142. Breaking the Hero-Victim Narrative in Philanthropy - Travis Ning

Meet Travis. This nonprofit ED spent years in the women’s microcredit movement in Asia and Latin America, which taught him a couple of critical lessons: how a mother has an unyielding commitment to improve her family’s situation, and how education plays a pivotal role in breaking free of cyclical poverty and making informed choices. We're talking about creating a launchpad for donors and fundraisers to talk about the power dynamics in their relationships that help break the victim-hero narrative. It's one of our most moving convos yet. Tune in!

Episode Highlights

• Travis’s story and journey to where he is today (3:30)
• The mission of MAIA: Unlocking and maximizing the potential of young women to lead transformational change (4:00)
• The current state of Guatemala (10:00)
• MAIA’s unique curriculum (13:20)
• The Awareness Accord: how to be better at doing good (19:20)
• Changing the power dynamics in philanthropy (20:00)
• How to have difficult conversations around power dynamics with your donors and breaking the hero-victim narrative in nonprofits (29:00)
  • 1. Align Expectations
  • 2. Dignified Engagement
  • 3. Can We Share the Story?
• A moment of philanthropy in Travis’s life that deeply moved him (37:00)
• Travis’s One Good Thing: Remember Karma. You never know what side of the coin you will find yourself on. Be generous. We're gonna need help, we always need help (42:00)
• QUIZ: What type of philanthropist are you?

“Today, over 129 million girls are currently missing out on an education, 96 million of whom should be enrolled in secondary school. In Guatemala, fewer than 20 percent of Indigenous girls graduate from high school, and only 2 percent go on to university. At MAIA, we believe in connecting talent to opportunity, ensuring that this population is no longer over

About our Sponsor Givebutter 💛

Nonprofits use Givebutter to bring together multiple categories of tools, including mobile-friendly donation forms, fundraising campaigns, events, auctions, email marketing, a built-in CRM, and so much more. Head to givebutter.com/weareforgood to sign up for your free account today and get started in minutes.

Thank you to our partners 🩵

Big gratitude to Givebutter, RKD Group, DonorDock, Feathr, Whiteboard and Sowen for their partnership in growing the Impact Uprising. If you’re searching for a new CRM, tech tool, brand partner, direct mail partner, or impact strategist— we’d love for you to start with our trusted recs. We’ve vetted them so you don’t have to. Head to weareforgood.com/recs to learn more.

Support the show

Become a Member and Get All-Access to Everything We Are For Good!
Experience the Impact Uprising Membership by We Are For Good: an ecosystem to learn, connect + grow in the power of a value-aligned community. Members gather monthly with Jon + Becky at exclusive members-only meetups + get video access to all new podcast episodes in an ad-free experience + so much more! Learn more + join us at weareforgood.com.

Say hi👇
LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter