Expanding our Community Voices: Introducing AP Perspectives

Over the last few weeks, you might have noticed a number of new articles appearing on the AFP website and in your Daily newsletter. Like Janine Perron’s articles on grant writing. Or this one from Marlene Resnick Simons on donor-advised funds. Or Wayne Olson’s recurring columns, answering questions from members. Or this piece from Pamela Witter on the three essential skills fundraisers must have in the future.

You won’t find these pieces in our printed magazine, Advancing Philanthropy, but they’re not just a random assortment of articles either.

They’re part of a new community of writers and content that we’re calling AP Perspectives. AP referring to our magazine, and Perspectives because we’re broadening the reach of the various voices within AFP.

We have always known there are so many voices within AFP that need to be heard—going well beyond what we can include in our magazine—and AP Perspectives exists to serve that need. Our request-for-proposal last year, asking members to submit ideas for different kinds of professional education and training, underscored just how much knowledge—and willingness that knowledge—to share there is in the AFP community.

AP Perspectives will cover all aspects of fundraising, as well as larger, more strategic issues affecting the entire nonprofit sector and our society and culture. We’ll have columns from writers you’ll come to know. There might be back-and-forth articles, as writers respond to different ideas—and to each other—both in the magazine and online. As AP Perspectives evolves, you may find different kinds of content as well.

AP Perspectives is another step as we work to provide you different content in different ways. Some of you may continue to prefer our written Advancing Philanthropy. Others may like our online articles. Still others may prefer video, such as our new Micro-Learning Videos. AFP is committed to offering you the newest ideas, latest innovations and tried-and-true best practices through a variety of methods.

AP Perspectives is also another opportunity for you to get involved with your fundraising community. Need to get an idea or a concern off your chest? Want to write about your organization’s challenges and successes, or an innovation that was a game-changer in your fundraising? We’d love to hear from you, and you can email Michael Nilsen, our vice president for communications, at Michael.Nilsen@afpglobal.org. If it’s important to you and to the fundraising profession, we want to provide a forum to let you share your thoughts.

I hope you enjoy AP Perspectives—another important AFP member benefit—and feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions. We’ll be highlighting new content all the time through our Daily Newsletter, and you can always find all the AFP Perspectives on the website: https://afpglobal.org/news-perspectives/ap-perspectives.