Meghan S.

Soapbox Project is officially a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit… just in time for the new year! We know 2025 will throw a lot our way, but luckily we have the (not-so-) secret sauce to make this a super impactful year with you. 💚 Soapbox Project builds joyful community spaces for climate action: through bite-sized Changeletters in your inbox, virtually during pandemic prime time, and now in-person. 🌻 We transform loneliness and climate anxiety into meaningful change. Social disconnection and distrust are at an all-time high. There can be no collective action without trust! 🧠 > 75% of young people report that climate anxiety is impacting our day-to-day functioning. More doomscrolling = less creative thinking. We need pro-social instead of anti-social coping mechanisms, ESPECIALLY in times when we can’t rely on public institutions to save us. 💸 Within 1 month of receiving our IRS letter for our 501(c)3 status, we’ve already received our first two grants! This is a great sign of our momentum, but we NEEEEED to increase our grassroots funding if we hope to sustain this work. 🌎 When you join me in supporting Soapbox Project through this fundraiser, you’ll help build an ENTIRE QUARTER of our programming. In 2024, we hosted 53 events, fed people 1,056 plant-based meals, and took THOUSANDS of climate actions from volunteering to advocacy. If you are a human living on Earth, you can be part of the solution. Our Soapbox community is so excited to welcome you! P.S. if you have a Donor-Advised Fund, work for a company that matches donations, or have ideas for specific individuals we should talk to, those are some things that can maximize our collective impact! Link: https://lnkd.in/g-sHYJmA If you're already done with your 2024 end-of-year giving, **please repost** to support us. Thanks so much!

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#Eval24 is 1 week away! Will you be there? In this month's newsletter we make it easy for you to see where the Social Finance TIG will be and when, and how to stay connected while you're at the conference. #AEASFTIG

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🌍 Tomorrow, I'll be speaking at the AI for Impact Summit on the panel “AI-Driven Social Impact: Perspectives from Nonprofits.” I'm excited to join thought leaders like Jared Chung from CareerVillage.org and Rami Abdou from ColorStack, with the session moderated by Anna Pickren from Fast Forward. Our panel will explore how nonprofits are using AI to advance their missions and drive real, lasting change. At the Audiopedia Foundation, we're dedicated to empowering marginalised women around the world by making essential knowledge accessible, regardless of literacy or connectivity barriers. Through AI-powered localisation - using machine translation (MT) and text-to-speech (TTS) - we are able to scale our content across multiple languages, including India's 22 official languages, thanks to our partnership with India's Bhashini programme. This approach allows us to deliver vital information on health, rights and livelihoods directly to the women who need it most. 🎙️ Join us as we discuss: ◼ Practical examples of AI in action for social impact ◼ Key challenges and breakthroughs in implementing AI for underserved communities ◼ The future potential of AI in the nonprofit sector If you're interested in how technology can bridge knowledge gaps and empower communities, I'd love to have you join the conversation. Let's explore the transformative potential of AI together! 📅 Date: November 13, 2024 🕚 Time: 11:30 AM - 12:10 PM PT #AIDrivenImpact #SocialImpact #Nonprofits #Audiopedia #GenderEquality #SDG5 #Localization #AI4Good

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When we think about funding gender equity, our minds often go to the relatively small group of funders dedicated to supporting causes for women and girls. However, this excellent piece by The Bridgespan Group highlights a broader perspective: grant funders should consider how gender inequity intersects with various issue areas, even those we might not traditionally associate with it. This insightful article is a powerful reminder that addressing gender equity isn’t limited to specific programs—it’s a lens that can be applied across all sectors. 📖 Read more here:

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As nonprofit organizations move swiftly into AI adoption, it's mission-critical that we proactively, systematically and continuously assess these tools with a broad array stakeholders - ESPECIALLY the intended audiences of the AI systems. It's truly an honor for Cherian Koshy's and my work on "Donor Perceptions of AI" to be featured in Fidelity Charitable®'s first #AIandPhilanthropy blog as we curated and analyzed survey results of over 1,000 US donors on their feelings and perceptions about nonprofits using AI for fundraising and operational purposes. There's certainly lots more to unpack and continue studying, but one thing we know for sure, is that if trust is the currency by which nonprofits operate, then taking proactive efforts to instill trust through appropriate AI disclosures is paramount. The best part is that you don't need to believe me or Cherian on this point… the data is abundantly clear. Hope you take a read below 👇 Special thanks to Jacob Pruitt, Ashley Thompson and the Fidelity Charitable® team for amplifying this important work!

