What are the challenges and opportunities facing nonprofits in the Greater Austin region? This hefty question was at the heart of a gathering recently held by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, which I had the honor of attending on behalf of the Association of Fundraising Professionals local chapter. Under the leadership of the Chamber Board Chair, Denise Davis, Board VP of Austin Gives, Bobby Jenkins, and Chamber staff, a group C suite executives from a cross section of local organizations at the forefront of community needs and services met to share lunch and meaningful conversation.

I was excited to watch a rich dialogue evolve, uncovering themes about what the Austin community is facing. Our facilitators came into the meeting ready to listen and to reflect as a group on the ways that both nonprofits and businesses benefit when we work toward common goals together. As a board member for AFP, I shared just how critical a role that supported, well-trained frontline fundraisers, who uphold the highest ethical standards, play in the business/nonprofit relationship and deploying resources toward needs. These professionals are the ones meeting with business owners and community relations teams to amplify the needs of our community and match business philanthropic goals to those needs.

Having been in the local nonprofit sector since 2010 myself, much of what I heard from my peers was familiar, but listening to the stories shared helped round out my wider understanding. The needs of our community are growing and donations are increasingly scarce, especially from public sources like the federal and city governments. Cultural changes as Austin has grown in recent years have presented some disconnects between where the resources are and the needs that local service agencies are on the frontlines of seeing.

Most of all, there was a shared spirit of hope and actionable solutions. We know that big challenges can be addressed when we work closely together. Specifically, there is a shared interest across local nonprofit leaders and Chamber leadership for encouragement of local businesses and nonprofit service agencies to partner more closely in ways that enhance both sides of the equation. We have seen that when these two sectors operate with strong, authentic, mutually-beneficial, and trusting relationships, the entire region will benefit with stronger health, educational, economic, and other outcomes.

The only downside to the experience for me is that our lunch hour together had to come to an end. There were so many ideas shared that it was unanimous as we wrapped up that this was only the start of a continued process of collaboration. AFP offers our enormous thanks to the Chamber and its board for intentionally opening this dialogue!