Folly #24: Food for Thought

Relishing deeply personal philanthropy.

Last night we hosted a dinner gathering. We love to cook, and are blessed by wonderful friends, so that’s not really news. But we were intentional about making this one different.

We’ve observed that social conversations tend to focus on family, travel and shows. (Shoutout for Ted Lasso and The Diplomat!) I spend most of my day working with and thinking about nonprofits, and feel like I have so much to learn from others. To me, it seems like something is missing when people don’t share their community interests.

I’ve often had informal conversations with neighbors about things they’re doing and wondered … could we formalize that is some way, but still keep things fun?

3 Minutes to Share

And so began Food for Thought, an evening to eat, drink, learn and laugh. We invited friends (who didn’t all know each other), to try a crazy idea with us.

What’s a community issue that concerns you?

What solution would you propose?

Is there a local organization doing related work?

And since we have all heard rants, and unproductive (IMHO) blaming and shaming along party lines, we asked that this discussion be without political reference.

Individuals Drive Philanthropy

These conversations matter. Here’s why.

Shared with thanks to https://nonprofitquarterly.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Giving-USA-2020-Slides.pdf because Giving USA now charges $140 for a subscription to see their data that, incidentally, adds up to 101%. But you get the idea.

In the Follies, I share many examples of foundation grants and hoops nonprofits must jump through the get funding. My work to provide affordable fundraising to small nonprofits is called Communitygrantwriters.us because every nonprofit seems to want grants. But that’s not where the money is: 69% of all philanthropic dollars comes from individuals. From us.

What each of us cares about matters greatly. It adds up to $310 billion dollars.

Insights from Food for Thought

So here’s what came up last night…

Sharing your talents for the greater good. One guest, a potter, is uncomfortable selling her one-of-a-kind beautiful pottery, but felt glad to contribute it to centerpieces sold to benefit a local women’s group at her church.

Get involved in plans for growth in your community. If you don’t, outside developers will, and what you treasure may be gone forever. Alameda is a cautionary tale where housing and a brewery replaced dozens of unique marine-focused businesses that, unlike the new tenants, had to be waterfront. Familiarize yourself with your city’s Master and General Plans (and the county’s, if you live in an unincorporated area like we do), and join local group discussions – among neighbors and at the town council.

Teach us critical thinking skills. We receive information from so many sources. How do we learn what is reliable? Which are facts vs. opinions? The proposed solution was to make this part of school curriculum, so young people learn as they consume evolving media.

Teach financial literacy to impact poverty. It seems that few families discuss personal finance and young people – across the socio-economic spectrum – grow up knowing very little about budgeting, saving and investing, or loan and credit card interest. This is also a curriculum that can be integrated into age-appropriate K-12 learning. While 22 states now require a class for high school graduation (Louisiana and West Virginia’s programs kicked in this year), I couldn’t find whether California does.

Does recycling work? Not well, because so much isn’t recyclable. And we’re confused about what goes where. A single-stream model has shown a higher rate of efficiency in pilot communities. Re-use is always better.

Restored creeks are environmental education. A local “channelized” creek (meaning, turned into concrete drainage) may flow back under a freeway and across the school campus that was built over it, offering a connection for wildlife and children.

Worth doing? Yes!

Whether or not people had an “issue” to present, everyone chimed in with curiosity and reflection. We talked about levers for change and why some groups are invested in the status quo. It was abundantly clear that we can each take some kind of action, and the discussion provided some direction and, well, food for thought.

What’s next? I’d love to learn more about specific programs doing this work, so will follow up with my friends and have fodder for a future Follies. Would love to include your questions, suggestions, issues and ideas if you share them in the comments below.

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