The Ethical Rainmaker

“I don't think we talk enough about how money is a tool for and against the movement…” In this juicy conversation about money, Michelle talks with the very quotable Phillip Chavira, about why Capitalism is trash, where white supremacy shows up, why we need to talk openly about racism and where we have power to make decisions that center our communities and our values. You are going to love this conversation!

In this episode, Michelle talks with Phillip Chavira, an award-winning non-profit leader based in the Bay Area of Northern California where he currently is a finance director of Point Reyes National Seashore Association in beautiful West Marin County.

This highly quotable, lifelong advocate for all the things we love, Phillip Chavira can be followed on Instagram @phillipchavira Connect with Phillip on Instagram @phillipchavira and LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/phillipchavira

Phillip can be heard on TheUpNUp where he shares his journey to becoming the first person of color to be an Executive Director for the ’Intiman Theatre’(@intimantheatre). From witnessing the inequalities within the arts early on in life to working his way up to co-producing the Tony Award nominated Broadway play ‘Eclipsed’. Check out “Keep c o l o r on stage”

Learn more about Point Reyes National Seashore Association’s work with the National Park Service and working with local Bay Area nonprofit organizations focused on community building and mentorship primarily in Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income communities. https://ptreyes.org/youth-in-parks/

References:

• Phillip mentions Vu Le and his blog Nonprofitaf.com as a useful resource and recommends using consultants to help navigate difficult conversations within staff, (including Michelle!)
• Here is a list Phillip created, of things an organization can do to start their journey
• Michelle lists Beneficial State Bank and Amalgamated Bank as two socially responsible banks with social justice related missions…
• Check out The Ethical Rainmaker interview with Heather Infantry, as an example of a badass advocate talking with community foundations about their payouts and inequity
• Phillip mentions The Pride Foundation in Seattle as an example of spending down reserves and becoming share holders of local organizations (around minute 24)
• Spend-down organization aka Sunsetting = When a foundation decides to spend out or spend down all of its assets and close its doors. There is usually a date associated with this term. (see The Chorus Foundation and their plans to sunset)
• POSE is the show Phillip talks about 
• Phillip mentions Vu Le and his blog Nonprofitaf.com as a useful resource and recommends using 
• We talk about Northwest Immigrant Rights Project as an example of an organization that can never close its doors due to systemic injustice, while other nonprofits can

Stats Dropped:

• 60% of wealth in the US is passed on generationally, mentions Phillip
• between 1983 and 2013, White households saw their wealth increase by 14%, and during that exact same time, Black households’ wealth declined 75%, and then Hispanic households from a median perspective, that wealth declined by half.
• In 2000, the Federal Reserve stopped collecting information on reservations with indigenous houses!
• “One of the scary things I think about with this racial wealth inequality is that if it remains unresolved, if we keep going at this pace, this trend is going to lead to the median household wealth for Black folks in the year 2053 to be zero. We could potentially see that. Then in 2073, it's projected that LatinX households will be at zero for median household wealth. This comes from the Institute for Policy Studies that utilizes the information from the Federal Reserve.”
• 86% of billionaires since the pandemic are now $5.1 trillion dollars richer while 76 million people lost their jobs.

Phillip Recommends These Resources on Race and Money

• The Racial Wealth Gap from The Balance
• The Native Wealth Gap by The National Indian Council on Aging, Inc.
• Bernie Sanders’ Twitter

Brilliant Quotes:

• “Capitalism is just trash. The way that it has evolved over time and how just had it disproportionately affected people a lot by race, it infuriates me and it torments me as I study capitalism. You mentioned the education, and I like that you put that footnote in there...I want to take that and put that on my business card because centering around dollars, I feel that when a human does that, they can exploit others at a cost.
   
• There's always a cost you gain in that dollar. That dollar was received from your family and it was passed on and how did your family ethically received those dollars, how are organizations making high profits off the backs of Black and Brown people around this world.”
   
