The Great Awakening: After the Storm

BY KATHLEEN PROVOST, CFRE

As a professional fundraiser, I always try to look at life with a “glass halffull” perspective; but I remain tentative as to what is next after this world pandemic — after this “storm”. In an attempt to keep a positive outlook on our profession and our sector, I remain inquisitive as to what can be learnt after weathering this storm. What professional and personal growth can come from this?

Hilary Pearson, in her January 2022 article entitled Hopes, Fears and a Wild Guess, did remind me of very important questions we need to explore as we embark on this journey and end up on the other side of this pandemic, on this new post-pandemic path.

She asked:

“How do we add flexibility, responsiveness, and adaptability to our funding practices; How do we support new leadership pipelines and ladders, and more effective systems of governance;

How do we educate ourselves, develop awareness of bias, racism and exclusion…?”

These are a few of her questions; but they remain essential to ponder as fundraisers. These questions are necessary to better understand our profession and our sector as we look at the horizon, at the other side of this storm.

I remind myself of an article I wrote last October 2021, Volunteering: Past, Present and Future, in which I take a look at volunteering and how it looks different for different individuals. Now, 2 years into this pandemic, I question if it is really the “purpose of volunteering” that is changing or if it is “us”, the individual and our changing priorities?

Volunteering, fundraising and the not-for-profit sector have not changed its purpose; it is us, who are changing in response to the last 20 months of increased challenges and isolation. We have been adapting and are trying to adjust within each of our communities, professional and personal. Hence, the real question is how different are we as individuals? Are we trying to take control of who we are and the place and role we want within our communities?

In 2016, Michael Brand (michaelbrand. org) published, Why Our Service Organizations Are Dying (and 6 ways to fix them), in which he explored areas we should consider if we want to re-invent ourselves.

He challenged us to:

1. Think of tribes and not communities, in which people desire most an opportunity to connect with one another in groupings of people founded on shared ideas and values — ending traditional mass communication and replacing it with an ancient human social unit: the tribe, giving ordinary people the power to lead and make big change.

2. Emphasize time over treasure by spending vastly more time in what might be a type of “structured leisure activity”. This means time is more prized than talent or treasure by adding what we perceive as quality to our lives.

3. Build an informal atmosphere in which rituals make sense to today’s generations by creating fundamentally social, conversational and less formal environments.

So really, if we juxtapose the pressures we have experienced these past months in a global pandemic, is it possible that it has empowered us to “Re-Think” how we do things to have the desired impact we want to have for ourselves? Is it possible to envision the world differently by stimulating our ability to identify and problem-solve creatively, hence awaken our curiosity to new, inspiring ideas and alternatives?

We talk about a “Great Resignation” but that is really only from the perspective of the employer. The pandemic has given licence to businesses to discard employees as disposable assets and variable expenses. This has then become the turning point for individuals who may have had issues with the existing “working-force contract” between employers and employees.

I believe we are experiencing a “Great Awakening”, by which individuals who comprise the workforce are asserting their personal agency by questioning the status quo.

In a survey conducted by Workhuman, Co-founder and CEO, Eric Mosley talks about “a salary arms race”. Yet, four out of every ten workers interviewed, who planned to look for a new job in the next 12 months, stated that the reasons for such a change were as psychological as they are material. This pandemic has triggered a further complex change in employee sentiment. Mosley calls this a wave of “pandemic epiphanies” — in which people decide they want to find greater meaning in their work and lives.

I want to argue that there is no shortage of talent or skill to invest in a community, the issue is rather the need to belong to a community with a sense of purpose. This explains the natural reaction of individuals “exiting” the workforce in which they do not identify. People crave communities in which they can build connections, where they feel valued as engaged employees. What is happening is not a “Great Resignation” rather what is happening is a “Great Awakening”. Workers are seeking meaningful reasons for gainful employment.

The charitable sector is no different than the private sector in many ways. Organizations, associations and other not-for-profit entities must respond to this change in our workforce. In the fundraising world the donors’ behaviour is a key indicator of our community’s health. Shelley Hoss, President & CEO of the Orange County Community Foundation, recently stated that since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly 75 percent of Millennials provided financial support to family, friends or nonprofits — the highest rate among any generation polled. In this example, younger generations of philanthropists are mobilizing rapidly to support causes they believe with the same conviction that individuals are leaving the workplace and taking control over their employment.

In December 2021, Christy Somos, of the CTV National News reported that younger people were more likely to increase charity donations during the the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly 75 percent of Millennials provided financial support to family, friends or nonprofits — the highest rate among any generation polled. In this example, younger generations of philanthropists are mobilizing rapidly to support causes they believe with the same conviction that individuals are leaving the workplace and taking control over their employment.

In December 2021, Christy Somos, of the CTV National News reported that younger people were more likely to increase charity donations during the pandemic. With a poll from IPSOS, in which 1,000 Canadians over the age of 18 were surveyed, twelve per cent increased their donations to charity during the pandemic, providing some insight into how Canadians have balanced their charitable donations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In my opinion, the motivation behind our donors’ behaviours mirrors the motivation behind the shift we are experiencing in the workforce. First, donors look for hands-on engagement and involvement with the organizations they support. Donors also seek to be an integral part of achieving social impact. Additionally, donors want to see the direct impact of their philanthropic involvement.

Just like employees, philanthropists want to get behind a cause that is meaningful to them, something that will foster innovative solutions for a positive impact in their community. Today’s donors are looking as eager as the previous generation to leave their unique mark on the world; hence, forcing philanthropy to be more impactful, engaged and connected.

An article in the January 13, 2022 edition of McGill Health e-news entitled “Searching for Calm in the Tsunami: Mindfulness in the Rehabilitation Professions”, by Sarah Marshall, PT, MSc, summarized the points made by Elizabeth Anne Kinsella, the newly appointed Director of the Institute of Health Sciences

Education, which she delivered at SPOT’s annual Edith Aston- McCrimmon Lecture. Using the metaphor of a “tsunami”, Kinsella highlighted the workplace stressors that threaten to overwhelm health care practitioners, and how these have been amplified by the pandemic. According to her, some contributing factors include heavy workloads, workforce shortages, complex job environments, discrepancies between demands and resources, technological changes, stigmatizing attitudes, microaggressions, which play a part in this workplace “tsunami”.

The “Great Awakening” I am referring to is the response individuals are having towards this global pandemic because these stressors have reached a point of saturation. Our societies are therefore witnessing a consciousness or, an awareness of definite priorities for individuals. Maybe Kinsella’s argument that mindfulness can help mitigate these stresses merits attention. Mindfulness practices have the potential to help view stressful situations in relationship building. Kinsella also discusses how mindfulness can occur while engaging in an activity with full attention and presence, as a kind of “being while doing.”

If there is any learning as a result of this global pandemic, it may be that we are becoming more aware of these professional or personal stressors in our everyday life. As a result, we are witnessing how this “Great Awakening” is making us rethink our actions and our choices, which is necessary for us to grow as individuals. Being mindful of our professional or personal actions will dictate what we do, as individuals and the place we want to occupy in a supportive community.

The “Great Awakening” actually means that individuals are taking control and making choices to support the purpose they have identified as a priority; in their professional, personal and philanthropic choices.

KATHLEEN A. PROVOST, CFRE is currently the Director, Campaign Initiatives at St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, NS. She brings over 25 years of fundraising experience within the charitable sector. She has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2007, and a long-time member and volunteer for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). She writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.