#nonprofit success pack

[brewscoop]

Discover the remarkable story behind Tennessee Brew Works' dedication to local communities and Tennessee State Parks. From their hit State Park Blonde Ale to a new variety pack, see how they blend craft beer with a cause. Learn about their inspiring contributions and find out how you can support the Tennessee State Parks Conservancy. Cheers to making a difference!

[fcsbluefcsblue]

Integration And Optimization with FCS Blue

By integrating Salesforce with your existing systems and optimizing its operations, we’re helping you get the most out of your investment. We’re talking about less time spent on manual tasks, more streamlined workflows, and ultimately, a higher return on your Salesforce investment.We're all about making your systems work together. Our integration services will connect Salesforce with your other business systems for a unified and efficient work environment.

[exeggcute]

the great reddit API meltdown of '23, or: this was always bound to happen

there's a lot of press about what's going on with reddit right now (app shutdowns, subreddit blackouts, the CEO continually putting his foot in his mouth), but I haven't seen as much stuff talking about how reddit got into this situation to begin with. so as a certified non-expert and Context Enjoyer I thought it might be helpful to lay things out as I understand them—a high-level view, surveying the whole landscape—in the wonderful world of startups, IPOs, and extremely angry users.

disclaimer that I am not a founder or VC (lmao), have yet to work at a company with a successful IPO, and am not a reddit employee or third-party reddit developer or even a subreddit moderator. I do work at a startup, know my way around an API or two, and have spent twelve regrettable years on reddit itself. which is to say that I make no promises of infallibility, but I hope you'll at least find all this interesting.

profit now or profit later

before you can really get into reddit as reddit, it helps to know a bit about startups (of which reddit is one). and before I launch into that, let me share my Three Types Of Websites framework, which is basically just a mental model about financial incentives that's helped me contextualize some of this stuff.

(1) website/software that does not exist to make money: relatively rare, for a variety of reasons, among them that it costs money to build and maintain a website in the first place. wikipedia is the evergreen example, although even wikipedia's been subject to criticism for how the wikimedia foundation pays out its employees and all that fun nonprofit stuff. what's important here is that even when making money is not the goal, money itself is still a factor, whether it's solicited via donations or it's just one guy paying out of pocket to host a hobby site. but websites in this category do, generally, offer free, no-strings-attached experiences to their users.

(I do want push back against the retrospective nostalgia of "everything on the internet used to be this way" because I don't think that was ever really true—look at AOL, the dotcom boom, the rise of banner ads. I distinctly remember that neopets had multiple corporate sponsors, including a cookie crisp-themed flash game. yahoo bought geocities for $3.6 billion; money's always been trading hands, obvious or not. it's indisputable that the internet is simply different now than it was ten or twenty years ago, and that monetization models themselves have largely changed as well (I have thoughts about this as it relates to web 1.0 vs web 2.0 and their associated costs/scale/etc.), but I think the only time people weren't trying to squeeze the internet for all the dimes it can offer was when the internet was first conceived as a tool for national defense.)

(2) website/software that exists to make money now: the type that requires the least explanation. mostly non-startup apps and services, including any random ecommerce storefront, mobile apps that cost three bucks to download, an MMO with a recurring subscription, or even a news website that runs banner ads and/or offers paid subscriptions. in most (but not all) cases, the "make money now" part is obvious, so these things don't feel free to us as users, even to the extent that they might have watered-down free versions or limited access free trials. no one's shocked when WoW offers another paid expansion packs because WoW's been around for two decades and has explicitly been trying to make money that whole time.

(3) website/software that exists to make money later: this is the fun one, and more common than you'd think. "make money later" is more or less the entire startup business model—I'll get into that in the next section—and is deployed with the expectation that you will make money at some point, but not always by means as obvious as "selling WoW expansions for forty bucks a pop."

companies in this category tend to have two closely entwined characteristics: they prioritize growth above all else, regardless of whether this growth is profitable in any way (now, or sometimes, ever), and they do this by offering users really cool and awesome shit at little to no cost (or, if not for free, then at least at a significant loss to the company).

so from a user perspective, these things either seem free or far cheaper than their competitors. but of course websites and software and apps and [blank]-as-a-service tools cost money to build and maintain, and that money has to come from somewhere, and the people supplying that money, generally, expect to get it back...

just not immediately.

startups, VCs, IPOs, and you

here's the extremely condensed "did NOT go to harvard business school" version of how a startup works:

(1) you have a cool idea.

(2) you convince some venture capitalists (also known as VCs) that your idea is cool. if they see the potential in what you're pitching, they'll give you money in exchange for partial ownership of your company—which means that if/when the company starts trading its stock publicly, these investors will own X numbers of shares that they can sell at any time. in other words, you get free money now (and you'll likely seek multiple "rounds" of investors over the years to sustain your company), but with the explicit expectations that these investors will get their payoff later, assuming you don't crash and burn before that happens.

during this phase, you want to do anything in your power to make your company appealing to investors so you can attract more of them and raise funds as needed. because you are definitely not bringing in the necessary revenue to offset operating costs by yourself.

it's also worth nothing that this is less about projecting the long-term profitability of your company than it's about its perceived profitability—i.e., VCs want to put their money behind a company that other people will also have confidence in, because that's what makes stock valuable, and VCs are in it for stock prices.

(3) there are two non-exclusive win conditions for your startup: you can get acquired, and you can have an IPO (also referred to as "going public"). these are often called "exit scenarios" and they benefit VCs and founders, as well as some employees. it's also possible for a company to get acquired, possibly even more than once, and then later go public.

acquisition: sell the whole damn thing to someone else. there are a million ways this can happen, some better than others, but in many cases this means anyone with ownership of the company (which includes both investors and employees who hold stock options) get their stock bought out by the acquiring company and end up with cash in hand. in varying amounts, of course. sometimes the founders walk away, sometimes the employees get laid off, but not always.

