YWCA launches Equity Through Development program for women of color

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With a mission to eliminate racism and empower women, the YWCA of Rochester & Monroe County has its collective hands full. But not so full that it can overlook an opportunity to invest in women of color.

The local chapter of the YWCA is partnering with five other YWCAs in Western New York on a new initiative that is designed to help women find careers in fundraising.

“It’s designed to impact not only our area, but the Western New York region in that it is a leadership mentoring opportunity to develop and invest in the next generation of fundraisers of color, particularly women of color,” said YWCA CEO Myra Henry. “We have all committed to identify a woman of color who is either a current fundraiser or an emerging fundraiser for our organizations to go through a 10-week program on how to be a development officer or a fundraiser.”

For the first cohort of the Equity Through Development project, which launches in January, Rochester will have three local apprentices going through the program.

“Statistically, the majority of fundraisers are white, and I believe I’m correct in saying the majority of fundraisers of nonprofits are white women,” Henry said. “We want to change that landscape and be intentional about investing in fundraisers from across the spectrum.”

Indeed, many of the YWCA facilities serve communities of color or those who are from marginalized populations, Henry noted, so having a fundraiser who can speak to how raising funds can directly impact the services YWCA offers to its communities would be a major step up.

“Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is the North Star for us here at YWCA,” said Holly Beaston, YWCA of Rochester director of development & marketing. “This is a watershed moment for us.”

In a previous job, Beaston was told she could not hire a person of color because they didn’t fit the demographic or donor base. It was that story that prompted her and Henry to look into the fundraising education.

“In coming up with this, we were very intentional about reaching out to all the different fundraisers here locally for women of color. And we’ve met with every single person, I think, in this community right now and shared this project. Across the board there was such excitement,” Beaston said, noting that some of the women they spoke with said they had tried to do something similar in the past, but it never got off the ground. “What needed to happen was there had to be a pipeline. And that’s when we stepped back and said we really have to start from the beginning and create a training program, not for women who are already in the field of fundraising, but for women who for whatever reason haven’t seen fundraising as a viable career option.”

The delivery mechanism for the 10-week training will be hybrid in that the educational portion will be virtual, while the apprentices also will have an opportunity to work directly with the CEOs of the YWCA chapters on specific projects such as their capital campaign or annual fundraiser.

“We were very intentional about making sure that the curriculum was not created in a vacuum for this project,” Henry said. An advisory council of six women familiar with nonprofit, for-profit and philanthropic enterprises will serve as mentors to the apprentices. “It was very important that we didn’t say, ‘Here’s 10 weeks of curriculum,’ rather we wanted to make it real and make sure that we spoke to the nuances and some of the struggles and pitfalls and barriers that women of color would likely face in the fundraising capacity.”

An apprentice might be a YWCA staff member who has the potential to be a fundraiser but needs a little guidance or direction, Henry said. Or it might be a volunteer or a board member. Either way, YWCA leaders are hoping that when the training is done, ideally those apprentices will move into fundraising roles at their respective chapters.

“One really unique point about the way that we’ve designed this program is that our hope is that the women that we train as apprentices then for cohort two become mentors,” Beaston said. “We really are seeing this as a way to build capacity for our entire communities in Western New York, and that is what excites me most about this project. It’s the ability to really change the narrative of philanthropy within our communities.”

Henry noted that Ernst & Young Global Ltd. provided some of the funding for the new program, and the hope is that the apprentices will be given stipends for participating.

“The seed money allows the apprentices to participate with no charge, and we are currently fundraising to get additional funds so that we can pay them stipends as they go and work inside the organizations with the CEOs,” she said. “We recognize this is likely over and beyond their regular work duties, as many of these folks are not necessarily coming to us as experienced fundraisers.”

Although cohort one will include YWCA-identified apprentices, the goal in future cohorts is to extend the training to become a community-wide initiative, Beaston said. YWCA is actively fundraising for future cohorts as well.

“I see this as being an annual opportunity,” she added.

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