Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome Fall!
My allergies are telling me that the seasons are once again swinging. Personally, I'm always ready for the crispness of fall. While spring flowers hold my heart, I thrive in the chilly mornings and the scents of apple, cinnamon, pumpkin, and spice, and as a fundraiser, nothing thrills me more than the planning and anticipation of year-end giving.
This has been a year of planning and assessing, of stretching ourselves as the Central Virginia chapter of AFP to take steps to learn how to be the best resource we can be for our community of fundraisers and philanthropists. When we began this process at the beginning of the year, we committed to transparency and accountability. To be transparent, I have done my best to keep you informed of our progress every step of the way. In terms of accountability, your Board of Directors is committed to ensuring we learn through this process and work to bring better programming and resources to you.
In my last update, I said that our consultants with Dialectix would be conducting interviews and focus groups, followed by a survey, and then another round of interviews. I'm happy to let you know that the first round of interviews and focus groups is complete and that our survey is currently open. Please, if you haven't already, take a few minutes to click this link and complete our survey. It will help inform how we serve you in the years to come. At the end of the survey, you'll be given an option to self-select into a follow-up interview if you feel you have more to share.
You may remember at our last annual meeting in December 2023, we informed you that we expected this assessment to take about a year, and that we'd take what we learn to make changes to how we bring back our programming in 2025. While this is still very much our goal, in the spirit of full transparency, I feel that it would be disingenuous for me to say that January 2025 will bring concrete answers.
Our consultants at Dialectix will be reporting on our assessment findings, as promised, at our 2024 Annual Meeting on Thursday, December 5th from 10-11 am. But to be sure we can take time to make changes based on what we learn, I expect that how we bring back programming and what it may look like may take a few months into the new year. Rest assured - we are committed to being the welcoming fundraising community you want and need with the programming you deserve, and we will be working diligently to determine what that looks like in a timely manner.
I hope you'll allow me a communication indulgence as I ask again - please complete our survey so that your voice is heard in this process. The survey will close on Monday, September 30th.
As always, my proverbial door is open to you for any questions, thoughts, or concerns. You may reach me at lrobinson@reynolds.edu.
Lindsay Lane Robinson, CFRE
AFP Central Virginia Chapter President
P.S. Here are quick links to help you navigate our website!
How to become an AFP member
Member Directory
Chapter Job Center
Chapter Events
Inclusive Fundraising Fellowship