We were lucky to catch up with Lora McDonald recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lora, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

MORE2 , “MORE-squared,” is an acronym that stands for Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, Inc. The organization is a faith based membership organization; we train and develop ordinary folks within our membership to tackle issues around racial justice and transform our community through public policy change. I’ve been the Executive Director for ten years and I have often asked where our name came from, specifically, who thought it would be a good idea to put an exponent in our name? Everyone I asked credited someone who would later say, “It wasn’t me.” But, there is some agreement that one day, about eighteen years ago, a group of our founders sat in a room trying to decide “what to do with that second E,”

This year, I decided to meet one on one with several of our founding members who were not currently engaged, for one reason or another. I met with a man who is homebound, a couple in Texas, and a local guy named Keith, who says, “I realized I am better at starting things than keeping them going.” It occurred to me to ask Keith about the name and he told me the best story yet… In that room, when they were deciding what to do with that extra E, wanting to avoid the name MOREE, Rev. Eric Belt, one of our first Board Co-Chairs, said, “Why don’t we put it to a Higher Power?” and, with that, the E became an exponent.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

MORE2 is the Kansas City area affiliate of a national organization called Gamaliel Network, which is headquartered in Chicago. We are trained in a form or organizing that is rooted in the Socratic method, which is referred to as “agitational.” What this means is we push people to ask themselves tough questions, confront their own behaviors, and create powerful public lives for themselves. Gamaliel has trained and developed leaders, organizers, and policy makers all over the nation, including young organizers like Barack Obama and Mandela Barnes.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I spent about fifteen years in my career doing direct service or designing and administering social service programs for non-profits. I created some really successful programs, community gardens that supply tons of health food to neighborhoods, adoption crisis services, and prisoner reentry services, to name a few. But, I always had this gnawing, that started during college and continued throughout that fifteen years– I always wanted to have a bigger impact and get at the root causes of why most people needed social services. It felt like everything I was doing was a reaction to racism, classism, and other inequities. For example, I recall being an administrator at a non profit that served mostly working poor people. The development director got a big box store to give us a gift certificate for $100 for our school supply drive. That same store posted a flyer about the school supply give away in their breakroom and many of their employees, who earned minimum wage. stood in line for free school supplies. Those kinds of things drove me crazy. I wanted to take that hundred dollar gift certificate back to that corporate store, bring their employees along, and negotiate better wages.

I got another job with a wide lane, to “do something about prisoner reentry,” and I decided to start organizing before I really even knew what that meant. I just started talking to people, asking them what was missing that hindered people’s success post incarceration. That was when I was exposed to the Gamaliel Network and got to go through National Leadership Training, I continued to organize but with far more confidence and strategy. I also built the prisoner reentry programs known as Second Chance. They’re successful at reducing recidivism and I’m proud of the work they continue to do in our community. But, my mind was fixed on organizing and the opportunity to reduce mass incarceration, not just respond after people came home. That was why I pursued the job of Executive Director at MORE2/

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I was hired, in part, because of my experience growing a budget. But, it’s different to fund advocacy work than direct service, which was my background. From my direct service days, I knew people liked to know their money did something, whether it was buying a month of diapers or paying rent. It is important in community organizing work that we don’t just take a stand, but that we actually have an outcome. I have always focused on getting something done, with the understanding that is what donors want to be a part of, too, In those first few years, we exposed and foiled a state plan that would have collapsed our school district; we regained Food Stamp benefits for Missourians with drug convictions; we banned the box (removed criminal history questions off employment applications); and, we passed an ordinance for habitability standards in rental housing. People know they aren’t just throwing money at a belief; they are actually going to make something happen!

We don’t have a lot of big donors, but we have hundreds of members who give their own money or participate in fundraising activities. We are in direct relationship with almost every person who gives to us. We call our donors “investors,” because we see them as investing in the outcomes of our work toward a more equitable Kansas City. Most of our investors are also members: they give small monthly amounts or once a year. This kind of money takes time to raise and it creates an even more democratic atmosphere in the organization, I believe. Everyone raises money and/ or brings their own to the table, therefore everyone has a say.

We now have seven full time positions, including mine. Winning continues to be our winning formula for drawing in new members and investors.

Contact Info:

• Website: more2.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moresquared/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lora.mcdonald.3 & https://www.facebook.com/MORE2KC/
• Twitter: @loramore2
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdqzGpSaOq5XpnPAd1NZvvw

Image Credits
Photo credit Sarah Starnes