What Motivates You to Give?

Non-profit organizations (like Outreach International) are constantly wondering how to motivate people to donate money to good causes.  In last week's Newsweek,  Professor Peter Singer writes this intriguing (and possibly motivating?)  scenario:

Imagine that you are walking near a shallow ornamental pond when you notice that a small child has fallen in, and is apparently in danger of drowning. You look around for the child's caregiver, but there is no one in sight. Without pausing even to pull off the expensive pair of shoes you are wearing, you rush into the water to save the child."

"You don't have to be a hero to do that. We expect it of you. You'd have to be a monster to put the cost of your shoes ahead of saving the child's life."

"Or would you? "

"UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, tells us that nearly 10 million children under 5 die each year from causes that we could prevent. That's 27,000 children dying every day. They die from diseases that are easy and inexpensive to prevent or treat, or from the lack of safe drinking water, sanitation and an adequate diet. GiveWell.net, an organization that assesses the cost-effectiveness of aid, suggests that for something like the cost of a pair of expensive shoes, you could save the life of one of these children."

Despite the title of the article, "The Science Behind our Generosity," I believe that trying to bring out the generosity of others, cannot solely come from statistics and logic.  If that were the case, I certainly would be walking barefooted most of the time.  While the pool story does give me pause, I don't feel like it's a sustainable way to motivate people to give money.

On the other hand, I do agree with Singer when he writes (later on in the article) that it's much more likely we'll be generous to one or two individuals than it is to thousands or millions of people.  In my mind, this has everything to do with relationships.  Even if I've never met the one particular person I'm helping, I can imagine a relationship with them -- and imagine an improved and empowered life because of concrete actions on my part. 

I know that my passion toward equitable living stems from the friendships I have made with people who live in poverty -- and not because of a guilty conscience or even a logical analysis of the cost of my shoes.

Unfortunately, forming relationships with the poor require a lot of time, energy, and courage -- and until we realize this, we will continue to think of scientific gimmicks to get people to donate money. 

-Karyn Wingard-Manuel

Comments

[Stephen Donahoe]

One great way to create a relationship with the poor without having to travel to a poor country is to sign up to be a sustained monthly donor at http://www.outreach-international.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sustain_a_child_landing_page. Through this program, you will get to hear about the life of a family being empowered with the money you contribute.