It’s July 15th. As summer heats up, a major national event is taking place. Rival factions are preparing for battle. Everyone’s running around trying to gather up information and allies at a frantic pace.                     
We refer, of course, to Pokemon Go. (What, did you think we meant something else?)

To help your own information-gathering, we have five items for you, at least one of which is related to Pokemon Go. (For the uninitiated, Pokemon Go is a mobile “augmented reality” game involving GPS that requires you to take your phone to various locations to “capture” Pokemon figures in public locations. It was released nine days ago, on July 6, and is now estimated to be on 5% of all smartphones, an enormous number (by contrast, Tinder is only on 2%.)

1) And now, Nonprofit Quarterly reports that many of the Pokéstops and Pokégyms in the game to which users are currently flocking are located at public places such as parks, churches, art installations, historical markers, and museums. Several smart museums and charities are taking advantage of the sudden influx of millenials. Find out how, and see if it gives you any ideas:
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/07/14/pokemon-goto-opera-nonprofits-made-game/

More on Pokemon Go’s convergence with nonprofits and charities here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pokemon-go-charity-miles-raise-money_us_5786a7fee4b0867123df8758

2) Remember #OscarsSoWhite? The Greenlining Institute raises a timely and important question: Why are 92% of all foundation presidents and CEOs white? If your organization is lacking diversity, it may be failing to fully serve its community or follow its mission. Beyond that, a non-diverse organization may have a significantly harder time reaching the people it wants to help. Greenlining lays everything out here:
http://greenlining.org/blog/2016/philanthropysowhite-time-change/

3) According to the Center for Effective Philanthropy, only 38% of all nonprofit leaders believe all or most of their funders have a deep understanding of their beneficiaries’ needs. What attributes do nonprofit leaders like to see in donors, and how can a nonprofit org make sure its funders properly understand its needs? The CEP’s blog dives in:
http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org/characteristics-help-foundations-deeply-understand-beneficiaries-2/?utm_content=33150228&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

4) Don Kramer’s Nonprofit Issues site has a weekly “Question of the Week” where he answers a question about tricky nonprofit management and policy issues. The current question has to do with a board member’s right to see personnel records when it conflicts with a staff member’s right to privacy:
http://www.nonprofitissues.com/to-the-point/may-board-chair-review-personnel-records

Other good Q&As around confidentiality and overturning voice votes here:
http://www.nonprofitissues.com/to-the-point/can-voice-vote-be-overturned
http://www.nonprofitissues.com/to-the-point/do-these-questions-breach-confidentiality

5) With the impending presidential election, it’s important to remember that 501(c)3s are banned from participating in political activity. But how, exactly, did that restriction become law? The answer, from the blog of For Purpose Law, involves Lyndon B. Johnson, Joe McCarthy, and a tangled web dating back to 1894. Get the full story (and impress your friends and colleagues) here:
http://www.forpurposelaw.com/501c3-political-ban-history/

Wondering if there are great links that didn’t make the Friday Five? Have a nonprofit question you’re dying for the answer to? Hit us up at info@b-alaw.com. That’s all for this week, but the Friday Five will be back next week, rain or shine.  Unless we are out catching Pokemon working on nonprofit law-related activities, which definitely do not include catching Pokemon.