Micro-giving instant gratification
By Alissa • May 8th, 2009 • Category: UncategorizedMy friend Alex left New York last fall for the Peace Corps. He’s stationed in rural Kenya and his project is to help start a library. There is an actual space demarcated, “Library,” in the local high school, but there are no books. Alex spearheaded this project, found a partner to organize the logistics and shipping of the books, and his goal is to raise $5,500. He is about half-way there, and it’s only been about two months.
Micro-giving’s allure is instant gratification. Alex’s site on Change.org has a goal chart with the amounts raised and to go. Once one donates, his or her name, location, and personal message posts to the bottom of the page. As soon as one gives, the goal meter increases. It’s accretion in real time, and the books for the library are not far off.
At times, the vagueness of non-profit donations can occlude potential donations. One might be less inclined to give a smaller donation to a larger, nonspecific cause. A sum like Alex’s $5,500 seems achievable, and the goal of bestowing books upon a library that has none feels tangible, even from thousands of miles away. This is the power of micro-giving.
Alex told a story: a rural community in Kenya needs books for their library. And if some of us donate just a little, we will collectively give this to them. This is the changing non-profit business model in action!
Alissa, thanks for using me as your example! You make a keen observation about the shifting non-profit model and I think we’re going to see that transition start to speed up. I also happen to think this is for the better, and possibly in a big way.
First this makes small NFPs with a tight focus, as well as moderately large passion projects of individuals (my library, for example), more viable. My experience on the ground in Kenya has taught me that it takes someone immersed in the life of a location to understand root issues and why those issues are perpetuating. Only then can projects that directly address those issues be created with an action plan that accounts for the local conditions. Now people working the front lines, the ones with the intimate knowledge that is so crucial to success, are empowered through new technology platforms and this shift in donor preferences.
In a broader sense, this trend should make all NFPs more effective. When a donor chooses to give money to a defined and budgeted project they are, in essence, preemptively holding an organization accountable to where those hard earned dollars will go. As big NFPs start to feel the effects of this growing preference (as in losing donations), they’ll start to adopt specific micro-giving fund raising approaches too. The result should be a systemic increase in transparency, accountability and money directed to projects and away from bureaucracy. Like you mentioned, this makes giving more gratifying, which should lead to more of it. There could very well be a virtuous circle unfolding before our very eyes!