by Angela White, CFRE, Senior Consultant

…but this is a much better investment.” 

This statement was made by a major corporate donor to a client’s campaign – a gift so major that it put the campaign over the top of its $6 million goal and was one of the largest gifts to the client in its 40-year history. I find two things significant about this statement – well, actually three things, but I’ll get to the third point later.

First, I find it significant that the corporation viewed its charitable gift as a philanthropic investment. No matter the number of times that we try to position charitable giving as an investment in our nonprofits, our community, and those they serve, so many people still revert to charitable giving as begging or putting a hand out – not as an investment. The power of weighing two investments and selecting the philanthropic investment puts an entire new level of sophistication and importance on charitable giving.

The second significant point is that this investment was made in February of this year during the recession. Clearly, in these difficult economic times, this philanthropic investment is even more powerful. Everyday at JGA, we are privileged to see donors making a difference in our community – and that has not stopped during the recession.

So what was the third significant point? When the corporate donor told me about the value of his philanthropic investment versus the value of building a Burger King (no offense to the home of the Whopper!), he said it with emotion and a tear in his eye…reminding us that investment is backed by passion and compassion.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 7:20 am and is filed under Counselors' Perspectives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.