For six weeks, we’re leaving aside the quotidien concerns of our newsletter to consider how brands, agencies and creatives can engage with causes that directly affect human rights and the environment. 

The forum for this discussion: a series from ArticleGroup.Org (AGO), a nonprofit (501c3) creative agency dedicated to working with small community-based organizations (CBOs) with outsized impact to reach a bigger audience. 

The urgency of this topic has become even more acute over the past year, as heightened awareness of social injustice on a national and global scale has inspired a new level of interest in addressing what have been intractable problems.

AGO describes opportunities for meaningful community-level participation with a Direct Philanthropy Starter Kit and a six-week column series that describes how direct philanthropy reverses power dynamics and puts decision-making power in the hands of communities. At the end of this kit, you’ll have the tools to:

Part 1: Know whether direct philanthropy is right for you.

Part 2: Strategize learning about new regions and opportunities.

Part 3: Build trust-based relationships with the leaders you support.

Part 4: Create mutual funding agreements that empower nonprofits.

Part 5: Redefine impact alongside local leaders.

The mission of DPI: addressing acute global inequities by changing the way philanthropists give. And AGO will explore the methodological challenges to realizing this goal — including a need for marketing that we believe is relevant to agencies and brands throughout our community. 

For new content on the topic, watch this space for the next five weeks — or just head over to ArticleGroup.org and start exploring on your own.

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