Nonprofit Weekly News Wrap-up – September 30, 2017

by | Sep 30, 2017 | Weekly News Wrap-Up

Each week we’ll do our best to bring you a collection of links that highlight political news that impact nonprofits, helpful links for nonprofit professionals, and something positive to end your week.

Helpful Nonprofit Links

  • Laura Klavon from M+R lists four ways your writing can inspire readers to take action. The “Speak to identity” portion is signficant, especially for small and mid-sized organizations.
  • Carlo Cuesta from NPQ writes about nonprofit branding and the challenges of balancing complex and simple (one-dimensional) narratives.
  • The concept of free speech is debated on constantly and has made its way to the top of political discourse as of late. However, a widely held opinion by many courts is that free speech does not equate to absolute free speech. Speech (including actions and expressions) should be protected to a degree, but also restricted to some extent. For our nonprofit clients, we want you to consider how speech is moderated on your social media platforms (if it is even moderated at all). This is a great exercise to conduct internally as it allows you to consider the effectiveness of the message you are delivering. Are your followers commenting to your posts in a way that can limit or turn off participation by others? Do any of the posts come across as threatening towards the organization or even a particular staff person? If so, how can communications be adjusted or modified and what safety precautions can be taken in the future? This article from the American Bar Association addresses free speech on Facebook. While the article addresses a domestic violence case, nonprofits can draw from the lessons and opinions expressed in the article. If your organization is seeking assistance in assessing its communication strategies in the context of free speech, do not hesitate to reach out to Social Change Consulting.

Political News

  • The situation in Puerto Rico is devastating. This piece from the New York Times, written and reported by Frances Robles, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Richard Fausset and Ivelisse Rivera, shows snapshots of life from around the island as people try to manage in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Many organizations trying to help support Puerto Ricans. Jennifer Hijazi from the PBS News Hours created a list of ways that you can help.
  • Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post features an ongoing issue for UC Berkeley in its attempts to accommodate the differing views and opinions of its student body in regards to hate speech and free speech. Organizations can often run into a similar problem. While your clients, supporters, or funders can unite around one particular cause in your organization, they may sometimes hold different outlooks as to other matters. When this occurs, organizations often have to work closely with their communications department to construct and deliver the right message and tone to maintain its following. It is no easy feat to deliver an ideology that pleases everyone, but experience has taught us that it is crucial to sometimes speak to the masses.
  • Heather Long of the Washington Post discusses how inequality takes hold by the age of the 3. There are several political and nonprofit impacts that this article highlights.

The inequality that begins before kindergarten lasts a lifetime. Children who don’t get formal schooling until kindergarten start off a year behind in math and verbal skills and they never catch up, according to the authors, who cite a growing body of research that’s been following children since the 1940s. In fact, the gap between rich and poor kids’ math and reading skills has been growing since the 1970s. The “left behind” kids are also more likely to end up in lower-paying jobs.

A number of organizations are working to ensure that all families can get access to affordable and quality childcare. Nationally, Child Care Aware is a network of more than 700 child care resource and referral centers located in every state. Their centers find, provide, and plan for affordable, quality childcare. Zero to Three’s mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. In the Bay Area, Kidango operates 50+ child care centers that include early intervention and early childhood behavioral health specialists that work with children and they provide nearly 6,000 delicious, healthy meals every day.

  • Rebecca Adams of RollCall reports on Congress’ failure to extend a popular insurance program leaves millions of children at risk of losing health care.
  • Before HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned due to outlandish travel spending being exposed, his department ended critical grants that find scientifically valid ways to help teenagers make healthy decisions that avoid unwanted pregnancies. While this article from Jane Key of Reveal was published in July, it provides details on this devastating budget cuts that have been made in the HHS department

Something Positive

  • This GIF made us happy!