Center for Nonprofits & Philanthropy

The 2025 Texas Nonprofit Summit kicks off next week! In addition to a stellar lineup of educational and inspirational sessions, we are pleased to welcome these exhibitors offering valuable services and resources that help strengthen and level up your nonprofit. Come connect with these incredible organizations in person and check out what they have to offer! Tickets on sale now ??? texasnonprofitsummit.org ??Ascend Nonprofit & Business Solutions ??Bookminders ??Center for Nonprofits & Philanthropy ??Colton Strawser Consulting ??Fortafy ??Forvis Mazars US ??Happithy Marketing ??Moss Adams ??Sutton Frost Cary LLP ??TriNet ??RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service ??UFCU ??University of Houston-Downtown ??Urgensee, Inc.

Recent developments around the OMB's memorandum to freeze federal grants and loans has put the nonprofit sector in the spotlight. But just how many nonprofits receive government grants? Cathleen Clerkin, PhD, Anna Koob, and David Wolcheck from Candid's research team dig into the data and share what we know about the role government grants play in the nonprofit sector. Explore the insights: https://lnkd.in/ep6qYUyt

In one of my recent posts, I posed a couple of respectful requests for the new Administration regarding potential/forthcoming RIFs in the national security community. Now I have a request for all of us. I start again by acknowledging that citizens of good faith can hold differing views on the size of the federal government and measures needed (or not) to reduce spending. However, there’s one other point on which I think--or at least hope--that we can all fundamentally agree. Layoffs suck. Period. In addition to being devastating for the affected individual, forcing them to question much about their professional contributions and future, these actions can also deeply affect family members. I can speak to this personally. After working at a Texas-based steel company for 17 years, I remember my dad coming home from work in 1979 with a letter he read at the dinner table. While I don’t remember everything the letter said, I clearly recall the phrase “we are forced to lay off key personnel.” That word “key” stuck with me in a way I couldn’t comprehend at the time, and it still resonates with me in a way I can't describe. My dad had started on the mill floor in 1962, and worked his way up to management by the 1970s. The photo below is him in an advertisement that his company placed in the Wall Street Journal in about 1974 (he’s holding the clipboard). After this layoff, my dad had to take a series of jobs where he had to travel the country making sales calls. It was like George Clooney’s character in the 2009 movie “Up in the Air,” where he essentially lives on the road. While my dad later landed a job years late that allowed for some diminished travel, he still had to get out on the road well into his 60s, struggling through O’Hare and LAX, even as he was starting to have mobility problems . And years after that, as he was dealing with the Alzheimer’s, he drove off in a car (prompting a Silver Alert) to go--you got it--to a “sales call” he thought he had to attend in San Antonio. As Americans, I don’t think any of us are fond of mass layoffs. Even though there might be a business necessity, I’m pretty sure that most recoil when we hear of a factory closing in Michigan, or a layoff in Pittsburgh, or oilfield workers in West Texas losing their jobs due to something OPEC has done. At least for some, it harkens to some cold corporate calculus being made in tall glass buildings in Detroit, New York, or even near here in Houston. Perhaps they’re necessary, but the effects are far-reaching. They sure were for my family, as they were for Liz when her parents were laid off in Michigan in 1981, and for so many of us. So, let’s all show empathy and do what we can to help. These feds are trying to make mortgage payments, raise kids, live their lives, all while trying to make the world a better place in unglamorous jobs. Indeed, they’re us, and there’s some kids at a dinner table with a parent reading a letter. Remember that.

I am incredibly honored to receive the Diamond Award from the Dallas Mavericks at their 4th annual Women's Symposium. With the theme of EmpowerHER: Leading with Purpose, the celebration features inspiring speakers, including a fireside chat with none other than the former Mavs CEO and my fave, Cynt Marshall. I love that I get to share the stage with Roland Parrish as he receives the SupportHER Award (he's already the recipient of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas' Man Enough To Be a Girl Scout Award)! Visit https://lnkd.in/g3DgVd_f to donate items to Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas camps!