The Association of Fundraising Professionals Association Board Vision and Governance Case for Belonging

The Association of Fundraising Professionals Board is committed to promoting, advancing, and integrating Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) throughout our association and ecosystem. Recognizing the change must be modeled by our leadership, the AFP Association Board is embarking on a journey to create a culture of belonging for our board. 

Our board defines belonging as the feeling and safety of being accepted, welcomed, and valued. This includes the ability to be your authentic self and embrace all of your identities. Thanks to our past volunteer leadership, our board has created spaces for belonging. We are continuing the journey of belonging with deeper intentionality and commitment.  

In alignment with our new strategic plan, focusing on our commitment to integrate IDEA, and responding to the need for belonging, we are beginning the complex change process to improve our board culture of belonging. 
After beginning work during our December 2024 board retreat, we created the following vision: 

We will create a board culture of belonging where:

• Every board member feels included, welcomed, and can be their authentic selves.
• We attract and embrace the diversity of our membership; and ensure representation of all voices.
• We create opportunities for growth and relationship-building; as well as systems leading to sustainability.
• We remove all barriers to engagement and enable resources for needed support. 

Not only do our efforts align with our strategic plan and commitment to IDEA, but we are committed to a board culture of belonging because it is good governance. We identified the following cases based on the three primary modes of governance:

1. Fiduciary Case: Creating a board culture of belonging allows us to embrace the diverse talents of our board members to address our most pressing issues.
2. Strategic Case: Creating a board culture of belonging will engage the diverse perspectives of our board and design more innovative, strategic, and adaptable goals and plans.
3. Generative Case: Creating a board culture of belonging will bring us closer to achieving AFP’s vision, where everyone can help stimulate a world of generosity and positive social good through fundraising best practices.

Our work will take place over the next year and will end the current phase in the spring of 2026. Our current next steps include:

1. Communicating our vision to our board and community.
2. Assessing our current board culture through surveys, interviews, and conversations.  
3. Strengthening our interpersonal communications skills.
4. Researching and organizing resources.
5. Exploring and identifying areas of improvement in our board systems.
6. Ending with a plan for recommendations and continued work. 

For members with questions or concerns, please contact AFP Global Chair Roger Ali at [email protected] or AFP Global Board Member Jonathan Meagher-Zayas at [email protected]. We plan to share more updates throughout our journey.