14 January 2010 ~ 8 Comments

Donating to a non-profit: Is it all about the free gift?

Lessons Learned Responsible Giving

I see a slippery slope ahead and I fear that donating to non-profits is becoming more and more like shopping for a magazine in the UK.  About 10 years ago I lived in London, and when I would stop at a news stand, I noticed that nearly all of them were wrapped in plastic and included a gift.  This was a tricky way of not allowing the reader to see inside the magazine, perhaps to avoid the possibility that one would flip through it and read enough to know that they didn’t want to invest in purchasing the magazine in the first place.  By including a free gift which then required wrapping the magazine in plastic, magazine companies were forcing buyers to make their purchase choice based on:

a) The title of the magazine and their perception of all the good things which might be inside

b) The free gift

I feel that this is sort of what donating to charities has now become.  People see the NGO title, make a guess as to what might be going on inside, and the ones who really don’t want to let you see the inside promise lots of pretty free-gifts.  With more and more organizations promising GPS coordinates, photos of the child you helped, etc, donation choices will become more and more like UK magazine shopping: it’s all about the free stuff you get and not at all about the actual content.

We have tried on some occasions to jump on the bandwagon too with an end of year appeal offering information and updates as well as recognition for people who donated to our programs.  I fear that this is a slippery slope….

Shouldn’t:

1) we be donating our money because of the IMPACT the organizations we believe in are having. . . not the swag they give us?

2) organizations be offering transparency and information to everyone, not just those who pay for it?

3) there be a better way to do this?

My two cents to anyone looking to donate to an NGO:  If the website looks like it’s focusing more on the Happy Meal Prize than the quality of the burger, you might not be getting a healthy meal.

  • Josh Groban

    In line with your entry – what are your thoughts on for-profits (or social enterprises) selling the social story? You could say they are competing for the same chunk of donor dollars. E.g. either donate to a shelter that helps women with HIV/AIDS/polio/younameit or buy a cool bag made by a woman with that particular difficulty. I suspect many people would consider buying a bag with a good social story but may never donate to a small shelter doing equally good things (maybe with an even more marginalized group). Maybe this is why the social venture/enterprise/business idea is very appealing to target these (seemingly) easier dollars – plus there is not obligation for these orgs to prove their impact or open their books. What do you think?

  • http://twitter.com/qutequte qutequte

    Hi Daniela! You are absolutely right on most points! Josh is right on the “competition” factor. If you have only a dollar to donate, would you donate based on who need the money more….or to the person who is giving you a free gift?

    Instead of looking at the flaws of “human nature” (greed), it is perhaps also, a lesson for non-profits to learn from. Using “gifts” to entice people to donate can be seen as a bribe, but you can be positive and see it as a “juicy reward” for those who donate.

    In my country, young ppl and teenagers love donating for a cute keychain. But that doesn't mean they will not donate, as long as they can afford to help, and most of the time they can.

    It's funny, I still don't understand why students are able to own cell phones when they have not yet learn to earn money. But at least they are generous enough to, consider donating a little bit of their pocket money. Thanks for this blog, and for the “discussion”! :)

  • danielapapi

    Sorry for the delay. I have been away, but I appreciate the thoughts you both added. I think that buying something, like a cool bag made by people who have a x/y/z difficulty in their lives is different than an NGO giving you a gift for donating, because in essence you are buying the bag. In the bigger picture, most people are buying the bag because they like it or identifying with it resonates with them, but it is clear in that financial transaction that they are buying a product.

    When NGOs are collecting donations, I think it is part of our responsibility to educate the donors on the value of their impact, not just give them a gift, though those are not mutually exclusive. It is tricky to balance the psychology involved with getting people to donate with little knowledge of our work with the psychology of getting people to want to learn more.

