Culture, code switching and fundraising—including immigrants in our circles of giving

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Abby Rolland

By Dr. Lilya Wagner

A timely article in the October 15, 2018 issue of Chronicle of Philanthropy Daily Update featured an article on “Immigrants Are an Often Overlooked Force in Giving.” This has been a topic of discussion, off and on, for probably the last two decades, and one more nudge in this positive direction is a positive factor for fundraising professionals and their leadership. But actually embracing the concepts related to giving by immigrants and putting knowledge into practice may require more steps than just lip service.

Harvard Business Review featured an article by Andrew L. Molinsky, a specialist in organizational behavior, which noted that even seasoned managers who appreciate diversity and have international experience can sometimes find it difficult to work in other cultures. He states that many persons lack a skill called cultural code-switching—the ability to modify behavior in specific situations to accommodate varying cultural norms.[i]

As nonprofit organizations, we are on a journey to develop and improve organizations and therefore serve clients. Allowing various cultures to integrate into our work should be one of the joys of our journey as well.

Culturally proficient professionals make it their responsibility to be aware of, respect, and communicate across cultural and subcultural lines. Our demographics are changing globally, as they have done in North America since early times. Therefore the savvy professional will realize that we need to broaden the definition of philanthropy to include traditions, preferences, and ways of giving by diverse populations and not attempt to function under the comfortable “one size fits all” mentality. To ignore or remain unaware of the rich and varied giving traditions of the many population groups in North America is not only unwise but leaves our fundraising practice incomplete and unbalanced.

In North America, for example, as we become more diverse we may notice or be concerned about differences to some degree, but it still makes sense to recognize how philanthropy differs among various cultural groups, whether recently arrived or of second or third generations. It makes sense to conduct responsible prospect research that includes not just the basics to which we are accustomed but the additional layers of information which aid our success in cross-cultural communication, management, and fundraising from diverse sources—perhaps sources that either have been ignored previously or not tapped in appropriate ways. Understanding the giving traditions and habits of the diverse populations in North America is not just an add-on; it’s a necessity.

*Diversity and Philanthropy: Expanding the Circle of Giving*

For more information, see Diversity and Philanthropy: Expanding the Circles of Giving, by Dr. Lilya Wagner, published as a Praeger Imprint, ABC/CLIO, 2016. This is a comprehensive look at how culture affects and influences generosity, and provides suggestions for practice. Also check out diversityandphilanthropy.com, where the topic of giving by diverse populations is kept current and alive through guest columns and listing of current resources.

Dr. Lilya Wagner is director of Philanthropic Service for Institutions and is on the faculty of The Fund Raising School and the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Previously, she was Vice President for Philanthropy at Counterpart International in Washington, D.C., an international development organization. She is a frequent speaker and workshop presenter in North America and internationally. Her published writings include articles and book chapters on philanthropy, fundraising, and the nonprofit sector. Her book Diversity and Philanthropy: Expanding the Circles of Giving won the 2017 Skystone Ryan book award.

[i] Andrew L. Molinsky, et al. “Three Skills Every 21st-Century Manager Needs,” Harvard Business Review (Jan-Feb 2012).

The story of Ruth Gabler-Schachermayr, and how an IU alum became an expert for the GPEI

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Abby Rolland

In honor of the Austrian National Day, Global Philanthropy Environment Index’s Austria expert and native Austrian Ruth Gabler-Schachermayr highlights some of the key philanthropic trends in Austria today.

In addition to her role as the Austria expert, Gabler-Schachermayr is also an Indiana University alum, graduating from Indiana University Bloomington with a master’s degree in public affairs with concentrations in public and nonprofit management.

Austrian Ruth Gabler-Schachermayr found her passion working with youth and education. After initiating and working for the Youth University Krems for several years, she jumped at the opportunity to participate in The Fund Raising School courses in 2009 in order to learn funding strategies that would benefit Austrian youth.

“It was my first time learning practically how to raise funds, and it was an exciting time to participate in those courses,” she explained.

Soon after, Gabler-Schachermayr was accepted into the Fulbright program, which gave her the opportunity to work on her master’s degree in the U.S. She went to Indiana University (IU) Bloomington, a school she had become familiar with through her experience with The Fund Raising School.

