Comments on: You Gotta Give

By: laura

laura — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:50:19 +0000

I wonder what people see as the differences between asking employees to give and asking board members to give? Board members are usually giving their time and expertise with no monetary compensation, but we are usually comfortable with the idea that they are expected to give, right? I know for a lot of organizations, board members are people who have a capacity to give, but what about younger or less economically advantaged board members?

I feel like full staff participation in giving shouldn't be demanded, or even expected. But I do think it's a tremendous endorsement of the organization when it happens. And beyond employees who give to their own organization, non-development staff members who ask their own friends or family to give.

By: Elisa M. Ortiz

Elisa M. Ortiz — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:57:37 +0000

I can appreciate the thought of integrating giving into the work environment (especially the way you describe it in your school experience), but being asked/expected to give/fundraise outside my job description would make me very uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong: I've continually asked to get trained on how to be a better fundraiser but there is a difference between that and being expected to host fundraisers or give myself.

One of the biggest reasons this makes me uncomfortable is because of the often-times huge disparity between what people make in nonprofits (i.e., between execs and lower level staff). I worked in a large national organization where the CEO made over $400K while I and many of my colleagues barely broke the $30Ks. How is it fair to ask us all to give? Plenty of us did give in that we often weren't compensated for overtime despite being covered by a union contract, but that's not the same thing.

Anyway, the point is there will always be some places that encourage the kind of loyalty that make you happy to give and other places that won't. Setting some sort of outside standard to equalize the two in terms of staff contributions (which it sort of sounds like Brigid is hinting at above) would not make sense.

By: Rosetta Thurman

Rosetta Thurman — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 05:55:07 +0000

I love the idea of giving as part of the work environment. To me, it's a mark of a successful organization to have a spirit of generosity from all employees who are not only willing to go beyond their job description, but really and truly want to.

By: Bernadette

Bernadette — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:20:25 +0000

lol…you beat me too it on the comment on C-level for profit execs being compensated with those shares. I think I need to read further before responding.

By: Bernadette

Bernadette — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:18:58 +0000

On the thought: Many of those c-level execs at coke (or most other for profits) have those shares built into their total compensation package. If my non-profit employer was paying for me to attend the $250 a ticket annual gala and building that into my total compensation package, I'd also have “shares” in my company that might look great publicly, but not necessarily be about “brand loyalty” at all.

As a non-development employee at a non-profit, I'm not asked personally if I give back to my company. Pretty much, I think people assume that me working at the company and taking the lower pay is my “gift”. Then again, those vary same folks are very profit based and think anyone working in the NP realm is automatically giving by how much we are paid (smile).

One other thought for me: Like any gift, when it is mandatory or “expected”, it kinda takes the lustre off that pearl. I've found that in environments where I was not expected to give, I did so willingly and, admittedly, without much thought. But as soon as it became expected, I started to resist. That's when I started to go the “you'll get the very least amount that is expected of me” and when I started to push back – especially when furlough days were handed out, benefits were cut and my take home pay was being cut to ensure that the organization survived. I understood and agreed with the necessity of that, but, respectfully, said “Consider that my gift this year”. It's a tough go out there.