Asking for support is a weak philanthropic proposition. Here’s what “support” means, right from the dictionary:
- bear all or part of the weight of
- give assistance to, especially financially; enable to function or act
- provide with a home and the necessities of life
- produce enough food and water for; be capable of sustaining
- give approval, comfort, or encouragement to.
- be actively interested in and concerned for the success of
It’s a weak and relatively unattractive philanthropic proposition because it creates a “giver-taker” paradigm. It’s about what you should do for us based on our needs.
You will significantly strengthen your philanthropic appeal by forgetting about getting people to support “your” organization and by looking for ways to make it “ours.” People give their most to what they see themselves in most. The question then becomes, “How”?
Yes, there’s the old saying that goes, “If you want someone’s opinion, ask for their money. If you want their money, ask for their opinion,” but that sounds a bit callous, if not manipulative.
You shouldn’t be trying to “get” anything from anybody; you should be finding ways to work together, to pool resources for a common gain. It’s called sharing. It’s the loving glue that holds a high-functioning community or organization together. We build those communities not by asking people not to give of themselves, but by allowing them to bring something of themselves in. Community is woven of individual strands, but no community can stand for long if too much individuality is surrendered for the sake of the bland.
There are several ways to encourage donors to engage, as suggested below, but it all depends on the sincerity and strategic sensibility with which they are communicated, and a genuine desire to build and sustain a stronger community of shared purpose.
Seven Ways We Allow Donors to Bring Themselves In
- Listening in ways that make them feel heard and valued for what they have shared
- Showing what we’ve done and how we’ve changed based on what we have learned from them
- Creating common agendas, not just organizational plans
- Previewing aspirations and exploring points of alignment
- Advertising skills and talents we need to make us whole and increasingly proficient in our service delivery
- Allowing our long-held assumptions to be challenged
- Asking, “Have we made the most of your talents?”
Jim Langley is the president of Langley Innovations. Langley Innovations provides a range of services to its clients to help them understand the cultural underpinnings of philanthropy and the psychology of donors and, with that knowledge, to develop the most effective strategies and tactics to build broader and more lasting communities of support. Jim has authored numerous books, including his most recent book, The Future of Fundraising: Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities, published by Academic Impressions in 2020.