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Excited to see the Women Moving Millions' inaugural report, Catalyzing Change: Powering the Movement through Community & Collaboration! As a female fundraising professional dedicated to advocating for funding women and girls, I am incredibly empowered by the impact of women's philanthropy highlighted in this report. It underscores the transformative power and significance of women's leadership in driving real change. Here are a few key insights that I found most compelling: ✨ In 2023, WMM members contributed an incredible $157M to organizations supporting women, girls, and gender-expansive people. ✨ 85% of their members have donated beyond their initial $1M commitment. ✨ 80% of members provide unrestricted or mixed funding, emphasizing the importance of flexible support and trust in the organizations they fund. ✨WMM aims to catalyze the next $1B by 2030. 👉 Explore the full report here: https://lnkd.in/e8tkU5kt #WomenMovingMillions #Philanthropy #CatalyzingChange #Community #Collaboration #CCSfundraising CCS Fundraising

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Next week we will be focusing on fundraising, joined by Michelle Shireen Muri, co-founder of Community Centric Fundraising in Seattle, and Olivia Andrews, fundraiser at WaterAid! Our first event looks at the 10 principles of Community Centric Fundraising. One of the principles that always strikes me is number two. 2. Individual organizational missions are not as important as the collective community. As a fundraiser one of the most important things I have had to unlearn is that hitting high income targets, and being the BEST fundraising team, will often come at the expense of your mission. Who remembers HUGE, power hoarding, racist organisations trying to get their hands on new racial justice funding pots after 2020? These award winning fundraising teams who repeatedly sweep up income that could transform the work of smaller Black/ POC led organisations. When did securing the bag, for the sake of endless organisational growth, become more important than justice? We have two events with Michelle next week! ⭐ Community. Centric. Fundraising. Now! - Monday, 14th October at 5pm ⭐ Building your community of donors - which will build on the learnings of the first session and help you put these principles into practice through community mapping. - Tuesday 15th October at 5pm Fundraisers who want to raise money in a different way - we will see you there! Links in comments 😘

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Good points. Trust does not mean being hands off. If anything because monitoring is always a source of lessons for others but also because trust should go both ways. Trust your grantees; but also grantees should trust their funders. There is an unhelpful narrative dominating the field that argues grantees always know better. Nobody always knows better. A funder, even one far away from the “field”, can be a great source of ideas, insights, skills, etc. They ought to; they ought to be more than a wallet. The problem lies in funders thinking they always know better and not letting their grantees be responsible for their choices.

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"Sector change won’t happen without leadership in systems change initiatives by bold and visionary work integration social enterprise intermediaries deeply invested in collaborative processes and building the capacity of the sector to collectively scale our impact.” These thoughts were shared with me by White Box Enterprises, during my recent research journey into the power of cross-sector collaboration to scale the impact of work integration social enterprises (WISEs). White Box Enterprises is well known as a builder of large-scale WISEs - like Australian Spatial Analytics and Beacon Laundry – to demonstrate their effectiveness at creating meaningful and inclusive employment for Australians who face complex barriers to work. Behind the scenes White Box Enterprises is also innovating to change the employment system to better support WISE. Their “payment by outcomes” trial is demonstrating not only the effectiveness of WISE but also the power of cross sector collaboration and aggregation in achieving scale and systems change. To learn about White Box Enterprises approach and lessons for philanthropy, social enterprise, government and business, check out our short case study - part of a series called “The WISE system builder’s series: Lessons from the quiet architects of more inclusive employment in Australia”. A huge thanks to Luke Terry Mark Daniels Nicolas Deloux and the team at White Box Enterprises – for inviting me to be part of your systems scaling work over the past 2.5 years for my PhD studies. Amy Blacker Judi Drown Amber O'Connell Anna Le Masurier Keith Rovers Amy Lyden Lisa Waldron Sarai Tuuga Jo Barraket AM Krzysztof Dembek Erin Wilson Emma Foster

