Nonprofit Philanthropy and the Arts: Why We are So Awesome and How We Can Be Even More Awesomer
Vu Le, former Executive Director of RVC
2023 Plenary Keynote
Huáscar Robles, 2023 GIA Conference Blog
In Puerto Rico, the expression reír para no llorar – roughly translated as “laugh to avoid crying”– resonates with many of us. It relates to using comedy and laughter to weather difficult times. Listening to Vu Le’s inciting and electrifying talk reminded me of this maxim. His lighthearted comedy became a vehicle to discuss thorny themes endemic to the nonprofit world he belongs to.
I am certain fans of Le (which, by the applause wave, seemed to have been many) might have caught the irony in the lecture’s title Why We are So Awesome and How We Can Be Even More Awesomer, and saw the bitter pill coming a mile away.
The sector, he insists, has lost its way: holding up funds, drowning in bureaucracy, and preventing help to those populations for which it exists. The quip about nonprofits as reality TV shows drew laughter often heard in comedy clubs: Dancing with Major Donors, Non-Profit and Afraid, and others that, as a nonprofit neophyte, I didn’t quite understand, but I laughed with just as much enthusiasm. Because Le has the kind of magnetism that can pull you in and whisper truths you may not want to hear, like, let’s say: ‘Guess what? It will rain in Puerto Rico during the GIA conference.’
Vu delivered with bravado and cadence punches that, judging from the audience’s reaction, the sector needed to hear.
“We have these cushy jobs and we don’t want to rock the boat.”
“The biggest threat to justice is not people burning crosses… it’s the White moderate sector,” Le said, alluding to Martin Luther King’s comments. Complacency is the poison that is preventing the communities in need from getting the aid they deserve, he stressed. But the blame is not squarely placed on the mainly White male donors who withhold funds and make artists jump through hoops to get minimal funding. No. The non-profit execs also bear responsibility. “We have these cushy jobs and we don’t want to rock the boat,” a statement that he peppered with another dose of truth. “It’s women of color pushing the boundaries and getting fired for it.”
But Le remained optimistic: the sector has to lean into its power. It is a strong sector, a sector that contributes $900 billion to the economy, a sector that backs 6% of the nation’s GDP, but one that has become afraid of its own benefactors, a fact he illustrated with several analogies such as this: “Our sector has become a SkyMall catalog. Donors pick and choose… ‘Oh, this is great, I love this cause, it’s even cheaper, this cause has lower overhead.’”
Le exhorted funders to move the levers of power, reimagine the role of boards and donors, and engage with politics, even if that means burning bridges along the way. “Let the fire warm us and light the way,” he said to another wave of laughter. A few other highlights were addressing the uneven tax code, tackling voting rights, and actively dealing with reparations. The harshest truth might have been the sector should behave more like conservative funders who don’t wait for studies, think tanks, or mind-numbing, resource-draining grant formulas. “They’re not afraid to invest money now; they save so much more money later on.”
“They’re not afraid to invest money now; they save so much more money later on.”
Yet the laughter and the scorn dissipated in his hopeful last remarks. Le recalled his family’s journey as immigrants and their struggle to belong. Back then, non-profits were the ones that provided food, shelter, and warm clothes. “They restored the sense of hope and community, and that’s what you do every single day. Your work matters; it may create ripples that you never see, but the ripples are there.”
“They restored the sense of hope and community, and that’s what you do every single day. Your work matters; it may create ripples that you never see, but the ripples are there.”
And with those words, the members of the nonprofit sector at the GIA in Puerto Rico cheered hard enough to fight for another day.
