The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) boasts 31,000 members in more than 240 chapters worldwide. These hard working professionals raise money and awareness for thousands of nonprofit organizations and causes around the world.
Today, and every day, we MUST stand united with our colleagues who are leading efforts that support racial justice. The violence and fear so many are experiencing must be acknowledged.
Those on the front lines need and deserve whatever support we can offer. As nonprofit professionals, we cannot stand idly by while members of our communities struggle with so much grief and inequity.
AFP has inspired global change and supported efforts that have generated over $1 trillion, in addition to legislative and advocacy efforts. AFP’s individual and organizational members raise over $115 billion annually in charitable giving. These numbers are proof of our collective power to unite communities and raise up causes that affect the safety and well-being of so many. We are called upon to use our skills to raise up causes that are not getting the attention they need and deserve.
The Santa Barbara-Ventura Counties Chapter of AFP hopes to support this collective power of fundraising for change, and also to provide a safe haven for robust discussion and asking questions.
We strive to ensure that the principles we espouse so diligently in our sector—such as diversity, compassion, access, and justice—become a reality in our workplaces and the communities we serve.
We have a long way to go.
This year, our chapter pledged to highlight AFP’s IDEA platform (inclusion, diversity, equity and access) in our programming. It is our commitment to incorporate these principles into all facets of our work, and to continue to remind our organizations to do the same.
The following are AFP’s Statement of IDEA Principles:
- Recognizing others as different but equal.
- Respect and empathy for all.
- Trust and integrity that facilitates the integration of different and multiple voices in organizational discourse.
- Demonstrated appreciation for different voices, active listening; open to disparate viewpoints and opinions, and facilitating dialogues among the diverse groups.
- Practicing and encouraging transparent communication in all interactions.
- Developing participative decision making; problem solving; and, team capabilities.
We cannot create institutional change singly or within a vacuum.
Please reach out to one another.
Support a colleague, friend, or organization who is exhausted by this fight.
And let us all find the strength to continue the hard work our sector holds up through the darkest times.
In Peace,
Molly