By Ryan Magcuyao, Director of Development
For the past year, I have had the opportunity to represent Acknowledge Alliance on the Board of Directors of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Silicon Valley Chapter (AFPSV). As part of this partnership, I had the privilege of leading the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) Fellowship Program. This program acknowledges that many nonprofits, especially in fundraising and development roles, are missing the voices and experiences of young professionals of color, LGBTQ+, and other underrepresented communities, and provides those professionals with training, mentoring, and leadership opportunities. This program culminated in a luncheon panel entitled “Holding The Door: The Impact of Cultural Shifts Around DEI”. The visionary panel speakers, Lavere Foster (African American Community Service Agency), Maria Garcia (The Health Trust), and Anna Dapelo-Garcia (Stanford Health Care, Lean In Latinas) spoke on the importance of DEI and how to advocate for it as we see increased push-back, politicization, and vilification.
Acknowledge Alliance’s continued focus on promoting DEI in our agency aligns with the work of our panelists. As an agency that supports students and teachers, the majority of whom are from diverse races and cultures, are from economically disenfranchised backgrounds, and have experienced various challenges, we strive to reflect those we serve. We acknowledge that everyone comes from a different background, and those experiences matter in how they shape our work. These conversations identify diversity beyond just ethnicity, and also include gender, orientation, disability, and zip code are all important factors that must be considered.
As Ms. Dapelo-Garcia said during the panel, “this work requires you to rock the boat and say things that will make people uncomfortable”, which is a sentiment that the leadership of Acknowledge Alliance greatly believes in. By being comfortable with feeling uncomfortable, we allow ourselves to be open to difficult conversations around racism, prejudice, violence, and stigma within the school and mental health systems. I am proud of Acknowledge Alliance and AFPSV’s work to disrupt industry culture to allow equitable growth for diverse individuals.
The IDEA Fellowship is a year-long professional development program that grants fellows full access to all the benefits of AFPSV membership free of cost. These benefits include a year membership to AFP, automatic enrollment into the AFP Mentorship Program, monthly workshops on a variety of topics, monthly cohort meetings with guest speakers from the AFP board of directors, and more. AFPSV is currently accepting applications for the 2025 cohort.
View the full recording of "Holding the Door: The Impact of Cultural Shifts Around DEI"