3 Reasons Why Asking for Money Will Improve Your Life
Sentences You Have Never Heard:
"Your socks look great with those sandals.”
"I feel so valued when you ignore me.”
"I want to be a fundraiser when I grow up.”
As our four children each graduated from high school, my wife and I listened to the ambitious hopes and career choices of the students as they crossed the stage.
Not once did we hear a student say that they wanted to become a fundraiser for a charity. In spite of this, there are more than 80,000 registered charities in Canada with more than 2 million employees working for them.*
My name is Scott and I am a fundraiser.
Fundraising is the best job in Canada that nobody wants to do. As a desirable career, it ranks right up there with my other function as a public speaker. Surveys repeatedly tell us that people would rather die than speak in front of a group of people.
"So then what makes fundraising such a good job?" you might ask.
Here are three reasons why asking for money will improve your life:
1. Donors are great people.
I get to meet and hear the stories of donors on a regular basis. More than 85% of Canadians over the age of 15 make a donation in a given year.** That means that more than 22 million Canadians might want to give to IJM Canada, and I haven’t even met half of them yet!
As one writer said, "Donors are people who do what they don’t have to do. Nobody has to make a charitable contribution. Nobody has to volunteer. Those who give and volunteer are the world’s finest people." (Asking about Asking, by Kent Stroman)
2. Fundraisers are at the pivot point of history in the making.
Once I had a middle-aged man bring me a cheque to support an orphanage in Africa. He stood in my foyer and with tears in his eyes said, "I think my whole life has come to this moment.” He and his wife were deciding to fund a home for children with a multi-year financial commitment. Their generosity was giving them a profound sense of satisfaction. At the other end, a home came into being that raised a dozen children from preschool to adulthood in a loving family environment who would have otherwise likely died at a young age. For every donation there is a double impact and fundraisers get to see both.
3. Change happens at a disproportionate rate to the efforts made.
Generosity sets in motion an unstoppable series of events that lead to a result more beautiful than we dared hope. Giving is not a matter of buying and selling, but giving and receiving. In short, cheerful giving results in saved lives and changed lives. It is the mechanism by which one person lays down their life for another. The amount of the gift represents a specific time period of the giver’s life. This portion of time includes all of the vision, planning, risk taking, physical, mental, and spiritual energy, which was expended to earn the amount given. When the gift is received and transformed into help for the poor, outcast, lonely, or afraid, the life of the giver is transferred into the life of the recipient. Money is the means, generosity is the attitude, but real life change is the result.
One experienced fundraiser once told me "if you love people, you will love fundraising.” I have found this to be true.
My name is Scott and I am a fundraiser.