IPO: short for "initial public offering," this is when the company starts trading its stocks publicly, which means anyone who wants to can start buying that company's stock, which really means that VCs (and employees with stock options) can turn that hypothetical money into real money by selling their company stock to interested buyers.

drawing from that, companies don't go for an IPO until they think their stock will actually be worth something (or else what's the point?)—specifically, worth more than the amount of money that investors poured into it. The Powers That Be will speculate about a company's IPO potential way ahead of time, which is where you'll hear stuff about companies who have an estimated IPO evaluation of (to pull a completely random example) $10B. actually I lied, that was not a random example, that was reddit's valuation back in 2021 lol. but a valuation is basically just "how much will people be interested in our stock?"

as such, in the time leading up to an IPO, it's really really important to do everything you can to make your company seem like a good investment (which is how you get stock prices up), usually by making the company's numbers look good. but! if you plan on cashing out, the long-term effects of your decisions aren't top of mind here. remember, the industry lingo is "exit scenario."

if all of this seems like a good short-term strategy for companies and their VCs, but an unsustainable model for anyone who's buying those stocks during the IPO, that's because it often is.

also worth noting that it's possible for a company to be technically unprofitable as a business (meaning their costs outstrip their revenue) and still trade enormously well on the stock market; uber is the perennial example of this. to the people who make money solely off of buying and selling stock, it literally does not matter that the actual rideshare model isn't netting any income—people think the stock is valuable, so it's valuable.

this is also why, for example, elon musk is richer than god: if he were only the CEO of tesla, the money he'd make from selling mediocre cars would be (comparatively, lol) minimal. but he's also one of tesla's angel investors, which means he holds a shitload of tesla stock, and tesla's stock has performed well since their IPO a decade ago (despite recent dips)—even if tesla itself has never been a huge moneymaker, public faith in the company's eventual success has kept them trading at high levels. granted, this also means most of musk's wealth is hypothetical and not liquid; if TSLA dropped to nothing, so would the value of all the stock he holds (and his net work with it).

what's an API, anyway?

to move in an entirely different direction: we can't get into reddit's API debacle without understanding what an API itself is.

an API (short for "application programming interface," not that it really matters) is a series of code instructions that independent developers can use to plug their shit into someone else's shit. like a series of tin cans on strings between two kids' treehouses, but for sending and receiving data.

APIs work by yoinking data directly from a company's servers instead of displaying anything visually to users. so I could use reddit's API to build my own app that takes the day's top r/AITA post and transcribes it into pig latin: my app is a bunch of lines of code, and some of those lines of code fetch data from reddit (and then transcribe that data into pig latin), and then my app displays the content to anyone who wants to see it, not reddit itself. as far as reddit is concerned, no additional human beings laid eyeballs on that r/AITA post, and reddit never had a chance to serve ads alongside the pig-latinized content in my app. (put a pin in this part—it'll be relevant later.)

but at its core, an API is really a type of protocol, which encompasses a broad category of formats and business models and so on. some APIs are completely free to use, like how anyone can build a discord bot (but you still have to host it yourself). some companies offer free APIs to third-party developers can build their own plugins, and then the company and the third-party dev split the profit on those plugins. some APIs have a free tier for hobbyists and a paid tier for big professional projects (like every weather API ever, lol). some APIs are strictly paid services because the API itself is the company's core offering.

reddit's financial foundations

okay thanks for sticking with me. I promise we're almost ready to be almost ready to talk about the current backlash.

reddit has always been a startup's startup from day one: its founders created the site after attending a startup incubator (which is basically a summer camp run by VCs) with the successful goal of creating a financially successful site. backed by that delicious y combinator money, reddit got acquired by conde nast only a year or two after its creation, which netted its founders a couple million each. this was back in like, 2006 by the way. in the time since that acquisition, reddit's gone through a bunch of additional funding rounds, including from big-name investors like a16z, peter thiel (yes, that guy), sam altman (yes, also that guy), sequoia, fidelity, and tencent. crunchbase says that they've raised a total of $1.3B in investor backing.

in all this time, reddit has never been a public company, or, strictly speaking, profitable.

APIs and third-party apps

reddit has offered free API access for basically as long as it's had a public API—remember, as a "make money later" company, their primary goal is growth, which means attracting as many users as possible to the platform. so letting anyone build an app or widget is (or really, was) in line with that goal.

as such, third-party reddit apps have been around forever. by third-party apps, I mean apps that use the reddit API to display actual reddit content in an unofficial wrapper. iirc reddit didn't even have an official mobile app until semi-recently, so many of these third-party mobile apps in particular just sprung up to meet an unmet need, and they've kept a small but dedicated userbase ever since. some people also prefer the user experience of the unofficial apps, especially since they offer extra settings to customize what you're seeing and few to no ads (and any ads these apps do display are to the benefit of the third-party developers, not reddit itself.)

(let me add this preemptively: one solution I've seen proposed to the paid API backlash is that reddit should have third-party developers display reddit's ads in those third-party apps, but this isn't really possible or advisable due to boring adtech reasons I won't inflict on you here. source: just trust me bro)

in addition to mobile apps, there are also third-party tools that don’t replace the Official Reddit Viewing Experience but do offer auxiliary features like being able to mass-delete your post history, tools that make the site more accessible to people who use screen readers, and tools that help moderators of subreddits moderate more easily. not to mention a small army of reddit bots like u/AutoWikibot or u/RemindMebot (and then the bots that tally the number of people who reply to bot comments with “good bot” or “bad bot).

the number of people who use third-party apps is relatively small, but they arguably comprise some of reddit’s most dedicated users, which means that third-party apps are important to the people who keep reddit running and the people who supply reddit with high-quality content.

unpaid moderators and user-generated content

so reddit is sort of two things: reddit is a platform, but it’s also a community.

