Part 3, The Three Deep Desire That Drive Philanthropy — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:02How can charitable organizations build a
- 0:04sustained culture of philanthropy?
- 0:07Jim Langley, president of Langley
- 0:10Innovation, says, "Speak with your
- 0:12donors and listen to what they have to
- 0:15share." In this video series, Jim shares
- 0:18decades of expertise and his commitment
- 0:21to helping institutions develop the most
- 0:23effective strategies to build broader
- 0:26and more lasting communities of support.
- 0:29If you're a fundraiser, tune in now.
- 0:32Every video with Jim is a master class.
- 0:37Hello friends. Every video with Jim is a
- 0:42master class indeed. I'm Susan Axelrod
- 0:47hosting this threepart video series with
- 0:50Jim.
- 0:52It has been extraordinary to have a
- 0:54conversation about a simple construct
- 0:58and simple things that you can do if you
- 1:01are a fundraiser, a board member, a
- 1:04nonprofit leader to really begin to
- 1:08capture and regain connection with your
- 1:12donors. I am delighted to bring Jim back
- 1:16into the studio with us. Hello, Jim.
- 1:18Good to see you. So good to see you
- 1:20Susan. Great pleasure to be with you.
- 1:23>> It's really been a quite a conversation.
- 1:26This conversation started with a simple
- 1:29kind of casual uh interview that we did.
- 1:33I invited you when I saw that you were
- 1:35quoted in the New York Times and I
- 1:37wanted to have a conversation about that
- 1:40as we have discussed earlier in this
- 1:42series. But since we've been uh having
- 1:46this conversation about really donor
- 1:50connection as humans, I really have felt
- 1:55uh quite a deepness. And even though I
- 1:57follow you, I've been learning from you
- 1:59for years. I feel such a rich uh
- 2:03opportunity for myself as a coach, a
- 2:06consultant, a donor myself, uh a person
- 2:09who cares about purpose and the fabric
- 2:12of our society today. So I want to
- 2:15really thank you for your ability to
- 2:18synthesize and as you have said in this
- 2:21series to crystallize uh these
- 2:24constructs that have come from your
- 2:25decades of experience and um we'll get
- 2:29started today.
- 2:31Thank you so much Susan. There is a
- 2:32goodness in us there. It is universal. I
- 2:35think if we understand these desires, we
- 2:38feed them, we will find far more
- 2:40satisfying careers and we will advance
- 2:43the purposes that we hold dear.
- 2:46Believe
- 2:48believe in something
- 2:51to belong to something.
- 2:54These are the the ideas, the deep
- 2:57desires that we have spoken about so far
- 3:02and I wanted to just invite you to take
- 3:05a moment not to recap everything. People
- 3:07can watch the two videos uh the part one
- 3:10and part two but I want to ask you uh
- 3:14before we get into the third part today
- 3:17what has come up for you about our
- 3:20discussion?
- 3:22Well, it's so helpful to have someone
- 3:25with fresh eyes come into the discussion
- 3:28and indeed some of your synthesis and
- 3:31crystallization has been very helpful to
- 3:33me. You've summarized points that I
- 3:35think are very important for our field
- 3:38to know. But I've also felt as I'm
- 3:41expressing it with you through your
- 3:43guidance, Susan, that I am speaking to
- 3:47something that's very important, that's
- 3:49very helpful. I feel very much in the
- 3:51moment and feel as if not that it's
- 3:55about me, but that I am a vehicle. The
- 3:58body of experience I've acquired, what
- 4:00I've been allowed to see and learn is a
- 4:03vehicle. And I'm feeling that as I share
- 4:05it with people, it's incredibly
- 4:08meaningful for me. It seems to be the
- 4:12summary of what I've been about for so
- 4:15long and it seems to be coming together
- 4:17with greater clarity for me than ever
- 4:20before.
- 4:22>> I mean, I'm smiling a bit. I looked back
- 4:25at my notes because um in our other um
- 4:30video you talked about uh the wisdom of
- 4:33a 21-year-old who said how we ourselves
- 4:39will be impacted while we are impacting
- 4:43another.
