Close your eyes.

Picture a major donor in your head.

Chances are you pictured a straight middle-aged white man. While it is the case that a disproportionate number of people who are CEOs, who run companies exactly fit that picture, not every wealthy person fits that description.

Recently, Morehouse College announced a $1.5M gift from Robert F. Smith. If the name "Robert F Smith" sounds familiar that's because last year as a commencement speaker, Smith announced a $34M gift to pay off the student debt of all the graduating class, including their parents.

When fundraisers think about wealthy people, we do not discuss people of colour, we do not discuss immigrants, we do not discuss women, and we don't discuss gender diversity. Although we are well into the 21st century, we still talk about donors as if they all look the same, think the same, and come from the same background.

In an increasingly multicultural, multidimensional Canada, a narrow view of donors hurts the sector overall. The shrinking of charitable giving hurts more than individual charities - it hurts us all. If Canadians feel that charities are not connected to them, they will look for other ways to participate in making social change.

It is past time for the charitable sector to change. If our sector is going to remain relevant, we have to start thinking about donors differently.

Ann Rosenfield is the editor of Hilborn Charity eNews and has been interested in this topic since she first heard about research on Asian-American giving in the early 1990s.