Delusional Altruism

11You Transform Lives

In order to have a transformational impact on whatever issue you're passionate about, you need to give in ways that create lasting and sustainable change. To do that, you also need to transform yourself and how you give. How you give matters.

Giving happens in many ways. When we see images of horrific damage brought on by hurricanes, earthquakes, and mass shootings, we are moved to send money in response. Through a simple financial transaction, we've helped address an immediate need. The same is true when we support a local food pantry to provide a meal for a hungry family and when we donate to a homeless shelter to keep a single mother and her children off the street.

This type of transactional philanthropy is important and necessary to help those in immediate crises meet very pressing needs. For many donors, that's enough. But I know it's not enough for you. You want to do more. You want to address immediate needs, but you also want to change the conditions that created the needs in the first place.

More importantly, you recognize that in order to create this type of transformational change, the way you give probably needs to change too.

I call this Transformational Giving™.

Transformational giving requires that funders think about inequitable systems, policies, and root causes that may create, exacerbate, or maintain the problem, and help design long-term solutions to change them. It means thinking ahead 5, 10, or 30 years and creating solutions that ...