With authoritarianism here, will your organization have the courage to speak up and lead?
Each week the National Alliance for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) sends out their newsletter on The Top Five Things You Need to Know in Fundraising This Week.
Recent topics include gratitude towards donors, capital campaigns, and direct mail.
Over the past several months as I’ve read this newsletter, I’ve had a burning question:
Are they going to say anything?
Because they have, on the local level. The local AFP Chapter (AFP Golden Gate) provides useful and timely resources, convenes community members, and even recently named Renee a Trailblazer.
Viewing the recent drop in the stock and bond markets, global economic uncertainty, disruptions to Social Security and Medicaid -- all of which impact donations, fundraising, and the nonprofit sector where fundraising occurs -- one would think that these are worth mentioning in AFP Global’s newsletter on critical events impacting fundraising. But no. Radio silence on these issues from AFP Global.
I suspect that AFP Global “doesn’t want to offend anyone.”
Silence is complicity
Currently the MAGA regime is directly attacking the nonprofit sector.
Why? Authoritarian leaders concentrate all power for themselves. So authoritarian leaders attempt to destroy any other centers of power beyond themselves. (We recommend this video from Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Wired magazine to understand more.)
When we do not say anything about the hostile takeover of our government, we act as if we’re all just imagining this.
Like so many of you, I wish that the last three months were just a bad dream and we could all wake up at the end of this post.
But (as much as we might wish), that is not the case and we need to activate ourselves and our communities to fight.
By not taking a stand, AFP Global diminishes their own leadership. And given the existential crisis we are facing, if every organization acted like AFP, we might not even have a nonprofit sector – or need to fundraise! -- in the future.
ID: light green background, dark green text reads, “With authoritarianism here, will your organization have the courage to speak up and lead?”
An Inspiring Leadership Model
In contrast, the National Council of Nonprofits has been amazing over the past few months.
They have filed lawsuits. They have issued multiple statements protecting the rights of the nonprofit sector. They have convened webinars helping nonprofit leaders understand legal challenges and what we should be doing.
They are using their knowledge and skills to guide the people they serve. They are leading and truly acting as the “Champions for the public good” that they claim to be.
Who are you and your organization going to be at this moment?
Are you going to be an AFP Global – pretending as if you can bury your head in the sand and keep going, tone deaf -- while our freedoms are taken away?
Or are you going to be a National Council of Nonprofits and lead – naming the challenges you see, suggesting a collaborative path forward, using your knowledge and skills to move us towards a future in which people of all races, genders, classes, abilities, and backgrounds can thrive?
Let’s say you do see the threats AND there are some barriers to your leadership speaking out. Here are some objections we’ve heard about speaking out now:
“We just do our work. It is not our role to talk about politics”
In many sectors, the culture includes not talking about politics.
In a moment where our entire sector is being threatened by political forces, we need to unify and fight.
History indicates that in authoritarian regimes, “just minding our own business” always ends badly.
“We are going to offend some of our donors”
Yes, by taking a stand, you might offend some donors.
You also may gain some new donors who are seeking guidance and to have some impact in these unsettling times!
If you have this concern, we recommend that you do some listening and fact gathering to get detailed information on what will be lost and gained – including funding and the perceptions of your staff, board, and community members.
“We’re Not Sure What To Say”
Here are some guidelines:
Your message should focus on the valuable work you do.
Explain the financial or legal threats that work is experiencing.
Use your leadership to educate your community! Even if your organization has not lost Federal funding, you can build awareness about attacks on the nonprofit sector.
Focus on the facts – for example, “The Trump Administration continues to increase actions against the charitable nonprofit sector and civil society.”
Let supporters and community members know what they can do to help: contribute funds, call their congresspeople, attend a May 1 protest, write letters…
If you’re not sure what to say, reach out to us! We specialize in designing and leading conversations that build alignment among staff and board teams. We support teams to listen to one another and find an energizing message – and path forward. So often, teams find that they knew more than they thought about how to go forward – they just needed to slow down, listen to one another, and make some key decisions together.
To summarize: We are living in heartbreaking, enraging times.
Leading is an active process – now more than ever.
We each need to be leaders who will use our privilege and power to tell the truth about the threats to healthcare, education, climate, the legal system, racial justice, universities, and so many other parts of our society.
What does it look like for you to be as courageous as possible in these times? We have been inspired by stories of bravery and resistance. These times call on each of us to go the edge of our courage - and then go further.