- 4:45>> And I said to you then, oh I wonder what
- 4:48Jenzer said that. And you said it was
- 4:52Ben Franklin.
- 4:54And you just literally spoke out that
- 4:57thesis from hundreds of years ago that
- 5:01as you gift out, give, share, uh I call
- 5:05it your wisdom that you have gleaned and
- 5:08gained, you're having a a reciprocal
- 5:12experience yourself, aren't you?
- 5:14>> It's profound. I am. So I am
- 5:17experiencing exactly what I was sharing,
- 5:19right? I feel the better for it. I feel
- 5:22as if I'm learning and then I feel this
- 5:25intergenerational connection which I
- 5:28think philanthropy has been very much
- 5:30about that what we call progress social
- 5:33progress is each generation trying to
- 5:37leave the next generation at least as
- 5:40much as it inherited from the previous
- 5:42generation and sometimes more. So if we
- 5:45are able to do that from generation to
- 5:48generation, absorb the knowledge from
- 5:50previous generations, refine it, make it
- 5:53more relevant to current and future
- 5:54generations, we create this remarkable
- 5:57chain of social progress over
- 6:00generations, over hundreds of years.
- 6:05I mean surely we know uh that organized
- 6:10philanthropy has been around that long
- 6:13and we wonder uh part of what we're
- 6:16doing here today is that the trajectory
- 6:20doesn't really look that good. Jim,
- 6:23you've told us I even wrote it down. You
- 6:25you said that um I have multiple pages
- 6:28of notes over here. you said at one
- 6:32point one in um or four out of five
- 6:35donors,
- 6:36>> you know, that we're really losing
- 6:39people quite quickly. And so these ideas
- 6:43that you actually uh give people that
- 6:46you your institution, your organization
- 6:50gives uh your donors something to
- 6:53believe in
- 6:55>> to believe in. You use the word faith.
- 6:58That would be faith with a small F.
- 7:00>> Something to believe in.
- 7:02>> And then something to belong to. We
- 7:05talked about community. Community. What
- 7:08is more needed today? So today we're
- 7:11going to get into the last part of this
- 7:16uh framework and I want to just bring
- 7:19this up and show this beautiful graphic
- 7:22which is simple and uh easy to remember
- 7:27a simple guide for a fundraiser
- 7:31a planned giving officer but most
- 7:34especially Jim a nonprofit leader a
- 7:37university president a hospital CEO
- 7:40an agency executive director. And I want
- 7:43to encourage you to ask yourself simple
- 7:48questions. What can I do about these
- 7:54deep desires that I'm learning our
- 7:57donors have? So, let's get into part
- 8:00three now, Jim. And that is um to better
- 8:05something to improve something. A deep
- 8:09desire that a donor have has is to
- 8:13better something. What do you want to
- 8:15say about this?
- 8:16>> Well, let's all think about that and it
- 8:18should resonate with us. I think these
- 8:20are universal human desires, not just
- 8:22donor desires. But let's reflect on what
- 8:25we want for our life. And that is that
- 8:28somehow something that we learned, we
- 8:30did, we acquired was useful, was
- 8:32helpful. That there is meaning in our
- 8:35being on this planet. Not because we
- 8:38celebrate ourselves, but because we made
- 8:40a difference in the life of at least one
- 8:42other person. That is validation that we
- 8:45have made a difference. So I think this
- 8:48is carried across human nature. We we
- 8:52may go through a period where we're more
- 8:55self-absorbed, but once we re achieve a
- 8:57level of security and a level of
- 8:59maturity, we realize that that's not
- 9:01satisfying to be focused on ourel and we
- 9:04start asking why are we here? And
- 9:06ultimately the answer to that question
- 9:08of why are we here is realized not in
- 9:12just a sort of philosophical rumination
- 9:14but when we see the opportunity to
- 9:17transfer something that we learned we
- 9:19acquired something that was given to us
- 9:22that we are then able to hand to someone
- 9:24else who finds it useful and helpful. So
- 9:27it's incredibly satisfying as many
- 9:30people know to teach
- 9:33to learn first and then to have learned
- 9:35enough to teach and to say oh now I've
- 9:38been able to transfer knowledge or
- 9:41experience to another person and I think
- 9:43maybe there's an even deeper
- 9:45satisfaction than to transfer
- 9:49to others whatever it is we've acquired.
- 9:51I think if I and I don't want to get too
- 9:54abstract here, but I think my the whole
- 9:57paradigm of how we talk about
- 9:59philanthropy of giving is wrong that
- 10:01it's really about sharing and that in
- 10:04the giving process we get so much out of
- 10:07it and I don't mean just sort of oh the
- 10:10thrill of giving is we've shared
- 10:12something something has been given to us
- 10:15and we know it and we're grateful for it
- 10:18and then it's immensely satisfying to
- 10:20turn around and share that with other
- 10:21people. I don't think it's about giving.
- 10:23I don't think we should ever ask anybody
- 10:25to give. I think we should talk about
- 10:27sharing. As you give, so will you be
- 10:29given right? You will get so much out of
- 10:33this if we do it right. So once once we
- 10:37start to realize that that this is
- 10:40ultimately that the joy in human
- 10:43existence comes from the sharing, then
- 10:45we see these wonderful, beautiful
- 10:47philanthropic stories and paradigms. And
- 10:50I'm going to embarrass you a little bit,
- 10:52Susan, because I know you lost your
- 10:53husband recently. And I know that became
- 10:56the impetus then for you doing something
- 10:59around for Jewish women and Jewish
- 11:01girls, right? So here's what I find. I
- 11:04find this deeply beautiful and I find
- 11:05you an an example of it is that people
- 11:09out of pain, out of loss resolve that
- 11:13this should not happen to other people.
- 11:15So they take the very loss, the deficits
- 11:18that life hands them and say out of that
- 11:21out of that wound uh as one writer put
- 11:25it becomes the womb of creativity. So
- 11:29something is reborn from the womb to the
- 11:33womb. And what you then do is take the
- 11:35pain and loss that you experience and
- 11:37give a gift to those who you hope will
- 11:41best understand it and and for people
- 11:44who you feel you can speak to and speak
- 11:46for. This is magnified millions of times
- 11:50in in the story of philanthropy of loss.
- 11:54So then being turned into a greater
- 11:57societal gain and gain being turned into
- 12:00a greater societal gain. So was talking
- 12:02to one gentleman years ago and I was
- 12:04sharing my philosophy. He said well I I
- 12:06don't I don't feel as if you know I I uh
- 12:10I lost anything. And I said who to well
- 12:14to whom are you giving? Who are you most
- 12:15proud of giving to? What what what has
- 12:17been most satisfying? He said well I I
- 12:20love to help intellectually challenged
- 12:21children. I said why? He said because
- 12:25I'm so grateful for the mind I was
- 12:27given. I said well you see
- 12:29>> you see you you you are wise enough to
- 12:33realize not everyone gets that gift and
- 12:36you were given a wonderful gift and then
- 12:38you have the conscience to realize oh
- 12:41I'm given a gift not for my
- 12:42glorification not for my ego boosting I
- 12:46was given a gift so that I would be a
- 12:48vehicle for transferring that gift.
- 12:50Right? So this is what I love is when
- 12:52anytime we're given something, we turn
- 12:54around and say,"I want to share this joy
- 12:57with other people." So the dividing
- 12:59line, if you're trying to determine who
- 13:01is philanthropic and who isn't, I have a
- 13:03simple test for you. Say to the person,
- 13:06"What are you grateful for? To whom or
- 13:08to what are you grateful?" If the person
- 13:11can't come up with an answer, stop
- 13:12trying to raise money from them. If it's
- 13:15all about them, if they insist they're
- 13:18the self-made person, which is the most
- 13:20absurd phrase in the in human
- 13:22experience, self-made, if they insist
- 13:25that that be the case, don't try to
- 13:27raise money. But watch, anybody who
- 13:29gives money is grateful to someone or
- 13:32something, to God, to country, to
- 13:34teacher, to something. And it's out of
- 13:37that, oh my goodness, I've been given a
- 13:39gift. and and selfish people and
- 13:42sometimes, you know, if I could pick on
- 13:43some celebrities, think they were given
- 13:45beauty or a shapely body or a pleasant
- 13:48face for their gratification when it's
- 13:51such a good opportunity to use those
- 13:53attributes to draw attention to a cause
- 13:56or purpose like Paul Newman did. A man
- 13:59with incredibly uh beautiful features
- 14:02that translated well to film said, "I
- 14:05was lucky to be given these features."
