Nonprofit Lowdown #275 - Gen Z Fundraising with Sarah Medina Camiscoli
Feb 26, 2024
In this enlightening discussion, Sarah Medina Camiscoli, Assistant Professor of Law at Rutgers and co-founder of the Peer Defense Project, dives into Gen Z's revolutionary approach to fundraising and nonprofit structures. She explores how this vibrant generation challenges traditional norms, advocating for mutual aid and participatory budgeting. Sarah highlights the power of network multiplication and emphasizes the need for organizations to embrace consent-based decision-making. Her insights offer practical strategies for integrating Gen Z perspectives into established nonprofits.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Gen Z's Crisis-Shaped Perspective
- Gen Z (ages ~12–27) grew up amid multiple crises and intense information flow, shaping sharp analyses of injustice.
- They reject nonprofit norms like hierarchy, corporate funding dependence, and siloed operations.
Structural Shifts In Youth-Led Movements
- Young movements favor structures that disrupt hierarchical decision-making and corporate funding influence.
- They pursue sociocratic, worker-directed, mutual aid, and action-network models instead of classic nonprofits.
Adopt Prefigurative Practices
- Use prefigurative politics: build organizations that model the egalitarian society you want via shared analysis, consent, and imagination.
- Implement transparent consent-based decision-making and align culture to a racial-capitalism critique to avoid reproducing harms.