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99% percent of this sh*t doesn't make it into the news cycle

I have questions. Also, job search events and links. And AI resources and frameworks.

99% percent of this sh*t doesn't make it into the news cycle

Hello and welcome to Future Community!

😄 It's good to see you here Camille, Sam, KE, Stephen, Laura, Isabelle, Nicki, Carrie and Kate.

👋 Welcome Maureen, Bernard, Cindy, Jo, Riley, Lauren, Jen, Carrie and Alison.

Reply if you have an idea for a story, a link to share, or just have questions.

And please reach out if you want to chat for a bit. Here's my calendar.

8 Questions for You

We're putting together explainers and trainings on building great email and newsletter programs.

We need your help. I'd love to know if the topics sound useful and how you would want material delivered. Can you take a short survey? It would be a big help. I promise. It's short. Eight questions. It will take 2 minutes. Maybe 3 if you like to overthink things.

Here's a bit more about the how and why of my thinking about email and nonprofit communications right now. It might shed light on the value of these trainings.

Last week a colleague told me that this newsletter stood out because it's has emotion and is clearly written by a real person.

Dear reader, I loved hearing this. It reflects my intent. And I've heard variations of this before. So it's a little reassuring.

But, to be honest, I laughed a little. Seems wild that a newsletter with human voice comes off as unusual.

Maybe that's because I read, see, and work with loads of newsletters and comms programs outside the nonprofit community. And there are so many human newsletters out there. They come from journalists and creators. They also come from companies that have loosened the reins a bit.

But among nonprofits - both big and small - communications that sounds human, has a face, presents a point of view with some emotion...well, that's hard to come by.

Look around at the media you consume. Whether it's news, social posts, reels/TikToks, Reddit, television, and maybe even the stories you read in an actual print newspaper or magazine (yes, they still exist!).

Chances are you're consuming stories about people that come from real individuals. This is not new. It's an observation and programmatic guidance we've been delivering to nonprofits for decades.

But way too many newsletters, social accounts, and certainly too many fundraising emails don't deliver on this. That appeal signed by the executive director has probably passed through 11 rounds of edits by five people, none being the ED, before winding up in your inbox.

So I'm coming at email and newsletter programs as being a combination of tech, communications, management and relationship skills.

Here's the survey link again. Thanks.

Bright Ideas

A few good reads...

🚨 Job search support: Learn from Claire Waiksnoris (I have!) at a Free Virtual Job Search Workshop: Resumes, Cover Letters & Q&A hosted by the North Carolina Triad chapter of AFP. It's Wednesday, November 12th, at noon Eastern.

🔍 Rad Campaign is hosting a webinar on AI search on Wednesday, November 19. Register here for The Nonprofit Playbook for Dominating AI Search.

🎧 Listen up. A podcast suggestion this week is Cayden Mak in conversation with Kelly Hayes. Cayden is the publisher of Convergence Magazine. Kelly is the author of Read This When Things Fall Apart. It's a thoughtful, hopeful, and even dryly funny chat about organizing and being in the fight for change right now. The other is

I admire the work of New_ Public even if I don't understand the underscore in their name. 🤷 It's interesting to read about their internal AI framework and approaches. They also acknowledge the damage caused by the biases and broken systems on which almost all commercial AI has been and is being built.

I think this will resonate with many many nonprofit folks, not just the journalists and news people Patrick Boehler is writing for here: Your suffering isn't a public service.

Tell these stories to everyone...

Last Thursday a friend shared this text with me. It come from a friend of his who lives in a northside Chicago neighborhood. This person wouldn't call themselves an activist. Just someone who does what's needed. Sit with it for a minute.

Yeah. I was at an elementary school at the end of our block for pickup today. ICE snags people during pickup and dropoff, so our community resistance network asks us to be present at the schools—power in numbers. I also patrol the neighborhood every day along with others—power in numbers. They’ve handed out whistles in our neighborhood—power in noise. And our network sends out alerts when ICE is in our area or has snagged people. I’m telling you, shit is much worse than you know in at least some areas, like mine. Ninety-nine percent of this shit doesn’t make it into the news cycle. But I appreciate the toughness and defiance of my brothers and sisters around here.

Most (99%???) of these stories and first-hand accounts are going unreported, especially outside Chicago, DC and Los Angeles. There are simply too many of them.

But the small personal stories should be told everywhere. Shared with everyone. Only then could we know whether or not moral outrage can grind a caring nation to a halt.

🦉
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🗣️ Communications

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