Executive Director Resources
Articles/Articulos
Adelante! A Message for Latinx Focused Nonprofits
I like to think being a fundraiser for years is similar to dog years. Do you know how dog years are 3 to 1 or something like that? Well, I have been a fundraiser for 34 years. So that must make me 100 years in fundraising? Ok, the humor aside. Those years have allowed me to see some long term trends, some good and some not so much.
For a long time, I was one of only a handful of Latino fundraisers nationally in a leadership role. Being the “only brown guy in the room” has improved over time. There is still a huge imbalance in leadership positions in nonprofits and fundraising, even in a state like California, Illinois or New York.
What’s been alarming to me is the chronic and historic state of Latino led and focused nonprofits nationally. As you know my big soapbox has always been that nonprofits under-invest intentionally in fundraising and suffer the financial consequences. Small nonprofits stay small nonprofits while universities and hospitals raise billions year after year.
But with Latino led nonprofits it’s an even bleaker picture. While I know nationally 70% of nonprofits don’t have a major giving program, I would anecdotally bet that 98% of Latino nonprofits don’t have one. Most subsist on a fee for service models, foundation money or small mailings.
What I’d like to say to my fellow Latinos in nonprofits is that we need to change this internally. We need to up our game, dramatically in fundraising. If we are waiting for help, it’s not coming.
The white-dominated foundation community only commits 1.8% of giving annually to Latino led organizations. We are invisible to Program Officers, Foundation Boards that know little of our community crisis and culture. They may be sympathetic but we are outgunned in our fundraising sophistication time and time again.
No, real change in the power of Latino nonprofits has to come from within. From our people. We are generous people; we are under attack and there are tens of millions of us. These are the ingredients for change.
It's time to cast away the divisions we so love. You're from Jalisco, I am from Sonora, you're from Honduras and I am from the DR. To the people ignoring us, to the people attacking us. We are just filthy Mexicans, or “illegals”.
Unity. It’s a must.
I live in a city full of liberals, even socialists. Three times walking down the street, twice in a suit and tie since 2016 I have had anonymous white people run up to me and verbally tell me my day was over. “There is a new Sherriff in town” and “we are going to send all of your job stealers back”. They saw my brown skin and assumed it was open season on me. Never before have I waded through rivers of hate.
So time to stop wringing our hands, waiting for foundation dollars or government grants. Time to turn to the thousands we serve and ask them to give, even a little. Philanthropy is empowerment. We are seen as victims that need help. Let’s help ourselves. Yes, the poor can give and even a little is a piece of power for them and their families. We have the numbers, there are new fundraising programs out there taking advantage of numbers.
Why aren’t Latino organizations taking advantage of those programs? Because they don’t know about them, and because like many nonprofits they too suffer from low investment in fundraising. I speak at AFP and APRA conferences nationally and it’s a rarity to meet a Latino focused nonprofit at one of those important professional development opportunities.
We need to recognize our leaders too. And guys for me I bet on our Latina’s every time. They have the integrity and guts to get this new phase in our community nonprofits done. We need a massive new influx of Latina’s in fundraising. Money is power. Fundraising raises money.
Take a look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Nothing terrifies right-wing privileged men like her. They throw tantrums when she speaks like spoiled 12 yr old boys. They desperately try to sexualize and demean her. They can’t. It’s like the maid in their house is telling them off. She is beautiful, a fire eater and she wins! She has the same effect as water on the Wicked Witch.
We need women like that in fundraising. We need these women in nonprofits working for our people, making big gifts or campaigns happen. Can you imagine? Yes, we can raise millions not thousands for our people. To get children out of cages, to put young people through college, to invest in our public health programs and yes to put more Latina’s in Congress. Our African American sisters and brothers have done this for over 100 years.
I am seeing some new methods and new success around the country. As you know I have had success in individual major giving for example. I have seen giving circles developed, social media campaigns and more. The horror that is the Trump presidency has awoken some new giving and activism. I have seen our foundations and organizations work to get us into philanthropy, work to get the attention of the foundation community.
But the piece we are missing is we more and much more advanced fundraising for Latino focused organizations.
Start by joining the world of fundraising. Go to your local AFP sessions, attend AFP ICON. Learn about the wonderful world of Prospect Research! Latino leaders need to invest in fundraising and recognize that fundraising isn’t overhead or waste. We need to pay people a decent salary where they can survive and hopefully not get poached by a university or hospital. We need to invest time and patience. We need to stop acting like fundraising is someone else’s job.
It’s always amazing for me to see nonprofit leaders, including leaders of Latino, focused organizations shrug and say there is no money for fundraising while at the same time plowing most of their budget into the program. Hiring new staff in program. Development isn’t overhead, it isn’t waste. It’s program. Get it? A smart investment in Development is increasing the program.
And please hire a small team. The number one mistake is hiring a single Development Officer, often underpaid to do the job of 3 people! This is the norm out there.
But the main message here is let’s ask ourselves. How do we raise a lot more money? How do we use our numbers and creativity to step up and raise the millions we need? Leadership, Board and CEO’s need to look in the mirror and ask themselves why they dislike fundraising? Fundraising is the voice of the people, let’s turn it up!
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Adelante! Una Mensaje para las Organizaciones Latinx
Me gusta pensar que ser un recaudador de fondos durante años es similar a los años de los perros. ¿Sabes cómo los años de perro son 3 a 1 o algo así? Bueno, he sido recaudador de fondos durante 34 años. ¿Entonces eso debe hacerme 100 años en la recaudación de fondos? Ok, aparte del humor. Esos años me han permitido ver algunas tendencias a largo plazo, algunas buenas y otras no tanto.
Durante mucho tiempo, fui uno de los pocos recaudadores de fondos latinos a nivel nacional en un papel de liderazgo. Ser el "único chico moreno de la sala" ha mejorado con el tiempo. Todavía existe un gran desequilibrio en las posiciones de liderazgo en las organizaciones sin fines de lucro y la recaudación de fondos, incluso en un estado como California, Illinois o Nueva York.
Lo que ha sido alarmante para mí es el estado histórico y crónico de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro enfocadas y dirigidas por latinos a nivel nacional. Como saben, mi gran tribuna siempre ha sido que las organizaciones sin fines de lucro no invierten intencionalmente en la recaudación de fondos y sufren las consecuencias financieras. Las pequeñas organizaciones sin fines de lucro siguen siendo pequeñas, mientras que las universidades y los hospitales recaudan miles de millones año tras año.
Pero con las organizaciones sin fines de lucro lideradas por latinos, el panorama es aún más sombrío. Si bien sé que a nivel nacional el 70% de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro no tienen un programa importante de donaciones, apostaría anecdóticamente que el 98% de las organizaciones latinas sin fines de lucro no tienen uno. La mayoría subsiste con una tarifa por modelos de servicio, dinero de fundación o pequeños envíos.
Lo que me gustaría decirles a mis compañeros latinos en organizaciones sin fines de lucro es que necesitamos cambiar esto internamente. Necesitamos mejorar nuestro juego, dramáticamente en la recaudación de fondos. Si estamos esperando ayuda, no llegará.
La comunidad de fundaciones dominada por blancos solo se compromete al 1.8% de las donaciones anuales a organizaciones lideradas por latinos. Somos invisibles para los oficiales de programas, las juntas directivas de la fundación que saben poco de la crisis y la cultura de nuestra comunidad. Puede que sean comprensivos, pero nos superan una y otra vez en nuestra sofisticación de recaudación de fondos.
No, el cambio real en el poder de las organizaciones latinas sin fines de lucro tiene que venir desde adentro. De nuestra gente. Somos gente generosa; estamos bajo ataque y somos decenas de millones. Estos son los ingredientes del cambio.
Es hora de deshacerse de las divisiones que tanto amamos. Tú eres de Jalisco, yo soy de Sonora, tú eres de Honduras y yo soy de la República Dominicana. A la gente que nos ignora, a la gente que nos ataca. Sólo somos mexicanos inmundos, o “ilegales”.
Unidad. Es un deber.
Vivo en una ciudad llena de liberales, incluso socialistas. Tres veces caminando por la calle, dos veces con traje y corbata desde 2016, personas blancas anónimas corrieron hacia mí y me dijeron verbalmente que mi día había terminado. "Hay un nuevo Sheriff en la ciudad" y "vamos a enviar a todos sus ladrones de trabajo de regreso". Vieron mi piel morena y asumieron que era temporada abierta para mí. Nunca antes había atravesado ríos de odio.