- 14:07and started a whole chain of charitable
- 14:10and philanthropic enterprise. He knew
- 14:13and he resolved, I'm not going to use
- 14:15this for my own ego boosting, but I've
- 14:18been given a gift. Now, let me use it.
- 14:20And so, he used his celebrity, his
- 14:22attractiveness to draw attention to the
- 14:25causes that he cared about. Wonderful
- 14:27example. So, and then if we listen to
- 14:30various religious leaders about where
- 14:31joy in life comes from, they'll say it's
- 14:35about sharing, about getting outside of
- 14:37yourself, of finding a way to help. But
- 14:40I don't like help. I like share. So,
- 14:42share something you have and you will
- 14:45get so much back from it, including the
- 14:48psychic benefit of using the attributes
- 14:51and the gifts you've been given to help
- 14:53others. And we've all been given a gift
- 14:56of some shape or means. So it could be
- 15:00positive Susan out of out of I know I've
- 15:02been given something. I resolve to share
- 15:04it. Or it could be this. I know what
- 15:07this pain feels like. I know what this
- 15:09loss feels like and I resolve to
- 15:12minimize that if not reduce that
- 15:15altogether for others. This these are
- 15:17the two powerful forces of philanthropy.
- 15:21And isn't it a beautiful thing? Now then
- 15:23take that and say how well do
- 15:25organizations seize on that and put that
- 15:27to its best use in this transactional
- 15:31dull mechanical fundraising.
- 15:36>> Something is coming up for me that I I
- 15:39would like to discuss. Um I I am really
- 15:42the perfect example of that. My gift in
- 15:45memory of my husband. It was so deeply
- 15:48meaningful for me. But to the point of
- 15:51this conversation,
- 15:53my um person um the organization, the
- 15:58CEO of the organization used my money,
- 16:02my gift. It happened to be, you know,
- 16:05money that I gave um to uh design and
- 16:09publish a book on in a topic that was a
- 16:13important to my husband, Jewish liturgy
- 16:15and prayer that was relevant and um and
- 16:19then b uh was used to improve
- 16:24uh the users's uh experience of praying
- 16:29in Jewish prayer. So the idea to better
- 16:33something, you know, that that people
- 16:35want to know that they're involved with
- 16:38bettering something, improving
- 16:40something, making a difference. I know
- 16:42this book will help in this case, this
- 16:45is just one tiny example that happens to
- 16:48be mine, but it's exactly in your
- 16:50thesis. I know this book will help
- 16:53people pray uh the Jewish liturgy in a
- 16:56more conscious uh deeper and more
- 16:59purposeful way for themselves. That
- 17:02that's it, right?
- 17:03>> Beautiful.
- 17:05Beautiful. That's it. And and so then
- 17:07think about do we why do we miss this
- 17:10when this is so present when this is so
- 17:12persistent? When this is the power of
- 17:14philanthropy itself, why do so many
- 17:16organizations miss it and fail to feed
- 17:18it, fail to nurture it, and therefore
- 17:20wonder why they don't raise more money?
- 17:22Well, you see, you've approached it all
- 17:24wrong. When you get to the why of
- 17:26giving, when you listen for the why, you
- 17:29you and I have always talked the power
- 17:31of listening, but we're listening for
- 17:32the why. What did life teach you? And
- 17:35then recently, Susan, as a validation of
- 17:37everything I've learned over my career,
- 17:39Bank of America has done another study,
- 17:42you know, it's done annually for the
- 17:43last few years. In this case, why do
- 17:45affluent people give? What's the first
- 17:48band, the first in a hierarchy of
- 17:51reasons for giving? Values.
