133: Neuroscience and Giving - Maintaining Trust

"...Donors don’t just invest their money, they invest their trust. Admitting uncertainty or limitations can actually boost credibility...." 

I am reading from Neurogiving. The Science of Donor Decision-Making by Cherian Koshy, published in 2025.

Reflection question:

• How are you consistently updating donors, even when the capital campaign or construction is facing challenges?

Reflection on quote:

We are continuing exploring how generosity is deeply embedded into what it means to be human and how that impacts capital campaigns, using insights from a book recently released by my friend and colleague Cherian Koshy.  This week, we are looking at donor trust as it relates to capital campaigns. One challenge during capital campaigns is maintaining and growing trust after the donor give a pledge or donation.  From the time the donor gives to capital campaign, it can be months and sometimes years before the construction actually starts or the building project is completed. It’s easy to fall into the trap of waiting to give an update.  However, admitting uncertainty or limitation boosts credibility. This is especially essential in small towns where a vacuum of information can be filled with false speculation about the viability of the building project. We build, maintain, and grow trust by giving ongoing updates to donors. In turn, those authentic updates give confidence to the donors in sharing their excitement about the project with others.

Here's how to purchase Neurogiving from Wiley or Amazon.

Quote used by permission.

To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.

Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

Transcript

Welcome back. This podcast explores the wisdom of generosity, from ancient to modern, and the beautiful space where generosity occurs during small town capital campaigns. 

We are continuing exploring how generosity is deeply embedded into what it means to be human and how that impacts capital campaigns, using insights from a book recently released by my friend and colleague Cherian Koshy.  You can purchase his book using the link in the show notes.  This week, we are looking at donor trust as it relates to capital campaigns.  So, this week, I am reading from Neurogiving. The Science of Donor Decision-Making by Cherian Koshy, published in 2025.

Quote.

When a donor gives money to a nonprofit, there is initially some uncertainty, a leap of faith that the organization will deliver results. 

This is because the donors innate generous inclination is mediated by a third-party separating them from the outcome of their giving. 

If the nonprofit remains a black box (no news after the donation) the donors brain doesn't get the feedback it requires. That uncertainty can keep the brain’s guard up, engaging areas that detect risk or ambiguity. 

However, transparency provides the brain with rewarding closure when donors see exactly how their money was used and what impact it had, it completes the story in their mind. For donors, this is satisfying; it resolves the uncertainty and reinforces the neural pathways of trust. From a brain perspective, showing outcomes and being open about finances is likely to activate circuits of reward and relief. 

Moreover, transparency build credibility which over time conditions the brain to expect positive outcomes from interactions with the nonprofit. In practice, this means nonprofit should report back to donors, share successes, and challenges, and be forthright about how contributions are used. 

Donors don’t just invest their money, they invest their trust. Admitting uncertainty or limitations can actually boost credibility. The donor’s brain hears honesty and counterintuitively trust you more for it. 

The larger commitment or gift, the larger the trust must be. By contrast, inconsistency such as a promised update that never comes or an unfulfilled commitment is like interrupting the signal. The next time the donor’s brain will be more hesitant, having learned that the pattern is broken.

Unquote.

One challenge during capital campaigns is maintaining and growing trust after the donor give a pledge or donation.  From the time the donor gives to capital campaign, it can be months and sometimes years before the construction actually starts or the building project is completed. It’s easy to fall into the trap of waiting to give an update.  However, admitting uncertainty or limitation boosts credibility. This is especially essential in small towns where a vacuum of information can be filled with false speculation about the viability of the building project. We build, maintain, and grow trust by giving ongoing updates to donors. In turn, those authentic updates give confidence to the donors in sharing their excitement about the project with others.

Let’s reflect on on question this week:

How are you consistently updating donors, even when the capital campaign or construction is facing challenges?

Share this podcast if you enjoy these five-minute reflections and subscribe to receive these reflections released every Monday. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper, visit Serving Nonprofits dot com. See you next week.