the platform is all the unsexy (or, if you like python, sexy) stuff under the hood that actually makes the damn thing work. this is what the company spends money building and maintaining and "owns." the community is all the stuff that happens on the platform: posts, people, petty squabbles. so the platform is where the content lives, but ultimately the content is the reason people use reddit—no one’s like “yeah, I spend time on here because the backend framework really impressed me."

and all of this content is supplied by users, which is not unique among social media platforms, but the content is also managed by users, which is. paid employees do not govern subreddits; unpaid volunteers do. and moderation is the only thing that keeps reddit even remotely tolerable—without someone to remove spam, ban annoying users, and (god willing) enforce rules against abuse and hate speech, a subreddit loses its appeal and therefore its users. not dissimilar to the situation we’re seeing play out at twitter, except at twitter it was the loss of paid moderators;  reddit is arguably in a more precarious position because they could lose this unpaid labor at any moment, and as an already-unprofitable company they absolutely cannot afford to implement paid labor as a substitute.

oh yeah? spell "IPO" backwards

so here we are, June 2023, and reddit is licking its lips in anticipation of a long-fabled IPO. which means it’s time to start fluffing themselves up for investors by cutting costs (yay, layoffs!) and seeking new avenues of profit, however small.

this brings us to the current controversy: reddit announced a new API pricing plan that more or less prevents anyone from using it for free.

from reddit's perspective, the ostensible benefits of charging for API access are twofold: first, there's direct profit to be made off of the developers who (may or may not) pay several thousand dollars a month to use it, and second, cutting off unsanctioned third-party mobile apps (possibly) funnels those apps' users back into the official reddit mobile app. and since users on third-party apps reap the benefit of reddit's site architecture (and hosting, and development, and all the other expenses the site itself incurs) without “earning” money for reddit by generating ad impressions, there’s a financial incentive at work here: even if only a small percentage of people use third-party apps, getting them to use the official app instead translates to increased ad revenue, however marginal.

(also worth mentioning that chatGPT and other LLMs were trained via tools that used reddit's API to scrape post and content data, and now that openAI is reaping the profits of that training without giving reddit any kickbacks, reddit probably wants to prevent repeats of this from happening in the future. if you want to train the next LLM, it's gonna cost you.)

of course, these changes only benefit reddit if they actually increase the company’s revenue and perceived value/growth—which is hard to do when your users (who are also the people who supply the content for other users to engage with, who are also the people who moderate your communities and make them fun to participate in) get really fucking pissed and threaten to walk.

pricing shenanigans

under the new API pricing plan, third-party developers are suddenly facing steep costs to maintain the apps and tools they’ve built.

most paid APIs are priced by volume: basically, the more data you send and receive, the more money it costs. so if your third-party app has a lot of users, you’ll have to make more API requests to fetch content for those users, and your app becomes more expensive to maintain. (this isn’t an issue if the tool you’re building also turns a profit, but most third-party reddit apps make little, if any, money.)

which is why, even though third-party apps capture a relatively small portion of reddit’s users, the developer of a popular third-party app called apollo recently learned that it would cost them about $20 million a year to keep the app running. and apollo actually offers some paid features (for extra in-app features independent of what reddit offers), but nowhere near enough to break even on those API costs.

so apollo, any many apps like it, were suddenly unable to keep their doors open under the new API pricing model and announced that they'd be forced to shut down.

backlash, blackout

plenty has been said already about the current subreddit blackouts—in like, official news outlets and everything—so this might be the least interesting section of my whole post lol. the short version is that enough redditors got pissed enough that they collectively decided to take subreddits “offline” in protest, either by making them read-only or making them completely inaccessible. their goal was to send a message, and that message was "if you piss us off and we bail, here's what reddit's gonna be like: a ghost town."

but, you may ask, if third-party apps only captured a small number of users in the first place, how was the backlash strong enough to result in a near-sitewide blackout? well, two reasons:

first and foremost, since moderators in particular are fond of third-party tools, and since moderators wield outsized power (as both the people who keep your site more or less civil, and as the people who can take a subreddit offline if they feel like it), it’s in your best interests to keep them happy. especially since they don’t get paid to do this job in the first place, won’t keep doing it if it gets too hard, and essentially have nothing to lose by stepping down.

then, to a lesser extent, the non-moderator users on third-party apps tend to be Power Users who’ve been on reddit since its inception, and as such likely supply a disproportionate amount of the high-quality content for other users to see (and for ads to be served alongside). if you drive away those users, you’re effectively kneecapping your overall site traffic (which is bad for Growth) and reducing the number/value of any ad impressions you can serve (which is bad for revenue).

also a secret third reason, which is that even people who use the official apps have no stake in a potential IPO, can smell the general unfairness of this whole situation, and would enjoy the schadenfreude of investors getting fucked over. not to mention that reddit’s current CEO has made a complete ass of himself and now everyone hates him and wants to see him suffer personally.

(granted, it seems like reddit may acquiesce slightly and grant free API access to a select set of moderation/accessibility tools, but at this point it comes across as an empty gesture.)

"later" is now "now"

TL;DR: this whole thing is a combination of many factors, specifically reddit being intensely user-driven and self-governed, but also a high-traffic site that costs a lot of money to run (why they willingly decided to start hosting video a few years back is beyond me...), while also being angled as a public stock market offering in the very near future. to some extent I understand why reddit’s CEO doubled down on the changes—he wants to look strong for investors—but he’s also made a fool of himself and cast a shadow of uncertainty onto reddit’s future, not to mention the PR nightmare surrounding all of this. and since arguably the most important thing in an IPO is how much faith people have in your company, I honestly think reddit would’ve fared better if they hadn’t gone nuclear with the API changes in the first place.

that said, I also think it’s a mistake to assume that reddit care (or needs to care) about its users in any meaningful way, or at least not as more than means to an end. if reddit shuts down in three years, but all of the people sitting on stock options right now cashed out at $120/share and escaped unscathed... that’s a success story! you got your money! VCs want to recoup their investment—they don’t care about longevity (at least not after they’re gone), user experience, or even sustained profit. those were never the forces driving them, because these were never the ultimate metrics of their success.

and to be clear: this isn’t unique to reddit. this is how pretty much all startups operate.

I talked about the difference between “make money now” companies and “make money later” companies, and what we’re experiencing is the painful transition from “later” to “now.” as users, this change is almost invisible until it’s already happened—it’s like a rug we didn’t even know existed gets pulled out from under us.

the pre-IPO honeymoon phase is awesome as a user, because companies have no expectation of profit, only growth. if you can rely on VC money to stay afloat, your only concern is building a user base, not squeezing a profit out of them. and to do that, you offer cool shit at a loss: everything’s chocolate and flowers and quarterly reports about the number of signups you’re getting!

...until you reach a critical mass of users, VCs want to cash in, and to prepare for that IPO leadership starts thinking of ways to make the website (appear) profitable and implements a bunch of shit that makes users go “wait, what?”

I also touched on this earlier, but I want to reiterate a bit here: I think the myth of the benign non-monetized internet of yore is exactly that—a myth. what has changed are the specific market factors behind these websites, and their scale, and the means by which they attempt to monetize their services and/or make their services look attractive to investors, and so from a user perspective things feel worse because the specific ways we’re getting squeezed have evolved. maybe they are even worse, at least in the ways that matter. but I’m also increasingly less surprised when this occurs, because making money is and has always been the goal for all of these ventures, regardless of how they try to do so.

[rjzimmerman]

Description from Brookfield Zoo Chicago:

The newest pups in the Brookfield Zoo Chicago pack, Molly and Sierra, are now nearly 4 months old, getting bigger, and more playful as well! Check out our video to see them interacting with their dad, Amigo.

Nine pups were born to Vivilette and Amigo this past spring. These are the two remaining (both girls). The rest were moved from the Zoo to the southwest US and introduced to the wild. Here's an extract from that story from the Zoo:

Seven Mexican wolf pups born at Brookfield Zoo Chicago on April 27 were placed into two wild Mexican wolf dens in New Mexico on May 7 and 8 as part of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. The robust multi-agency conservation effort of fostering zoo-born pups in wild dens has been a successful strategy that continues to bolster the subspecies’ population in the southwest United States—Arizona and New Mexico—as well as in Mexico.   At 10 days old, the pups—six males and one female—were fed and kept warm by two animal care specialists and a veterinary technician from Brookfield Zoo Chicago during their flight to New Mexico. Air transportation was provided courtesy of LightHawk Conservation Flying, a nonprofit organization that partners pilots with organizations to help transfer endangered species to new homes among other conservation projects.   Upon arrival, members of the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team stealthily covered the pups in the scent of the similarly aged wild pups already in the den to ensure they all smelled the same. Before being placed back in the den, all the pups were swabbed for DNA and given studbook numbers. The biologists then monitored the radio-collared mothers to verify that each one returned to her den and successfully accepted the zoo-born pups as her own. The proven process is known as fostering—transferring zoo-born wolf pups into the dens of wild packs to improve the genetic diversity of the wild population. This year marked a milestone in the Program’s wolf pup fostering—a pup born at another facility was the 100th to be placed with a wild pack since fostering began in 2014.

[vftheflesh]

𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 / CAMILLE HUNTER-CHOI.

𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔

NAME: camille andrea hunter-choi NICKNAMES: cami or cam, occasionally called mom AGE: fifty-five DOB: april 26th GENDER: cis female PRONOUNS: she & her ETHNICITY: 1/2 african-american 1/2 korean-japanese SEXUALITY: lesbian MBTI: esfj ZODIAC: taurus FORMER OCCUPATION: nonprofit ceo POSITION: leader of the mountain sky hotel commune. HEIGHT: five-foot-eight HAIR: dark and curly TATTOOS: bay leaves alongside her right arm, a "j" on the inside of her left wrist, an oak tree on her back, ravens flying on her left bicep NOTABLE CHARACTERISTICS: from her left shoulder up to her jaw and ear she has mildly severe burn scars that have made it hard to hear out of that ear.

𝒃𝒊𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚

camille isn't wanted - she knows this from a very young age. the hunters are a loveless family built on the bonds of old money and marriages of convenience. she watches her mother's face wilt with age and feels she is the only person who understands how truly miserable everyone is. she's expected to fall in line slotted easily into the lineup of happy, perfectly rich siblings. she spends her summers in ibiza attended by nannies and cousins and then her other seasons in swedish boarding schools. it is not a happy childhood by any length. it drowns in loneliness and she learns very quickly to rely on herself alone. by the time she hits eighteen she's given up any hope of repairing a relationship with her family. she packs up and takes what's left of her trust fund to travel. she spends a year in thailand, another in brazil and then settles back in the city. she becomes the kind of boots-on-the-ground woman she always wanted to be and distances herself from the memory of a rich girl yearning for love. almost like an accident she falls in love. her marriage, whether out of desperation or sheer delusional hope occurs and for twenty-odd years she is a wife. the weight of it rests on her - the idea that maybe she never wanted to be one in the first place. somehow she ends up back in the same gilded cage of wealth she'd been born in. she escapes through work with her nonprofit and spending summers in guatemala building houses and wondering how she ended up here. the affair is a natural consequence of it all - it's brief only half a year at the end of a dying marriage but every request for a divorce is carefully rebuffed and before she can put her foot down the world ends. then it doesn't seem that important anymore. in the early days her home burns down and her wife is gone and she's left with nothing more than the scars. she makes her way to valdez through sheer tenacity and cares for the community like they were her own children. camilla is a tough, but fair leader. she endeavors to hear out every resident of the mountain sky hotel but rules are rules. the decisions she make - no matter how hard - are made to keep everyone safe.

𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

many describe camille as warm and maternal. she attempts to lead mountain sky fairly though takes every failure personally and can be discouraged by her own attempts to do good. she has a natural magnetism to her that makes her open to listening and caring. but her pride is stubborn both her failures and her successes she owes to herself. while she never had children of her own she regards many of the members of mountain sky hotel as family. to her, her duty is a protector and a guide - she has no desire to be an almighty ruler rather to work together to create a community everyone can be happy and safe in. she is sometimes blinded by her own idealism - too focused on trying to do the best for everyone that she can't do well for even one person and often defers making harder decisions to her second and third in command. the responsibility of her position weighs incredibly heavy on her and sometimes it's called into question whether she can handle it. she sees things in a very practical manner only focused on long-term goals which occasionally causes lapse in short term necessities.

[mr-styles]

Harry Styles Helped Register Tens of Thousands of Fans to Vote Ahead of the 2022 Midterm Elections

The British pop star's campaign with HeadCount set a new record for the organization.

Harry Styles wants YOU to vote! On Monday (Oct. 31), HeadCount reported that the pop star had helped register more than 54,000 new voters in its “Good to Vote” initiative ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

With that number, the “As It Was” crooner has been instrumental in breaking the record for HeadCount’s most successful campaign driven by a musical artist in the organization’s 18-year history. Thanks to Styles’ sweepstakes — which offered fans who registered to vote a chance to win travel and tickets to his annual “Harryween” show in L.A. on Halloween — HeadCount also experienced an all-time high in single day voter registration with 28,760 getting signed up to vote in the contest’s first 24 hours.

According to the nonprofit organization, Styles’ partnership ahead of the upcoming midterms now accounts for one third of the total number of the 190,000 voters they’ve registered throughout 2022. Per a release, HeadCount called the spike in voter registration an “unprecedented number for a midterm season.”

News of Harry’s record-breaking efforts to get out the vote comes just days after he dropped the appropriately fishy music video for his latest Harry’s House single, “Music For a Sushi Restaurant.” In the inventive clip, the British heartthrob plays a washed-up sea creature — complete with a bushy beard and a bottom half made of tentacles — who rockets to fame after transforming himself into a successful lounge singer.

Styles is currently in the middle of his 15-show run at L.A.’s Kia Forum, and also racked up six nominations last week for the upcoming 2022 People’s Choice Awards, which was just one behind Big Bunny’s pack-leading seven nods.

Learn more about Styles’ voter registration campaign with HeadCount on the organization’s website.

via billboard.com

[thestylesindependent]

Harry Styles wants YOU to vote! On Monday (Oct. 31), HeadCount reported that the pop star had helped register more than 54,000 new voters in its “Good to Vote” initiative ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

With that number, the “As It Was” crooner has been instrumental in breaking the record for HeadCount’s most successful campaign driven by a musical artist in the organization’s 18-year history. Thanks to Styles’ sweepstakes — which offered fans who registered to vote a chance to win travel and tickets to his annual “Harryween” show in L.A. on Halloween — HeadCount also experienced an all-time high in single day voter registration with 28,760 getting signed up to vote in the contest’s first 24 hours.

According to the nonprofit organization, Styles’ partnership ahead of the upcoming midterms now accounts for one third of the total number of the 190,000 voters they’ve registered throughout 2022. Per a release, HeadCount called the spike in voter registration an “unprecedented number for a midterm season.”

News of Harry’s record-breaking efforts to get out the vote comes just days after he dropped the appropriately fishy music video for his latest Harry’s House single, “Music For a Sushi Restaurant.” In the inventive clip, the British heartthrob plays a washed-up sea creature — complete with a bushy beard and a bottom half made of tentacles — who rockets to fame after transforming himself into a successful lounge singer.

Styles is currently in the middle of his 15-show run at L.A.’s Kia Forum, and also racked up six nominations last week for the upcoming 2022 People’s Choice Awards, which was just one behind Big Bunny’s pack-leading seven nods.

Learn more about Styles’ voter registration campaign with HeadCount on the organization’s website.

[fantabulisticity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/11/08/parks-trails-all-terrain-wheelchairs/

The original post with this article wouldn't send when Taupe tried to show it to me, so I'm posting it here. THE FUTURE IS HERE! WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS, SLOWLY BUT SURELY!

All-terrain wheelchairs arrive at U.S. parks: ‘This is life-changing’

Georgia and South Dakota are the latest states to provide off-road wheelchairs on public trails

Cory Lee has visited 40 countries on seven continents, and yet the Georgia native has never explored Cloudland Canyon State Park, about 20 minutes from his home. His wheelchair was tough enough for the trip to Antarctica but not for the rugged terrain in his backyard.

Lee’s circumstances changed Friday, when Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources and the Aimee Copeland Foundation unveiled a fleet of all-terrain power wheelchairs for rent at 11 state parks and outdoorsy destinations, including Cloudland Canyon. The Action Trackchair models are equipped with tank-like tracks capable of traversing rocks, roots, streams and sand; clearing fallen trees; plowing through tall grass; and tackling uphill climbs.

“I’ll finally be able to go on these trails for the first time in my life,” said the 32-year-old travel blogger, who shares his adventures on Curb Free With Cory Lee. “The trails are off-limits in my regular wheelchair.”

Georgia is one of the latest states to provide the Land Rover of wheelchairs to outdoor enthusiasts with mobility issues.

In 2017, Colorado Parks and Wildlife launched its Staunton State Park Track-Chair Program, which provides free adaptive equipment, though guests must pay the $10 entrance fee. Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources has placed off-road track chairs in nearly a dozen parks, including Muskegon State Park. In 2018, Lee reserved a chair at the park that boasts three miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake. “It allowed me to have so much independence on the sand,” he said.

In 2019, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan became the first national park to offer a track chair, said superintendent Scott Tucker. This year, Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, the nonprofit that oversees the program, added a third.

“We want to create an unforgettable outdoor experience for everyone, not just for people who can walk.”

