How mutts at the pound became rescue dogs at shelters and why you won't see Mackenzie Scott's name on any buildings

Imagine you work for a non-profit that runs on a shoestring budget. It's Monday morning. You get an unexpected email. The email says you're receiving a donation - the biggest donation you've ever received. It's a transformational gift that'll do more than keep the lights on - it means you can help more people than ever before.

But wait, there's more. The gift comes with no strings or conditions attached. No reporting requirements. No recommendations on how the donation should be spent. And a request not to plan an event to publicly recognize the gift - so no grip and grin cheque presentation.

The thing is, you didn't apply for the donation. And you had no idea you were on anyone's radar.

This is what's happened for hundreds of non-profits thanks to one of the world's richest women. Mackenzie Scott is rewriting the rules of philanthropy and she's one of the people featured in Chuck Thompson's The Status Revolution: The Improbable Story of How the Lowbrow Became the Highbrow.

Status rules are being rewritten everywhere. If you remember going to the pound to pick up a cheap mutt, Chuck explains how those mutts became rescue dogs and pounds are now shelters.

Along with my review of Chuck's book, I've recapped the "do as I say and not what I did" advice I gave earlier this month to the soon-to-graduate students in the postgrad PR program at Mohawk College.

After graduating from the "Harvard of the North" with a pair of degrees, I assumed the world would beat a path to my door. The world didn't and I spent the better part of a year wandering through the wilderness before I found a sure and shorter path to my first PR job.

I shared that path with students, although many seem to have already figured it out.

When I started talking with the PR class many years ago, I thought of myself as big brother. I'm now very much in full-on dad mode. Grandfatherly advice is not that far off.

So review first, advice second.

How mutts at pounds became rescue dogs at shelters (my review of Chuck Thompson's The Status Revolution).

How do you know if someone's adopted a rescue dog?

They can’t wait to tell you.

And how do you know if someone’s bought a dog from a breeder?

They don’t want to tell you or they apologize.

Not so long ago, buying a pricey pup was a status marker for the have-lots.

The have-nots went to the pound and bought themselves cheap mutts.

But then a California shelter overrun with abandoned pets rebranded strays as rescue dogs and launched a global revolution. Rescue dogs became the new status symbol available to everyone.

The top reasons to adopt a dog according to the American Humane Society? You’ll save a life and gain some serious bragging rights.

Owning a rescue dog became a badge of honour, says Chuck Thompson, author of The Status Revolution. “A badge that said I am a good person, I care about living creatures, I am virtuous. I am better than other pet owners. It conveyed status, but a new kind of status, one disconnected from wealth, talent, intelligence, success, religious or professional standing.”

That disconnect isn’t limited to just your neighborhood dog park. Thompson says a rebellion’s underway against pretty much all traditional measures and markers of status, prestige, luxury and privilege. “It’s taken hold at all levels of society. It’s swamping the status industry, from the academics who track and analyze it to the philosophers who explain it, the companies that manufacture it, the marketers that promote it, the retailers that sell it, the media that popularize it and the consumers who buy it.

“Like topped statues of Confederate generals and Founding Fathers, it’s possible that within a generation or two, traditional totems of status will have been rendered obsolete, and new ones erected in their places.”

Philanthropy’s traditional totems of status are also changing thanks to one of the world’s richest women.

Mackenzie Scott has pledged to give away her entire $60 billion fortune. She’s already donated more than $14 billion to around 1,600 non-profits. Many of those organizations had no idea Scott’s cheques were in the mail.

“The amount of Scott’s giveaway was shocking,”says Thompson. “What make it transformative, what ‘upended’ the philanthropy establishment, was the way in which donations were made. Many were sent to organizations that hadn’t even applied for grants, that didn’t even know they were on Scott’s radar.”

It’s an approach that lets non-profits stay focused on delivering programs and services and not spend time or money applying for grants.

