Over the past two years I have engaged in conversations about #money with a number of my coaching clients. It appears to be a topic of universal interest these days. In The Soul of Money Lynne Twist examines our attitudes toward money—earning it, spending it, and giving it away. I recommend this book without reservation--especially for fundraisers.
My own heretical view expressed above is that money is an expression of appreciation. When we earn it, someone else is expressing appreciation for our service. When we spend it, we are expressing appreciation for the product or service we receive. When we save/invest it, we say that our money "appreciates". That is, those who use it pay us interest or dividends.
In fundraising, I recognize that donors may have multiple motives for giving. I will assert here that the fundamental reason that donors give is because of the appreciation that they have for the organization they care about. Incidentally, they also give because they appreciate the relationship that they have with their fundaiser.
So now that I have totally activated all of your negative saboteurs around money (these are the voices that are saying: "he's crazy", "that's not it", "it's way more complicated than that", and so on, and so on...), I ask you to conduct the following exercise. For one week, or just one day, notice precisely how you spend your money. Every dollar and cent. Keep a record. And then sit back, and notice what you appreciate.
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