More dance breaks. Less nihilism please.

👋 Welcome to Future Community! I'm trying to build a space where people can connect and support each other. Not just an email blasted out to prospects. It's a work in progress. One part of that is saying hello to new subscribers. This week's greetings are a bit longer but we're grateful and showing up for it...Howdy Ariana, Megan, Ashleigh, Olivia and Monica.

And Hello Taryn, Chris, Timothy and Lorena. Greetings to Nuri, Megan, Whitney, Robbie and Jaime.

Kia ora Rebecca, Iain, Matt, Mona, Andy, and Samantha.

Γειά σου Emma, Kenneth, Alante, Brendan, Rachel and Mary. Hola Thomas, Charley, Natascha, Louisa and Lizzie.

Halló Connie, Deborah, Kel, Jen, Amanda, Michael and Jennifer.

Ciao Laura, Andrew, Kristina, Claire, Allie, Veronica, Jamilah, and Diane.

नमस्ते Grace, Aria, Lexi, Lauren, Maddie, Alyssa, Precious and Jason.

Hej Katherine, Lauren, Becky, Gloria, Katy, Elizabeth, Eliza, and Paula.

Здравей Matt, Maria, Kerwin, Marissa, Victoria, Stella, and Karen.

And Merhaba Karoline, Robin, Catherine, Natasha.

👇 There are about 30 new Future Community Jobs down below. Plus your dance break.

Bright Ideas

Thoughts, good gatherings, and resources you can use.

I have thoughts about the "attention economy" and perceived nihilism of Gen Z (hey, Ezra Klein and Kyra Scanlon brought it up, not me) so I threw them on LinkedIn instead of here or the blog.

I don't agree with the nihilistic categorization. It's the most caring and activist generation I've ever seen. But engagement is being redefined. Opens and clicks and pageviews aren't going away but will never to turn the dial. For nonprofits, there's a lot of work to do creating real life spaces for connection, conversation, learning and trust building.

Related: The Death of Partying in the U.S.A and Why it Matters by Derek Thompson.

Also related if a bit tangential: Beyonce started a conversation about Democracy and our organizations should join in. Great piece by Aditi Juneja in Democracy Notes.

Is star production the content creator (and journalism company's) only protection against AI? Vulture looks at the New York Times sprint to video. Read the next one before making up your mind...

Send this to your executive director when they ask about the relationship between content strategy, fundraising and AI (as if!): The Media's Pivot is Not Real and Not Going to Work. I feel like Jason Koebler's description here matches a lot of what I'm seeing in nonprofit conversations about AI.

AI is destroying traffic, ripping off our work, creating slop that destroys discoverability and further undermines trust, and allows random people to create news-shaped objects that social media and search algorithms either can’t or don’t care to distinguish from real news. And yet media executives have decided that the only way to compete with this is to make their workers use AI to make content in a slightly more efficient way than they were already doing journalism.

Resources + Events + Trainings

• Check out Civic Match, a program run by Work for America that aims to help connect laid off/cut government workers with roles in state and local government.
• If you're like me, your broad work across the civic, government, and/or nonprofit sector has been the result of (or reason for) being a generalist. You learn fast. You connect disparate ideas and solve problems. Maybe you get bored in one place too long. If this sounds familiar, check out the resources at Generalist World. Might be useful.
• Feeling down about your organization's ability to maintain website content? Laura Quinn has a free training for you on Wednesday: Clean and Current Website Content...Without the Stress.
• Job seekers: If you can't make it to Chaos to Calm (or want more), check this out on the 23rd: Navigating a Career Transition: Support and Strategies. It's led by Nicole Johnson Scales and DSG | Koya Managing Director Cassie Scarano who I've known for years and is FANTASTIC.

Future Community Jobs

You'll find a full, updated list at Future Community Jobs. See also our resources page for job seekers.

🗞️ Audience, content, journalism and news roles

• Program Director : Trans Journalists Association [Remote]
• Managing Editor, Votebeat : Civic News Company [Remote in the US]

🗣️ Communications

• Communications Manager : Institute for Citizens and Scholars [Princeton, NJ]
• Strategic Communications and Public Relations Lead : Non-GMO Project [Bellingham, WA / Remote]
• Senior Director, Communications : League of Women Voters [Washington, DC]
• Managing Director of Communications : Advancement Project [Washington, DC]
• Director of Media and Communications : National Center for LGBTQ Rights [Remote]
• Senior Digital Communications Specialist : AFSCME [Washington, DC]
• Director of Communications - Environment, Energy, and Open Space Cabinet : City of Boston [Boston]
• Senior Manager, Content and Storytelling : Partnership for a Healthier America [Remote in the US]
• Communications Assistant : J Street [Washington, DC]
• Senior Culture and Narrative Content Producer : Popular Democracy [Remote in the US]

⚡ Nonprofit Roles

• Strategic Partnerships Director : Pickles [Chicago]
• Campaign Executive Director and Strategy Lead, Community Impact and other roles : Community Solutions [Remote in the US]
• Digital Marketing Manager : Protect Our Winters [Bend, OR preferred / Remote in Washington, Colorado, Vermont, Montana, Nevada, or New Hampshire]
• Civil Service Defense and Innovation Fellow : Democracy Forward [Remote]
• External Engagement Fellow (part-time) : New Public [Remote in the US or Canada]
• Staff Attorney : Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU Law [Remote]
• Executive Director : Data for Progress [Remote in the US / Washington, DC preferred]
• Director of Organizing : Popular Democracy [Remote in the US]

💰 Fundraising and Development

• Director, Membership : National Geographic Society [Remote]
• Director of Fundraising : Vote America [Remote]

💸 Foundations and Philanthropy

• Senior Principal–Sourcing Lead : Mulago [San Francisco]
• Democracy Lead : Alta Futures [Chicago]
• Senior Vice President, Strategy : Pew Charitable Trusts [Washington, DC / Philadelphia]
• Director of Membership Strategy and Engagement : Women's Funding Network [Remote in the US]

💻 Agencies, politics, products, projects & more

• Community Operations Role : Luma [Remote]
• Director of Client Success : Mission Wired [Remote in the US]
• Deputy Email Director : Middle Seat [Remote in the US]

About that Dance Break...

The full speech is worth a listen but we're jumping straight into the dancing here.

I'll admit it...it's more Steve Carell content than you expected. Go Cats!

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.