The Association of Fundraising Professionals’ (AFP) leadership is vowing a concerted effort to confront racism within its ranks following a recent upheaval at the Greater Toronto Chapter culminating in last week’s mass resignations of the chapter’s executive director and entire board.
The resignations came after three former board members of AFP’s Greater Toronto Chapter (AFP-GTC), all of whom are Black, alleged that they were belittled, marginalized, and treated as “tokens” while serving on the chapter’s nine-member board of mostly white individuals from 2017 through 2019.
In the wake of the allegations, Mide Akerewusi – one of the three former board members who alleged that they were mistreated – has been tapped to serve as the chapter’s interim board president while the search continues for at least four other members. A minimum of five vacancies on the chapter’s nine-member board, enough to constitute a quorum, must be filled for it to continue functioning. That new board will begin the work to find a new executive director.
Birgit Smith Burton, AFP Global’s board chair, confirmed the appointment of Akerewusi on Wednesday after the chapter’s outgoing board voted to delegate that authority to her in accordance with the chapter’s bylaws. She and Akerewusi, in turn, will appoint a special committee of AFP-GTC members to fill the other vacancies, she said.
The allegations dating back more than four years were given renewed attention during an episode of Akerewusi’s Giving Black podcast this past February. At the time, he and his two former colleagues on the board — Múthoní Karíukí and Nneka Allen — described instances of what they believed to be a lack of acceptance by the other members. In a monologue she later posted online, Allen accused the other members of perpetuating “White power” and “invalidating people who do not meet the standards of whiteness,” which she said culminated in a “dehumanizing plan to vote me off the Board” because “I dared to speak freely and reveal inequity and racism in our midst.”
A change.org petition shortly afterward by organizers describing themselves as “a collective of Black, Brown, and white anti-racism activists” called upon AFP Global to sanction the Toronto chapter for its “failure to make authentic and meaningful progress on its stated goal and objectives around Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA).” Amid mounting pressure on the chapter’s board to apologize, the former president whom Allen accused of conspiring to remove her sent a cease-and-desist warning to AFP Global and chapter leaders in what appeared to be an effort to head off any apology that might have assigned blame to the former president.
Akerewusi, however, said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday that he intends to press for a full apology and that AFP-GTC must act on this imperative “with courage, ignoring the threat of legal action.” He added that “I am not backing away from my demand for justice. If anything, as Interim Chair, I am doubling up on my expectation for AFP to do better, be better and set powerful examples of equity to the local and global fundraising community.”
Burton, herself the first Black female to serve as AFP Global’s board chair in the organization’s 62-year history, told The NonProfit Times Wednesday that she, too, has experienced racism during her 33 years in the fundraising profession and that “it is clear that change is overdue” in how the organization addresses it. “We’re going to be reviewing all AFP policies in the coming months and updating them to address racism and other negative behaviors that have caused harm to our members,” she said. “This is not something that will be pushed to the side where people will be able to say we’re just giving it lip service and not putting our words into action.”
The turmoil engendered by the allegations comes as AFP Global continues preparations to hold its 2024 annual international conference in Toronto. With more than 1,000 members, AFP’s Greater Toronto Chapter is the organization’s largest. But, said Burton, “That’s not why this is important. This is important because of how it affects our members. There should have been a way for them to have their grievances addressed without having to, four years later, voice them through social media.”
This matter was initially addressed on an official level during opening remarks delivered at last month’s AFP-ICON conference in New Orleans by Mike Geiger, president and CEO of the global organization. “In the spirit of accountability, we apologize for the harm done thus far, specifically to those chapter board members who suffered systemic anti-Black racism,” Geiger said at the time. He added that AFP Global was committed to “nurturing a diverse, equitable and inclusive community of fundraisers” and to being “an ally in the continuation of systemic change and transformation at the global and chapter levels.”
