The Revolution Will Not Be Funded | Part 4: When Funders Actually Trust Nonprofits, Organizations Get Stronger from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

When you give organizations unrestricted money and trust them to use it well, 98% succeed. How many times do we need to learn this lesson before we believe it?

Homelessness, Community, Letters to the HousedPaul AsplundDecember 1, 2025EndHomelessness, NonprofitLeadership, SocialJustice, RadicalHospitality, MissionDrift, SystemicChange, HousingJustice, CommunityOrganizing, PhilanthropyReform, TraumaInformedComment

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded | Part 3 from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

I was there when Lava Mae collapsed. We served 30,000 people, inspired 80+ organizations worldwide, and received a million-dollar grant. Then the founder said 'I'm exhausted.' This is what happens when we fund programs but not people.

Homelessness, Community, Letters to the HousedPaul AsplundNovember 24, 2025EndHomelessness, NonprofitLeadership, SocialJustice, RadicalHospitality, MissionDrift, SystemicChange, HousingJustice, CommunityOrganizing, PhilanthropyReform, TraumaInformedComment

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded | Part 2 from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

Welcome back. We ended last week with a quote from Lumbee Tribal member Edgar Villanueva: "All of us who have been forced to the margins are the very ones who harbor the best solutions." But those solutions remain unfunded because funders with the least connection to problems control resources meant to solve them. This week, we're digging deeper into the inequality—and inequity—in the vast majority of nonprofit boards.

Homelessness, Community, Letters to the HousedPaul AsplundNovember 17, 2025EndHomelessness, NonprofitLeadership, SocialJustice, RadicalHospitality, MissionDrift, SystemicChange, HousingJustice, CommunityOrganizing, PhilanthropyReform, TraumaInformedComment

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded | Part 1 from Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

How big funding systematically warps nonprofit missions. Research on institutional isomorphism, the nonprofit industrial complex, and choosing mission over money.

Homelessness, Community, Letters to the HousedPaul AsplundNovember 8, 2025EndHomelessness, NonprofitLeadership, SocialJustice, RadicalHospitality, MissionDrift, SystemicChange, HousingJustice, CommunityOrganizing, PhilanthropyReform, TraumaInformedComment

Inching Forward Isn't Enough - Letters to the Housed

"We've lost the compassion to see these as real emergencies with life-altering complications." When almost seven people die daily from the effects of street life in LA, progress isn't enough. While Hollywood Forward proves that local organizing works—housing 50% of their neighbors—our emergency response systems still fail during the hours people need help most. From broken 2-1-1 systems to the promising new ECRC that closes at 5 PM, we're inching forward when lives demand we sprint. This is an emergency for all of us, housed and unhoused. We choose to let this continue. We can choose to end it.