Chapter Leadership Brief 01.17.20
Steve Jacobson, AFP-NYC President and CEO, JCA, Inc.
Happy 60th Birthday, AFP!
Happy New Year, everyone! Now that year-end gift processing has (hopefully!) been completed and the results are in, I trust that 2019 was a great year for your organization’s fundraising. And, I hope that 2020 is even more successful, though you only have 349 more days to reach your goal, so you’d better get cracking! Thankfully, we have an extra day due to the leap year this year…
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Although, back in 1960, the organization wasn’t known as AFP. It was originally chartered as the “National Society of Fund Raisers” or NSFR. For those of you who have been in and around fundraising for a while, you may be asking, “Hey, what happened to the ‘E?’ Wasn’t it NSFRE, the National Society of Fund Raising Executives?” Well, yes it was, but that change wasn’t made until 1977, when NSFR(E) moved from New York to Washington, DC and hired its first paid president.
In 1964, the transition of NSFR to a national, chapter-based organization began in (where else?) New York City as what is now NYC AFP became AFP’s “founding chapter.” And, in the 56 years since, we haven’t looked back. Our membership and educational programs led a nascent industry, whose professionals yearned for standards that would hold fundraisers to a code of ethics. AFP offered a way for the fundraising profession to be truly legitimized, something that we, at times, still struggle with today. Fast forward to today, and AFP is a robust international organization, comprised of more than 240 chapters with over 31,000 members in 8 countries. AFP’s individual and organizational members collectively raise over $115 billion annually. Now, that’s impact!
As you’re reading this, we will have likely just concluded our chapter’s 2020 Annual Meeting, graciously hosted by our friends at Abigail Kirsch at Chelsea Piers. Today, we celebrated the many people that made 2019 so great and those who will make 2020 even better. As I look forward to working with our many volunteers, staff, colleagues and friends in 2020, I wish everyone a healthy, happy and productive New Year.
As a reminder, don’t forget to join us for our next professional advancement event, 30 Ways to Move Your Donors: Cultivation Ideas and Tactics to Move Your Donors to the Next Level of Giving at Scandinavia House on Thursday, February 20 at 8:00am. I hope to see you there!