Sign in Subscribe
Community

A third system for the work we need now

We're outsourcing community thriving onto the backs of self-employed contractors and our systems aren't built for that. Not at all.

A third system for the work we need now

👋 Hi Haley and Gretchen. Welcome to Future Community. I'm so glad you're here.

Neither for-profit or non-profit systems are built for the projects we need and the way we work.

Breaking news (hardly!)... many people are working independently. Over 1/3 of all Americans, around 60 million, are self-employed.

I have a million critiques and concerns about this situation. But I want to focus in on one for now: this is a potentially huge problem for community health, nonprofits, and even democracy. We (the big American we) don't have the financial and care support systems needed to ensure that people building community-serving projects can thrive, even survive.

Here are three projects, examples, and conversations from today...

Earlier I had the privilege of talking with Jasmine Williams-Jacobs who founded and runs Black Remote She and is a Disability Rising Fellow at Disability Culture Lab. There's a lot to say about Jasmine and their work building networks of mutual aid and community support. One place to start is with the Black Remote She Resource Hub.

I also found and shared a brilliant guide that helps self-employed entrepreneurs and freelancers navigate one of the biggest challenges they face today: wildly escalating health insurance costs.

This was put together by Lex Roman (who helps creators and newsletterers and other independents build revenue streams at Revenue Rulebreaker) and Rey Katz (a tech and marketing strategist as well as the founder of the Amplify Respect newsletter). Neither works in health insurance.

Earlier this year Bryan Vance started up Stumptown Savings, a newsletter and community project that helps Portlanders track grocery prices and find deals that fit their budget. Earlier today he wrote about the not so exciting results of his first fundraising campaign email.

These are all very different projects with different goals and needs.

They don't have much in common except, I think, that everyone is building organizations and content and work products and marketing plans and revenue models and guides to navigating the health care cost crisis on their own.

One other common thread is a struggle with business model. Should this be a for profit? A nonprofit? A fiscally sponsored project? A side consulting gig?

These are not small questions. And the outcome doesn't just affect the ability of people to live, eat, heat their homes and pay their bills. It affects a huge range of services to their community (research and help on food prices, healthcare cost survival, job skills and mutual aid, business and marketing tools, and so much more).

Many local news organizations, journalists, and independent news creators are navigating similar issues. That weakens communities, local governance, and can increase the influence of polarizing national political messaging.

A cynic might say "hey, if they can't handle it then go get a job." Trust me, 58 million Americans aren't self-employed because it's easy to get a job.

I don't have answers. And, sorry to break it to you, AI is not solving for this.

But I wonder if and how there could be a realistic third option for financing and running independent projects–one that removed the fog of for-profit/non-profit distinctions, improved access to business and financial support services, and let independent workers, communities, and organizations collaborate and share resources with less friction while protecting and valuing the strengths of each.

Bright Ideas

Useful read in Counter Punch about what's going on with the Nexstar purchase of TEGNA which would lock 300 local broadcast stations into a far right corporation. More useful are some of the anti-merger strategies most of which involve state-level work.

Notion Might Have Created the New Blueprint for Modern Comms Teams by Adam Malik.

This might be the definitive fundraising page optimization checklist. I'd love to see visuals and examples alongside all the text but, whew, this is good stuff from the 4Site team.

Events and Trainings!

🦉
Get Future Community from a brilliant friend? Subscribe at Bright+3.

Future Community Jobs

These are the latest links. Check out the full job list here.

Hiring? Consider shipping a featured job out into this amazing community. Learn more here or just reach out on email.

🗞️ Audience, content, journalism and news roles

🗣️ Communications

🤔
Interested in featuring your open role on Future Community? This is how you do it.

⚡ Nonprofit organizations

💰 Fundraising and Development

💸 Foundations and Philanthropy

💻 Agencies, politics, products, projects & more

The opening line of Hell No, I Ain't Happy goes "There's a lot of bad wood underneath the veneer" and it's hard to believe this song wasn't written about the White House in 2025.

Anyway, nice to see Jason Isbell playing with Patterson Hood and the crew.

Future Community is a product of Ted Fickes and Bright+3. Reply or visit Bright+3 to get in touch and learn more about our work.

Read next