Stocktoberfest Insights with the Association of Fundraising Professionals

Check out our Q&A with Amy Lampi. Amy is the 2021 President of AFP - Greater Houston Chapter (AFP-GHC) where she has served on the board of AFP-GHC since 2017 and has been a member of AFP since beginning in the field 20 years ago. Professionally, Amy is an Associate Vice President at BWF, a global fundraising consulting firm that specializes in building philanthropic capacity at organizations across the world.

DonateStock: tell us a little bit about your AFP Chapter.

Amy: AFP-GHC was founded in 1969 and is one of the largest chapters in the AFP Global community with 600+ members. Our members are development professionals serving in various leadership and volunteer capacities at the chapter level and in major leadership roles such as the current Chair of AFP Global.

DonateStock: You work with nonprofits of all sizes.  How would you characterize the state of the nonprofit industry?

Amy: Philanthropy is incredibly resilient. We have seen this in previous recessions and 2020 proved to be no different. According to Giving USA 2021, amidst a global pandemic, giving reached an all-time high of $471.44 billion last year.

DonateStock:   How has the pandemic impacted nonprofits?

Amy: According to McKinsey, during the first three months of the pandemic, US e-commerce penetration shot ahead by a full decade. The non-profit sector showed the same pivot toward digital innovations by producing and streaming digital content for their donors and communicating with them in the digital space.

DonateStock: What are the biggest challenges fundraisers face today?

Amy:

1. How to empower the next generation of fundraisers to fill an impending non-profit leadership gap we will be facing over the next decade.
2. How to transform the culture of philanthropy within their organizations to address systemic equity, diversity and inclusion issues among their teams, donors and volunteer leaders.

DonateStock: Do you see any silver linings coming out of this period?

Amy: Yes, a reset in the way we authentically and deeply engage with our donors, each other as fundraisers and our community at large.

DonateStock: Where do you see new possibilities for innovation?

Amy:

1. Strengthening talent management practices to create cultures of innovation within our teams.
2. Continuing to utilize digital technologies to enhance all means of donor communication.
3. Incorporating data-driven practices in all we do as fundraisers.

DonateStock: What else would you like the audience to know?

Amy: I would like to see a world where every college student upon graduation knows that fundraising is a strong career choice instead of us continually “falling” into the profession.