David Meerman Scott hit up with a fascinating post on his blog on Friday in which he contended that what we all really want is attention paid to our companies. He suggests that attention comes in four flavors:
- Buying attention, which he calls advertising
- Begging for attention, which he calls public relations
- Bugging people one at a time for attention, which he calls sales
- Earning attention, which he says is still acquiring a name but which he sees as the great good.
No doubt that Meerman Scott is right that the above four dimensions comprehend the history of marketing, advertising, public relations, sales, and all such disciplines.
But do they comprehend Transformational Giving?
In other words, is Transformational Giving simply another way to gain attention?
And if so, how would we square that with:
- Luke 14:11, where Jesus says, ‘For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted’?
- Matthew 6:3, where Jesus says, ‘But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing’?
- Luke 5:14 and its dozens of cognate passages, where Jesus instructs his followers, ‘Tell no one’?
- John 3:30, where John the Baptist says of himself in relation to Jesus, ‘He must become greater; I must become less’?
This week in the blog, as we travel to do seminars in Arizona and Colorado, we focus on the question of the goal and purpose of Transformational Giving and ask, from a scriptural standpoint related to Christian nonprofit organizations:
Is it attention we’re after?
Or is it something else?
And if so, what?
This is a great time for you to ‘post up’ with a comment to this blog and share your thoughts.
Should be a stimulating week!
Do the Word 
Maybe we should be after attention on the giver of all good gifts. We want to see gifts given that focuses people’s attention on the great GOD we serve. When we focus attention on anything else, I guess we’ve missed it all. God owns it all doesn’t HE?
We just attended the TG training and were thinking about ‘highlighting a Champion’ in our newsletters and email updates. I was envisioning meeting with them, getting to know them and why they give (or go) to our cause and then writing up an article with a picture, quotes, etc. This seems like it would encourage TG principle # 7- “The relationship between champion and champion is as important as the relationship between champion an organization.” Other champions would be encouraged and so would the one highlighted. I intend to make the focus what the Lord is doing in that person’s life to lead them in the cause but is this lifting someone ‘up’ besides Christ? Is
‘highlighting a champion’ a good idea?
Great question, JLB. I’ll plan on answering it in Friday’s post, Lord permitting.
I’m glad you attended the training!