The pervasive, deeply internalized philosophy that as fundraisers, our job is to connect donors to what they care about, make them feel relevant and appreciated, and by doing that we help them realize their goals of making the world better, and everybody wins. It sounds fine on the surface, even noble, and many fundraisers have internalized this message over decades. I find it one of the biggest contributors to the very inequities we’re trying to fight.

That’s right, I know it’s fundraising blasphemy, but if we’re going to advance equity and justice, we need to care LESS about what donors care about and care MORE about what will actually advance equity and justice. (“But Vu, what donors care about DOES advance equity and justice!” Read on.)

Imagine we’re in a boat that’s rapidly sinking. We need to work together to bail out the water, fix the leaks, and get everyone into life jackets. Now imagine there are passengers who want to help. They mean well; they’re just not used to handling buckets or duct tape or whatever. You go to one and he says, “Hi, I know you need someone on bucket duty, but that’s not what I’m passionate about. My passion is to send flare signals!” (Nevermind that flares have already been sent). Another says, “I don’t mind bailing out the water, but metal buckets make me feel warm and fuzzy because they remind me of my childhood growing up on a farm. You only have plastic ones; I’m going to sit this one out.”

Our society is one giant boat sinking under the weight of white supremacy, the water of injustice gushing in through the holes created by capitalism, racism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia. Asian people being set on fire, murdered. Black people being killed in their beds, while jogging, while existing. Indigenous women continue to go missing and get killed. Migrant kids are still in psychological and emotional hell, separated from their families, still in detention centers. Hundreds of bills are being introduced to suppress voting by Black and brown people. Our environment barrels towards being an uninhabitable wasteland.

It is harmful for fundraisers to continue to operate as if things were completely normal, to believe that our primary goal remains connecting wealthy people to a salad bar of feel-good dishes, where they can mix and match to their hearts’ delight, spurred on by our gratitude, oblivious to the white supremacy that runs like a knife through every ingredient.

We need to acknowledge that the things that most donors care about, the things that make them feel good, are often the things that will LEAST LIKELY change the systems of oppression and exploitation that make philanthropy necessary. By constantly working to connect these donors to what tugs at their hearts, what will make their eyes sparkle, instead of what will actually effect change, we reward and reinforce their avoidance of thinking about and their complicity in advancing white supremacy.

Read the full article about white supremacy by Vu Le at Nonprofit AF.