Knowing What People Prefer

When we decide to give someone a gift, we usually try really hard to get a gift that is meaningful to the person we’re giving it to. Makes sense.

When we seek to succeed with our philanthropic investors, unfortunately, a sort of organizational narcissism often kicks in.

“How?” you say.

By thinking of what we value rather than what our donors value.

When I was serving a college back east, I had the privilege to work with a donor with nine-figure capacity. He’d expressed an interest in endowing a degree program. That was fine, but my boss, the president, told me that what he really wanted was a new science building.

Now both were in the capacity of the donor to accomplish. I pointed out that the donor wants a degree program, not a science building. By realizing the donor’s dreams now, we will be in a much better position to realize the college’s later.

Fortunately, my boss took my advice.

The natural laws of philanthropy but the power directly in the hands of the investor.  For us to capitalize on that power, we must adjust our thinking, then apply the proper solution.

The end of the story? Yes, the president got his science building as well.