Support Living Room Conversations
Living Room Conversations works to heal society by connecting people across divides – politics, age, gender, race, nationality, and more – through guided conversations proven to build understanding and transform communities.
Your support helps to fund our conversation guide development and extensive programming, including responding to emerging needs like COVID, racial equity, and political polarization.
We rely primarily on donations from individuals and institutions (grants from foundations and other organizations) to maintain our free and open source resources and to support our small, mostly part-time staff. At the present time, we receive no government funding.
Tax ID# 04-3002588
Mediators Foundation is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code (Fed. ID #04-3002588). No goods or services are provided by Mediators or Living Room Conversations for these contributions.
By donating to Living Room Conversations you will be signed up to receive our weekly note! You are able to adjust your preferences or unsubscribe at any time.
What can your donation do for you? With a monthly contribution through Patreon (starting at just $3), you will receive content exclusive to our Patrons. We have bonus videos, the ability to schedule time with our staff to support your Living Room Conversations, behind-the-scenes content, early-access to new guides/resources, and more!
Some donors are interested to learn that by donating stock to our charity, they can avoid the capital gains tax they would have to pay on any increase in value of stock since being purchased. Living Room Conversations has partnered with Stock Donator to accept stock donations!
Have you considered stock donation or spoken with your financial advisor about the benefits?
All stock donations will be processed through Mediator’s Foundation, our fiscal sponsor.
If you would like to donate offline, please make your check payable to Mediators Foundation and write “Living Room Conversations” in the notes. Send to:
Living Room Conversations
c/o Mediators Foundation
2525 Arapahoe Ave, Suite E4 #509
Boulder, CO 80302
We rely on funding from individuals and from grants. One of the ways that we strengthen our proposals is with stories of impact and data about the numbers of participants, conversations, and events.
Please help us by sharing your experiences with Living Room Conversations as an individual and within your community. Another way to offer support is to let us know why you believe Living Room Conversations is an important part of healing divides in society.
"I became a monthly donor to Living Room Conversations because efforts like this –– conversations that impact people’s lives in very positive, personal ways –– are often overlooked in favor of splashy, public work. It’s the best way for me to help Living Room Conversations grow and address the needs of people in their communities across the country."
- Are you a nonprofit? Living Room Conversations is a fiscally sponsored project of Mediators Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.They take a 7% fee from our expenses in return for managing our accounting and processing our donations received online and by check. (There is a small additional fee for online donations we receive.)
- Are donations tax-exempt? Yes.
- Where does the money come from? 75% of our funding comes from individuals. The remaining comes from institutions, including foundations, as well as honoraria and fees for services.
- Where does the money go? About 90% goes to staffing—people are what make Living Room Conversations work. Three percent goes to support staff travel and being part of larger coalition events as well as events we ourselves sponsor; these expenses can include food, printing of materials, and advertising. Seven percent goes to our fiscal sponsor (See Q1).
- Why should I give? Living Room Conversations are free of charge: it is free to download all our Conversation Guides, Conversation Agreements, and other resources. But we do incur costs to develop and disseminate these resources. All of our materials are created by skilled professionals; our training materials and events, plus our in-depth, personal organizer support are made possible by professional organizers, and our outreach and promotion are done by professional staff.
- What difference does my gift make? Living Room Conversations are intended to be used by everyone to build bridges and make problem-solving across differences possible, enjoyable and strong. We are as strong as our people. This is true of our democracy as well as Living Room Conversations itself. We seek to engage and give away our tools and practice to as many people as possible, while engaging the support of as many people as possible—as donors, hosts, organizers, and promoters. This includes you!