“Yes, but Jason, isn’t that kind of self-serving of you to say?”
This is the response I sometimes get when I claim that being in advancement is a service profession. I’m not speaking here of serving the mission or serving our colleagues, although we clearly do both.
Instead, I’m talking about us being a service to donors.
I say we serve donors because we are offering them an opportunity to experience the joy of giving.
I say we serve donors because we are inviting them on a journey to meaningfully support something beyond themselves and their families.
I say we serve donors because when humans respond to their most generous impulses, they become emotionally, spiritually, and even physically healthier.
If we were doing this work to build our own empires or line our own pockets with profit then, yes, a case could be made that saying we “serve donors,” is self-serving.
But, that’s not what advancement is about.
Advancement happens best when we remind ourselves – as well as our donors – that we are supporting something more noble and significant than our own ambitions.
We are helping others.
