Over the years, consultant and former fundraiser Angelique Grant has spoken with groups of Black fundraising professionals at conferences. They’d reflect on challenges and opportunities for advancement in the field and how they could support each other. More recently on Zoom, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the tone changed. “A lot of conversations were heavier,” she says.
The topic of diverse candidate pools came up on a recent call. Grant followed up with a note to her friend Joakim Nyoni, associate vice president for development at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. “Enough of being aware,” Grant said, and they had a call about what needs to happen to make college fundraising’s leadership and professional talent pool reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
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:
“Time and time again we see society awakened and shocked by these things,” Nyoni says. “But oftentimes we ignore the unconscious biases and institutionalized racism that prevent everybody from faculty getting tenure to professionals of underrepresented groups having the opportunity to fulfill their dreams professionally.”
Now there’s a sincere interest “to begin rooting out these problems and create better institutions,” he says. “Our intention was to go beyond the talk. What happens after the outrage?”
Nyoni, Grant, and 17 other Black leaders in college fundraising are circulating a pledge with concrete action items to create a path for diverse leadership in the field.
“It is only through authentically intentional efforts that our profession can have diverse voices around the decision-making table that reflect the moment that we are realizing,” the document reads.
The pledge calls on signers to interview at least one Black candidate in every job search, ensure that every manager participates in anti-bias training, adopt pay-equity practices, and more.
Grant and Nyoni say they and the other signatories want to be accountable to the organizations with which they circulate this document. The signatories made their own set of commitments, including mentoring an emerging professional from a diverse background, serving in a diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership capacity within their organizations, and diversifying philanthropy by encouraging new community members to volunteer and give.
Other signatories include Birgit Burton, founder of the African American Development Officer Network, and Yolanda F. Johnson, a longtime fundraiser and president of Women in Development, New York, which last month launched a new membership organization for women of color in fundraising and philanthropy
Concrete Steps
In recent conversations, Nyoni has heard the frustrations of his colleagues, especially those who are white and male. They want to do something, they tell him, but they don’t know what to do. “I don’t want to come off as condescending by doing certain things that will not sit well with people,” they say. And they ask him for guidance.
The pledge document is intended to be a conversation starter that offers concrete, measurable items that development departments can take.
It’s not a set of demands, he says. He and his cosigners want their fundraising colleagues to be part of the solution. “We are suggesting these things based on our experience,” he says. “We want to work together to create an organization that we can all be proud of.”
Grant, who has more than 25 years of experience in fundraising and is senior consultant and vice president at the Aspen Leadership Group, has been sharing the document with her clients and other organizations that come to her firm for help and solutions.
Creating an intentional strategy on diversity is “the difference between just being passionate and then being committed to it,” she says. “You have to invest in it.”
The signatories hope to serve as a recommending body and partner with organizations like the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Association of Fundraising Professionals in their own diversity and inclusion efforts. Grant says they were intentional about starting with their colleagues in higher education and eventually plan to expand into other nonprofits. They also chose to focus on Black fundraisers first with a goal to address the specific challenges they face and include other marginalized fundraisers later.
“We’ve been having this conversation for decades, so it’s not new to us,” Grant says. “But now is really the time to make the commitment.”
She and her fundraising colleagues entered this field to help change the world. “We’ve committed our careers to doing this,” she says. “So here’s some practical advice now, organizations. Let’s ask yourself, what can you do differently?”
