Should I tolerate the white saviorism in our fundraising campaign strategy?
A communications professional is struggling with an age-old dilemma: does the end justify the means?
“I hate the way our NGO depicts Africans as poor, dependent, hungry people and white people as the experts and benefactors in our communications. It perpetuates a harmful stereotype. Yet it proves time and time to work for donors in the West. Do I let go of my scruples and just look at the effectiveness of the campaigns?”
Sadly, white saviorism isn't just present in many fundraising campaign strategies, it often IS the strategy.
If you tolerate this way of fundraising by telling yourself that the means justify the end, think again.
This might look like a victimless little white lie, but I beg to differ.
Fundraising campaigns for causes in Africa do incredible damage to the image of the continent. Live Aid, the famous 1980s music festival, has forever stamped the image of Africans as starving people in the minds of Europeans and Americans of a certain generation. The media, charities, and NGOs perpetuate it, and new technologies like AI take it to the next level.
In the West we've managed to compress the story of a continent with 54 countries with incredible diversity in religion, ethnicities, landscapes, flora, fauna, economic fortunes, and culture into one narrative: that it is poor and dependent on aid.
It’s a Single Story, as Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie so beautifully worded in her 2009 TED talk.
It sounds like your organization is not telling the full story, and is being willfully deceptive.
In the short term, it might get you money for this campaign.
In the long term, it doesn't just affect the reputation of Africa negatively, it limits the economic opportunities of Africans.
Policy advisor Simon Anholt teaches us that countries with a positive reputation find that everything is easier on the world stage for their citizens, while countries with a poor (or no) reputation find that everything is harder for their people.
Unfair and outdated stereotypes hold places and people back. Because their countries are under-represented, citizens have fewer chances of getting work abroad, to get good trade and business deals, and to attract investment.
Your campaigns are not just bad news for Africans.
It adds to the toxic political environment in the West.
The far right is winning elections by scaring people of the “tsunami” of refugees and poor people who are trying to make their way across borders. This narrative is strengthened by campaigns that depict Africans in one light: as poor and dependent.
I understand that any fundraising NGO is going to worry about rocking the money boat. Losing funds will decrease your ability to make a difference. But.
You assume that a different campaign cannot raise the same amount of money, and will likely raise less. I’d like to challenge that.
Have you ever tried raising funds differently?
If you don't know where to start, Médecins Sans Frontières has already done some of the prep work for you.
Last year, the global organization headquartered out of Switzerland opened up about the same issue you are struggling with. They wanted to find out if a Western audience would still donate if the organization would break free from its usual campaign strategy - admitting that its previous communications had roots in neocolonialism.
Take four minutes to watch the video - as it makes the point I am trying to make in my answer to you much more eloquently.
I reached out to the team behind the campaign at MSF, Chinonso Emmanuel Okorie, MD and Lindis Hurum, to ask them if the campaign succeeded in meeting their regular fundraising goals.
Unfortunately, the MSF team is currently overwhelmed by the war in Gaza. I’m not going to take anyone’s attention away from that cause for a newsletter on brand ethics. If I do have a chance to speak to them later this year, you will be the first to know.
If you are willing to break the cycle like MSF, where to start?
Africa No Filter has a number of excellent resources, including a free online course, that will help you to write about, and depict, Africa and Africans in a richer more nuanced way.
I don’t know if you are African yourself. When Africans are in a position of power in your organization, the stories that will be told will change. As writer Maïmouna Jallow said, it is time "we move from being objects to becoming subjects of our stories.”
Last but not least: don’t overlook domestic giving in Africa. With a booming African middle class, a new market for philanthropy is opening up. Successful entrepreneurs like Iyinoluwa Aboyeji are questioning what the elite are doing for the masses.
You could be steering your organization to the opportunity of a lifetime.
Join the conversation
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There is so much good stuff out there that I don't know about, please share them in the comments, I will review them and could include them in an update at a later date.
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