As the saying goes, in a world of plenty, man’s struggle is not for survival but for meaning.
According to Dr Jen Shang, assistant professor of philanthropic psychology at Indiana University, the discipline of philanthropic psychology is centred on one question:“What does it mean to an individual to have a good life?”
“It is a conversation that anybody has the potential to have with anybody,” she says.
“I know, it is easier said than done.”
Shang’s studies have revealed that a solid understanding and application of donor psychology can increase the yield from fundraising appeals by 30 per cent – all by following a few steps in the solicitation:
“Financial advisers need to first step out of their profession and reflect on their own life -‘What does it mean to me to have a good life?’
“Then they put their profession within that context before they begin a conversation about philanthropy with any clients,” she says.
“Once they return to their professional role within the context of their understanding of a good life, they will take the same perspective for their clients.”
Shang says planners must dissociate the individual they’re working with from the label “client” and ask themselves, “What does it mean for them to have a good life?”
“My guess is that nine out of 10 financial advisers would have absolutely no clue what the answer to the second question might be, and a good number of them might have never asked themselves the first question,” she says.
“Once these two questions are asked, 50 per cent of the philanthropy conversation – the conversation that the financial advisers need to have with themselves in their own head – has been achieved.
“Of course, by asking these questions, financial advisers will need to know more about their clients before they have a focused discussion on what role philanthropy may play in helping their clients in their journey in or towards a good life.
“When that question is answered, 90 per cent of the philanthropy conversation is over.”
Shang says the 30 per cent uplift happens in the last 10 per cent of the philanthropy conversation, when the client is comfortable. It happens like this:
1. Okay, this is what a good life means to me.
2. Okay, this is how I want to give, to whom (if at all).
3. Now, how much do I want to give?
“At that point, if the financial advisers can provide the right social information from people who share the same understanding about life – the same donor identities – then they have the potential to uplift giving by 30 per cent from this individual.
“But at this point, the basis for giving is well thought through, so the increase in amount is very natural.”
At its most basic core, Shang says philanthropy is “a conversation about an individual’s life and their sense of who they are”.
“Philanthropy is both a means and an end to express and to reinforce their most cherished identities.”
Donor identity is defined by Shang as any identities that donors might have, which could potentially influence one’s giving behaviour.
“In that sense, if I give to the Red Cross, I have a Red Cross donor identity because I’m a compassionate person or I’m a goal-oriented person who likes to see results that they produce,” she says.
The research paper Charity Brand Personality: The Relationship With Giving Behaviour demonstrates how multiple types of “personalities” as described in traits are used in fundraising communications to increase giving, and is now the framework Shang follows in all projects.
“Our latest findings show that the only difference between the for-profit and the non-profit world when it comes to the traits – identity descriptors – that people use to describe them are moral traits.
“And females and males identify with those moral traits differently, [such as] friendly, caring, helpful et cetera.
“The amount of females’ giving and the number of donations that males make are the most expressive of their sense of their moral self, respectively.”
Shang is in the early stages of research to identify major barriers that people face when asked to answer the question,”What does it mean to me to have a good life?”
