2025 CalNonprofits Policy Conference Supplement [W]Rap

Silhouette of rapper with mic in hand lifted to his head

It was a pleasure joining Adler & Colvin Principal Rosemary Fei and CalMatters CEO Neil Chase for the keynote presentation at the 2025 CalNonprofits Policy Conference. We covered (lightly, given the time frame) some of the most important current issues for nonprofits in this political climate, including:

Are we at risk and should we be afraid?
What can/should we do to address our risks?
For those of us with race-based programs, what should we know?
How do we weigh mission and organizational viability?
What is the role of the board and what is purpose-driven board leadership?
Should we scrub our websites?
What about advocacy? What about collaborations?
What about the narratives that continue to persist even while the laws may change?

Some Tips

Assess your risks realistically (the vast majority of nonprofits are not individual targets), especially if you are considering compromising your mission and values to reduce your risks
Don’t leave ‘low-lying fruit’ that can easily jeopardize your organization or its operations (e.g., make sure you are current with your filings with the IRS and all applicable states in which you may be operating or fundraising, especially states that are supportive of priorities that are in opposition to your mission, values, or communities; ensure compliance with your articles and bylaws, including regarding mission-related activities, meetings, and elections of directors and officers)
Consider strategies to go around obstacles while still advancing your mission and values if you’re not in a position to challenge and try to go through the obstacles (e.g., through a lawsuit)
Do not get too hung up on fighting over words or phrases that have no legal meaning (e.g., “DEI”) – either (1) stick with them if using these words or phrases (and not just living by them) are critical to your mission or (2) focus on their underlying importance and capture the same goals with the same or greater strength using alternative words or phrases (not just synonyms), particularly in filings with the IRS
Advocate and lobby on issues of critical importance; doing so with a group may be more powerful and less risky
Focus not only on the laws, but also on the narratives that informed the laws and often persist even when laws change (which can cause good laws to regress back to bad laws as is happening now)
Be driven by your purpose (mission, vision, values), respect the communities you serve and your ecosystem (current and future), be courageous, be vigilant

Supplement Rap

Although the opportunity did not present itself for my rap “performance,” here are the bars I wrote riffing off the third verse of Kendrick Lamar‘s They Not Like Us:

They not like us, they not like us, they not like us

Once upon a time, we had people in chains
Country still doubles down shifting wealth to faves
Nonprofits was the Mecca, pushin’ justice and brains
Bear with me for a second, let me put y’all on game
The settlers was usin’ townfolk to make ’em richer
Fast-forward, 2025, you got the same agenda
We run to nonprofits when we need a rights balance
Let me break it down for you, this the real country challenge
DEI fix when we didn’t make it fair (Ayy, what?)
Immigrants helped us get what we need (What?)
4-7 aint got no truth cred
Congress – rubber stamp, you no mind in your head (Ayy, what?)
Marco said no one died from aid cuts (What?)
Roberts say s’all good, but he lied
We need our nonprofits but they take away dollars
Rich tech not a colleague, they a freakin’ colonizer
Reimagination that’s the truth of the matter
No going back ‘less we all be liars

For anyone interested (probably only curious friends looking for things to make fun of me), my past rap compositions riffed off of Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Alexander Hamilton, 2Pac/Dr. Dre‘s California Love, and Dr. Dre/Snoop Doggy Dog‘s Nuthin’ But a G Thang. Crowdfunding Rap; Independent Sector Threads: Oakland Style

Fortunately, for creative inspiration, the Conference had us covered with the very talented Street Poets.