I have a confession to make. During this year’s year-end giving season, I was worried. Really worried. Praying constantly worried.
It started when a client didn’t receive a gift that was well cultivated, easily solicited, joyfully committed… but not given. Next, I heard from a prospective client about their disappointing year-end giving. Then, I received an email from a national donor database company that half as many donors had given by December 31, 2018 than by December 31, 2017. Digital giving reflected the same declines according to M+R. Fewer donors were giving and those that were giving were donating larger amounts, perhaps as a bundling technique because of the new tax law or perhaps another reason.
This follows a larger trend. The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy Panel Study has been tracing household giving since 1968. When we look at the percentage of households who gave year over year from 2000 to 2014, we see a downward trend and we have lost over 10% of givers. Donors to religious causes has declined by over 12% in those same years. Yet, the sheer total of giving according to Giving USA has grown. Fewer donors are giving and those that are giving are donating larger amounts.
Juxtapose this to our national economy. The national economy is growing by 3 to 4 percent each month. Jobs are added each month. The stock market is at an all-time high. People were spending, but fewer people are giving.
How can we understand this tension? Psychic poverty. That is, when the wealth of individual is largely unchanged or even increasing, but the individual perceives themselves as being poorer. We see an increase in psychic poverty during times of uncertainty and fear.
How do we respond?
We start with ourselves. We ask ourselves…. Has psychic poverty crept into our own lives? Are we spending more of our surplus, the extra in our personal budgets, on our ourselves or are we giving more of our surplus away? Are we spenders or givers? Are we buying the luxuries we have given up in the past or are we leaning into the simplicity of not being owned by our things?
As I gathered my tax information, I looked at my own giving and spending. Yes, I gave a higher percentage than last year, but I also spent more than last year. As evidenced by my worries in December, I was griped by psychic poverty.
We conquer our own fears and the uncertainty of this age by generosity and simplicity. Our giving then becomes a model to the donors we are cultivating. Our generosity is a proclamation – “Look, I am not fearful. I choose generosity. You can choose generosity too.”