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Despite the fact that collaborative funds are being talked about as the next big thing in philanthropy, there's still a lot we don't know about their value-add to philanthropy. Often the discussion centers on how they enhance the experience and impact of donors. This new piece from Jennifer Stout draws attention to the importance of examining the experiences of grantees who receive funding from collaborative funds, as compared to their experiences with "direct funders". For The Freedom Fund, our understanding of how grantee partners perceive us largely comes from continuously seeking feedback (more on that here: https://lnkd.in/eEa6u7F6). We also see a big part of our role as identifying and building relationships with groups who have tremendous potential for deep, sustainable impact but who more traditional funders might overlook. As Jen says, we need more research across the field to draw broader conclusions and make the case for why collaborative funds, when structured appropriately, can fill gaps and do things differently.

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Sounds like an amazing #vacancy to work on the intersection of systemic #riskassessment and #nature. I love their explicit wording: "ASRA is founded on a set of principles including non-human sanctity. Incorporating nature into #riskanalysis is not merely a matter of #environmental #stewardship or human self-preservation. #Naturecentric approaches attribute intrinsic value to all living organisms and ecosystems, independent of their utility to humans. This perspective recognizes the #interconnectedness of all life forms and the importance of preserving the integrity and health of other #species and #ecosystems for their own sake, and not just as a resource for humans. This approach involves evaluating the impacts of human activities on #biodiversity, #habitat #connectivity, and #ecological #processes."

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In 2022, we set out with a big ambition: to fix the broken philanthropic funding system. We created the #FixTheFlow Fellowship, a global movement, peer community and programme for fundraisers and funders that includes training, coaching, and systems-change projects. It’s a programme of education, transformation and personal growth and development. We’ve learned so much from working with each other, and across #fundraisers and #grantmakers, many key needs are the same: 1. We all know things aren’t working - it’s easy for funders and fundraisers to agree on the parts of the funding system that aren’t right.  2. We all want the same things - the visions of fundraisers and funders for how things should work are identical, we have so much more in common than we know.   3. We have more power than we realise - everyone feels stuck with the things that aren’t working, but together we’ve had a collective voice and supportive community that has enabled so many Fellows to create, demand or make a case for change. 4. We need time to imagine - it can feel impossible to dream up a better future when we’re so stuck in the current system, so we need Imagination Infrastructure to help us make it a reality.  5. We need permission to ask for what we want - the problems of the funding system are sometimes self-fulfilling prophecies because we don’t question them or ask for anything different, but our Fellows have had so many ‘easy wins’ by simply feeling able to ask for what they want.    Since #FixTheFlow launched, we have supported three cohorts of fellows through a Collective Design process to articulate a collective vision for the future of philanthropy. It’s inspiring, galvanising stuff. Read more here:

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Sharing this with my network as I know many of you are interested in Impact Investing.

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Through Her Eyes Our work centers on how women and girls occupy public spaces—spaces they are often pushed away from or, worse, never allowed to enter. But every space belongs to women, and women belong everywhere. Through Her Eyes is a journey of reclamation and visibility. Over #16days, we are collaborating with women from our community to capture the city through their eyes. - How does a pourakarmika woman see the public space she cleans each day?  - What does the city look like to a woman street vendor who stakes her claim daily on a small patch of land?  - How do young girls view the streets they navigate, sometimes hesitantly, sometimes boldly? Their stories, their perspectives, and their truths will come alive in these images. This collective visual storytelling culminates on December 10 at Town Hall, where these powerful images will be displayed. Together, we’ll see the city through their eyes. And in doing so, we’ll challenge ourselves to imagine and work for a world where women can occupy all spaces freely and without fear. Because all spaces belong to women, and women belong everywhere. Join us. See the city. Through her eyes.

