Needing to Give

A surprising element of the human service charitable sector—who receive much of their funding from government—is realization that there is value on both sides of the individual donor equation.

That to the receiver is obvious, but that to the donor is less so, and this value is important to understand, especially for nonprofit organizational leadership.

The book I’ve been reading, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism, remarks on this:

“But the value of charity is not limited to those who receive the services that giving makes possible. The evidence in this book shows that charity unleashes enormous benefits not only to the givers themselves but also to their families, communities, and the nation. Everyone understands that charitable organizations create value by providing for the needy. What many organizations misunderstand is who the “needy” truly are. In addition to those in need of food, shelter, education, the needy are also those who need to attain their full potential in happiness, health, and material prosperity—which is every one of us.

“To give away money is an easy matter and in any man’s power,” Aristotle said. “But to decide to whom to give it, and how large, and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man’s power nor an easy matter.” This is a problem almost everyone faces when thinking about charity. Rockefeller solved the problem by hiring a brilliant manager to administer his “scientific philanthropy.” Most of us rely on reputable charitable institutions to steward our donations properly to create the social value we seek. Charitable causes—for the most part, nonprofit organizations in the United State and Europe—therefore have a crucial role in the prosperity of our societies: They are the conduits between those who need services and those who need to give. I’ll go even further: For a nonprofit organization to pass up a donation, or to neglect to raise private donations, is tantamount to leaving a person hungry.

“Do most nonprofit organizations comprehend this? Apparently not. Consider the data on social welfare nonprofit organizations in the United States in 2002. Approximately 35,000 in the areas of human services—services for the poor, the disabled, and so forth—have annual revenues above $25,000. of these organizations, 19 percent do not receive any donations. Even further, 65 percent say they do not spend any money at all to raise funds.”