Así que es hora de dejar de retorcernos las manos, esperando los dólares de la fundación o las subvenciones del gobierno. Es hora de acudir a los miles a quienes servimos y pedirles que den, aunque sea un poco. La filantropía es empoderamiento. Se nos ve como víctimas que necesitan ayuda. Ayudémonos a nosotros mismos. Sí, los pobres pueden dar e incluso un poquito es una pieza de poder para ellos y sus familias. Tenemos los números, hay nuevos programas de recaudación de fondos que se aprovechan de los números.
¿Por qué las organizaciones latinas no aprovechan esos programas? Porque no los conocen y porque, como muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro, también sufren de una baja inversión en la recaudación de fondos. Hablo en conferencias de AFP y APRA a nivel nacional y es una rareza conocer a una organización sin fines de lucro enfocada en los latinos en una de esas importantes oportunidades de desarrollo profesional.
También debemos reconocer a nuestros líderes. Y chicos, para mí, apuesto a que nuestra latina siempre. Tienen la integridad y las agallas para llevar a cabo esta nueva fase en las organizaciones sin fines de lucro de nuestra comunidad. Necesitamos una nueva afluencia masiva de latinas en la recaudación de fondos. Dinero es poder. La recaudación de fondos recauda dinero.
Echa un vistazo a Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Nada aterroriza a los privilegiados de la derecha como ella. Hacen berrinches cuando habla como niños mimados de 12 años. Intentan desesperadamente sexualizarla y degradarla. No pueden. Es como si la sirvienta de su casa los estuviera regañando. ¡Ella es hermosa, come fuego y gana! Tiene el mismo efecto que el agua en la Bruja Malvada.
Necesitamos mujeres así en la recaudación de fondos. Necesitamos que estas mujeres en organizaciones sin fines de lucro trabajen para nuestra gente, haciendo grandes donaciones o campañas. ¿Puedes imaginar? Sí, podemos recaudar millones, no miles para nuestra gente. Sacar a los niños de las jaulas, llevar a los jóvenes a la universidad, invertir en nuestros programas de salud pública y sí, poner más latinas en el Congreso. Nuestras hermanas y hermanos afroamericanos han hecho esto durante más de 100 años.
Veo algunos métodos nuevos y nuevos éxitos en todo el país. Como saben, he tenido éxito en donaciones importantes individuales, por ejemplo. He visto círculos de donaciones desarrollados, campañas en redes sociales y más. El horror que es la presidencia de Trump ha despertado nuevas donaciones y activismo. He visto a nuestras fundaciones y organizaciones trabajar para llevarnos a la filantropía, trabajar para llamar la atención de la comunidad de fundaciones.
Pero la pieza que nos falta
“You Don’t Look like You Belong Here”: Latinos in the Nonprofit World in 2020
Five times in my life I have had a police officer point a gun at me. Three times because a white person called me in as a dangerous criminal. One even said I had a gun; it was a clipboard. In that instance, canvassing door to door for the peace movement, a young Hermosa Beach police officer, trembling with a shotgun leveled at my chest said “You don’t look like you belong here”. He apologized later.
It’s funny I’ve remembered that statement because sometimes the nonprofit world makes me feel like that to this day. When you look at the data on how foundations, nonprofits interact or don’t with 58 million Latinx, my feeling takes on a larger context. When I see so many nonprofits and foundations calling for an end to racial injustice I would ask them to start in their own offices.
I cannot speak to the African American experience in this nation. I can only stand by our African American sisters and brothers, in their righteous outrage, in demanding change, whether there is a video of an injustice or not. And please remember that Latinx come in all colors, many cultural traditions.
We have seen a huge paradigm shift in the larger world around racial injustice, will this finally move the nonprofit world to action?
For many years I was the only brown guy in the executive team, as a VP of Development and more. Despite improvements, there is still a historic and chronic lack of diversity in nonprofits today.
Especially with Latinx.
There is no video of the injustice inside the nonprofit community against Latinx there are only my observations and few statistics.
When you hear “diversity and equity” most people mean staff but I talk about “full diversity and equity”. To me, that means Program, Staff, Board, and Donors. Even Major Donors. There is no more white’s only club in nonprofits like Major Donors. It's overwhelmingly the purview of straight, old white men. Wealth has changed, that has not.
Let’s talk about racism and implicit bias hiding in plain sight in the nonprofit community. I am talking about nonprofits and foundations. Even Latino focused and led nonprofits.
