Does a Slow Economy Hurt Fundraising? (Cont'd)

Did you see the Wall Street Journal article about this time last year, in the Opinion section for Monday, November 27, 2006 entitled "Charitable Explanation"? It's a doozy! It was written by Arthur C. Brooks, professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Public Affairs, and the author of "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism."

He compares the 85 million American households who give away money each year to nonprofit organizations, to the other 30 million who do not. What's the reason some give and others don't? Brooks says, "The charity gap is driven not by economics but by values. Nowhere is the divide in values more on display than in religion, the frontline of our so-called 'culture war.' And the relationship between religion and charity is nothing short of extraordinary. The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey indicates that Americans who weekly attend a house of worship are 25 percentage points more likely to give than people who go to church rarely or never. These religious folks also give nearly four times more dollars per year than secularists, on average, and volunteer more than twice as frequently."

There it is, folks! The perfect set-up for any nonprofit to go into the American marketplace and ask for support for mission accomplishment. He summarizes: "Private charity is a choice: a choice to express our values in a private and singularly humane way. This is worth remembering as we hold requests for charitable support in our hands this month – and make the right choice."

So, here we have it: we know that voluntary associations do much more good work for our society than business ever could, and that they do their work more effectively and efficiently than government can. We know that a huge majority of American households have the kinds of value systems that include giving to others and giving to make the world better as a result of their religious heritage.

Now, the stage having been perfectly set for nonprofit fundraising, in good economies and in bad, what are nonprofits going to do with this? Do poor economic times mean that we just can't think of the words to say to those sets of values out there in creative and compelling ways? Does the lagging economy turn off the creative juices in our minds? Does the economy prevent us from enticing, romancing, motivating donors about what we do to make the world a better place to live in? I don't think so. I don't think the economy has a thing to do with it!

People are ready to give. Now, the decision each individual or household will make about what organizations they support is going to be made on how well any nonprofit states its case for support; on how compellingly and powerfully the donor is drawn into the urgency of the need for their dollars. But if you take the time to read the appeals you receive in the mails, you'll see that there is much written in these appeals that is definitly not compelling and motivating. Mostly it's a litany of "we do this, we do that, we need, we need." But it doesn't say what results we're getting, and it doesn't say how the donor will benefit from giving to the organization and how the donor will accomplish great and wonderful things through their gifts.

It's not the economy that's the turn-off; it's charities that keep asking for money without giving us something exciting in return. What I believe any of us who make charitable gifts need and thrive on is that sense of belonging, that feeling of making a difference, that emotional rush of success and achievement that comes from seeing and experiencing the good that we're bringing about in the world. That's what makes giving truly exciting!