What do donors need to know to support effective change?

This IS NOT a question for charitable fundraisers to answer.

What donors need to know is already within them: what do they want, what do they need, and what questions should they ask of the charity fundraisers?

Let’s say that a woman in her 50’s finds herself with a lifetime of savings, relatively few expenses and humble consumer behaviour. Sadly, she has just lost her husband, and with his passing, she has been awarded proceeds from a significant life insurance policy, and his pension from 30 years of work is now to be transferred to her in the coming years.

After a time of grief and loss, she feels strongly that she would like to share what she considers to be considerable wealth with worthwhile causes.

But where does she begin?

Let’s presume that her philanthropic intent did not just begin; her first thought is to increase her annual contributions to the charities she already knows. The local food bank, her church, she sponsors another child overseas may all receive increases. But is that necessarily the best course of action? What about all the other worthwhile causes?

Does the donor now collect all the direct mail that lands on her doorstep to make an informed decision? This is one way of surveying the charitable landscape in Canada, but there are a few more useful resources. Of course the first stop might be the Canadian Revenue Agency where you can search registered charities by type, name or other criteria. This list is only registered charities. But what of churches, service clubs, universities, individual scholarship options or UN Agencies like the UN Refugee Agency ?

More resources are available on the web, but every donor’s first place to start should be self-reflection. Social Delta offers a good resource of questions to begin this contemplation.

Once the donor has assessed what type of organization they want to support, and through what means, and what they will need in the way of recognition, and other preferences, they can then investigate the organizations that meet their criteria.

Of course, they should consider the capacity of the organization to responsibly accept their money. Malcolm Burrows offers an excellent resource to help donors ask the right questions of the charity.

Charity has become a remarkably passive activity in recent years. Donors respond to charitable requests in the mail, on the phone, on TV, on the internet, in the workplace, or from friends who sit on Boards.

These charitable requests are being informed by the fundraisers, and are laudable approaches, but when donors take an active role in INVESTING in charities, then they are likely going to apply a robust research strategy to ensure that their gift is used in the most responsible, efficient, and effective programs to help others.