation of Cannabis Scheduling The Biden Administration announced last week a series of pardons for those charged on federal, simple marijuana possession charges, in a win for criminal justice reform advocates. The legacy of the Nixon Administration’s “War On Drugs” is still felt throughout the United States, where black and brown Americans are more likely to be charged for mar...
Oct 11, 2022•21 min•Ep. 297
On this episode Allison Sesso, the CEO & President of RIP Medical Debt talks about their unique approach to alleviating medical debt of Americans. By leveraging medical debt markets and partnering with hospitals, RIP Medical Debt is able to achieve 100X leverage on every dollar donated to wipe out debt at scale. How big is the problem? The SIPP survey suggests people in the United States owe at least $195 billion in medical debt. Approximately 16 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe...
Oct 06, 2022•46 min•Ep. 296
Discussions of Corporate ESG Ratings Should Be Monitored By Nonprofit Industry More and more, discussions about the efficacy, morality, and financial benefit of ESG-rated publicly-traded companies on the stock market are becoming commonplace. At nonprofitnewsfeed.com , we think that nonprofits need to be equipped with the context needed to engage both prospective donors and the public at large with what ESG is and is not. ESG, a catchall term for “Environmental, Social & Governance” is marke...
Oct 04, 2022•32 min•Ep. 295
Nonprofits Respond To Hurricane In Puerto Rico Puerto Rico felt the brunt of hurricane Fiona last week, shutting power to the island and devastating everything from homes to agriculture as severe flooding uprooted life yet again in communities. Puerto Rico, still recovering from hurricane Maria which landed back in 2017, again finds itself in need of assistance and as yet a path towards a resilient recovery. Nonprofits like New York-based Your Network Caring Community Advocates have already star...
Sep 27, 2022•20 min•Ep. 294
The copyright on Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne officially moved into the public domain this year. What does that actually mean? How might nonprofit's use public domain characters like this to help tell their story? Tara Jacobson is the owner of MarketingArtfully.com with over 20 years experience in the marketing industry. She helps us break down what is possible and comes up with creative ways nonprofit causes might use the IP. Resource links A lot of websites were shared on this awesome episod...
Sep 21, 2022•56 min•Ep. 293
Patagonia Goes All-in Transferring Ownership to Nonprofit The private B Corp company Patagonia, known for outdoor gear and its outspoken position on the environment has transferred its ownership to a nonprofit (reported by The NonProfit Times). The company, worth an estimated $3 Billion, is transferring 98% of non-voting stock to the Holdfast Collective a 501(c)(4), and 2% of the stock (all voting control) to the Patagonia Purpose Trust. Patagonia Founder, Yvon Chouinard has done something unpre...
Sep 20, 2022•12 min•Ep. 292
Nonprofits Recognize Anniversary of September 11th Attacks With National Day of Service & Remembrance This Sunday marked the 21st anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks. As Americans across the country reflect on the day, nonprofit and volunteer organizations stepped up to honor victims and families, as well as to pay forward the heroic acts of bravery and charitable acts of community displayed that September. The federally-recognized September 11 National Day of Service and Remembr...
Sep 14, 2022•22 min•Ep. 291
Conversation with Dom Kalms, the CEO and Founder of B Generous . B Generous allows for donors to donate now, and pay later. We discuss how this technology works, how nonprofits get money upfront and donors are allowed to pay back the loan interest-free over 9 months. There are new giving opportunities that are opened up with this new technology and Dom explains them on this podcast. Donors want to give to the organizations they believe in more than ever before. B Generous makes that possible. To...
Sep 08, 2022•34 min•Ep. 289
GOP-Tied NRSC Mismanaged Fundraising In Lead-Up To Crucial Midterm Elections The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the fundraising and campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, is facing backlash from its own party as details of how it lost millions on an ill-concieved fundraising strategy emerge. The NRSC, chaired by Rick Scott, managed to take in nearly $181.5 million in donation revenue by the end of this July, only to have spent 95% of what it had already brought in, according t...
