When ICE rounds up your immigrant friends and neighbors, make sure to write down all their names so you can use them in your next fundraising appeal.
Sure, French protestors just burned down a Tesla showroom, but remember: this is America. We protest by walking in circles on the sidewalk. The driveway if we’re really mad.
Why does your organization need members? You have followers. Why do you need dues? You have foundations. Aren’t you supposed to be fighting the billionaires behind those social media companies and foundations? Please don’t ask hard questions.
When the military invades the local college campus, make sure to issue a strongly worded paragraph on BlueSky.
When the broligarchs declare there will be no further elections, check your strategic plan to see if defending democracy is worth devoting staff capacity to this quarter.
They are coming for trans folks. Black folks. Old folks. Young folks. Disabled folks. Muslim folks. Air-breathing folks. Water-drinking folks. Even, good ole working-class whites. I mean, beer-and-bowling white folks. Remember to use the word “folks” a lot because it makes you seem down to earth.
We have a loud, proud history of resistance in this country. Bus boycotts. Wall Street occupations. Student encampments. Militant strikes. Even the occasional tea party. Rebellions that grew over months and years. Nonprofits didn’t create those big bangs. But sometimes they did support them. Bailed folks out of jail, got media, raised donations, went toe to toe with McCarthy and Hoover and elephant presidents and donkey presidents too. We need all the tools we got. Use what you’ve got.
Maybe stop acting like staying in our safe 501(c)3 lane is enough, though. That’s a tax code, not a movement. Time to color outside the lines. Get off zoom. Get back to real people. Get free – or lose funding trying. (After the next fundraising campaign, of course. We wouldn’t want to miss the next grant deadline.)