- 17:53Transfer. They don't say that, but
- 17:55that's what philanthropy is. Transfer
- 17:57values. You're just speaking about
- 17:59Jewish values held by your husband which
- 18:01you shared which you then want to take
- 18:03his loss and turn into a gain for those
- 18:07who share those values. It's so
- 18:10beautiful and it happens over and over
- 18:12and over again in philanthropy. We don't
- 18:14capture it in our storytelling. We don't
- 18:15capture it in our fundraising
- 18:17literature. We don't let donors tell
- 18:19these stories to each other so that they
- 18:21feel in community. But you see it is all
- 18:24about this last point here about
- 18:27bettering from a point of where we are
- 18:31in life. What do I have? What do I
- 18:33learn? What did I learn painfully? What
- 18:36do I do with that knowledge? And here's
- 18:38this wonderful means of expression
- 18:40called philanthropy that I feel has been
- 18:43so suboptimized by such kind of
- 18:46sometimes obvious if not crass kinds of
- 18:50approaches to fundraising. Oh, we have
- 18:53needs, we have wants, as opposed to, oh,
- 18:57can we be the vehicle to take what life
- 19:00has taught you and to transfer it to
- 19:02others? And Susan, there's never more a
- 19:05more pregnant time than the one we're
- 19:08in, notwithstanding the struggles that
- 19:11many nonprofits have and the
- 19:13discouraging trends notwithstanding. And
- 19:15that is these baby boomers aging and
- 19:19will be dispersing of estates in the
- 19:21next 10 or 15 years. I think largely in
- 19:23the next 10 years, right? And we send
- 19:26them instruments about how to use a plan
- 19:30give,
- 19:31>> don't you?
- 19:33>> I know.
- 19:33>> And you go,
- 19:35>> I know. And so the phrase that you read
- 19:38is about how we do good work, you know,
- 19:40about our good work. And I'm listening
- 19:42to you and I wrote down um in quotation
- 19:46marks uh you've done good work you know
- 19:49to the donor
- 19:50>> like you've done good work here.
- 19:52>> Yes. Yes.
- 19:53>> Yeah.
- 19:53>> So Susan when people saw me even when I
- 19:55was young and it was when I was a young
- 19:57I was a vice president when I was 37 for
- 19:58the first time and I had a baby face and
- 20:00people didn't know I was a vice
- 20:01president. I was like the doogiehouser
- 20:02of vice president but people people who
- 20:06watch me said Jim there's something very
- 20:08parental about the way you raise money.
- 20:11Well, it was affirming. It was always,
- 20:14"Oh, look what you have done. Can we
- 20:16talk about how to transfer that wisdom,
- 20:19that knowledge, that passion, that
- 20:21caring, whatever it is that I saw in
- 20:23people?" And I was so moved by it. I
- 20:25didn't see that growing up. I didn't I
- 20:27didn't experience a lot of beauty and
- 20:30human nature. No condemnation of anyone.
- 20:33It was just sort of being in a very
- 20:35dysfunctional environment. And so I was
- 20:38so appreciative of the good, the caring,
- 20:40the love in people that I discovered. I
- 20:42started to see the best in human nature
- 20:44as I became a fundraiser. And that's
- 20:47what I was trying to reinforce is, oh,
- 20:49look what you have. Look at this gift,
- 20:52this wisdom, this insight, this passion,
- 20:54this experience that you have. And I'd
- 20:56ask people, how did you acquire it? You
- 20:58know, hard work, pain, difficulty. Can
- 21:01we talk about transferring that? You
- 21:03see, that's making something better.
- 21:06It's taking something that could be
- 21:08limiting to limited to your life and
- 21:11like the pebble in the pond create this
- 21:14ripple effect and it can go on. Who
- 21:17knows the the lasting impact of that
- 21:19gift you made about Jewish liturgy? Who
- 21:23knows in which heart, in which soul that
- 21:26will land 50 years from now? Oh my gosh,
- 21:29I literally have chills when you say
- 21:32that, uh, Jim, that and I want to, uh,
- 21:35share a story, a specific example of how
- 21:39this is applied because I want our
- 21:42listeners to hear examples. That was one
- 21:45example. When I was a fundraiser, I was
- 21:49uh working with um a community hospital
- 21:53and uh one of the top um corporate there
- 21:58was a big massive corporation in that
- 22:00community. One of the top executives
- 22:03retired and died within months of his
- 22:07retirement.
