so I’ve worked in and around charitable
giving for 30 years as a fund raiser a
corporate grant maker and an advisor and
I’ve met a lot of clever good people who
are not smart about their giving now I’m
not talking about the big big big givers
or the small small small givers my
research tells me that in Switzerland
the average donation per person is just
under five hundred Swiss francs a year
to about four different charities and
it’s about the same in the UK so I’m
talking about you you not sure about you
you definitely you your friends your
family your colleagues me my friends and
my colleagues back in England so why
would you want to be a smart giver well
you don’t want to be a stupid one do you
but how do you become one quickly and
easily what if you were to google it you
would get on a good day somewhere
between 14 and 15 million results which
is a little overwhelming now if you were
to Google how to make a chicken
casserole you get six and a half million
results but the point is there are far
more cooking books and recipes for
casseroles than there are books and
guides around being a smart giver so I
want you to think of the next few
minutes as a giving cooking class and
I’m going to give you the ingredients
and recipe to take smart giving home
with you tonight but let’s just think
about our giving for a second how we do
it in this way we’re asked we give it’s
a seasonal time of year we give a friend
is running a marathon we give a
colleague is doing an event we give
there’s a disaster relief appeal on
television we give we give we give we
give and we give away millions and
millions of pounds of money and francs
all around the world we give that and I
believe what happens in that moment we
want the world to be a better place our
heart says yes it put
is our mind out of the way we agree we
hand over our money isn’t that very
trusting just to hand our money over to
something that says they’re doing what
they’re doing and trying to fix a
problem that they’re trying to fix and
we think our money’s gonna make a
difference I can’t think of anything
else where we give our money into
something as an investment without doing
any kind of pre checking and let me tell
you charities love us for it they
absolutely love us for not asking
questions not doing any due diligence
some of them I would say almost take the
money and run so I’m gonna tell you what
those ingredients but before I do that
I’m gonna tell you something about what
happened to me when I didn’t follow my
own advice and given this was 28 years
of being an expert they tell me in this
field I Sydney home one light was my
husband watching a documentary on
television about the war in Syria and
the journalist was interviewing a woman
who had her son with her I’m guessing he
must have been about eight or nine years
old and this child was clearly really
traumatized by what he’d gone through
and he kept saying in a rather quiet
voice I want to go to school I want to
go to school I want to go to school and
his mother said to the journalist if he
could go to school his life would feel
more normal in that moment I would have
done anything for that child I switched
off the television and I thought what
can I do and I remember the charity that
I thought did work in war zone so I
looked them up and there it was front of
center on the website an educational
program in the war zone in Syria perfect
I thought I went no further I sent them
a check now I sent them which for me is
probably almost my all of my annual
donations in one and in England you can
do your giving through an anonymous
system so I wasn’t expecting a thank-you
or anything and I forgot about it I
thought my money’s going to a really
good cause a year later the cheque was
sent back to me by the chariot by the
charity banking system it hadn’t been
cashed I was curious and furious I given
this money
and he’d been sent back to me they
hadn’t spent it okay so I rang them up I
then had three different telephone
conversations with the same person in
the fundraising department who frankly
wasn’t remotely interested in the fact
that they’d lost quite a big donation I
was more furious so I ran back and I
asked to speak to the chief executive I
thought that’ll get them and they said
what’s it about and I was a bit naughty
I said it’s about a donation and I named
the corporate that I work for because I
wanted to get him there quickly he’s
terribly busy someone will ring you back
in ten minutes and they did by the way
and we then had this conversation where
I told this head of fundraising what had
happened and I could hear her sinking to
the floor as the story unfolded and I
said to her I will think about giving
you this donation if you come up with a
very plausible reason for basically not
spending my money I’ll get back to you
into it I said don’t make me promises
you can’t keep
I’ll give you 48 hours within an hour
she rang back the money had been locked
in a safe and forgotten about so I said
to her I’m not going to give you the
money and the reason I’m not going to
give you the money is not that I don’t
think you do great work is that your
staff didn’t care they didn’t care about
a donor who bothered to call them to ask
them about what had happened to their
money so let it never happen to you
again here are my five ingredients for
the smart giving recipe one the appeal
charities use a motion to grab our
hearts and call us in so what you need
to do is just take a step back for a
second you do not have to give to the
first one that asks you’re the first one
that you find there are plenty out there
but put on a cool slightly rational head
about this as to who they really are and
what they’re really doing to the charity
I think it’s really important that you
find a charity that aligns itself with
your giving strategy so do your research
there’s no rush ask friends ask family
ask colleagues use social networks use
the internet but make sure you find one
that really has a meaning to you three
there were
use their website as your first virtual
meeting with them you should be able to
find clear information about what
they’re doing the problem they’re
tackling and how they’re tackling it you
should be able to find their annual
report their accounts their board their
key staff members yuri and if you can’t
call them as what happen to me it’s very
telling how they engage with someone
who’s a potential donor for their
finances no matter how small they should
be sound that means their fundraising
should be better than what they’re
spending on raising it they should be
successful in their fundraising they
should have at least two three four
sources of funding and they should
always have six to nine months reserves
in their bank accounts to make sure that
if something goes wrong they can carry
on working and five the impact really
the heart of all of this is are they
really making a difference to the
problem they say they’re trying to solve
you want to see some research or data or
even good stories if they’re small that
you then come away thinking this is the
one for me I like them I’m gonna support
them people give to charity for all
sorts of reasons and there’s no wrong
way to do it but it should be a
relationship between you and them it is
a blend of science and art and love but
let me tell you smart givers believe
that their time their talent and their
treasure are valuable investments in
that organization so if you can use your
heart your mind and your money you will
have greater impact and the world will
be a better place you
