TIME NEEDS TO BE SPENT ON THE INTERSECTIONS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND FUNDRAISING

By Anna Rebecca Lopez, AR Lopez Consulting

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(Introduction text)

A group of BIPOC fundraisers and nonprofit professionals began a collaboration to build a movement for racial and economic justice, sharing dreams of a world beyond capitalism and the nonprofit industrial complex. To gauge perceptions of nonprofit fundraising, this group distributed a survey in May 2019. Intended to highlight the thoughts and experiences of fundraisers and presented through a series of infographics, here are some findings from over 2,000 fundraisers and nonprofit professionals surveyed.

TAKEAWAY #1

(The following section is visualized through a brown box wrapped around the following text:)

Over half of people who responded to the survey said fundraisers main goal should be to connect donors to causes and programs they care about, followed by raising as much money as possible for their organization. Additionally, nearly one in four survey respondents who identify as BIPOC said fundraisers main goal should also include addressing systemic injustice, compared to one in eight survey respondents who identify as white.

(The next subsection is titled “Fundraisers’ main goal should be to …” and features bar graphs in multiple colors, showing what BIPOC respondents and white respondents thought a fundraisers main goal should be.)

Fundraisers’ main goal should be to…

Connect donors to causes and programs that donors care about

50% BIPOC respondents

62% white respondents

Raise as much money for their organization as possible

28% BIPOC respondents

26% white respondents

Address systemic injustice

22% BIPOC respondents

13% white respondents

TAKEAWAY #2

(The following section is visualized through a brown box wrapped around the following text:)

Nearly all fundraisers think they must play a role in educating donors about social issues. Although, more BIPOC fundraisers think they must play a significant role compared to their white counterparts. 

(This section is visualized through two horizontal line graphs stacked on top of each other, one of BIPOC survey respondents, and the other graph is of white survey respondents. Both graphs are colored in dark green, pink, yellow and indigo. The charts show what role survey respondents believe fundraisers must play in educating donors about social issues.)

(The BIPOC graph)

BIPOC fundraisers who think fundraisers must play a significant role in educating donors about social issues: 60%

BIPOC fundraisers who think fundraisers must play a small role in educating donors about social issues: 28%

BIPOC fundraisers who don’t think it’s the role of fundraisers to educate donors about these issues, others in the sector should play that: 7%

BIPOC fundraisers who have not really thought about it: 5%

(The white graph)

White fundraisers who think fundraisers must play a significant role in educating donors about social issues: 48%

White fundraisers who think fundraisers must play a small role in educating donors about social issues: 39%

White fundraisers who don’t think it’s the role of fundraisers to educate donors about these issues, others in the sector should play that: 6%

White fundraisers who have not really thought about it: 7%

TAKEAWAY #3

(The following section is visualized through a brown box wrapped around the following text:)

While the majority of people who responded to the survey think fundraising philosophies and practices are harmful to nonprofits’ work addressing systemic injustice, nearly all fundraisers think they need to spend more time talking about the intersections of social justice and fundraising. 

How helpful or harmful are fundraising practices to nonprofit’s work addressing system injustice?

(This section is visualized through two horizontal line graphs stacked on top of each other, one of BIPOC fundraisers, and the other graph is of white fundraisers. Both graphs are colored in dark green, grey, sky blue, cotton candy pink and dark pink. The charts show whether and how much fundraisers and nonprofit professionals think current fundraising practices and philosophies are harmful to nonprofits’ work of addressing systemic injustice.)

(The BIPOC graph)

BIPOC fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are very harmful: 30%

BIPOC fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are somewhat harmful: 42%

BIPOC fundraisers who are neutral on current fundraising practices and philosophies: 10%

BIPOC fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are somewhat helpful: 14%

BIPOC fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are very helpful: 4%

(The white graph)

White fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are very harmful: 15%

White fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are somewhat harmful: 47%

White fundraisers who are neutral on current fundraising practices and philosophies: 18%

White fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are somewhat helpful: 17%

White fundraisers who think current fundraising practices and philosophies are very helpful: 3%

Are we spending enough time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising?

(This section is visualized through two horizontal line graphs stacked on top of each other, one of BIPOC fundraisers, and the other graph is of white fundraisers. Both graphs are colored in turquoise, grey, light peach, dark pink and brown. The charts show whether and how much fundraisers and nonprofit professionals think we’re spending enough time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising?)

(The BIPOC graph)

BIPOC fundraisers who think we need to spend a lot more time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 48%

BIPOC fundraisers who think we need to spend more time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 42%

BIPOC fundraisers who are neutral and think we already spend the right amount of time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 5%

BIPOC fundraisers who think we already spend too much time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 4%

BIPOC fundraisers who think fundraising has nothing to do with social justice: none

(The white graph)

White fundraisers who think we need to spend a lot more time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 33%

White fundraisers who think we need to spend more time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 55%

White fundraisers who are neutral and think we already spend the right amount of time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 8%

White fundraisers who think we already spend too much time talking about the intersection of social justice and fundraising: 2%

White fundraisers who think fundraising has nothing to do with social justice: 2%

WHO WAS SURVEYED?

