by Radha Stern
The donor experience is evolving. We want to be investors, we want to do more for the organizations we care about and we want to feel part of the “greater goodness.” Some of us want to write checks and that is it. My hope is that this latter group becomes the minority. People love to feel part of something. And, that is when the magic happens.
I have watched the whole baby boomer wave create significant encore careers, a wealth of knowledge and positive energy that could truly change our world landscape. There are now over 400 people who have been acknowledged by Civic Ventures; sponsor of The Purpose Prize funded by forward thinking foundations such as John Templeton, Atlantic Philanthropies, AARP and Legacy Works. Four thousand have applied for this honor and the energizer bunny is still going!
We need also to remember the basics when we are fundraising. The real beauty happens when people catch your enthusiasms and WANT to get involved in making the world a better place. For some that starts right at home and for others there is an international calling. As a donor and a fundraiser; I don’t mind asking for money. I don’t mind “no.” What would really make me cringe is if someone said “I wish you would have asked.”
People have different reasons for getting involved in non-profit organizations. Some, because of a personal experience, some because they want to give back and others because a friend or someone they admire is involved. We need to be mindful of these varied motivations as we develop our donor relationships. This is what we need to build on to Inspire Legacy!
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Related Inspired Legacies resources:
Inspired Dialogue Blog
3 Comments
One great way to involve more nascent givers is giving circles. I find that the shared nature of giving tends to move people from just writing checks to really being involved. Impact Austin (there are other iterations around the country) does this very effectively by very intentionally encouraging their members to be engaged in the process of deciding where the money is given (they give five $100,000+ grants each year, carefully spread to different parts of the nonprofit community (health, education, arts, environment and family) and members get one vote in each category). What we find is that members quickly graduate from perhaps their first philanthropic gift to an educated givers henceforward. Love to see people be more mindful in philanthropy!
A giving circle is a very good thing to help more timid philanthropists gain confidence in their gifting and learning – for the two are inseparable in my personal experience. In Nepal this has not yet begun – and I think we can learn a lot from what is happening in the North. I would like to begin a giving circle – and if any of you have practical tips I will greatly appreciate!
Radha, you have touched on such a wonderful expansion of giving — beyond the checkbook. Some have called this time, talent, and treasures. We were inspired to make the Legacy Works grant in this area to help unleash this capacity in the second half of a career or even later.
Perhaps even more encouraging, we are seeing people coming into the first half of their careers who are determined to live in an integrated way from the outset, with giving integrated into their day-to-day. Taken to a natural conclusion this has influenced career choices for some to become social entrepreneurs or work for organizations who accomplish good in the natural course of their enterprise.
Taken together, we see this as part of a broader unleashing of human capital to help the world.