I've been doing a TON of writing the last few weeks but not for you. I have another audience. Are you jealous?

For nearly two years, I've been writing this newsletter about nonprofits, but I've never told you about my nonprofit.

I still haven't figured out how to talk about it professionally.

One of my favorite scenes from You've Got Mail is the exchange after Joe Fox puts Kathleen Kelly out of business.

Joe: It wasn't... personal.

Kathleen: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's personal to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?

Joe: Uh, nothing.

Kathleen: Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.

Nonprofit work is personal to me. So much so that I have a hard time talking about it.

I'm not working on an abstract cause; I'm caring for real people, eight girls who I know by name.

Twelve years ago, when I met God's Way, Sarah Sr., Richlove, Lucky, Dina, Regina, Sarah Jr., and Gloria, they were between 6 and 10 years old. None of them had gone to school. They were living in poverty so extreme, I refuse to describe it to you.

This summer, I took them to the Eli Beach Resort to celebrate the oldest four finishing high school. We splashed in the ocean and walked on the beach. They took ten thousand selfies to share with their friends. We ate at the resort for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I told them they could order anything they wanted off the menu. They ate so much pizza.

We celebrated, because celebration is warranted.

Only a third of Ghanaian women have completed senior high school.

The oldest four just applied to college. Sarah (who has won my heart so completely, you might think I have a favorite, but I assure you I don’t) wants to be an entrepreneur.

I have eight favorites.

Because this is so personal for me, I find it hard to talk about. Which, no surprise, makes fundraising a challenge. But I'm getting over myself.

One of my goals for 2026 is to weave more stories about my nonprofit work into this newsletter. I have a hunch you people might care about that too.

Only about 17% of Ghanaian women receive a bachelor’s degree. The oldest four are applying for college, with the second half close behind, which means that in one generation (less than two decades) we have the chance to catapult eight girls from absolute poverty to among the best educated and most employable women in their country.

So for the last few weeks, I've been writing about that.

My big fundraising strategy is a bar chart.

Is it working?

If you are a sucker for bar charts like me, you can give at 8oaks.org/donate and select "college fund" from the drop down.

This is personal for me. I know your work is personal to you. This is why I like nonprofit people!

It’s personal for a lot of people. Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.

I'm so grateful for the attention you shared with me this year. You are all my favorite.

See you in January.

Ted

P.S. If you reply to this email with your physical address, I’ll mail you a Christmas card from the girls.