Are Fundraisers Happiness Hackers, or Chuggers?

Fundraisers can facilitate purpose in people's lives, resulting in a sense of happiness. Chuggers? Not so much.

I learned two new terms this past week — “happiness hack” and “chugger”. I love the “happiness hack” one, as I’m thrilled to see that research is showing how professional fundraisers can bring meaning, purpose and a sense of happiness into people’s lives — by doing their job.

The term “chugger”? Not so much. Turns out a “chugger” combines the words “charity” and “mugger” to connote a “street fundraiser” who is aggressive and invasive. The term started in the UK several years ago.

We often wonder why many donors (or prospective donors) don’t trust fundraisers (and, by extension, nonprofits), almost as a default. After learning about the unfortunate term, “chugger”, I realized that the term “fundraiser” can mean two very different kinds of people. The job title “fundraiser” can mean a chugger, but it can also mean a professional fundraiser. To those professionals working in the sector, the difference in connotations is clear. But what about one of the millions of people who are considering donating to nonprofits who hear the word “fundraiser” and think “chugger” or “chugger-like”?

Maybe we have a chance to rehabilitate the word “fundraiser”.

Columnist Dana Milbank of the Washington Post published a wonderful article in October where he described a recent Cornell study about people and purpose. Specifically, this six-year project by Anthony Burrow studied Gen Zers to see if articulating their own purpose, and then acting to fulfill that purpose, would impact their level of happiness. He found that articulating and acting on one’s purpose on a regular basis increased well-being significantly. In his study, Barrow found that, as Milbank relates, 95% of the young people studied, when given the chance to make a contribution, did so, and those contributions were specifically designated to help other people.

Evidently, according to Milbank, other studies focused on people and purpose have been done in recent years with populations beyond solely Gen Z. They found that, as Milbank relates, “a greater sense of purpose” is associated with a reduction in several health issues, as well as an increase in self-esteem, a sense of meaning, personal resilience, mood and adaptability.

Which brings me to fundraisers for nonprofits.

If people in general are happier when they are acting on their sense of purpose, and if that action often means making a contribution to someone else, then shouldn’t fundraisers see themselves as facilitators for happiness?

All too often, fundraisers are thought of as salespeople (or even “chuggers”), as opposed to facilitators of happiness. All too often, board members suggest that a looming deficit can be reversed if only “the fundraiser goes out and raises more money”. Some fundraisers themselves see their work as a “job” with the responsibility to procure a donation from a donor — as much money as possible as quickly as possible. That’s the “transactional” mindset that has and continues to plague the nonprofit sector.

The opposite of “transactional” is “relational” (or “relationship-based”). If people can live better, feel happier and have a stronger sense of well-being because they’re doing something purposeful, then fundraisers can be the conduit to make that happen.

At the same time, those same fundraisers are doing purposeful work themselves by facilitating the donation, which can, in turn, increase their own personal happiness.

Maybe we can replace the idea of fundraisers as “salespeople” with the concept of fundraisers as facilitators of purpose — helping increase happiness for people who want to act on their sense of purpose but don’t know how.

And perhaps, in doing so, we can retire the word “chuggers” for good.

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