Tag: diplomacy

Combatting Hate and Dangerous Speech

On By Carolyn M. AppletonIn Caravan Studios, diplomacy, ethics, Hate speech, Internet, moral behavior, positive thinking, Primary Articles, problem solvingLeave a comment

The past several years (2016-2021), I was the lead volunteer organizer of Nonprofit Tech Club Austin, now called TechSoup Connect Texas Chapter. While I was guiding it, the club partnered with NTEN: Nonprofit Technology Network, TechSoup, and locally in Austin, startup incubator Capital Factory.

One benefit of the partnership with TechSoup specifically was learning about inspiring ideas from other tech club chapters across the United States and globally, as well as from TechSoup and its divisions like Caravan Studios and the Public Good App House. A 2019 webinar on hate speech and those monitoring it globally was particularly eye opening.

This post shares information presented during that program as well as additional discussions and resources I have since discovered. This post was written originally in 2019 and it has become one of my most-read. I continue to update it as more information becomes available.

One discovery is the Dangerous Speech Project. They sum the problem up well:

“People don’t commit violence against other groups – or even condone it – spontaneously. First they must be taught to see other people as pests, vermin, aliens, or threats. Malicious leaders often use the same types of rhetoric to do this, in myriad cultures, languages, countries, and historical periods. We call this Dangerous Speech. Violence might be prevented by making it less abundant or less convincing.

Only a few years ago, I believed the United States was more egalitarian and tolerant than ever. I did not see racism as being an issue in Texas, and mostly witnessed an ever-growing appreciation for differences in terms of culture and ethnicity. In fact, since returning to live and work in Austin in 2013, I was impressed by the new monuments on the Texas State Capitol grounds, including the stately Tejano and African American Emancipation installations. They are well worth a visit!

In 2013, I had also just finished serving two consecutive four-year terms on a State of Texas commission, the Texas Environmental Partnership Fund Board. The appointees of the commission and those serving on other commissions were very diverse. I felt real progress had been made.

iPhone photo collage of the Emancipation monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds (2023).

But in 2016, an eruption of hateful speech at the national level occurred from which I am still reeling. It was like a long dormant volcano had erupted, causing an international avalanche of angry, hateful speech and behavior. This led me to seek solutions about how to combat hate in the context of the nonprofit sector.

The following organizations were included in the TechSoup webinar I referenced earlier in this post. They are working to identify, monitor and to develop ways to combat dangerous rhetoric and actions around the world. Thanks again to TechSoup for introducing them during the program, and I hope we have another global webinar along these lines. It is so inspiring to see the social good sector fighting for a more just and peaceful world.

PeaceTech Lab

We believe everyone has the power of peacetech so we leverage low-cost, easy-to-use tech and local partnerships to put the right tools in the hands of the people best positioned to make a difference: activists, peacebuilders, and NGOs in some of the most violent places on earth.

Hatebase

Hatebase is a software platform built to help organizations and online communities detect, monitor and quarantine hate speech. Our algorithms analyze public conversations using a broad vocabulary based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and class, with data across 80+ languages and 200+ countries.

Metamorphosis Foundation

The Metamorphosis Foundation offers IT solutions, developed according to the needs of the clients or as part of the project. At the same time, we offer favorable and quality services for development, adaptation, localization and updating of web content.

More Information

  • ALA: American Library Association has a helpful page on its website, “Hate Speech and Hate Crime.” It outlines important definitions and discusses legal issues.
  • Council on Foundations via Independent Sector, “Values-Aligned Philanthropy for Community Foundations” (2022). “Through our Values-Aligned Philanthropy project, the Council on Foundations is encouraging foundations to take steps to ensure that they are not funding hate. Our white paper created a landscape scan of the issue and the work being done in the philanthropic sector to combat hate funding. We also maintain an online hub with updated links to resources and sample policies.”
  • United Against Hate provides several helpful resources including a speakers bureau and school kits.
  • The United Sates Department of Justice has a webpage that includes a link, “Get Help Now.” Visit the website for periodic updates about hate, and actions taken to deal with hate crimes. Keep up the good work!

