Fundraisers and leaders at organizations that raise money to serve people of color now have access to professional training and networks under a program run by UNCF.
The organization tested the idea last fall with fundraisers and executives who worked at historically black colleges and universities. It is now broadening access to other nonprofits.
Called the Philanthropy Institute, the program is designed to help organizations that have small fundraising units, often just one or two people.
Tyler Davidson, a fundraiser at Stillman College, is one of those people. He participated in UNCF’s pilot session of the Philanthropy Institute after he found other training sessions didn’t offer the help he needed. Too often, he said, sessions at fundraising conferences and elsewhere focused on the needs of well-staffed organizations.
“We’re not always able to get the professional development that we want or that we need,” says Davidson, director of philanthropy and engagement at Stillman, which is his alma mater. “The biggest thing that all of our institutions don’t have is the numbers: All of our institutions are running one-man or one-woman shops.”
The Philanthropy Institute offers lessons on a wide range of fundraising topics, such as thanking donors and showing them where the money goes. For instance, Shawna Acker-Ball, who runs the training program at UNCF, says, the sessions are not about just “landing the high-ticket donor, but how to support and appreciate that $25 that’s coming in.”
It also helps people involved in fundraising build their professional networks so they can learn from one another whenever they face a new issue or question.
That approach is much needed, says Birgit Smith Burton, founder of the African American Development Officers Network and chair of the Association of Fundraising Professionals global board. After working more than 30 years in fundraising, she says that she has seen organizations struggle with the best ways to win the attention of grant makers.
Making the Most of Talent
Darlette Samuels, vice president of institutional advancement at Lane College, also participated in the pilot and was excited to learn approaches that helped her with a wide variety of people who can help raise money. There were lessons on helping students be more philanthropic, working with alumni, and ways to make helping with fundraising fun for faculty.
The institute helped Davidson, the Stillman fundraiser, learn more about different types of gifts the college can pursue with alumni — such as donor-advised funds and planned giving — and make long-term connections with others at like organizations. “I’m able to actually collaborate with like-minded peers in order for us to be able to create strategies, and it allows us to be able to help each other out throughout this process,” he says.
He added that he was excited that teachers became his peers and colleagues, so now he has people to “call on whenever we have certain types of questions.”
He found the focus on practical moves his organization could make very helpful.
“We’ve been able to really look at ourselves as a whole and do a deep dive into what we want our institution to look like,” Davidson says. “What does it look like now? What should it look like in five years? Who are we adding strategically into institutional advancements to reach the goals that we want to reach?”
While the program so far has included mid-level fundraisers up to presidents and nonprofit leaders, Acker-Ball says UNCF will include more information for new fundraisers as the program grows.
Michael Lomax, CEO of the UNCF, is proud of this new program, he says, because it helps not just HBCUs but small nonprofits that serve the communities that some of those students hail from.
“This is a long-term positive that we can do for the not-for-profit sector in communities of color that typically don’t have that fundraising capability,” he says. “You can learn how to do this, and you can get in there and compete with a sharp elbow to get your share of the resources in your community.”
Information on how to participate is at the institute’s website. The cost for the sessions is $1,100 per participant.
