“The whole issue of measuring and metrics
and trying to have impact data is, I think, a very contemporary part of
philanthropy,” said Thomas E. K. Cerruti, former personal lawyer to Sam Skaggs,
a billionaire philanthropist who made his fortune in supermarkets and
drugstores. “What motivates people to give? For selfish reasons, a name on a
building is at the top of the list. But some people want to effectuate
something that has some personal interest to them. Other types of motivations
are hard to analyze.”
When it comes to giving to
charity, who wins when it’s the “head vs. heart” scenario? Emotional ties to a
charity are strong, yet there are many considering a logical approach to
measurable donations.
The head vs. the heart, as it
occurs in charitable planning, was the topic of a recent article in The New York Times titled “Two Paths for Charitable Giving: From the
Head or From the Heart.”
The key question posed by the
author: “Is it better to give in response to an emotional need or feeling, or
are dollars better spent when tied to a metric that measures how effective they
are?”
So, do you give charitably
simply because it feels good and perhaps has a positive impact to which you can
personally relate based on your own life and experience? Alternatively, do you
give with a focus on doing the most measurable good with the assets gifted?
For many donors, giving is a
matter of “and” – it is a matter of the head and the heart. The original article is worth reading,
especially if you want to have a better understanding of the motivations behind
generosity.
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Reference: The New York
Times (June 28, 2013) “Two Paths for Charitable Giving: From the
Head or From the Heart”