NCFP is a guest author and contributor to our Outside Perspectives Series.
We recently reached out to the National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) to share their unique insights. As a network of philanthropic families committed to a world that is vibrant, equitable, and resilient, NCFP helps donors achieve greater impact with their giving.
Getting started or scaling up philanthropic giving can be challenging and overwhelming. With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Center for Family Philanthropy partnered with Arabella Advisors and ideas42 to uncover the most common psychological obstacles that inhibit donors from moving more resources and offer solutions that are based in behavioral science. The resulting report, Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Giving, demonstrates how making a shift to the circumstances surrounding a donor’s giving can often propel them into action—and impact. Below, we highlight three of the barriers and some ways to overcome them.
Too Many Choices
A common barrier for all of us is too many choices. While our intuitions tell us that more choice is better, psychology research indicates that too much choice can prevent us from making any choice at all. A few factors make an array of choice in grantmaking even more difficult:
- There is a nearly endless quantity of issues and populations a philanthropic family could choose to fund. As our world grows more complex and issues become increasingly intersectional, the options for grantmaking focuses and approaches grow too.
- We find it challenging to make a choice when it is hard to compare our choices. In grantmaking, funders are rarely comparing “apples to apples” when deciding the best way to use their resources.
- We have a hard time making choices when we want to make the single best choice, rather than a very good or satisfactory choice. Donors frequently fund issues that are personally meaningful to them and have an even greater desire to make the perfect decision. Additionally, many of the problems donors seek to ameliorate are urgent and the pressure to make the very best decision becomes paralyzing.
Among the solutions behavioral science highlights is starting with one grant. Making a single grant, even an imperfect one, can help donors get unstuck and prompt them to consider what worked, what didn’t, and what type of grant they want to give next. Whether a donor is giving for the first time, scaling up, or diving into a new funding area, giving one grant with the openness to evolve and learn will beget more and more giving and allow the donor to hone their approach along the way.
Fear of Attention and Public Scrutiny
Particularly in our modern, interconnected world, fear of public judgment is a very valid concern for high-profile donors. Two psychological phenomena may heighten that fear.
- Availability heuristic: We think there is a higher probability of something happening if we can more easily recall examples of it. And we more easily recall examples the more vivid they are in our minds. In philanthropy, a story about a grant that has failed is probably much more vivid and easier to recall than the many, many stories of successful grants. With that failure in mind, donors frequently overestimate the likelihood of public scrutiny.
- Social norms: Just like in all aspects of our life, social norms are present in philanthropy and have a strong ability to influence the decisions we make. Because peer criticism—which informs what is socially acceptable—is uncomfortable, donors try to act in ways that are aligned with social norms. Increasingly, philanthropists are discussing not only what they fund, but the practices and approaches they employ as well. The fear of stepping outside social norms can not only hamper creativity and innovative solutions, but cause donors to stall out their giving efforts.
One way to overcome the availability heuristic is to share vivid success stories. Though dramatic negative stories are often what loom large, donors can share dramatic success stories and shift the narrative to focus on what is working, ultimately providing other donors with new, positive examples to draw from. Donors can mitigate the fear of public critique in two, somewhat opposite ways. One is to give anonymously through vehicles like donor-advised funds or pooled funds. The other is to be public about their giving, including plans, benchmarks, and the potential for failure. By publicizing their intentions donors can set the public’s expectations and by being transparent about successes and failure, they can own the narrative of their giving and reduce the effect of public scrutiny.
The Fear of Uncomfortable Family Dynamics
For families that practice philanthropy together, such as through a private foundation, the possibility of damaging family relationships in the process is often top of mind. To avoid conflict, they may put off decisions or maintain the status quo. In doing so, behavioral science tells us, they are regulating their emotions by disengaging. Disengagement can stop new ideas and perspectives from surfacing and prevent the family from building skills they need to navigate change in the future.
Families can think long term to overcome this barrier. In the here and now, it might feel best to avoid conflict. However, addressing conflict early can stop feelings of resentment from building over time. If a family has goals of generational continuity, considering the long-term philanthropic and family goals in conjunction with the family’s values can help cultivate connection and purpose to propel the family forward, even in the face of conflict.
Moving Forward One Step at a Time
While each barrier addressed in the report has a specific set of solutions, there are several cross-cutting ways for donors to find a path forward. The first is to act. Taking one small action will create momentum. Making a single grant or completing a small task can build confidence and set more giving in motion.
Read Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Giving to explore all 10 of the barriers and their solutions. Donors can use the publication and the accompanying diagnostic tool to assess and address the barriers that most often arise in their giving. We hope that an awareness of the barriers that are holding them back and the simple solutions available will help donors have an even greater impact and experience more joy along the way.
You can find additional resources at the National Center for Family Philanthropy at ncfp.org.
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The National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) is a network of philanthropic families committed to a world that is vibrant, equitable, and resilient. NCFP offers programs, resources, and community to support more effective family philanthropy.
