The power of many small red envelopes

Wanted to share with you an email I received from my dear and beautiful friend Cecilia in response to my recent post on race and fundraising. I think she's on to something here.

"Interesting article. I am curious if you are including churches. I also suspect that the concept of giving varies from culture to culture. While some philanthropists engage in a fundraising plan that is fairly intentional, some cultures contribute equally as reflected in the building of new churches and temples around the world.

Take the Chinese culture for example, the Chinese New Year is a perfect example of 'planned giving,' it maybe in small amounts of 5 and 10 dollars within red envelopes, but lots of people benefit. Wealth- sharing is probably more common in communities of color than most people think.

A better question to ask is how to challenge people to give outside their own communities. If each Chinese family begin setting aside one red envelope for charity every year, I wonder how much money could we raise on Chinese New Year alone?"

Cecilia also included a link to a Black Enterprise special report on America's Leading Black Philanthropists, which includes the following important fact.

"Truth be told, African Americans give more than any other group, donating 25% more of their discretionary income to charities than Whites, reports the Chronicle of Philanthropy. On average, Black households give $1,614 to their favorite causes. In addition, many Black families embrace the practice of tithing--contributing 10% of their incomes to the church."

All of which points to the important fact: Much of professional fundraising today does not included within its scope vast amounts of traditional and existing giving. Valuable gifts of time, talent and treasure by millions of Americans go unreported because professional philanthropy is increasingly defining itself in the language of measurable outcomes, strategic giving, social entrepreneurism and return on investments. Qualities which are inherently biased to support the dominate culture's preferences.

So when the Center of Philanthropy reports such low figures for fundraisers of color, it is important to note that this is "among fundraisers who join professional organizations." Volunteers have been, and will continue to be, the heart of fundraising within most organizations and communities.

So while the racial disparity among the professional ranks should be a concern for us all, the continued generosity of all people, including People of Color, should be something for which we are very grateful.