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Boulder Daily Camera
Making Money Matter
Enid Ablowitz

Losing Everything:  Giving for Survival

Twin towers.  Gone.  Disbelief. Lost lives. We watched, helpless. We opened our hearts and our wallets.

Tsunami.  A new word in our lexicon of devastation.  Half a world away, yet unimaginable in scope.  Again, we were generous.

Katrina and Rita. We cry as we see the television images; the submerged city; the rubble; the most vulnerable in our society, abandoned.  We feel the raw agony of suffering.  We vow to help as the destruction is seared in our consciousness.  We give and give again.

When our humanity is tested—how do we respond? When the needs are so great, the message so clear, we respond and we give to those who can make things better. 

We rarely articulate the deep, emotional, even spiritual aspects of giving.  It is easier to use phrases like “making a difference,” or “sharing good fortune.”  Regardless of religious affiliation or the lack of religious affiliation, there is a fundamental human reaction to the kind of loss of life and property we have witnessed.  It is expressed in phrases of gratitude like “there but for the grace of G-d go I.”  Or, a harsh “better them than us,” but even that seemingly callous sentiment is about vulnerability.  It translates as “we have been spared.”

For many, recent events have stimulated thoughts about our values.  When all that we own is gone, what really matters? How much responsibility do we have for others?    How can we act on what we feel?  How long will that feeling last before we become hardened, again? 

As we watched the horrors unfold, how many of us hugged our spouses, our partners, our kids?  How many of us called loved ones just to connect?  How many of us gave to the relief funds? 

Giving in a crisis is a very special kind of giving.  It is about meeting immediate needs.  It is an act of charity.  It makes us feel less powerless.  It feels good to be able to do something to help.  But how do we translate this visceral motivation and giving satisfaction to a more sustained commitment to give?  How do we build on reactive giving to incorporate joyful giving?  How do we expand the pleasure in the giving experience?  How do we give to make a better now and a better future?

Most survival giving comes from discretionary income.  People respond to the crisis by giving from what they earn. They make a cash gift, write a check, or provide a credit card number.  These are “affordable” gifts based on “extra” money above our fixed expenses.  The donation may come from a redirection of funds that would have been spent for recreation, extra clothes, or treats. 

 If you responded in the moment to the relief efforts, will you still make gifts to the organizations you have supported in the past? Those gifts may be just as urgent as the survival gifts. The loss of your gift could even impact the sustainability of the organization.  When a crisis directs your attention to an immediate need, can you think of your survival gift as an enhancement to your regular giving program? Can you think of it as a stretch gift that is tied to being part of the human family?

There’s another level of giving available to those who have discretionary assets, the assets that constitute wealth embedded in certificates of deposits, stocks, bonds, land, vacation homes, income-producing property, collections, insurance, and other valuable holdings.  Your equity may be liquid or illiquid, but any excess beyond what you think you need could be the basis for a gift.  These gifts are typically made for less immediate purposes, with an eye towards the future, for sustainability, growth, or expansion of programs.  These gifts take time:  time to understand the values represented by the organizations’ mission, time to feel confident that you have chosen the right organization, and time to determine the specific purpose of the gift.   

The not-for-profit world is about both values and vision:  what we care about now, and what we believe is possible in the future.  How we give reveals who we are.

Enid Ablowitz is Vice President for Advancement at the University of Colorado Foundation, Inc., and Director of Advancement for the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities.  She can be reached at enidablowitz@hotmail.com

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