#50: Two years of Pass It On
Where we've been and where we're headed
🥳
Another year around the publishing sun; Pass It On turns two today!
Humbled by the journey, I've written today's issue to reflect and celebrate.
Our community is growing
This time last year, Pass It On had 295 subscribers. Today, there are almost 600. During this time, the average open rate has climbed to 47%; the non-profit newsletter average is 25.17%.
I’m proud of these numbers and the upward trend of this graph. I haven’t spent a penny on advertising, and I barely use Twitter—the two most popular tactics for growing Substack subscriptions.
So where have you all come from?! Largely word of mouth and Substack recommendations. Over the past six months, 107 of you have joined via Pinnacle Strategies and Fighting Talk. My heartfelt thanks to Bill Lutz and Ettie Bailey-King, the two Pass It On readers and respective writers behind these newsletters. Your support means so much, and I’m delighted to offer it in return.
The mission matters more than ever
Pass It On exists to bring the tech and non-profit sectors closer together through knowledge sharing. Now more than ever, this mission matters because:
The tech skills gap in non-profit orgs is real. With a global recession looming, that gap is going to widen. Why? Because economic downturns hit non-profits like any other business. And when money is tight, training budgets are the first to get cut. The tech industry has a responsibility to build skills and share knowledge where it’s needed most.
The tech industry is built on hubris, and that hubris can cause serious damage. Tech will only learn that it hasn't got all the answers if it starts asking different questions. Those questions can only come from obtaining a broader perspective.
We need interdisciplinary thinking and cross-sector collaboration to solve the most pressing world problems. But the algorithms powering today’s online search and discovery inhibit exactly this. They reinforce echo chambers and reduce the chances of seeing content outside our networks. If we want problem-solving to flourish, we need to hack the system.
We’re just getting started
Next year’s guiding theme for Pass It On will be abundance. More specifically, an abundance of:
Subscribers - 1500 is the stretch goal for this time next year. Without a large Twitter following (which I’ve no plans to build in the current circumstances), paid advertising is the only option. Advertising means funding. More to come on this soon.
Content formats - From podcast recommendations to reader-to-reader interviews, I’ll be introducing more ways to promote knowledge sharing in 2023.
Perspectives and voices - This is about improving diversity and inclusion in all its forms. So far, mixed performance here. For example, 30% of Pass It On’s Q&A guests have been people of colour. In one way, this is an achievement: the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport estimates 9.5% of the UK civil society’s 2021 workforce were people of colour. But we’ve only had one guest living with a disability (vs. 20.6% in UK civil society orgs) and only one guest over 50. Yes, the tech and non-profit sectors are undiverse; but Pass It On doesn’t have to be.
How you can support
Share Pass It On with at least one person who’d appreciate it and encourage them to subscribe:
Voice your ideas on what we can do. How would you like to experience Pass It On? What topics should we cover? This newsletter is for you, so why not shape it? Leave a comment or send me a private message by replying to this email.
Recommend Q&A guests, especially those who deviate from the tech or non-profit employee norm. Please also recommend yourself! If enough of you want to appear, I’ll consider adding an extra issue and publishing weekly instead of bi-weekly.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Two years ago, Pass It On was little more than an experiment. But it’s always had the potential to create lasting positive change. As long as you keep reading and learning from each issue, it will.
Yours,
Lauren