• “I think that what drives me crazy about the fact that we hide from our finances, I do this in our family, I see it in our family, I see it in organizations, I've had executives tell me, "Well, I don't really look at the spreadsheets, I'm told the numbers," and as somebody who looks at the numbers every day, I'm like, "There's so much room for change."
   
• “...people said make as much money as you possibly can, pay as little as you can, get as much money as the consumers are willing to pay, and it just was driven into a generation where they think that money equates love, money equates success, money equates fame. That's one of the biggest lies that I feel has been applied through entertainment, it has been applied through social media. There's documentaries about how social media has affected us, so this belief that money is going to save the day, is a fallacy. I think that this divide that is going to continue to happen is terrifying and we have to do something about it.”

Welcome to Season 3 of The Ethical Rainmaker a podcast that explores the world of inequity in nonprofits and philanthropy including where we should step into our power or step out of the way! It is part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost information, case studies and inspiration, to everyone in the third sector, and especially those who know or are learning that we’ve been complicit in upholding some problematic practices, and maybe some dishonestly but want to do better on this journey. If you like what you are listening to and want to support this work, find us here on Patreon  or email us at [email protected] to talk about sponsorship!

In this episode, Michelle talks with Liz LeClair a fundraiser and vocal advocate for human rights gender equality and social justice. We love Liz , who hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and we’re happy to have so many links/citations for you (and you can sign up for our mailing list here):

You can follow Liz LeClair on these platforms:

• Twitter: @liz_hallett
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-leclair-cfre/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.hallett
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz_leclair_hfx/
• Liz is a contributing editor to The Charity Report
• Liz has been writing spicy articles and pushing for justice for years now tho...here are some greats that awaken our sector to some of the injustices we perpetuate:
  • Liz LeClair: ‘This is the apology we deserve’ (The Charity Report)
  • One woman’s frustrating, futile fight for justice after being sexually harassed. (CBC)
  • Liz LeClair: We cannot walk away from so-called ‘culture wars’ (Third Sector UK)
  • Donors’ Behavior Key to #MeToo in Fundraising (TinySpark podcast from NonProfit Quarterly)
• The National Day of Conversation #NDOC is a full-day of digital conversation focused on the issue of sexual harassment and assault of fundraisers in the charitable and nonprofit sector. Liz co-founded this effort in Fall 2019 Liz to highlight the issue of sexualized violence in fundraising.
• Liz is the chair of the AFP Women's Impact Initiative, sits on the board of CFRE International (which is a certification for fundraisers,) and she sits on the board of the African American Development Officers network, as a white woman!

References and People: 

• The Bysander Effect: is the theory that folx are less likely to offer help to a victim if there are other people around (someone else must be taking care of it.)
• Mallory Mitchell is Resource Mobilization Director at Black Visions and an overall badass currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota (US.) Here is our InstaLive
• Hadiya Roderique - Black on Bay Street: the woman who inspired Liz to speak up through her plenary at AFP Toronto Congress in 2019.
• Ann Rosenfield was the lead for Congress that year.  She is an outspoken advocate and ally, and the editor of Hilborn News.
• Collecting Courage: A book written by Black Fundraisers in Canada, about the joy, love, pain and freedom in this work - archiving and building the narratives of Black folx in this sector. Published in 2020 and edited by Nneka Allen (guest on S2:E2), Camila Vital Nunes Pereira and Nicole Salmon)
• Gail Picco has written extensively around issues of equity, race, gender, and philanthropy, and worked closely with the authors of Collecting Courage to bring that book to reality.  I highly recommend following her.
• Shanaaz Gokool is the former CEO of Dying with Dignity Canada, the current CEO of Fast and Female, and an incredible human rights activist in Canada. Liz referenced her calling her “in” to talk about a more intersectional approach to the work she was doing around the National Day of Conversation.
• Liz wants you to know about The Charity Report and the great work of Gail Picco & team they can check out the website: https://www.thecharityreport.com/
• Fleur Larsen: A white woman facilitator of DEI convos of whom Liz (and Michelle) are both admirers! Fleur was featured in The Ethical Rainmaker’s most popular episode White Women As Gatekeepers. Learn about her workshops.
• Tanya Rumble and Nicole McVan are the two people I spoke about who are doing some great work around a Philanthropy & Equity Community of Practice.  Check out their work.
   

