But What If I Lose Money?" A Common Misconception About Community-Centric Fundraising

Let's face it: the nonprofit sector is steeped in scarcity mindset. We're taught to hoard resources, chase after every dollar, and view other organizations as competition rather than allies. It's no wonder that when confronted with the principles of Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF), many of us balk at the idea of potentially "losing money."  

As a CCF Fundraiser and CCF Global Council Member, I speak about CCF regularly. And without fail when I introduce the CCF principles, I’m asked, 
 
“But what if we lose money?” 

The tone in which people ask this question varies. And my response will vary on their tone. You’ll see my response at the end of this blog. But first, let me tell you who I’m writing this for. 

Sometimes, the tone is coming from someone who belittles and condescends to CCF fundraisers.  

Sometimes the tone in which people ask this question is stemming from fear. They’re asking because they’re working in a place that demands them to reach their revenue goal- at whatever cost. 

These are the people I focus on. And you’ll see my response at the end of this blog. But first, let me tell you who I’m writing this for.  

Sometimes this question is coming from people who are scared to lose their job but equally scared to not be their authentic selves.  

And this always makes me sad. And angry.  

Firstly, I want to say this fear is valid.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Even if we don’t have our livelihoods threatened from not reaching our goal, the money we raise goes towards salaries, operations, programming. We want to reach our goal. We never want to lose money for our causes. But we can’t be scared to do so. Especially if it’s in pursuit of the goal of aligning our communities with our causes.  

As fundraisers, we've been conditioned to believe that our worth is tied to how much money we bring in. We've internalized capitalistic ways of thinking: 

• Hyper individualism 

• Scarcity mindset 

• Overconsumption 

• Perceiving ourselves and others as machines of productivity 

and applied them to our pursuit of social good. We celebrate when we exceed our revenue goals, conveniently forgetting to ask at what cost. 

The fear of losing money keeps us tethered to harmful practices. It makes us cater to white fragility, perpetuate savior narratives, and prioritize wealthy donors over the communities we claim to serve. It turns our missions into commodities and our beneficiaries into marketing tools. 

But what if I told you that by clinging to this fear, we're already losing? 

We're losing the trust of our communities. We're losing the opportunity to create meaningful, systemic change. We're losing our integrity and the very reason many of us entered this field in the first place. 

Community-Centric Fundraising isn't about losing money. It's about reimagining how we mobilize resources to truly serve our communities. It's about recognizing that our individual organizational missions are part of a larger vision of us all working towards collective liberation. 

Yes, adopting CCF principles might mean saying no to some funding opportunities. It might mean having difficult conversations with donors about power and privilege. It might even mean collaborating with other organizations in ways that don't directly benefit our bottom line. 

But what we gain is immeasurable. 

We gain authenticity in our relationships with donors and communities. We gain the ability to address root causes rather than just symptoms. We gain the power to challenge oppressive systems instead of perpetuating them. 

So, the next time you find yourself asking, "But what if I lose money?" try reframing the question: 

““What do we stand to gain by centering our community?” “How can we measure success beyond just dollars raised?” “What would it look like to fundraise in true alignment with our values?”, “What would it look like to have staff, board, leadership, community all aligned in a collective goal? ”

Remember, we entered this sector to make change and imagine a different world than the one we have. It's time we let go of our scarcity mindset and embrace the abundance of possibilities that come with truly community-centric work. 

We might lose money. I’ll never try and erase this risk. But for me, the greater risk is that we perpetuate harm in the pursuit of money. The greater cost is having us uphold a sector that purports to do good while maintaining the status quo of oppression.
 
But in my experience, I’ve only deepened relationships with individuals, corporations, foundations, and fellow organizations into a way that they became partners in this work. In turn, I co-created and built relationships that yielded money, yes, but more importantly, trust.  
 
After all, isn't that the world we're trying to build? 
 
I promised at the beginning of this blog to tell you my responses to the “What if I lose money?” 

To those who ask, “What about the money?” in a dismissive tone: 

In my experience, I’ve only increased donor base, donations (400% for a client, 51% post Capital Campaign and mid-pandemic), and even received 100K in unrestricted revenue after a transparent conversation about how the overhead myth harms nonprofits.  
 
To those who are asking “What about the money?” out of fear:  

Trust yourself and your values. They will guide you to abundance. If your revenue goal costs your health and wellness, then the cost is too high. The world we are trying to build will never demand that any of us sacrifice ourselves in the process of our collective liberation. 

When you’re scared, envision the community and world you want to live in. Now ground yourself in this image and remember that it’s possible.