Most advancement leaders list their basic goals in two ways: dollars raised and/or number of donors.
Sure, there are other advancement goals – event attendance or social media metrics are examples that immediately come to mind. But, for most advancement leaders, their primary, most fundamental gauge of effectiveness emerges from how many dollars were raised and how many donors gave.
What if the total dollars raised and the number of donors are not the most basic, fundamental advancement goals, though?
What if growing the sense of community around your mission is the deeper goal and the dollars raised and number of donors are simply the happy by-products of achieving that goal?
The joy associated with giving does not occur because of the transaction of making a gift. I don’t suddenly feel an immense rush of happiness because I hit the “give now” button on my favorite nonprofit website. There is something much deeper and foundational in the human experience that causes joy to emerge from giving.
We know this because we have found that going through almost the exact same online transactional steps but, instead, purchasing something for ourselves does not release the same pleasurable nuerotransmitters in our brains as does the act of giving.
We don’t experience joy simply because we give something of value – although that is part of it. We experience joy from giving because giving is the concrete bridge that strengthens the critical communal bonds with and to others.
It’s hard-wired into our brains that being supportive of other humans makes us healthier (because sapiens are more likely to survive based on our working and sharing together).
Added to the individual benefits that emerge when people give, we also know that when the choice is made to act generously as part of a growing community, a giver’s joyful experience is only multiplied and reinforced. Now, the donor is not only giving herself. She is part of a community of givers and the behavioral reinforcement of community adds to her individual joy.
So, the next time someone asks about your advancement goals, it might be wise for your response to include something about “growing the sense of community in support of our mission.”
Because when we do that as advancement professionals, the dollars raised and number of donors grow far more easily.
