Nonprofits (Sample Edit 2)

I stopped writing down all the nonprofit organizations I have been involved with. I worked for two in my public health career. I was at the Directors of Health Promotion and Education for 11 years, rising to deputy director before the funding cuts. I commuted from Atlanta to D.C. for two-and-a-half years for that job. DHPE lost regular funding after I left, and eventually it folded in with another organization.

Then I directed the National Physical Activity Society, which I had helped found some years earlier as part of my work with DHPE. I was the sole employee there, and, after seven years, there were funding cuts, so NPAS merged with two other organizations in 2020.

See a pattern? Fighting to retain funding was a major part of my work, both at nonprofits and state health departments. I landed $34 million in grant funding over my career. Twenty years into it, I had a 100 percent success rate. But nothing lasts forever.

I am currently serving on two boards: Editorial Freelancers Association and the Editors Tea Club. My term on the EFA finishes this spring, but I also volunteer as part of the membership program. I have been the social media lead since mid-2023. For the Tea Club, I volunteer as a community co-coordinator.

Throughout adulthood, I have volunteered for a number of other nonprofits. Secretary for Friends of the Library. President of the Atlanta Contra Dance group (under its former name, the Chattahoochee Country Dancers). President of a Toastmasters club. Copresident of the day care parents’ group. Board member for the Lloyd Shaw Foundation. Camp codirector for Terpsichore’s Dance Holiday. Chair of the Atlanta dance weekend organizing committee. Fundraiser for the local NPR station and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Not to mention Girl Scout leader and copresident of the service unit. I also worked for the Girl Scouts when I was a summer camp counselor in college, with my last position being program director. I sat on boards and worked with several well-known health nonprofits as part of my public health work. I’ve donated to more than I can remember.

One hallmark of the nonprofit organizations I have been involved with professionally is their commitment to science, to evidence-based decision-making. That means something, and it is worth documenting, particularly in January 2025.

Nonprofit organizations have to account for themselves to funders and their boards. Many publish annual reports. Most write proposals and briefs. This is where I can help: writing and editing. I did quite a lot of writing and editing during my public health career. My recent editorial work with nonprofits has focused on health disparities, with policy approaches and advice by and for Black women.

I am attaching an excerpt from a piece developed in 2021 to discuss COVID-19 vaccines. The organization’s mission is improving the health of Black women. I edited the text. Identifying information has been removed.

It heartens me to know that so many people are working for good in the world.