Wealthy donors say they don’t make a difference?
By Jeff Brooks
Something’s wrong with fundraising. At least, that’s one conclusion you could draw from a study reported in the Wall Street Journal Wealth Report blog at Why the Rich Give to Charity.
The survey, by the Center on Philanthropy and Bank of America, asked people with incomes of $200,000 or more or a net worth of $1 million-plus, about their motivations for giving to charity. Here’s the key finding:… 46% of respondents said their charitable donations have a “greater impact on their own personal fulfillment” than on those who receive their gifts.
Less than 20% believed their giving has a major impact on the organizations they support, and only 6% feel that they’re making significant impact on society.
If you pay a lot of attention to donors, the fact that giving creates a lot of personal fulfillment will be no real surprise. What’s distressing is the low level of belief in their impact on the organizations they support and on society in general.
Why are these donors so unimpressed with the impact they’re making through their giving?
It’s (at least in part) a failure of communication.
Are you doing your part to persuade your donors (major donors especially) that their giving does have a major impact on your organization and that they do significantly impact society?
Maybe more important, do the facts support those two assertions? (If they don’t, what is your organization doing wrong, and how are you going to fix it?)
You know how I feel about surveys: They don’t necessarily uncover truth; they only reveal what people said in the survey. But really, a strong, smart, donor-centered nonprofit should make it so abundantly clear to its donors that they matter that it would be impossible for them to say they don’t.