How Your Nonprofit Can Create a Giving Culture
There’s a lot more to a nonprofit’s success than luck, talent, and hard work€”especially as today’s world culture becomes inner connected. Nevertheless, something’s missing€”What is it? €”Generosity. It’s a rare commodity in today’s busy, frantic world; and those who do give often give up when don’t see the impact of their contributions.
There are ways to overcome this and create a culture of successful givers for your nonprofit organization. Follow these four simple steps:
Choose The Right People
Figure out who the takers are, and encourage them to take their cues from the givers. By rewarding giver behavior and helping takers see the value in reciprocity and the positive benefits of giving you’ll encourage your them to take a turn towards a more collaborative, generous approach to living and giving.
Reduce The Costs
Giver mentality is all about finding efficient ways to make low-cost gestures with high-value results. Consider the power of five-minute favors€”If someone asks you for help€”you’re the best equipped to provide it€”and the activity only takes five minutes, then say Yes. If you’re not the best equipped to help, direct the request to someone who can.
Show The Impact
To prevent givers from giving up, think of new ways to present messages that show the value in what your nonprofit provides. A message from the CEO is an option, or a Thank you from a beneficiary; something that shows the giver their contribution made a difference.
Encourage Employees to Ask For Help
Between 75-90% of contributions begin with a simple request. The problem is, many people hesitate to ask for help. Create a culture at work that rewards people for asking for help. Many people feel like they’re imposing when asking for help; but it’s necessary to accomplish their goals. Encourage an asking culture, and give permission to those you work with to simply ask.
For example, Appletree Answers a call-center solutions provider, was experiencing 98% staff turnover each year. That’s a huge hiring burden to replace your entire staff every year, so the company started an internal employee wish program.
Employees can ask for help fulfilling their dreams, and other employees can offer their assistance in making those dreams come true. As a result, their staff turnover dropped to 33%.
Hint: Create a Reciprocity Ring! If you’re, follow the following tips:
- Invite all employees in the organization to join.
- All participants should add a request.
- Everyone in the program should work together to make those dreams happen.
- Everyone is considered both a giver and a receiver, so there’s no awkwardness when asking for help.
- Everyone will have an opportunity to gain an understanding about the resources in their network for future giving and receiving opportunities.