Reflections on Generosity for Capital Campaigns

As you know, this podcast focuses on the beautiful spaces of generosity. I will be taking a break until January 5.  Instead of reading a quote this week, I encourage you to explore the roots of generosity within your own holiday traditions. As I reflect on St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, Christkind, Kwanzaa, Three Kings Day and so many of the other holidays, I am struck by the universal ele...

"...One would give generous alms if you had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiving hand..." This week, I am reading various quotes from the writings of Goethe who lived in present-day Germany from 1749 to 1832. Reflection questions: What are you carrying in your heart this week: generosity, abundance, or scarcity? When will you take time this week to jot down a reflection on th...

"...our first moral criticisms are exercised upon the characters and conduct of other people; and we are all very forward to observe how each of these affects us..." This week, I’m reading a quote from The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith , published in 1759. Reflection question: In your network of influence, perhaps in your family or friends, how are you sharing the joy of givin...

"... just as those tools which are kept in use, and are daily touched by the hand, are never in danger of growing rusty, while those which are not brought before our eyes, and lie as if superfluous, not being required for common use, collect dirt by the mere lapse of time..." This week, I am reading a quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger , published in 59 AD. Reflection Questions...

"... by complaining I shall not make myself deserve to receive more, but shall become unworthy of what I have received...." This week, I am reading a quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger , published in 59 AD. Reflection Questions: Have we noticed signs of self-esteem, greed or jealousy slipping into our thinking when we consider our donors or donors to other organizations? What a...

"...the moral challenge of generosity can also push people to confront and overcome their emotional, existential fears about insufficiency, their psychological perceptions of scarcity as a mode of life that governs their world..." This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition. Reflection questions: If you work in an org...

..." It is in itself an expression of gratitude to speak of one's self as overwhelmed by kindness." This week, I am reading a story and quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger , published in 59 AD. Reflection Question: No matter the donor or the donor’s motivation, how are you and I receiving gifts? What is the attitude of our hearts? To read this writing: On Benefits by Seneca...

"... You see how the mind even in the straitest circumstances finds the means of generosity." This week, I am reading a story and quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger , published in 59 AD. Reflection Questions: Consider the volunteers you interact with, how are you going beyond thanking them for their time and instead honoring the gift of their own self? How are we restoring them...

"When conventional economic and marketing assumptions shape and undergird the work of charitable fundraising, whether for Christian organizations or others, potential donors will often be approached with the expectation that they will be more interested in having their names in the program or on a plaque or in receiving a premium or a tax break than in giving to help others 'out of the g...

This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition. Reflection questions:  How are we continuing to give opportunities for donors to be generous to the mission we serve as they are also giving to others because of world events? To purchase this book: The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. Copyright: Oxford U...

"Once there was a tree..." This week, I’m reading The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, published in 1964. Reflection questions:  As fundraisers, when are we the tree and when are we the boy? How are we sitting down and resting with our giving partners? To purchase this book: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein What do you think? Send me a text. To explore small town capital campaign coac...

"... And joy is the appropriate attitude with which to help others because acts of generosity are a source of blessing to the giver as well as the receiver..." This week, I’m reading a quote from John Chrysostom from the 400 A.D.s. Reflection questions: When was there a time when you were overwhelmed with the generosity of others because their generosity to you was given with such a spir...

"...There is no mode of disposing of surplus wealth creditable to thoughtful and earnest men [and women] into whose hands it flows save by using it year by year for the general good..." This week, I’m reading quotes from the Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie , published in 1889. Reflection questions: When you consider your financial means, are you paying attention to how you are using...

"... Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success..." This week, I am reading quotes from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu from his various works. Reflection questions: Are you watering your fund development goals with worry and de...

"Living generously. . . also often provides new learning experiences and exposure to sides of life and society that would have otherwise remained unknown." This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition. Reflection questions:  How are we inviting donors, especially new donors, to encounter our missions and feel that sens...

"This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition... is... the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. That wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vic...

"...When we don’t give the opportunity - especially to someone who is new to the journey of generosity, we encouraging the donor to throw a stone in the hole and cover it up.  Whereas, instead, we could let the donor make use of the treasure for good in our communities..." This week, I’m reading a story from Aesop’s Fable, titled the Miser. Reflection Question: Do you struggle with the f...

".... Help your brother’s boat across and your own boat will reach the shore..." This week, I’m reading a quotes from three different cultures to help us reflect on our mentality of scarcity. Reflection questions: What ways can you cultivate joy for other nonprofits when they receive generous donations? When you know that a potential donor has a passion for a different cause, how will yo...

"...the paradox of generosity also seems to entail this relevant truth: generosity cannot be faked in order to achieve some other, more valued, self-serving end. Generosity itself needs to be desired..." This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition. Reflection questions:  Are any of our fundraising activities and messa...

I was asking others to be generous - even sacrificially generous, yet I had never stopped to reflect on my own generosity.  This week, I’m reading a quote from the Jewish wisdom on generosity from Proverbs 11. Reflection questions: If you were to receive an unexpectedly large financial windfall to you personally, how much would you spend, save, and give? How are you leading this week in your daily...

"...actually living generously results from an existential confrontation with what is ultimately humanly valuable and important in life and the world." I’m reading a quote from the Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition .  Reflection question: How are we giving space and the opportunities for the donor to reflect and discuss what is humanly valuable an...

"Giving brings happiness in every state of its expression..." This week, I’m reading 3 quotes from the Buddha.  Reflection questions: If you have a task of asking a donor for a gift this week, what is your mindset going into the ask?  A necessary task?  Or, a joyous opportunity for the donor to join in the power of giving? If you have a task of stewarding a donor this week, what is your...

"...the testimony of those who have shifted in their minds, spirits, and emotions from an imagined world of scarcity and insecurity to one of abundance, blessing, sufficiency, and overflow is almost always the same: it is liberating...." This week, I’m reading a quote from The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. 2014 edition. Reflection questions:  As you reflec...

"Books which it would have been impossible for me to obtain elsewhere were, by his wise generosity, placed within my reach; and to him I owe a taste for literature which I would not exchange for all the millions that were ever amassed by man..." This week, I’m quoting a story from the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie . Published in 1920. Reflection questions: When was the last time we as...

"An association is an educated and powerful body of citizens which cannot be twisted to any person's will or quietly trodden down, and by defending its private interests against the encroachments of power, it saves the common liberties....." This week, I’m reading selected quotes from Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville . Published in 1835. Note: his use of the word associ...