Quick Wins in Meaningful, Not Just Impactful, Philanthropy

In March 2026, George Hayes spoke with Prof. Jen Shang on the Civil Society podcast, offering a thoughtful exploration of the psychology of giving. In this blog, we reflect on their conversation and what it reveals about donor motivation, human connection, and how charities can build deeper, more lasting relationships with the people who support them. 

Listen to the full podcast episode with Civil Society.

Find out more about Jen’s book, Meaningful Philanthropy.

Developing the science of philanthropic psychology 

For the past 20 years, Prof. Jen Shang has dedicated her research to understanding how people give and how fundraisers can better understand and care for their donors. Her work spans one-off donors and regular givers, donations of every size, and philanthropic behaviour across a wide range of causes and countries. 

This research is shared widely through the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy, through downloadable reports, conference presentations, webinars, online courses, and bespoke training. At its heart is a simple but powerful aim: to help charities see giving not just as a transaction, but as a deeply human act that has the potential to grow the human capacity to love. 

The meaningful philanthropy project 

Jen has long wanted to explore the experiences of high-net-worth (HNWIs) and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in greater depth, and in 2023 that opportunity came through Tony and Anne Bury, whose generosity and humanity helped make the project possible. 

The research set out to understand how a selection of  philanthropists began their giving journeys, how they chose the causes they support, and what has helped them sustain their philanthropy over time. 

The study brought together 48 HNWIs and UHNWIs from five continents and 10 time zones.  The participants were 36% female, 64% male, and 19% were under 40. Geographically, 15% were from APAC (representing Singapore, Australia and South Korea), and 10% from MENA (Jordan and Qatar). The remaining participants were from North America and Europe.  Despite their different backgrounds, they shared one striking commonality: a deep and sincere commitment to their philanthropy. 

Jen was especially moved during her research - which involved a series of online one-to-one interviews between herself and the philanthropists - by how open and honest people were in sharing their experiences. Jen describes her surprise and gratitude for how “deeply personal and transformative the philanthropic experiences that they shared with me were”. 

The conversations that matter 

One of the most important themes to emerge from the research is the difference between impactful philanthropy and meaningful philanthropy. 

Impactful philanthropy focuses on what giving achieves. A donation of £100,000 might fund a specific outcome, support a service, or drive measurable change. Meaningful philanthropy goes a step further. It connects to a person’s identity, values, and sense of self, and that meaning can evolve over a lifetime. 

A donor may reflect not only on the impact of their gift, but also on what that gift means to them and to the community it supports. As a donor receives feedback and sees the difference their generosity makes, their philanthropy can become more personal, more purposeful, and more sustaining. 

Jen emphasises that these two ideas – impactful and meaningful philanthropy - are not opposites. Charities do not need to choose between impact and meaning when engaging with donors. Instead, they have an opportunity to hold both in mind and to shape conversations that meet donors where they are. If a donor speaks the language of impact, that can be the starting point for a richer conversation about what that impact means to them personally. 

Fundraisers listen well, but Jen’s research encourages us to explore further. Donors may tell us what they gave, but not always why it matters so deeply to them. And yet, it is often in that “why” that the real relationship begins. 

Why did they choose this cause? Why did they choose this organisation? Why did they choose to be the person who made this difference? 

As Jen puts it, asking these questions helps fundraisers understand how a donor’s journey has unfolded, and how the giving experience might become more rewarding and meaningful for them in return. 

Her advice is both practical and profound: to be truly human with donors, we need courage. We need to pause, listen, and place the donor before the mission, even just for a moment. We need to speak with donors because we are genuinely interested in them as people, not only because we hope they will give. The gift is their choice. The choice to listen with care is ours. 

Quick wins 

Jen also acknowledges the real pressures fundraisers face: limited time, tight budgets, heavy workloads, and competing priorities. She offers two immediate steps that fundraisers can take to help create more meaningful donor relationships. 

First, consider what is possible within the time you have. Even half an hour can be enough to begin seeing a donor as a person, not just a supporter. The goal is not small talk, but genuine curiosity: how can you come to know this person more fully and more humanely? 

Second, bring the distinction between highly impactful philanthropy and highly meaningful philanthropy into conversations with your board. This simple shift can open up new possibilities for deeper donor engagement and help organisations approach giving in a more thoughtful, relationship-led way. 

Jen explains that this change in mindset can reshape how we present ourselves, what questions we ask, and how we invite donors into a relationship that feels more open, more personal, and ultimately more rewarding. In turn, that deeper sense of meaning may also lead to greater generosity, because the giving feels more connected and more alive for the individual. 

Jen also reminds us that authenticity cannot be forced. It cannot be manufactured or rushed. It grows naturally from trust, time, and the quality of the relationship. Not every donor will be ready to share their authentic self, and not every relationship will unfold in the same way. But charities can create the conditions in which authenticity has the space to emerge. 

What’s next? 

Anyone interested in learning more about the meaningful philanthropy research can access the executive summary on our Reports page.

You can also purchase Meaningful Philanthropy by Prof. Jen Shang from Amazon or other outlets.

In the coming months, we will also be releasing a four-part education series funded by the US-based AFP Foundation for Philanthropy, which will be freely available. Sign up to our mailing list to hear when it launches.

And if you are ready to take your PhilPsych journey, you can sign up for the next Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology class.