Posts Categorized: Volunteers

What Does ‘Raising the Work’ Mean to You?

Posted by & filed under Advocacy, Congress, Fundraising, Inspiration, Leadership/Management, Opinion, Special Events, Volunteers.

This year’s AFP Congress is a rallying cry for fundraisers to take a step back, recharge, discover new ways of thinking, support each other, and collaborate in elevating the profession.

In this blog entry, the volunteers behind Congress share their perspective on what it means to ‘Raise The Work’ in 2019. Please share your own thoughts in the comments below!

 

Take Pride

“I think we need to get better at celebrating ourselves. Not everyone gets to fund social good with their day job. That meaningful impact is a benefit of our career choice and we shouldn’t be shy or equivocate about that fact. We should own it.”

 

– Scott Jeffries, Director of Media & Data Services, Stephen Thomas Ltd

AFP Congress 2019 Marketing Committee Chair

 

 Tell the World

“Some may view our sector as small or lacking innovation. But we know better. Fundraisers see the results of innovation everyday in the life-changing impact we have on the communities we serve. Fundraisers change the world in a big way – let’s make sure the world knows it.”

 

– Molly DeHaan, Manager of Annual Giving, Southlake Regional Health Centre Foundation

AFP Congress 2019 Marketing Committee

 

Going Beyond

“To me raising the work means understanding the challenges faced by your colleagues. Because when you get out of your ‘silo’ in this way, you can discover new ways of working together so that you’re not just serving your own goals but perhaps helping other departments more readily achieve their goals too.”

 

– Jennifer Meriano, Mid-Level Giving, Canadian Red Cross

AFP Congress 2019 Marketing Committee

Read more »

Day in the Ridings (DITR) Initiative – Thank You!

Posted by & filed under Advocacy, Fundraising, Government Relations, Inspiration, Leadership/Management, Volunteers.

Thank you to our members who participated in our annual Day in the Ridings (DITR) initiative! Our members’ efforts were key in creating awareness of the role and value of professional fundraising to our federal government.

 

Over the past two years, 140 AFP members met with 164 MPs, Ministers, and government officials in 338 ridings across Canada to bring forward our “case” for AFP’s role in public policy development and asked elected officials to support three important policy priorities:

  1. A home in government for the charitable sector;
  2. an ongoing investment in data collection on the charitable sector; and
  3. consideration of tax exemption for gifts of private shares and real estate.

 

Thanks to this work, AFP’s message about the value of professional fundraising and the importance of an enabling environment for charities has spread across the country and across party lines. Read more »

Member Spotlight: Juniper Locilento, MPNL, CFRE

Posted by & filed under Advocacy, Board of Directors, Inspiration, Leadership/Management, Volunteers.

Originally published on AFP Global

 

What questions does Juniper Locilento, senior director, development at the YMCA of Greater Toronto ask herself as she heads into work every day?

When Juniper Locilento appeared before the Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector in her capacity as VP of Public Affairs for the AFP Greater Toronto Chapter on March 18, 2019, her five-minute submission summarized the most foundational pillar of fundraising.

“There is a well-documented connection between asking for, and securing, charitable contributions,” she told the committee. “The power of the ask has been demonstrated in experimental studies. Asking not only increases the probability of donating but also the amount that people give.”

She quoted the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy – Canada’s own biennial study, What Canadian Donors Want, which found 75% of people specifically asked to give will do so, compared to 53% of those who are not asked. That 22% differential represents hundreds of millions of incremental revenues that could enable charities to better address urgent need.

Fundraisers play a vital link between charities and their supporters, Juniper argued, and while Canadians acknowledge fundraising is important, they also have concerns. Read more »