REFLECTIONS ON IDENTITY, EQUITY & JUSTICE IN NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING
November 2018
I am a biracial Xicana with indigenous and European ancestry, and benefit directly and indirectly from white-passing privilege. I speak English fluently, and I have an English last name that belongs to my white husband. I am a cisgender woman and my gender presentation fits within current societal norms. I have an invisible physical disability, and have access to healthcare. I have had the economic privilege to access higher education and job opportunities in my chosen field. All of these layers of my personal identity have impacted my professional pursuits either positively or negatively, and through building an awareness of my own privilege and the intersections of my lived experience, I have also gained a greater understanding of how far the nonprofit sector, and the field of fundraising in particular, has to go to in building authentic equity and justice.
Most nonprofit professionals who have dedicated time to working on issues of equity and justice in our sector would agree that this work is a long-term, ongoing process. While there is no perfect state of completion to achieve, this work is still urgent and essential, especially for organizations serving marginalized groups. It is heartening to see how an increase in dialogue around equity and justice is pushing nonprofits to more deeply examine and reimagine their approaches, values and organizational structures. What I find disheartening is the lack of substantive action and dialogue in the sub-sector of nonprofit fundraising and fund development.
To be clear, the contributions of smaller and mid-sized professional affinity groups like the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training and Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy have been ahead of the curve in skillfully addressing issues of inequity and injustice in fundraising and philanthropy. By contrast, it is disappointing to see how the Association of Fundraising Professionals International (AFP), the largest and most affluent trade organization in our field, continues to struggle with embracing a commitment to equity and justice, and creating space for authentic, honest dialogue about the specific challenges faced by fundraisers of color and fundraisers with marginalized identities. Over the past decade, I have met countless fundraisers of color, fundraisers who self-identify as queer and/or gender- nonconforming and fundraisers with disabilities who have told me that AFP doesn’t feel like a community that is for them or honors their values and perspective.
While one of AFP’s stated values is to “Foster cultural diversity and pluralistic values and treat all people with dignity and respect”, this value does not address the root causes of a lack of diversity in our field, and by failing to address how systemic racism and unconscious bias have created barriers to building a truly diverse and equitable field, it is unlikely that this value can ever be embodied. While I’m sure it is some small marker of progress that the AFP “Diversity and Inclusion Committee” is now entitled “Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee”, and there are steps being made to incentivize local chapters to focus more diversity, equity and access, their approach is still steeped in the language and concepts of “Fakequity” and what some refer to as “Diversity Lite”.
One important and widely-embraced social justice principle is the concept of truth-telling. Truth and honesty are also cornerstones of the fundraising profession. Until we as fundraisers acknowledge and tell the truth about how fundraisers of color and fundraisers with other marginalized identities have been harmed, unsupported, overlooked and discriminated against within our own field, authentic change is unlikely to occur. We can try to “foster cultural diversity”, but what does that really mean, and what does that actually look like? Is “fostering cultural diversity” really useful, or should we be aiming for greater justice and equity?
The following are some questions and acknowledgements that AFP leadership, local AFP chapter leaders and white or white-passing fundraisers like myself must reflect and act upon if we seek a more just and equitable field:
We must acknowledge that the professionalization of our trade was largely shaped by cisgender, white men and women in a heteronormative context, which has led to a limited perspectives and inequities.
How does this limit our knowledge of philanthropic best practices and engaging donors in a way that is culturally appropriate?
How does this impact the way in which our field is able to provide professional development and support for fundraisers of color and fundraisers with marginalized identities?
How do we acknowledge the ways in which fundraisers of color and fundraisers with marginalized identities have not been supported or given opportunities to advance within our field?
Knowing that inequities exist, how can we better center the professional needs and challenges of fundraisers of color and fundraisers with marginalized identities?
We must acknowledge that core aspects of fundraising work often rely on upholding systemic racism and white supremacy.
How often and openly do we discuss the ways in which wealth has been built historically in the United States?
How and when do we talk about intergenerational transfers of wealth and the origins of that wealth, i.e. the slave trade, or profiting from use of stolen indigenous land and exploiting the labor of the undocumented, incarcerated and poor?
How and when do we discuss what it means for fundraisers whose relatives and ancestors have been oppressed and exploited to create wealth to then be asked to steward and build relationships with those who continue to benefit from that oppression?
How do we prepare and offer support for fundraisers when they encounter overt racism, homophobia, or other microaggressions from donors or philanthropic institutions, or even other fundraisers?
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I have made the decision to divest from AFP for the time being. While I will still uphold AFP’s Code of Ethics in my work, honor the Donor Bill of Rights, and appreciate AFP’s efforts toward codifying basic concepts and best practices of fundraising, I cannot pay local chapter dues, conference and training fees to an organization that doesn’t align with my values. At this time, and for the foreseeable future, I will be giving my financial resources to organizations that approach the work of nonprofit fund development from a place that authentically centers justice and equity.