Community

Hope and Futility and Friday Future Community Jobs

You can't get the whale off the beach (or that next job) alone.

Hello and welcome Rachael, Cara, Kira, Kate, Lauren, Erica and Amrit.

Howdy and greetings to Claire, Andrew, Emily and Nichole.

It's wonderful to have you here! Click reply if you have questions, suggestions or just want to say hello.

Or reply if you have new music or audio book suggestions. I'm doing a 2,000 mile road trip at the end of next week. Lots of listening time! 🎶 📖 👂🚗 🌽

👀 If you missed last week's Future Community we talked about ways nonprofits can raise money with newsletters. I think newsletters can all sorts of value building relationships and delivering actionable information. But revenue is good. Check it out here.

This is going somewhere good. Really...

I've been thinking about the nature of futility this week. Maybe that's because there's been a seemingly endless list of little and big car repairs (see road trip above) the past few weeks. And repairs that generate new repairs.

Maybe it's because it's been grotesquely hot for a very very long stretch of days. The kind of hot that makes you think about the long slow march of climate change.

Maybe it's conversations about job searching and folks struggling through stretches when just hearing something, anything, begins to feel like a victory worth celebrating.

Sensing futility, even getting bogged down in it, is completely human. No matter what we do, winter comes again. We age. We lose people and pets. We plant a garden only to see a hail storm knock it down three weeks later (maybe that's just me).

Fortunately for our species, hope tends to beat back futility. Especially when we accept that hope only becomes powerful when shared.

I've been reading the novel Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. There's a scene towards the end (no spoilers, I promise!) in which two whales wash up on a beach.

The whales, and saving them, have tangible and symbolic significance to the five characters who come across them. They decide to try to save the whales. Long odds for sure.

One character points out the futility of this effort. We shouldn't, they say, subject the children to the almost certain pain of seeing the whales die after working hard to save them.

The response: "You're probably right...but I think not trying would haunt them even more."

So we keep at it. Even in the face of losses and setbacks. Even when it seems like the bastards keep winning and making things worse. Even when it gets hotter.

But the hope that keeps us going only becomes powerful when shared.

You can't get the whale off the beach alone. Or get the newsletter program going alone. Or get the next job alone. If you do, great! But, like hope, satisfaction tastes better when shared.

🦉

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Bright Ideas

Timely reading, events, trainings.

Here are a couple super looking Fall events on my radar. I think both are going to be generative huge ideas, insights and working relationships for nonprofit change makers interested in how content, journalism and storytelling make an impact. Maybe I'll see you there:

The News Product Alliance Summit in Chicago. October 23-25.
The Business of Local Conference in Salt Lake City. October 19-21.

A few good reads...

The Big Feelings Club: A cozy resource for the Days That Feel Like Thunderstorms via Chattynooga.
How to not build the Torment Nexus by Mike Monteiro
The tyranny of being reachable in Dense Discovery. via New Public
The Fossil Fuel Industry Hasn't Come Up With a New Story in 100 Years, Why Do Climate Folks Find It So Hard to Keep Up? by Amy Westervelt. via Susan Torres
The 'Traffic Apocalypse' Might Be the Wake-Up Call Journalism Needs by Sophie van Oostvoorn. (might it also be something nonprofits and movement groups and foundations need?)
The Danes Resisted Fascism and So Can We by Sarah Sophie Flicker. via Julia Roig
Someone was telling me about biking the Shimanami Kaido Cycling Trail in Japan. It sounds amazing. Anyone done it? Or know about bike touring in Japan?
Speaking of Japan, Rey Katz shares a fascinating conversation about gender and LGBTQ+ expression in the Japanese language in their latest edition of the Amplify Respect newsletter.

Future Community Jobs

These are roles spotted in the last week Check out the full list here as well as resources page for job seekers. Want to post a job? Send an email.

🗞️ Audience, content, journalism and news roles

Editorial Impact Lead : American Journalism Project [Remote]
Development Operations Manager : VTDigger [Montpelier, VT / Vermont]
Senior Producer, Community Engagement and Associate Editor, Newsletters : LAist [Pasadena, CA]
Managing Editor, Question Everything with Brian Reed : Placement Theory [Brooklyn]

🗣️ Communications

Senior Director of Marketing and Communications : Center for Civic Education [Remote in the US]
Senior Director, Marketing and Communications : Taproot Foundation [Remote in the US]
Senior Director of Marketing and Communications : Free Press [Washington, DC / Remote]
Communications Manager : Parks California [Remote in California]
Senior Director, Climate Communications and Program Officer, Wildlife Communications : World Wildlife Fund [Washington, DC]
Executive Vice President, Communications and Strategy : American Progress [Washington, DC]
Communications Director : Reproductive Freedom for All [Remote]
Communications Director : ACLU of Massachusetts [Boston]

⚡ Nonprofit Roles

Program Manager : Boston Impact Initiative [Boston]
Senior Associate, Green for All : Dream.org [Oakland / Washington, DC]
Program Officer, Ocean Markets and Finance : World Wildlife Fund [Washington, DC]
Digital Strategist : National Black Food and Justice Alliance [Remote]
Senior Digital Campaigner : Stand.earth [Remote in the US or Canada]
Data Manager : Sunrise Project [Remote]
National Plastics Organizer : Beyond Plastics [Remote]
Organizing Director, The Patients Union : Be a Hero [Remote]
Senior Director, Marketing and Engagement - Ranger Rick Brands : National Wildlife Federation [Remote]
Social Media Associate : The Poetry Foundation [Chicago]
Deputy Director, Democracy 2025 : Democracy Forward [Washington, DC]
Digital Engagement Lead : NC Local [Remote in North Carolina]
Research Fellow, Humanities Workforce : National Humanities Alliance [Remote]
Head of Corporate Governance, Risk, and Responsible Practice : Partnership on AI [Remote in the US or Canada]

Over 1,000 amazing people read Future Community. I know a lot of them personally.
Some are hiring.
Many are looking for a role.
Reach out if you want help finding or filling a role.
I have some ideas for you.

Get in touch