The 2019 survey asked over 2,000 respondents to self-identify their race and/or ethnicity. Respondents were able to select multiple options of the list provided and were able to write-in races and/or ethnicities not provided in the options. The majority of respondents identified as white (84%), this included respondents who identified as Caucasian, Jewish, and/or European. Of the 16% of respondents who identified as BIPOC, this also included individuals who self-identified as coming from ‘mixed ancestry’ or ‘multi-racial.’ 

(Here, there is a dark indigo pie chart showing that 84% of respondents were white and 16 percent of respondents, shown as a pink wedge, were BIPOC.)

(Next to the BIPOC percentage, there is deeper-dive information. There is a breakdown of ethnicities of respondents who were surveyed. The list is shown as a bar graph in descending order, from highest percentage to smallest percentage. The list says:)

Latinx and/or Hispanic – 31%

Asian/Asian American – 29%

African American/Black/of the African diaspora – 22%

Native American/Indigenous/ First Nations – 8%

Arab American/Middle Eastern – 6%

Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander – 4%

South Asian/Indian – 1%

(The next subsection is titled “Organizations of respondents” and features bar graphs in multiple colors, showing what area best describes the primary work the BIPOC and white respondent’s nonprofits engage in.)

ORGANIZATIONS OF RESPONDENTS

Respondents were asked to identify the area that best describes the primary work their nonprofit engages in. The top three areas of work, regardless of whether folks identified as BIPOC or not, consisted of Human Services, Education, and the area of Arts, Culture, and Humanities. 

Human services

BIPOC – 21%

white – 24%

Education

BIPOC – 15%

white – 14%

Arts, culture, humanities

BIPOC – 12%

white – 15%

Social justice

BIPOC – 8%

white – 4%

Environment, animals

BIPOC – 7%

white – 9%

Community, economic development

BIPOC – 7%

white – 5%

Health, mental health

BIPOC – 6%

white – 10%

Intermediary, capacity building

BIPOC – 7%

white – 5%

(The next subsection is titled “Organizational Budget Size” and features bar graphs in multiple colors, showing the budget size of BIPOC’s and white respondent’s organizations.)

ORGANIZATIONAL BUDGET SIZE

Organizational budgets were fairly consistent between BIPOC and white respondents, with no major distinction across the different budget sizes.

$99,999 or less

BIPOC – 4%

white – 4%

$100K – $499,999

BIPOC – 15%

white – 15%

$500K – $999,999

BIPOC – 10%

white – 14%

$1 mil – $2.49 mil

BIPOC – 25%

white – 21%

$2.5 mil – $4.99 mil

BIPOC – 14%

white – 16%

$5 mil – $9.99 mil

BIPOC – 10%

white – 11%

Over $10 mil

BIPOC – 21%

white – 20%

(The next subsection is titled “Percentage of Revenue from Individual Donors” and features bar graphs in multiple colors, showing the organizations’ percentage of revenue from individual donors.)

PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE FROM INDIVIDUAL DONORS

Additionally, one-third of BIPOC and white respondents said that 10% or less of their revenue comes from individual donors. 

0-10%

BIPOC – 35%

white – 36%

11-20%

BIPOC – 19%

white – 19%

21-35%

BIPOC – 17%

white – 16%

36-50%

BIPOC – 11%

white – 10%

51-75%

BIPOC – 9%

white – 11%

over 75%

BIPOC – 8%

white – 7%

MAJOR GIFTS

(This section shows two circle/pie charts in brown, pink, and dark green.)

When it comes to identifying a major gift, one-third of white respondents (33%) said $1,000-$2,499 is considered a major gift. This same dollar range was identified by one-fourth of BIPOC respondents (24%).

(Pie chart #1 is titled “white respondents” and has a 33% wedge colored in, in dark green)

(Pie chart #2 is titled “BIPOC respondents” and has a 24% wedge colored in, in pink)

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

(This section shows one circle/pie chart titled, “BIPOC and white respondents” in brown, and turquoise, and has a 55% wedge colored in, in turquoise.)

Respondents, regardless of race or ethnicity, were consistent when sharing the number of people employed by their organization. Over half of respondents (55%) come from smaller organizations of less than 25 people. 

(The very bottom of the infographic shows the CCF logo on the left hand side. On the right hand side, it says: “© 2020 Community Centric-Fundraising”)

This infographic is part of a multi-part series. Read part one of the series here. Read part two of the series here. Follow CCF on Instagram, Facebook, or sign up for our mailing list to get notified of the next part!