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Do you have a Donor Advised Fund (DAF)? Across the country, there is an estimated $200 billion in DAFs waiting to be donated to worthy causes. Did you know you can also "invest" your DAF in some early-stage businesses that are recognized for doing good in the world? When the company has a successful liquidity event or exit, the proceeds are returned to your DAF. In the process, you grow both your philanthropy and a public benefitting corporation. A former Boston bank executive, for example, just used his DAF to invest $100,000 in my promising new mobile video game studio -- www.carboncounts.tech -- one that aims to plant millions of trees in the global south. If you're a DAF holder and want to learn more, click here and check it out. (Full disclosure: I co-founded this company, and both Rare and I are minority shareholders.)

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Looking to boost your fundraising efforts? Peer-to-peer (P2P) campaigns might be your game-changer! Having overseen initiatives that faced challenges from the start to those that succeeded, raising over $100k, I’ve learned key strategies to ensure success in P2P fundraising campaigns: 📌 Set a Clear Fundraising Goal: Define success. 📌 Establish an End Date: This will help create urgency.  📌 Develop User Guide: Share a step-by-step platform manual.  📌 Pre-Recruit Participants: Engage supporters before launching it. 📌 Provide Content: Supply mission/campaign materials for easy sharing. 📌 Encourage Goal Setting: Have participants set goals and check in often. 📌 Regular Updates:Inform everyone on progress at key campaign milestones. Have any additional tips to share? Add them to the comments below! #P2PFundraising #NonprofitFundraising 

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Hi buds! Now This Consulting has launched an exciting year-end fundraising fast-track service! The Year-End Fast-Track is a two-day deep dive into year-end fundraising planning that will set you up for a successful campaign start to finish. In 2 focused virtual or in-person, four-hour sessions (or 3 three-hour sessions if you’re in Give! Guide), we’ll work together to build a community-centered fundraising plan that fits your community and your organization’s unique needs. From setting practical goals to developing smart outreach strategies, ethical storytelling to data merging, we’ll cover it all. By the end, you’ll have a clear, realistic plan, customized to your capacity and values, ready to execute. This plan is ideal for organizations without a development department, organizations with just an ED, volunteer-run organizations, fundraising committees, and newer development folks who are managing their first year-end campaign. Even if you've done successful appeals before but your looking for ways to optimize process, develop deeper connections, infuse CCF values, or need to revamp some old strategies, this service is for you! 5 days left of the early-bird discount and only 5 spots available! Check it out here https://lnkd.in/gRU_a-yQ

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With the public notice from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, we are thrilled to share that Tech Impact’s Measurement and Evaluation team will serve as the independent evaluator of the new Family Hope Project pilot program funded through SIPPRA! (See more below!). We truly belive the power of this intervention in enabling families to secure permanent housing. Through this work we hope to highlight the value and use of effective study-desings rooted in both theory and practice. Designed as a quasi-experimental evaluation, we will partner with colleagues from New Castle County (DE) Government and Social Finance to longitudinally evidence the results of this social impact investment. #SocialImpact #Evaluation #Quasi #QuasiexperimentalDesign #Analytics #Evidence #Intervention #Theory #Practice #Collaboration #SocialWelfare #SocialInnovation #SocialImpactStrategy #Results #Outcomes #EffectiveProgramming

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Major and groundbreaking investment in the creative economy!! I’m at ease and empowered to keep this momentum rolling. Let’s go! Way to go Upstart Co-Lab, Skoll Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and all the funders splitting the deal 🏁 #impactinvesting #creativeeconomy #venturephilanthropy #missionrelatedinvestments

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