In recent years, the gap between what donors expect from nonprofits and what they can deliver has grown. In our interactions with donors and nonprofit colleagues, this disconnect has become increasingly evident.
This tension was underscored in a widely discussed essay the Chronicle of Philanthropy published online in June written by a dissatisfied donor.
As a grant administrator (Sewheat) and philanthropic adviser (Lauren), we often hear that donors don’t feel they get enough appreciation for their generosity. This is understandable given that we live in a capitalistic society where monetary exchanges are by nature transactional. But when donors insist nonprofits show often unrealistic levels of appreciation, they do a disservice to those organizations and miss out on the joy and purpose of philanthropy.
Donors don’t act this way because they are uncaring or controlling people. We’ve found that most just don’t understand how philanthropy operates. A few facts may help clear the air and open the door to greater joy in charitable giving:
A nonprofit organization cannot operate like a customer-service department. Ideally, a generous donor would make a gift to a worthy charity, then immediately receive a personalized, heartfelt thank-you from the development director, who offers to answer any questions the donor has and involve them in the organization’s work.
But this is usually possible only at large nonprofits with sophisticated, automated response systems and staff trained to serve donors. That costs a lot of money.
Most nonprofits are hugely understaffed and underresourced. Fully 92 percent of nonprofits in the United States have annual revenue of under $1 million. And a 2021 report found that at least 20 percent of positions were vacant at almost half of the organizations surveyed.
When donors give to small organizations, the contributions often are collected by a staff member wearing any number of hats, such as social worker, chief financial officer, and even occasional plumber. If that person responds to the donor immediately, she may be forgoing several other mission-critical tasks. Most donors wouldn’t want her to stop tutoring a teenage refugee to send them an immediate tax receipt.
Changes in staff and strategy at nonprofits are the norm, not the exception. Donors often feel discouraged that fundraisers focus on raising as much as they can in one year instead of building long-term relationships with them.
It would be wonderful if dedicated development officers could spend years nurturing donors in the hopes of a larger gift, possibly as part of those donors’ estates. That’s the holy grail for development teams. But a Chronicle of Philanthropy survey conducted in 2022 found that 48 percent of fundraising professionals say they will likely leave their job within two years. Odds are that the development officer isn’t ignoring a major donor’s calls or emails. She simply left her job for another with better pay, benefits, or professional gratitude.
A charity’s mission or programs could change, too. In fact, they should. Nonprofits must solve problems, and to do that, they need to evolve or dissolve as a challenge is addressed or needs change. Engaged donors recognize this.
Ultimately, the money donors give to a nonprofit is no longer theirs. Tax savings provide the impetus for many charitable gifts. And distributions from an IRA or bequests from a charitable estate are great ways to support nonprofits.
But doing so incurs significant tax savings paid for by the American people. Donors often refer to a donor-advised-fund distribution as their money or their gift, when in fact it’s neither. It’s not fair to expect to receive both a tax benefit and control over how nonprofits use donations.
Charitable giving can be a tremendous source of joy and purpose, but it requires a conscious change in thinking. That starts with moving from an individual to a collective mind-set. Change doesn’t happen when donors specify how their contributions must be used. It happens when many engaged, curious, and yes, humble donors recognize that nonprofit leaders know best how to deploy resources. The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project offers a terrific resource on shifting donors’ mind-sets.
For many donors, making this shift requires embracing a partnership role rather than a parent role. Sometimes, how a donor communicates with a nonprofit reinforces traditional power dynamics and makes trust a low priority. Donors should ask themselves whether they’re testing an organization to see how well they respond to a request and then basing their gift on how they’re treated.
What might it look like to communicate instead from a place of openness and humility? A donor might say something like “I love what you’re doing and am glad to support your efforts with my donation. I’d be delighted to learn more when your staff has time, but rest assured I’m subscribed to your newsletter and plan to be a regular donor.” A statement like that sets a positive and trusting tone.
Twenty or 30 years ago, donors could expect more regular interactions with nonprofit staff. But times have changed. Especially post-pandemic, the needs are so great and the funding so diminished that remaining staff members are stretched incredibly thin.
It’s easier these days for donors to stay updated on a nonprofit’s work by reading online materials and talking with people in the community. If donors want nonprofit staffers to stay in their roles long enough to build lasting relationships with them, they can commit to longer-term, multiyear gifts that allow the organization to invest in health insurance, competitive salaries, and other benefits that convince staff to stick around.
Donors at any level of giving should seek joy and community over praise and good customer service. It’s always honorable to give away your wealth in support of the larger good. But the happiest donors are those who remember the true meaning of philanthropy, which comes from the Greek words philein, meaning love, and anthropos, meaning humankind. The sooner donors prioritize connection and community in their giving over prompt responses and data points, the sooner they will enjoy the fruits of their deep generosity.