Crossroads Insights

Cheers to our client Mosaic for their first four years of impact! It has been an honor to get to work with this terrific team for the past two and a half years, helping make sure they are resourced to strengthen the whole of the environmental movement to create the power and equity needed to deliver transformative, durable victories.

I have had the pleasure of working with Mosaic for two years and can highly recommend this exceptionally capable team. Moreover, the initiative has a unique mission that is incredibly valuable across two key dimensions: creating a more powerful and more equitable environmental movement.

I have had many of the same thoughts Michael Kavate expresses in this article. This is a moment for well-deserved incredulity that those who have the resources to effect significant change have not yet demonstrated they truly appreciate the gravity of our current situation. More donors of means--both individual and institutional--should be directing as much funding as possible to address the complex yet solvable issue that is climate change. This includes ensuring that money flows to frontline communities who need help both to implement the solutions that can mitigate climate change AND adapt to the changes that are already causing them suffering. In addition to getting more donors to give to efforts that address this existential threat, we need all donors to think differently about how their money is managed and distributed. Between private foundations and donor advised funds (DAFs), there is more than $1.5 trillion in charitable assets available--and most of that (91%) is sitting untapped as the world warms, people suffer, and species disappear at an alarming rate. Private foundations are only granting about 7% of their available funds in any given year while DAFs, which are growing as fast as our temperature is rising, invest just 19% of their available funds. There is no good reason that those funds should sit unused, especially the DAFs which don't have to serve the same purpose of ensuring the financial sustainability of a philanthropic enterprise. It's incumbent on all of us to demand better of those who hold the keys to our future.

Here's a great opportunity for a Nature-loving stewardship professional with excellent writing skills on a team I could not recommend more highly!

As we head into the holiday break, I'd like to express my gratitude to all my wonderful clients/partners who make my work so fulfilling: Mosaic, Conservation International, Pisces Foundation, ideas42, Rainforest Alliance, Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association (DMFA), Mighty Earth, and Brigham and Women's Hospital. I'm a big believer that I can deliver my best work when focusing my effort on a small number of deeper relationships. Here's to the impact we have made in 2023 and all we will accomplish together in 2024!

Hey all you digital fund- and friend-raisers, check out these opportunities. You'd be hard pressed to find a better colleague to work with than Adva Priso!

Proud to have partnered with Mighty Earth and Phil Bucci on their most recent annual report. It was a fantastic team to work with, including Glenn Hurowitz, Casey Nitsch, and Alex Armstrong. If you want to see what a conservation organization that is punching way above its weight looks like, take a moment to read about the great work they are doing.