    I often struggle with the ethics of where a donation came from – nothing as severe as Robin Hooding, but ideally we would be collecting donations from like-minded people who believe in the work that we do. I understand that that can not always be the case, but I hope that people who just donate because their friends asked them to can then be better educated about future donations through PEPY communications and discussions.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry for the delay. I have been away, but I appreciate the thoughts you both added. I think that buying something, like a cool bag made by people who have a x/y/z difficulty in their lives is different than an NGO giving you a gift for donating, because in essence you are buying the bag. In the bigger picture, most people are buying the bag because they like it or identifying with it resonates with them, but it is clear in that financial transaction that they are buying a product. nnWhen NGOs are collecting donations, I think it is part of our responsibility to educate the donors on the value of their impact, not just give them a gift, though those are not mutually exclusive. It is tricky to balance the psychology involved with getting people to donate with little knowledge of our work with the psychology of getting people to want to learn more.nnI often struggle with the ethics of where a donation came from – nothing as severe as Robin Hooding, but ideally we would be collecting donations from like-minded people who believe in the work that we do. I understand that that can not always be the case, but I hope that people who just donate because their friends asked them to can then be better educated about future donations through PEPY communications and discussions.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry for the delay. I have been away, but I appreciate the thoughts you both added. I think that buying something, like a cool bag made by people who have a x/y/z difficulty in their lives is different than an NGO giving you a gift for donating, because in essence you are buying the bag. In the bigger picture, most people are buying the bag because they like it or identifying with it resonates with them, but it is clear in that financial transaction that they are buying a product. nnWhen NGOs are collecting donations, I think it is part of our responsibility to educate the donors on the value of their impact, not just give them a gift, though those are not mutually exclusive. It is tricky to balance the psychology involved with getting people to donate with little knowledge of our work with the psychology of getting people to want to learn more.nnI often struggle with the ethics of where a donation came from – nothing as severe as Robin Hooding, but ideally we would be collecting donations from like-minded people who believe in the work that we do. I understand that that can not always be the case, but I hope that people who just donate because their friends asked them to can then be better educated about future donations through PEPY communications and discussions.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry for the delay. I have been away, but I appreciate the thoughts you both added. I think that buying something, like a cool bag made by people who have a x/y/z difficulty in their lives is different than an NGO giving you a gift for donating, because in essence you are buying the bag. In the bigger picture, most people are buying the bag because they like it or identifying with it resonates with them, but it is clear in that financial transaction that they are buying a product. nnWhen NGOs are collecting donations, I think it is part of our responsibility to educate the donors on the value of their impact, not just give them a gift, though those are not mutually exclusive. It is tricky to balance the psychology involved with getting people to donate with little knowledge of our work with the psychology of getting people to want to learn more.nnI often struggle with the ethics of where a donation came from – nothing as severe as Robin Hooding, but ideally we would be collecting donations from like-minded people who believe in the work that we do. I understand that that can not always be the case, but I hope that people who just donate because their friends asked them to can then be better educated about future donations through PEPY communications and discussions.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry for the delay. I have been away, but I appreciate the thoughts you both added. I think that buying something, like a cool bag made by people who have a x/y/z difficulty in their lives is different than an NGO giving you a gift for donating, because in essence you are buying the bag. In the bigger picture, most people are buying the bag because they like it or identifying with it resonates with them, but it is clear in that financial transaction that they are buying a product. nnWhen NGOs are collecting donations, I think it is part of our responsibility to educate the donors on the value of their impact, not just give them a gift, though those are not mutually exclusive. It is tricky to balance the psychology involved with getting people to donate with little knowledge of our work with the psychology of getting people to want to learn more.nnI often struggle with the ethics of where a donation came from – nothing as severe as Robin Hooding, but ideally we would be collecting donations from like-minded people who believe in the work that we do. I understand that that can not always be the case, but I hope that people who just donate because their friends asked them to can then be better educated about future donations through PEPY communications and discussions.

  • danielapapi

    Sorry for the delay. I have been away, but I appreciate the thoughts you both added. I think that buying something, like a cool bag made by people who have a x/y/z difficulty in their lives is different than an NGO giving you a gift for donating, because in essence you are buying the bag. In the bigger picture, most people are buying the bag because they like it or identifying with it resonates with them, but it is clear in that financial transaction that they are buying a product.

    When NGOs are collecting donations, I think it is part of our responsibility to educate the donors on the value of their impact, not just give them a gift, though those are not mutually exclusive. It is tricky to balance the psychology involved with getting people to donate with little knowledge of our work with the psychology of getting people to want to learn more.

    I often struggle with the ethics of where a donation came from – nothing as severe as Robin Hooding, but ideally we would be collecting donations from like-minded people who believe in the work that we do. I understand that that can not always be the case, but I hope that people who just donate because their friends asked them to can then be better educated about future donations through PEPY communications and discussions.