AND NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR SECTOR…

Andrea McManus, ViTreo Group Inc
October 29th 2019

We are about mid-point between the Canadian and American Thanksgiving celebrations. As the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ (AFP) Ethics Awareness Month comes to a close and on the heels of our Ethics Series, it seems like a good time to focus on something for which we can be grateful.

When we are inundated with bad tidings such as the news about accepting donations for which the answer should have been a firm ‘No, thank you’ -The Provocateur, EpsteinGate - When The Means Do Not Justify The End - it can be challenging for our audiences to remember the other side of the equation, which far exceeds the few rotten apples…

The great and good work of the charitable sector

Our work is so crucial to the lives of many and the impact of it sometimes unknown or often not acknowledged. Globally, the nonprofit sector and its fundraisers affect billions of people across so many areas - poverty, food, water, education, health, social services, and much more. There is much to be concerned about for those who are vulnerable in the world today, but significant strides have been made.

We just need to look at these statistics to see the changes which have been brought in great part by nonprofit organizations, fundraising efforts and the resulting donations worldwide:

“Globally, extreme poverty has rapidly declined. New poverty estimates by the World Bank suggest that the number of extremely poor people - those who live on $1.90 a day or less — has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to about 736 million in 2015.” (The World Bank Group, Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018, Divyanshi Wadhwa, October 2019)

“In January 2016, ‘17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit - officially came into force.’ The objective is that over the next fifteen years, with these new goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilize their efforts ‘to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.’

The new Goals are unique in that they call for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.” (United Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2019)

One important marker for reducing poverty is better literacy and education, another area where the nonprofit world has made big inroads.

The World Bank reports an increase in global literacy rates from 65.194% (1976) to 86.30% (2018) found a 1970 - 2019 study (The World Bank, Literacy Rate, Adult Total, as of October 16 2019).

UNICEF reports literacy among youth aged 15-24 is improving, but young women still lag behind:

Literacy rates among youth (aged 15 to 24) and adults are the test of an educational system, and the overall trend is positive, thanks to the expansion of educational opportunities. Globally, the youth literacy rate increased from 83 per cent to 91 per cent over two decades, while the number of illiterate youth declined from 170 million to 115 million. Regional and gender disparities persist, however. Literacy is lowest in least developed countries and higher among males than females. In the most recent years for which data are available, young women accounted for 59 per cent of the total illiterate youth population. (Unicef, Literacy, October 2019)

From the UNESCO Department of Statistics: “The data show remarkable improvement among youth in terms of reading and writing skills and a steady reduction in gender gaps. 50 years ago, almost one quarter of youth lacked basic literacy skills compared to less than 10% in 2016. However, 750 million adults – two-thirds of whom are women – remain illiterate.” (UNESCO, Literacy Rates Continue to Rise From One Generation To The Next, September 2017)

For this, we can be thankful. And it is not just these large global issues. Whether it is finding a cure for cancer, taking care of sick babies, feeding the hungry and housing the homeless right at our own doors, ensuring that all children have access to healthy, active lifestyles - life for many is improving. And isn’t that the goal of the work we do? To improve the lives of others? This is good work we have done, and continue to do (often under difficult circumstances and with few resources). We should stand tall and be proud.

Sometimes it may seem as if it is ‘thankless work’. No one ever said it would be easy. And they were right. It isn’t. Fundraising is not for the faint of heart! It is though, work that must carry on to help those who are so much less fortunate here in Canada and the U.S. and around the world.

And to do that, we must always seek better ways of providing this help, more strategic, more efficient and more far-reaching. We have new generations of givers arriving on the scene, and just as the business world must adjust to new types of consumers, we need to consider donors with different worldviews and needs.

So, while we can congratulate ourselves on a job well done, we must continue to do it well and better. Our methods, our relationship building, our tools must continue to evolve and improve.

Because the work we do is important and it matters. To everyone.

All of us must carry that belief into our work every day.

Check out ViTreo's Braintrust as we bring you additional insights into what is and what will be important in philanthropy through our Weekly News Recap and the BrainTrust Philanthropy Podcast.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrea McManus, Chair, Board of Directors, Partner
ViTreo Group Inc

Andrea McManus is a Partner with ViTreo with over 30 years’ experience in fund development, marketing, sponsorship and nonprofit management. A highly strategic thinker and change maker, Andrea has worked with organizations that span the nonprofit sector with particular focus on building long-term and sustainable capacity.