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Generally, when running a nonprofit, you are constantly trying to figure out how to get more people to give you more money. This is probably obvious - everything you want to accomplish depends on having the money to do it.
The same mechanism as regulatory capture can lead to donor capture. That is - you tell people what they want to hear. And in some cases, you start to believe it yourself.
This is what led to the events of Day 22 in Losing My Religions. Anne and I pushed for a message that would create sustainable change in new people. Others wanted to tell donors - vegans - how great they are and how veganism is perfect and all that matters.
It isn't just vegans who do this, of course. For example, the climate movement has been captured by catastrophists who claim (and many probably believe) that a different climate will kill us all, and nothing else matters.
I thought of this recently when an advocate with whom I used to be close "changed [his] mind" and endorsed a conspiracy theory that is very popular with his donors. I don't know if he believes it - it is possible, given that smarter people are more susceptible to conspiracy theories. But it is sad.
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