Fund Raisers Should Focus on Generosity’s Dividends

In these challenging economic times, it is easy to become panicky when it comes to money, whether about personal finance or raising funds for your organization.

Yet it’s precisely at times like these that we need access to our best thinking and the ability to create perspectives that empower rather than discourage us.

And it’s at times like these that we need to go to the core of what makes the most difference in fund raising, to revisit our own limiting attitudes, to allow ourselves to connect most deeply with what motivates people to contribute their resources and to create relationships with donors and prospective donors that encourage that tendency.

If the Buddha were a fund raiser, he would probably not be bothered by the economy, partly because he owned nothing and therefore had nothing to lose, but also because he taught about the inevitable changing nature of life and that it is our attachment to wanting things to remain the same that is the source of much of our suffering.

Since, however, we’re not all Buddhas yet, there is another basic principle that the Buddha spoke of often that can be extremely useful in these times—that is, that individuals who are generous benefit enormously from being generous and that they suffer if they are not able to be generous.

Sharon Salzberg, a Buddhist teacher, has written in an article called “Generosity’s Perfection” that “when the Buddha taught, he always began with generosity.”

Why is that?

It is because people experience happiness and pleasure in all aspects of giving—in thinking about it, in deciding to do it, in doing it, and in remembering the joy that it brought. Being generous takes people out of narrow, fearful places of scarcity and returns them to the spaciousness of connection and concern about others, into “we-ness” rather than “me-ness.”

That place of community and caring and connection is an inspiring place to live. Being generous connects people to their deepest values and to their qualities of love, commitment, compassion, and caring. To give is truly to receive.

And let’s face it: Being generous also tends to bring good things to us—people are appreciative, they pay positive attention to us, acknowledge us, see us in a positive light, and feel more connected to us. Being generous “cultivates further an internal sense of abundance, the conviction that we have enough to share,” as the article says, and this is true for people with great or little wealth. In fact, we know that those who earn the least amount of money are the most generous.

As Ms. Salzberg wrote, “One of the great joys that comes from generosity is the understanding that no matter how much or how little we have by the world’s standards, if we know we have enough, we can always give something. Then we can share and express our loving-kindness.” This attitude serves to bring us closer to experiencing ourselves as members of the “beloved community” that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about so beautifully.

• Engage in conversations with donors and prospective donors to learn more about what they are committed to and how our work would help fulfill that commitment. We would spend more time listening than talking and see our interaction with people not as getting them to do something but rather as a conversation between two committed people to explore the possibilities of coming together with our respective resources. We bring our staff and board members, a strategic plan and goals, skills and experience, and a total focus on our work. Our donors bring their encouragement; their shared values, ideas, and connections; and resources that can make something happen.

• Look to establish what connects fund raisers with donors, what brings us to have a conversation at this time with this person about this topic, and talk even more deeply about what we have in common—our vision, commitment, notions of fairness and justice, and our desire for a certain type of world. We would be attentive to who they are and what they care about. We would stop calling them “targets.”

• Honor their wishes if they are not ready to give now but clarify with them—in the interest of openness and respect—whether their “no” is a final one or whether there is enough shared vision and interest to keep in touch. If they are not interested and their “no” is a final “no,” we would be generous in appreciating their precious time, and we would honor that what they are committed to may be different but equally important. And then we would ask them to recommend others they know of who share our commitment.

• Elevate thanking donors and acknowledging their importance to us to the same level of thought and attention as soliciting them. We would see them as members of our “beloved community” and not just ATM machines.

• Ask and ask and ask many donors, so as to have some freedom to allow that this particular donor might not be our donor, and to know that our donors are out there if we are just persistent enough to find them.

• Talk honestly and confidently about our program, not to aggrandize ourselves or prove how great we are but to honor the commitment and hard work of our staff and board.

• Be generous in speaking about our donors—not as the “other” but as people like us who deeply want to make a difference and who care about the quality of life for others as much as we do. We would speak about them respectfully not just when they are in the room.

• Not mistake wealth itself for a statement of value—good or bad—and would see that many people with much money share our values and believe that it is their responsibility to contribute to the greater good. We would try to overcome our discomfort and fear about interacting with people of wealth and would look and listen for what we have in common.

• Understand that building real community holds the success for each of our ventures and that it takes understanding, communication, tolerance, compassion, and honesty to do so.

• Not attach our self-image to any results of our fund raising. We would get the “I” and “me” out of the way, and speak and act for our cause and the people we serve, with a desire to bring an end to suffering.

• See that every interaction with a donor or prospective donor is an opportunity to touch the heart of someone who, like us, is seeking to make the world smile and to ease suffering, both their own and the world’s. We would see that every encounter is a blessing, and that we are both made whole by the type of connection that philanthropy and generosity allow.

• Be as strategic and focused as possible in the way we plan our fund-raising work, and work our plan. We would have a clear mission, roles, and goals; we would have a well-developed budget and clear strategies to raise that budget; we would align our actions with our goals; and we would be open to constantly learning more about what works best and be willing to let go of practices that are not producing the results that our supporters and clients seek.

At its essence, fund raising is not really about money.

The money is the means to exchange our love, compassion, commitment, and caring and to do what at heart every human being most wants—to feel that our lives have made some tangible difference for the good. There is no taking or giving, there is only sharing.

If you can see this, and make it the basis of your approach to fund raising, you will not only be successful beyond your expectations but you will also enjoy it far more than you could ever have imagined.