I was joined by three stewards of what I consider the "troublemaking triumvirate", Community-Centric Fundraising, Crappy Funding Practices, and More Than Grant Writers! Rachel D’Souza, Patrice Shumate, and Dr. L. Kris Gowen, who joined us to talk about how, now more than ever, we can all engage in challenging the status quo. Be with us to explore how every post, conversation, letter, march, and email matters and contributes to collective action.

As a changemaker, have you ever felt insignificant, like a speck of sand in the universe and stream of time? Have you also felt and seen the ripples of your kindness and support, that made you feel connected to your humanity and purpose? We want to explore the duality and accompanying spectrum of emotions, while also considering the change and changemakers who have come generations before us and the struggles, dreams, and status quo challengers who will continue long after us. With amazing guests Deborah A., Dr. M. Gabriela Alcalde, and Dr. Kim McLear, we want to explore the complicated dynamics of our pasts, these current tumultuous times, and the opportunities for all of us to be good ancestors as we co-create unknown futures. Join us and invite others who could use connection and inspiration!

In these currently challenging times, how do we both accept and influence our realities? While imagination is helpful, what would it mean to take creative action? While liberation can be aspirational, what does it mean to harness the irrepressible human spirit to change the future? Aasim Shabazz, Steward of the Twin Cities Innovation Alliance led us through an experience that: - challenged the realities we consume - acknowledged the struggle of alignment - disrupted patterns in how we think and respond - redefined what is within our control - helped us equilibrate to better access renewal, rejuvenation, and regeneration.

What does it mean to be a futurist? What if we all could be futurists and design new systems, structures, and practices? Are there mindsets, skills, and strategies we can learn and use to shift from the status quo to the future quo? These are the types of questions we want to address in this episode. We were joined by three fantastic guests to dive into these topics. Tameka Vasquez, Humanity-centered futurist, strategist, professor, speaker, and Founder of The Future Quo Hilda Vega, Deputy VP, Philanthropic Practice, Hispanics in Philanthropy Grace Mervin, Artist, designer, strategist, and futurist

Many of us are changemakers because we want to make the world a better place. We want the investment of our passion, time, expertise, and focus to have a larger meaning.  But what happens when we begin to see breakdowns, missed opportunities, blockers, and embedded harmful systems that stall and hold back the shifts we want to create?   We want to talk about uncomfortable questions that challenge our vision of social impact work such as, What the heck is social impact? Can we actually make an impact and create change on a large scale? Whose "job" do we make it to "change"? When and how do we consider sociopolitical contexts? Is change actually accomplished by connecting with one human at a time? What is success from the many different perspectives of people and organizations involved in social change efforts?  I was joined by the brilliant Donna Sherard, Founder of Changeable, and designer, lecturer, and advisor, Katrina Mitchell, to dive into these questions and many more!

We often hear terms like "indigenize" philanthropy, being in "right relationship", and moving beyond people alone in our design work. We want to dive into this topic and questions like, What and how can we respectfully honor the power and prosperity that lie within ancestral and indigenous ways of knowing and living? - Who and what defines what it means to "indigenize" our work in social impact? - In a white-dominant sector, what are the dangers of tokenism, cooptation, theft, and harm? We were joined by two amazing guests to dive into these topics. Maryam Mohiuddin Ahmed, Senior Fellow, Social Innovation Canada Dr. Anita Sanchez, Author of The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times

In our dominant cultures’ focus on hustle, grinding, progress, and productivity, where and how do we focus on rest? What does "rest as resistance" really mean and how does rest connect to justice and liberation? We wanted to talk about the systems and structures that construct harmful expectations and behaviors and discuss how we all can reclaim our power to change how we live, work, and play. We were joined by two amazing guests to dive into these topics. Desiree Adaway, Principal, The Adaway Group Jennifer Lentfer, Creator/Writer and Leadership Coach, how-matters.org