Being a Bridge

On By Carolyn M. AppletonIn asking, charity, diplomacy, Fundraising, gift solicitation, negotiation, Nonprofit, Primary Articles, problem solving1 Comment

Bridges make connections possible. Bridges facilitate the crossing of people, “from one side to the other.” Shown below is the breathtaking Pennybacker Bridge, a “through-arch bridge” located on the west side of Austin in the scenic hill country.

I have always thought of nonprofit fundraisers as “bridges” between their organizations and donors. Development professionals must constantly make connections and translate their nonprofit’s mission and needs to individuals, families, foundations, corporations and governments in such a way that funding is provided.

Nonprofit programmatic staff and some board members sometimes lack the skills (or the inclination) to speak with potential donors, and often they do not enjoy asking for financial support. This is where development staff shine, of course.

When I lived in Dallas in the 1990s, I worked on a variety of nonprofit fundraising campaigns, some in their entirety (from start to finish), others for more limited engagements (only for grant research, writing, solicitation, publications and the like). Once, I came across a nonprofit board chairman who was highly regarded in the community, but he had an abiding fear of asking anyone for a donation. A fundraising consulting firm his nonprofit had hired felt the board, including this noteworthy volunteer, were generally useless. Everyone involved had become frustrated. But, I knew there was a way to turn this situation around.

I assured the volunteer that during our forthcoming meeting – which happened to be with one of the leading bank trust departments in Dallas – that he only needed to speak about his passion for the nonprofit and the good it was accomplishing in the community. I promised to pick up the conversation once he was finished, to handle the request for funding and how best to follow-up. Luckily he trusted me and our meeting went very well. Together, we lined the nonprofit up for a six figure donation, which was ultimately received.

In this way, I acted as a bridge between the nonprofit and the prospective donor, but also between my distinguished volunteer and the trust department staff. I understood intuitively that in order to get this critical job done, we had to build a few bridges before arriving at the desired destination.

There is another factor I have discovered in working with major gift donors and nonprofit organizations seeking support, one that reminds me of being a “bridge.” This concerns the donors themselves.

Nonprofit staff (and the general public) sometimes assume that sophisticated, affluent donors are experts in every topic under the sun. But the truth is, they are experts in the fields where they have excelled and thrived. This may or may not include understanding how your nonprofit works and what it is accomplishing (or what it hopes to accomplish).

Nonprofit development staff can be of invaluable help by translating organizational information to donors and prospective donors in an easy-to-understand fashion, and vice versa. Yes, sometimes translating the donor’s needs and perceptions to fellow staff is required. This enables you to continue forward with a successful partnership negotiation, for example.

Development professionals are indispensable links between their organizations and funding partners. This often takes both verbal and written forms, as the case may be. Development staff must be able to translate in an understandable fashion critical information, and in both directions: internally and externally. This is truly an essential role that should not be taken for granted!

Understanding Prospective Donors

  • Lila MacLellen wrote for Quartz, “Science Confirms Rich People Don’t Really Notice You – Or Your Problems” (October 23, 2016). “No one can pay attention to everything they encounter. We simply do not have enough time or mental capacity for it. Most of us, though, do make an effort to acknowledge our fellow humans. Wealth, it seems, might change that.”
  • For me, Taylor Shea’s article for Reader’s Digest nails my experiences with affluent donors, “How Rich People Think: 25+ Things They Won’t Tell You” (N.D.). “Anytime the newspaper lists my name among the 100 top-paid executives in the area, I get a ton of requests from people asking for money. It happened so much that I had to come up with a strategy to deal with it. Now I say, ‘I’m happy to give. I’ll match however much you raise yourself.’”
  • From The Wealthy Accountant, “5 Things Rich People Do That You Don’t” (August 3, 2016). “Wealthy people have vision. They know where they are, where they are going, and how they will get there.”

Some of you might also enjoy my article, “Ph.D.s and Fundraising.” There I discuss the challenges of working with very bright programmatic staff who are fairly hopeless when it comes to explaining what they are accomplishing to the public and/or to donors. I’ve been a “bridge” in these cases for many years!

This post is dedicated to Dr. Wright Lassiter. Read more about him in, “Remembering L. Wright Lassiter Jr.” from Humanities Texas.