giving for 30 years as a fund raiser a
corporate grant maker and an advisor and
I’ve met a lot of clever good people who
are not smart about their giving now I’m
not talking about the big big big givers
or the small small small givers my
research tells me that in Switzerland
the average donation per person is just
under five hundred Swiss francs a year
to about four different charities and
it’s about the same in the UK so I’m
talking about you you not sure about you
you definitely you your friends your
family your colleagues me my friends and
my colleagues back in England so why
would you want to be a smart giver well
you don’t want to be a stupid one do you
but how do you become one quickly and
easily what if you were to google it you
would get on a good day somewhere
between 14 and 15 million results which
is a little overwhelming now if you were
to Google how to make a chicken
casserole you get six and a half million
results but the point is there are far
more cooking books and recipes for
casseroles than there are books and
guides around being a smart giver so I
want you to think of the next few
minutes as a giving cooking class and
I’m going to give you the ingredients
and recipe to take smart giving home
with you tonight but let’s just think
about our giving for a second how we do
it in this way we’re asked we give it’s
a seasonal time of year we give a friend
is running a marathon we give a
colleague is doing an event we give
there’s a disaster relief appeal on
television we give we give we give we
give and we give away millions and
millions of pounds of money and francs
all around the world we give that and I
believe what happens in that moment we
want the world to be a better place our
heart says yes it put
is our mind out of the way we agree we
hand over our money isn’t that very
trusting just to hand our money over to
something that says they’re doing what
they’re doing and trying to fix a
problem that they’re trying to fix and
we think our money’s gonna make a
difference I can’t think of anything
else where we give our money into
something as an investment without doing
any kind of pre checking and let me tell
you charities love us for it they
absolutely love us for not asking
questions not doing any due diligence
some of them I would say almost take the
money and run so I’m gonna tell you what
those ingredients but before I do that
I’m gonna tell you something about what
happened to me when I didn’t follow my
own advice and given this was 28 years
of being an expert they tell me in this
field I Sydney home one light was my
husband watching a documentary on
television about the war in Syria and
the journalist was interviewing a woman
who had her son with her I’m guessing he
must have been about eight or nine years
old and this child was clearly really
traumatized by what he’d gone through
and he kept saying in a rather quiet
voice I want to go to school I want to
go to school I want to go to school and
his mother said to the journalist if he
could go to school his life would feel
more normal in that moment I would have
done anything for that child I switched
off the television and I thought what
can I do and I remember the charity that
I thought did work in war zone so I
looked them up and there it was front of
center on the website an educational
program in the war zone in Syria perfect
I thought I went no further I sent them
a check now I sent them which for me is
probably almost my all of my annual
donations in one and in England you can
do your giving through an anonymous
system so I wasn’t expecting a thank-you
or anything and I forgot about it I
thought my money’s going to a really
good cause a year later the cheque was
sent back to me by the chariot by the
charity banking system it hadn’t been
cashed I was curious and furious I given
this money
and he’d been sent back to me they
hadn’t spent it okay so I rang them up I
then had three different telephone
conversations with the same person in
the fundraising department who frankly
wasn’t remotely interested in the fact
that they’d lost quite a big donation I
was more furious so I ran back and I
asked to speak to the chief executive I
thought that’ll get them and they said
what’s it about and I was a bit naughty
I said it’s about a donation and I named
the corporate that I work for because I
wanted to get him there quickly he’s
terribly busy someone will ring you back
in ten minutes and they did by the way
and we then had this conversation where
I told this head of fundraising what had
happened and I could hear her sinking to
the floor as the story unfolded and I
said to her I will think about giving
you this donation if you come up with a
very plausible reason for basically not
spending my money I’ll get back to you
into it I said don’t make me promises
you can’t keep
I’ll give you 48 hours within an hour
she rang back the money had been locked
in a safe and forgotten about so I said
to her I’m not going to give you the
money and the reason I’m not going to
give you the money is not that I don’t
think you do great work is that your
staff didn’t care they didn’t care about
a donor who bothered to call them to ask
them about what had happened to their
money so let it never happen to you
again here are my five ingredients for
the smart giving recipe one the appeal
charities use a motion to grab our
hearts and call us in so what you need
to do is just take a step back for a
second you do not have to give to the
first one that asks you’re the first one
that you find there are plenty out there
but put on a cool slightly rational head
about this as to who they really are and
what they’re really doing to the charity
I think it’s really important that you
find a charity that aligns itself with
your giving strategy so do your research
there’s no rush ask friends ask family
ask colleagues use social networks use
the internet but make sure you find one
that really has a meaning to you three
there were
use their website as your first virtual
meeting with them you should be able to
find clear information about what
they’re doing the problem they’re
tackling and how they’re tackling it you
should be able to find their annual
report their accounts their board their
key staff members yuri and if you can’t
call them as what happen to me it’s very
telling how they engage with someone
who’s a potential donor for their
finances no matter how small they should
be sound that means their fundraising
should be better than what they’re
spending on raising it they should be
successful in their fundraising they
should have at least two three four
sources of funding and they should
always have six to nine months reserves
in their bank accounts to make sure that
if something goes wrong they can carry
on working and five the impact really
the heart of all of this is are they
really making a difference to the
problem they say they’re trying to solve
you want to see some research or data or
even good stories if they’re small that
you then come away thinking this is the
one for me I like them I’m gonna support
them people give to charity for all
sorts of reasons and there’s no wrong
way to do it but it should be a
relationship between you and them it is
a blend of science and art and love but
let me tell you smart givers believe
that their time their talent and their
treasure are valuable investments in
that organization so if you can use your
heart your mind and your money you will
have greater impact and the world will
be a better place you
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