Giving with your Head & Your Heart.

When it comes to what causes to support, we're overwhelmed with choice. With 85 000 charities in Canada, countless GoFundMe's and hundreds of thousands of nonprofits, it can get more than a little exhausting trying to decide just what to give to. After all, they all are worthy, aren't they? To make matters worse, so many of us may know friends or family members connected to those causes - which further complicates the matter when the "ask" comes directly from those we care about. How do you say yes with joy, and say no with peace?

Some will tell you, it's all about the ratings. Whether it's a Charity Navigator, a GiveWell or other form of analytic approach. They will say that you have to give purely based on the data. The effective altruism movement in particular has been big on this and I’ve been a big fan of their work. But I think this is too simplistic, it misses the nuance of how humans really make choices and pretends we’re all just rational actors, void of heart and humanity. We’re integrated people or at least strive to be, living in communities with complicated stories. Focussing totally on data points miss this. Others ignore the "head" altogether and go straight for the heart: relationships and images of puppies or kids in dire situations. “What’s the difference?” they say, “it's all good!” (or worse “none of it really matters anyways”) This lets the sector off the hook too easily, and cheapens what should be our greatest calling: philanthropy, greek for the love of man.

I don't have the “perfect” answer, but the truth of the matter probably lies somewhere in figuring out how to give with the head, and with the heart.

It’s hard, but the good news is that asking the right questions doesn't have to be onerous, and if a charity is doing their job - they should be leading you down this path already. 

I've come up with three questions you could ask yourself before clicking give on that second, sequential (ie monthly) or substantial next gift. I'll let you decide how to define those terms. All of these assume a base level of trust, and no sorry, not one of these has to do with overhead. I hope you find them helpful.

1. The mother of the questions comes down to a version of this for me: Tell me about the problem you are dedicated to solving and paint for me the picture of the ideal outcome. Nothing will change until we find a reason to care. I have to connect, on a very heart level with this problem. It’s not a value judgement, it’s just a heart thing and it has got to start with this first question. There are so many big, worthy problems in this world, but does this injustice in particular, really make you mad? Does this ideal outcome really paint a picture for you of a world that is more like the one you want your kids to grow up in? Related to that outcome, who it was ideal? What assumptions are in there? Who are the stakeholders that came up with this solution? is it locally driven and implemented? What about the cost relative to impact? Let's talk about failures. I want to just get a sense of the problem and in a snapshot the vision they're going for, who came up with that vision, and why it matters so much.
2. The Plan: What’s the roadmap to this ideal outcome & who is going to take me there? If we have a problem we can all agree on, a vision or ideal outcome that seems reasonable, then let's talk about impact and about how you’re going to get us there. Who is leading your work, designing your solution. I want to know if you have a monitoring & evaluation strategy (to know if you’re even aware if you’re failing or not) and what that data is telling you. I want to see that data woven in throughout the story. I want to understand if the leader is aware enough of the bigger picture or if they’re just so zoned in that they can’t see beyond tomorrow’s looming crisis. This tells me if the charity will be around tomorrow or not. 
3. The Story: What’s the story you’re telling around the problem, the solution and the community connected to the work? Am I just a cheque or a partner? Marketing is the business of telling the story, of packaging all this up into a format I can quickly understand and feel in minutes. It matters because if you’re not concerned about my enrolment then it means you likely view me as “just a cheque” and not a partner. It matters because it is likely an indicator that your leadership is too zeroed in on the immediate and not looking up at the community around them. It matters because our lives are stories and the story we’re telling ultimately gives shape, builds trust and creates meaning in the work we’re doing. The story matters a whole lot and I want a charity to be able to be committed to telling a good story. This does not mean that they need to spend much money on this, in fact often the opposite is often true. 

Three questions. They can take as much or as little time as you'd like to answer them (and you can scale the time depending on gift size and your desire for information) but even beginning to ask them leads you down the path of beginning to give with your head and heart. Pretending we are autonomous, rational robots makes no sense, but nor does giving to the organization with the cutest puppies. Getting clear on these three ideas will not only make you a better donor, it will make for a better charitable sector and ultimately a better world.