Courageous Conversations for Fundraisers: How Much Donor Love is Too Much?
About the Event
No matter how long you’ve been in the fundraising profession, you’ve probably heard the advice that you should strive make the donor the hero. When sending donor communication, we’re advised to minimize the work that the organization does and lift up how the donors make a difference. We know that donor-centered has worked in the past, but there has been a lot of talk recently about whether it’s the right approach to take.
As we advance the concepts of inclusion, diversity, equity and access (I.D.E.A.) in our profession and in the organizations we serve, it’s time to have an important conversation as fundraisers… How much donor love is too much? Join the AFP IDEA committee to explore different viewpoints on the donor-centric vs. community-centric continuum.
Recommended Pre-Reading:
- Representing the donor-centric viewpoint: Pretty much anything ever written or shared by Tom Ahern. Here’s a link to a recent guest-post on his website about moving your organization toward donor-centricity: https://www.aherncomm.com/ahern-blog/switching-to-donor-love
- Representing the community-centric viewpoint: Pretty much anything ever written or shared by Vu Le. Here’s a link to a recent post on his website about the problems with donor love: https://nonprofitaf.com/2022/02/we-need-to-have-a-serious-conversation-about-donor-love/
- Can the two ideas coexist? Maybe… here’s a link to a post written by Nate Levin-Aspenson and shared on the Community Centric Fundraising blog about his reflections on how we might fix a broken system: https://communitycentricfundraising.org/2021/02/24/take-a-lesson-from-legos-donor-centric-fundraising-doesnt-have-to-be-in-opposition-to-community-centric-fundraising/