Löki Gale Tobin Talks With Amy Eisenstein About The Women’s Impact Initiative

Amy Eisenstein talks with Löki Gale Tobin about AFP's Women's Impact Initiative and how it will be addressing issues such as sexual harassment and gender equity.

Video Transcript

Amy Eisenstein: Hi, I'm Amy Eisenstein. I'm here with Löki Gale Tobin, who is the annual giving manager at the Anchorage Museum. So exciting, she just got her CFRE. As a fundraiser, we're so excited for her. Congratulations. Welcome, Löki!

Löki Gale Tobin: Thank you Amy.

Amy Eisenstein: Today we're going to talk about the Women's Impact Initiative. Tell us what that is and what your involvement is.

Löki Gale Tobin: The Women's Impact Initiative is a part of IDEA Impact Program. IDEA standing for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access. It's the very first piece of a multi-prong approach of dealing with the barriers and challenges of getting more people of diverse backgrounds, and supporting those people in the fundraising profession. The Women's Impact Initiative is the first step—it's a two-year program, and it's really focused on the issues and challenges that women face in the fundraising profession.

Amy Eisenstein: Tell us a little bit more about why the Women's Initiative is a priority at AFP and for you personally.

Löki Gale Tobin: Well, I think that the Women's Impact Initiative was the initial foray into the IDEA Impact Program because of the #MeToo Movement. It really was a start-off point for us to say this is something that we know what the trajectory should be, the direction we should be going in, and there are some very clear and concise goals.

Women's Impact Initiative was launched on International Women's Day this year, and one of the very first steps was collaborating with The Chronicle Philanthropy through a Harris Poll to really ascertain about the landscape of sexual harassment in the fundraising profession. They conducted a survey that asked about a thousand participants, a little more than a thousand participants, about what they have experienced, or what they know and what they have feedback on in sexual harassment in fundraising profession.

Amy Eisenstein:                   Do we have those results yet?

Löki Gale Tobin:                  We do have those results and they're very surprising. I've actually talked to several individuals and have had some good conversations about how they don't actually explain the entire landscape, but they give us a good launching point. A thousand professionals in fundraising profession is just a drop. We don't know if the women who have left, or the men who've left the profession, because of sexual harassment. We don't know the folks who have transitioned to new employment or different sectors. But we do know that from those thousand respondents that over 48% said that they had experienced sexual harassment or have heard secondhand of sexual harassment. That's just not okay.

Amy Eisenstein:                   It's so disheartening, especially being in the sector and the profession that we're in, you would think—I would think—that we would be doing better in terms of not having the same issues that are out in the general workforce population. But, it sounds like we have the same issues.

Löki Gale Tobin:                  I would like to think that we in the fundraising profession, especially those in the social sector, understand these issues better than anyone else. I think we do, but it doesn't preclude us from having the same problems that happen across the nation with the gender pay gap, and women in leadership roles, and not having a representative amount of people of color in our profession.

Amy Eisenstein:                   Is gender equality just about women?

Löki Gale Tobin:                  Well, interestingly enough, in the sexual harassment survey that was conducted, we found that men also had experienced sexual harassment in the fundraising profession. This doesn't just affect women. Gender equality is about all genders, cis and trans. It's about women equity, and men equity, and really realizing that we all benefit from having an even and equal playing field that we can all be successful in.

Amy Eisenstein:                   Yeah. What are some other takeaways that you got from the survey, or that you'd like our viewers to know?

Löki Gale Tobin:                  Well, the really exciting or a positive part of the survey is how many fundraisers really love what they do. Over 86% of the respondents said that they believe their organization is a supportive and conducive environment for the work that they do. That's really exciting to hear, because-

Amy Eisenstein:                   That is really exciting to hear.

Löki Gale Tobin:                  ... fundraisers love fundraising for nonprofits, and for the social sector, and for the social good. What we do know is that there are a lot of people out there who need more tools and more resources to help their HR directors, and their CEOs, and their board of directors, and their donors to understand what equity really means.

Amy Eisenstein:                   Yeah, can you talk about any of those tools? Do you have any examples?

Löki Gale Tobin:                  Well, that's actually what the Women's Impact Initiative is going out to do, is that we are taking a really concerted effort to create those tools that are going to be used, not just ones that we come out with a checklist, or we come out with some sort of guide and says, "This is what you should implement." But, real life scenarios, and things that are actually achievable, and that's why we have a two-year program, and that's what's going to happen. That's what the long-term goal is, is to create a toolkit for everyone to utilize.

Amy Eisenstein:                   Wow. Terrific. I can't wait to see it, and we'll definitely share it when we have it. Any final thoughts?

Löki Gale Tobin:                  The key takeaways are that we all have a role in gender equity, and equity in general, that we all are able to be allies to women and to men, and also to people of color, that our responsibility lies with raising all the ships, and making sure that everyone feels that they are working in a safe and conducive environment to do the best work possible.

Amy Eisenstein:                   Great. Thank you so much for being here.

Löki Gale Tobin:                  Thank you Amy.

Amy Eisenstein:                   Thanks so much for joining me. For even more videos, interviews, tools and resources, I hope you'll visit my website, amyeisenstein.com, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter.

For even more interviews, tools, and resources, I hope you’ll visit my website www.amyeisenstein.com