Buy This Book For Your Volunteers' Kids Today!

Generosity and wealth do not always go together. Those of us supporting mission-based organizations depend on relationships with generous people regardless of wealth. I’ve been in the room when one of the largest planned gifts to higher education was closed, and I’ve been in the room when a retired dean conveyed title to his home for the benefit of the students he loved. Both donors had the same heart if not the same portfolio.    

What’s amazing to me is that not everyone knows to give, knows how to give or even understands giving as an expression of the love they naturally feel for others. Our fundraising strategies can be short-term and focus on developing relationships with the already generous. We are not focused enough on the not-yet generous.

Neither of the gifts I described above came about because anyone in my generation had done anything to inspire the generosity of these donors. I happened to be in the right seat at the right time when seeds planted long ago bore fruit. What are you doing today to plant those seeds for your successors?

Here’s one quick, easy, effective thing you can do. Buy copies of The Adventures of PhilANThropy and give it to the kids you want to influence most. As Thanksgiving nears and you want to show appreciation to your best volunteers*, who give so freely of their time and talent, save the logo-emblazoned bookmark for next year and, instead, give a book that can be read with a child in one sitting – no need for a bookmark!

Better yet, don’t give it to your volunteers. Send it to their kids and grandkids. Have you ever known a parent or grandparent to be upset with a thoughtful gift to the little ones in their lives? You will be catalyzing a caring conversation that will lead to a generational transfer of values. Now that’s a charitable remainder trust!

Linda McNay and Del Martin, two of the co-authors of this book, are among the most important people in my professional journey in philanthropy. Their book tells the story of how to translate love into action and action into change for the better. They do this through an engaging story and fun illustrations that will draw kids into a narrative that you want to endure as long as you want your organization’s mission to endure.

 Buy The Adventures of PhilANThropy today!

When you’re ready to create an intergenerational culture of generosity, call me.

 In the meantime, Download: 3 Things Every College President Should Know About Fundraising.

*Be careful not to link the gift of the book with a charitable donation.

Note: Neither my dog model Zeus nor I were compensated for this endorsement.