Let’s Reach Out—for Mutual Benefit

By Roberto Soto Acosta

It is no secret that fundraising in North America, and even worldwide, in many ways remains the work of a specific group of people. In many places, especially the United States and Canada, women have made great strides in breaking through, yet ethnic minorities with a very real presence in our culture still do not yet have a strong presence in the profession of fundraising.

What can be done to reach out to minorities and ethnically different groups, not only to tap into a more diverse pool of qualified applicants, but also to support the fundraising efforts of those organizations that serve “minorities” (a term that is quickly becoming obsolete)?

Perhaps one avenue is for us to reach out to community organizations that hunger for the ability to better fundraise and diversify their revenue streams to really grow, not simply survive. Also, let’s start making a concerted effort to see the true promise of fundraisers working—and succeeding—at organizations of different sizes and donor constituencies.

Certainly AFP and fundraising have come a long way. A member of AFP (previously NSFRE) almost solidly since the early 1970s, I remember attending association conferences and feeling as though I were in a generals meeting of The Salvation Army or some other big-budget national charity. Local or ethnic-serving charities seemed to me to have little involvement. I doubt this was a result of intentional neglect; rather, I suspect that community-based charities serving Latinos, African Americans and other populations often saw themselves as fighting a lone war.

President Lyndon Johnson’s policies to fight poverty often meant, quite rightly, that people worked to help their own—in a Latino community organization, the board was strongly encouraged to be made up of Latinos, and for African-American organizations or Asian organizations, the same. But now, decades later, there are a lot of fresh ideas and fresh faces being kept out by such an airtight structure. I believe we, as fundraisers and AFP members, should consider reaching out to these organizations in a direct way. Let’s do more to help grassroots, community-based and often ethnically focused organizations. Let’s find out who and where they are and what they need. In the process we’ll find ourselves a more inclusive association.

Showing What Is Possible

What would reaching out to community and ethnically focused charities involve? For one, it would mean encouraging these groups to open their doors—fundraising from individuals rather than solely seeking support from churches and government. And, it would mean opening their doors to people from all backgrounds who have the means and interest to support these important missions. Whether compelled by tradition or organization bylaws, requiring a Latino group to have only Latino board members puts these organizations in a cocoon. There are supporters and potential leaders out there who have the capacity to help, and they are not all from the same geographic location or ethnic heritage.

Similarly, and of particular importance for AFP, many small organizations, whether or not they serve specific ethnic groups, are starving for the fundraising skills and expertise that AFP members have and develop and can certainly offer others through international-level programs, chapter programs or simply through individual mentoring. If we want to support fundraising and promote diversity and inclusiveness, I see this as an important and rewarding avenue.

So many organizations today are withering because they’ve always been running in place in terms of their fundraising. You can’t take a government grant and put it into an endowment, and you can’t grow as an organization without proper bridge money. You need to cultivate individual giving to make this happen. Also, you can’t neglect the very people you serve from your donor pool, including clients, patients, students and the like. This is the knowledge that small organizations need—this and so much more that AFP already provides its members. What can we do to broaden that reach, and thereby broaden our membership? Let’s work to find the answer.

Hiring Diverse Talent

Let me quickly add that nonprofit employers and specifically development leaders need to be careful about how narrowly they measure success in fundraising. If you are looking for a great fundraiser and define greatness by funds raised in a year in the millions, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars, I’m afraid you’ve already eliminated many great fundraisers from your hiring pool. Look more closely. Who does the organization serve in terms of communities, and what resources do those communities have? A fundraiser for a small community organization who increases donation revenue and the donor base by 500 percent in two years is, in my mind, a great candidate for a position at any larger nonprofit development department, regardless of actual dollar amounts raised. After all, that one fundraiser was probably sealing his or her own appeal letter envelopes. We need to think of scale—as employers and as members of an association serving so many fundraisers at so many levels.

In sum, if AFP is every fundraiser’s association, we should look out for the full scope of nonprofit fundraisers who work for a wide range of organizations relying on them to succeed. Our mission states that we will embrace and engage diverse individuals, groups, and organizations. It's an important goal—and we have so much to gain.

Roberto Soto Acosta is a 35-year veteran of professional fundraising and founder of Roberto Soto & Consultores Asociados. He served for six years as the first director of development of the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez (SUAGM) and prior to that he was the founding executive director of the Council for Puerto Rico–U.S. Affairs, a San Juan and New York City-based nonprofit organization. He also has served as executive director of Aspira of New York Inc., the oldest nonprofit organization devoted solely to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican and other Hispanic youth in the United States. Soto obtained his bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College in Riverdale, Bronx, New York. He earned a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he pursued additional postgraduate work towards his doctorate in administration, planning and social policy analysis.

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