A number of organizations are working to expand the pipeline of fundraising professionals of color and support pathways to leadership positions for those already working in the field. Here is a sampling of programs.
Association of Fundraising Professionals Collegiate Chapters
Local AFP chapters work with college students in their communities to teach them about fundraising and prepare them for careers. Some 40 or 50 campuses have chapters. While these groups are not exclusively focused on fundraisers of color, Tony Spearman-Leach, who chairs the effort, is committed to expanding the program to more historically Black colleges and universities.
Nonprofits have learned the hard way that if fundraisers of color don’t feel welcome, they won’t stay. Some organizations are working hard to become more inclusive. Read more:
Participants have the opportunity to learn more about the profession, participate in educational programs, find mentors, and shadow fundraisers to learn more about their work. Some chapters partner with nonprofit degree programs on campus. AFP also offers a certificate program — a kind of collegiate CFRE — to give candidates who don’t have fundraising experience a leg up when applying for entry-level jobs.
African American Development Officers Network
This is a membership organization that brings together professionals of color working in fundraising and people who support them. The organization provides professional development, education, a job board, mentorship, and networking opportunities for fundraisers of color.
CASE Advancement Internship Program
Roughly 100 undergraduate- and graduate-level interns, about 75 percent of whom have been marginalized due to their race, sexual orientation, or a disability, are placed in university fundraising departments in the United States and Canada in the summer to get hands-on experience. During a two-day meeting in Washington, D.C., participants meet their fellow interns.
“There isn’t always a lot of diversity in some of our advancement shops, so it was important to bring them together once a year so they could interact,” says Rob Henry, vice president for education at CASE. CASE’s Trainee Program also helps place early-career fundraisers, many from minority backgrounds, in jobs for 50 weeks. Many participants are then hired by the institutions.
CASE Minority Advancement Institute
Created in 2006, this program aims to provide support, professional development, and mentoring to advancement professionals in education from diverse backgrounds who have the potential to rise to the ranks of senior management.
While many fundraising shops are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, they’re often even more committed to their organizational cultures, Henry says. “If we create more diverse leaders, they now have the authority and the power and impact to address cultures.”
More than 20 percent of people who have gone through the program are now in senior leadership positions, he says.
Cause Effective Fellows Program: Advancing Leaders of Color in Fundraising
The program aims to develop a pipeline of diverse development professionals and build an ongoing support network to strengthen their leadership in the field. Now in its second year, the program brings together midcareer fundraisers for training, networking, and individual coaching and mentoring. The program also trains participants to navigate DEI issues like implicit bias or micro-aggressions and provides tools to support change in their workplaces.
Rooted Collaborative
This female-focused and -led group is for people of color in fundraising and philanthropy. It aims to build the fundraising, leadership, and management skills of diverse women leaders who work at nonprofits or other organizations that seek to advance the common good.
Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy
This national organization — referred to as WOC and pronounced “woke” — also supports women of color in fundraising with mentorship, networking, and career advancement. The group works to build connections between fundraisers and donors to advance individual careers and increase inclusiveness.