A Note from Liz about Sexual Harassment and Sexualized Violence in the Charitable Sector: We are still working on what the National Day of Conversation will look like in 2022.  We are looking at a more intersectional approach, but if you have Canadian listeners (or really anyone who is interested) this is still a good repository of information:

• https://www.dayofconversation.org/
• Drs. Erynn Beaton and Megan LePere-Schloop of Ohio State University, conducted research on the fundraising workplace climate and you can learn more here.

Liz’s Recommended Reading List (from Liz):

• I have been fortunate to have many people recommend books to further my understanding of trauma and healing.  I am so grateful to amazing women like Birgit Burton and Nneka Allen for sharing their wisdom with me on these subjects.  As I said, I have learned the most from the women of colour who are willing to call me in, and call me out, when they need to.
• Collecting Courage: Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love is a collection of stories documenting racism and survival by 14 accomplished Black fundraisers working in charities across North America.  With searing and intimate detail, they write about their experiences with anti-Black racism—about coping with being last hired, first fired, overlooked for promotion to outright hostility in toxic workplaces. Their testimony chips away at the idea of the inherent goodness of the charitable sector.
• My Grandmother's Hands: Resmaa Menakem:  a book about human bodies and how trauma affects us.  Menakem's focus is on racialized trauma and the pathways to healing our minds and our hearts.
• Bad Feminist:  Roxane Gay:  if you have not read this book yet please do yourself a favour and go buy it.  Roxane Gay is the voice of reason in a sea of insanity most days.
• Had it Coming:  What's Fair in the Age of #MeToo?:  Robyn Doolittle.  Robyn is a well known and respected journalist here in Canada, akin to Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of the NY times.  She has done, and continues to do extensive research into sexual harassment, sexualized violence, and gender discrimination here in Canada.  I highly recommend checking out her work.
• The Skin We're In: A year of black resistance and power:  Desmond Cole - Desmond is an Black journalist who came into the spotlight when he started to write about his personal experiences with police carding, racial discrimination, and dismantling of systemic racism in Canada.  He's brilliant and everything he writes advances our knowledge of these issues.
• A book I am waiting for but cannot wait to read is… Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke.

PLEASE listen to Part 1, which is S1:E7 which also has really great content! Part 2 is a continuation and includes great citations…here are some links...(and sign up for our mailing list for future updates):

• Michelle talks with Christina Shimizu one of the co-founders of community centric fundraising
• Chrissy work includes Seattle-based organizations like the Wing Luke Museum, Asian Pacific Americans for Civic Empowerment Votes, Chinatown International District Coalition, and she's been working with the Decriminalize Seattle Movement, the Afro-Socialist Defund Seattle Police Campaign. And she's now housed at Puget Sound Sage. 

References: 

• As we talk about inspiration, Chrissy mentions her own influences and specifically names The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, Justice Funders, the now closed Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, Social Justice Fund, Mijo Lee, Simone and her partner Dae Shik Kim Jr (Sr. Producer @vice/@vicenews on Twitter at @daeshikjr) 
  
   
• She states that the modality we exist within is white-dominant, colonial and neoliberal (we define neoliberalism in Part 1) 
  
   
• We dove right into Andrew Carnegie and his essay The Gospel of Wealth
  Since you are reading the show notes I’ll pull out the quote she uses:

"But whether the law be benign or not, we must say of it, as we say of the change in the conditions of men to which we have referred: It is here; we cannot evade it; no substitutes for it have been found; and while the law may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome therefore, as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial and commercial in the hands of a few, and the law of competition between these as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race."

