Individual Giving

As we enter into the holiday season, there tends be more appeals from fundraisers and more calls made and literature sent to potential donors. How does an individual decide?

Donors still tend to give because giving makes them feel good, because they receive tax benefits or because a friend has asked them to give to their special cause. All of these reasons are fine, but would you decide upon an investment if there was no accountability for a return? How often would you invest in a company that yearly asks you for more money without showing you any profit or any type of financial return? I think I already know the answer.

If donors do not ask for greater accountability, then we are not rewarding those charities that do supply us with an efficient operation and strive for greater end client results. We lump all the charities into the same pot and yet are they all the same in terms of efficiency and effectiveness?


The greatest motive for giving is to feel good. Donors like to think that their money is helping causes achieve what their mission states. In many cases, you are helping. However, if you asked for their client success rate, you might be surprised by some of the responses of your favourite charities. In some cases, they might not even answer your call for results. Then what would you do? Would you still financially support them? In other cases, they might not even know what results you are really asking for. They therefore supply you with a bunch of statistics that address many areas, but do not answer the bottom line question, which is how many clients were successful at meeting what their mission promises.

When friends ask you to give to their favourite causes, do you ask for any information on the success of that charity or do you give because it is a friend? Yes, I agree this area is very tricky so why not start your own trend of expectations? When you ask others to give to your favourite charity, supply them with a basic fact sheet outlining some efficiency measures and effectiveness measures. Follow up with your friends six months to a year later with some results and see how that makes everyone feel. Change the way social asks are made and hope that others follow suit, but if not, don't be afraid to ask for more information.

Something to think about!

Labels: accountability, donors, individual giving, measures, results

posted by Brenda Northey @ 8:32 AM