Money Isn't Everything...

...In fact, we just finished our Data Arts profile (a vetting profile for endowments and grantors) and were blown away by just how much 'in kind' help we've received from our talented friends our first year. Including Angela Peters Johnson, of The Social Justice Learning Institute, who guided us through this herculean Data Arts task! Thank you all. Your love and generosity have inspired and supported Connectopod to reach higher, explore deeper.

Here are 15 $free ways you can connect with Connectopod to support our immediate projects and our ongoing mission to amplify voices that don't get heard enough. Join us!

1. Alert us to Grants or Endowments whose criteria we might fit.

2. Contribute your skills and talents. Musician? Contribute music! We have several projects coming, including a doc short. Artist? Donate your art to our shop. Create with us. Your talent is appreciated. We'll shout it from the rooftops!

3. Share your professional wisdom. Lawyer? Educator? Professional Development pro? Financial consultant? Great at office work flow? Something that I have no idea exists but you know will help us? We'll buy you coffee.

4. Get interviewed for our show! Have an interesting job or story to share?

5. Connect us. Know somebody that has an interesting job or story to share? How about a point person at a company that might donate equipment or be a cool field trip?Media outlets that might be interested in amplifying Connectopod?

6. Suggest a great intern. We can give them official school credit now that we are a 501c3. They can be majors in media, journalism, social marketing, graphics, social work, social justice, business, grant writing, and more! We try to give them work that will be satisfying as well as build their credentials in their chosen area of study. No scanning piles of photos in an airless extra bathroom for our interns. (Seriously, who puts a copier in a bathroom?!?! I can tell you from experience that is some offal multitasking. BaDooomcha! Here all night folks.)

7. Need gifts? Get them in our store! Original art, pottery , and jewelry with easy prices.

8. Suggest and/or connect us to programs that mesh with our podcast curriculum. In addition to our Sep-May Core Youth Reporter Team, we do a few workshops. This year it was Haskell STEAM for challenged learners, 'Changing the Narrative' with The Social Justice Learning Institute, and 4 fall workshops with LAPL. Each workshop gives us an opportunity to adapt our program for a specific audience.

9. Share our posts! (please). Like us, follow us, and turn your friends on to us, too! Social media count matters to grantors.

10. Mentor. Invite us to share your skills at work or volunteer to present your projects.

11. Ideas! There are no bad ideas. In the words of Gabe Evans:"Failure is the only option." You never know where something said in passing will stick in the Connectopod collective brain and grew into something great later on. Enjoli! I'm looking at you!

12. Advertise with us. We can give you a shout out on our Podcast and Socials. You get my 20 years in advertising experience with a creative cast of amazing kids. We'll make you a unique ad.

13. Donate Audio Equipment. Hey Voice over friends! Anyone have an Apogee mic lying around that you don't use? We use those in our Reporter to go Kits and we are in need of a few.

14. Phones! iPhones from 5c on for use in our Reporter to Go kits. We use Twisted Wave on them with the Apogee mics. We also use any kind of phone with our classes for hands on student made video and photo content.

15.Omaze us! Can you provide cool merch? Or a unique experience through your work: walk on roles, lunch with your celebrity self, free tattoo, trip to Austria? etc..that we could offer for an Omaze drawing?

I'm sure I'm missing something, but you get the idea! And, yes smarty pants, I realize numbers 7 and 12 do require $, but we will give you something in return besides gratitude.