Current e-Journal

First, I want to apologize to our community outside the U.S. I know this note is more U.S. centric than we usually send. Our country is unravelling. I hope you will understand.

I confess I have no idea how circumstances will have changed from the moment I write this note and hit send, to the moment you receive it and read it. Things are happening that quickly.

The one constant, though, is that the nonprofit sector is under attack. We are being threatened with loss of funding, not just on U.S. soil, but funding for any U.S. funded efforts, all around the world. We are being threatened with the loss of tax exemption for those of us doing the work on the ground, and even pulling the tax exemption for the foundations that provide funding to us in the first place.

What has become more and more obvious to me is the reason for that attack: The nonprofit sector is a secret weapon, waiting to be activated.

We may think this is the end. Facing the possible loss of our tax exemption and huge chunks of our funding is an absolutely horrific situation, unthinkable in its effect for our communities.

And yet…

You know that moment in the movies, where the heroine, having nothing left to lose, finds strength she didn’t know she had? That moment when she rises up and defeats the enemy with her tenacity, her courage, her wits, and yes, her physical might?

That heroine is us. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Living in scarcity mode for so long, we have bought into the idea that we are weak and dependent. That without those key pieces like tax exemption and funding, we are nothing.

The reality is far from that. Scarcity has simply blinded us to our immense strength.

As nonprofits, here is what we know better than anyone:

• How to make plans and turn those plans into action.
• How to find alternative revenue sources.
• How to convene people with different backgrounds and opinions.
• How to motivate people to action.
• How to make our case to those in power, and to find allies when those in power ignore us.
• How to be creative - about revenue sources and everything else.

Now is our time. We are planners and connectors. We are program managers and volunteer coordinators.

We are alchemists, turning tiny scraps into community transformation.

During the LA fires, the following meme made the rounds over and over:

“We’re a city where a ton of production coordinators live. If you thought our disaster relief efforts were going to be subpar, I really don’t know what to tell you.”

That’s us, right now. We have everything we need to fight this. We have infrastructure. We have know-how. We have people.

This is what we mean by Collective Enoughness. Together we have everything we need. We have so many assets to build upon, assets that have been hiding in plain sight as we have been told, over and over, that our only survival is fighting for scraps.

That is simply incorrect. Our only survival is each other. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Is there hope that the worst case scenarios will be prevented? Yes, absolutely. There are organizations fighting this onslaught in the courts. We urge you to support them.

We're including a short list in the Resources section below. If you know of others, please send them along. We will be sharing those resources as this situation continues to evolve.

For now, though, find each other. No more competition. No more groveling at the feet of foundations who continue to act as if nothing has changed.

Gather your people. Gather with all the other organizations in your community and with all the people whose lives are touched by the work you all do. Bring together your municipal and state legislators, as this is affecting their work as well.

Make the plans. Turn those plans into immediate action.

Now is our time. Let’s show them what all those years of capacity building and trainings and workshops have given us.

And when you are thinking about what you will do to step in, know that we are here to support you in whatever ways we can.

With so much appreciation for the work you do every day,