By CCF
Not sure how to navigate the CCF Mighty Network, what it is, or how it can help you organize with other CCFers? We got you!
Imagine this: Somehow, you learned that Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) existed.
Maybe you attended the CCF opening launch in 2020 where we crashed the website multiple times because so many people showed up! Maybe it was a few years after that when a CCFer spoke to your local AFP chapter.
You heard the Founders, a member of the former Global Council, a member of the North American Council, or a fellow CCFer talk about the principles, values, and how we’re going to change the world of philanthropy and the nonprofit industrial complex from sheer will and numbers.
Energized and excited to meet others who shared your values, you joined the CCF Slack, found your people and organized, sometimes forming a local chapter, other times using Slack to start and organize an off-shoot movement or affiliated group (More Than Grant Writers, Dev Directors, Consultant Newbies, etc.), sometimes organizing around different areas of expertise or focus (Digital Fundraising, Disability, Environment, Giving Tuesday, etc.), other times, searching the Job Openings or Opportunities channels for fellowships, internships, jobs, programs, and more related to dismantling the nonprofit industrial complex and transforming philanthropy.
Slack was also where we organized when we noticed that AFP ICON denied all of our members’ proposals, and how the CCF Family Reunion was born!
The Slack was hopping, you were thriving, and you felt connected!
And then you heard that we were moving from Slack to a new platform called Mighty Network and you were like huh? how? and whyyyyyyyyy tho?
I’ll answer the first and last question first: The unfortunate truth is that Slack cost us tens of thousands of dollars a year—over $30k if memory serves! I don’t think anyone anticipated how many people would join the CCF Slack, and Slack prices their services based on the number of users. At first, it was no big deal. The Founders found very dedicated funders who gave lots of unrestricted grant dollars to get the movement started. But eventually, we were no longer the new and shiny thing. And like often happens in progressive organizations relying on progressive funders, when we were no longer new and shiny, the funding began to dwindle (and in full transparency: that wasn’t the only reason it dwindled. With the switch in leadership between the Founding, Transition, and Global Councils, and the immediate focus pivoting to determine how the original Global Council—which was 23 people large—would govern itself and work together across cultural contexts and time zones, our maintenance of those relationships with the original funders wasn’t what it could have been).
At any rate, we would have liked to remain on our vibrant Slack community, but even with the 85% discount Slack provides nonprofits, we couldn’t afford to keep it, the Content Hub, and all the other projects going at the same time with our new rate of funding.
So, we had to move.
Unfortunately, the move to Mighty Network was not smooth. We lost nearly 7,000 of our members in the move, and because of that loss, sometimes the Mighty Network feels like screaming into the wind. It’s not (currently) hopping like the Slack used to.
But it could be!
So, here’s a handy guide to answer question two (how?) and help you emigrate to Mighty Network and use this (affordable) resource to do the organizing you used to do on Slack! (Or if you weren’t here for the Slack days, to start organizing with your fellow CCFers, perhaps for the first time!)
Joining us on Mighty Network:
The first step to joining Mighty Network is to fill out our join Mighty Network form, which can be found here.
(If you don’t receive a message that says “Thank you and Welcome! You will receive an email with a link from us shortly. Thank you!” it has not gone through and you’ll want to try again.)
This is not an automated process. Abigail, our Movement Coordinator, goes through each entry and helps you get connected in the ways that you requested in the form. But once she’s finished, you’ll receive a message that looks a little something like this:
From there, you’ll want to click the “Join me” button, and you’re in.
Accidental unsubscribes happen; there’s a way to get back in:
Who among us hasn’t accidentally hit that unsubscribe button when we were feeling overwhelmed? And sometimes we didn’t even do it! Sometimes your email provider is flagging, has filtered, or has “mn.co” on a spam list. In this case, you’ll want to safelist mn.co emails within your email provider. For directions on how to do that, check out this resource.
It’s okay if you did it, too! If you accidentally (or on purpose, but changed your mind) unsubscribed from CCF’s Mighty Network, there’s a way to get back in. You can tap the “Contact Support” button in your notification settings or email help@mightynetworks.com and they’ll get you back in.
How to navigate our Mighty Network:
When we moved to Mighty Network, Abigail set up all the same channels that were still active and hopping in Slack in Mighty Network! So you can join the Topics/Threads that you participated in when we were on Slack.
In addition, there are new sections! We have Events & Gatherings pages that include Community-Led Events—where the leaders of the off-shoot movements that sprouted out of Slack are sharing their events—CCF Hosted Events—which include events from CCF Global as well as CCF Chapter Events. And you’ll see from the screenshot of my feed, there are also closed groups that you can join if you wish to, including CCF Family Reunion for volunteers on the planning committee, CCF Book Club, and CCF Family Reunion Attendees for those who have registered for the event! If you are in a CCF Chapter, like I am, and have signed your MOA, you’ll also be added to the Chapter Partners Chat.
And if you scroll down a little bit, you’ll also see we brought the regional chats with us, too! I’m in Denver as a CCF Denver co-steward, but you can join your regional chat here.
Each page has a feed that you can peruse, post anything you think is relevant, respond and react to others’ posts, and connect with your fellow CCFers—same as Slack.
Remember when Slack was first starting and people set up impromptu meetings on different topics or in different regions on Zoom and shared it on the Slack? You can do that here too! In fact, we would love it if you did.
Let’s reconnect the way we used to. We don’t have to wait for the CCF Family Reunion to connect and talk about the problems we’re having in the sector.
If you need help navigating Mighty Network, they have a whole For Members How-To FAQ page here!
Coming soon to Mighty Network:
Mighty Network also has the ability to have Livestream events, so we will start doing more of those. If you’ve already joined us there, you may have seen that we hosted our first two grieving circles and the first eight sessions of CCF Book Club on the platform.
What types of programming would you like to see on Mighty Network? What additional information do you need to have to start getting it hopping like the Slack used to? Or are those vibrant days of organizing behind us? (Please, say no! Unless, of course, the answer is yes. I sincerely hope not.)
Let us know in the comments, via email, or by carrier pigeon if you need to, what you need in Mighty Network to get this community hopping again.
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