How To Find Your Purpose and Make a Donation
Jun 29, 2021 by Emily Geris
These are all words and phrases that come to mind when you think of making a donation. But you may not immediately connect with these, because they are big and general ideas.
Here are three questions you can ask yourself to find your purpose when making a gift to a charitable organization. These tips will help you make a donation that is meaningful, purposeful, and feels good to you.
1. Ask yourself, “what am I passionate about?”
You can think about what causes, ideas, or types of work are closest to your heart. A good place to start can be thinking about what kind of work doesn’t feel like work to you. If you could volunteer your time, where would you most want to spend it? Maybe that’s working with animal rescue, or tutoring children, or providing companionship to seniors. Determining your true passions can help you narrow down what organizations you’d be most inspired to support. From there, you can research different organizations that provide the kinds of services you are most passionate about.
2. Consider how you want to be recognized for your gift.
There are as many different kinds of donors as there are people! A great exercise can be to consider how you would want the organization to recognize you as a donor. You may want to remain anonymous, where you know you made a donation but you don’t want the whole world to know. You may want to see your name printed in a list of supporters of that organization. Or you may want more significant recognition. Maybe it would feel great to you as a donor to have a building, a program, or a scholarship fund named after you or your family. There is no wrong answer when it comes to what level of recognition you want. It is a unique and personal decision for each donor to make for themselves.
3. Consider what you want to be remembered for.
Another way you may hear this said is, “what legacy do you want to leave?” This can be a very broad and sometimes overwhelming question. You most likely want to leave the world a better place. From there, it may be difficult to express specifically what that would look like. To simplify this, here’s a good starting point. Building off of your biggest passions and how you want to be recognized for your gift, ask yourself what mark you want to leave on the world. What do you want to see less of, or more of? If you have a specific number goal, that can be helpful. Maybe you want your legacy to be 50% less animals in rescue shelters, or to close the education gap, or to create a fund so no seniors in your community go without reliable transportation. The options are endless!
Reflecting on these three questions will get you well on your way to finding your purpose, getting specific on what you are passionate about supporting, and making a donation to a charitable organization that makes you feel fulfilled and excited. This is the ideal, win-win situation. You as the donor will feel fulfilled because you are being true to your purpose, and the organization that receives your donation will be able to continue to do their good work because of your support.
About the Knute Nelson Foundation
The Knute Nelson Foundation raises funds to support Knute Nelson and the mission of enriching the lives of everyone we serve. Gifts to the Foundation support programs, services, facilities, our staff, and innovative and high-quality care for the older adults we serve. You can learn more about the Knute Nelson Foundation and ways to support us here, or by calling the Foundation office at 320-763-1169.
