There’s this funny phenomenon that goes with many fundraising events: rewarding donors. This may seem totally benign to you, but hear me out. 

The process goes something like this. An organization asks for donations for a cause. They establish different tiers of gifts (as a range of amounts, like $5-$10). They then associate certain rewards or gifts with giving in each tier.  And if you as a donor give an amount within a particular tier, you get the associated gift. 

But what does that say about the state of charitable giving in our country?  It says that we need to be encouraged to give – there needs to be something in it for us. Or to put it another way, we care about our neighbor if it benefits us in some way too. 

Hopefully, that doesn’t sit well with you. We shouldn’t need rewards to make a difference. We should care about others and be willing to give without thought of reward – because that is what our Master did.  And that’s who we are trying to be like. 

So what can we do?  I don’t think you need to go around trying to convince the world “they’re doing it wrong.”  There generally isn’t much use in trying to convince others; they will have to arrive at this conclusion by their own path. Instead, let’s focus on what we can do ourselves.  There’s one simple thing we can do, both to benefit the cause and as an encouragement to other donors. Ask if in lieu of your gift, the organization will add to your donation instead. The gift they offer comes at a cost; you can ask them to save their money on the gift and redirect it to the purpose of the fundraising campaign. They may not be able or willing to do this. That’s ok. As you voice this opinion it will hopefully gain more and more support; you don’t need to ask the organization to stop offering gifts, only that they give the option to make your gift more effective by not accepting a gift. 

Give it a try and let me know if you have any success!