Vu Le is our guest for the Season Nine Finalé, which also serves as an installment of our ongoing Defend Nonprofits, Defend Democracy Series. Recorded with a live zoom audience during our spring webinar series, Vu discusses his burnout, funding instability, philanthropy’s power dynamics, and what it will take to strengthen nonprofits in an era of rising authoritarianism. Vu argues that nonprofits and funders must stop normalizing scarcity, invest deeply in leaders and infrastructure, and organize collectively for long-term change.

Drawing from his new book Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Vu challenges conventional assumptions about fundraising, nonprofit leadership, and philanthropy itself. The conversation explores why progressive movements struggle to sustain leaders, how conservative leadership infrastructure has been built strategically over decades, and what nonprofit professionals can do right now to protect democracy and each other.

Download a transcript of the episode

About Our Guest

Vu Le is a prominent writer, speaker, and former executive director of Seattle-based Rainier Valley Corps. Widely recognized for his irreverent, no-nonsense approach to social justice and philanthropy, he authors the viral blog Nonprofit AF, and is a co-founder of the Community-Centric Fundraising movement. Most recently he is author of the book, Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy. In 2020, Vu was our first guest on the Fund the People: A Podcast with Rusty Stahl.

Suggested Links:

Vu Le’s Blog, Nonprofit AF

Reimagining Nonprofits and Philanthropy (Book)

The Sally Covington Report (Moving a Public Policy Agenda: The Strategic Philanthropy of Conservative Foundations)

Community-Centric Fundraising

Nonprofits Are Message with Joan Garry - Episode 251 with Vu

Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

National Council of Nonprofits

Independent Sector

Bolder Advocacy

Rules of the Game Podcast (Note: Rusty misstated the name of the podcast in the recording. The correct name provided here)

Solidaire Network

Fund the People

Fund the People Webinar Series

Related Fund the People Podcast Episodes:

S1:E1 — Vu Le: Treating Nonprofit People Like Batteries - The very first FTP podcast episode, revisited in this conversation, on burnout, scarcity, and nonprofit workforce culture.

In this installment of our Defend Nonprofits Defend Democracy Series, you’ll get a deep dive into one of the least-discussed but most important democracy issues facing nonprofits and philanthropy today: attacks on ballot initiatives and direct democracy. Elizabeth DiLauro of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation joins Rusty Stahl to discuss how ballot measures have become critical tools for advancing health equity and why efforts to restrict citizen-led initiatives threaten both democracy and the nonprofit sector.

Liz shares how RWJF is funding organizations defending ballot access in multiple states, helping other funders understand the legal pathways for engagement, and why funders using their public voice matters as much as their grantmaking right now. The conversation also explores democratic backsliding, gerrymandering, philanthropy’s role in this moment, and why protecting democratic participation is foundational to every social justice mission.

Download the edited transcript as a .pdf

Guest Bio:

Elizabeth DiLauro serves as a Senior Policy Officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where she shapes strategy and grantmaking at the state level to advance long-term change in the social policies that impact our nation’s health and well-being.

Previously, Liz served as the senior director of advocacy at ZERO TO THREE, where she led the organization’s advocacy strategy to advance a policy agenda for young children and families. Earlier in her career, Liz worked with the Pew Charitable Trusts where she crafted state campaigns to increase access to children’s dental care, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry where she advanced strategies to support children’s mental health policy. She has also worked in federal and state advocacy with Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) USA.

Liz holds a Master of Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, with a specialization in public and non-profit policy and management.

Links to Resources Mentioned in the Episode

Organizations:

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation

Fairness Project Education Fund

Bolder Advocacy (program of Alliance for Justice)

Fund the People

Reports, Publications, Events, and Tools:

Rules of the Game Podcast⁠ (Bolder Advocacy, a program of Alliance for Justice)

Foundations on the Hill (policy conference and Capitol Hill visits for the foundations and philanthropy infrastructure organizations)

Answering the Call for a Healthy, Inclusive Democracy - Annual Letter (April 2026) by Dr. Rich Besser, President, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

All By April (a 501c3 campaign hosted by Democracy Fund)