Do the Word

We think wrongly if we define a Transformational Gift in terms of the emotion it evokes in us, the sacrifice which we undertake in giving it, or the worthwhile nature of the cause for which our gift is intended.

Transactional gifts can prompt tears to run down our cheeks (in response to a touching speech or testimony or DVD, for example). They can radically change our lifestyle as we cut out other expenses so that we can afford to give. They can cure diseases, save lives, teach people to read, or lift a family out of poverty.

In other words, it’s simply not true to say that Transformational Gifts are good and transactional gifts are bad.

What differentiates Transformational Gifts from transactional gifts is that transactional gifts are incomplete.

Transactional gifts are, by definition, financial transactions. What changes hands can fit on a receipt.

Transformational Gifts, by contrast, are more than financial transactions. In a Transformational Gift, the head, heart, and hand come attached to the check, meaning:

• The gift is a reflection of a maturing thought process about the cause, ourselves, the person we’re giving to help, etc., and
• The gift is a reflection of a deepening of heart commitment in relation to the cause, and
• The gift involves more than just our money; that is, there is an action component in which we are directly interacting with the cause in tangible ways in which we, not just the organization through which we gave, are the subject.

Two notes on this last point:

• Many Christian nonprofit organizations will immediately respond, “Oh, yes–we definitely want people not only to give but to pray.” To which I respond, “Pray for…?” The answer typically is some combination of the organization, the project, the people the organization will help. To which I respond, “That’s a transactional gift with Christian goofer dust sprinkled on the top.” In Transformational Giving, prayer is intended to draw us into the cause as subjects, not supporters, and it’s designed to directly connect us to the cause, not simply through mediation by the organization.
• Christian organizations patronize their supporters by saying, “You really made a difference! You fed the hungry! You saved a life! You changed the world!” when all the supporter really did was write a check so that the organization could do those things. (It’s interesting that in Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats He does not say, “[W]henever you gave to an organization that helped the least of these brothers of mine, you did unto me”. Instead, he says, “[W]hatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did unto me.” The emphasis remains on direct action. Don’t rob your champions of that. Besides, if Jesus were homeless, would you really help him simply by sending a check to the homeless shelter? Come on, people.)

Rule of thumb: When financial giving becomes a substitute for acting, it’s transactional. When financial giving becomes one aspect of comprehensive involvement in the cause, it’s likely Transformational.

Great quote here from Ken Gergen, author of the one of the best fundraising books of the year that has precisely nothing to do with fundraising, Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community:

*If a policeman says “Stop where you are.”… you become a suspect.

*If a salesperson says, “Can I help you?” …you become a customer.

*If your wife says, “Can you give me a hand, honey?” … you become a husband.

*If your child says, “Mommy come quick.” …you become a mother.

Others call us into being as a suspect, a customer, a husband, a mother, and so on. Would we be any of these without such callings?

So where do donors come from?

From nonprofits who call out to people, “We need money to do our work. Do you have any money to give us?”

We nonprofits could issue out any number of types of calls to members of the public. In the process we could call into being volunteers, champions, apprentices, learners, amateurs (in the best sense of the word), budding experts, students, cause-centered communities, and disciples.

But the fact that we value people primarily for their ability to give us their money means that we seldom call into being anything other than donors.

In our previous post we wrote about the historical appeal that never quite happened–the one that didn’t quite incorporate what we now know about the extensive involvement of ordinary champions in international affairs and how to channel that on behalf of our causes.

Today we rewrite history by rewriting the speech that Coach coulda/shoulda/sure wish he woulda given to the million men who had come to Washington DC for Promise Keepers’ Stand in the Gap event.

Here’s the speech that could have been (make sure to imagine this being thundered out in Coach’s good ol’ scratchy voice):

What we see here today is truly an awesome work of God. It happened because YOU spread the word to your friends, to your co-workers, to people you met on the road. And I can’t tell you how proud I am of every one of you, because I’d probably bust out crying. But we haven’t yet gone far enough! You’re all connected to the guys on your block, to the guys where you work… But you’re also connected to guys all over the world. So today it’s time for each one of us to take up the next challenge – the challenge of spreading what we’ve done here today, to every country of the world!

Instead, Coach kind of just dropped the “i-bomb” (“Promise Keepers is goin’ international–and we’re gonna need your support!”) on everyone, and it was total crickets.

Oh, people applauded and cheered. They just didn’t applaud and cheer like people who were really excited about something they were going to do. They applauded and cheered like people who had been told what someone they liked was going to do. “That’s great, Coach! Good on ya. So, what else are we doing today?”

You see, in that field full of men, there were men with connections in every country on earth. Places where their churches did mission work, or where their brother-in-law had once lived, or where their companies did business – places where the PK network could have expanded because the men in it took the lead. Instead, we tried to do it top-down – our plan, our ministry, with a million donors standing around in a field waiting for us to tell them where to send the check.

And, of course, it didn’t quite work.

What I remember most is that I was standing behind two big ol’ boys wearing PK baseball caps and PK polo shirts stretched tightly over their big ol’ bellies.  The one guy furrowed his brow, turned to the other guy, and said:

“International?  I ain’t goin’ international.  Are you goin’ international?”

We had missed the point.

Promise Keepers wasn’t “going” international. It already was international. It just didn’t know it.

Your ministry’s champions have already gone international, too. Maybe you just didn’t know that yet either? Or, if you did, how are you channeling that existing international involvement toward your cause?