Gmail inboxes are harder to reach is not what you want to hear

How are you? Thoughts on those election results? There's a multitude of takes out there, as there should be. I have a few ideas below on how election results may shift the landscape for you and your work (or your effort to find work) in coming months.

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Bright Ideas ☀️

Smart people. Big questions.

First, a few good post-election pieces:
🌻Climate Won Everywhere by Sammy Roth.
👀 What the Next Two Years Look Like by Dave Karpf.
🐦‍⬛ The Blue Wave is Really a Black Tsunami by Brittany Packnett Cunningham.
🧵Our Democracy Was Hanging by a Thread. Here’s the Real Reason It Held by Richard L. Hasen.
👋 What a historic ‘blue wave’ midterm means for climate action by Grist staff.

1/ Gmail inbox placement is crashing due to a combination of AI summaries, tightening deliverability rules, and placement based on engagement. Gmail inboxes are over 50% of US addresses. This is important if you're a nonprofit or news organization.

2/ Work at a nonprofit? Then take the How Nonprofits are Using AI survey being run by a team from the University of Illinois and Stratovation Partners.

3/ Anti-trans ballot measures passed in several states including Colorado, Washington, Nebraska, and Arizona. The ballot measures were a coordinated effort by a network of well-funded conservative organizations. They were supported by an Instagram army of hyperlocal anti-trans influencers operating on a platform that's all to happy to profit from hateful rhetoric. (ht to the great Chicago 312 newsletter for the second link)

4/ Salon throws in the towel after 31 YEARS. Dang.

5/ Elon throws in the towel after just 3 years. Now how are we supposed to identify the neighborhood's biggest jerks?

6/ Water Hub puts out a useful data center messaging guide.

7/ The New Nonprofit Visibility Gap portrays people's giving choices as the result of persuasion and transactional logic. This mistaken understanding of giving and how people look for value in their relationship with nonprofit impact has more to do with today's fundraising problems than barriers thrown up by AI search. [Andrew Dunckelman & Dale Nirvani Pfeifer / Stanford Social Innovation Review]

8/ A Season of Internet Grief captures a millenial/Gen Z-ish version of the angst that many "first gen" (Gen X?) folks felt when early blogs and Internet weirdness gave way to corporate social media platforms that turned much of the web into mashed potatoes and brown gravy with a big dash of surveillance.

So. How about that election?

Here are some quick hits on what could be coming for the kind of work you all do.

• Congress will at least try to get work done. This is good for most organizations. Advocacy groups have struggled for many reasons the last two years but a big one is that Congress was useless and people on lists knew it. Hearings weren't happening. Bills weren't being passed. Governance was largely kicked to the President and it didn't matter much, at least in the short term, if executive orders were legal or not. Congress will now be meeting, legislating, and be open for advocacy. But it will have a LOT on its plate and it's unclear where the balance between trying to pass bills and trying to clean house (aka investigate and prosecute) will fall.
• Money and attention for Congressional and national policy work. But the real opportunity will be in the states. Foundations, donors, and other people of means will, rightly, want to unwind Trump's damage and start passing good stuff. Some of which was already in place (climate funding or clean water or foreign aid, anyone?). This may be good for climate and policy jobs, by the way. But progress will be slow. Meanwhile, state governments have more power to pass good bills than ever. And things move faster in the states. Problem is it's much harder (and less sexy) to move money and action into 30, 40, or 50 states. A lot of good folks will be trying, though!
• A demented man child is still in charge and will frustrate progress to everyone's detriment, including his own. Trump can still issue executive orders and veto bills now that some may actually be passed by both houses of Congress. This may position the Democrat-led Congress as an institution that can't get anything done. It will frustrate voters and, more specifically, supporters. The Democratic Party has historically been very bad at working through this position. It's up to news and advocacy organizations to tell a true story of what's going on. Of course, it's possible that Trump will realize his best shot at a positive legacy lies in cooperative statesmanship. Ha. I'm more likely to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.
• Hiring? Yes. But the jobs won't come back, at least not like they were. There should be money to do good things in climate, clean energy, environment, public health, and more. This means jobs for knowledgeable, capable people who want to do good in the world. But it's hard to imagine how US AID and related organizations come back anytime soon. Dems in Congress can try but this seems like a bargaining chip while Trump has veto power.

Events and Training

• Join How Do I Ask My Friends to Give? on November 17th to learn about turning a network into collective fundraising power. [Donor Organizer Hub]

Want to share your event or training? Click reply and make sure we know about it.

Future Community Jobs

Get the full list on Tuesday or check the always updated Future Community job list.

• Executive Director : Documented [New York City]
• External Communications Catalyst : Heifer International [Remote in the US] ⏱️ November 19
• Product Engineer, Membership and Front-End : ProPublica [Remote in the US]
• Creative Director : World Food Program USA [Washington, DC]

These fellowship opportunities were shared last time. Applications are still open and I want to be sure you saw them.

• The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship program at Stanford is accepting applications until Dec 2, 2026. This is a full-time, on site program at Stanford University.
• Mozilla Foundation has opened applications for its fellowship program. This is a global non-resident program though some fellows will be embedded with an organization. Letters of intent are due Dec 17, 2026.

Hi. I'm Ted Fickes. I run Bright+3 where we help teams in progressive spaces create content and stories that build community so that organizations turn supporters into leaders. I also write Future Community (this newsletter) and run Future Community Jobs.

🎧 Here's a treat if you made it down this way: Michael Kiwanuka's new album, Fudge, came out a couple weeks ago. It's lovely from start to finish. Give a listen to the lyrics and music of Just Another Moment.