Make It Better Foundation

Make It Better Foundation Helping you live, love, work and play with greater purpose and joy.

Defensiveness, emotional shutdown, perfectionism, people-pleasing, fear of conflict.Many of the behaviors that cause dif...
05/30/2026

Defensiveness, emotional shutdown, perfectionism, people-pleasing, fear of conflict.

Many of the behaviors that cause difficulty in our relationships begin as survival strategies long before adulthood — but those patterns don't have to be permanent.

Bestselling author and licensed marriage and family therapist Vienna Pharaon stresses that understanding is key:
"Pain wants to be acknowledged. It wants to be witnessed. It wants to be felt."

At a recent conversation hosted by The Family Institute at Northwestern University (a 2026 Make It Better Philanthropy Award winner), Pharaon joined the Institute's Chief Clinical Officer Nancy Burgoyne to unpack how childhood wounds shape the way people love, communicate, and protect themselves — and what healing can truly look like in practice.

What does that look like for you?
Watch the full panel on MIBTV and explore Pharaon's 10 insights on healing childhood wounds and building healthier connections on Better.net — 🔗 below.


https://better.net/relationships/vienna-pharaon-shares-10-insights-on-healing-childhood-wounds-and-building-healthier-connections/

What started locally in Chicago's North Shore now provides you with national reach and impact — especially for your favo...
05/29/2026

What started locally in Chicago's North Shore now provides you with national reach and impact — especially for your favorite nonprofit 💛

Susan B. Noyes, Make It Better Foundation Founder founded Make It Better almost 20 years ago with the intention of helping you do the most good in your community.

The amazing thing about all that time — and all of those trusted online connections — is that it makes it possible for you to tell the story of a nonprofit or individual making a real difference in the world for a cause you care about. No more than two degrees of separation exist between you and anybody else, even at a national level, who cares about the same thing you do.

Our partnership with the Alzheimer's Association is proof. What started with our media sponsorship of an early days fundraising luncheon on Chicago's North Shore has grown into a powerful example of national impact — including Eli Lilly and Company, Johns Hopkins Giving, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Akris.

So is our partnership with The Joffrey Ballet — the company has intentionally cultivated relationships locally, nationally, and internationally, elevating not only its own profile but also sharing visibility and success with the organizations and communities it touches.

MIB Editor in Chief Brooke Geiger McDonald illustrated this approach with Goodman Theatre's debut of David Byrne's Theater of the Mind Chicago (📸: Todd Rosenberg Photography).

Your voice and presence are valuable, powerful, and exactly what the world needs now — and we want you to use them to make the world a better place faster.

Learn more, tell us about your champions, and become part of our funding and collaborative storytelling network at Better.net — link below.


https://better.net/philanthropy/you-said-it-share-your-passion-with-the-world/

"Different, not less." Autism touches more lives than most people realize — one in 36 children in the U.S. is diagnosed ...
05/26/2026

"Different, not less."

Autism touches more lives than most people realize — one in 36 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism, and more adults than ever are being diagnosed.

But understanding still lags behind awareness.

Organizations like The Anova Center for Education, Have Dreams, Rush University System for Health, and Urban Autism Solutions are working to change that.

From expert advice to personal stories and nonprofit resources, Better.net offers insight, support, and perspective for individuals, families, and communities affected by autism.

How have you seen individuals, families, and communities thrive with autism?

From philanthropy and parenting to culture, wellness, and community, Better delivers stories that matter.We exist to mak...
05/19/2026

From philanthropy and parenting to culture, wellness, and community, Better delivers stories that matter.

We exist to make it easier for our readers to find, support, and learn from outstanding nonprofits working to make the world better. Does that sound like you?

Get tips, trends, and resources to help you live, love, work, and play with greater purpose and joy. Our Better Letter delivers the stories you care about, when you want them, directly to your inbox.

Learn more and sign up at Better.net.
https://better.net/better-letter-email-newsletter-sign-up/

Close your eyes. A wolf howling. Whales singing. A forest coming alive after rain. 🍃Sound is often one of the first ways...
05/15/2026

Close your eyes. A wolf howling. Whales singing. A forest coming alive after rain. 🍃

Sound is often one of the first ways we fall in love with the natural world — long before we understand what an ecosystem is or why biodiversity matters. We hear something wild, and something in us responds.

That's the kind of connection Conservation Nation Academy is built around: creating moments of awe that make kids feel like they're part of nature — not separate from it. Because you can't protect what you don't love.

Conservation Nation — a Make It Better Philanthropy Award winner — is bringing the language of the animal kingdom into classrooms and closer to the next generation of Earth champions.

🔗 Embrace the world around us and find free lessons from Conservation Nation — link below. 🐋🦇🌿


https://conservationnation.org/our-work/education/conservation-nation-academy/lessons/

The most important themes in life are universal: lives filled with love, safe communities, and opportunities to explore ...
05/14/2026

The most important themes in life are universal: lives filled with love, safe communities, and opportunities to explore passions.

These are the high-impact nonprofits that our readers believe are making those hopes a reality, through work ranging from community theater to arts education to support for survivors of domestic violence.

AND, each of these reader submissions earned a $1,000 donation to make sure that work continues.

