Zout and Swiss (and the others)
Hang in there guys. I know this feeling like trowing in, to heck with it etc etc. Banged my head against that wall so often I have extra bumps to show for it. Especially with our US non-profit.
Then I got into an enlightening argument with two of my best friends (Dutch). My remark "you guys bring an expensive bottle when you come for dinner, but never thought about skipping the bottle or bringing a cheaper one and donated a bit to our organization. And do not tell me that you cannot spare 5 EUR".
There actually came a deadly silence, then the remark came that they never thought about it like that. The bottle was personal and donating to my organization was something else (if they do not donate, the money comes out of my private pocket and I find that highly personal
) Also, they thought that donating $5 would not help and they actually felt
embarrassed to discuss that they even thought about donating so little and they could not (or did not want to) give more.
I think that this is a big problem:
- people think that THEIR $5 will not help
- people are embarrassed to actually donate only $5 to a on-time cause.
- people cannot donate more, or do not consider it high enough priority for that, but are even more embarrassed to say so.
One dollar every month is OK; in Europe, a lot of people monthly donate $1 here, $1 there, say per family around $5 to $15 per month. In the end, that counts up to millions every year for those organizations (like Red Cross, Flying Doctors, Greenpeace etc).
We begged endlessly but no dice. Donating $5 is
too embarrassing or useless for their own feeling, and $100 or more too much. Does not help how much you shout that for you as organization 400 x $5 is the same as one time $2000. And after some shouting, people start turn away. Never figured out or managed to break through that and never managed the one big donation either.
Temporarily changed my signature. If it is too pushing or against rules or your wishes, let me know and I will change it back.