Recently, our family went on vacation and stayed at a VRBO house. Over the course of our week there, my wife and I realized we need a new mattress on our bed at home.
After sleeping deeply and soundly for a few nights, we both woke up one day during the vacation and said to each other, “we need a new mattress.” As most everyone knows, buying a new mattress is a significant investment. But, when you realize you probably need a new one, you do the work and get in the market.
The decision-making process to buy a new mattress (or, the decision-making process to buy anything, really) is very different than the process used to decide whether or not to make a significant charitable gift.
Unlike Amazon.com for buying literally everything (including mattresses), there is no robust market for major or significant gifts. Yes, Charity Navigator, Candid (formerly Guidestar), and others provide some comparison data and information on various charities and nonprofits, but there is no centralized location for donors providing identification, research, and easy giving in support of a large universe of nonprofits.
Why? Because, purchasing decisions are made differently than giving decisions.
People generally make purchase decisions based on their own (including their family’s or close friends’) consumption needs and desires. We need food, thus the supermarket. We need houses, thus the housing market. We need transportation, thus the collection of major auto dealerships you find around your city or town. The prioritization of these decisions doesn’t typically need to be taught to us.
On the other hand, people generally make giving decisions based on the learned understanding that actively supporting those we may not know personally is also important. If purchasing is a basic response to living, giving is a higher-order response to living. We give because we learn and deeply embrace the understanding that a well-lived life is not “all about me.”
Businesses make the case for purchasing by highlighting the features of the product or service, the value of the product or service, and the feelings and status the product or service may create for the consumer.
Nonprofits should make a different kind of case. We should focus on trust (who is making the case to give?), the importance of our mission (why does supporting our mission make our world better?), and, the inspiration of the opportunity (how their giving will expand the positive impact they can make on the world beyond their families and professional successes).
If we want more people to give significantly, we should aim to engage others to help us build more interpersonal trust with potential donors, we should educate potential donors on the importance of our mission, and we should inspire potential donors to give through us.
There is no large-scale, Amazon-type marketplace for significant giving, because there is no need for such a marketplace. Givers are not customers who come ready to transact business with us.
If we want more significant gifts, we shouldn’t try to make our case like givers are just well-intentioned customers.
Instead, we should help them mature in their understanding that giving significantly should matter to them.
Because the fact is, we aren’t selling anything.
