Businesswoman and philanthropist Lisa Greer, author of “Philanthropy Revolution: How to Inspire Donors, Build Relationships, and Make a Difference” has one mission: to “save giving” by addressing what she sees as endemic problems among nonprofits.
Speaking to Pasadena Now, Greer gave a glimpse of the current fundraising practices donors can find “illogical” and “irritating,” which she shared in her new book published by Pasadena-based Red Hen Press.
Greer experienced firsthand how difficult it is to make donations.
Years ago, she tried to make a $1 million donation at a Beverly Hills synagogue but was treated with disdain because it was unsolicited.
“A lot of these nonprofits we’ve found, the idea of an unsolicited gift makes them nervous.”
“It’s like, they don’t know what to do with it because they haven’t gone through their process. I think it is insane, but that’s how they work.”
She also detailed how it took almost one year before she and her husband could get Cedars-Sinai hospital to accept their $2 million donation for Crohn’s disease research.
“It took them seven months to accept $2 million from us because they didn’t believe we had the money.”
“It was all public information, but they didn’t bother checking. We weren’t one of the regulars. We weren’t somebody who’s always given. Therefore we weren’t on their list. Therefore, we didn’t kind of didn’t exist.”
According to Greer, only 9% of people who donate monthly to nonprofits receive positive acknowledgement after they have contributed for three consecutive months.
She believes many people, just like her and her husband tried to make donations but were ignored and not treated very well.
Greer said there are 618,000 millennial millionaires in the United States who might want to donate but she believes that the “rude” practices she mentioned could discourage them from giving.
“In a regular universe, people would say, ‘Gee, gosh, thank you so much! Oh my gosh, you want to give money? This is great!’ But that didn’t happen.”
“There’s all these nonprofits doing great work. They all want money. And yet there are people like me who all of a sudden have money and aren’t welcomed and aren’t allowed to play. And I thought, well, how much money are they leaving on the table?”
The issues need to be addressed right now, Greer said as she added that
nonprofits are the third largest employment sector in the United States and unfair treatment to donors might hold back the sector’s progress.
Greer will talk more about philanthropy and the issues she highlighted on her book this July 27 at 6:00 p.m. at Red Hen Press’ headquarters in Pasadena.
Click here for more information on “Philanthropy Revolution: How to Inspire Donors, Build Relationships, and Make a Difference.”
