Fuel Disability Change

My BIG GOAL is to “Fuel Disability Change”.

And one of the easiest and most direct ways I can do that here is to financially “Fuel it Forward” to other Disability Organizations and members of the Disability Ecosystem.

But, I don’t know who to help, you do.

So, here is my request, and my offer:

• You tell me the name (and contact info if possible) of a Disability Group or project you’d like to support.
• Ideally, you’ll share with me what inspires you about this group.

And I’ll do two things:

• Help get the word out about the group*.
• For every person or organization you refer to join here … who signs up at any time for a paid product or service or subscription** here … I’ll contribute $25*** to that group for each purchase that they make as long that you and those folks continue to participate here.

Don’t worry, my plan is for virtually all content to be available for free – kind of like PBS.

I haven’t set up a clever web form yet for you to share your favorite groups with me (yet), so either you can wait for the form – or email me with your favorite disability groups to help get things started.

I’d absolutely appreciate the emails – I like to hear from you.

Welcome to Disability Drumbeat #9

Fellow Disability Changemakers –

This is not a typical issue of this newsletter as most of my newsletters so far have a featured article and some links to articles or information that I think you would find useful – please check out the archive of the previous issues.

If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with someone who it will benefit. I hope you’ll reply, point out my errors, ask questions, make suggestions, or just write me, I want to hear from you.

If you are new here, THANK YOU, please respond to this email and introduce yourself, and you can sign up for more of this (usually weekly on Sundays) at disabiltiyalmanac.com.

My bottom line is:

“Much Better is Possible” for children with disabilities and the disabled adults that they will become…

and I hope you want to help make that change happen.

We are all in this together.

Steve

Why Fuel it Forward

“Fuel it Forward” has always been part of my concept for this project. There are lots of amazing disability-focused groups that could do even more awesome work – if they had more members and money.

If you look at the IRS reports for disability organizations, they are pretty small overall, even some of the well-known ones… and they get most of their funding from one of two places: a small number of large donors or grants or programs from a government entity.

They do not get a lot of funds from individual contributions.

This is a problem.

• Big donors can be fickle and have “opinions” (whims) about where their money is spent (and whether it is going to be available from year to year) – which may alter the actions of a group.
• Government funding can be great, but it is a set of “Golden Handcuffs” that keep organizations from being independent and challenging the government.

So, I’m going to do what I can to help connect more people (You!) with more groups… and kick in some funding as well.

Highlighting Groups

Disability Victory – one of the very (very) few disability political advocacy 501c4s (I’ll talk about 501c4s soon) focused on disability issues. They started last year, but it looks like they are struggling for traction.

Disability Debrief – one of my very favorite disability newsletters focused on policy around the world. I happily contributed to Peter’s project – you are welcome to suggest disability newsletters as your referral.

American Foundation for the Blind – one of the things you may not know about AFB is that they are and were a major force in fighting against the subminimum wage on behalf of all disabled people.

Locally here in California, Christine Case-Lo is working to start a lobbying organization “Parents Legislative Action for Education” in the new year, sign up to join the kickoff call to help get things rolling.

Canine Companions – provides highly trained service dogs. Very impressive. Every dog knows 60 commands and the process to get one is daunting!

The Arc – in addition to local organizations, has a national 501c3 that does excellent policy “educational advocacy”.

…. and we are continuing to work to reach 100 founding members to launch “Disability Democracy of California” … you are welcome to sign up.

501c3s, 501c4s, PACs and Politics

While we get taught about “The Three Branches of Government” in US Civics in school, we don’t get taught the nuts and bolts of how our political system works and how we can have an impact for even something as simple as getting a STOP SIGN installed on a dangerous corner.

While elections get most of our attention, it is the day-to-day work on legislation and regulation and organization that makes most of the difference.

It isn’t just who you vote for, but what they vote for.

And what happens in our public institutions (administration and regulation) where elected officials aren’t often involved (which is most of the time).

Most of us are familiar with 501c3 organizations. The not-for-profits that we make our tax-deductible contributions to every year – and who we are all getting a lot of emails and letters calls from right now.

They are only one type of official not-for-profit in the US. We also have others. Unions and Associations. Clubs, Etc.

One of the restrictions on 501c3s is that they cannot “politically advocate” – they can’t endorse candidates or issues. They are allowed to “educate” on issues (and some of them are very aggressive to the point of what often looks like political advocacy). That is the trade-off for being tax-deductible.

501c4s and PACs (Political Action Committees – apparently a California invention) can politically advocate. They can lobby and spend money to make policy and political change. They can also endorse candidates. Some 501c4s that you know: The League of Women Voters, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and the National Rifle Association. Also, some of the larger 501c3s may have a “paired” 501c4 – I think the Southern Poverty Law Center created one several years ago.

Some groups choose 501c3 status for its obvious tax-deductibility benefits while attempting policy advocacy. This sometimes works, but it is like trying to play poker without ante-ing up. Without all the tools of a 501c4 (or a Political Action Committee), you can’t be as effective an ally with other political advocacy groups or elected officials or candidates.

• I’ll be vetting the groups – alas, we live in a world and the Internet where there are bad actors who might try to suggest bogus groups.

** The first project I’m working on is a Disability Financial Navigator course. Some of the early ideas can be found in my video on ABLE Accounts and on overall Disability Finances one (ugh, my first video) on YouTube.

*** If something is less expensive or more expensive, this number may vary, but the idea is to be pretty generous. For example, if I had an annual household membership for $50, the contribution to a preferred group would be $25 … and, in fact, was the source of the number.