Reflections on Generosity for Capital Campaigns

"...The brain is stirred. The emotions may be provoked, desires clarified, the imagination stretched...."

This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition.

Reflection questions:

• Will you choose a cause other than your own where you can meet with their staff or volunteers to listen with imagination and have your horizons expanded?

• Will you intentionally reach out to an organization that you wouldn’t typically support in order to be exposed to a different community of people?

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.

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"...You have heard people say, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you..."

This week, I am reading the words of Jesus and His approach to opponents from Matthew 5 and 6.

Reflection questions:

• If you were to give your fundraising appeal to an opponent to read, how would they respond?  Would the letter be consider fair?  Considerate?  Even loving?

• When you are speaking with a donor about an opponent of your mission, are you portraying the opponent in the best possible light even if you are outlining policy or tactical disagreements?  

View the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon about Enmity and Fundraising Letters from July 7, 1995.

The text of Matthew 5 and 6 have entered the public domain.

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"...Ninthly, that meekness is invincible, where it is genuine, and sincere without hypocrisy. For, what can the most insolent do to you, if you stedfastly persist in kindness to him, and, upon occasion, mildly admonish and instruct him thus, at the very time he is attempting to do you an injury?.."

This week, I am reading a quote from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, written around 171 AD.

Reflection questions:

• How do you approach donors with opinions that are different to your own?

• How can you be intentional about showing kindness and gently instructing while being secure in your cause?

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"...many of our disappointments and much of our happiness arise from our forming false notions of things and persons. We strangely impose upon ourselves; we create a fairy land of happiness..."

This week, I am reading from Abigail Adams’ letter to Hannah Lincoln, written in 1761.

Reflection questions:

• Where are you experiencing disappointments with donors?  Can you release the donor and not the vision?

• As you create a fairy land of happiness, that is a vision of impact, how will you hold the list of donors as changeable?

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"No one can have a happy life if he looks only to himself, turning everything to his own advantage. If you want to live for yourself, you must live for another..."

This week, I am reading from Seneca’s Moral Letters, published in 65 AD.

Reflection questions:

• How do we view a donation?  Is it simply money for our organization’s advantage?  Or, do we view it as a bid for connection from the donor?

• Is there an area where we letting technology replace relationships and companionship with donors? 

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"...In which class are you? Are you easing the load
     Of overtaxed lifters, who toil down the road?

Or are you a leaner, who lets others share
     Your portion of labor, and worry and care?"

This week, I’m reading a poem, The Two Kinds of People by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published in 1896.

Reflection questions:

• Is there a new fund development professional in your network that you can reach out to in order to encourage?

• Or, do you feel like you are drowning a bit and need a lift from a colleague who is a bit wiser in the field?  Can you take a moment now and reach out by text or email?

To read: The Two Kinds of People, aka, Which are You?

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"...Suppose someone standing by a clear, sweet spring were to curse it: it just keeps right on bringing drinkable water bubbling up to the surface. Even if he throws mud or dung in it, before long the spring disperses the dirt and washes it out, leaving no stain..."

This week, I am reading quotes from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, written around 171 AD.

Reflection questions:

• Are we holding onto ugliness from a past interaction with a donor?

• How can we let go of the ugliness and turn to kindness, simplicity and morality, as Marcus Aurelius states, or can we turn to generosity?

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"...pride is to be feared even when we do right actions, lest those things which are done in a praiseworthy manner be spoiled by the desire for praise itself."

I sought wisdom from Augustine.  First, from Augustine’s book, On the Happy Life, published in 386 AD.  And, then from his letter 118, written in 410 AD.

Reflection questions:

• How often are we confronted with the mountain of pride in how we carry out your fund development work?

• How can we lead with humility in our generosity?

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"...On the psychological level, precommitment could induce a preference for avoiding inconsistency, leading people to act in line with their past or committed behaviour. Our study provides behavioural and neural evidence that supports the link between generosity and happiness..."

This week, I’m reading quotes from A neural link between generosity and happiness by S. Q. Park and several researchers, published in 2017 in Nature Communications.

Reflection questions:

• How do we perceive donors who insist on a public pledge? 

• Do we perceive these donors as acting out of ego or, as this research shows, acting a way that increases happiness and consistency?

To read this research: A neural link between generosity and happiness

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution.

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"...Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits...."

This week, I’m reading a quote, often attributed to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1873.

Reflection questions:

• In our fundraising materials, are we guard them from weeds of hatred and strife?

• Related, do we seek to fill the metaphorical garden of donors with sweet sunshine and blossoms of good words and kind deeds that reflect the work we are doing?

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To explore small town capital campaign coaching deeper and to schedule an free explore coaching call, visit ServingNonprofits.com.

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