I love fundraising conferences. During three decades of attending them, I’ve learned a lot and formed deep professional relationships. Development officers like me often lead isolated professional lives, especially in this era of remote work, so being with colleagues from other organizations and learning about new approaches is critical.
But as a Latino, it’s hard not to notice what a rarity I am at these events, and even more important, how few representatives from Latinx-focused nonprofits are in attendance.
The reasons for this are no mystery. Nearly 90 percent of nonprofit budgets are under $500,000, and fundraising conferences are expensive — typically close to $3,000, including registration fees, travel, and hotels. Conference planners assume nonprofits have at least one development officer and gear programming to large organizations with big fundraising budgets, staff, and time.
These cost barriers allow the rich nonprofits to learn the latest methods while smaller organizations, especially those led by and for people of color, get by on a few grants, some government money, and maybe a fundraising mailing once a year.
For all the good that comes from fundraising conferences, it’s time for the field to ask a fundamental question: Who isn’t there and who needs to be? Learning about fundraising should not perpetuate the inequities so many of our organizations are trying to erase.
I am part of a group of Latinx development officers and volunteers who are working to reinvent the fundraising conference. Our goal is to make these gatherings less white, less designed for wealthy institutions, and more focused on social justice.
This week we are taking a small but critical step in that direction with Fundraising Con Ganas (“with gusto”) — a fundraising conference exclusively for small and medium-sized Latinx-focused nonprofits. The two-day event in Pasadena, Calif., was organized by the professional development organization I founded for Latinx fundraisers — Somos El Poder, or “we are the power.” The conference costs just $450 for two people, including two hotel rooms, meals, and parking.
Bootcamp Format
Our approach is simple. We raised funds to underwrite the conference so that it would be so inexpensive any nonprofit could attend. Since most Latinx nonprofits are run by women with young children, we made sure that attendees wouldn’t have to be away for more than one night. And recognizing that the executive directors of these organizations typically wear several hats and rarely have time for training, we designed the program as essentially a fundraising-basics bootcamp. The curriculum includes subjects such as “designing a development plan” and “cold calling and getting a first appointment.”
We also require that one of the two attendees from each organization be a board member. We do this so that board members will learn more about the importance of fundraising and to improve the chances that they will support long-term expansion of development work.
We will not profit from this conference, but we will teach 35 Latinx nonprofits new approaches to fundraising that until now few had the time or resources to learn. We hope to scale similar efforts across the nation.
These nonprofits are lifelines for Latinx communities in the United States. But because of a chronic and historical underinvestment in development programs and a lack of training in effective fundraising methods, few have been able to expand their services in meaningful and lasting ways.
Advancing racial justice and equity won’t happen if the nonprofits leading these efforts continue to subsist on small budgets. At a time when many in the nonprofit and philanthropic world are expressing concern about the decrease in individual giving, foundations need to start viewing fundraising training as a cause that is itself worth supporting.
Why Fundraisers Leave
The latest data shows that fundraisers have an average tenure of 16 months in their jobs. One reason is that, unlike those working on the program side of nonprofits, they are often starved of professional development and have little opportunity to grow. Grant makers must recognize that convincing people to give doesn’t come from gimmicks, fads, apps, and websites. It comes from fundraising led and designed by professional fundraisers.
Foundation leaders need to prioritize nonprofit infrastructure funding, including fundraising training. They need to recognize that these organizations will become strong and resilient only if they have the capacity to raise funds from a wide range of donors. One important piece of that support should be helping small and medium-sized nonprofits that serve communities of color take part in the conferences that have long helped fuel the growth of wealthier groups.
Development officers must loudly proclaim that fundraising is a cause that deserves support. We can no longer stay silent and let nonprofit leaders with no fundraising experience call the shots for us.
If we want more people to give — if equity and justice in philanthropy are a genuine goal — it’s time to take a close look at long-held practices and change the status quo. It’s time to reinvent the fundraising conference and open up opportunities for professional development to everyone in the field.
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