We want to talk about the idea of trust and how many often say that we can only move at the speed of trust. - But who defines trust? - What are the elements of power that influence that definition? - What does it really mean to be trustWORTHY and how does this affect our work in the social sector? We were joined by three amazing guests to dive into these topics. Sabrina Meherally, Founder and CEO, Pause and Effect Terrance Smith, Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellow, The Johns Hopkins University Pia Infante, Senior Fellow, Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

In this episode, This is Possibility Project's first-ever all-white panel. This episode will focus on white women's journeys as they navigate race and their own racial identity. We will be joined by three fantastic speakers including: Julie Ragland, Co-Founder & Consultant at Ragland & Wilhite Consultants Heather Mack, Antiracist Evaluation Consultant Dr. Tema Okun, Educator, Writer, Artist, Activist

Isn't it strange how we overlook and avoid conversations about operations and how everything actually gets done inside our organizations? We often don't want to discuss how we do the work, and instead pour ourselves into the why, and focus on providing support and resources. In this urgency to serve, we often overlook the essential nature of our workflows, and what happens if they are broken, disrupted, or neglected. Philanthropy and donors don't want to talk about these "boring bits", and often don't want to fund overhead, but we all know that the people, processes, and workflows, are actually, how impact is created. How do we address this gap in understanding and focus and what are the reasons behind this lack of attention? I was joined by two wonderful fantastic speakers to dive into these topics. Denisha Tate-McAlister, Founder and CEO, Denisha Tate & Associates Meg Taylor, Co-founder and CEO, Capably

In this episode, Kelli Wilbert, Principal Program Manager - Equity in Design Operations, Workday; Dr. Chera Reid, Co-Executive Director, Center for Evaluation Innovation; and Heather Krause, Founder, We All Count led us in a conversation where we discussed provocations like: Who decides what is impact? What is the role of power? What do stakeholder-centered data collection, analysis, impact, and user experience look like, and what is missing from our "standard" practices? What is the role of equity and justice connected to data, impact, and user experience? What choices do we make (and who makes them) that favor and benefit dominant cultures?

Business and startup jargon, methods, and spaces such as R&D, prototyping, pretotyping, rapid experimentation, and innovation labs have grown in the social impact sector for more than the past decade. As we interrogate practices of design that have permeated the social impact realm, how might we also interrogate practices that support rapid testing, and "shallow experimentation and prototyping on what are wicked problems — problems like climate change, early childhood education, affordable housing, and various public health issues." The quoted text above and this topic have been inspired by and taken from the article, by Louise Adongo, Have You Thought About the Harm Your Social R&D Project Might Cause? Adongo goes on to question, "What happens when we lose sight of people in favour of innovation? When, for example, we go into a community with intent to prototype a ‘promising’ brand-new program, try out brand-new ways of delivering that program, learn a lot of useful information — then leave? What if the program fails? For whom does it hold promise? What promises? And who bears the brunt and costs of the ‘safe’ failures which inevitably happen in experimentation and innovation?" Our three fantastic speakers, Louise Adongo, Executive Director of Inspiring Communities, Mojdeh Cox, Community Builder, Advisor & Leader Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook, PhD, Director, Centre for Indigenous Innovation & Technology; Co-Director at Participatory Canada will dive into this topic and explore our current practices, the benefits and challenges of these practices, and what we might do differently.

Fighting for policy change, advocating for systemic shifts, and designing mobilization strategies can feel overwhelming. Not all of us have the experience and confidence to get involved, even when our passion is great. We wanted to demystify and challenge the ways that we think about activism and the ways that ALL of us can bring about political and social change. I was joined by two wonderful fantastic speakers to dive into these topics. Nivi Achanta, Founder of the Soapbox Project Caryn Paye, Disability Advocate, and Community organizer

In our work as designers and professional problem solvers, we often rely on years of experience and professional training to guide our work. But what happens when those skills, methodologies, expertise, and experience actually create barriers to authentic connection and shared power with community members? Brooke Staton, Dr. Pierce Edward Cornelius Otlhogile-Gordon, and Milan Drake will dive into discussing how with the best of intentions (and the best of training), there are limitations of our expertise that can actually interfere with creating impact.

