My So-Called Spring Break

This week is spring break for my kids, and in true contrarian fashion, we willingly left the sunshine and warm temps of Southern California for the cold and rain of the East Coast. We started the week in Pittsburgh visiting lots (and I mean lots) of family — and I also got to see one of my all-time favorite humans: my high school teacher and cross-country and track coach, George.

From there, we made our way to Boston, where we’ve been walking up and down and all around (and jumping into a Tatte Bakery here and there to get warm…and get a treat). Later today, we drive to New Hampshire before heading home on Sunday.

I’m loving this family adventure and I’m still riding a bit of a high from last week’s webinar with my longtime friend and fellow CSR traveler, Jennifer Bradbury. We had the honor of presenting for the Points of Light Volunteering & Social Impact Live Learning Series, and we called our session “Storytelling That Sparks: Using Impact Narratives to Connect Employees and Communities.” At its peak, the webinar had 435 participants (yessss! people really like stories!).

Our top 3 takeaways?

1. Storytelling is a bridge between employees and community impact. When done well, it strengthens engagement, deepens purpose, and drives action.

2. Effective storytelling makes impact easier to amplify — for marketing colleagues, for leadership, for everyone. Stories can differentiate your brand, enhance employee and customer pride, and drive business results.

3. You don’t have to be a professional writer. You just need to understand and clarify your why and craft compelling narratives (we shared a tool during the webinar to help participants map this out).

I looooove working in social impact, mostly because I love stories. They’re so fundamental to our human-ness. They move us, connect us, and compel us to act. And in the social sector, the way we tell stories really matters.

If you missed the webinar but are curious to learn about storytelling, you can access our slides and resources here.

And do you have a social impact story that moved you? I’d love to hear it — and maybe even share it in a future newsletter.

In the meantime, I’m off to gather more stories from this family trip. 😉 See you next time.

With love and appreciation,

Sarah

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🤐CAREFUL WHAT YOU CHAT YOUR FAVORITE CHATBOT

I recently read this article and had to share: The Five Things You Shouldn’t Tell ChatGPT.

Never ever share personal identity details, medical results, financial account info, proprietary company data, or logins. It might seem obvious, but once we build rapport with our favorite chatbot, it’s easy to slip into a place of trust and let our guard down.

I’ve been using Anthropic’s Claude as of late. Good to know that, by default, Claude doesn’t train on your chats and deletes data after two years.

🎙️MY CURRENT FAVORITE PODCAST

I am solidly in my mid-life era, and perhaps that’s why I am currently obsessed with Reshma Saujani’s podcast, “My So-Called Midlife.” (I’m also just generally obsessed with Reshma Saujani, kick-ass founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First).

Launched in October 2024, the podcast dives into a question Reshma asks herself daily: “Is this it?” Spoiler alert: Heck to the no, this is not it. Reshma’s guests — including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, actress/comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus, economist/author Emily Oster, and marketing powerhouse Bozoma Saint John — reassure us that there’s so much more ahead after midlife.

Grab your AirPods and give this pod a listen.

💻A SCENARIO PLANNING WEBINAR FOR THE SOCIAL SECTOR

I’ve previously written in this newsletter about Trista Harris and her consultancy, FutureGood, that helps foundations, nonprofits, and leaders predict and shape the future. On Monday, April 21 at 10am PT/1pm ET, you can hear from Trista directly, as she’ll be delivering a free webinar on scenario planning in unpredictable times (which is clearly our current existence). This webinar is ideal for anyone working in the social sector.

To learn more and register, click here.

💘NONPROFIT LOVE

Founded in 1979 as the American Refugee Committee, Alight has long been a force for good. Since 2010, they’ve been reimagining humanitarian aid by co-creating solutions with displaced communities and integrating human-centered design into everything they do. In 2019, the organization changed its name to Alight, a reflection of the optimism, abundance, and possibility that fuels their work. (I love this so much.)

Today, Alight’s 2,300 humanitarians serve more than four million people each year across 20+ countries. Alight invests their efforts in five key focus areas — emergencies, women and girls, natural disaster response, livelihoods, and innovation — providing health care, shelter, WASH, social enterprise support, education, protection services, and so much more.

Like many global organizations, Alight has been impacted by recent federal funding cuts. They’ve already had to close critical programs, including protection services for women and girls. It’s not yet clear whether they’ll be forced to withdraw from any of the countries where they work.

Want to do something to support Alight? Click here to learn more about this incredible organization. You can also donate, let your elected officials know you value foreign assistance, and you can even send your ideas to help Alight navigate this challenging moment: [email protected].