— Jamie McBride, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

South Dakota is also expanding its squadron: On Tuesday, the South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation unveils its second all-terrain chair. South Dakota resident Michael M. Samp is leading a fundraising campaign to purchase up to 30 chairs. Last year, Samp’s father packed up his fishing pole and piloted a track chair to Center Lake in Custer State Park. He reeled in trout, just as he had before he was diagnosed with spinal cerebral ataxia.

“The plan is to have the chairs spread throughout the state and available for various outdoor activities including, but not limited to, park and trail enjoyment, hunting and fishing,” said Kristina Coby, the foundation’s director.

This month, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will wrap up its months-long pilot program that tested out the chairs in five parks. On Nov. 16, the agency will evaluate the success of the amenity. Early indications are positive.

“We want to create an unforgettable outdoor experience for everyone, not just for people who can walk,” said Jamie McBride, a state parks and recreation area program consultant with the Parks and Trails division of the Minnesota DNR. “People have told us this is life-changing.”

The Georgia initiative was spearheaded by Aimee Copeland Mercier, who suffered a zip-lining accident in 2012 and lost both hands, her right foot and her left leg to a flesh-eating bacterial infection. Copeland Mercier, a psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker, tested several types of all-terrain chairs before committing to the Action Trackchair, which several other state programs also use.

The Minnesota-based company was founded by Tim and Donna Swenson, whose son, Jeff, was paralyzed in a car accident. The original design resembled a Frankenstein of sporting goods parts, with snow bike tracks and a busted boat seat. Today’s model could be an opening act at a monster truck rally.

“I was floored by what it could do,” said Copeland Mercier, whose foundation raised $200,000 to purchase the chairs at $12,500 each. “Oh my gosh! I can go over a whole tree trunk, up a steep incline and through snow, swamps and wetlands. If I took my regular wheelchair, I’d get stuck in five minutes.”

Each program has its own reservations system and requirements. For Georgia’s service, visitors must provide proof of their disability and a photo ID, plus complete an online training course available through All Terrain Georgia. Once certified, the organization will forward the rental request to the park. Copeland Mercier urges visitors to plan ahead: The certification course takes about an hour, the foundation needs 72-hour advance notice and the park requires a 48-hour head’s up.

“These are 500-pound chairs,” she said. “There are some risks involved.”

The Minnesota DNR, which owns and maintains its five chairs, advises visitors to call the park to reserve a chair.

“We have a few screening questions,” McBride said, “but we leave the eligibility up to the user.”

Since launching the program in June, McBride said, the chairs are booked three to four days a week, with heavier interest on weekends. “We haven’t turned too many people away at this point,” he said.

Track chairs can conquer a range of obstacles, but they do not work in all environments.

“You need the width. If two trees are too close together, the wheelchair can’t pass between them,” Copeland Mercier said. “And some inclines are too steep. The chair also can’t go down staircases.”

To steer visitors in the right direction, parks have created maps highlighting the trails designated for the track chairs, such as Staunton State Park’s trio of routes that range from roughly three to four miles. Visitors center staff members are also ready with recommendations. (To transfer from chair to chair, visitors will need a companion to assist.)

McBride said one goal is to erect markers that would provide detailed information about the hike, such the extent of accessibility. “We want to let people know if they can get all the way to the waterfall or halfway,” he said, using a hypothetical example.

Copeland Mercier also has a wish list. She hopes to expand the network of chairs to other parts of Georgia, such as the coastal, southern and central regions. Once the foundation acquires several vans (another aspiration), the staff could move the 30 to 40 chairs (ditto) around the state to fill fluctuating demand. She is also eyeing other states.

“North Carolina is next,” said Copeland Mercier, who divides her time between Atlanta and Asheville, N.C. But the grand plan is even bigger. “The goal is to alter the U.S.A.,” she said.

[forcecrow]

Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack!

Is your nonprofit struggling to manage donor relationships and track impact? 💥 Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) can be your game-changer! 🏆 From donor management to fundraising, NPSP offers a powerful solution to streamline your operations. 🚀

Read more:

https://forcecrow.com/2024/06/27/salesforce-nonprofit-success-pack/

[packpack-killkill]

[Image Source]

Yellowstone National Park’s Oldest Wolf Gave Birth to 3 Pups This Spring

Shared from ABC News 5 Cleveland.

The oldest wolf in Yellowstone National Park, known as Wolf 907, gave birth to another litter of pups this spring.

“This 10th litter has just started to come out of the den,” said Kira Cassidy, a research associate with the Yellowstone Wolf Project.

The three pups are now about 4 weeks old and have started to crawl around. Wolf 907's current den is visible from the roadway.

“[Wolf 907] is just over 11 years old. The oldest one we’ve ever recorded is 12 1/2,” Cassidy said.

“We know of at least five wolves that we’ve captured and radio-collared that are her direct offspring,” she added.

Last year, Wolf 907 old had one pup survive in the litter.

“She has now lived almost four times longer than the average wolf. On average they will only live to about 3 or 4 years old,” Cassidy said. “We've only recorded two that have made it to 12 years old,” she added. Only 26 collared wolves have made it to age 10.

Wolf 907, the current leader of the Junction Butte pack in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park, has also lived most of her life with only one eye, as discovered through a trail cam video.

“It happened at some point between the time she was 10 months old and 4 years old. And we’re not sure what happened,” Cassidy said. “It doesn't seem to hold her back at all.”

Generally, experts say wolves don’t die of old age. They face many challenges, including vehicles and humans.

“It's always some kind of really dramatic kind of death. About half of them die when two packs fight each other over territory. They will also die while they are hunting large prey like an elk or bison, they might get kicked or gored,” Cassidy said.

However, older and more experienced wolves can help younger wolves be cautious of these dangers.

“They can get enough experience that being successful is something that they then teach the younger packmates,” said Cassidy.

