Psychic Benefits of Charity

Why give to charity? I’m not trying to be trite here. It is a foundational question that many people do not really even think about. They debate over WHICH charity to give to… and sometimes in misguided ways… but how often do you sit down and even think if charity is worth giving to? It costs you money. You don’t “get” anything from it (with the exception of silent auctions and cause related marketing efforts… two topics we could discuss for days!). You just… give.

And that’s the point. There are no strings attached. How wonderfully freeing is that. You are doing something good, that is costing you something, with no expected return unto yourself. And the result? An unexpected return to yourself in the form of a psychic benefit.

A re: charity fav Malcolm Gladwell discussed the ‘Psychic Benefits’ and the NBA Lockout over on Grantland.com (a cool mash-up of sports, culture and life). He states, “psychic benefits describe the pleasure that someone gets from owning something — over and above economic returns”. He is obviously talking about NBA owners but I immediately thought of charity (because I’m a charity nerd) and it kind of clicked, in a new way, that we give to charity for these psychic benefits.

A fundraiser’s job than is to build up the perceived psychic benefit to the point where people are willing to give (and hopefully give a lot). If I feel that I am doing something really great that is making a difference or joining something really cool or performing my duty of giving back there is a psychic benefit to those that I then get if I give. Poor financials, bad websites, lack of transparency, poor leadership and other “issues” hinder the perceived psychic benefit that can be received when giving as well. The end result is a net benefit equation that I think goes something like this:

(Actual Benefit + Psychic Benefit) — (Issues + Actual Costs) = Net Benefit

We then choose to give when there is a net benefit to ourselves and do not when there is not. The actual benefit (what donations do) and actual costs (what it costs to do it) are more or less set depending on your industry, strategy and method. What fundraisers and charities should then be focusing on is how to decrease “issues” or increase “psychic benefits”.

I’ll be discussing each of these two methods in the coming days and weeks but until then, what do you think of the equation?