When I’m training new fundraisers in soliciting funds from individuals, I hear a lot of fear.
Fear of rejection.
Fear of being judged.
Fear of being harmed through microaggressions.
This fear can also masquerade as resentment.
Resentment towards capitalism.
Resentment towards people of wealth and their advantages.
Resentment of past traumas due to racism, classism, sexism, homophobia etc.
The pain we feel (usually) has nothing to do with the person in front of us and everything to do with the healing we need within ourselves.
The hurt places show us where the attention needs to go to nurture and heal ourselves.
The relationship is the laboratory for our own evolution.
The trauma is real. The hurt is real. The history of inequity is real.
And still.
In the moment of meeting with a donor, can we simply be present with another human being and just share what we both hope and dream about changing in the world?
Connections are not made on the issues that separate us: they are built on the common values that unites us.
Can we find the humanity in the person in front of us instead of the story that we tell ourselves about who they are and who they think we are?
How might we approach all people differently if we had a glimpse of them as a child on the happiest day of their lives?
