Playing Catch Up...and OMG

There is so much swirling in my head and heart as I catch up on LinkedIn-land:

1. I am really thrilled to see brave discourse in the fundraising space, rising 
2. I also (at the same time) don’t feel like a few provocative posts are enough
3. Nor do I feel in my gut that waging war in the comments is where fundamental growth will occur 
4. There are built in boundaries and built in binaries, that literally call on us to ask:

Are we IN / OUT?

Are we on this team / that team?

Am I on my side / their side?

1. Here's the thing: complexity is real, context is necessary, and empathy requires trust, and what's more, 
2. We know this! We coach our people to get to the table - “face-to-face” - fundraising is a call to conversation, yeah? An intimate, sacred endeavor, right?
3. If that’s true: let’s get to the damn table, yeah? In the same room?
4. Let’s share panels and stages 
5. Let’s not be afraid to mess up
6. Let’s lift up the discomfort; elevate it
7. Let's embrace it as an essential message to the self and the collective;

Discomfort IS home to our growth edge 

1. And we are there, friends, on the precipice.
2. We can’t bandaid essential dialogue away with a solidarity statement; we can't wipe it away
3. We have to make room to process, digest, metabolize...and take action, also: 
4. These words: patriarchy, white supremacy, non-binary, anti-racist, toxicity, and so many more...they are not weaponry
5. They are vehicles of TRUTH.
6. Our lexicon is expanding to accommodate a more honest and authentic conversation
7. And hopefully, a more socially just future.
8. On that note, I just watched: “Operation Varsity Blues” about the recent college admissions scandal
9. Without naming it y’all, development shops in higher ed were complicit AF
10. Yes I used AF. It was disturbing. Alarmingly so, to be honest.
11. We have to address this too, friends: 
12. SOCIAL JUSTICE & ETHICS. 
13. We’ve got work to do. 
14. I am all in. How about you?