Shattering Fragility w Liz LeClair

Welcome to Season 3 of The Ethical Rainmaker a podcast that explores the world of inequity in nonprofits and philanthropy including where we should step into our power or step out of the way! It is part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost information, case studies and inspiration, to everyone in the third sector, and especially those who know or are learning that we’ve been complicit in upholding some problematic practices, and maybe some dishonestly but want to do better on this journey. If you like what you are listening to and want to support this work, find us here on Patreon  or email us at hello@theethicalrainmaker.com to talk about sponsorship!

In this episode, Michelle talks with Liz LeClair a fundraiser and vocal advocate for human rights gender equality and social justice. We love Liz , who hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and we’re happy to have so many links/citations for you (and you can sign up for our mailing list here):

You can follow Liz LeClair on these platforms:

• Twitter: @liz_hallett
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-leclair-cfre/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.hallett
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz_leclair_hfx/
• Liz is a contributing editor to The Charity Report
• Liz has been writing spicy articles and pushing for justice for years now tho...here are some greats that awaken our sector to some of the injustices we perpetuate:
  • Liz LeClair: ‘This is the apology we deserve’ (The Charity Report)
  • One woman’s frustrating, futile fight for justice after being sexually harassed. (CBC)
  • Liz LeClair: We cannot walk away from so-called ‘culture wars’ (Third Sector UK)
  • Donors’ Behavior Key to #MeToo in Fundraising (TinySpark podcast from NonProfit Quarterly)
• The National Day of Conversation #NDOC is a full-day of digital conversation focused on the issue of sexual harassment and assault of fundraisers in the charitable and nonprofit sector. Liz co-founded this effort in Fall 2019 Liz to highlight the issue of sexualized violence in fundraising.
• Liz is the chair of the AFP Women's Impact Initiative, sits on the board of CFRE International (which is a certification for fundraisers,) and she sits on the board of the African American Development Officers network, as a white woman!

References and People: 

• The Bysander Effect: is the theory that folx are less likely to offer help to a victim if there are other people around (someone else must be taking care of it.)
• Mallory Mitchell is Resource Mobilization Director at Black Visions and an overall badass currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota (US.) Here is our InstaLive
• Hadiya Roderique - Black on Bay Street: the woman who inspired Liz to speak up through her plenary at AFP Toronto Congress in 2019.
• Ann Rosenfield was the lead for Congress that year.  She is an outspoken advocate and ally, and the editor of Hilborn News.
• Collecting Courage: A book written by Black Fundraisers in Canada, about the joy, love, pain and freedom in this work - archiving and building the narratives of Black folx in this sector. Published in 2020 and edited by Nneka Allen (guest on S2:E2), Camila Vital Nunes Pereira and Nicole Salmon)
• Gail Picco has written extensively around issues of equity, race, gender, and philanthropy, and worked closely with the authors of Collecting Courage to bring that book to reality.  I highly recommend following her.
• Shanaaz Gokool is the former CEO of Dying with Dignity Canada, the current CEO of Fast and Female, and an incredible human rights activist in Canada. Liz referenced her calling her “in” to talk about a more intersectional approach to the work she was doing around the National Day of Conversation.
• Liz wants you to know about The Charity Report and the great work of Gail Picco & team they can check out the website: https://www.thecharityreport.com/
• Fleur Larsen: A white woman facilitator of DEI convos of whom Liz (and Michelle) are both admirers! Fleur was featured in The Ethical Rainmaker’s most popular episode White Women As Gatekeepers. Learn about her workshops.
• Tanya Rumble and Nicole McVan are the two people I spoke about who are doing some great work around a Philanthropy & Equity Community of Practice.  Check out their work.
   

A Note from Liz about Sexual Harassment and Sexualized Violence in the Charitable Sector: We are still working on what the National Day of Conversation will look like in 2022.  We are looking at a more intersectional approach, but if you have Canadian listeners (or really anyone who is interested) this is still a good repository of information:

• https://www.dayofconversation.org/
• Drs. Erynn Beaton and Megan LePere-Schloop of Ohio State University, conducted research on the fundraising workplace climate and you can learn more here.

Liz’s Recommended Reading List (from Liz):

• I have been fortunate to have many people recommend books to further my understanding of trauma and healing.  I am so grateful to amazing women like Birgit Burton and Nneka Allen for sharing their wisdom with me on these subjects.  As I said, I have learned the most from the women of colour who are willing to call me in, and call me out, when they need to.
• Collecting Courage: Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love is a collection of stories documenting racism and survival by 14 accomplished Black fundraisers working in charities across North America.  With searing and intimate detail, they write about their experiences with anti-Black racism—about coping with being last hired, first fired, overlooked for promotion to outright hostility in toxic workplaces. Their testimony chips away at the idea of the inherent goodness of the charitable sector.
• My Grandmother's Hands: Resmaa Menakem:  a book about human bodies and how trauma affects us.  Menakem's focus is on racialized trauma and the pathways to healing our minds and our hearts.
• Bad Feminist:  Roxane Gay:  if you have not read this book yet please do yourself a favour and go buy it.  Roxane Gay is the voice of reason in a sea of insanity most days.
• Had it Coming:  What's Fair in the Age of #MeToo?:  Robyn Doolittle.  Robyn is a well known and respected journalist here in Canada, akin to Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of the NY times.  She has done, and continues to do extensive research into sexual harassment, sexualized violence, and gender discrimination here in Canada.  I highly recommend checking out her work.
• The Skin We're In: A year of black resistance and power:  Desmond Cole - Desmond is an Black journalist who came into the spotlight when he started to write about his personal experiences with police carding, racial discrimination, and dismantling of systemic racism in Canada.  He's brilliant and everything he writes advances our knowledge of these issues.
• A book I am waiting for but cannot wait to read is… Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke.