As chief development officer at a national nonprofit organization, I’ve been asked by a prospective donor, who assumed I was an assistant, if she could talk to my boss. “I am the boss” was my response, and that look of surprise (all too familiar) surfaced again. It’s like a paper cut — unexpected, almost invisible, and incredibly painful. And I’ve got hundreds of those examples that are about me. This is happening every day to professionals of color in organizations and institutions we all know and love.
I don’t share this for shock value or sympathy but to reveal biases we are taught not to see and feelings we are told not to share as professionals.
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:
In a recent article in the Chronicle, “NonProfit Leaders of Color Speak Out,” I was excited to see the number of leaders of color talking about their experiences getting to the top spot in their respective organizations. I also immediately recognized many of the hurdles I’ve jumped as a black woman raising transformational gifts over the past 17 years from people who didn’t look like me.
Even though people of color are increasingly wealthy and are donating significant sums to good causes, most fundraisers spend their time pursuing gifts from white high-net-worth people or seeking grants from foundations that are white-led.
This is particularly vexing in fundraising because the job is all about relationships. Relationships are about creating a sense of comfort among the individuals in the room. This is a critical component for success in fundraising. When people of color are viewed (consciously or subconsciously) as outsiders, achieving success becomes a superhuman effort to achieve, especially if the marker for success seems to keep moving.
Fundraisers of color — especially those of us from working-class backgrounds — know that we won’t encounter too many people who are like us either as donors or as peers. We don’t see many fundraisers who look like us, either at the nonprofits where we work or at professional conferences. That’s one of the many reasons people of color often feel isolated or lonely on the job.
What’s more, we also face a steep learning curve as we seek to understand cultural norms that are second nature to anybody who has grown up with privilege. Just as maddening is the outright racism we encounter, such as volunteers and donors who have tried to touch my hair or asked me to use the side door instead of the front door to their homes.
Add to that the challenge facing all fundraisers: We must meet and exceed increasingly ambitious goals to pull in resources for our organizations. No wonder the field often loses fundraisers of color, just at the time when donor demographics are changing so fast that all of our institutions need more diversity, not just in numbers but also in decision makers.
Talk is cheap, and I believe in action so here are three critical steps forward:
Assure that people of color have strong mentors and sponsors. That is not always easy for us to find, and now that I often serve as a mentor to others, I realize why: The people I turned to early in my career may have been struggling to make it themselves, and the heavy lift of showing up for yourself in this system can make it feel impossible to show up for others.
We may know we have achieved a lot, but we often think it is just good fortune, not just our own skill — and, unfortunately, that feeling of not being good enough is reinforced by those around us.
While I eventually found great mentors, I did not find many who could personally understand how I was treated by white donors, volunteers, or others. And I didn’t have a sponsor who sought out opportunities that would advance my job path until very late in my career.
Create places for action-oriented conversations. Many of us feel that it would be frowned upon to talk openly about our challenges. Staying quiet, however, takes a toll on your body and your spirit. Yet every day professionals of color at nonprofits across the country are forced to decide whether to share what is on their minds and put their careers at risk or squelch the impulse to talk freely.
Until recently, there was little data or attention to back up what fundraisers of color experience. But a recent report by Cause Effective Called Money, Power and Race: the Lived Experience of Fundraisers of Color has sought to quantify the situation. I was interviewed for the report, and after I read the findings, I saw little that was new or surprised me.
But the response from my white peers asking, “Is this your experience, too?” pushed me to put my cynicism aside because I realized I’d become so accustomed to the experiences cited in the study that they seemed normal. But normal doesn’t mean right. Normal doesn’t mean fair. Normal doesn’t mean equitable.
So don’t shy away from your peers or your staff who are brave enough to speak up about their struggles and their desire to name the challenges they are facing and what would need to be true for them to be successful. Sit with the discomfort you experience if you are on the receiving end of that conversation. Use your social capital to speak up when you see or hear discriminatory behavior, whether it’s a microaggression or an egregious offense. Champion changes at your institution — not just for dialogue but for policy and practice — that ensure professional fundraisers of color will stay, advance, and thrive.
Focus on women of color and create a safe space for growth. Women make up roughly 70 percent of our profession. Looking at all the attention that has been placed on advancing women in fundraising and philanthropy in recent years, I realized it was time for me to do more to help advance women of color in our field. No longer did I want to be a token woman of color on a leadership team, board, or conference panel or even among my groups of friends. I wanted to create room for others — lots of others.
I got in touch with other women of color who are experienced fundraisers. These are women who want to see change for all women and who want to ensure that the needs of black and brown women aren’t treated as an afterthought.
I wanted to ensure that new professionals and seasoned fundraisers alike have access to a community to foster learning and recharge our passion while we grow in our careers.
So, in the fall of 2018 at a dinner table in Toronto, I shared my vision with 10 Canadian and American women to create a global community and host a conference for black and brown professional women fundraisers. That dinner and several conference calls later led to the creation of the Rooted Collaborative. Our goal is to build the fundraising, leadership, and management skills of women leaders of color who work at nonprofits or other organizations that seek to advance the common good in a safe environment.
We aim to create a safe space because the truth is, work isn’t always safe. We want to ensure that as philanthropy continues to evolve and as donors of color have become a more visible part of the fabric of this work, the women of color who do this work have the tools, the mentors, the sponsors, and the community to be successful.
Next year, we will meet in person to learn new skills and build relationships with other women who are committed to ensuring we are successful and identify partners who believe in the power of women of color.
We informally unveiled this idea in mid-September, and already nearly 500 women have joined. We anticipate nearly 1,000 women will join us by the end of 2019. We expect to triple that number in 2020. Why are we so confident? The need is there. The talent is there.
I don’t want another woman to leave this profession because she’s been in battle at work every day her entire career. I don’t want another woman to feel invisible because she doesn’t have the mentorship or sponsorship she needs to transform how the world works.
As the members of the Rooted Collaborative undertake this important work, we urge everyone in the nonprofit world to stand with us. After all, nonprofits cannot expect to thrive in the years ahead without more women of color doing what they have done so well over centuries — building movements that change the world.
Kishshana Palmer is a management consultant who founded the Rooted Collaborative.
