If They Only Knew …

Stuff like this breaks my heart, so I can only imagine how it feels to actually be a nonprofit fundraiser and read it. And these misguided notions pain me most when we are knee-deep in nominations for our annual Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards. That’s because as we agonize over which nominees will be acknowledged here for their work, I continue to be amazed and humbled. Fundraisers, on the whole, are dedicated, passionate and tireless advocates of the causes they champion and of the greater good. The overwhelming majority are meticulously ethical and completely undeserving of the shadow that hangs darkly over their profession. But the bad rap persists, usually based on misinformation or at least a misunderstanding of solid information. Or, unfortunately, on news around the few bad apples. (Why is it that in a situation that is one part negative to 1,000 parts positive, human nature tends to give more credence to the negative?) Or on a single bad experience like a thank-you that never came or a question that went unanswered.