Is Your Culture of Philanthropy Queer Enough?
Dear Fundraising Leaders,
What are some words you think of when you define your organization’s own culture of philanthropy – one that you either helped create or sustain every single day? Accessible. Visionary. Transparent. Impactful. But is it Queer enough?
What is a Queer Culture of Philanthropy?
What does making your culture of philanthropy even mean? Well, you make it accessible and inclusive of and for LGBTQIA+ people, especially donors, who contribute dollars. Beyond that, your culture of philanthropy includes other people too – like staff who contribute time and energy in carrying out organizational programming, and volunteers and ambassadors who contribute their voices to amplify the organization’s message and impact.
Like all types of donors, Queer people are more inclined to donate when they see themselves or their greater community reflected in the mission they are being asked to support. The LGBTQIA+ community has a history of supporting its own, and those trends have not gone away. The LGBTQIA+ community is a community of communities. When your culture of philanthropy addresses the variety of intersections within that, you’ll begin to raise more money than ever.
Tips for the Internal Work
Creating an LGBTQIA+ inclusive culture of philanthropy doesn’t happen overnight. There is a lot of internal work to be done, especially if you’re at a nonprofit that has very established fundraising programs. The saying “you can’t teach a dog new tricks” comes to mind (you can teach an old dog new tricks, in this case an old nonprofit, it’s just going to take systematic processes to enact effective and noticeable change).
A few places to start? Recruit Queer board members. Hire Queer staff members. Include Queer advisors. It’s one thing to say “Hey, we support the LGBTs! Happy Pride!” during the month of June, and June only. It’s another to walk the talk and think about the full humanity of the individuals you are connected to all year long.
By the same hand, it’s important to be cautious of perpetuating tokenism and conducting your business as performative – LGBTQIA+ people are not tokens to be used for the appearance of Queer inclusions, or asked for support when it suits the needs of the organization in the season of Pride. How are you including these individuals in the organization at large? How are you addressing their intersectional perspectives and skills? Right, it takes some thought and planning!
But the questions don’t stop: How inclusive are your policies and procedures? Are your onboarding procedures aware of people with gender-expansive identities? Does your work culture policy make space for a range of gender expressions? Does your organization’s healthcare policy address gender-affirming healthcare?
Examine the metrics around recruiting and retaining staff. What are your metrics for determining if your job postings are reaching queer people? Does your LGBTQIA+ staff stick around, or is there a high turnover rate? What is the ratio of queer-identifying employees in leadership positions?
Tips for the External Work
We talked about internal changes you can start today to create an inclusive culture of philanthropy, but where do you start with external changes? Well – data! You must be prepared to present equity-centric data on how your mission directly impacts the LGBTQIA+ community. Our community has endured attacks on our gender identities, sexual orientations, and sexual characteristics, and when we look to support a cause, we need to know that it uplifts our community in some way. How many Queer people are you serving? Do you create programs just for Queer participants? What intentions has your organization committed to that demonstrates an authentic desire to engage?
Beyond data – advocacy! Publicly showing support for both local and national LGBTQIA+ issues is major! This form of allyship – especially in the face of inevitable controversy – is one of the most effective methods of earning the trust of the LGBTQIA+ community. This shows the nonprofit is on the front lines (or close to it) with LGBTQIA+ folks who live the fight for equal rights each and every day.
Lastly, and definitely not least – collaboration and partnerships! Work with local LGBTQIA+ community organizations. Create mutual partnerships. Host Pride events outside the month of June to send the message that there is no wrong time to celebrate Queer people. (Look up Pride celebrations in your region – guaranteed that if it’s outside a large metro like New York City or San Francsico, it’s likely that your region or a nearby Pride is hosted outside the month of June.) Be intentional with non-Queer partnerships: Do they align with your values? Not only can it be harmful to the impact of your mission, working with blatantly or aggressively anti-LGBTQIA+ organizations or groups is an instant turnoff for community engagement, especially with younger generations.
Changing the Old Ways to Start Engaging LGBTQIA+ Donors
Back to speaking of old dogs, you may be thinking “how in the world do I introduce new ways of thought and behavior into such an old fundraising program?” It has to start within each person, especially executives and leaders of a nonprofit. LGBTQIA+ people will support and follow causes that genuinely care about them and their community. Seek collaborations with organizations and groups from the LGBTQIA+ community. Pay for LGBTQIA+ cultural competency trainings for your entire staff. This continuous learning doesn’t end for anyone and requires a sustained combination of critical thinking, self-awareness and commitment.
And when you’re finally ready to start engaging LGBTQIA+ donors, first, check out Queer For Hire’s video class on the same topic, or download our resources and guides to get you started thinking deeper about engagement. After you’ve done that, you need to know that there is not one trick to engage them in fundraising. As I mentioned before, the Queer community is a community of communities, and that comes with its own set of complications. As a Queer person, I am still learning about my greater community. If you know one Queer person…you know one Queer person. Get to know them all!
Key Indicators of Successful LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Cultures of Philanthropy
So how do you know when your organization has successfully “Queered” its culture of philanthropy? A really simple one, and a golden ticket to get LGBTQIA+ people involved with your organization – your galas and big fundraising events are being planned by Queer people. This shows that Queer people are trusted with major programming and development projects. Not only does this allow individuals leadership opportunities, but those Queer folks can also involve their Queer friends in this great event they are planning, so your donor constituency will, by default, begin to fill itself up with Queer people.
Mostly importantly, the big key indicator is something we will never be able to measure, and that’s the fact that you won’t know who all the Queer people are in your culture of philanthropy. That’s the goal, isn’t it? To reach a point where we are so inclusive that we don’t even have to talk about sexual orientation or gender identity unless someone chooses to tell us about it. That being said, you will know who some of your Queer board and staff members are because some of us just can’t help but show off our Queerness!
Overcoming Resistance
If you’ve come this far and you’re thinking “I’ll be met with so much resistance,” well, I would say you can lead from wherever you are and do your best to coach and encourage your leadership and teams to start with normalizing discomfort. Our identities are often misconstrued as being purely “sexual” which is simply not true. The LGBTQIA+ acronym refers beyond just sexual orientation: Gender identity is a vast and critical aspect of Queerness too. A lot of anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric is based on this misconception and is often weaponized against us. These conversations are critical to have, especially when it is uncomfortable.
When these dialogues occur, it’s so important to talk about why the LGBTQIA+ community needs support. Many of the experienced inequities are based solely on gender identity and sexual orientation – so support is needed in many forms to receive the same privileges naturally earned by our heterosexual peers. And that support must address the diverse intersections of a person’s identity: Their religion, ethnicity, race, nationality, economic status, ability. LGBTQIA+ people aren’t the only ones in need – everyone needs help. Queering your culture of philanthropy is about normalizing access to support and authenticity for everyone – to the point where you’re not even thinking about it because it’s an embedded part of the process. And when you can achieve that, your fundraising program will be booming with Queer generosity, honey!
Sincerely,
Queers
Queer For Hire provides fundraising support and LGBTQIA+ diversity training for nonprofits, professionals, and corporations.
Learn about our Fundraising Services <here> – we’ll lead or support your fundraising efforts, whether you need general support or want to focus on raising money from and for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Learn about our Fundraising Trainings <here> – we can coach your board, staff, and fundraising team on how to fundraise and how to engage LGBTQIA+ donors.
Learn about our other services <here> or our resources <here>.