In this episode we want to discuss wealth, wealth hoarding, and what local and national economic development and policy strategies we need for shared prosperity. These are just some of the topics we want to explore with our three fantastic speakers, Jennifer Njuguna, Keneshia Raymond, and Chuck Collins.

Conversations about cultural appropriation and reparations are increasingly persistent. But how often do we take the time to understand the work that has been evolving in these spaces for decades? How can we understand how our behaviors and actions play a role to sustain and reinforce extractive practices? What can we do on a regular basis to take just and restorative action? These are just some of the questions we want to explore with our three amazing speakers, Kathryn Evans, President, Rooted Strategy; Tommy Johnson, Chief Education Officer, Made with Black Culture; and Allen Kwabena Frimpong, Co-Creator & Managing Partner, AdAstra Collective.

We talked about, moral injury, the damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one’s own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct (source: Moral Injury Project). How does this play out in our social change organizations and work? Most of us do this work because we care deeply about justice and opportunity for all people. How do we reconcile instances when how our organizations operate, how decisions are made, and how actions are taken in the name of social good, violate our own moral compasses? I was joined by three fantastic guests to dive into these topics. Meico Marquette Whitlock, Mindful Techie, Author of When Work Doesn’t Love You Back Frank Velásquez Jr., Founder, 4 Da Hood Catherine Alonzo, CEO and Founding Partner, Javalina

We have heard so much chatter, promises, callouts, and call-ins regarding DEI and the absolute need for this work, but what has been accomplished? Experts and leaders feel pressure to meet this moment, but what has been the cost to people guiding and engaging in these efforts? We want to talk about questions like: - What does it really take to create awareness and change behavior in the long term? - What are the small and large ripples that are created by new conversations and new accountability? - What do you do when people reach a level of exhaustion required by self-awareness, new learning, repairing harm, and expectations for action that are involved? We will be joined by three fantastic speakers: Afia Amobeaa-Sakyi, Director, Equity & Inclusion, Exponent Philanthropy Whitney Parnell, Founder & CEO, Service Never Sleeps Cecilia (Wang) Wessinger, Director for Global Community, Global Entrepreneurship Network

If you work in social change, you probably have experienced the feeling of urgency, a rush to meet a deadline, a rush to address serious needs, or a rush to meet expectations of impact. In the speed of our work, how often do we question what is gained and what is lost when we rush to create social change? What are the power dynamics that drive this speed and desire for rapid results? Do funders benefit? Do leaders benefit? Do organizations benefit? And most importantly, do communities benefit? We want to talk about these and many other questions around urgency with three amazing guests: Victor Udoewa, Chief Experience Officer & Service Design Lead, NASA Tommie Collins, Design Strategist, ChiByDesign Hilary Sedovic, Transdisciplinary Social Work Professional | Pragmatic Idealist

"Code-switching as it’s been coined by the POC community—specifically centered around the Black experience—is when Black people switch the way they speak, act, and interact with colleagues within the companies they work for. For a long time, code-switching has been a survival tactic. The thought of actually coming to work and being yourself as a Black person could potentially lead to discrimination, tokenism, and in some cases termination. In Black and POC communities, code-switching is seen as a necessary practice for advancing professionally and being considered as valuable at work. Transparently, there is no clear description of what code-switching looks like to everyone who experiences it, but generally, it is a tool that has been used to fit into a specific work culture that has been deemed appropriate. In retrospect, this deems any other behavior outside of the traditional guidelines, inappropriate." Excerpt from Margot Elise's article, "How Code-Switching in the Workplace Has Been Normalized for POCs" We want to talk about the big questions including: - What does code-switching look like in the social sector? - What survival tactics are our social sector colleagues expected to employ to be seen as "valuable" and "appropriate"? - What does it look like to belong inside and outside our organizations? This very powerful and vulnerable conversation will be guided by: Dorian Spears, National Program Partnerships and Strategy Lead, GET Cities Stéphanie Bermúdez, Founder and CEO, Startup Unidos