Beyond fundraising: 4 steps on the path to philanthropy

Several years ago a very dear friend of mine loaned me a book by Deepak Chopra entitled, “Path to Love”. The title intrigued me because it seemed like kind of a pronouncement, like it was a new discovery that Dr. Chopra had made and that the rest of us had better get acquainted with.

I mean didn’t everyone recognize that if love started somewhere, love could end somewhere and thus the stuff that happened in between could be considered resembling a path?

Or maybe I was being too presumptuous. I am a pretty deliberate person and think through most things very carefully before I proceed (though obviously not as much as I should have in the case of relationships, thus the fascination with the book).

Obviously, there was something I was missing about this love-path thing. Dr. Chopra identifies romance as having four distinct phases. It begins with attraction, is followed by infatuation then courtship and ends with intimacy.

He states that most of us go through these without much thought because these phases are spiritual constructs, not subject to conscious control. Hmm, I thought. Don’t most of us recognize this too?

Suffice to say, as I continued to read, I found that many of his points, while seemingly intuitive, held deeper inferences that revealed how much I really didn’t know or understand about “the path”. Was it his expertise that made his perspective so unique, yet so seemingly obvious?

When I first entered the field of nonprofit resource development, I sought to learn everything I could to meet my organization’s expectations. I was driven by the mission and the responsibility of raising my respective portion of the budget.

I knew that to a degree, I wasn’t regarded any differently than a performance artist, or an athlete – only as good as my last win.

Pressure was high all the time. My days were filled with strategizing what to say and do to get what our organization needed. And there was always need. Unending need. I even got to calling myself a professional beggar. 

My approach to relationships with donor prospects seen and unseen was based on trying to convince them how much need we had and but no specific explanation of why we chose them to ask to fill it. We gave them stories and numbers to substantiate our need, and took them on tours to show what we were doing with what we had but how much more we could do if only we had more.

Then one day I attended a workshop on philanthropy. Admittedly, my thought about the term was its use to describe folks who had a lot – a lot of position, a lot of money, a lot of power. Philanthropists were the select group of people who had their names on buildings and roads and prestigious awards.

Philanthropists were affiliated with universities and hospitals and museums. Philanthropists, I thought, didn’t affiliate with organizations like the ones for which I worked.

During that workshop I learned about the four distinct phases of philanthropy. It begins with connection is followed by cultivation and assessing capacity and ends with contribution. The presenter explained this as a consciously constructed path that positions an organization to expand from self-centeredness to donor centeredness.

Keeping the donor front and center as regards their role in helping the organization achieve its mission was a revolutionary perspective, but it shouldn’t have been. Why didn’t it seem obvious to me that when appealing to a donor for their specific involvement in a project, it be because we see the why of their involvement?

Yes, there was much inferred from that presentation that helped me see that philanthropy follows something of an inspired path as well. 

Previously, I had been seeing the four C’s of philanthropy strictly from the eyes of a fundraiser. It was about creating strategies that were consciously focused on getting the organization what it needed without much consideration for how a donor’s involvement with us fulfilled their needs.

Philanthropy simply put is a demonstrative love of humanity. Philanthropists are the people who demonstrate this love of humanity through their time, talent and treasure, regardless of how much power or money or position they have.

Your organization’s stakeholders need you to make the case as to why you need them to demonstrate their love of humanity through your organization. Here’s a thoughtful approach on how you can do that using the 4 C’s path to philanthropy:

Connection:

If you have donors and volunteers, determine how they got connected with your organization. In the case of staff, ask them why they stay.

If you don’t have donors or volunteers, determine how your board members got connected. Ask them what benefits they’ve gotten from being involved and to invite people in their circles of influence for the opportunity to experience those benefits as well.

Cultivation:

Develop values-based communication approaches and engagement activities that help your donors and donor prospects get an in-depth understanding of the issues your organization addresses through its programs and particularly how their involvement with your organization can improve program outcomes.

Create opportunities for donors and donor prospects to see themselves as vested in your vision and mission through asking them to serve on committees or volunteer at events.

Capacity:

Facilitate conversations that help your stakeholders craft a relationship with your organization that helps them determine, maximize and leverage their time, talent and treasure in a manner that is suitable and comfortable for them. 

Contribution:

Present viable options through which stakeholders can contribute on levels that help them feel invested and meaningfully engaged in accomplishing organization objectives now and in the future.

Is your organization on a path to philanthropy? Please share any insight you have on your journey below.