During her two years there, Gabler-Schachermayr focused on public and nonprofit management.

“I wanted to study on how nonprofits function, how you create a case for support, how you can create strategies for nonprofits, and other tools and techniques to improve nonprofit practices,” she said.

The Indiana University (IU) alum poses next to an IU flag

She stayed busy, volunteering as the vice president for the Graduate Student Association, working as an International Student Coordinator at IU, and helping create a new service learning abroad program in Kenya.

After she graduated, Gabler-Schachermayr worked for the Indiana Department of Education and Kiwanis International, where she raised over $20 million to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus. During this time, she moved to Brussels, Belgium and then to Frankfurt, Germany in order to head the fundraising efforts for Kiwanis Europe and the youth programs.

In December 2016, she returned to Austria to work as an independent consultant. Gabler-Schachermayr now works with the Austrian-American Educational Commission (Fulbright Austria) as the organization’s fundraising and development officer. During this time, the IU alumna became reconnected to Indiana University, specifically IUPUI, with the help of Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky.

“I was involved with Dr. Lenkowsky through a number of courses at IU. He reached out to me about the Global Philanthropy Environment Index (GPEI) project, and asked me if I wanted to contribute,” she said.

Gabler-Schachermayr agreed, and over the next several months, spent time combing previous versions of the GPEI and other various reports that were used to measure philanthropy in Austria. She also conducted online research in several academic databases, and scoured articles published about Austrian philanthropy.

Global Philanthropy Environment Index 2018: European Edition

“I also worked closely with the association Fundraising Verband Austria (FVA). They have a lot of useful information on current nonprofit-focused laws and trends in Austria,” she said.

She compiled that information, as well as her extensive firsthand experience working in the philanthropic sector, into a comprehensive 11-page report that discussed fiscal issues, individual participation in nonprofits, government rules, regulations, and laws, cross-border flows, and the general philanthropic environment in Austria.

She shared some of that information here:

“The Austrian philanthropic sector has evolved over the past 10 years. The market is growing—there are new ways of fundraising being established, from crowdfunding to different forms of face-to-face fundraising. Face-to-face fundraising has been very important in Austria—now there’s a mobile form that people collecting donations on the street can use that stores information about individuals who donate in a database. Then, you can send them a thank you note immediately or a text message when they walk away.”

Gabler-Schachermayr also pointed out the growing number of people donating, volunteering, and participating in the philanthropic sector as a whole, although she exercised caution when it came to recent laws passed.

“Recently, new nonprofit laws and regulations were passed that demand that nonprofits have to collect the first name, last name, and birth date of every donor and register them through a portal with the finance ministry if they want to have the donation deducted from that individual’s taxes,” she said.

“They’ve also made it more complicated for donations to be processed from other countries in order to restrict financing. It hinders foreign donations not only in Austria, but we’ve seen that law more closely monitoring cross-border donations enacted in other countries as well.”

However, Gabler-Schachermayr points out that access to philanthropy in Austria has been evolving over time.

“It’s quite easy to establish an association, and that’s wonderful to see. There are many different causes that exist for people to support,” she said. “Civil society is also stepping up to the plate. Regulations do exist, and it is our goal to reduce those so that people can more easily donate to philanthropy. Overall though, it’s a good landscape to work in.”

She also stressed the importance of distributing knowledge about international and comparative philanthropy.

“The philanthropic landscape is international. We have to consider donations going across borders, so it’s important to know what’s happening in other countries, including their legal environments and laws regarding philanthropy,” she said. “Questions such as ‘how easily can nonprofits form in other countries?’ and ‘what are the markets like there?’ are very important to ask in order to fully understand how the sector operates.”

Not only was Gabler-Schachermayr able to dissect philanthropy in Austria, she was also able to meet other individuals studying and working in European philanthropy across the continent. Meeting and sharing data with those GPEI experts at a European convening organized by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy was a “wonderful” experience for her.

“We were able to share how engaged we were in the topic, while learning about how philanthropy works in other countries and how individual experts are engaged in it. That was really valuable to see,” she said.

“Overall, the experience working with the school was really great—to be able to contribute to the GPEI and see the final product come out was very exciting.

“As an IU alumna it was especially delightful to come back to IU and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and be able to contribute academically; bringing back knowledge from my home country and current residence across borders to my alma mater.”

Learn more about the special European edition of GPEI through the school’s partnership with DAFNE

Purposeful boards, powerful fundraising

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Abby Rolland

Dr. Pamela Murchison

As a professional musician, Dr. Pamela Murchison has experience playing flute in several orchestras and teaching music to individuals and in university settings. In 2007, she began playing with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra in Charleston, West Virginia, and fell in love with the Charleston community.

When a position as vice president of development for the orchestra opened up, Dr. Murchison jumped at the opportunity to serve the community as a professional fundraiser.

“Much of my fundraising training has developed ‘on the ground’ as I’ve continued on in this position. I knew starting out how important relationship-building was, but I didn’t have the right tools to fully systemize the process,” she explained.

Enter The Fund Raising School. Dr. Murchison found an old Principles & Techniques of Fundraising course book in her office on her first day, and referred to it as a resource during her first year. When a fellow fundraiser and friend at a local hospital expressed interest in attending that course in Indianapolis in 2016, Dr. Murchison realized the time was right and signed up.

What she found was enlightening.

“It was incredibly interesting to talk to people who were in fundraising, but in different sectors, e.g. social services, museums, etc. They helped me understand that there’s a broad range of ways to think about how you tell your story. If you focus on the relationships and the ties people have to the cause and mission, the fundraising naturally follows,” she said.

Throughout the course and afterwards, Dr. Murchison began to see how the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra could grow its fundraising, expand its reach, and dream big. She discovered after speaking with Bill Stanczykiewicz, director of The Fund Raising School and assistant dean of external relations, the tools she needed as a new fundraiser to continue to build energy around the symphony board’s dedicated fundraising efforts.

“Bill underscored so beautifully that people want to be engaged and to help,” she said. “We’re fortunate to have incredible board members and volunteers who are extremely committed to the symphony, and together we’ve built a team of ambassadors for the symphony. Bill’s suggestions have helped to expand our fundraising program and maximize our impact.”

As a result, Dr. Murchison has been better able to organize her time and communication, and the orchestra’s development program has grown and strengthened.

“We’ve seen more and more successes. We’ve grown our annual fund over the years. We are almost completed with a $3 million endowment campaign, where individuals have come forward and endowed many musicians’ chairs,” she said.

“There are these strong possibilities in our community. For the board to see that and the board to see that their involvement and commitment to fundraising made these milestones happen has just continued the momentum.”

Dr. Murchison’s, the board’s, and the orchestra’s commitment to growing their impact has resulted in the first “Super Pops” show in 30 years, as well as additional new opportunities.

“People are excited about the programs and shows we’re offering, which has only enhanced our fundraising as well,” she said. “Fundraising is hard work, but when you have strong advocates for an organization, it helps keep the mission in mind and individuals excited to build relationships in the community.

“I’m excited about where we are and where we can go.”

Ready to build a better board? Learn more and register for The Fund Raising School’s course Purposeful Boards, Purposeful Fundraising, where you and a board member can attend together, build capacity, and strengthen your organization.

‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Philanthropy courses help students find their way

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Abby Rolland

Interested in taking a class that allows you to give away $10,000? Want to learn how to write a grant proposal? Consider taking one of these classes, whether you’re a philanthropy major or not.

PHST-P370 Learning by Giving

Undergraduate student Bubala Madubansi is a current nursing student who took the Learning by Giving course in Fall 2016. Madubansi wanted to learn more about grantmaking, so she chose to take the course as an elective in her philanthropic studies minor to have the opportunity to engage with nonprofits in the community. The course also allowed her to build a great foundation of philanthropy in practice.

“After building a foundation, we went right to work acting as a board of directors deciding what nonprofit to fund. I was able to read proposals interpreting budgets, minutes, and past projects,” Madubansi said.

The class then came together to state their individual arguments.

