GOOD TO KNO W

Charitable organizations can benefit when high-net-worth donors see the organization as a partner in the donor’s desire to “change the world” in a positive way.

Make results and impact data easy to find online and in annual reports. Simple impact statements can be provided for board members and volunteers to use when speaking with peers.

 

the Center for High-Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania found that 26 of the 33 respondents rated it “important” or “very important” to learn about a group from a peer before making a gift. 15

Paul Schervish, writing in The Routledge Companion to Nonprofit Sector Marketing, summarized motivations for high-net-worth donors based on his research as the director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. He found, based on 250 or more interviews, donors tend to find these factors important:

Identification with the cause, issue, or program;

“Giving back,” especially as a formal expression of gratitude for benefits or blessings received earlier;

A sense of financial security, defined as the ability to provide at the level one desires for self and family;

Passing along enough, but not too much, to heirs. The act of giving is also a way to provide important lessons for children; and

“Philia,” which is caring about and for others in communal or societal relationships.

These motivations and the resources to act on them combine among the

donors Schervish interviewed so that “the ability … to change the world becomes an especially strong motivation for philanthropy (p. 176).”

Review of publicly announced gifts
of $1 million or more finds different
giving preferences associated with
different sources of wealth

Developed through the 2008 William B. Hanrahan CCS Fellowship at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, An Analysis of Million Dollar Gifts (2000–2007) examined publicly announced gifts of $1 million or more in the United States. Data come from the Million Dollar List™ at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. 16 Among the findings:

Entrepreneurs were less likely than all other donors to give to environment or religion. They are more likely to give to a foundation or to international aid and human services organizations.

Investors were more likely to give to education, environment, foundations, and religion.

Donors with wealth from real estate were more likely than other donors to give to campus-wide initiatives and to “service-related” fields. They were less likely to give to science