Making an Impact With a Small Donation
When I talk to people about making an impact with their donations, many people think that it requires a large donation. To make an impact today, you do not need to spend a lot of money. You may choose to make an impact with a gift as low as $25. Granted there are various stages of making meaningful impacts, but let me suggest two steps you can do with your smaller donation that will make you feel comfortable that what you are giving is making an impact.
Step one: Ask questions about how much money is going directly to help clients and not to administrative or fundraising costs. With that simple bit of research, you can give to the charity that gives the most to their recipients. With more money going to the recipients, more people may benefit.
Step Two: Ask the charity for their outcomes. Look at their mission and look for a purpose. Then ask how successful the charity is at meeting that purpose. How many of their clients are succeeding? With that additional research, you are checking on the quality of the programming at your chosen charity, not just the efficiency.
If you find a charity that meets the above requirements, then you are making a significant difference. Perhaps your donation will not change the lives of many people, but it will make the charity more accountable for providing their results to you and to other like-minded donors. The more donors that ask questions and make objective decisions, the greater the potential for significant impact.
Something to think about...
Labels: donor impact meaningful donations, small donations
Meaningful giving
We hear the word "meaningful" used quite frequently, especially now that we are in the holiday season. What does meaningful mean? More importantly, what does it mean to you, the donor or to you the charity or to you the end recipient? Can one give meaningfully and also make a meaningful difference to the end client and to the charity? You bet! However, the donor has to become more aware of the charity and the charity's success with its clients.
Imagine if a donor wanted to see those with alchohol addictions getting more help so they gave money to an addiction rehabiliation site. They wrote the cheque and felt satisfied that people were being helped, but what if you were to know that your money could help 10% more people at a different agency or if you knew that there was another addiction agency that had a greater client success rate. Would you be upset? Would you want to change your donation? If you have answered positively to those questions, then perhaps you are someone that is looking to make a more meaningful gift.
Victor Frankl, author of the famous and powerful book, "Man's Search For Meaning" believes that humans are motivated by meaning, not strictly by pleasure or power. He labelled ultimate meaning as self-transcending. To do that, one must give back to the community, but give back in a way that is not selfish, but that truly provides help to others. There is an example, where a child, who had lost his arms at a very young age, was trying to put on his coat. His mother watched. Another mother asked why she was not helping her son, and the mother responded that she was. The son, in later years, thanked his mother for teaching him how to be indepedent. This is an example of Frankl's self-transcendence.
If one wants to make a meaningful gift that is meaningful to all parties, one must observe and research how one's gift will do that. However, once you have done your work and you have given with knowledge, you will feel a much greater sense of meaning. Your gift will be lasting and purposeful to many people.
Something to think about...
Labels: "give with meaning", donor gifts, meaningful donations, meaningful giving
Giving to "branded" non-profits
How many of you give to charities or non-profits because you have heard of them? Why? Do you feel that a charity that has been around for a while is a better charity to support? Do you think that there must be greater accountability in a charity that you know?
If you decide to give money to a different charity this year, do you decide to give to one just because you have heard of it over the years and have seen photos and heard anecdotal stories of people who have been helped at that place? If you do, then chances are you are making charitable decisions based upon branding, not actual client results. You are supporting a long-time brand just because it has been an "institution" within your community. The charity may be very good and doing exactly what they say they are doing, and they are as efficient as one could hope, but do you know that?
Donors still tend to give to those organizations that have been around for a while, which I understand, but this sector needs innovation as well. If donors don't ask for results, then agencies don't feel they have to run their agencies for greater client success. They just make sure they are financially solvent each year because that has typically been the measure of success.
However, many donors complain to me that their favourite charities keep sending them more requests per year and keep asking for an increase from the previous year. I ask them if they ask for results. Almost all of them do not. They can't be bothered and yet, if they did, they might find that their attitude changes. If they see the results, they might be encouraged to give more. If they don't, then they should change charities, but most will not. Their charitable choices have become institutionalized, and it is hard to make them budge, even through scandals. Great news for those agencies that don't care about accountability, but not so great for those that do.
There is no problem with giving to what you know, but why not ask for more information so that you can feel comfortable that the charity is worth your trust. Many new organizations are not well-known and consequently fight to be recognized. In many cases, they are also more results-oriented and will show you their results in order to build a relationship with you. If they provide results, why not give them a chance? They may be making significant changes within their field of expertise.
My suggestion would be to start asking for results from any charity. Let the charity work a little harder at showing you their efficiency and also their client success.
Something to think about...
Labels: branding, donors, individual giving, results
