Current e-Journal

Catalytic Thinking Exercise:
Preparing for Giving Tuesday via Collective Enoughness

Every year on Giving Tuesday, we post the same newsletter. And on December 2^nd this year, we will do the same. That newsletter doesn’t ask for money; in fact it asks the opposite. It asks you to share what you have with others, to make Giving Tuesday less about receiving, and more about giving.

As Giving Tuesday is just six weeks away, we thought we would do something different this year, and  offer some words of wisdom to help you plan for that day.

The problem with Giving Tuesday isn’t its intent. Thinking of others rather than being sucked into the commercialism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a noble intention indeed. The problem is the reality of Giving Tuesday - just another day of competition for scarce eyeballs and scarce dollars.

We know that during these dark, authoritarian times around the world, we need to be banding together more than ever. We know that we can’t create social and economic justice by using the same scarcity-driven approaches that cause harm in our communities.

So as you are preparing for Giving Tuesday this year, what would it take for your organization to commit to more sharing and less scarcity? What would it take for this to not just be a day for individuals to give to your organization, but for your organization to give to your community?

Try this:
Collective Enoughness is the economic theory that together we have everything we need, that it is only on our own that we experience scarcity. And nothing screams ALONE like the us-and-them of competitive fundraising.

What could Giving Tuesday look like through the lens of Collective Enoughness? What if Giving Tuesday was about your organization sharing with all the other organizations whose work is related to your mission and vision?

There are so many ways that could happen, all rooted in the question, “What do we have to build upon? What do we have to share? What do we have together, that is more than the sum of the parts?”

Perhaps that could mean banding together with groups with similar missions, to create one big Giving Tuesday effort around the issues you have in common. Perhaps you could pool your efforts, and do one big, joint fundraiser for ALL those organizations, and then split the proceeds. Everybody chimes in, everybody promotes it, everybody shares equally – a win-win for raising awareness and money for your issue in your community.

Or perhaps you might reach out to support a fledgling organization that has the potential to contribute to the issues you care about. If, for example, yours is a large literacy organization, perhaps you might reach out to help a startup literacy group, or maybe a mutual aid group focused on literacy.

Or perhaps you might re-imagine Giving Tuesday as a Community Knowledge and Idea Summit, bringing together everyone who cares about your issue, simply to share what you have learned and what you are thinking about trying. Imagine what you could all accomplish together after that!

Or that day could simply be a day to offer what you have to share. Perhaps a van that sits idle until kids are out of school in the afternoon, or computers that sit idle after folks leave the senior center. Perhaps it might be an empty office or garage, or space in your warehouse. Perhaps it might be your bookkeeper, or your volunteer coordinator.

There are so many ways we can all be helping each other. On this Giving Tuesday, as we do every year, we will be encouraging you to find ways to do so.

In the end, the work we all do is not about the success of any one organization. It's about the success of whole communities. It's about addressing the issues that are so dear to the work we’re all doing to make our communities thrive.

None of us can accomplish that on our own. It will absolutely take all of us together.

So then, as you plan for what your organization will do on Giving Tuesday, think beyond your four walls. Consider that first question of Catalytic Thinking, listing all the other groups in town who are related to the work you do. And see what it would take for you to collectively contribute to creating a more healthy, humane, loving, joyful community.

Because together we really do have everything we need.

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Resources to Support Your Practice:

• READ: Want other ideas for transforming Giving Tuesday into a day for your organization to give to your community? Hildy goes deeper into what is possible in this article…
• LEARN:  Our click-and-play class on Asset-Based Resource Development and Collective Enoughness always gets people’s creative juices flowing – a strength-based approach to finding resources and building truly sustainable programs. See that here… 
• READ: Creating the Future is working to share the implementation of our mission with dozens – if not hundreds – of organizations around the world. Talk about Collective Enoughness in action! See what that looks like here…

One more thing:
Help the Helpers (and Yourself)

If you are in the U.S., there is so much you can do to fight the authoritarian destruction we are witnessing. Donate to the National Council of Nonprofits. Subscribe to the Chronicle of Philanthropy (it’s only $8 per month!). And then there’s the folks who are fighting the good fight in the courts, like the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. It’s not just the support that helps; these resources will keep you informed.