It's Time for a Fundraising Revolution

During the first week of my first job as a fundraiser, I attended a donor event. Prior to the conclusion of the program, a donor rose from her seat and started heading for the door. My boss leapt up and literally RAN across the expansive event hall to push open the door before the donor could get there. My boss then scrambled to the coat check to procure the donor’s fur wrap and drape it over her shoulders.

Granted I came into the job as a fresh-out-of-college 22 year-old relatively blind to what nonprofits were much less how fundraisers did their jobs, but the utter deference to this donor was disconcerting. Was this how I needed to behave to be successful in this field? Subservient to the people who were generous supposedly because of their deep-seated belief in the organization’s mission?

Fundraisers are taught that the donor is the ultimate, the supreme, the end all be all – they shouldn’t be questioned or challenged and big ones should be treated like royalty. Nothing was as important as the donor.

I am embarrassingly late to the party of how obvious it is that fundraising is rooted in unjust and inequitable practices. For years, the strategies I employed as a fundraiser were designed to center the donor, to exalt their financial commitment in a way that actually diminished the work, the people, and the community that the enterprise has been created to support. 

Somewhere, unsurprisingly as desperation for resources grew, we lost sight of this. We turned our practices into strategies that made the donor (not the mission, values, participants, volunteers, staff, or community) into the center of everything. We told donors how many “poor people” their gift would reach, as opposed to how a community that includes them could make change happen. We hosted elaborate galas that were a drain on resources to create, but allowed donors an evening of glitzy entertainment where their wealth was celebrated. We fell into the trap of boasting “overhead ratios” to lure in the dollars, perpetuating the fallacy that a “good” nonprofit is one that runs on zero cost magical beans as opposed to talented staff, robust infrastructure, and equipment, technology, and resources actually from this decade. We crafted stories of our constituents to solicit an emotional reaction from potential supporters, disregarding how this might make those we serve feel. We refrained from advocating around hugely important issues inherent to our values so as to not “be political” and “upset donors.”

That’s the tip of the iceberg. It’s time to wake up and reimagine how to do this work differently so we’re not causing harm and reinforcing inequities. It won’t be easy. Fundraising and the “best practices” that we’ve learned are deeply entrenched in the fabric of our organizations, the culture of the sector, and origins of colonization.

Luckily, there are pioneers leading the way. Vu Le and his blog, Nonprofit AF are a must-add to your weekly reading list. A few years ago he started really digging into this dynamic with some colleagues. They recently launched Community-Centric Fundraising, a fundraising model grounded in equity and social justice. Their website is a treasure trove of articles, essays, and resources. 

We especially love this handy guide to inspire action. Grounded in their 10 guiding principles, these steps will help you audit your practices and reframe your development work with equity in mind. Read it. Talk about these with your colleagues and board. Let this inspire a conversation about what your organizational values are and whether you’re truly living them not just in your programs, but in every aspect of your work. Pick 2-3 tactics to put into practice. Start wherever you are and however you can. Just start.

At Brightspot, we’ve long been exploring issues of race and equity – how these issues are at the heart of our personal values, what they mean in today’s utterly insane world, and also how they play out in nonprofits.

But I am incredibly humbled by my ignorance in how fundraising perpetuates these things. Along with my partners, I pledge to learn as much as possible about how to employ these strategies then share them with our clients and community. Together, this movement can help to change the culture of fundraising and promote equity throughout our organizations and in turn, within our communities.