By Monique Curry-Mims and Valerie Johnson
In this episode, Valerie sits down with Andrea Arenas and Michelle Shireen Muri, current consults and members of the Founding Council of Community-Centric Fundraising, to talk about reimagining philanthropy through community-driven solutions.
A key reason I was drawn to Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) is Principle 5: Time is valued equally as money. Yet, in most nonprofit organizations, volunteer engagement is not valued as equally as donor engagement.
Community-centric engagement is not a one-off endeavor, but a partnership, where communities are engaged in decisions, reported back to, engaged for feedback and iteration, and able to meaningfully influence direction-setting.
We at CCF stand with activists changing systems and creating a culture of true belonging for all. We recognize this historic achievement and the commitment of Nneka, Muthoni, Mide, and their allies to addressing racism and exclusion in the sector. We support their work in making it a more just and equitable philanthropic sector for all of us.
JSI invited the CCF Global Council to co-lead the MAP EJ Grants Hub Partner Gathering held in Denver three weeks ago. We were honored to develop and facilitate critical conversations about fundraising, power, and equity.
Experts themselves, the EJ Council shared their experiences with funders who earned and lost their trust. Together, we came up with the Council’s values of solidarity and integrity, we imagined what success for the region would look like beyond the lifecycle of this grant, and we led a session about rest.
The extractive tension between centering stories that connect donors to an issue and maintaining the storyteller’s agency can be a narrow line to tow. And when the balance is off, it is the individuals who are vulnerably visible that feel the impact.
With Global Council members: Sommer Dawson and Rickesh Lakhani
“I took on a role as executive director… came on board and realized that there’s no way that I can kind of shift from being a community-centric fundraiser to not being a community-centric leader, as an executive director. And I just have kind of embraced the role by sort of filtering all my decision making through the lens of community-centric fundraising.”
It is easy to feel frustrated when you are passionate about CCF but your workplace does not seem interested or is hesitant to engage. Do not despair! The people where you work might be more aligned than they initially seem.
One of the key tenets of Community Centric Fundraising is “Treating Your Donors as Partners” – but where do you start?