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The Way We Talk About Charity is Dead Wrong

By March 20, 2013April 25th, 2014Charity, Nonprofits

TED Talk video featuring Dan Pallotta, fundraiser and activist

Before I tell you about game-changing activist and fundraiser Dan Palotta, I wanted to let you know that he’s going to be the opening keynote speaker at this year’s 2013 NTC conference to be held here in Minneapolis, April 11 – 13. I’ll also be there speaking with Lars Leafblad of Pollen & Bush Foundation, Dana Nelson of GiveMN, and Jamie Millard of Paper Darts & Pollen. Our session is Saturday morning.

This is an exceptional opportunity if you live near the Twin Cities to hear some national speakers and get your board and staff some exceptional training and learn innovative ideas.

Okay, now back to Dan. He was a featured speaker this month at TED Talks. I wrote about Dan a couple of years ago and I am as passionate about his message today as I was in 2011.

From my October 2011 post:
“Dan’s observation is that we have two rule books: One for charity and one for the rest of the economic world. We blame capitalism for creating huge inequities in our society. . .
and we refuse to allow the nonprofit sector to actually use the tools of capitalism to rectify those inequities.
To read my full post click here.

Here’s Dan’s recent TED Talk:

From the TED Talk’s site:
“Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend — not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses). In this bold talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.”

Dan’s passion is to highlight five areas of discrimination for nonprofits. It’s a controversial message for sure, but a game-changer. I encourage you to not only spend the 18 minutes watching his engaging Ted talk video, but to also commit to sharing this video with your board and your key supporters. You just might start a movement and give people the freedom to do
MORE
to support your important work.

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