Evaluating Equity in Suppliers and Tour Operators
In the fall of 2019, I was speaking with a client about creating a process for vetting prospective tour operators around equity. Her organization has a strong social justice component in their mission and wanted to ensure they were partnering with tour operators who shared their commitment. This proved challenging, as some tour operators only […]
Reaching Out to Donors about Systemic Injustice: 4 Tips and 10 Conversation Goals
While many inspiring leaders and activists have stepped up to create and share resources on how to respond to the current movement, my colleagues in the fundraising space have lamented the lack specific ideas and tools for having critical conversations with donors. These conversations can feel daunting for organizations whose missions don’t explicitly include the […]
Difficult Dialogues with Curiosity and Intention
We live in a time when remaining silent on critical issues is no longer possible. Even if we have been living lives of relative comfort—the lives of our friends, families, and neighbors are at stake. You know that you need to have more honest, transparent, and authentic conversations with donors, volunteers, and colleagues on race, […]
Why does “poverty porn” still exist?
Since the term “poverty porn” first appeared in 1981, much has been said about the exploitation of human suffering to inspire charitable giving. Yet for all that we’ve learned over the last four decades, many organizations still struggle to communicate their impact in a way that authentically represents the issue and preserves the dignity of […]
Exploitation in Fundraising Communications: 5 Critiques
In this article, I highlight the main critiques of exploitation in fundraising communications. Over the years many organizations, including nonprofits, media publications, and corporate entities, have been criticized for using exploitative language and imagery to inspire action. These communications are seen as taking advantage of the differences (access to resources, lived experience, race, geographic location, […]