Right now, about 25% of the wolves in Yellowstone National Park are collared. The Yellowstone Wolf Project started in 1995, after wolves were reintroduced to the park. It is one of the most detailed studies of a large carnivore in the world, according to Yellowstone Forever, the nonprofit partner of Yellowstone National Park. More work is now being done on the social dynamics of wolves.

Gray wolves had previously been hunted to eradication by the 1920s before the reintroduction.

[fidelmartin007]

Your Ultimate Guide to Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)

In Salesforce’s own words, Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack or NPSP is the nonprofit technology built on the world’s number one CRM i.e. Salesforce. It was built by Salesforce’s nonprofit community of 47,000 nonprofits which makes this solution perfect for any nonprofit organization that is looking to streamline their operations including donor management, donation management, as well as volunteer management.

Let’s first try and understand the offering of Salesforce’s NPSP.

Salesforce provides this success pack for nonprofits for free. But, there’s a catch. It is only free up to 10 users which seems reasonable and doable but to get it properly configured and get started with it, you’ll have to seek out a consultation or a development firm which makes it not so free a solution.

What comes in this Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack?

Well, for starters, it has the general Salesforce tech and nonprofit success pack making it just the right solution for a nonprofit to get started. It is built with the relationship-first ideology to help you with constituent relationship management.

What is Salesforce NPSP?

Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack or NPSP is essentially a free solution to get a nonprofit organization started with the help of Salesforce NPSP.

Salesforce uses a standard data model to organize data and their NPSP uses a similar data model for its functions as well as expansion. This model is created in such a way that it is easier for any layperson to understand how data is organized in context to a spreadsheet or database. To know more about Salesforce’s data model, check out their piece on NPSP basics from here. After reading their piece, you’ll have a clear understanding of some of Salesforce terminology like objects, fields, records, etc. which will make it easier to understand NPSP.

NPSP Features: Explained in Details

NPSP’s focus being on nonprofit organizations, it is packed with features that are specially made for it. Let’s go through them:

– Donor management – Donation management – Engagement management – Volunteer management – Campaign management – Analytics

Original Source: https://www.crmjetty.com/blog/salesforce-nonprofit-success-pack-npsp/

[bethestaryouareradio]

Celebrating Be the Star You Are, NonProfit of the Year, Spring Greens, Lucrative Majors

Tune in LIVE weekly to the upbeat, positive lifestyle broadcast where producer and host Cynthia Brian showcases strategies for success on StarStyle®-Be the Star You Are!®. Available wherever you listen to your favorite programs!

Be the Star You Are! was founded by Cynthia  Brian in 1999 and has been serving the community, country, and world with an all-volunteer staff since that time. In 2024, BTSYA was the winner of the Nonprofit of the Year Award. Listen to the backstory and the successes. Congratulations to the volunteers, donors, and supporters. 

You probably eat lettuce and maybe spinach, but in springtime, there are so many delicious greens that are packed with nutrients that it’s time that you upped your intake. Goddess Gardener Cynthia Brian shares the interesting and flavorful supergreens that are proven to help you stay strong, lean, and disease-free.

As teens begin thinking about college, they often ask their counselors or parents what would be the most lucrative major for financial success. Is it business, computer science, law, medical, or something else? What are the best fields to pursue? Find a glimpse of what majors lead to the best opportunities in longevity with high earning potentials.

Follow StarStyle®:

Listen at the Voice America Network, Empowerment Channel: https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/149764/btsya-nonprofit-of-the-year-spring-greens-lucrative-majors

RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOK: Family Forever: https://cynthiabrian.suhttps://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/148814/love-day-liking-lichens-world-democracy-colds-and-flusbstack.com/p/family-forever Available at www.CynthiaBrian.com/online-store or  www.StarStyleStore.net

LIVE SHOW 4-5pm PT: https://bit.ly/3cDti0Z

Places to Listen to StarStyle Radio:

Apple Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starstyle-be-the-star-you-are/id669630180?mt=2

Tunein: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Motivational/StarStyle---Be-the-Star-You-Are-p46014/

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/voice-america/be-the-star-you-are

IHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-starstyle-be-the-star-you-31083110/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4zDdwzlsHH44caWiMQdD25

SubStack: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/228120.rss

Pocketcasts: https://pca.st/mjw2ng5n

Be the Star You Are! 501 c3 charity offers help, hope, and healing for women, families and youth in need.

BTSYA Operation Disaster Relief. Please donate. http://ow.ly/ks8A30lekGe

Read how BTSYA is Making a Difference: https://www.ibpa-online.org/news/460747/IBPA-Member-Spotlight-Cynthia-Brian.htm 

Read our Newsletter:Hurray! We Won! Plus Earth Awareness:  https://open.substack.com/pub/cynthiabrian/p/hurray-we-won?

Read Cynthia’s Voice America Blog Press Pass: https://blog.voiceamerica.com/author/cynthia-brian/

Make a DONATION through PAYPAL GIVING FUND and PAYPAL with 100% going to BTSYA with NO FEES:  https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1504

Or you can choose to make the donation using many different payment methods which may have fees via by Givebutter at https://givebutter.com/be-the-star-you-are-charity.

Small DONATIONS Make a Big Difference to Others: Decrease Violence. Increase Literacy. 

$25 provides 5 new books.

$50 provides 12 new books.

$100 provides 28 new books.

Donate via Paypal Giving Fund

or Visit www.BTSYA.org

Discount Software, Digital content. Ebooks, Games: http://www.humblebundle.com/store?partner=1504&charity=1504

Shop at over 2000 stores and save BIG: https://www.iGive.com/BTYSA

When you are looking for upbeat, life-changing, and mind-stretching information, you have come to the right place. Host Cynthia Brian takes you on a journey of exploration that will encourage, inspire, and motivate you to make positive changes that offer life-enhancing results. It's party time on StarStyle®-Be the Star You Are!®. And YOU are invited! Join us LIVE 4-5pm Pt on Wednesdays or tune in to the archives at your leisure. Come play in StarStyle Country. Catch up with all broadcasts on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/starstyle-be-the-star-you-are!/id669630180?mt=2

Make a DONATION through PAYPAL GIVING FUND with 100% going to BTSYA with NO FEES:  https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1504

Buy books by Cynthia Brian at http://www.cynthiabrian.com/online-store

For photos, descriptions, links, archives, and more, visit http://www.StarStyleRadio.com.

