The fundraising sector has been on a journey — and if you’ve been in this work for any length of time, you’ve felt every shift along the way. From organizational-centred to donor-centred to community-centred, each fundraising framework has moved us forward. But none of them tells the complete story.

As fundraisers, the stories we tell matter. They shape public perception, influence policy, and determine how communities see themselves and each other. That’s a significant responsibility — and it’s one our sector is still figuring out.

This post is about what comes next. A framework that doesn’t ask you to choose between honouring your donor, respecting your community, and telling the truth about your work. It’s called human-centred fundraising. We’ve been practising it at Good Works for years — and here’s what we’ve learned. 

Where we started  

Not so long ago, most fundraising was organizational-centred. The charity was the hero. Messaging focused on missions, programs, and institutional needs — deficits to close, projects to fund, budgets to meet. The people being served barely had a voice in their own stories. And donors? They were a means to an end. It was impersonal, and donors felt it.

Enter donor-centred fundraising. It put the donor at the heart of the story and gave their generosity real meaning. Donors engaged. They gave more. They stayed longer. It was a genuine shift — and for years, it worked beautifully. 

But over time, cracks started to appear. 

The problem with donor-centred fundraising

Donor-centred fundraising (DCF) became the gold standard. Put the donor at the centre. Make them the hero. Because of you. Thanks to you. You’re the reason why. There’s real evidence this approach works – and it still does, in many ways.

But it comes with blind spots we can no longer afford to ignore.

When we hand all the credit to the donor, we strip agency from everyone else in the story. Think about a student who graduates high school. A donor may have helped remove barriers and fund access to schooling — and that matters. But what about the teachers who stayed late? The parents who got them there on time every day? The student who worked hard for every grade?  

Telling that story as if the donor alone made it happen isn’t just incomplete. It’s inaccurate, because it fails to reckon with the larger systems at play. Why is access to education a barrier for certain people and communities in the first place? 

It’s also harmful, because it downplays the capabilities of individuals (and other support systems) in favour of easy, feel-good saviourism. 

In 2015, nonprofit expert Vu Le introduced the concept of community-centred fundraising — and it changed the conversation entirely.  

The problem with community-centred fundraising

CCF asks us to think beyond the donor and consider the bigger picture, including systemic inequity, power and privilege in the work we do. It speaks to the dynamics that can take hold in fundraising, particularly around major and transformative giving. When a large donor or institutional funder can shape — or outright direct — an organization’s work, that’s worth examining carefully. CCF asks hard questions about who holds influence, and who doesn’t. 

It also pushed the sector toward more ethical storytelling practices. CCF challenged us to move away from narratives that portray service recipients as passive, helpless, or defined entirely by their circumstances. It asked us to consider who benefits from the stories we tell — and who might be harmed by them. That’s an important and necessary conversation. 

But CCF has its limits too. That power dynamic it’s based upon doesn’t describe most donor relationships. The person who gives $50 or $100 a year isn’t steering your strategy. They’re expressing their values. They’re choosing to stand behind work they believe in. When CCF flattens all giving into a single, unbalanced power dynamic — or treats every donor relationship as inherently problematic — it creates a different kind of harm. It leaves annual donors with no meaningful role in the story. And this can quietly erode the broad public support that most organizations depend on to survive.

Individual philanthropy still matters. Donors still need to see themselves as meaningful contributors — because they are.

Neither framework alone gets it quite right.

So where does that leave us?

This is where human-centred fundraising comes in — and it’s the framework we’ve been practising and refining at Good Works.

Human-centred fundraising draws on the best of all three approaches. The person at the centre of your story has agency. They are not helpless or desperate. They are framed through a lens of strength and dignity. The broader community — staff, volunteers, the organization itself — is recognized as an active, collective force for change. And the donor is acknowledged directly and meaningfully as a part of that community. A helper. An enabler. An important part of the solution. Not the sole saviour. Not the only reason any of this is possible. 

For some charities, this is a subtle shift in framing. For others, it’s a significant departure from everything they’ve done before. Either way, human-centered fundraising changes how your stories land — with donors, with the public, and with the people whose stories you’re telling. It changes how you talk about your work, your community, and your programs. Done well, it raises vital funds and builds a stronger, more ethical fundraising program for the long term. 

If you’re focused on creating an effective fundraising program that strengthens inclusion and equity, human-centered fundraising is the best path. And it’s worth doing.

This might be something you’re struggling with. If so, navigating that shift is exactly why the Individual Giving Collective exists. We created Good Works’ educational arm for fundraisers asking these very questions. DM 101: The Ultimate Guide to Executing a Direct Mail Campaign is our first course offering through the Collective — and Week 3 goes deep on ethical storytelling, with real examples, honest conversation, and tools you can use right away.

Learn more and register at individualgivingcollective.ca. Melanie Lepper is Director of Client Experience at Good Works, where she leads a team delivering high-performing direct mail and integrated campaigns for charities across Canada. With 15 years of fundraising experience, she brings a practical, no-fluff approach to annual giving and legacy programs. As Lead Instructor of DM 101 at the Individual Giving Collective, she teaches everything you need to plan, write, and execute a direct mail program — and shares hard-won insights so others can avoid costly missteps. She believes good fundraising is about understanding people, not clever tricks.

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