Reader Questions: Snow White and the 7 Faces of Philanthropy

And we’re answering MORE fantastic reader questions today! This person we will call Queen B.

On 08/24/2012 09:01 PM, Queen B wrote:

I would love more information on raising money through events (NOT auctions), planned giving, and I have not even the foggiest notion what the seven faces of philanthropy are. My best guess is Dopey, Sneezy, Bashful, Doc, Grumpy, Happy and…I never can remember the last one. But I guess that’s not it anyway…:)

Dear Queen B,

LOL! If we were all snow white, walking through the forest… would there be someone there with a semiotic cisgender ruler measuring just how femme, white, and pretty we were?

Just kidding!

PS: “if you’re havin girl problems i feel bad for you son, gender is an artificial construct so i suspect what you have are problems with humans” -Vince Eckert

Here are the 7 faces of philanthropy:

Dopey? Naw, try

Investor Donors: they give for the tax write off! They think it’s better to give their money to charity than to the government. This represents about 15% of donors. These are the people giving from December 15th to December 31st.

Communitarian Donors: These are the people who are giving because it will make their business look good, because they do business with people on your board, or because they want to improve some aspect of the community. For example, at a domestic violence nonprofit I used to work at, we had a board member who was a big employer in the region, and he noticed that he was losing a lot of employee absentee days to domestic violence. He decided he wanted to take a personal interest, not just for the survivors of domestic violence, but also to help his business’ bottom line. They represent around 25% of donors.

Devout Donors: These donors are people who give because you are doing a service that their place of worship advocates, such as sheltering women and children or feeding the hungry. There is a symmetry between how much wealth they have and how much they give out every year. Religions such as Islam have a concept called Zakat which means 10% of your income must go to charity. Christianity has a similar ratio. So it can be useful to go to places of worship and ask people to give. Devout donors also love it when you thank them in front of their faith community. This represents around 23% of donors.

Repayer donors: These are the people who have been helped by your nonprofit, or perhaps they are former students, alumni, former patients, or a relative of theirs went to your hospital, clinic, hospice, or school. They want to give to “someone like me.” They also want a sensitive acknowledgement of their personal situation. So they represent 9% of the donor population, but more if your nonprofit is an educational nonprofit or a health nonprofit.

Socialite Donors: These are the people who come and bid at your auction, who love to party and dance all night, who may even sit on your events committee. These are the people who might be corporate donors or come with your corporate sponsor tables. These might be 10% of your donors.

Altruist Donors: They are hard to influence, because they consider donation to a nonprofit part of being a self-actualized human being. They are really only influenced by their their friends and family. They represent maybe 4% of donors.

Dynast Donors: Gave because their family has a history of philanthropy. So if this donor has a family foundation, then it’s a good chance that this is what they are.

But How do you figure out which kind of donors you have?

Investor: Give right before year end

Repayer: They or a Relative received services, Former client, patient, student

Socialite: They come to your event every year and give, or sit on your event committee, or have done these things.

Communitarian: They own their own biz, sit on your board, and/or do business with people on your board.

Devout: Your nonprofit espouses values that donor’s religion would also value. Or they give through their place of worship, such as their synagogue, mosque, or church.

Altruist:This person gave to you because a friend told them about you. They only really give to people they know.

Dynast: They might have a family foundation or trust. Parent may have given.

Want to learn more about the 7 faces of philanthropy?
Read this Or Read this post Or this post.

Or come to my webinar! October 3rd! Get On It!