Community-Centric Fundraising Principles

We are committed to transforming our fundraising and philanthropy practices to ensure they are co-grounded in racial and economic justice through the following community-centric fundraising principles:

  1. Our fundraising activities must be grounded in race, equity, accessibility, and social justice.
  2. The betterment of our collective community is more important than our individual organizational mission. Therefore, we are generous and mutually supportive of other non-profits.
  3. Time and effort are valued equal to financial contributions. All who engage in strengthening the community are equally valued, whether volunteers, community members, staff, donors, or board members.
  4. We treat donors as partners. This means that we are transparent and occasionally have difficult conversations.
  5. We foster a sense of belonging, not othering.
  6. We promote the understanding that everyone (donors, staff, funders, board members, volunteers) personally benefits from engaging in the work of social justice – it’s not just charity and compassion.
  7. We see the work of social justice as holistic and transformative, not transactional.
  8. We recognize that creating a community where everyone can thrive requires a commitment to economic justice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are community-centric fundraising principles important?
It is important that we engage in courageous conversations and evolving practices to ensure we explore fundraising in ways that reduce harm and further social justice. Traditional fundraising practices have created harm in ways such as: othering individuals by defining the donors as heroes, using community member stories in ways that negatively impact them or reinforce stereotypes, nonprofits letting scarcity mindset to participate in “competitive” fundraising practices and adhering to donor wishes that may be detrimental to our work or the community we are serving.

Where did the principles of community-centric fundraising originate?
Community-centric fundraising is a movement that prioritizes communities and reimagines fundraising. The original principles (https://communitycentricfundraising.org/ccf-principles/)
were developed from conversations with fundraisers of colour, which aspire to transform fundraising and philanthropy so that they are co-grounded in racial and economic justice. The original principles are meant to be a starting point recognizing that how the principles are put into practice will look different at different organizations. The United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin principles were modified slightly from the original principles for that reason.

Why does United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin feel adopting community-centric fundraising principles is important?
We are committed to social justice and believe that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities. This commitment is not only important to how we do our community impact work but also to how we generate revenue. It is a disservice to our community if while making an impact, our fundraising practices are causing harm.

Traditional fundraising works. Aren’t you nervous about losing money?
We recognize that we need to balance our values and meeting monetary goals. Transitioning from harmful fundraising practices will take time to correct but we can take one step forward at a time. We look forward to creating a culture of inclusivity that inspires everyone to work collaboratively and believe that we will achieve even greater community impact.