Closing Remarks #35

Dear Readers,

This is a quick note to say that I am taking the entire month of August off so there will be no Closing Remarks until September. I'll miss this and you! That said, my inbox will remain open, so feel free to keep the tips coming. Every lil' bit counts!

Here are this week's links:

1) Canadian sex worker support org suspends operations
PACE was established in 1994, initially setting up shop in the founder's small Vancouver apartment. The group, which operated as a mutual aid society for sex workers by sex workers, ran into financial woes after losing its charitable status earlier this year. While PACE's activity is suspended, in their announcement, organizers share that they are exploring ways to revive and sustain the work. In the meantime, they promise "sex workers will continue to organize."

2) Legal advocates forced to rest their case
For nearly 50 years, Kentucky Equal Justice Center (KEJC) provided free and low-cost legal representation to some of the state's most vulnerable populations. They cite severe cuts to federal grants and loans as a primary culprit for this drastic decision. They have been spending their final weeks helping clients transfer their cases to new, pro-bono lawyers.

3) Idaho library network dissolves citing censorship law
Until this year, cardholders at any of the Cooperative Information Network's member libraries could use their card to borrow books at any of the 27 libraries in the system for free. However, that all changed last month when a majority of the members voted to dissolve the agreement, citing inconsistency with new laws.

Idaho's Children's School and Library Act (2024) enables librarians to pull books from shelves that they believe are harmful to minors. In most cases this has focused on books that talk about the LGBTQ community and/or people of color. As such, opponents of the dissolution fear that people in Northern Idaho's most rural areas will be further disadvantaged in its absence. The network's last day will be September 30, 2025.

4) Midwest helpline ends its long run
Lansing, Michigan's The Listening Ear selected July 15th as its last day, and it was on that day in 1969 that it first opened to the public as a free and confidential hotline and drop-in center for anyone in need of a caring person to help them through a tough situation. According to Wikipedia, the project ran 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and served more than 300,000 phone and walk-in clients.

While the organization weathered many storms over its more than half century of existence --- from financial embezzlement to a failure to adequately background check volunteers (yikes!) --- no reason was given for the decision to end the project now.

5) Gambling addiction charity wins and winds down
As part of a UK government initiative to levy taxes against the gambling industry, GambleAware will be transitioning its work to a newly-formed government agency and shuttering as of April 1, 2026. Having advocated for such measures since its founding in 2017, the organization's leaders are pleased that gambling addiction will now be addressed as a public health concern.

6) Recombination As Rebirth
In any of these three models—mergers, acquisitions, sunsets—at least one organizational identity is lost. For those individuals who have tied their own sense of self with their organization’s, this can feel like a betrayal of self or mission. But it is neither of these. Organizations are temporary vessels for human passion. The work continues, even when the organization does not.

In 2019, Jacob Harold oversaw the merger of The Foundation Center and Guidestar to form US nonprofit resource juggernaut Candid. In this Stanford Social Innovation Review article, he shares sage wisdom about the whys and hows of structural change. (Hat tip to Jacob for giving me some shout outs in there!)

7) Tune In, Spend Out: Time Limited Grantmakers Reflect
in Autumn 2024, members of a few UK trusts and foundations gathered together for some structured learning and collaboration work focused on their similar-but-different plans to ‘spend down’ their available resources. They put together this very cool little site to share what they learned.

UPCOMING EVENTS
🌿 The Compassionate Processing Circle Series 🌿
These 90-minute virtual sessions are a dedicated space for nonprofit and arts professionals to breathe, reflect, and connect in community, especially those navigating burnout, leadership transitions, budget shifts, and the everyday overwhelm of this work.

Whether your team members are carrying grief, anger, worry, or joy, these circles provide a space for them to show up fully and be witnessed in solidarity with peers across the country.

Facilitated by:
❣ Calida N. Jones & Rebecca Novick
Session Dates:
📅 July 31 | August 28 | September 18
⏲ 7:00 – 8:30 PM ET / 4:00 – 5:30 PM PT
💵 Free for all staff of current Creative Evolutions partner organizations
Registration link here
(Sliding scale of $5–$30 available for others)

Closing Remarks is brought to you by The Wind Down, a consultancy for exploring, building, designing, and delivering better endings for mission-driven projects and organizations, and also raising closure consciousness. If you're enjoying it, please support my work.