Okay and here is the old school definition for philanthropy in the same context:

"It is a law, as certain as any of the others named, that men possessed of this peculiar talent for affair, under the free play of economic forces, must, of necessity, soon be in receipt of more revenue than can be judiciously expended upon themselves; and this law is as beneficial for the race as the others."

• She talks about the rise in power of organized labor and mutual aid networks (1870s/1880s) and cites the Haymarket bombing (also called “affair” or “riot”)during the fight for the 10 hour workday
  
   
• Fair Labor Standards Act of (she was right) 1938
  
   
• Berkeley students help us wrap our monkey brains around the concept of a Billion
  
   
• Consider: Philanthropy and nonprofits as: a political system, an economic system, a culturally informed system.
  
   
• We discuss Amazon’s policy to penalize workers if they don’t work fast enough, and connect it to TER’s recent episode feat. Teddy Schleifer and how MacKenzie Scott (was Bezos) can’t give money away fast enough because of her investments (in Amazon and these extractive practices for ex) 
  
   
• Donor Advised Funds. One day I’ll write an article about it but we discuss it here and in S2:E6 with Teddy Schleifer. Very important to learn about if you dunno…
  
   
• Heather Infantry, and the TER episode Disrupting Your Community Foundation was named. She’s a badass and we are so appreciative of her work!
  
   
• "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable, but then so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words." - Ursula LeGuin
  
   
• Consider: Within our work, who are we investing in? “...when we dig into the actual complexities our communities, our networks will fall apart unless we trust and have genuine relationships with each other outside of work. So, are we investing in that?”
  
   
• Things get heavy here, as we talk about the murder of Seattle resident Charleena Lyles, who was murdered, while pregnant, with three of her children home, by police. What is not covered in reports is the relationship to the nonprofit housing she was living in. 

References from the Q&A:

• Just Transition
• Alaska Native Movement
• Edgar Villanueva and the Decolonizing Wealth Movement

Need to know:

NOTE: So we’re learning that this podcast is becoming part of university curriculum across the US and Canada! If you happen to be studying this episode, and want to either tell us about it (plz) or add more links related to this episode...email us! [email protected] because if you are doing the research anyway… ;)

We are self-funded. So. If you’d like to inspire this beautiful series through your financial contribution - we’ll take it on Patreon! 

Subscribe to this podcast to get the best of what we have to offer. I promise there are more incredible episodes on their way - every other Wednesday.

The Ethical Rainmaker is produced in Seattle, Washington by Isaac Kaplan-Woolner and Kasmira Hall, with socials by Rachelle Pierce. Michelle Shireen Muri is the executive producer and this pod is sponsored by 

Freedom Conspiracy

.

References

Kishshana Palmer is a motivating and inspiring figure in nonprofit leadership speaking globally about topics like recruiting and retaining diverse talent, diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, leadership, managing high-performance teams and wellness. 

• She's got a consultancy called Kishshana & Co. 
• She's the founder of The Rooted Collaborative 
• Her new podcast, Let's Take This Offline is great! Assimilation is out, Authenticity is in, and that’s what you get from the stories shared…

Here are links to references:

• Michelle mentioned episodes of Let's Take This Offline  featuring  
• Michelle mentioned episodes of The Ethical Rainmaker that feature Teddy Schleifer re: Billionaires, and Anna Rebecca Lopez and Vu Le re: Decolonizing Data. 
• The Rooted Collaborative holds The Rooted Retreat in July each year...women of color can join now…

Need to know:

NOTE: So we’re learning that this podcast is becoming part of university curriculum across the US and Canada! If you happen to be studying this episode, and want to add more links related to this episode...email us! [email protected] because if you are doing the research anyway… ;)

We are self-funded. So. If you’d like to inspire this beautiful series through your financial contribution - we’ll take it on Patreon! 

Subscribe to this podcast to get the best of what we have to offer.I promise there are more incredible episodes on their way - every other Wednesday.