Sep 06, 2022•19 min•Ep. 290
Biden Announces $10k, $20k Student Loan Forgiveness For Most Borrowers The Biden administration announced last week that up to $10k of federal student loan debt would be forgiven for eligible borrowers, including up to $20k for Pell Grant recipients. The sweeping announcement was a controversial policy move but nonetheless a major one, with tens of millions of borrowers affected. According to The White House , 87% of the eligible borrowers currently make less than $75,000 and will disproportiona...
Aug 30, 2022•27 min•Ep. 288
A deep conversation on the topic of shadow moderation, a feature that lets moderators on platforms like Facebook and Reddit censor posts without alerting the person who posted it. We discuss how pernicious this problem is at scale with Rob Hawkins, the founder of Reveddit, which is a tool that lets users discover which of their content has been removed from Reddit. This may seem like a small UX feature on the surface, but the implications of silencing speech in this way has large ramifications f...
Aug 24, 2022•48 min•Ep. 287
Low-Profile Donor Gives $1.6 Billion To Conservative Political Nonprofit Barre Seid, an “electronics manufacturing mogul,” has donated over $1.6 billion to the conservative political nonprofit Marble Freedom Trust, according to reporting from The New York Times . The 501(c)4 nonprofit, led by a prominent conservative political operator, represents the largest single donation to a political organization ever and dwarfs the spending of the top 15 GOP and Democratic-aligned nonprofits during the 20...
Aug 23, 2022•21 min•Ep. 286
Nonprofits & Environmental Groups React To Landmark Inflation Reduction Act Legislation The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law by the Biden White House shortly after passing through the Senate and House of Representatives in what has become a dramatic and unexpected win for Democrats and environmental activists alike. The new legislation is the largest investment in clean energy of any country in history, including hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy programs and enviro...
Aug 16, 2022•20 min•Ep. 285
Amnesty International Triggers Global Criticism For Problematic Report Lacking Vital Context Amnesty International published a new report as part of its ongoing reporting on the war in Ukraine that has been widely criticized as lacking critical context and framing, triggering both internal and external condemnation. The report criticizes the Ukrainian military for violating “international humanitarian law” by putting civilians in harm’s way in relation to where the Ukrainian military places defe...
Aug 09, 2022•27 min•Ep. 284
Nonprofit News. Trevor Project CEO Under Fire For Purdue Pharma Consulting Work Trevor Project CEO Amit Paley is coming under internal pressure from staff for previous consulting work done at McKinsey for Purdue Pharma, according to reporting from Teen Vogue . (The first revelations were published by the Huffington Post .) Purdue Pharma, responsible for bringing OxyContin to market, is widely perceived as playing a critical role in the opioid crisis in America. Paley was a consultant at McKinsey...
Aug 02, 2022•23 min•Ep. 283
Charity Navigator To Unveil New, Unified Charity Rating System Charity Navigator, the 501(c)3 charity rating organization, has provided additional information on the proposed changes to their new rating system. The new system, according to a release , will “will bring together our legacy Charity Navigator 2.1 (Star) system with our Encompass Rating System, rating more than 200,000 nonprofits.” Among other changes, all organizations will be rated on a star system, as well as have the opportunity ...
Jul 29, 2022•16 min•Ep. 282
Interview with Soraya Alexander, COO of Classy . We discuss the Classy State of Modern Philanthropy and dig through the data. Get the report: https://donationtrends.classy.org/ Rough Transcript [00:00:00] George Voice Dub: I have known about this particular fundraising platform for quite some time. I'm excited to have none other than Soraya Alexander, the chief operating officer, the COO of classy. How's it going for you today ? [00:00:14] Soraya: It's going great. Thanks for having me. I'm so h...
Jul 28, 2022•42 min•Ep. 281
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 t...
Jul 19, 2022•27 min•Ep. 280
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% ...
Jul 12, 2022•19 min•Ep. 279
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 mea...
Jul 05, 2022•25 min•Ep. 278
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 ...
Jun 28, 2022•23 min•Ep. 277
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 ...
Jun 21, 2022•14 min•Ep. 276
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 conductin...
Jun 14, 2022•19 min•Ep. 275
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 ...
Jun 09, 2022•39 min•Ep. 274
