Fund Raisers Urged to Talk About Social Change

March 31, 2008

Fund Raisers Urged to Talk About Social Change

Why is there so little talk about social justice at major conferences on fund raising and philanthropy, asked Simone Joyaux, a Rhode Island fund-raising consultant who conducted a session on the topic Monday morning at the annual meeting of the Association of Fund-Raising Professionals meeting in San Diego.

She said fund raisers should think more deeply about how their practices go against efforts to promote equity among the poor, minorities, and other disenfranchised people. She said such conversations should not be relegated to social-justice causes but should be part of everyday conversations with fund-raising colleagues, board members, and others.

For instance, she urged fund raisers to talk about whether efforts to honor wealthy donors end up making people who cannot afford to give more feel that they are not part of a social cause.

“Their $25 gift could be the same as as a $50,000 gift to someone else,” she said.

She said even terms people take for granted — like the title major gifts officer — could cause poor people to feel left out, noting that one donor asked her whether he should get help from a “minor gifts officer.” A participant in the audience said her group has deliberately turned away from such terms and now calls fund raisers who focus on large donations “philanthropy advisers.”

She said one of her clients, a nonprofit social-services leader, once asked her whether it was appropriate to mention to her board members that some of the policies they support as voters, business people, and civic leaders were the very ones that caused the need for her organization to exist. Ms. Joyaux said those questions can be uncomfortable but more fund raisers should have the courage to talk about them if they care about changing the lives of the neediest in the United States.

Among other questions she said donors should be asked to think about: Who decides where the money a charity raises will go? What does it mean to serve everyone? How does an organization measure results?

“Ask these kind of questions in every possible venue,” Ms. Joyaux urged. “We all need to take some risks,” she said.

— Stacy Palmer

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Fund Raisers Urged to Talk About Social Change