A Time for Thanks, and Giving
Happy Thanksgiving!
Once again, I feel myself entering the time of year when I am a bit excited, a bit anxious, and filled with ambivalence. Why? As with many of you, I have loads of reasons, but the most prevalent in my mind when I wake up in the morning are:
My worries that I won’t get the right gifts to the right friends and family at the right time (especially since Hanukkah and Christmas are so spread apart this year.)
My desire to spend the “downtime” in a meaningful way — with friends and family, being introspective, and looking back on the year. (I try to organize the year’s photos between the holidays, which happens, well, sometimes.)
My sense of angst about the coming onslaught of solicitations, which have already started but will reach a crescendo on Giving Tuesday, and again the last week of the year. (And again the first few days of the year, but that’s another story.)
Guessing that many of you have some pre-holiday angst as well, here’s a thought for this Thanksgiving. Let’s, for a moment, de-couple the two words — Thanks and Giving.
And this is a particularly good and important year to do both.
Gratitude (the “Thanks” part)
For nonprofits, giving thanks can be a fraught issue, but it doesn’t have to be. If you stop for a moment and think about how you or your friends and family would want to be thanked, you’ll find that the answer is pretty simple. Acknowledge that different people want to be thanked in different ways, but the only rules you need to think about are:
Realize that everyone’s different and that there’s a wide spectrum of donors’ desires when it comes to saying thank you. On one end of that spectrum are folks who only want some type of personal “thank you” with no public acknowledgment, and on the other end are people who want to be publicly thanked in as big of a way and as often as possible. Most of us fall somewhere in between there.
How do you know what’s right for each person? Simple: Ask them. People know how they want to be thanked. Will they tell you honestly? Usually (especially the ones who want it to be low-key), but if you have an authentic relationship with the donor, you’ll know the answer already.
Whatever you do, say “thank you” right away. Not a week later, not a month later, but right away. If you want to do a casual thank you note/call immediately and a formal one in a week or two, that’s fine, but do one of them ASAP after receiving (or being notified of) the gift. You might be surprised how many donors I speak to who stopped giving to an organization because they didn’t thank them promptly.
It turns out that there’s lots of research out there about the benefits of gratitude — including many studies that prove not only the psycho-social benefits of giving thanks, but also the medical/physical benefits of doing so. For your reading pleasure, here are some of my favorite (recent) articles about the benefits of gratitude. Read them, and share them!
First, an article from UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Magazine: “Science-based insights for a meaningful life” about how gratitude impacts the brain.
Second, an article about gratitude and mental health, and ways to cultivate gratitude.
Generosity (the “Giving” part)
There’s something called “The Science of Generosity” and there are all sorts of articles about how being generous does all sorts of good things for you, your family, and society.
The Geisinger newsletter on health and wellness has a wonderful article called “3 ways generosity can improve your health”. Specifically, it talks about how giving helps to lower blood pressure, reduce stress and depression levels, and offset premature aging. Check it out.
Templeton has a wonderful report on “The Science of Generosity”, talking about the joy of giving, the roots of giving, and more.
Finally, the National Christian Foundation has a lovely article titled “Research-backed ways to share generosity with family” with specific things you can do to instill a culture of giving in your family. It gives examples by age group (“Littles”, “Teens”, “Adult Children”, etc.) Worth reading and sharing.
Many families go around the dinner table on holidays like Thanksgiving and talk about what they’re thankful for. (My daughter’s boyfriend said he was thankful for my daughter at that table last year, which continually brings a smile to my face.) It’s a great tradition — think about starting that now if you don’t already do it.
Let’s add another, though. Let’s do a second round at the table, asking everyone what way they’ll give now and this coming year. As my readers know, I believe that everyone is a donor — you might give a coat to someone who’s cold, buy Girl Scout cookies, sponsor your kid at a school event, or any of myriad things — but regardless of your means, you can still give. Instill that message into that group that gathers at your dinner table and it will make a world of difference in our sector and our world.
Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for being a follower of my work. I’m very grateful for all of you.
I’m Saving Giving by providing a clear path to success, supported by data, statistics, and interviews. You can find more great newsletters like this one here on Philanthropy 451, in my bestselling book, Philanthropy Revolution, or on socials at Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to learn more.
- Lisa