Dwayne Ashley, a fundraising consultant who helps groups that serve people of color, says many nonprofits don’t realize they already have plenty of great potential donors of color — people who have volunteered, made small gifts, attended events, or done other things that could be a sign they could do more.
Very often, he says, when he talks to nonprofit boards, they aren’t realizing that the support they already have means they could ask for bigger donations.
The Chronicle explores what it takes for nonprofits that have long relied on white supporters to connect with donors of color.
It’s important for nonprofits to mine the information they collect about donors and volunteers to better understand the demographics of who’s already involved and figure out how to expand the pool. To get a more detailed picture of their supporters, organizations can ask people to share information about race and ethnicity through surveys, event registration, or in-person conversations.
Last month, for example, the Hispanic Federation, a membership organization for nonprofits that serve Latinos, emailed a survey to its donors to learn about their demographic information — including a follow-up question about country of origin for donors who identify as Hispanic — what causes they are interested in supporting and communication preferences.
“It’s important for us because more and more we’re becoming a national organization,” says Ivy Fairchild, chief development officer at the federation, which runs educational programs as well as providing services and grants to member organizations. The results will help the federation speak specifically to donors’ interests and the work it’s doing to help Latinos, she says.
Clear Explanations
Some organizations, such as colleges, may already collect this information. Others should make a plan for how to capture and record the data, says Misa Lobato, director of prospect management and analytics at Rhode Island School of Design and president-elect of Apra, an association of prospect researchers.
Apra asked members for information about their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, ability, and preferred pronouns. Some organizations have been hesitant to collect that kind of information, fearing that supporters will worry about how their information is used. “It’s probably related to the idea of being colorblind and supporting an idea of not recognizing differences,” she says. But there are downsides to that way of thinking.
“Unless you are really very conscientious in your hiring, in your board recruitment, in basically every other aspect of your organization, you are probably not getting a real sense of the experiences for your constituents and how you can be speaking to that experience,” she says.
Organizations that want to collect more data from donors should explain clearly how it will be used, she says. “The first thing is that you communicate with your community,” she says. “You should explain that you are putting into place an intentional plan of evaluating the diversity of your membership so that you can ensure that there is representation in your programming, in your board, in your governance.”
Donor Research Is Key
While surveys are important, fundraisers can gather a lot of data about donors and potential supporters from publicly available information. But many fail to do that, says Armando Zumaya, a fundraising consultant.
“Prospect research is the missing piece in diversity and fundraising, especially diversity in major giving,” he says. “People ask me, ‘How did you raise $1 million from an African American or a Mexican or an Asian?’ And it’s simple. Do your research and then culturally, intelligently approach them. Know their circle.”
It could be as simple as searching on LinkedIn to learn about the boards people serve on as a way to learn the issues they’re passionate about. Donor lists from other organizations are also a good source of information. This kind of research is so low cost to do, he says, even a tiny group can do it.