It's time to flip the lights on and point out the most common racist misperceptions and implicit bias about Latinx in the US today when it comes to philanthropy, nonprofits, activism, and more.
“Latinos aren’t philanthropic”-
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that from liberal nonprofit leaders of all colors. Even Latinx leaders say this! The common denominator with those folks is that they don’t know a thing about fundraising.
It’s like the ugly, smelly, obnoxious guy in a town saying all the women are awful and mean because they won’t go out with him! The problem isn’t with Latinx, the problem is that overwhelmingly Latinx aren’t asked to give and when they rarely are it’s often done poorly. I have seen Latinx focused nonprofits start Major Giving programs only to give up after a year or two because tens of millions weren’t rolling in the door! Ignorance of fundraising. Studies show that when asked, educated about the cause Latinx of all ages give at the same rate at white people.
Ask St. Jude Children’s Hospital if Latinx give. They won’t answer because they are making tens of millions every year from Latinx. My local Latino grocery store is in the poorest part of Oakland. There are certain things you can only get there. One does not compromise with chicharrones. I get in my car and hear in Spanish a pitch for St. Jude on my Spanish language radio station, pick up my mail and there is a bilingual solicitation for St. Jude. At the store the announcer on the PA makes a pitch for St. Jude with the voice a Latinx movie star. When I check out the checker asks me if I want to give. When I part with $5 bucks she rings a bell! The store manager told me in a month they had raised $200,000 in his store. In that neighborhood! Wow.
I am sorry if I have made you crave chicharrones. But the point is that St. Jude did the work, makes the effort and profits immensely. The only number I have seen online is that there Spanish speaking fundraising in the Promesa radio telethon raised $110 million since 1997. That’s one revenue stream. They have many approaching Latinx. And don’t forget St. Jude, a wonderful institution worthy of every dime, is still one the vast majority of these donors will never use or visit.
“We Can’t Ask Poor Latinx to Give, They are Victims”
Yes, there is a high prevalence of poverty amongst Latinx. But we are people too. People who want to solve our own communities’ problems, who want to fight for our family’s futures desperately. There is subtle victimization of Latinx today. Instead of pitying us work with us to find our own power. Giving is power, even a little, is empowering.
Many Latinx focused organizations focus on fundraising heavily on white-dominated foundations and corporations. Right now those foundations, for example, give Latinx focused nonprofits only 1.8% of their giving to Latinx focused nonprofits.
After all, foundations are still just 18% of philanthropy and corporations are 5%. Individuals are 70%. There are 58 million Latinx. Get the picture? Allow people to give, invest in a vibrant, creative, culturally relevant, and broad-based fundraising program. Stop walking past our own people.
Invest in real fundraising, sustainable, growable, based on relationships. Empowering.
Latinx as Major Donors?
I am literally the only person in the US today saying the words “Latinx Major Donors”. Why? Because there is a great deal of ignorance about Major Giving. Sorry to be blunt. But outside of major universities, hospitals, museums, most nonprofits regardless of color are unaware of the power of major giving. The vast majority are unaware that small nonprofits can have a vibrant, powerful individual Major Giving programs. It takes investment and time. Most nonprofits 70%, have never even tried a Major Giving program. Let’s not even talk about using Prospect Research. The vast majority of small and medium-sized nonprofits stay small, 90% are under $5 million budgets. They work hard not to invest in fundraising and stay small. Too often fundraising is considered “overhead” or even waste! So it’s no surprise that Latinx focused organizations fit that trend as well.
There are many cities in the US today where Latinx wealth has grown exponentially. Yet you can look at Major Donors lists in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and see not one Latinx. No Latinx wealth is not as large as white wealth, yet. But why ignore it? It's there.
Board Membership
“There are no Latinx who are appropriate board members in our community”? Again, this is a nice mix of implicit bias and ignorance. Do your research. Find the connected, wealthy Latinx who care about your organization's mission and focus. Because you don’t know any doesn’t mean they are not there. This is the power of Prospect Research, set criteria for your Board members, and pay the money for the research. Find these nice folks and recruit them. This isn’t being done because most nonprofits ask current Board Members for Board candidate recommendations. Most, 90% of Boards are white, so guess what? That’s the cycle. It takes courageous white board members to see the cycle and break it with prospect research of your community.
Staffing
I hear about this issue from Latinx nationally all the time, especially Latina’s. The repeated story is of a Latina in a junior development position who has been on the job for years applying for her bosses job that she already knows how to do. Only to have an outside white woman hired in her place that needs to be trained, by her! The hiring manager is invariably white. I counted scrolling through my LinkedIn and email. In 2020 I have had 7 Latina’s tell me a similar story. Not exactly gold standard research but it's something I have seen my whole career.
Are there any racists in this? A few. But implicit bias in hiring in the nonprofit world is truly real. If you are hiring make the effort to reach out to those who know where Latinx fundraisers work, meet, etc. Hire a search consultant with a record of placing people of color in comparable positions, not one who says they will bring you, candidates. There’s a difference.
Conclusion
Time for leaders, Board Chairs, ED’s to take a hard look in the mirror and ask “Do we look like our community” and if so not why not?
We can post sympathetic messages and posts about racial injustice, but we can also look at our organizations and ask the hard, uncomfortable questions. We have relied for years on shame and guilt to move nonprofits toward looking like their communities, toward looking like America in the future. That tactic has simply failed. All it has produced is liberal white leaders avoiding the topic desperately.
No, we need substantive action and change. 20 years into the recognition that the nonprofit world isn’t diverse I still “don’t belong here”. We need to ground our efforts around diversity and equity in fundraising and the solid fact that to survive pandemics, to truly grow in our communities and be effective we need to include the entire community, including working-class people, including people of color. It’s the only strategy for sustainability, relevance, and impact.
It’s funny I’ve remembered that statement because sometimes the nonprofit world makes me feel like that to this day. When you look at the data on how foundations, nonprofits interact or don’t with 58 million Latinx, my feeling takes on a larger context. When I see so many nonprofits and foundations calling for an end to racial injustice I would ask them to start in their own offices.
I cannot speak to the African American experience in this nation. I can only stand by our African American sisters and brothers, in their righteous outrage, in demanding change, whether there is a video of an injustice or not. And please remember that Latinx come in all colors, many cultural traditions.
We have seen a huge paradigm shift in the larger world around racial injustice, will this finally move the nonprofit world to action?
For many years I was the only brown guy in the executive team, as a VP of Development and more. Despite improvements, there is still a historic and chronic lack of diversity in nonprofits today.
Especially with Latinx.
There is no video of the injustice inside the nonprofit community against Latinx there are only my observations and few statistics.
When you hear “diversity and equity” most people mean staff but I talk about “full diversity and equity”. To me, that means Program, Staff, Board, and Donors. Even Major Donors. There is no more white’s only club in nonprofits like Major Donors. It's overwhelmingly the purview of straight, old white men. Wealth has changed, that has not.
Let’s talk about racism and implicit bias hiding in plain sight in the nonprofit community. I am talking about nonprofits and foundations. Even Latino focused and led nonprofits.
It's time to flip the lights on and point out the most common racist misperceptions and implicit bias about Latinx in the US today when it comes to philanthropy, nonprofits, activism, and more.
“Latinos aren’t philanthropic”-
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that from liberal nonprofit leaders of all colors. Even Latinx leaders say this! The common denominator with those folks is that they don’t know a thing about fundraising.
It’s like the ugly, smelly, obnoxious guy in a town saying all the women are awful and mean because they won’t go out with him! The problem isn’t with Latinx, the problem is that overwhelmingly Latinx aren’t asked to give and when they rarely are it’s often done poorly. I have seen Latinx focused nonprofits start Major Giving programs only to give up after a year or two because tens of millions weren’t rolling in the door! Ignorance of fundraising. Studies show that when asked, educated about the cause Latinx of all ages give at the same rate at white people.
Ask St. Jude Children’s Hospital if Latinx give. They won’t answer because they are making tens of millions every year from Latinx. My local Latino grocery store is in the poorest part of Oakland. There are certain things you can only get there. One does not compromise with chicharrones. I get in my car and hear in Spanish a pitch for St. Jude on my Spanish language radio station, pick up my mail and there is a bilingual solicitation for St. Jude. At the store the announcer on the PA makes a pitch for St. Jude with the voice a Latinx movie star. When I check out the checker asks me if I want to give. When I part with $5 bucks she rings a bell! The store manager told me in a month they had raised $200,000 in his store. In that neighborhood! Wow.
