AUGUST NEWSLETTER | We celebrate with poetry & tapas
Hi friends,
We celebrated our 11th (prime number!) birthday this summer, so we made it an excuse to uplift Oregon Humanities, poetry, the bridge-building power of conversation and tapas (cute photos below!)
So, we’re asking: Do businesses have a responsibility to fund the non-profits that help them flourish? If so, could it look this fun? We’ll be seeding this question to spark conversations and guide our work into 2027.
With Fall around the corner, we’re loving these long days and warm nights, and gearing up for the midterms ahead. Action items coming next month; stay tuned!
In solidarity, poetry, and celebration,
Team Modernist
investing insights
Along with a review of Q2’s economic and market data, we’ve got charts and talk on hot topics like IPOs (ugh, Elon) and capital gains tax. Get nerdy with us over at Modernist University!
Are you on track for your 2026 Tax Planning? Check out our guide to 2026 Tax Planning and Year-End Generosity, which includes upcoming deadlines. Take a look, your tax pro will thank you!
from the team
We’re celebrating our 11th birthday this year; we’re in our prime!
To mark the occasion, we hosted a gathering at Urdaneta ahead of Oregon Humanities’ Consider This conversation with poet Naomi Shihab Nye.
It was a lovely evening of laughter and light and an opportunity to remember, while in community, our shared responsibility to fund the arts and culture organizations that resource us all, including Modernist!
Thank you to Human Centric Media for the wonderful recap video!
Modernist Takes It Outside
“If investing is exciting, you’re probably doing it wrong,” says Georgia in this two-part feature (links in buttons below) by Rob Smith for Formidable Media on Modernist’s approach and Georgia Founder story.
They considered the research that shows women outperform men as investors, asking how gender essentialism’s cultural norms and socialization could play a role in the data.
In a conversation with Farnoosh for the podcast So Money, she and Georgia talked AI (who isn’t these days) wondering how folks (and businesses) could center media literacy and the humanities to help us maintain critical thinking skills even as AI augments creativity and work. They also talked money anxiety and navigating market volatility in 47’s administration.
🏆✨ The results from Portland Business Journal are in!
Modernist ranked #16 on the list of largest LGBTQ+ Owned businesses in OR & SW Washington, and #94 on the list of Fastest Growing!
Fund Your Heroes
Pick a lawyer, any lawyer, because it’s always a good time to fund civil rights lawyers.
We particularly love Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ civil rights.
Through litigation, public education, and policy advocacy, they fight to protect and advance the rights of the queer community.
Along with their BFFs at the ACLU(s) and NAACP in 2025 they brought five new lawsuits against 47’s administration while continuing to push cases in 24 other states.
Art Break
We’re thrilled to see the upcoming season of Portland Arts & Lectures (ahem, the largest literary audience in America…) bring these vibrant voices to Portland. In eager anticipation of these very smart writers lecturing, we’re revisiting a few on their Archive Project podcast.
Song(s) That Are Really About Local Love
Lunch show! 🎶 The team recently heard Night Heron play during lunch at the new Darcelle Plaza next to MFHQ. Check them out here Live on KEXP! Thrilled to see this local band getting the spotlight both downtown and on one of our favorite indie radio stations.