Young Leaders, Bad Bosses, Broken Philanthropy

Hi, I’m Nandita Raghuram , deputy opinion editor at the Chronicle. I’m writing to share with you an invigorating conversation I had with three young nonprofit leaders about how they would change the world — and the nonprofit world.?

In our special project The Commons, the Chronicle is exploring the country’s many divisions, including the generational split that sometimes leaves Americans at odds with each other. The big takeaway from my conversation: Young leaders are eager to transform society, but they also want to change nonprofits and philanthropy — by addressing burnout, ensuring grant making is more transparent and democratic, elevating young people to leadership positions, and more. The status quo isn’t working, these three leaders argued, and many older leaders in the field don’t seem to realize it — or even support the idea that change is needed.

For leaders of any age, the conversation offers insights into how to better engage young colleagues and staff, attract them to nonprofit and advocacy careers, and make sure they feel a sense of satisfaction and purpose. Such understanding could help you keep up morale and retain top talent.

I encourage you to read a short version of our conversation with Anthony Sartori , Sim Bilal , Esme Hyatt, and Manu Meel . You can also watch the full discussion, or an excerpted version.

If you have any thoughts you’d like to share after reading or listening, or suggestions of other young people I should talk to, please email me at [email protected].?

A Financial Incentive to Fight Polarization?

Americans who are less polarized are more generous. And work to reduce polarization may be a boon for a nonprofit’s bottom line.?

Those are conclusions from a new GivingTuesday report drawn from three studies of giving in 2023.?Researchers analyzed donor attitudes about giving to those whose beliefs, politics, or lifestyles they don’t agree with. While they found those who were least polarized were most generous to nonprofits, it wasn’t clear if giving itself reduced polarization.?

Woodrow Rosenbaum , GivingTuesday’s chief data officer, said there’s likely a duality at work. “People who are less polarized in their views are more likely to be generous, but also generosity and generous action tend to reduce polarization. I suspect it works both ways.”

One conclusion that nonprofits might draw, according to the report: It might also be in their longer-term financial interest to try to reduce polarization.

Read the full story by Rasheeda Childress .

Of the Moment

• In his Art of Association column, Daniel Stid of Lyceum Labs talks with former Facebook exec Deepti Doshi about creating community online. Doshi is co-director of New_ Public , which aims to create digital spaces where people come together as they do in parks, libraries, and other public venues. The long-term vision: “Everybody in America will have a digital community that they can go to that allows them … to see, be seen by, and shape their community,” she tells Stid.
• Anand Giridharadas , author of the Winners Take All critique of philanthropy, takes a hard look at the convention of the “unity statement,” which was on display within minutes of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Writing on his Substack The Ink in a column titled “Against Unity,” Giridharadas says the unity statement “substitutes a vague idea of ‘coming together’ for the urgent and vital work of stopping an ongoing campaign of sowing hatred, disinformation, distrust, and enmity.”
• On his Substack Connective Tissue, scholar Sam Pressler argues that every town should have an activities fair, akin to a college club fair. It would be “an annual platform for local groups to highlight their offerings and local residents to explore new outlets for participation,” he writes. “All of the town’s community groups — non-religious and religious, formal and informal — would be encouraged (read: gently pressured) to participate and set up a table. All of the town’s residents, particularly newcomers, would be invited to attend.”

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