Episode Details

“Giving brings happiness in every state of its expression.  We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous; we experience joy in the actual act of giving something; and we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given.”

This week, I’m reading 3 quotes from the Buddha.

Reflection question:

• How might your follow-up conversations change if you viewed them as helping donors complete their joy cycle rather than simply maintaining relationships throughout the campaign?

Reflection on quotes:

Today is our final episode in our series on authentic giving and avoiding transactional approaches. We’ve discussed the difference between transactions and authentic giving, donors demanding transactional approaches, and the roots of loneliness and guilt in transactional donations.  Finally, when we give authentic giving opportunities, the donor experiences joy throughout the generosity cycle during a capital campaign.  The writers from centuries ago understood things about human nature—about giving, receiving, and gratitude—that we're just now proving with brain scans and research studies.

There's something beautiful about discovering that ancient wisdom and modern science keep arriving at the same truths. As a reminder, you can go back to the series on neuroscience and giving to hear about the science.  These quotes show something we often forget during capital campaigns —giving isn't a burden we place on people. It's a gift we offer them.

Think about your own experience. Remember the last time you gave something meaningful? That warm feeling you got? That was your brain releasing actual joy chemicals. The quote reveals this beautiful truth: we experience joy when we decide to give, joy when we actually give, and joy when we remember giving. Triple joy.

But here's where we make an authentic gift feel like a transaction for donors. We work so hard to capture that first moment—getting someone to say yes—then we disappear and start talking to the next donor. We forget about joy number three. We abandon our donors before they can fully experience what they've done.
When we follow up, when we share about the campaign and construction progress and the donor’s impact on that progress, when we help donors remember their generosity—we're not just being polite. 

We're completing their joy cycle.  Start celebrating it throughout the campaign.

This work has entered the public domain.

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Music credit: Woeisuhmebop