tonight I finally broke my 39-year streak of refusing to join nonprofit boards or fundraising committees (which are usually just people wanting me to do the job I charge for without having to pay me anything), a powerful testament to how motivated I am by spite
(this is actually a Very Good Committee and it's helping to organize around the massive budget cuts to the humanities at my alma mater that I tweeted about, so I'm actually feeling very positive about it after tonight's meeting, but still
i'm fueled by Board Overreach Rage)
I can’t believe “skilled professionals have the right to charge what they’re worth, even if they work for nonprofits” was today’s hot take, but for the record, “volunteering because I care about something” and “being asked to do my whole job for no money” are two different things
The reason I don’t join boards or committees is that I’m incredibly good at what I do and I charge what I’m worth, and a lot of folks over the years have tried to grift me into being an unpaid development director so they don’t have to spend any money on salary, which is shady.
Nonprofit employees already get paid less and have less support than employees at for-profit companies. I’ve almost never worked someplace with HR. Never worked anyplace where I got a raise. Arts orgs bleed you out of 60+ hours a week during performance runs and pay you for 40.
So yeah, after being in this line of work for 18 years I’m a very fierce advocate for myself, because I had to be, when most of my workplaces weren’t. I set my own rate and terms now, and I don’t do this work for free, and I choose the clients I take, so I don’t get screwed again
I don’t want to boost the bad take but I do want to point out that claiming nonprofit employees shouldn’t have the same rights other kinds of employees get, because just helping the cause should be enough, is the mindset that makes our workplaces so toxic & turnover so high.
“If you REALLY cared about this cause you’d just do it for free out of the goodness of your heart” son I still have an electric bill, there’s a REASON joining boards has historically been a rich man’s game
that’s who can AFFORD to do this without getting paid for it
Anyway
I joined an all-volunteer alumni committee and I asked them to put me where the need was highest, and they put me in fundraising, which I’m happy to do because I’m not being taken advantage of, and maybe random strangers shouldn’t lecture me about how my own job works 🤷♀️
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The Chinook Nation are pursuing Congressional legislation to formally restore their status as a recognized tribe. There's information here and a sample letter template to send to your senators and reps!
thank you @PaulSusi for emailing out this link, I did not know about this ongoing court case, or that they weren't federally recognized because the U.S. never ratified the treaties they signed
WAIT WHAT THE FUCK THEY'VE BEEN SUING OVER THIS SINCE THE 1890'S, THEY FINALLY WON IN 2001, AND THEN A YEAR LATER GEORGE W. BUSH JUST RANDOMLY OVERTURNED IT AND UN-CERTIFIED THEM oh boy i'm learning a lot they left out of 4th grade Oregon history
There were ways to frame this about HER OWN understanding of this work of art being shaped by having a child
but universalizing parenthood as THE ONLY way people develop empathy for human suffering - or implying that parenthood makes you morally superior - is really dangerous
ugh i'm furious at myself for ruining my great pope joke with a typo
me, a person who lives alone and never leaves the house: i wonder if it's time for me to update my signature scent
I wore Ralph by Ralph Lauren throughout my twenties because one year my mom went to Macy's to find the perfect signature scent for me for my birthday (and she navigated the cosmetics department in a wheelchair so you know she was serious)
then the last few years I've worn Histoires de Parfums' "This Is Not a Blue Bottle", which I bought at Sephora because A) it smelled amazing and B) all the boxes their perfumes come in are shaped like books
1. are they worried we'll think NSA employees giving up chocolate for Lent and getting cranky at work are a national security concern??? because i've literally never had that thought in my entire life but now it's like, doth the NSA protest too much
2. does someone in PR have a content calendar over there with all the major holy days/festivals/federal holidays and they were like "we should do something to acknowledge Lent" and someone was like "like what, you can't say 'happy Lent'" and they were like "idk make something up"
Dolly Parton really said “I’m not receiving a presidential Medal of Honor from Trump and I’m not letting you build a statue to me in the middle of a pandemic” because unlike almost every other insanely famous person her ego is not the driving force in her life
There’s something very refreshing in her overall vibe of “I know I am an absolute fucking legend and I don’t actually need you to tell me, I would rather have you all just focus on doing your jobs, legislating, and I will do mine, being amazing”