Emotional fundraising: 1 > 2,000,000

Anyone who follows the genocide in Darfur -- or any number of other human catastrophes -- is flabbergasted by the lack of response to the tragedy. How can something so huge not stir more action?

New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof recently looked at the question in Save the Darfur Puppy (a subscription to TimesSelect is required to read this piece). He says the thing that would get action would be a "suffering puppy with big eyes and floppy ears."

That's the implication of a series of studies by psychologists trying to understand why people -- good, conscientious people -- aren't moved by genocide or famines. Time and again, we've seen that the human conscience just isn't pricked by mass suffering, while an individual child (or puppy) in distress causes our hearts to flutter.

It's true. The suffering of one puppy -- a puppy with a face, that whimpers with pain and quivers with fear -- is something the human mind can grasp and respond to. The suffering of two million refugees -- there's no face, no sound, almost nothing to stir the heart and motivate action.

So what are you going to do?

• You could lecture your donors about their priorities. Of course, that's like the teacher you yells at the students who are present because so many students are absent. And you're wasting your time on the wrong problem.
  
• You could try to change human neurology through education. Good luck.
  
• Or you can work in the real world. Put an actual human face on the tragedy. One person whose suffering is real, visible, and understandable.
  

It just doesn't seem right that one puppy can trump two million human beings on the emotion scale. The puppy also edges out the AIDS epidemic, hunger in America, and rising sea levels.

That's the way it is. You can complain about it all you want, but that won't change anything, or raise much money. Or you can deal with the world as it really is. And raise the funds needed to help solve the problem.

Which choice is the successful fundraiser making?

Technorati Tags: fundraising, Nicholas Kristof, Darfur

Comments

[Jeff Brooks]

That's exactly right. It's not a question of what's logically correct, but the way our brains work. Of course it's better to do the thing that has the most impact. But the part of the brain that chooses to act compassionately is not the same part that makes those calculations.

[Liz]

However, saving 3 puppies is cheaper, and easier, than saving all of Darfur. Therefore, there is a feeling of accomplishment when you save said puppies, because you CAN feasibly save all of them, whereas when you shoot off your same $20, $45, even $1000, towards the millions of people in Darfur - it feels like nothing is happening. Therefore, you need to give the tragedy a face. 'If you send $x, you save THIS woman. If you send $x, you save THIS little kid. You save THIS man.' and then they can take that picture, print it out, and say, I am responsible for the fact that this human being is no longer suffering.

Even if your $1000 saved 50, or 100, or even all of them, that wouldn't be one face, one human being that you could feasibly connect with and care about.

[Holden]

I think you are missing about half the picture.

Do you think it would be more valuable (assuming equal cost) to end the Darfur crisis, or save 3 puppies? What is the reason for your preference?

[mikemuses]

It's human nature. We can't understand the suffering of millions, we can't even visualise millions. Nor a single million. What does a million of anything look like? So how can I, little old me, possibly HELP millions. I can't. So I don't. But I can help THAT ONE person. I can make a difference to a single life, perhaps. So I'll try.

And that's why a single puppy will trump millions, and that's why we have to give the suffering of millions a single face. You can tell your donors how they've helped one person, and how their next donation will change the ife of someone like them.

And as a fundraiser, you can inspire people to believe that they can make a difference to millions.