Samwise Nonprofits and Charities Newsletter
Friday, July 3, 2026
March For Our Lives Co-Founder: Gun Violence Has Defined All 250 Years of American History
Jaclyn Corin, co-founder and Executive Director of March For Our Lives and a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, traces gun violence through two and a half centuries of American history. Writing for America’s 250th anniversary, Corin argues that firearms have defined the nation’s arc from the start — from the violence of slavery and Indigenous displacement, through the terror of Reconstruction, to today’s epidemic of mass shootings. More than 40,000 Americans are killed by guns each year. She insists the nation’s next chapter does not have to be written in gunfire.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Protect Democracy: Civil Society Must Fight for Proportional Representation, Not Just Defend Against Authoritarianism
Cyrena Kokolis and Farbod Faraji, advocates at Protect Democracy, write in NPQ’s “In Defense of Civil Society” column that the nonprofit sector is playing defense against authoritarianism — and that defense alone will not be enough. Their structural solution is proportional representation, or ProRep, in American elections. Under the current winner-take-all system, they argue, partisan gerrymandering and minority rule are built in. ProRep would replace single-member districts with multi-member ones, ensuring legislative seats reflect the actual distribution of votes. Kokolis and Faraji describe it as the reform most likely to sustain a multiracial, pluralist democracy against authoritarian capture.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
The National Park Foundation’s Latino Heritage Fund: How Philanthropy Built Real Work — Then Dismantled It
Midy Aponte-Vargas, appointed founding executive director of the American Latino Heritage Fund at the National Park Foundation by Obama Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in 2011, reflects on a pattern she calls philanthropy as extraction. The Fund’s work was real — including the designation of the Cesar Chavez National Monument and commissioning a comprehensive Latino history theme study for the National Park Service. But after the 2012 election cycle passed, the Fund was wound down alongside the African American Experience Fund. Writing for America’s 250th, Aponte-Vargas warns: visibility without infrastructure is fragile. Recognition without redistribution of power repeats the same pattern.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Sikh Coalition Executive Director: 25 Years After 9/11, Sikh Identity Is Resilience — Not a Liability to Conceal
Harman Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition, reflects on 25 years since 9/11 and the civil rights movement born from post-9/11 hate crimes against Sikhs and South Asians. The Sikh Coalition was founded in direct response to that violence. Writing for America’s 250th anniversary as part of NPQ’s WetheCivic series, Singh argues that Sikh identity — turbans, kirpans, and uncut hair — should be claimed as a source of resilience, not concealed for safety. The community’s path forward, he writes, requires expecting rights rather than merely requesting them — a shift from deference to assertion.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Black Innovation Alliance CEO: Civil Society Is Summoned to Refound Democracy, Not Simply Defend It
Kelly Burton, CEO of the Black Innovation Alliance, centers her essay for America’s 250th anniversary on the Constitution’s Preamble and the phrase “a more perfect Union,” which she attributes to Gouverneur Morris. Writing for NPQ’s WetheCivic series, Burton argues that those words are a summons — not to preserve a flawed democracy but to continually refound it. Civil society cannot limit itself to playing defense against authoritarianism; it must articulate a bold, structural vision for what America could become. Burton is also the author of the forthcoming book “The Price of Union.”
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Youth250 Initiative: Young Americans Were Never Waiting — Civic Disengagement Is a Structural Failure
Dillon St. Bernard, co-founder of Youth250 and founder of Team DSB, rejects the narrative that young people are civically disengaged. Writing for America’s 250th anniversary as part of NPQ’s WetheCivic series, St. Bernard argues that young Americans were never waiting for permission — they have been building, creating, and organizing all along. The real failure, he writes, is structural: civic institutions invite youth participation without granting real decision-making authority. Youth250, launched by the nonprofit Made By Us, positions Gen Z creators as genuine civic infrastructure rather than token participants. The moment calls for transferring actual power to young Americans.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Drag Queen Pattie Gonia’s “Save Her” Climate Tour Hits 20+ Cities and Has Raised $1 Million for Nonprofits
Environmental activist and drag queen Pattie Gonia — Wyn Wiley out of drag — is touring more than 20 American cities on the “Save Her” show, merging climate advocacy with LGBTQ+ performance. The tour partners with local drag artists at each stop and draws crowds exceeding a thousand. Wiley previously completed a 100-mile trek in full drag from Point Reyes National Seashore to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, raising $1 million for environmental and social justice nonprofits. Wiley has also co-founded Outdoorist Oath, an environmental equity organization. The clothing brand Patagonia has sued Pattie Gonia over a trademark application, sparking a public dispute.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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