For the past several years, Cause Effective has highlighted Ida B. Wells in our workshop trainings because Wells was a forceful communications strategist and fundraiser. She saw communications as an essential tool to move social change. She understood the power in reporting the truth about the violence and discrimination that African Americans experienced at the hands of White supremacists.

I think deeply – and often – about my role in bringing about the world we want to live in. What I don’t think about as much is how to nurture the “we” in bringing about this vision. My sabbatical during the month of September was both a chance for me to re-charge – and an opportunity for the Cause Effective team to spread its wings. 

How often do we treat a Board of Directors as a collective entity – grouped by requirements, rules, expectations, and accountability? 

Three years ago, we launched the Cause Effective Fellows Program: Advancing Leaders of Color in Fundraising with the intention of strengthening a diverse pipeline of leaders in the nonprofit sector. As we come to the close of this year’s cohort of 16 dynamic development professionals, we have now worked with 41 Fellows at some of the most well-respected social justice and human rights nonprofits in the country.

As Black History Month comes to an end for 2022 and we launch into Women’s History Month, Cause Effective reflects on the complicated history of people of color and philanthropy. Inspired by the Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow, Cause Effective will be dedicating space through our work to highlight our incredible clients. Most notably, we are reflecting on how they have been resourcing their communities. The rich history of identity-based philanthropy and fundraising, and female-led philanthropy, lives within these innovative, mission-driven, community centric organizations.

Imagine the last year and a half – with all we’ve experienced living through this unprecedented pandemic. Now imagine every time you saw or heard about a nonprofit organization in action -- providing emergency shelters, handing out groceries, pivoting to virtual learning, advocating for immigrant rights, and mental health care.  
Can you imagine this period in time without the lifesaving and life-transforming services that these nonprofits provide every day to people throughout the world? The nonprofit sector is, indeed, the epitome of care.