Explore a variety of ways to inspire the giving of others
No matter how much money or how little money you personally have to give, you can increase your impact a thousand-fold by inspiring the giving of others. (Look at Bill Gates! Even he felt that his best contribution would be to encourage his peers to give, and so he started a 50% Giving Pledge for his fellow billionaires.)
In this section of the toolkit, we’ll help you explore a variety of ways to inspire the giving of others:
- Talk about giving with people you know
- Give openly rather than privately
- Learn to fundraise
- Share your giving story
- Be a public promoter of giving
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Category: Talk about giving with people you know
Exercise 1: Start a conversation
How do you inspire others to give more? One way to start is simply to open conversations about giving with your family members, friends, and colleagues. "To open a conversations" doesn't mean asking them for money or preaching about your values. It means initiating relaxed, personal, non-judgmental conversations where you ask about and listen to their experiences of giving. Not a familiar thing for most of us! Below is a quick exercise to get you started. Check any that are true for you:
Who could you imagine starting such a conversation with? (write a specific name or names)
Where could you imagine starting such a conversation? (Choose one or more, and fill in an upcoming time and place)
What might hold you back from starting a conversation about giving?
What might be some benefits of having a conversation about giving?
Now think through the boxes you checked.
What could lessen the key barriers?
What might strengthen the main benefits?
If helpful, see exercise (2) "Opening Lines"
Reflecting on your experience (to be filled out later)
What was useful? Interesting? Enjoyable? Challenging?
Did you ask and listen more than you talked?
Anything you'd do differently?
What's the next time and place you might try again?
Category: Talk about giving with people you know
Exercise 2: Opening lines
Say you decide to open a conversation about giving with a family member, friend, or colleague. How would you start? Sometimes this is the hardest part.
In case it's helpful, below we offer some different ways to open the conversation. None are likely to sound like you! So after you read them, draft a few opening lines that suit your particular style.
- Make an open invitation: "Charlene, you know, after all the conversations we've had, I don't think we've ever talked together about our giving. Yet giving is a big part of my life. I'd love to hear how you think about what to give to and why. Does that interest you?"
- Ask for assistance: "Hey George. I give money each year to _______(name of group) and this year I'm in the middle of figuring out how much to give them. I'm not sure! How do YOU figure out how much to give to groups you care about?"
- Share excitement: "One of the best parts of my year has been my giving. Are you involved as a giver with any group that really pleases you? I'd love to hear about that.."
- Express interest: "Nancy, do you make an overall plan for your giving each year? In the past, I've always been a spontaneous giver, but this year I'm trying to be more thoughtful and strategic. How do you do it?"
- Address likely concerns: "Dad, I'd love to have a conversation with you sometime about your charitable giving. I'm not trying to convince you to give to the causes I care about or to give more than you already do -honestly! I'm just curious how you think about it. what you give to and why. what's satisfying and not. Think we could talk about that over dinner tonight?
- Use Bolder Giving as an opening. "I just found this website, Bolder Giving. It's got stories from these amazing givers. And it got me thinking ways I'd like to be more bold as a giver." or even "The website includes a curriculum about bold giving, and I have the assignment this week of having a conversation."
Now, if helpful, make some notes about how you might start your own conversation:
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