[fcsbluefcsblue]

Financial Services Cloud with FCS Blue Choose FCS Blue for the expert implementation of Financial Services Cloud, offering Salesforce-certified proficiency, continuous support, and training, along with tailored integrations for your unique organizational needs. Our approach ensures smooth adoption and maximized operational efficiency for financial institutions.Our team of Salesforce-certified professionals ensures a smooth, efficient implementation of Financial Services Cloud, tailored to your unique organizational needs.

[businessesindelaware]

Delaware's Position as an Epicenter of Innovation: Key Factors and Insights

Nestled on the east coast of the United States, Delaware might be one of the smallest states in the country, but it certainly packs a punch when it comes to innovation. From its business-friendly environment to its robust infrastructure and strong support for research and development, Delaware has emerged as a hotbed for innovation across various sectors. This article will explore why Delaware is a prime destination for fostering innovation.

Pro-Business Environment

Delaware is renowned for its pro-business environment and favorable regulatory climate. The state's corporate-friendly laws, business-friendly tax policies, and well-established legal framework have made it an attractive destination for startups, entrepreneurs, and established businesses. Delaware's business-friendly climate encourages innovation by providing companies the flexibility and support they need to thrive and grow.

Strong Legal Infrastructure

Delaware's Court of Chancery, widely regarded as one of the most sophisticated business courts in the country, plays a crucial role in fostering innovation. The court's expertise in corporate law and its swift and efficient resolution of business disputes provide companies with legal certainty and predictability essential for innovation. Delaware's well-established legal infrastructure protects intellectual property rights and facilitates the formation of business entities, enabling entrepreneurs to bring their innovative ideas to market more quickly and efficiently.

Access to Capital

Access to capital is essential for fueling innovation, and Delaware offers a wealth of funding opportunities for startups and growing companies. The state's proximity to major financial centers such as New York City and Philadelphia provides entrepreneurs access to various venture capital firms, angel investors, and other funding sources. Delaware's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs also provide grants and funding to support research and development activities in key innovation sectors.

Collaborative Ecosystem

Delaware boasts a vibrant and collaborative ecosystem that fosters innovation through partnerships between academia, government, industry, and the nonprofit sector. The state is home to world-class research institutions such as the University of Delaware and Delaware State University, which collaborate closely with industry partners to drive innovation and technology transfer. Additionally, organizations like the Delaware Innovation Space provide startups and entrepreneurs access to state-of-the-art facilities, mentorship programs, and networking opportunities to accelerate their growth and success.

Emphasis on Research and Development

Delaware recognizes the critical role of research and development (R&D) in driving innovation and economic growth. The state offers various incentives and support programs to encourage companies to invest in R&D activities, including tax credits for qualified R&D expenses and grants for technology commercialization and product development. Delaware's commitment to fostering a culture of innovation through R&D investment has attracted companies from diverse sectors, including life sciences, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, and information technology.

Strategic Location and Connectivity

At the heart of the Northeast Corridor, Delaware enjoys strategic proximity to major markets along the eastern seaboard, making it an ideal location for companies seeking to access a large customer base and distribution networks. The state's well-developed transportation infrastructure, including its extensive network of highways, railroads, and ports, facilitates the movement of goods and people, enhancing connectivity and driving economic activity. 

Delaware's strategic location and connectivity give businesses a competitive edge, enabling them to capitalize on emerging market opportunities and drive innovation across regional and global markets.

Delaware's pro-business environment, solid legal infrastructure, access to capital, collaborative ecosystem, emphasis on research and development, and strategic location make it an ideal destination for innovation. Delaware offers the resources, support, and opportunities you need to succeed, whether you are a startup entrepreneur with a groundbreaking idea or an established company looking to expand and innovate. With its rich history of innovation and forward-thinking mindset, Delaware continues to position itself as a leader in driving economic growth, job creation, and technological advancement in the 21st century.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from KEZI 9 News:

Oregon’s gray wolf population did not increase last year due in part to a large number of wolves killed by people, causing concern among conservationists and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials.

The latest Annual Wolf Report found the population remained steady at 178 wolves, marking the first time in eight years that their numbers didn’t increase. Typically, the population has grown by 6% a year. Among the 36 wolf deaths in 2023, 33 were caused by people. The state sanctioned the killing of 16 wolves following livestock deaths and 12 were killed illegally, the report said. 

“The amount of poaching and other suspicious deaths is alarming, impacts our conservation goals and could affect our ability to manage wolves in Oregon,” Bernadette Graham-Hudson, the agency’s wildlife division administrator, said in a news release.

The count is based on wolf tracks and other evidence, including appearance on wilderness cameras, and might be too low, officials said. It also doesn’t include the 10 wolves that were transported from Oregon to Colorado in December to help reestablish a wolf population there.

In addition to the steady numbers, the count cited two fewer wolf packs and successful breeding pairs in 2023 than in 2022 due to poaching.

Gray wolves are listed as endangered under the federal Species Act in most of central and western Oregon, and four of the illegal killings took place in places where they are federally protected. Seven of the wolves that were illegally killed were poisoned. The state wildlife department, Oregon State Police and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating the poisonings and offering a $50,000 reward for more information on three of them. Other deaths were caused by vehicles, cancer, natural causes or undetermined causes. One was shot by a livestock owner in an act of self defense, according to the report.

Conservationists criticized Oregon’s fish and wildlife agency for allowing 16 wolves to be killed in 2023 for what the agency considered to be chronic livestock depredation by wolves. That is more state-sanctioned wolf killings than in any year since record keeping began in 2008, according to Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.