Connection is the superpower we need now

👋 Howdy. Thanks for reading Future Community! I want to shout out new subscribers like Casey, J.A., Sara, Jordy and Rui. Click reply or reach out on LinkedIn with any questions, suggestions or ideas. We have 46 new job posts listed below. Get at it.

Before going further, let's recognize May Day / International Workers Day. If you look at the full history of May Day you uncover that it goes way way wayyyy... back and is actually kind of weird and fun and pagan and religious. There's something for everyone! But it's basically about people coming together in community, giving gifts (often anonymously), and celebrating each other.

It's a story, a narrative, a way of being that doesn't vibe at all with modern living. Especially if you read the news and most any story about firings, tariffs, deportations, public health and so much more.

Living, working (or trying to work), raising kids, just being in this space is a daily sprint through fogs of cognitive dissonance.

Let's recognize that and take a moment to be ok with feeling frustrated, tired, or even angry.

The information space isn't much better. News and social platforms are chaotic, crowded and increasingly full of soulless AI generated content.

In Build things together: Or how to not drown in the seas of distrust, I explore challenges and opportunities facing organizations trying to communicate in the current info space–and why the same old playbook isn't working.

One solution: connection. People crave it, need it, want it more than ever. Connection is sensemaking. Connection is stability, curiosity, empathy and care. All of which are increasingly hard to find in our always on info networks.

I tried to lay out a bunch of ideas for crafting connection in low lift mission-oriented ways. Would love to hear your ideas, too!

There's a resounding desire for connection in a world of uncertainty, chaos and (increasingly) media platforms that seem content to have us interacting with AI bots and disinformation. We can do better and will have better organizations, communities and friends for it. Give it a read.

Bright Ideas

Smart, sometimes fun, sometimes icky things from elsewhere.

• The world doesn't need more Klein content but... How Ezra Klein’s YouTube Makeover Points to Podcasting’s TV Future is a must read for any nonprofit communications person. [Rebecca Sananès / Vanity Fair]
  
  FWIW, this isn't simply about podcasting. Evidence indicates that given the opportunity, people want to connect with people when getting news and info.
• On this point: see also Liz Kelly Nelson's Younger audiences don't hate news - just how it's delivered that looks at research done by Ben Reininga, a Nieman-Berkman Klein Fellow at Harvard and former head of Global Head of News at Snapchat.
• Cory Doctorow on the how the waves of enshittification are washing up on the long sunny shores of tech jobs (and why tech workers should consider unionizing).
• For more on tech labor woes, this time with the lens on AI effects, read Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman's First They Came for the Software Engineers...
• Rodrigo Nunes explains how gig workers in Brazil - a class of work long disempowered there, in the US and beyond - organized protests in 60 cities. [The Guardian]
• A look inside the modern bot farms making political and cultural sentiment hard to gauge. [Eric Schwartzman / Fast Company]
• Trump doesn't need laws or executive orders to chill progressive foundations and donors, especially as he seems cool with wrecking the economy. [Jessica Washington / The Intercept]
• Saying NO, organizing and collective action make a difference when you're fighting bellicose authoritarian grifters. [Nicholas Grossman / The Bulwark]
• Guidance on how to talk about fascism from ASO Communications.
• M+R nonprofit fundraising benchmarks are back with fabulous pentameter and poetic flourishes. A few bits: email fundraising is down, almost everyone is using generative AI (most without any policies for how/why), about half of all orgs are doing some sort of audience research (ack), and upsell lightboxes are popular. Don't go in expecting any discussion of content or community strategy and their relation to revenue.
• "We are not simply passive victims of abuse by corporations or governments (or the increasing collusion between them). We are also agents of our own exposure," writes Jed Miller in his ever concise and thoughtful newsletter, Reailty Check. For me, surveillance culture (amplified by pervasive AI) begs the question: what happens to meaningful political and cultural debate when every bit of it is available to everyone?

Future Community Jobs

The number crunchers out there will count 46 job links below. You'll find the full, updated and much longer list at Future Community Jobs.

Audience, content, journalism and news roles 🗞️

• Manager of Coaching Programs and Strategic Coach, Sustainability 360 Program (contract) : LION Publishers [Remote in the US]
• Editor, New Labor Forum : City University of New York [New York City]
• Managing Editor, Newsletters & Breaking News : Boulder Reporting Lab [Boulder, CO]
• Editor : Positive News [Remote in the UK]
• Director of Editorial Programs : Pulitzer Center [Remote / Washington, DC]
• Community Manager : Medium [Remote in the US]
• Video Strategist : Lee Enterprises [Remote in the US]
• Newsletter Writer, The 10 Point : The Wall Street Journal [New York City]
• Director, Press Forward South Florida : The Miami Foundation [Miami]
• Associate Editor : Earth Island Journal [Berkeley, CA]
• Community Editor (Audience) : The Globe and Mail [Toronto]
• Senior Content Specialist : Zapier [Remote in the US or Canada]
• Visual Impact Producer : Lighthouse Reports [Remote]

Communications 🗣️

• Director of Communications : Commission on the Status of Women and Girls [Sacramento]
• Senior Communications Officer : Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Hub, Kings College [London]
• Senior Communications Manager, Economic Education Project : The Hub Project [Washington, DC]
• Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications and Senior Manager, Content : JED [New York City]
• Vice President, Communications : National Council of Nonprofits [Washington, DC]
• Communications Director : Blueprint Biosecurity [Remote]
• Senior Communications Strategist : National Immigration Law Center [Los Angeles or Washington, DC preferred / Remote]
• Director of Media Relations : The Bloc [Remote]
• Communications Officer : East Bay Community Foundation [Oakland]
• Senior Director, Global Program Communications : Habitat for Humanity International [Remote or Hybrid in the United States, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Kenya or Belgium]

Multitudinous Nonprofit Roles. ⚡

• Director, Digital Products and Services : Aspen Institute [Washington, DC]
• Data Director : Action for the Climate Emergency [Remote]
• Executive Vice President : Partners for Rural Impact [Remote in the US]
• Executive Director : American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy [Washington, DC]
• Senior Manager, Reference and Research : National Geographic Society [Washington, DC]
• Head of AI, Labor and Economy : Partnership on AI [Remote in the US or Canada]
• Organizing Manager : Center for Tech and Civic Life [Remote in the US]
• Senior Policy Strategist : Sierra Club California Chapter [Sacramento]

Fundraising and Development 💰

• Senior Director of Development, East Coast : Voting Rights Lab [Remote in New York or New Jersey preferred]
• Philanthropic Communications Lead : Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) [Oakland / New York City / Washington, DC]
• Chief Advancement Officer : Institute for Nonprofit Practice [Hybrid / East Coast US]
• Director of Partnerships : Protect Democracy [Remote in the US]
• Director of Development : Food and Environment Reporting Network [New York City]

Foundations and Philanthropy 💸

Slow week in the foundation space. Have any roles to share???

• Program Associate for Defending Inclusive Democracy : Charles F. Kettering Foundation [Washington, DC]

Agencies, politics, products, projects & more 💻

• Director, CRM Conversion : Zuri Group [Remote in the US]
• Video Producer : Open Phone [Remote]
• Director of Product Marketing, USA and Director of Content Marketing, USA : Fundraise Up [Remote in the US]
• Senior Manager of Creator Strategy and Director of Social Listening and Research : Vocal Media [Remote]
• Account Executive : Yoko Co [Remote]

Future Community is a product of Ted Fickes and Bright+3. Reply or visit Bright+3 for more about our work.