What being a jerk taught me about fundraising

I’m sometimes a bit of a jerk. Just in the last 24 hours:

• I huffed at the older woman making her way slowly down the subway stairs.
• I rolled my eyes when my mom started telling me a story she already had told me.
• I shrieked at Mark because I was anxious about a deadline.

I’m not always kind and compassionate. But I want to be.

That’s why I’ve started to meditate. Compassion meditation training helps me be the person I aspire to be — if only in fits and starts and short blips of time.

Every person aspires to be something more than they are. Kinder, wiser, nobler, more courageous…

Non profits and causes can help their donors be the kind of people they aspire to be. We can fill gaps — much like meditation does for me.  Fighting poverty, going to dangerous places to do what’s right, feeding children… By supporting our work, our donors are saying something about who they are and what they believe in.

But in order to bring this out in our audiences, we have to appeal to their higher aspirations. It’s less about premiums and giveaways. It’s more about the kind of people we all want to be.