Are We There Yet?

Reading Vu Le's latest post on funder-inflicted trauma felt like watching my own nonprofit PTSD projected on the wall of Pankot Palace (from Temple of Doom) and guarded by David Bowie's codpiece.

Not that I want to put the nonprofit Magneto helmet back on, but you all know I've been in this game long enough to have a hot take or two: we spend half our time begging for approval from prospects who want innovation without risk, impact without funding, and gratitude for the privilege of being slowly strangled by reporting templates.

Vu gets it. He always has. Since the early days of Stupid Cancer, I've watched him torch the sacred cows with the same rage I felt in rooms full of well-meaning people who thought they knew what they were doing.

The nonprofit world is a haunted funhouse of emotional gaslighting, monetized trauma, leadership is martyrdom, and donors swoop in like the Goonies' mom yelling about dinner while we're down in the well dodging data zombies and filling out logic models in Excel. But somehow, we love to hate it.

Hey, where are my Nonprofiteers still in the trenches?

If you're in this space, read it. If you're a funder, read it twice. Then ask yourself if you're part of the problem—or just clapping for the survivors bleeding out on your stage. And if you've never heard if Vu Le and the"Nonprofit AF" blog, strap in for the 101 you never knew you needed.

If this hits home, toss it a like, repost, comment, or tag someone you may be ambivalent about. One click makes a bigger difference than you think.

https://nonprofitaf.com/2025/06/funder-inflicted-trauma-and-how-it-affects-nonprofit-leaders-and-our-sector/