- 22:08>> They were big donors to the hospital. I
- 22:11knew them and I met up with his wife in
- 22:15grieving. Exactly as you said, the loss
- 22:17and so on. Long story short, um he was
- 22:21in charge of all the giving and the
- 22:22money. It was a little generational, you
- 22:24know, they were much older. This goes
- 22:26back many, many years, 30 years. And at
- 22:29that time, they were already older. She
- 22:31was a breast cancer survivor.
- 22:34And what I did was I helped her learn
- 22:38about philanthropy in this way, how it
- 22:42can go. not just that her husband is
- 22:44constantly writing checks in those days.
- 22:47And then she made a decision on her own.
- 22:50All I did was offer an opportunity to
- 22:54beautify and enhance the um what's it
- 22:57called? The breast cancer unit when you
- 22:59go in for your mography and all of those
- 23:02things.
- 23:03>> And she came in talk about to better
- 23:06something.
- 23:07this third part, the deep desire from
- 23:12the beginning to the end of what she
- 23:14did, including really getting involved
- 23:16in picking out lovely
- 23:19curtains and the things that you put on
- 23:21the gowns and so on. Um, as well as the
- 23:24equipment and the things that you need
- 23:27to make, you know, offer better service.
- 23:30She saw how she herself in this case, of
- 23:34course, they were quite wealthy, could
- 23:36improve, could better that one singular
- 23:40unit. And she thanked me over and over,
- 23:43Jim, like you, when you really get it
- 23:46right with a donor, I know without a
- 23:47doubt, we've never talked about this,
- 23:49how many donors have thanked you
- 23:51personally for the experience uh to give
- 23:55to you, right?
- 23:57>> Yes. Well, that is a hallmark of a
- 23:59successful career. I stand up in front
- 24:02of groups, Susan, I can't say this
- 24:04without being moved by it and say, you
- 24:07know, people read my credentials and
- 24:09I've been a party to raising billions of
- 24:11dollars for major institutions. But I at
- 24:14the first opportunity, I say, but the
- 24:16great achievement of my career in my
- 24:19estimation
- 24:21is is being asked multiple times to give
- 24:25eulogies at donor's funerals.
- 24:28That's what that's what tells me I did
- 24:30my job well. Not right not billions of
- 24:33dollars,
- 24:34>> but to have made the experience
- 24:36rewarding. But what what people said to
- 24:38me was in working with you, Jim, I've
- 24:42learned something about myself because I
- 24:44listened. I asked the right question. I
- 24:46cared. And then I said from those
- 24:48values, here's how you can make a
- 24:50difference. Right? And then when I gave
- 24:52the ulogies to have the family members
- 24:54come up and say ina my case it was males
- 24:57you captured his spirit.
- 25:01>> H that's what philanthropy can do. It
- 25:04can capture the spirit and can make the
- 25:06meaning of one life extend well beyond
- 25:09that lifetime. And then contrast that
- 25:11Susan to the ghastly
- 25:14strategic pillars, the categories of
- 25:16giving and say where did we lose the
- 25:19thread, this golden thread of
- 25:22philanthropy about differencem about
- 25:25taking the pain, the joy, the strength,
- 25:27the wisdom, anything I acquired for good
- 25:30or for ill and turned around and made
- 25:33another life better. Oh my god, people
- 25:35giving to people. Where did we lose the
- 25:38thread?
- 25:39I you know I wanna I have a lot of
- 25:42things to say but one thing I want to
- 25:44say is that I feel um
- 25:48that there are leaders listening to us
- 25:53and I can feel their pain and so can
- 25:55you. You've been there. You work with
- 25:57them the same way that they they they
- 26:00have to prove their worth, prove their
- 26:02value, raise more each year. Their board
- 26:05members raise more each year. do more
- 26:08each year and all those things. And I
- 26:11want to say unequivocally now like like
- 26:16calling people in, please pay attention
- 26:19when you apply the constructs you've
- 26:22learned in this three-part video series.
