We regularly discuss donor motivations, why people give and get involved, and how to appeal to their interests.
What’s far less common are discussions focused on why we ask donors to give, why we invite volunteers to get involved, or how to appeal to our own motivating factors.
If you are an advancement leader and you want the advancement team members in your care to stay enthusiastic, to commit to doing their best work, to grow in their collegiality, to achieve results consistently, and not to leave for other opportunities, go back to the basic inspirations for our work together. Remind them why the work is worth doing.
We aren’t asking for gifts. We are inviting people into a deeper sense of community and caring.
We don’t need volunteers. We want more people to experience the joy of helping others.
We aren’t growing our endowment. We are reminding donors of our collective responsibility to our progeny.
We aren’t building a new facility. We are affirming that human socialization matters and that bringing people together to educate, heal, help, learn, mentor, and grow makes us all better.
We aren’t “in a campaign.” We are educating our publics about the goodness of our mission.
The tasks we complete and goals we achieve don’t speak to the motivating factors that give meaning to our work and lives.
If we aren’t careful, we can become preoccupied with the raindrops landing all around us and miss completely the motivating promise of the rainbow overhead.
This article was originally posted on Jason’s Blog in July 2022. To read more, visit www.jasonmcneal.com.
