The great, big world of Taos nonprofits
Thank you for your recent business coverage. I’ve been energized reading the profiles of businesses in Taos — from solopreneurs to home studios to employers big and small. It is my direct experience that Taos County overflows with smart, ambitious and motivated people. I wish everyone the best in their pursuits. If you have a dream, go for it!
And, I’d like to ask the Taos
News to consider adding more profiles of Taos nonprofits. Before the pandemic, nonprofit coverage was largely contained within the pages of Tempo, owing to the main engine of nonprofit fundraising: arts and entertainment. Obviously, these past two years have ground that engine to a halt — along with fundraising.
But this is not a down-and-out story. Many of the nonprofits in Taos pivoted and realigned to remote events and remote collaboration via technology tools.
That shift, in and of itself, is an organizational story on par with commercial business. These stories of resilience are worth telling.
I’m a volunteer board secretary for Friends of the Taos Public Library. Additionally, I participate as a volunteer committee member with Taos Center for the Arts. From my firsthand experience I can tell you that nonprofits in Taos remain productive, viable and deeply committed to performing service for the Taos community.
I’d like to request that we broaden our view of nonprofit activity beyond arts and entertainment stories. That narrow lens robs smaller nonprofit organizations — who place less emphasis on galas, auctions, press releases and social media — of the spotlights they deserve.
For example, test your own assumptions. Think of a few Taos nonprofits and then go to Taos Community Foundation’s website and see if you even scratched the surface of how many there are in Taos: taoscf.org/communityimpact/agency-endowmentpartners/.
I am not affiliated with the Taos Community Foundation (other than an annual donation). I write this letter representing only myself and my experience. I am passionate about that type of transparency in the public forum.
Anyway, thanks to the newspaper for letting me offer this small window into the great, big world of Taos nonprofits. And to all you volunteers out there: Thank you!