Katherine Johnson

The Humanity of the Third Sector

In American society, there is, of course, government and business. Those are the two paths many of us feel pushed toward when choosing a career: becoming a cog in a machine, or becoming a cog in a higher-paying machine.

But, to fascism and capitalism’s dismay, there has always been another option: the third sector.

Nonprofits have rightfully earned their place as society’s third sector, though I’ve always been tempted to call it something else entirely: humanity’s saving grace.

Nonprofits are everywhere, but somehow they remain quietly overlooked. We reduce them to stops on a tourist’s “must-see” list or volunteer hours for a high school student’s college application, when in reality they are so much more than that. Together, nonprofits are communities wrapping their arms around themselves. They are preserving, protecting, educating, feeding, uplifting, and advocating where other systems often fail to.

I believe deeply in organizations that feed the Earth, the community, the wildlife, the marginalized, and the humanities before they feed themselves.

And while I can appreciate the missions of nonprofits across every sector, I’ve always been especially drawn toward the buildings filled with humanity’s reflection of itself. Our art. Our science. Our history. The things we have created and discovered deserve preservation, attention, and care. Cultural institutions, especially museums, deserve consistent support, both monetarily and enthusiastically.

As a student of Nonprofit Management and a museum professional, I want to dig deeper into both the nonprofit world as a whole and cultural institutions specifically. I want to learn how these organizations function, how they survive, how they serve, and how they can continue evolving into the future. This site is part exploration, part review, and part adoration.

I care deeply about the future and persistence of nonprofits in general, but I know my own future is especially tied to cultural nonprofits and museums, the places dedicated to preserving humanity for humanity itself.

If you’d like to learn more about the site or my aspirations, feel free to dig deeper.