Community-Centric Fundraising: Equity, social justice, and an abundance mindset 

The Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) movement was founded by and centers BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities worldwide. It is a gathering of knowledge about interacting with supporters in ways that honor their personhood with dignity and promote BIPOC communities’ well-being.  

What is Community-Centric Fundraising? 

Historically, fundraising has been grounded in a competitive environment that creates a mindset of scarcity and cutthroat nonprofit survival. By contrast, the Community-Centric Fundraising movement grounds fundraising in values of equity, social justice, and an abundance mindset, centering the voices and lived experiences of people and communities of color. CCF strives to move past “the donor is always right” way of thinking. Its vision includes the donor in a larger ecosystem that acknowledges and redirects power to the community. 

The movement was sparked by Vu Le’s blog, Nonprofit AF, in 2015. The idea was incubated in a Seattle nonprofit happy hour and expanded into a large convening of nonprofit workers, many of whom identified as BIPOC, to question the fundraising status quo. In 2019, the concept spread as the CCF Founding Council wrote articles, created videos, and discussed ideas. Momentum increased during the 2020 racial justice uprising, when interest in social justice—and in CCF—exploded. People organized across North America, aligning themselves with CCF, writing articles and forming local chapters. 

We took the movement global, which led to the creation in 2022 of the CCF Global Council, of which I am a member. Council members currently include representatives from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Canada, Kenya, and across the United States. 

As a movement, CCF raises awareness about the power dynamics and challenges created and perpetuated by current practices in the nonprofit sector. As practitioners, we make concrete changes to the way we engage in fundraising and share our learnings (i.e., structures to increase information sharing and accountability when donors abuse their power toward staff or volunteers) and unlearnings (i.e., moving from exploitative storytelling to ethical storytelling) so we can all collectively grow. 

Redefining the future of philanthropy 

The Community-Centric Fundraising model is based on 10 principles designed to co-ground fundraising and philanthropy in racial and economic justice. We’re evolving and adapting these principles over time with continued conversations and healthy arguments: Is community-centric fundraising what you do externally, what you do internally, or both? What do you do if people with hierarchal power want the fundraising status quo, but others with less conventional forms of power want to pursue community-centric fundraising? Is there value in an organization affiliating directly with the CCF movement? We’ve concluded that CCF is not a one-size-fits-all model, and the 10 principles may look different in practice at different organizations.   

1. Fundraising must be grounded in race, equity, and social justice. 

2. Individual organizational missions are not as important as the collective community. 

3. Nonprofits are generous with and mutually supportive of one another. 

4. All who engage in strengthening the community are equally valued, whether volunteer, staff, donor, or board member. 

5. Time is valued equally as money. 

6. We treat donors as partners, and this means that we are transparent, assume the best intentions, and occasionally have difficult conversations. 

7. We foster a sense of belonging, not othering. 

8. 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. 

9. We see the work of social justice as holistic and transformative, not transactional. 

10. We recognize that healing and liberation requires a commitment to economic justice.

Advancing equity as a core priority 

We hope implementing the 10 principles as fundraisers, leaders, and consultants will help achieve collective liberation and growth for all fundraising practitioners and nonprofits. It can be difficult, for instance, to have conversations with grantmakers and donors about what is and isn’t working about the relationship despite our common interest in a cause or community.  

There is an inherent power dynamic of wealth that creates different realities for the supporter and the nonprofit employee. Community-Centric Fundraising principles give the framing for those difficult, necessary conversations—for instance, by reminding the fundraiser that philanthropy is something we all benefit from, that we must avoid transactional interactions, and that a partnership involves a willingness to fully work together and tell each other the truth. As Global Council members, we adapt the 10 principles to our contexts as fundraisers and consultants and share what they look like in practice.  

Learning can only happen in context, in a practical and tangible way, and not as a disembodied thought experiment. Through CCF chapters, the CCF Hub, and conferences, we disseminate our knowledge and resources. 

The CCF movement helps BIPOC fundraisers grow in their careers and feel safe, seen, and secure. It builds community on a global scale and connects nonprofit workers and organizations with a shared vision of justice and equity. By centering the communities the sector serves and grounding the work in the lived experience of BIPOC fundraisers, CCF is changing the conversation about what we do, why, and how we embrace the sector’s future.  

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