What The Young Bucks Have To Say About Social Change

I started Capital Good Fund (CGF) when I was 24.  At 29, I am proud to say that I run a tremendously successful, innovative and rapidly growing social change organization, one that has garnered local, state and national attention.  After five years in this role, I’ve seen a lot about what is right and wrong with the social sector: old ways of thinking about philanthropy and inchoate changes to that thinking. 

This clash, this tension in philosophy and practice, had informed much of what I do.  For instance, consider the way we price our products and services.  In the past, the prevailing belief was that nonprofits should stamp everything they do “free of charge” or, at best, charge a nominal fee.  I’ve encountered this attitude in many meetings with other nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, an attitude which seems to say “we are here to protect these poor people; they cannot, and should not, have to pay for what you offer.”

A Tip For Starting Your Nonprofit - Don't Look Like A Putz

Here's a tip: when starting a nonprofit, do enough research to know what you're talking about.  I
learned this the hard way.  Way back in the summer of 2008, when I was doing some of the legwork for Capital Good Fund (speaking to community partners and potential funders, writing a business plan, etc.), I set up a presentation a group of bankers and financial experts.  The idea was to present to them my vision for a nonprofit financial service provider and to then get their feedback.

Great idea, right?  Well, everything was going swimmingly--people were getting so excited!--until the Q & A began.  The first question I got was, and I'll never forget this, "Tell us about your underwriting criteria."  Nothing wrong with the question save for the fact that I had no idea what on earth underwriting was!  What I don't recall is what I said in response, but I got feedback afterward to the effect that I looked like a bit of a putz.

The Challenge of Dressing For Success

Photo Credit: Averain

In the "adult world"--you know, that place where real business is transacted, big decisions are made,
important meetings held--your attire is essential.  Blazers, ties, slacks, wingtips, pantsuits, heels: these are the not-so-secret handshakes to enter that banal society whose only mission is to allow you to be taken seriously.  And don't get me wrong: I want to be taken seriously. After all, I run a nonprofit whose mission is to tackle poverty.  The problem is that I also want to be comfortable, both physically and, more deeply, with who I am.

So what does that problem have to do with clothing? You see, many years ago I decided to eschew driving in favor of making the bicycle my primary means of transportation; and although in the intervening years I eventually succumbed to pragmatism and purchased a car, I do my best to avoid using it.  The challenge is that it's hard to square bicycling to the office and to meetings--in the rain, the snow, the cold, the wind, the searing heat--with the world's demand for sartorial splendor.  Nice clothes get sweaty, get wet, get wrinkled and generally don't stand up well to anything beyond the carefully climate-controlled environment of the cubicle.

Introducing The Nonprofit Life

I've been writing this blog for quite a while, and I am proud of both the content and the readership I've cultivated over the years.  But, let's face it, to date my writings have tended toward the academic ..nothing wrong with that, it's just that they aren't the kind of thing one looks forward to reading on a daily basis.

Now it's time to make a shift, one that I'm making for several reasons.  First, we have a new Marketing Officer, Ashley Lynch, who is a bit of a social media guru; she is going to help us grow our audience and our reach.  Second, so much of what goes on at Capital Good Fund on a daily basis is funny, sad, joyous, confusing, agonizing...sharing these stories is bound to draw people in and capture their attention.  And finally, the more I can tell the story of what we do through the eyes of myself and my staff, our clients and our funders, the more I can inspire people to laugh and cry and learn and take action, the easier it will be to further our mission of tackling poverty in America.

Great Programs Fail Without Marketing

When you hear the debate about large scale federal programs such as the Affordable Care Act, the focus tends to be on issues related to taxes, states rights, the role of government, etc.  Yet what is becoming increasingly clear to me is that once a piece of legislation is passed and a program funded; once the lawsuits have run their course; and in short once the dust has settled, the most critical question is how people will actually take advantage of the initiative.

The Obamacare rollout is the exception that proves the rule.  Going into it, policymakers knew that unless a large percentage of uninsured young people signed up for the exchanges, the whole program wouldn't work.  To address this, the federal government spent nearly $700 million on "publicity, marketing and advertising..."  And it appears to have worked: as of April 19, 2014 over 8 million Americans had selected a plan on the insurance marketplaces (source: CNN)

Memo: Joy

Photo Credit: Alice Popkorn

Dear faithful (I hope) readers,

I hope you will indulge me in my new favored approach to conveying ideas: the memo.  I know, memos conjure up images of paper-pushers in faceless bureaucracies, but I promise these will be different!  I view these as an opportunity to concisely share my thinking and, I hope, get your feedback. So here goes:

I remember the first time I flew Virgin Atlantic, I couldn’t help but think that the people in charge of the airline a) actually gave a shit about its customers and b) weren’t boring people in suits.  Compared to other airlines, the colors were different, as were the attitudes of the staff, the music, even the rote passenger safety video.  And yet this zaniness in no way made me question my safety, even though flying is, at its core, a life-and-death business: stick a bunch of people in an aluminum (or carbon fibre) tube, fire up some engines, and get them somewhere else on the planet (ideally an airport).

Financial Coaching Client Story

I have had the pleasure of working with an employee of a partner employer, whom I will call Julie so as to protect her identity, for several months. From our initial conversation, I learned that her mother had recently passed away and, largely as a result, she wanted to sell her old house so that she could purchase a new one—something small, affordable and in a good neighborhood  The more we spoke, the more I realized that she was ready to move on to the next stage of her life, and we framed all of our one-on-one sessions around that goal.

In order to help facilitate her transition, we began by constructing a budget analysis that forecasted what her spending would be after moving into the new house. By looking at her income and expenses, we were able to paint an accurate picture of her inflows and outflows.  The outlook was not optimistic, however: her monthly expense exceeded her income by $916.