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Philanthropy has the ability to advance social justice, but it also has the potential to thwart it. This potential stems from the power dynamics experienced in philanthropy, such as one party (i. e., donors) allocating the resources that another party (e.g, individuals, communities, and organizations) needs for its very existence. Frontline fundraisers play an important role in shaping donors understanding of the relationship between philanthropy and societal issues, including the potential for power imbalances and the use of critical theories to mitigate those power dynamics. Despite this opportunity, there are not yet widely established guidelines or methodologies for frontline fundraisers. This paper uses a composite case study to illustrate ways frontline fundraisers can facilitate philanthropy while being mindful of the power dynamics, ultimately helping donors to achieve their intended goals of enfranchising individuals and communities.
Keywords: philanthropy, counter-storytelling, power dynamics, social justice, higher education
There is growing urgency to examine the power dynamics present in philanthropy and their unintended consequences, such as creating social hierarchies that determine funding decisions (MacIndoe, 2021), introducing struggles for autonomy and control between donors and recipients (Arvidson & Linde, 2021; Harkema, 2021; Ostrander, 2007), and misusing client narratives in the fundraising process (Ferrer et al., 2021). These unintended consequences force beneficiaries (i.e., organizations and the individuals, families, and communities they serve) into the role of passive recipients as opposed to empowered actors. For these reasons, some scholars assert that successful fundraisers need the ability to identify and address power imbalances (Counts & Jones, 2019). A potential challenge to fundraisers who seek to identify and address power imbalances is that fundraising, as a profession, lacks formal education programs and enforceable ethical principles (Shaker & Nathan, 2017), so there are not established frameworks or methodologies within fundraising to address power dynamics.
Critical theories, such as Feminist Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT), are ideal frameworks for examining power dynamics in societal structures (Netting et al., 2021) because at their core they seek to identify how power is built into social and political systems (Devetak, 2005). In philanthropy, one such social system, funders may be unaware of how their power to give or withhold missioncritical funds impacts grantees. For example, grantees may have little to no role in how funders define problems...