What’s more, Scott doesn’t dictate how her donations should be spent, trusting that non-profits know best how to invest the money for maximum impact. There are no follow-up reporting requirements and Scott shuns recognition. You won’t find Scott’s name on buildings or see pictures of her holding giant cheques or cutting ribbons with giant scissors.

“Scott’s out-of-the-blue commitment to ‘trust-based philanthropy’ shocked just about everyone,” says Thompson. “Understood by everyone in the philanthropy trade, ‘full trust and no strings attached’ were code words that scared traditional foundations whose habit of sitting on millions and billions of assets, while annually parsing out the legal minimum five per cent of their endowments to pet projects with more strings than a marionette, was suddenly cast into an unwelcome spotlight,” says Thompson.

Following Scott’s lead, San Franciso-based Whitman Institute joined a growing number of ‘spend-down foundations’.

“This is another newish operating model that dictates a foundation should spend down or ‘spend out’ all of its capital reserves within a designated period of time, and then, once all the money is gone, simply cease to exist,” says Thompson. “The give-it-all-away rationale is that if a foundation’s true goal is to help alleviate a particular social ill, it should damn the torpedoes and throw everything it has available at the problem.”

Status is in chaos and Thompson does a masterful job of explaining why and previewing what’s next. “For the first time in history, social status is becoming available to the masses. Status, luxury, even prestige are now commodities within everyone’s grasp. Status is no longer for the gilded elect. It’s for everyone. The curtain is drawn. Everyone gets backstage. Everyone’s a VIP.”

Don't Do What I Did Carer Advice for Freshly Minted Grads

Here's a recap of the advice I gave to?future PR pros in Mohawk College's Postgrad Public Relations program...

I graduated in '92 with a master's in journalism & an honours BA in political science from the University of Western Ontario. I'd been on the Dean's Honors List for 3 years of my undergrad thanks to film studies & creative writing electives. I assumed the world would beat a path to my door. The world didn't. I spent a year wandering through the wilderness.

I eventually figured things out.Like flossing, most your classmates won't do these things. This'll give you the edge when you're all applying to the same jobs.

Informational interviews are the best path to your 1st job. It's not what you know or who you know. It's all about who knows you & who's willing to sing your praises, make introductions & maybe hire you. I owe my first job to an informational interview. I met with a manager who then posted a job two months after we met. I'd made a good first impression & I got the job that launched my 30-year career in PR.

Send handwritten thank-you notes after every informational interview & job interview. I owe my second PR job to Hallmark. I sent a thank-you card even though I wasn't the chosen candidate. I was the only candidate to send a card. The manager got extra budget to hire a second comms officer. I got that job. And that first manager who hired me after our informational interview? My thank-you card was pinned to his bulletin board. My thank-you for the second job was included in my personnel file that my manager turned over before she left for another job.

Do your homework before submitting your cover letter and sitting down for your job interview. Learn everything you can about your potential employer. You'll likely never be the smartest, best connected, most educated or experienced candidate. But you can always be the best & most prepared. Prove how badly you want the job & preview how hard you'll work if hired.

Know your origin story. "Tell us about yourself" will be your 1st interview question. Most candidates give the unabridged audiobook version of their resume. Be that one candidate who instead talks about why you want to work in PR. Who inspired you? When was that moment in class, during your co-op or while working on a client project when you knew beyond a doubt that PR was for you? Tell a story. That's what PR pros do.

Ask as many questions as you answer during your job interview. Just as "so tell us about yourself" leads off interviews, "so do you have any questions for us?" ends interviews. Instead of asking "when will you notify the successful candidate & what are the next steps?", ask "so what do you expect the successful candidate to accomplish three months, six months and a year into the job?" and "why are you proud to work here?".

And for all informational & job interviews, show up as the best version of yourself plus 10 per cent even if you've spent a year wandering in the wilderness. Be genuinely enthusiastic. If you can't, it's a sign you've applied for the wrong job.