Willis Arndt

Huge news! "The Massachusetts Community Climate Bank at MassHousing announced today that the Climate Bank's Energy Saver Home Loan Program has exceeded $5 million in closed loans. The Climate Bank's flexible, low-cost financing is helping moderate-income homeowners across Massachusetts improve the efficiency of their homes and adopt clean energy technologies, while significantly reducing energy consumption." Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/g_ZHVBJ3

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SUSTAINING INNOVATION IN NEW JERSEY CLIMATE POLICY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE Proceedings of the March 21, 2025, New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center Conference https://lnkd.in/eCU3CAM8 On March 21, 2025, the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University hosted a day-long conference titled “Sustaining Innovation in New Jersey Climate Policy: Past, Present and Future.” Approximately 200 New Jersey leaders came together to engage in a dialogue about the state’s climate change goals and policies, challenges to reaching those goals, relevant lessons that can be learned from outside New Jersey, and opportunities that New Jersey can explore to further advance its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to changing climate conditions. These proceedings provide a synthesis of ideas presented, generated, and discussed to inform ongoing efforts in New Jersey to advance sound climate change policy. #njclimate #climatechange #Rutgers

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The Maine Wire used OpenCorporates to look into a network of Somali-run home health care agencies drawing over $13M in Medicaid funds. The report explores the links between these businesses, international money transfers, and local political figures. It’s a fascinating look at how public data can be used to hold local leaders and businesses accountable. Full story: https://lnkd.in/eMGMsSMp #Journalism #OpenData #Accountability #PortlandMaine

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Too often, funding #strategy and #fundraising conversations jump straight to targets. By taking a step back and doing 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, #nonprofit leaders can quickly ground funding decisions in real-world evidence. -- 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞? -- 🏢 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 Define a thoughtful peer set (5-15 organizations) with similar a mission, scope, and size to your own 💸 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 Where does their funding come from? Review publicly available financials and have a few candid conversations with peers 🗣️ 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 Use what you've learned to inform your internal strategy and decision making on funding 💡𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫: What revenue sources dominate among peers? How have mixes changed over time? What capabilities are actually required to make a model work? These insights can help you think about what your own ideal funding mix might be, and how to pursue it. ⁉️ Has your #nonprofit engaged in benchmarking? What about the process was challenging or valuable?

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Markets optimize for financial returns. Governments are constrained by politics and short cycles. #Philanthropy, on the other hand, has a unique advantage that the sector is largely underusing: the freedom to absorb risk in service of long-term public value creation. In her latest blog post, Theresa Schieber, Vice President, Advisory, explores what it means for philanthropy to move from 'doing good' to truly 'creating value.' Read it below. ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/e5fSfpCF #RiskCapital #ThoughtLeadership #SocialImpact

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Flip over to the Innovate News Service channel for an exclusive Innovate Long Island op-ed by EPIC Family of Human Service Agencies President/CEO Lisa Burch, who applauds the things AI can do for mental-health therapy -- and cautions against the things it can't. #epicfamily #mentalhealth #therapy #AI #longisland #innovateli

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We are deeply grateful to announce that SeaAhead is one of twelve awardees of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's Innovation Ecosystem Program 🎉🎉 This funding empowers us to fortify our programs, continue strengthening robust partnerships, and help founders build innovative solutions from first concept to first customer... and beyond. We’re excited to continue working with our partners at MassCEC to drive meaningful progress for the ocean and fortify our deep tech ecosystem in Massachusetts. #bluetech #oceantech

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Connecticut has an opportunity to take a major step toward building climate resilience in the wake of fossil fuel-driven climate change. Last week, S.B. 453 — An Act Concerning a Climate Change Related Surcharge on Certain Insurance Policies passed through committees and is positioned to be taken up in the 2027 legislative session. Fossil fuel companies are principally responsible for the climate crisis, but insurance companies play a unique role by both underwriting and investing in fossil fuel infrastructure, while shifting the cost of the crisis onto consumers through higher premiums and underwriting. This bill ensures that Connecticut residents are prepared for extreme weather events, relieves the burdens they face, and funds resilience. Read more and see testimony from CIEL Staff Attorney Conor MacDonald, who testified before the Connecticut General Assembly Environment Committee earlier this year.

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I feel a paradigm shift coming where we increasingly recognize ourselves and our organizations as part of a collective; in that vein, Jina K.'s insightful article (below) about fostering more collaboration in the nonprofit ecosystem resonated deeply. I have experience managing large-scale collaborations (ex I led a 12-organization editorial collaboration for NPR), and here's the main thing I've learned: Collaboration is a worthwhile, long-term investment that can create unparalleled impact — but (and) it is not a short-term driver of efficiency. It takes real labor to make collaborations work: nimble management and facilitation; steady communication and storytelling grounded in real and trusting relationships; and a willingness to embrace new ways of working. For the nonprofit sector to make a transition to a more collaborative way of working during this moment of crisis is, as Jina argues, essential, and it will also be expensive. We need people with deep pockets to step up and make this investment, knowing that there will be a difficult, labor-intensive adjustment to make in the short term that will pay dividends in the long-term. (Thinking of you, Mark Glaser, and our work together covering collaboration for so many years!)

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How do power and business really work in Massachusetts? The Globe’s Shirley Leung (@leungboston.bsky.social) and Jon Chesto are joining forces to launch Power Play, a twice-a-week newsletter that follows the money and delivers must-read scoops. https://lnkd.in/eTjSRuGx

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Reviving Long‑Lapsed Donors & Subscribers with AI + Synthetic Data Most organizations quietly carry a hidden growth opportunity: long‑lapsed donors and subscribers who rarely get modeled, targeted, or reactivated because “time since lapsed” pushes them to the bottom of traditional scoring systems. But with modern ML techniques, segmentation, and synthetic data to fill in sparse histories, this overlooked segment becomes reachable — and reactivation rates of 2–3% are absolutely achievable. In this short explainer video, I walk through: Why conventional models create blind spots How segment‑specific models outperform one‑size‑fits‑all approaches Where synthetic data meaningfully boosts model accuracy Practical re‑engagement strategies publishers and nonprofits are already using 🎥 Watch the video: https://lnkd.in/dQdr6ujP 📄 Read the full article: Reviving Long Lapsed Donors and Subscribers with AI and Synthetic Data https://lnkd.in/djBXAtXf #AI #DataScience #MachineLearning #SyntheticData #Analytics #MarketingAnalytics #CustomerEngagement #SubscriptionEconomy #SubscriberRetention #LapsedSubscribers #ReactivationStrategy #RetentionMarketing

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Data drives better decisions. The 2025 Business Climate Survey makes one thing clear: Vermont businesses see opportunity, but affordability and predictability remain real challenges. That’s why this work matters. The Vermont Futures Project and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce are collaborating to connect data to action—linking long-term planning to real policy outcomes and ensuring employer voices are heard in Montpelier. Thanks to Kevin Chu, Megan Sullivan, and Vermont Public for advancing a fact-driven conversation, and to the businesses who participated and shared their perspective. #VermontEconomy #BusinessClimate #DataInformed #AdvancingTheVermontEconomy

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