- 26:25you will raise more money and you will
- 26:31sustain these beautiful
- 26:34uh long-term loyal relationships. I want
- 26:38to just say the people whose family
- 26:41asked you to do a eulogy or someone
- 26:44asked you whatever uh those people
- 26:49felt uh in their experience with you
- 26:52that they uh whatever that mission was
- 26:54at that time you might have been working
- 26:56on behalf of that they believed deeply
- 26:59and it could feel the faith of the
- 27:03application. This doesn't mean an
- 27:04organization never gets anything wrong.
- 27:06I mean things happen okay you know but
- 27:08to believe uh in that mission impact and
- 27:12then that person in connection with you
- 27:15uh where you were literally just so
- 27:18moved uh here felt that they belonged to
- 27:22something that they belonged to
- 27:24something so connected okay connected to
- 27:28you personally but connected uh to the
- 27:31organization through you
- 27:33>> yes
- 27:34>> and then they felt that they were doing
- 27:37something. They felt that that they were
- 27:39improving something, that they were
- 27:42bettering something in the world. And
- 27:45you know, when it really comes down to
- 27:46it, it's like, what more is there than
- 27:50just really wanting to make an impact in
- 27:54the world, right?
- 27:55>> That that's it. I mean what more is
- 27:58there for whatever you attain in life
- 28:00whatever that is where will you find
- 28:03greater satisfaction than taking what
- 28:06has been giving you to you and sharing
- 28:08it with others in such a way where your
- 28:12time on this planet lives beyond and has
- 28:16a ripple effect across the realm of
- 28:20humanity. But where are you going to get
- 28:23any more joy or any more satisfaction?
- 28:27That's why people thank you as you were
- 28:28an agent, a facilitator of something
- 28:31that they found immensely rewarding.
- 28:36>> It it occurs to me we could have a
- 28:40special video conversation just telling
- 28:43donor stories. Maybe we'll invite a few
- 28:45other people and and just tell donor
- 28:48stories. Uh because my story with my
- 28:51husband is immediately recent. That
- 28:53that's current. My story with the the
- 28:56woman whose husband died right after
- 28:58retirement that was never expected. That
- 29:01goes back. And you have stories that are
- 29:04recent and past.
- 29:05>> Yeah. Yeah. That's
- 29:07>> And that's what that's what I love about
- 29:08being around good fundraisers is they
- 29:10have these stories.
- 29:11>> Yeah.
- 29:12>> That's what they're sharing with younger
- 29:13generations, not I raised a ton of
- 29:15money. I was golden tongue. They go,
- 29:18"Oh, let me show you. Let me share an
- 29:21instance where you will see the beauty
- 29:23in humanity." Even people that were far
- 29:26from perfect, that had rough spots
- 29:28through philanthropy found the best part
- 29:30of themselves.
- 29:33>> It also speaks to me and you addressed
- 29:35this in the second um the second part of
- 29:39this discussion. We know uh millennials
- 29:44uh and even all the more Gen Zers
- 29:47literally want this.
- 29:50>> Yes.
- 29:50>> Uh we already began to break from baby
- 29:54boomers to Gen Xers certainly to
- 29:56millennials from the you know well I
- 29:58give because my father gave that
- 30:00patriarchal you know you know chain that
- 30:04I just give because my parents always
- 30:06gave there.
- 30:07>> And we began to see that break. We still
- 30:10have some of that, but only when
- 30:11organizations have actually reached out
- 30:14to younger generations of their long
- 30:17term loyal donors and invited them into
- 30:22belong to the community in their own
- 30:24right. But this construct that you're
- 30:27teaching, boy, uh does it apply today.
