^{Talking Points: Grant Fatigue, Micro-Founders, Nonprofit Industrial Complex, Resource Hoarding, Social Justice}

As a new micro‑business founder with a stint in the nonprofit world, I have a grant rant I’ve wanted to get out there. (Throughout this piece, “micro‑business founder,” “solopreneur,” and “micro‑founder” are interchangeable.)

Promise vs. Reality 

The Movement Advancement Project (MAP) tracks over 50 different LGBTQ-related laws and policies.  This map shows the overall policy tallies (as distinct from sexual orientation or gender identity tallies) for each state, the District of Columbia, and the five populated U.S. territories. 

...Columbia City library branch was bustling with chatter and activity as volunteers with backgrounds as lawyers, paralegals, notaries, case workers and social workers helped around 100 people who sought guidance about changing their name or gender marker on legal documents.

Julia opened the door a crack, saw Sandigo and then came out. Julia explained her husband had been detained days earlier while in a van with other immigrants on their way to a construction job.

After a brief conversation, Julia invited Sandigo, a notary and a volunteer into her small house.

Julia recalled that eight years ago her first husband, also Guatemalan, was deported, leaving her behind with their two American children, now 18 and 11 years old.

• 75.0% of all notary publics are women, while 25.0% are men.
• The average notary public age is 42 years old.
• The most common ethnicity of notary publics is White (57.0%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (20.7%), Black or African American (10.3%) and Asian (6.3%).
• In 2022, women earned 89% of what men earned.
• 7% of all notary publics are LGBT.

Digital notary startup Notarize is now offering free notarizations in an effort to eliminate racial covenants in title insurance documents.