Income to Intention

Hello everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the fall.   Lately, probably due to the season of annual solicitations, I have been hearing a lot of talk about income and giving.  We already know that giving by way of percentage of income and assets is regressive in the US.  Those who make less give more to charity, typically, than those who earn more.  What I want to draw attention to is that giving is not about income, it is about heart.  Many people don’t stop to look at the holistic relationship of philanthropy and the individual.  People give their time, treasure and spirit to those things with which they share value and vision.  When we realize this, it changes the conversation from one of income to one of connection, value exchange, intimacy, and experience.   
 
Is there a difference in how people are engaged based on income?  Do we engage someone who makes $500,000 a year differently than someone who makes $25,000 a year?  Do we unintentionally limit their engagement?  What biases do we have that are income driven?  Giving is not an income based practice.  Giving is a values and heart based practice.  Often we separate out giving behaviors based on income.  Someone who is of a lower income often gets overlooked or viewed as that they don’t make enough to give. Ugh! I have heard that too many times and seen that idea shattered by low income donors, who not only give, but give a lot.
 
I am not proud of it, but I can say in the past I would engage someone making $500,000 a year with a stronger focus on how much they could give as opposed to how fully they could engage.  And, I would engage the person making $25,000 per year with less focus on how much they could give and more of a focus on how much they could engage.  Giving and engagement work together and are not reserved for particular income groups, either high or low.  It is not always that we view people who make less as giving less, but we often assist them in finding more meaningful ways to engage because of an assumption that they can’t give much.  Unfortunately, we see and hear this from donors as well. Does this have an impact on giving?  It seems logical since the number one reason people stop giving is that they believed their relationship was not valued.
 
Anyway, this is some food for thought this November.  I would ask that you take time and reflect about what bias you bring to the table.  And, is that bias causing you to engage people in ways that are more or less likely to facilitate strong value based relationships?  It is not always a bias toward treating a donor who can give more with some form of preference.  Instead, it is often that we treat those who can give more as a commodity, and we overlook the joy someone who makes less would receive by giving more.
 
Thank you all for your work and dedication!  I am very proud to be in a sector that you all impact.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jamie