Comments on: Are we playing God? Economists continue to investigate motivations of donors

By: Fundraising Secret #35: Overhead isn’t an issue for wealthy donors « Annual Giving Talk

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:36:53 +0000

[...] Are we playing God? Economists continue to investigate motivations of donors [...]

By: Ken Boyd

Ken Boyd — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:11:25 +0000

Having read the original article in the Economist I find the conclusions entirely believable. While we want to believe the best of people, the general public has a “what’s in it for me” attitude. The authors, Ariely and Bracha, are merely reporting the results of their research. Their research does answer one age-old question, “if giving is altruistically motivated, why don’t more people give anonymously?” Yes, the results are bothersome. Yes, I would rather think that we all would be motivated to give out of the goodness of our hearts. But is that reality? Apparantly not.

By: Marc A. Pitman

Marc A. Pitman — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:46:50 +0000

Thanks Steve!

I feel much more comfortable with this if it’s about helping us thank donors in the way they want to be thanked. THAT I can support!

By: steve cunningham

steve cunningham — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:25:29 +0000

Marc – I’m a huge believer in any work that can be done to better our understanding of people on a human level. There are many types of people in the beautiful world of ours. And we have to work as hard as humanly possible to understand them so that more money can be driven to causes that make the world a better place.

Our work in the not-for-profit sector has shown that how donors are treated when they make a gift makes a HUGE difference in subsequent gifts. We’ve also found that the best way to figure out how to make this difference is to ask them how they want to be “thanked”. For some, it IS a huge sign on the facade of a building, or a plaque on a wall. For others, it might be having dinner with the doctor doing the work they are funding. I think at the most fundamental level, we have to realize it is about “them”, and not about “us”.

Lastly, to beat an already dead horse: if we can learn one thing about the Obama campaign, it’s that when you turn “your story” into “their story”, that’s when the magic happens.

By: What we’re reading, week of 1/19 « i On Nonprofits

What we’re reading, week of 1/19 « i On Nonprofits — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:09:01 +0000

[...] The Fundraising Coach… Are we playing God? Economists continue to investigate motivations of donors Marc Pitman examines another article about “why donors give,” and raises the questions: [...]

By: Maryann Devine

Maryann Devine — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:01:40 +0000

Ultimately, people give because of the way it makes them feel, so if donors feel even *better* seeing their names on a plaque, where’s the harm?

Of course, we should always consider the norms of the group — if members of your church frown on public recognition, it’s probably not the right thing to do.

By: Marc A. Pitman

Marc A. Pitman — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:50:20 +0000

Thanks Anne. That’s so true. I remember pastoring a church and getting a huge gift in the offering. My fundraising experience told me to pick up the phone and thank the donor. My pastoral experience cautioned me that she saw her gift as a gift to God, not our church.

Quite challenging!

P.S. I ended up calling and saying, “Congratulations!!” She laughed and said, “What for.” To which I replied, “I don’t know. But by the size of the gift in yesterday’s offering, I figure there must be something pretty big going on!”

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:09:11 +0000

Marc, I am bothered and challenged by this. Because I work for a church, I am especially confounded. We have spent a lot of time taking DOWN plaques because we believe that it is counterproductive to spiritual growth to “shout from the mountaintops” about people’s gifts. At the same time, they are giving other places with GIANT recognitions. This is a dilemma I struggle with every day.