The Ethical Rainmaker is produced in Seattle, Washington by Isaac Kaplan-Woolner and Kasmira Hall, with socials by Rachelle Pierce. Michelle Shireen Muri is the executive producer and this pod is sponsored by Freedom Conspiracy. 

Dr. David Ragland is an inspirational figure and activist in the new reparations and reconciliation movements…and there is so much GOLD in this episode and so many references...it will take longer than I have capacity for to document it all for this episode. That’s the beauty we get when talking with professional educators. Here are major themes:

Dr. David Ragland...

• Is co-founder of The Truth Telling Project
• Director of the Grassroots Reparations Campaign
• Is recognized for his research on advocacy through Georgetown U’s Advocacy Labs
• Inducted into the Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College
• Senior Bayard Rustin Fellow at the Fellowship for Reconciliation
• a board member for the Peace and Justice Studies Association
• ...and he talks about how the Ferguson uprising is central to his story. 

Check out these SIX articles he’s written for YES! Magazine:

• Part 1: Reparations Are A Peace Treaty
• Part 2: With Reparations, We Must Demand Repair - and Heal Ourselves
• Part 3: On Reparations, Let Impacted Communities Lead the Way
• Part 4: Beyond Compensation for Reparations
• Part 5: A Culture Shift Can Only Happen With Reparations and Truth Telling
• Part 6: He mentions that he hasn’t written yet! But we also found a much earlier article from 2017 - In Truth and Reconciliation, First Things First - The Truth

These are the five areas outlined by the UN for reparation:

1. Compensation
2. Restitution
3. Satisfaction
4. Guarantees of Non-Repeat
5. Healing

Need to know:

HR 40: HR 40 is proposed legislation - the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. The legislation, which was first introduced nearly 30 years ago, establishes a commission to examine slavery and discrimination in the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies. It refers to the broken promise of 40 acres and a mule, to freed slaves, by General Sherman, in 1865. In the US there has never been significant truth and reconciliation actions taken for enslavement or for native american genocide, as there have been in other countries like South Africa has, for apartheid.

The newly elected Congresswoman Corey Bush (Missouri) and Dr. Ragland co-founded the Truth Telling Project with her after meeting during the Ferguson protests.

Resmaa Menakem is mentioned and of course we love his body of work including his book “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies” which Fleur Larsen mentioned in Season 1. You can check out his interview with Krista Tippet too.

Dr. Ragland talks about our mutual friendEdgar Villanueva and the Decolonizing Wealth Project as well as Liberated Capital, a reparations giving circle...

Reparations is the repair of moral and material harm.

The Truth Telling Project: A truth process or healing, created as a response to police violence.

In this episode we say the names of these remembered folx who have been murdered by police and those whose names are not said, will not be forgotten. I’ve tried to link to pieces that share a bit about who they were...

• Tamir Rice, objects of care
• Mike Brown, rebuilt memorial
• Kajieme Powell, anniversary march
• Ma’Khia Bryant, vigil
• George Floyd, sacred space
• Sandra Bland, memorial

And this is my favorite quote, because we, societally, never talk about what was stolen...and often we refer to it as bringing “civilization” right? 
DR: "I'm kidnapping you Kuta Kente. Now, your name is Toby. Your religion is Christianity. And you can't play drum no more. You can't cook the food you ate no more. Your kids are going to be slaves, and their kids are going to be slaves.”

MM: “And they will learn nothing of your culture previously because it will be outlawed for you to practice it.”

NOTE: So we’re learning that this podcast is becoming part of university curriculum across the US and Canada! If you happen to be studying this episode, and want to add more links related to this episode...email us! [email protected] because if you are doing the research anyway… ;)

We are self-funded. So. If you’d like to inspire this beautiful series through your financial contribution - we’ll take it on Patreon! 

Subscribe to this podcast to get the best of what we have to offer.I promise there are more incredible episodes on their way - every other Wednesday.

