Hey there, small shop folks, neck sore from wearing too many hats? Take a load off by working with your colleagues to build a strong culture of philanthropy within your organization.
Fundraising is a funny business. Within social purpose organizations especially, fundraisers are often charged with the task of persuading individuals who do not benefit directly from the services their organizations provide to invest in their work. Armed with stats and stories, we fire up our laptops, pull out our heaviest pens, pick up the phone, head to lunch, sit down for coffee and connect with individuals and institutions whose particular blends of social concern and business acumen marry well with our own.
As many healthy npo balance sheets attest, strong arguments for a compelling cause and a good story or two can go a long way to attracting donors. But imagine what can happen to the health of your network and your bottom line when you catapult fundraising out of the realm of persuasion and into the realm of visceral, first-hand experience.
An experiential culture of philanthropy can take you there.
A culture of philanthropy is a product of organizational values, practices and communication patterns that create an environment where an organization’s entire community – from donors, to clients, to staff, to partners– has ample opportunities to engage with the mission in authentic and meaningful ways.
My own organization, The Cara Program, is focused on building an experiential culture of philanthropy and welcoming our network into our training facility to participate in our mission. Cara is a Chicago-based workforce development organization that provides adults affected by homelessness and poverty with rigorous life- and careers-skills training, permanent job placement, and employment retention support. We are known for our focus on metrics, but what resonates most deeply with people about our work is the life transformations that occur here as our ‘students’ (working-age adults affected by homelessness and poverty) progress through our training curriculum.
These life transformations are made visible during morning ‘Motivations’, a unique ritual that begins the day at Cara. Each morning, students, staff and guests gather in a circle in our Great Room and answer a question of the day, such as, “Who or what gives you great joy and why?”, or “What has happened in your life that has motivated you to change?”
Students, staff, and guests alike dig deep and share incredible stories of personal growth and change. In fact, perhaps one reason our tradition is so meaningful is because every person in the room has the chance to experience from the same level. Motivations is not a time for students to put on a show for our donors. Rather, we check our title at the door so we can connect to each other through the emotions and life experiences that make us human. Together, we laugh. We reflect. We get choked up. We learn that we have more in common than we ever knew. The one “helping” and the one “being helped” become one in the same – you could even argue they trade places for a time. And if you are so lucky that you get the chance to jump in the circle yourself, you will leave adrenalized by the sheer potential, hope, and resilience of the men and women you meet.
Motivations is the very soul of our organization and a reflection of the core lessons of our program philosophy and theory of change. The ritual has evolved organically over Cara’s 25-year history and happens every day, regardless of whether donors are in house for a visit. By opening Motivations to guests and supporters, Cara has leveraged an existing element of our program to create an authentic way for supporters to engage with our mission. In the process, Motivations has become the defining experiential element of Cara’s cultural of philanthropy. Guests fondly recount their experiences in the Motivations circle. They, too, are transformed by the experience and get motivated to get involved and bring others to see what this place is all about.
In an environment where many philanthropically-supported organizations find themselves in need of more effective and efficient ways to engage donors and donor prospects, a strong culture of philanthropy is essential, particularly in small development shops where resources, both human and capital, are already stretched thin. Every organization has a ritual, program element, or practice that showcases what they do best and that could be reimagined as a vehicle for the organization’s entire community – supporters, clients, and staff alike – to share in the most inspiring, transformative, beautifully human elements of their mission at work. ‘Look with new eyes,’ as we like to say at Cara, and create opportunities for authentic engagement. You’ll set the stage for an ‘ask’ that will be hard to refuse.
Join Cara for morning ‘Motivations’ any Monday-Thursday at 8:25 am at 237 S. Desplaines, Chicago, IL. Send Beth Lye a note (blye (at) thecaraprogram.org) and get ready to dig deep. Visit www.thecaraprogram.org or check out Second Chances, a short video that tells the story of two women who transformed their lives at Cara, to learn more.
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I can’t wait to meet with you personally.
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