Reflections on Generosity for Capital Campaigns
Kick off your week with a 5-minute reflection on generosity to ground yourself in the right mindset for capital campaigns. Each reflection includes a question to ponder throughout the week to aid your work.
Reflections on Generosity for Capital Campaigns
140: Authentic Giving - Generosity Can't Be Faked
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
"...Generosity cannot be counterfeited, and fake generosity does not make us happier, healthier, and more purposeful in life..."
This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition.
Reflection question:
- Are any of our fundraising activities and messaging encouraging self-interested, fake generosity? If so, how can we tweak them to reflect authentic generosity?
Reflection on quote:
Last week in our series on authentic giving, we discussed avoiding transactional approaches. What happens if the donor wants to treat the donation as a transaction during a capital campaign? And, if we encourage these donors to be generous for their self-serving reasons, will they reap the benefits of generosity?
Capital campaigns can bring the joy of seeing donors become more kind, more amenable, more generous the more they give. And, yet, we may also encounter donors who become more demanding, more angry, more sour the more they give. These are donors who are, as the authors said, going through the motions of generosity simply in order to reap the desired rewards. If we tie giving to self-interested rewards, then we are more likely to encourage fake generosity and attract other donors like them.
To purchase this book: The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson.
Copyright: Oxford University Press 2014. Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.
What do you think? Send me a text.
To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.
Music credit: Woeisuhmebop
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. If you like this podcast, please rate or review in your favorite podcast app.
Last week in our series on authentic giving, we discussed avoiding transactional approaches. What happens if the donor wants to treat the donation as a transaction during a capital campaign? And, if we encourage these donors to be generous for their self-serving reasons, will they reap the benefits of generosity? This week, I’m reading a quote from the Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson, published in 2014.
Quote.
While we hope that many will read this book in order to become more generous people- and thereby likely enhance over time their own happiness, health, and purpose in life- -the paradox of generosity also seems to entail this relevant truth: generosity cannot be faked in order to achieve some other, more valued, self-serving end. Generosity itself needs to be desired. The good of other people must be what we want.
Nobody can reap the personal rewards that generous practices tend to produce by going through the motions of generosity simply in order to reap those desired rewards. Such practices are not really generous, but rather self-serving-and self-serving actions do not enhance anyone's well-being. Generosity cannot be counterfeited, and fake generosity does not make us happier, healthier, and more purposeful in life. To live generously, one must in due time really become a generous person. Generosity must be authentic. It must actually be believed and practiced as a real part of one's life. Only then might its well-being-enhancing powers kick in.
End quote.
Capital campaigns can bring the joy of seeing donors become more kind, more amenable, more generous the more they give. And, yet, we may also encounter donors who become more demanding, more angry, more sour the more they give. These are donors who are, as the authors said, going through the motions of generosity simply in order to reap the desired rewards. If we tie giving to self-interested rewards, then we are more likely to encourage fake generosity and attract other donors like them.
So, let’s reflect on one question this week:
Are any of our campaign activities and messaging encouraging self-interested, fake generosity? If so, how can we tweak them to reflect authentic generosity?
Share this podcast if you enjoy these five-minute reflections and subscribe to receive these reflections released every week. To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper, visit Serving Nonprofits dot com. See you next week.