The Ethical Rainmaker is produced in Seattle, Washington by Kasmira Hall, and Isaac Kaplan-Woolner, and socials by Rachelle Pierce. Michelle Shireen Muri is the executive producer and this pod is sponsored by Freedom Conspiracy. 

Teddy Schleifer is a journalist for Vox’s recode, covering what billionaires in the Silicon Valley are doing with their money. 

• Teddy works for Vox as a journalist and hosts the podcast Recode Daily
• He’s active on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer
• He says his reason for covering billionaires = 
  “just as reporters cover poverty in America, reporters must also cover and uncover wealth in America - offering the scrutiny that informs essential debates about income inequality, money in politics, and the role of private philanthropy. If we don’t have a common set of facts about how the wealthiest people in society spend their money or live their lives, then we are just shooting in the dark - arguing based on press releases, unfounded suspicions and our set-in-stone prior beliefs.”
• Teddy would love to hear from you with hot tips about badly behaved foundations or billionaires! Or anything else alarming in philanthropy. Hit him up.

References:

• During the pandemic, the number of billionaires spiked by 30%. Around the time of this podcast recording in Spring 2021, there is a record high of 2,755 billionaires. 86% of those billionaires are richer than they were a year ago. 
• We discussed the relative wealth of MacKenzie Scott who has given $5.8B (the single largest gift in the history of the US), but still gained in wealth in 2020.
• DAFs: As Teddy explains, a Donor Advised Fund, essentially serves as a place to set money aside for charity, “and the money then goes to charity later. It could be much later.” (it could also be never and keep power in the hands of family members.) There is over $140B sitting in Donor Advised Funds in the US. 
• Of the billionaires he covers, he recently spoke with who was relatively surprised to see how he could influence the presidential election with his donations
• This is where Silicon Valley is.
• Larry Page, is listed as one of the billionaires ($80-$100B Net Worth in a given day) that places the minimum 5% payout from his foundation, into a DAF, literally with no benefit to society at this time. He’s the worst case scenario. He’s a cofounder of Google.
• Teddy warns us that we have very little information about what billionaires are doing with their money, and that this lack of information is getting even worse!
• Effective Altruist Movement
• Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook “...is probably the most prominent billionaire philanthropist in effective altruism, and he's in his thirties, but he has a clear point of view on what he wants to do with the money and is working on it.”
• Here is the interview with young Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried who talks about influencing the Biden election
• Stephanie Ellis-Smith of Philanthropy NW/The Giving Practice in Seattle, was listed as a philanthropy consultant who talks about “analysis paralysis”
• Jack Dorsey has a new charitable effort called Start Small, which is taking a lot of criticism because of its gifts to other celebrities.
• What Americans Really Think About Billionaires During The Pandemic is the Data for Progress poll Teddy mentions

We are self-funded. So. If you’d like to inspire this beautiful series through your financial contribution - we’ll take it on Patreon! 

Subscribe to this podcast to get the best of what we have to offer.I promise there are more incredible episodes on their way - every other Wednesday.

The Ethical Rainmaker is produced in Seattle, Washington by Kasmira Hall, and Isaac Kaplan-Woolner, and socials by Rachelle Pierce. Michelle Shireen Muri is the executive producer and this pod is sponsored by Freedom Conspiracy. 

While many awful DEI practices exist, Fleur has built a reputation of accountability and truly showing up. She mentions many great assets in this episode, which we've linked to below. Check out her upcoming workshops here.

• Michelle talks with Fleur Larsen, a facilitator and DEI consultant with a great rep
• Fleur’s next workshop is Power With Not Power Over for white women, starting May 2020
• She is one of the founders of Skate Like a Girl (est. 2000) and comes from the therapy, education and nonprofit spaces

References:

• WOAH she does 60% of the work for 40% of the pay when she works with BIPOC folx. Did you hear that? Just wanted to point it out.
• adrienne marie brown and Emergent Strategy - learn more about emergent strategy!
• We mentioned Lola’s Ink, a new podcast by Jenna Hanchard which also features a great story from Jenna and guest Jodi-Ann Burey => In A World Full of Karens Be An Elizabeth...check it out!
• Fleur talked about The Crown Act, created in 2019 to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles by extending statutory protection to hair texture and styles like braids, locs, twists, and knots in the workplace and public schools. Yes, this is still happening.
• Fleur mentions Resmaa Menakem, therapist and author of books like My Grandmother’s Hands
• The Power of a Fundraiser: is an article I wrote, that was referenced...
• Fleur gives props to Aparna Rae, Ligaya Domingo, Jodi-Ann Bury, Regent Brown, Tami Farber and Michelle Gislason
• Gratitude to Falon Sierra  for letting us use her new song “Sprained Ankles" throughout this episode - its so good right?

Are these episodes helpful? Do you feel inspired, touched or moved? If so, consider inspiring our team with your financial contribution at Patreon! And as always, write us any time at [email protected] or visit us at theethicalrainmaker.com.

Akilah Richards shares several great resources that we’ve listed below...here are links for content and references mentioned in the show:

• Michelle talks with Akilah Richards of Raising Free People and the Fare of the Free Child podcast, based in Lawrenceville, Georgia...part of the self-directed education movement!
• Akilah is the author of ten books including her most recent,Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work
•  ...and she hosts the Fare of the Free Child 
• If you become a fan and want to support her work, check out this fresh link and her Patreon.

References then Definitions: 

• Unschooling: “... a child-trusting, anti-oppression, liberatory, love-centered approach to parenting and care giving. It also is about creating and expanding communities of confident, capable people who understand how they learn best and how to work collaboratively to learn and solve things. Because it really is, before you talk about learning, it's about trust, it's about looking at what liberation means intergenerationally, which includes learning, but not only that. And it's about love. What does it mean if love is not just about my intention, but about something that's actually surrounded by this ecology of accountability where I'm actually listening to the people who I'm loving on and what they're saying and what they need, and then my love in action is shaped by that. All of those things are really what I understand unschooling to be.”
   
• Deschooling: ”.....shedding the programming and habits that resulted from other people's agency over your time, body, thoughts or actions. It's also ... Yes. It's also about designing and practicing beliefs that align with your desire to thrive, be happy and succeed. And those are the opposite of what has happened and continues to happen, because it's happening still, colonization.”
   
• Student hood vs Personhood: “Much of what we do is to think about what would it mean if I wasn't thinking about my child just from the perspective of student?.....So, when you start to do that work on your own self, in part by not focusing so much on your child's studenthood, then you start to make the connection between the actual human, the child human, and some of the things that they're advocating for or the things they're pushing back against. You just start to really humanize your relationship intergenerationally in a way that makes it so that you can partner with a young person around their learning journey, which may or may not include school. It still might include it, but it brings in other things that are usually not a part of school, like consent and agency, confident autonomy, the nuances of what it means to collaborate in an environment that tells you that if you help somebody, you're going to get in trouble and they're going to get in trouble. Which is the most anti-humane thing ever.”
  “And what we're talking about now is moving away from young people needing to perform studenthood and their right to be violated as humans, and instead looking at a way that integrates the same stuff we talk about as adults when we're in our 30s and 40s and 50s trying to get to who am I? What are my boundaries? How do I show up in the world in a way that is both affirming for me and welcoming for the sort of energies that I want to be part of? What happens when I'm super uncomfortable with someone or I don't understand or don't like, yet we have a common goal that we need to work through? These are real life situations that we do not get practice with in school.”
   
• Schoolishness: “The ways that we together are so colonized. We want a leader, we want somebody needs to be right, one person's talking, the other people are listening. We do a lot of inhumane things that have become so normalized. And they didn't just appear in adulthood, they didn't just happen when you got that job with that one person. These are things that happen throughout our schooled lives. I call these things schoolishness. Not because they are rooted in school, but oftentimes school is where they are perpetuated.”
   
