Finding Your fundraising Why!
We fundraisers have traditionally been taught that a strong fundraising case for support must include a clear problem, a compelling solution, and an urgent call to action.
Thus…
When terminal illness strikes, X amount will buy X hours of counselling.
When disaster hits, X amount will buy X tents.
When education is needed, X amount will buy X books.
When souls need saving, X amount will buy X Bibles.
We are also taught that the more vividly we can paint the problem, the more urgently we can present the solution, and the more we can help people feel something, the more successful a campaign will be in terms of return on investment.
In other words, our “why” for raising money is to solve a problem for someone, something, or somewhere. Very often, this someone, something and somewhere is outside of the lived experience of our donors and their loved ones.
Philanthropic psychology (PhilPsych) invites us to reflect on our fundraising “why” from a subtly yet fundamentally different perspective.
Let’s look at an example first.
Visitors to a charity that restores sight through sponsored surgeries might be told how much it costs to perform a sight-restoring operation. The problem could be presented like this: “a boy named Haider has a treatable condition. Donate XXX amount so he can see”.
Now, contrast that with a different case for support: “Help Haider! See His Dreams Come True”. In this second case, the person doing the seeing is the donor. They are invited to “see.”
The invitation to help someone else see, versus the invitation to see for oneself is not the same ask. In the first case, one is asked to give money; in the second, one is invited to receive the emotional gift of witnessing someone else’s dream come true.
In the former, a medical problem is solved. In the latter, a psychological desire is fulfilled. What drives giving and what giving fulfils are not the same.
Both forms of love are valuable and worth cultivating.
The key is whether we are asking the right question.
In PhilPsych we refer to several different types of love; compassionate love is something we have for others who experience suffering differently from us, while companionate love we have for others who are just like us. In the first case above, people’s compassionate love for Haider is experienced as the successful resolution of a treatable medical condition. In the latter case, people’s companionate love for Haider is experienced as the joy of witnessing his dream come true.
In the former, people give to Haider as a boy in need; in the latter, people receive from Haider as a boy whose dream has been fulfilled.
The PhilPsych invitation is not to identify and nurture one type of love over another. Rather, it is an invitation to clarify the shape of love that we are cultivating in each gift.
That is the fundraising why that distinguishes a PhilPsych approach from other approaches.
A PhilPsych approach asks: ‘What is the love expressed in each gift?’ Not just ‘What is the problem solved by each gift? ‘Or even, ‘What is the impact made by each gift? ‘
If you are committed to asking that first question—what love is expressed in each gift—then the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy is here to walk alongside you.
PhilPsych offers the vocabulary you need to identify, articulate, and nurture that love to its fullest potential, along with the giving that flows from it.
Let’s look at another example.
In an animal welfare charity, 75% of their donor base might be moved simply by knowing that once abused and neglected animals have found their forever homes. That alone brings tears to their eyes and compels them to give generously.
Meanwhile, 10% of donors might care deeply about the happiness of those “little souls”. That is they anthropomorphise the animals or they genuinely treat them as souls like their own. Yet another 10% of donors might be inspired by the joy these animals bring as reassurance of renewed hope they may have in humanity.
There are no right or wrongs in the way that donors to this charity choose to experience the love they have for the animals.
If you are in a position to genuinely get to know your donors better and grow giving through the growth of love, asking the love question above, will get you much farther than the problem or impact question.
If asking the love question is the path you can take, we encourage your organisation to reflect on these ideas together. This includes trustees, chief executives, marketing and communications teams, policy and advocacy leads, fundraisers, donors, as well as program officers.
Using the pursuit of clarity in answering the love question as a way to position fundraising at the heart of your organisation’s mission success, not merely as a means of financial sustainability, has been found to be vital to grow giving through growing love. It invites the organisation to reach a higher level of clarity on the why we exist at this time.
Whether you’re already on this path or just starting out, we can help.
Drop us a line and tell us about your fundraising ‘why’ and find out how we can help. We are always only one email away at hereforyou@philanthropy-institute.org.uk
From all of us at The Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy