Before there was GiveWell, before there was Bill Gates, before there was Andrew Carnegie, there were churches. As Wayne Elsey reminds us, giving through churches is consistent & huge & powerful (h/t Future Fundraising Now): Churches understand the value of the human connection. There is nothing stronger than an emotional bond. When people are brought [...]
Tags:church·connection·Impact
On this Memorial Day, when we remember those who have passed on, we can take the opportunity to recognize that we will too join their ranks. And, armed with the fact of our death, we can embrace the gift of life that we have now.
Tags:Memorial Day
How Matters shares a story first told in The Sun Magazine about being on the receiving end of help: After a half-hour of preaching and singing, the church had a sharing session, and the couple brought us before the congregation. The husband told everyone that I had been going to school barefoot and suggested taking [...]
Tags:How Matters·Sun Magazine
The difference between these examples of actual harm and “underperformance” is who feels the weight of the failure. This type of philanthropy-gone-wrong is all about the donor. But philanthropy truly goes wrong when it fails its beneficiary.
An insightful report from Caroline Fiennes delves into why people don’t give. The central key is values, she argues: current givers are motivately (mostly) by intrinsic values like feeling clever, and non-donors are motivated (mostly) by external values like lookin’ good. To make non-donors begin giving, then, put aside clever judgments and appeal to what’s of value [...]
Sure, a two-week international trip might open eyes (though it just as likely may not), but any site-visit pales in comparison to what we can learn from our fellow givers who were born into recipient communities and deeply understand the priorities of their first home.
I look forward to perusing the entire Leap of Reason, a new philanthropy book from Mario Morino. Important sidenote!: In pdf form it’s FREE! High -impact and thoughtful philanthropy is so important, that everyone should be able to access these ideas, not just those who can spring $30 for a new hardcover of $50 for [...]
