Adam came out of nowhere that cold November morning – walked right up and asked how he could help. My wife and I, along with six or seven others, were stamping our feet, blowing into our hands, and draining our coffee before getting down to the business of setting up for our annual Easter Seals UCP Walk With Me event. These volunteers, though passionate and dedicated, were involved because we had a direct connection to the organization. But Adam, as far as I know, had no such connection. In fact, when I asked him how he came to be with us that early morning, he told me he’d simply read about it in the paper earlier in the week and decided, “to show up and see how I could help.”What amazed me about Adam wasn’t any one thing, but a combination of things: his age (17), the hour (6 am … for a teenager!), his enthusiasm (he was downright chipper), his fearlessness (he came alone knowing no one), and his sincere interest in helping strangers. Plus, at the end of the day, he simply went home – no need for thanks, no request for a college application reference, no required signature on some service hours sheet. He had simply come to serve, for his own personal reasons.
This story is heartwarming and compelling, but I tell it because it’s a great demonstration of how philanthropy, of any kind, is personal; it starts with the individual.
The good news is, there are lots of Adams out there. The even better news is that these days, empowered through technology and social networking, an individual can have a huge impact in a short period of time. In today’s world of high-speed online access to information, networks, and markets, individuals who are passionate about a cause can spread their messages like wildfire, attracting like-minded individuals and driving movements.
Similarly, corporations and social nonprofits that are seeking to contribute to the greater good while aiding the bottom line are learning to tap into this powerful new reality, implementing ever more complex and creative mechanisms to reach their audiences. As an active donor, community volunteer, and partner in a communications firm that helps organizations “do well by doing good,” I’m exposed to this strategic philanthropy in various forms and on a daily basis.
Recently, I’ve noticed more and more organizations’ efforts are focused less on breadth of outreach and more on depth of outreach; they understand that the value of a relatively small but passionate group of volunteers, employees, or consumers can often be much more powerful than a larger group that is unorganized around a mission or cause. Regardless of whether their programs are trying to reach youth, parents, educators, community leaders, consumers, employees, or all of the above, organizations want to engage individuals directly, to compel them to get involved.
The strategy that seems to work best is simply to meet audiences where they are. That means targeting people who have already expressed interest in a specific idea or cause or who have close relationships to those already engaged. That means communicating the message appropriately in tone and style for the target audience. And that means delivering the message through the type of media that the target group prefers. When a program taps into people’s needs and/or desires and takes into consideration their time constraints and message preferences, allowing them to engage in ways that are meaningful and natural to them, it has a much better chance of success, meeting organizational goals while successfully supporting the greater good.
You can’t force philanthropy on folks. People have to be engaged on a personal level, whatever it might be. Just ask Adam.
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