The Association of Fundraising Professionals, Genesee Valley Chapter is excited to announce the launch of Identity-Based Affinity Groups. Affinity groups provide safe spaces for fundraising professionals with shared identities to connect, share resources, and provide each other support. These groups will be only for people who identify within these identities. All of our affinity groups are open to both members and non-members. To help our chapter design a group for local Black/African-American fundraisers, we are bringing in a national speaker and consultant, Adrienne McDade Taylor. Adrienne is a former AFP Global Board member, Former Chapter President of the AFP Greater Cincinnati Chapter, and a member of the Global Affinity Group Committee. Adrienne will be utilizing her experience and expertise to help local Black/African-American fundraisers connect with each other, share ways an affinity group could support themselves, and identify potential next steps. Adrienne will be sharing with AFPGV Leadership the recommendations from this meeting. 

We welcome fundraisers who identify as Black/African-American to join this virtual meeting to connect, brainstorm ideas, and identify how a space could be designed for our community. 

Facilitator Bio: Adrienne McDade Taylor, CFRE is a Senior Consultant with Skystone Partners after spending three and a half years with the Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation as the Senior Development Director. Before that, Adrienne spent five years at the University of Cincinnati Foundation, serving in various roles in the Annual & Leadership Annual Giving departments. Her legacy at UC includes expanding the impact student philanthropy can have on higher educational institutions through launching an annual Thank-a-Giver (T.A.G.) day and chartering a collegiate chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Adrienne started her career path in fundraising through the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)-Greater Cincinnati Chapter’s diversity program, New Faces of Fundraising, which she now serves as the program’s co-chair. She also served as the President of the Greater Cincinnati AFP chapter and on the AFP Global Board where she had an active role in board engagement & the Emerging Leaders initiative. She has written articles and presented on various philanthropic topics about mentorship, corporate sponsorships, diverse audiences, and volunteerism. Her commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access is apparent, as she brings an intersectional perspective to all her work.

Adrienne is a 2013 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s Arts Administration Graduate Program along with receiving her MBA from the Lindner College of Business. Before entering the field of fundraising, Adrienne spent three and a half years as a full-time registered stockbroker and part-time dance teacher. Adrienne also received her Bachelor’s degree in Finance with a Dance minor from Millikin University.

Adrienne believes in the efforts towards evolving inclusive philanthropy and is excited about being a part of the movement! Adrienne resides on the Westside of Cincinnati with her husband, two children, and cat.