“It was tense at times, there were disagreements, but this only shows how invested we were in the class,” she said. “I definitely got that ‘fuzzy’ feeling touring different nonprofits and finally being a part of awarding the selected nonprofit.

“I learned a lot of things through this course that could be applied in an administrative setting. It also just affirmed my love of helping others. This course would be great for anyone who falls under the category of ‘I like to help,’ whether that be nursing, social work, philanthropic studies, business, or education.”

PHST-P330, Section 27140 Donor Motivations and Engagement II

Patrick Dwyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of philanthropic studies, is a psychologist who explores themes of gratitude, prosocial (helping) behaviors, altruism, volunteerism, and giving behaviors in his research. This new course blends research and hands-on experiences for students learning about grantmaking.

Students will learn about different kinds of grantmaking institutions (e.g., foundations, corporations, federated organizations, government, etc.) and how they can engage them as donors.

“Who are these institutions, and why do they give? Where did they come from? Who do they give to? How could I get them to give to my cause?” are a few of the questions that Dwyer said will be explored.

The course also offers students the more “hands-on” experience of developing a comprehensive grant proposal for a nonprofit program of their choice. Special attention will also be paid to ethical considerations and good stewardship strategies.

“Students will find this course to be informative and engaging, as well as practically useful,” Dwyer said.

See the full list of our philanthropic studies classes

Alumnus is discovering who’s influencing young adults today

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Abby Rolland

Derrick Feldmann conducts a workshop for students at the school.

Derrick Feldmann, M.A. ’04, is interested in what moves young adults from a cursory interest in a social issue to a passionate desire to do something about it.

Feldmann has spent more than a decade pioneering research into how young Americans interact with causes and nonprofits. The resulting body of work—the Millennial Impact Project—became the nation’s largest body of data and analysis on how American millennials relate to causes.

This research turned the stereotype of millennials as uncaring and uninvolved on its ear. The situation wasn’t that millennials were so-called “slacktivists” – they just didn’t fit the industry’s established structures of engagement and measurement.

In fact, this generation was changing the very face of philanthropy, and Feldmann’s annual Millennial Impact Reports provided nonprofits and causes with the data and resources they needed to reach this generation.

Today, he fulfills two roles: managing director for the Ad Councils strategic consultancy and Managing Director of Cause and Social Influence where he is researching who and what may be exerting their influence on young Americans (ages 18-30) as they relate to social issues and social movements. Influence is powerful, he said, so learning to recognize, understand and potentially wield it are critical for causes in today’s fast-paced digital world.

Feldmann, with support from the Case Foundation, recently completed Influencing Young America to Act, the first research report published by Cause & Social Influence. The research already has illuminated some unexpected influences, such as the role of television news in communicating to young adults and the strength of their peers’ opinions.

“The more we understand how and why people are motivated to take a stand and participate in a cause, the better able practitioners or fundraisers or marketers will be to say, ‘I saw that play out somewhere else, so we can anticipate what may happen now. We can learn from those moments that people decide to participate,’ ” he said.

Feldmann believes the best way to learn about and come to understand influence is through careful listening.

“In philanthropy, it’s vital to stop and listen to our audiences while we’re trying to accomplish tasks. To be able to think and not just act is a good skill to have. In fact, I began to develop mine from great conversations with professors who are experts in the field at the (formerly titled) Center on Philanthropy,” he said.

Along with his research on young adults and social movements, Feldmann shared advice on how current philanthropy students and those interested in the sector can engage with it and move it forward.

Constantly ask questions about the philanthropic sector and wider world.
Determine what is core to your values, beliefs, and interests, and find opportunities that you can express those through your work.
Live out your passion, but contribute to greater knowledge in some way. Build on what previous generations have accomplished and advance it in some way.

“The exciting thing about our field is that you can advance as quickly as you can. You can invent, you can be an entrepreneur, and so on. We have a field that’s laden with opportunity,” he said.

Feldmann believes that collaborative work, as well as sharing initiatives and narratives, will enhance the field in the long run.

“Movements are not done by one person,” he said. “You’ve got to be at the table, discuss the assets you have available, and then ask how they can be used to better not only your organization, but others as well.”