📢 We want to hear from you! By submitting a You Said It, you can support your favorite nonprofit by:
💪 Championing their work
⭐️ Earning them a $1,000 donation
🏆 Qualifying them for a 2027 Philanthropy Award

The Philanthropy Awards are designed not just to recognize strong organizations, but to help them grow. The goal is simple: make it easier for generous people to find and support organizations that are solving real problems in meaningful ways.

Learn more and become part of Make It Better's funding and storytelling network at Better.net.

https://better.net/philanthropy/nonprofit-qualify-philanthropy-award/
Ballet 5:8 School of the Arts WINGS Program, Inc. Evanston Art Center ParenTeach India Philanthropy Alliance

For more than 15 years, Barry Butler Photography has been photographing Chicago's iconic tulips 🌷A native of Ireland, Bu...
05/04/2026

For more than 15 years, Barry Butler Photography has been photographing Chicago's iconic tulips 🌷

A native of Ireland, Butler relishes both the challenge — the flowers shift with even the slightest wind or passing car — and the symbolism: the promise of warmer days after the brutal winters that earned Chicago its "Chiberia" nickname.

But their symbolism took on a different weight when Butler found out what — or more specifically who — was behind them.

The tulips along Michigan Avenue are planted by people through a job training program offered by A Safe Haven Foundation, a two-time Make It Better Foundation Philanthropy Award winner. Offering an innovative model applicable across the country, Safe Haven provides support ranging from finding housing to addiction support and treatment.

"There are these people who are kind of trying to get their lives back on track, and they're doing something great for the city at the same time," Butler says.

This year, for the first time, he captured the entire process, beginning with trainees planting the bulbs in November.

Explore Butler's photos and learn how spring tulips are more than a job for the Save Haven trainees who plant them on Better.net (link below).


https://better.net/human-services/a-safe-haven-tulips-chicago-job-training/

How do you make someone truly feel the weight of a life changed?The question haunts every fundraiser, program officer, o...
04/30/2026

How do you make someone truly feel the weight of a life changed?

The question haunts every fundraiser, program officer, or grant writer who has ever stared at a blank page. No matter the reports we create, infographics we design, or impact statistics we collect, something gets lost in translation.

This disconnect between donors and organizations is not a communication problem — it is an experiential one.

GO Campaign — a nonprofit working to improve the lives of vulnerable children worldwide — is taking an ancient yet surprisingly underutilized approach: take people to where the work happens, and invite donors to walk the same ground as the people their gifts serve.

Donor immersion trips — carefully designed, deeply intentional journeys into the work — are emerging as one of the most powerful tools in philanthropy. When donors experience the work firsthand, they stop being supporters of a cause and start being part of one.

In this You Said It on Better.net (link below), GO Campaign Director of Development Kristen Plumberg Bennett explains how the organization is closing the distance and saying to the people who believe in its mission: come and see for yourself.


https://better.net/philanthropy/how-nonprofits-turn-one-time-donors-into-lifelong-supporters-go-campaign/

Three out of four jobs over the next decade will require a college credential — but overall college enrollment is down f...
04/28/2026

Three out of four jobs over the next decade will require a college credential — but overall college enrollment is down from its 2010 high, while public confidence in the importance of higher education continues to erode.

The data is clear — a college credential is one of the most reliable paths toward economic mobility, better health outcomes, and civic engagement.

Nonprofits like the Associated Colleges of Illinois support independent colleges to make sure that first generation and low-to-moderate income students have the best change possible to graduate.

While public colleges provide most degrees in the U.S., the independent nonprofit sector accounts for more than 30% of four-year graduates. Organizations like Associated Colleges of Illinois work with students and colleges to make sure more people know about these alternatives.

In this You Said It on Better.net (link below), Associated Colleges of Illlinois' Dr. James L. Applegate weighs in on education, income inequality, and the "silver bullet" to a better life.
💛

Do you have ideas on how to make the world a better place? Submit a You Said It to let us amplify your voice, earn a $1,000 donation, and open the door to further partnership and funding opportunities.


https://better.net/life/more-jobs-require-college-degree-enrollment-down/

"We have agency, we have opportunity, we have the ability."Vic Mensa first gained national attention through his music, ...
04/24/2026

"We have agency, we have opportunity, we have the ability."

Vic Mensa first gained national attention through his music, emerging alongside a generation of artists reshaping hip-hop — think Chance the Rapper and Chief Keef.

Since then, his career has expanded across mediums, from music and film to essays, interviews, and public dialogue. You may have seen Vic Mensa's viral orange tree videos — he plucks an orange from a tree outside his home and casually peels it while unpacking everything from race, religion, and personal growth to culture and national politics.

🍊 "It's songwriting in a way, it's comedy, and it's cinema. It's just authentic representation of me." 🍊

Mensa's message is not a political one, but one of participation and responsibility — the obligation of artists to unify and express a shared humanity.

Better Magazine Editor in Chief Brooke Geiger McDonald talked with Vic Mensa about art, advocacy, and investing in community and the next generation — read the full story on Better.net:
https://better.net/arts-events/vic-mensa-art-advocacy-chicago-community-93-boyz-interview/

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