- 30:30In the second uh video, you talked about
- 30:34hope and you talked about nonprofit
- 30:37leaders. The leadership that is needed
- 30:41today is retaining despite
- 30:45extraordinary difficulty
- 30:48uh is uh retaining uh obtaining some
- 30:52kind of hope and hopefulness. And if
- 30:55philanthropy isn't that space, I don't
- 30:58really know what is. Jim,
- 31:00>> I don't either, Susan. And I think
- 31:01that's the that is the hope for all of
- 31:04us is to renew philanthropy in these
- 31:07ways so that philanthropy gives hope to
- 31:09so many causes and purposes and good
- 31:12intentions. But what's imperiled now is
- 31:16trust of organizations is a feeling that
- 31:18it's all about money is a feeling that I
- 31:22don't matter to them beyond what I give.
- 31:24Right? So we've got to change the
- 31:26language. We've got to change the
- 31:28construct itself and and get past the
- 31:32short-term obsessions of fundraising, no
- 31:34matter how many knots there are in your
- 31:36stomach and start to go back to may we
- 31:39work with you and show you how you can
- 31:41believe belong and with us together with
- 31:44us make something better. And you and I
- 31:47know in the depth of our soul that that
- 31:50will work
- 31:53>> without with without a doubt. Without a
- 31:56doubt. Let's just let people know where
- 31:58they can find you and let's have you
- 32:01share one more word on this um donor
- 32:04satisfaction uh satisfaction survey that
- 32:07you have.
- 32:08>> Thanks so much Susan. It's been a great
- 32:10privilege and a pleasure. So you can
- 32:12contact me at jiml langleyinovations
- 32:15and.com and I I'll be happy to share
- 32:19this survey which we think is a tool for
- 32:21you to apply everything that we've
- 32:23shared about and allow you to create a
- 32:25baseline from which you can then measure
- 32:27progress forward. How many donors
- 32:29believe? How strongly do they believe?
- 32:31How many feel as if they belong? How
- 32:32strongly etc. etc. Every year you'll be
- 32:35able to measure whether you're on the
- 32:37right track. If you build a community of
- 32:39more belonging, believing, and
- 32:41bettering, fundraising, and philanthropy
- 32:44naturally follows from it. If you don't,
- 32:46you're going to continue to struggle. If
- 32:48I could, Susan, I want to add one
- 32:50caveat. If you want to write me and ask
- 32:52me to give you the instrument, I won't
- 32:54do it. If you ask me to help you apply
- 32:56it, if I believe that you will use it
- 32:59for the right reasons, if you're willing
- 33:01to take just a little bit of training,
- 33:03then I'll be happy to share the
- 33:05instrument with you. But I've had too
- 33:07many bad experience where something
- 33:08people grab it off the shelf and use it
- 33:11in exactly the wrong way for short-term
- 33:15fundraising needs or even manipulation.
- 33:18Let's not do that. We're too good. This
- 33:20field is too important. This field is
- 33:21too noble. Let's together find a better
- 33:25way of doing everything we've talked
- 33:27about. It's what you want in your life
- 33:29to believe, belong, and better. It's why
- 33:31you choose the jobs. It's the hope you
- 33:33had for the job you took. So, let's
- 33:36extend this to others, including our
- 33:38donors. And through that shared set of
- 33:42love and caring, we'll form better
- 33:46communities that will be more self-
- 33:48sustaining. And thank you Susan so much
- 33:51for there's something about you that
- 33:53just electrifies my imagination and uh
- 33:57allows me to open up and share with
- 33:59other people.
- 34:01>> Well, it's absolutely my pleasure. Thank
- 34:04you for showing up. I appreciate it. And
- 34:08I will just say the last word which is
- 34:12the work of philanthropy done well is
- 34:16among the most human and meaningful work
- 34:19there is.
- 34:21Believe in something, belong to
- 34:24something and make something better. I
- 34:28can't thank you enough for this for
- 34:30myself and you know everybody I'll use
- 34:32it with. And um yeah, we'll do it again
- 34:35soon. Jim, thank you.
- 34:37>> Nor nor are I you, Susan. So, thank you
- 34:39so much.
- 34:40>> Take good care.
- 34:42>> Byebye.
About this transcript
This page contains the full transcript of Part 3, The Three Deep Desire That Drive Philanthropy by Susan Axelrod, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,272 words across 769 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.
What you can do with it
Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.
Free YouTube transcript tool
YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.