• Ecology of accountability:  “...we find that in the self-directed spaces that's often one of the things that's missing. It's like your intentions are there and then you have some resources and you see a need the way that you define it, so you go do something. Okay, but you need to be involved. So, we talked about this a little bit at the top of our conversation. Whoever it is that you feel like you want to impact, how can you get into community with them? Right now. How can you get in community with them?” 
   
• Here is Akilah Richards’ Ted Talk
• Lane Santa Cruz https://www.tucward1.com/about
• Developing the Disrupters Ears https://www.rfpunschool.com/p/learningtolisten
• Crystal Bird farmer https://crystalbyrdfarmer.com/   
• Free joy experience https://www.thefreejoyexperience.com/
• Mighty Networks https://my-reflection-matters.mn.co/  
• Chemay Morales James https://www.linkedin.com/in/chemay-morales-james-5707764a/
• Thea Monyee https://www.theamonyee.com/
• Shawna Murray-Brown https://www.shawnamurraybrowne.com/
• Gratitude to Trick Candles for our theme song, called “I’m Gold"

The thing about this podcast is that it is self-funded! So if you love it, consider joining us on Patreon, and passing along to your friends and colleagues. Of course, it is super helpful to us too, when you subscribe on your fav pod player, and rate us! Write us any time at [email protected] or visit us at theethicalrainmaker.com

Sarah Durham shares several great resources that we’ve listed below...here are links for content and references mentioned in the show:

• Michelle talks with Sarah Durham founder of Big Duck, a Brooklyn, New York-based nonprofit communications firm. 
   
• Sarah is the author of The Nonprofit Communications Engine: A Leader’s Guide to Managing Mission-Driven Marketing and Communications and Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money through Smart Communications, and she hosts The Smart Communications Podcast

References then Definitions: 

• Communications: Sarah says, “...in a nonprofit, communications is the practice of creating and sustaining mind share and engagement that advances the mission...communications is not always just about how you communicate with people who are outside of your organization, it can even be about internal communications, how you communicate inside your organization”
   
• Brand: Sarah says, ”...the best way to understand branding in a nonprofit context is to think of your organization's brand as your organization's voice. And again, your brand is a part of your communications. It's one of three outcomes that a successful communications program can drive. So how does your organization write and design and speak about itself? How do you explain the whole story that is your organization not just a particular program?”
   
• Marketing: Sarah says, “marketing is actually a slice of communications, but communications isn't even bigger tent than marketing. Marketing is usually about getting a pretty particular group of people to take an action, oftentimes like become a member or come to an event or sign up for something.”
   
• Great advice to leaders of nonprofits: “...a lot of people who are responsible for directing communications in nonprofits, like an executive director, for instance, or a leadership team, don't have any formal background in marketing or communications. And they probably don't have a budget to hire somebody with deep expertise in marketing and communications... I wrote this book is to encourage an organization and the leader of the organization or leaders to think about what the outcomes you want to achieve are, what communications can actually achieve for your organization or how it can help advance your mission.”
   
• About throwing volunteers at communications: “...the organizations I've seen use volunteers really well are organizations where there's somebody within the organization who is able to be really clear about the goal of communicating and make sure they've got the right volunteers with the right skill sets and the right expertise who are working in a coordinated way, not just in an ad hoc, choose your own adventure way.”
   
• Check out this ebook Sarah mentions - available free! 
   
• Hannah Thomas of Big Duck wrote this article that touches on the scarcity!
   
• Check out Big Duck’s Insights page for so MANY resources that will help you and your nonprofit, navigate some of the transformational moments!
   
• Gratitude to Trick Candles for our theme song, called “I’m Gold"

The thing about this podcast is that it is self-funded! So if you love it, consider joining us on Patreon, and passing along to your friends and colleagues. Of course, it is super helpful to us too, when you subscribe on your fav pod player, and rate us! Write us any time at [email protected] or visit us at theethicalrainmaker.com