AFP Chapter Spotlight: Hampton Roads Chapter

Above photo: AFP Hampton Roads, Virginia, boasts a large and diverse volunteer board of directors.

Creating a culture of collaboration

Founded in 2001 and 180-plus members strong, the Hampton Roads, Virginia, Chapter of AFP is geographically unique, including coastal communities from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg, stretching from Virginia’s Eastern Shore to North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Its volunteer board works hard to deliver a yearly program that’s valued by and useful to members, including monthly programs on varying topics of interest about fundraising. “In addition, the chapter hosts a Fundraising Leadership Symposium with a national speaker each year,” says Joy Eyrolles, MPA, CFRE, immediate past president, who is executive director of Anchor Scholarship Foundation. “Besides this, we also offer specific courses for fundamentals in fundraising or prepping for the CFRE when there is enough interest to fill a classroom—usually every other year. The chapter funds scholarships for members to attend ICON, as well as a statewide fundraising leadership conference, the Virginia Fund Raising Institute.”

In particular, the chapter has worked to build a culture of collaboration. Eyrolles spoke to AFP about the programs and processes her chapter has instilled to make that happen.

AFP: Tell us about your chapter’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Program.

JE: In 2012, our chapter adopted a resolution to ensure that we are always striving in our planning and programs to be inclusive. At the same time, we created our Diversity Committee, known today as our IDEA Committee.

Since then, we made a commitment to try to ensure that each of our monthly programs is viewed through the IDEA lens. We asked our speakers to ensure that a portion of their presentation addresses the challenges and successes they have experienced with inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. We also intentionally schedule one of our monthly programs as a roundtable discussion focused on the IDEA challenges our current members face. This has allowed our members a safe space to speak about issues at their own organizations, as well as share ideas that are successful in promoting IDEA. This program is planned and hosted by the IDEA Committee. In addition, our chapter offers a Diversity Scholarship each year.

AFP: What do you consider your chapter’s most meaningful accomplishment of the past year, and what goals have you set for this year?

JE: I think our most meaningful accomplishment of 2022 was to bring chapter members together again for in-person programs and events. In the previous two years, people often shared with me how much they missed the one-on-one interactions with each other at our events. They missed sharing ideas and talking about their successes and their failures to a real live person! At the beginning of the year, we had scheduled only three in-person events. However, understanding how much our members valued seeing other people, we quickly rearranged our schedule to host seven successful in-person events.

This year, the chapter is also going to concentrate on creating more value for its AFP membership. We are finding there is more niche competition in our area for fundraising professionals. We made our program registration fees significantly lower than nonmember fees, are seeking more collaboration with other associations, are developing a member-driven resource for vendors and services in the area, and are offering more membership and professional development scholarships.

AFP: How do you show the value of AFP to your membership?

JE: I think our members are really those who show the value of an AFP membership. They are our best ambassadors. During my tenure on the board, every new member I’ve ever spoken to has said that a member told them about our chapter and encouraged them to join. From there, the value simply comes from our solid and relevant programming, our commitment to IDEA, and the opportunity to network with other colleagues.

AFP: Are there specific fundraising challenges you face in the Hampton Roads area—and can other regions learn from the way you’ve addressed those challenges?

JE: As you can imagine in an area that is surrounded by water and attached by bridges, our philanthropic community is small—very generous, but small. This creates a lot of competition for the fundraising initiatives in our area. I believe that this challenge has created a culture of collaboration in our community. Many of our philanthropic entities encourage—and sometimes require—that organizations work together, rather than separately, on like issues. This stretches donations among many programs/organizations, thus boosting them all.

AFP: As we try to recruit younger professionals into fundraising, does your chapter do any specific work in attracting them? If so, what do you do?

JE: I will admit, this is one area that our chapter needs to focus on more. We have started to have discussions at the Membership Committee level about how we can reach those who are up-and-coming in fundraising and those who are considering career options in the field. We have many different colleges and universities in the area, and we believe that might be the place to start.

AFP: Can you speak to some of the challenges your chapter faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic? How did you overcome or manage those challenges?

JE: Before the pandemic, our chapter meetings were completely in-person. All programs, networking events, roundtables, board meetings, everything! Our biggest challenge was to completely change this and go virtual. The good news for us is that it opened the world up to us in regard to speakers. We quickly filled our calendar with solid virtual programming that kept our members engaged. In addition, our National Philanthropy Day Committee worked with our local paper and found a way to publicly celebrate philanthropy without having a huge 600-person luncheon. Creativity was our key to success during that dark time.

AFP: What advice would you give to other chapter leaders as they navigate a new fundraising world with new requirements due to the pandemic?

JE: Be open to new ideas while being sensitive to how others feel about gatherings. This past year, we created an in-person National Philanthropy Day event that was smaller than those we’ve had in the past, but allowed those who may not feel as comfortable being at large gatherings a way to participate.

AFP: Tell us more about your annual National Philanthropy Day celebration. Ultimately, what does this event do for your chapter?

JE: National Philanthropy Day in Hampton Roads is always an event not to be missed! It is the one event we host that allows a majority of Hampton Roads’ nonprofit organizations the ability to celebrate all the amazingly generous people in our community. It also allows us the ability to elevate our profession in ways we can’t individually. In conjunction with NPD, our local newspaper works with members of our board to develop their “Giving” insert, highlighting NPD awardees as well as the fundraising expertise of our various members.

AFP: Tell us about a specific moment or event that made you especially proud to be a member of your chapter.

JE: This happens every time I speak to my donors and they tell me how much they enjoy our celebration in November. They may not know the specific event name (National Philanthropy Day), but they remember how wonderful it is that we take time to celebrate our generous community and the folks who work for our nonprofits. It makes my heart swell every time.