Reflections on Generosity Day
- Tue, February 15 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
As you know by my incessant blogging and tweeting, today was Generosity Day. Thanks to Sasha Dichter for starting it! You can read the whole story behind this at Fast Company.
All day, I told myself to be positive, do nice things for others and say yes to every opportunity to help. This required some rigorous self-examination that showed me I have a long way to go before I’m truly generous, despite the fact that I blog about its importance all the time. Being thoroughly generous all day wasn’t always easy (like when I got an email telling me I was ridiculous for doing this or especially in rush hour traffic on the way to aftercare), but I kept giving. And in so doing, I got more from the experience than I gave. I definitely had the best Valentine’s Day of my life.
That’s the thing about generosity. It isn’t a sacrifice. It’s a gift.
If you work in nonprofit marketing or fundraising, it’s such an important thing to remember. Generosity inspires generosity. Our work isn’t ultimately about telling others to be generous - it’s about being generous in spirit ourselves. When we focus on what we can do for others, rather than our own needs, we find our way to a greater good.
Thanks to everyone who reminded me of this today—and to everyone who did generous things.