Intermittent Almsgiving
On developing the habit of generosity.
Intermittent fasting is a system of timing periods of eating for the purposes of regulating caloric intake.
Someone might choose to eat only between the hours of 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm, for example. They can eat anything they like, but only during that period. The idea is that by restricting meals to set windows the body can more easily adjust to a caloric deficit and thereby help a person to lose weight. There may be ancillary benefits as well.
The concept of fasting is not new but many have credited this particular approach with their weight loss breakthrough.
So what does this have to do with fundraising?
Losing weight requires some degree of discomfort. It’s unavoidable. Which is why most people instead settle for a comfortable middle ground. Never too hungry, but never a serious contender for Mr. Olympia either.
A similar situation appears in conversations about charitable giving. Shouldn’t giving feel good?
Well, does dieting always feel good?
There is generally no easy fix to feeling the “pinch” of charitable giving. But perhaps the highs and lows can be remedied to some degree while further contributing to healthier habits of generosity.
I call this Intermittent Almsgiving.
Could giving more frequently also make giving easier? How would this work?
Like “binge dieting,” “binge giving” is what typically motivates us to finally write the check or swipe the card, perhaps influenced by some emotional trigger like Giving Tuesday or, say, December 31 at 11:55 pm. Which isn’t to say these queues aren’t helpful but they do lack a certain precision of intent, let alone habit.
To do difficult things regularly we must habituate ourselves to doing them. In a Harvard Business Review article titled “How to Convince Yourself to Do Hard Things,” author David Rock cites a psychology principle called fluency which states that it is much easier to process existing ideas than new ones. Fluency in one language, for example, contributes to success in learning another. In the same way, by making uncomfortable things more common we can begin to overcome their associated challenges.
Let’s apply this to giving.
Instead of giving $100 a year to a favorite charity, perhaps one could give $8.50 each month to inculcate mindfulness for the organization they care about every time the deduction hits their account.
Or, instead of contributing $50 a month one might try giving $25 every two weeks. Each person can be as creative as they like in their approach.
This isn’t to suggest skipping Giving Tuesday or important organizational milestones, but perhaps a Giving Tuesday gift will be just one part of an overall giving strategy.
Intermittent Almsgiving need not include heroic acts of generosity, like juice cleanses or multi hour sauna treatments that rarely get repeated, but rather small acts that serve to accustom oneself to the process of giving.
Like diet and exercise, the degree of effort required will be personal but everyone can incline their sensibilities to become more generous through repetition. Perhaps it is even possible to come to enjoy doing difficult things, like the gym rat who never misses a day, or the runner who is up before dawn. By developing the habit of generosity it can become less of a binge activity and more a part of who we really are.