Volume 1 | January 1, 2021
New Year, New Org, New Issue!
Hello friends, and a heartfelt Happy New Year!

In other professional roles I've found that just important as the doing is the communicating, so I'm going to commit to sending out an update at least once per month in 2021.

This project that I started in October has quickly become so much bigger than "me." Fixing our broken political culture is going to take all of us. So when I say "we" I mean me AND you. The only way we can have an impact is together.

Since October, here's what's been happening:
  • Majority in the Middle (and Majority in the Middle Action Fund) have been registered with the Secretary of State's office
  • Started (and updated) the website
  • Started social accounts on twitter, facebook and LinkedIn
  • Opened bank accounts
  • Opened an Anedot account for fundraising efforts
  • Held over 30 group and individual conversations - party people from all sides of the aisle, non-party people, current and former legislators, political reporters, etc.
  • Drafted bylaws to be adopted by our first board of directors
  • Applied for tax-exempt status with the IRS
  • Met with an accountant
  • Met with a couple of philanthropic program officers
  • Started a draft of a budget and three-year plan
  • Most importantly, with your input, compiled a list of eight (very broad) issues to tackle.

Whew! Feels like a lot when it's listed out like that, but in the grand scheme of things, we're just. getting. started. So thank you for your support thus far, and thank you in advance for being part of what comes next.

Best,
Shannon Watson
But what the heck is Majority in the Middle going to DO???

I've gotten this question a couple of times, and while I have some ideas, setting the organizational priorities requires input from others, which is where the board and committee members (next item below) come in. Broadly, the mission of the organization as I see it is:

To identify and solve structural problems that negatively affect our civic and political culture. 

As you can see from our issues list, the problems are broad, and not easy to tackle. What do we take on first? Where could we make an impact most quickly? Where is there consensus and where do we need to do a lot of background work changing hearts and minds first, to even have a chance at changing a system?

So you see the dilemma - these are big issues and big questions! But I'm looking forward to tackling them together!

(Want to be in on the decision-making? Keep reading.)
Help!
I'm looking for board and committee members to help get our organization off the ground.

Board members have legal and fiduciary responsibilities; committee members will not, but will play an important role in the work. I'm guessing the time commitment for board members will be 4-5 hours per month in 2021, and committee members 2-3 hours per month.

If you're interested in having a formal role, fill out the interest form.

I'd like to get these positions filled by the end of January, so if you're interested, please submit the form ASAP.
Like, Follow, Share
Even if you're not looking for an organizational role, you can do something that's really easy and important to help: connect with our social media and ask others in your networks to like and follow. Click on the icons to go to our accounts.
Does this seem like a silly thing to do to help? It is more important than you'd think!

  • More connections allows us to share opportunities and news out to more people.
  • More connections means more brand awareness, and the ability to connect with people who are interested in the work.
  • And, frankly, the bigger our social reach, the more credibility we have with potential philanthropic donors and people who we'll need to influence in the coming days, weeks and years.

Trust in organizations, especially a startup like ours, is low, which is why YOUR personal endorsement is more impactful than a paid ad would be.
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(If you make changes to the profile at the bottom of this email, you'll change the settings for the person Majority in the Middle sent the email to. Whoops! Let your friend do their own updates and sign yourself up here.)
New nonprofit organizations are expensive to stand up. Who knew?
I'll be honest - I didn't quite understand the scale when I started! Everything from registering with the Secretary of State, to buying the website domain, to applying for c3 status with the IRS costs money.

If you would be interested in donating to help cover those costs and ones in the future... that opportunity will be coming soon. (I'd hoped that I'd be able to have an active "donate here now!" button, but the New Years holiday delayed our credit card processing account approval.) I'll share that link the minute it's ready to take your money!