It is no surprise to foundation leaders that health care development teams have prioritized the need to fundraise for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). A majority of development teams Advisory Board have spoken with have shared this as an emerging and important funding priority to reconcile in 2022 and beyond. They’ve expressed that DEI, as a funding priority, is inherently linked to the success of their evergreen priorities, such as grateful patient fundraising, community health projects, major gift pipelines, and campaign fundraising.
However, many development teams find it difficult to begin work for DEI, whether it is due to conflicting priorities, limited staff capacity, or lack of a cohesive vision. Our team at Advisory Board spoke to 20+ industry leaders about what fundraising for DEI looks like for them. Here are 4 barriers all development leaders must tackle when creating their diversity, equity, and inclusion fundraising strategy and tips for starting on each one: