Part 3. Community

Take your time (we suggest 1 hour) to process this module, and we recommend finding a partner to do this with. Send us any questions or feedback if you'd like.


~ Reflection ~
Part 1 and 2 invited you to reflect on giving and receiving. In fact, as a wise person once shared, giving is not complete without receiving.

We also shared perspective on the racist roots of philanthropy, and a story of philanthropic partnership started by solidarity, rather than saviorism. Sharing these ideas is part of cultivating consciousness of the system of giving that we live in. Let us see this clearly. Thank you for walking this far in the journey with us; it is a lot to take in. 

Giving and receiving is part of what weaves us together as a community. And what you expect from community can be a lot of different things (2:54 min). What do you look for in community?

~ Learn ~
This week, we introduce to you the Community-Centric Fundraising Principles (10 min to read). These are principles born from conversation among many fundraisers of color over several years, meant to transform the fundraising and nonprofit community into one of healing and liberation. Please review them, and feel free to explore the CCF website.

~ Process ~

• Are there particular principles that call out, or call in, to you more than others?

• What are your reactions - intellectual, emotional, physical - to #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.

• How might you nurture community from wherever you are? What emotions or sensations are you sitting with?

~ Practice ~
What does being in community feel like in your body? With this practice (10 min), is there a part of your body or sensation that you notice that surprises you, or feels new? 

Or if you prefer, do your own practice with this prompt: How much more healthy are we when we stand alongside each other, rather than alone, on different levels?

Bonus:
I Trust You (3:14 min video). Karim Sulayman is an Arab-American tenor from Chicago. Ten days after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Sulayman teamed up with filmmaker Meredith Kaufman Younger to perform a trust experiment. Watch this silent video (set to Sulayman singing Sinead O'Connor's "In this Heart") as Sulayman stands blindfolded outside Trump International Hotel in Central Park West in New York City and asks strangers to trust him. ​