Philanthropy made the March on Washington possible. Those who saw the Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo play the lead role in Rustin saw legions of phone-calling, typewriter-clicking volunteers asking for money and other kinds of support to orchestrate the massive rally for civil rights. This was a story of vision, passion, and organization making history happen by asking for support.
Research has long established that a major reason donors give is because they are asked. But once you leave the world of fundraising trade publications and conferences, insight into the fundraising process is scarce in commentary about philanthropy. This is partially by design because successful fundraisers celebrate donors and their gifts rather than their own efforts. Fundraising is often behind the scenes. Asking is the silent partner to giving.
This is why most media reports about philanthropy feature donors. TheEconomist’s recent special report on philanthropy focuses on how the wealthy give, assuming that more wealth means more strategy. Critiques and defenses of philanthropy look at how giving affects salient issues in society, presuming that those with more money have more influence on the rest of us than we have on them. And effective altruism, inspired by the philosopher Peter Singer, places serious moral responsibility on how much and where we choose to give, not how much time, effort, and strategy we should devote to asking.
When was the last time Forbes ranked the top fundraisers to complement its ranking of the most generous billionaires? We know that asking by fundraisers, peers, and others plays a vital role in unleashing generosity. So why is there so little attention paid to the informal and professional roles of fundraisers?
If we see philanthropy as the valuable risk capital of a democracy, why do we not offer the same status to fundraising as we do to giving? After all, how many non-democratic regimes provide organizations and causes the space and dignity to conduct fundraising? Our alumna, Dr. Eva Aldrich, who leads the CFRE (Certified Fundraising Executive) program, shared a list of some fifty international associations that are involved with this well-known certification program for fundraisers. Though not a systematic sample, the collection of countries involved would be well placed in your favorite index of freedom or democracy. Authoritarian regimes, even when they cozy up to tycoons and laud their philanthropic projects, have little patience for ordinary citizens asking others to join them in endeavors that are not organized or controlled by those in political power.
Fundraising is not begging and it is not a spoils system. It is a profession through which fundraisers articulate important social and cultural needs and visions, serving their cause first but also providing a valuable service to donors. As Hank Rosso, founder of The Fund Raising School, said, "Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.”
It is also probably good for democracy. Unlike supplicants at a royal court or the clients of a powerful patron, fundraisers are not beholden (or at least should not be) to their donors for their livelihood. They approach a fellow citizen with a case about an issue or problem that the donor’s giving can help address. As some advocates of philanthropy worry about protecting the property rights of donors to conduct their giving as freely as possible, the role of fellow citizens in being able to ask each other to give for the betterment of their commonwealth seems a comparable kind of freedom that merits protection.
I have noticed throughout the course of my career that foundation leaders and donors I engage with have become more conscious of the positive role fundraising plays in ensuring the sustainability of civic organizations. When I first started out, I was slighted that foundation program officers would look right through me, wanting to talk directly to the talent that was behind the fellow who was going to solicit them for money. My experience these days is that donors pay more attention to how their funding will figure into the mix of revenue opportunities that support the continued thriving of the talent and the programs they are underwriting. In my experience, the most generous donors were also the most genuinely interested in how fundraisers articulated the needs and aspirations of their causes.
Being a fundraiser is being a social entrepreneur. We don’t tell entrepreneurs that they cannot succeed if they don’t already have wealth. Social entrepreneurs and fundraisers have access to a different kind of funder, one who will not receive any financial benefit from their investment but will get to enjoy the social improvements that result from their donation.
When we consider that everyone is a philanthropist, fundraising is part of this universal human identity. Certainly, when Bill Gates comes calling or when Blue Meridian approaches a potential “partner,” the financial scale of the ask is beyond the vast majority of humanity. But as we saw with the March on Washington this does not mean that the avenues for effecting significant social improvement are closed to the rest of us. And as our wealthiest philanthropists are themselves asking for others to join them in their philanthropic endeavors, there is no doubt that fundraising should be part of every donor education curriculum.
As a donor, what would you ask of yourself? Remember the moral seriousness of the Effective Altruists who would have us use a rigorous ranking of human happiness and argue that we are responsible for it whether it happens close to us or far away. It is a rare philosophical system that situates our capacity to give at its very core. Implicit in its deliberations about how much and to whom one should give is an internal dialogue – one with yourself as a donor and as a fundraiser. What asks are you willing to make of yourself that you would not be willing to make of someone else? Why not? Would not the case you make to yourself be compelling to someone else? You will never know until you try.
When considered in this light, fundraising becomes an intimate and meaningful interaction. It is no wonder that fundraising can be the key that unlocks the kind of giving that makes history.
