Moving the Needle February 2020
Be safe, care for yourself, care for your community.
This is a public health emergency. As COVID-19 spreads and the landscape shifts quickly, please be mindful of how your actions are affecting you, and how your actions are affecting those around you. Take all of the appropriate precautions to keep yourself safe, and to ensure that you are not inadvertently hurting someone else; wash your hands, practice social distancing, and work from home if you can.
Also, be mindful of how low-income workers, hourly workers, workers in the gig economy, immigrants, students, the uninsured, people with disabilities, people who are unhoused, people in prison and in detention, and other marginalized groups are being impacted; the spread of the virus has exposed, with cruel efficiency, how our institutional systems and supports are failing so many people.
As local, state, and federal governments are responding to this pandemic, let's be mindful of the work yet to be done to create the kind of country that has built-in protections for us all.
Grantmaking With a Racial Justice Lens
Overcome built-in systemic racial injustices for lasting, transformative change in our communities.
This is one of the best tools created to support grantmakers in operationalizing racial justice. Written by Rinku Sen and Lori Villarosa, Grantmaking with a Racial Justice Lens is a new guide from Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE) that will help grantmakers align giving strategies and operational practices with racial justice to secure a thriving future for all our communities.
In addition to actionable tools and tips, it includes particular guidance from Maggie Potapchuk of MP Associates and RacialEquityTools.org on how to best utilize the considerable body of resources.
Protect CRA investment in low-income communities
Proposed changes to the CRA could mean bad news for low-income communities.
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), enacted in 1977, requires the Federal Reserve and other federal banking regulators to encourage financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they do business, including low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods. Recently proposed changes to the CRA--submitted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)--have some advocates concerned that there would be reduced public accountability of banks to their communities and in other ways weaken the original intent of the CRA. Visit the Woodstock Institute and Housing Action Illinois websites to learn more, or visit the Federal Register site to leave your own public comment.
Federal Crackdown on Immigrants Who Use Public Benefits Takes Effect
Watch this WTTW interview with Mony Ruiz-Velasco, executive director of P.A.S.O. (West Suburban Action Project), as she discusses the updated “public charge” rule.
The Shriver Center statement on Public Charge: Despite Supreme Court Ruling, the Shriver Center Will Continue to Fight to Protect Immigrant Families
The PIF-IL information on Public Charge: Public Charge, related policies, and research
Protect Fair Housing
Housing Action Illinois, Shriver Center on Poverty Law
The Fair Housing Act requires local governments to take actions that undo historic patterns of segregation and other types of discrimination, promote fair housing choice, and foster inclusive communities. However, HUD recently released a proposal that would gut the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, a landmark 2015 regulation that provides guidance and tools to address segregation and discriminatory practices. On the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, HUD proposed a rule that would redefine “affirmatively furthering fair housing” in a way that would promote, rather than dismantle, housing segregation. The rule is a blueprint for reinforcing the structural racism latent in housing and planning policies throughout the United States, and would allow communities to ignore the essential racial desegregation obligations of fair housing law. Join allies across the nation to urge HUD to abandon this ill-conceived proposal. The comment deadline is March 16.
City of Chicago Lobbying Ordinance Information
You may recall that the recently amended Governmental Ethics Ordinance imposes new registration and reporting requirements on individuals who interact with the City of Chicago on behalf of nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve. You may also recall that, because of a number of reasons, the City of Chicago has delayed implementation of this recently amended ordinance.
The Board of Ethics has released a series of Advisory Opinions to help clarify the implementation and application of the Amended Ordinance.
Board of Ethics Advisory Opinions - January 13
Board of Ethics Advisory Opinion - February 10
According to Quarles & Brady, these advisory opinions may be relied on as binding guidance “by any person involved in a specific transaction or activity with respect to which the opinion is rendered”. Click here to read more from Quarles & Brady.
Axleson Center Special One-Day Workshop for Small Nonprofits
New this year! On Tuesday, March 24, join the Axelson Center for a full-day, intensive workshop designed specifically for small nonprofits (budget under $1M). Sessions throughout the day will include:
Financial Management
Board Development
Design Tools for Small Organizations
Fundraising on a Shoestring: Common Tactics to Ensure your ROI
There's a lineup of amazing presenters...click here for more information, and to register.
Solidarity Heals! National Day of Racial Healing Celebration in Chicago
Chicago is in crisis. Between violence and corruption, struggling schools, huge wealth and opportunity gaps, and the ever-growing racial divide in this city, across the country and around the world, many people and businesses have just been giving up and leaving. And those of us still here are left wondering if Chicago can be saved. So, what’s at the root of so many of the problems this city faces?
In a word, racism.
In Chicago, the dehumanization of people of color woven throughout our past and present has been the cause of racial inequity and injustice. Before we can change policy and legislation we must first heal from the inside out. We cannot truly end racism until we change the current narrative by telling our own stories and overcoming the pain of silence. Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation of Greater Chicago is fighting racism by bringing together businesses and community-based nonprofit organizations, with a strong emphasis on healing and solidarity between the Black and Brown community, to tell the truth about racism in Chicago. It's time to use our collective power to eliminate all racial barriers and policies in Chicago. It's time to MOVE. Join the movement. Become a Racial Healing Practitioner: www.transformchi.com.
The problem with everything being all about relationships
By Vu Le, Nonprofit AF
Hi everyone, this week is Valentine’s Day, arguably the most annoying and stressed-filled day ever. I like it as much as I like infinity scarves. But at least we have #NonprofitPickupLines on Twitter. Go make that trend again. “Hey there, is your nickname Cash-Flow Issues? Because you’re constantly on my mind.”
Valentine’s Day, however, is a great time to talk about relationships. Namely, the philosophy that everything is based on relationships. Fundraising is about developing, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with donors. Hiring is often about who you are connected to. “Remember,” we are often told, and we often tell others, “it’s not about what you know, but about who you know.” In this blog post, written six years ago, I explain that “85% of 95% of grants is 90% relationship building” (Let’s just say math is not my strongest suit). Read on...