I am sorry if I have made you crave chicharrones. But the point is that St. Jude did the work, makes the effort and profits immensely. The only number I have seen online is that there Spanish speaking fundraising in the Promesa radio telethon raised $110 million since 1997. That’s one revenue stream. They have many approaching Latinx. And don’t forget St. Jude, a wonderful institution worthy of every dime, is still one the vast majority of these donors will never use or visit.
“We Can’t Ask Poor Latinx to Give, They are Victims”
Yes, there is a high prevalence of poverty amongst Latinx. But we are people too. People who want to solve our own communities’ problems, who want to fight for our family’s futures desperately. There is subtle victimization of Latinx today. Instead of pitying us work with us to find our own power. Giving is power, even a little, is empowering.
Many Latinx focused organizations focus on fundraising heavily on white-dominated foundations and corporations. Right now those foundations, for example, give Latinx focused nonprofits only 1.8% of their giving to Latinx focused nonprofits.
After all, foundations are still just 18% of philanthropy and corporations are 5%. Individuals are 70%. There are 58 million Latinx. Get the picture? Allow people to give, invest in a vibrant, creative, culturally relevant, and broad-based fundraising program. Stop walking past our own people.
Invest in real fundraising, sustainable, growable, based on relationships. Empowering.
Latinx as Major Donors?
I am literally the only person in the US today saying the words “Latinx Major Donors”. Why? Because there is a great deal of ignorance about Major Giving. Sorry to be blunt. But outside of major universities, hospitals, museums, most nonprofits regardless of color are unaware of the power of major giving. The vast majority are unaware that small nonprofits can have a vibrant, powerful individual Major Giving programs. It takes investment and time. Most nonprofits 70%, have never even tried a Major Giving program. Let’s not even talk about using Prospect Research. The vast majority of small and medium-sized nonprofits stay small, 90% are under $5 million budgets. They work hard not to invest in fundraising and stay small. Too often fundraising is considered “overhead” or even waste! So it’s no surprise that Latinx focused organizations fit that trend as well.
There are many cities in the US today where Latinx wealth has grown exponentially. Yet you can look at Major Donors lists in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and see not one Latinx. No Latinx wealth is not as large as white wealth, yet. But why ignore it? It's there.
Board Membership
“There are no Latinx who are appropriate board members in our community”? Again, this is a nice mix of implicit bias and ignorance. Do your research. Find the connected, wealthy Latinx who care about your organization's mission and focus. Because you don’t know any doesn’t mean they are not there. This is the power of Prospect Research, set criteria for your Board members, and pay the money for the research. Find these nice folks and recruit them. This isn’t being done because most nonprofits ask current Board Members for Board candidate recommendations. Most, 90% of Boards are white, so guess what? That’s the cycle. It takes courageous white board members to see the cycle and break it with prospect research of your community.
Staffing
I hear about this issue from Latinx nationally all the time, especially Latina’s. The repeated story is of a Latina in a junior development position who has been on the job for years applying for her bosses job that she already knows how to do. Only to have an outside white woman hired in her place that needs to be trained, by her! The hiring manager is invariably white. I counted scrolling through my LinkedIn and email. In 2020 I have had 7 Latina’s tell me a similar story. Not exactly gold standard research but it's something I have seen my whole career.
Are there any racists in this? A few. But implicit bias in hiring in the nonprofit world is truly real. If you are hiring make the effort to reach out to those who know where Latinx fundraisers work, meet, etc. Hire a search consultant with a record of placing people of color in comparable positions, not one who says they will bring you, candidates. There’s a difference.
Conclusion
Time for leaders, Board Chairs, ED’s to take a hard look in the mirror and ask “Do we look like our community” and if so not why not?
We can post sympathetic messages and posts about racial injustice, but we can also look at our organizations and ask the hard, uncomfortable questions. We have relied for years on shame and guilt to move nonprofits toward looking like their communities, toward looking like America in the future. That tactic has simply failed. All it has produced is liberal white leaders avoiding the topic desperately.
No, we need substantive action and change. 20 years into the recognition that the nonprofit world isn’t diverse I still “don’t belong here”. We need to ground our efforts around diversity and equity in fundraising and the solid fact that to survive pandemics, to truly grow in our communities and be effective we need to include the entire community, including working-class people, including people of color. It’s the only strategy for sustainability, relevance, and impact.