{"id":627,"date":"2010-02-05T10:50:33","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T17:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/?p=627"},"modified":"2010-02-05T10:50:33","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T17:50:33","slug":"why-do-people-give","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/general\/why-do-people-give","title":{"rendered":"Why do people give?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Bregman, in the Harvard Business Review, wrote an interesting article this week about what motivates people to help<\/a>.\u00a0 If you haven’t seen it yet, follow that link and have a look.\u00a0 Peter raises an interesting question about why people are motivated to give to others, to help.<\/p>\n

In general, people like to be helpful.\u00a0 I suppose part of it is an expectation of getting something in return, but that’s not the core.<\/p>\n

The fact is, you get a rush just from knowing you’ve done good<\/em>.\u00a0 It actually physically feels good to you<\/em>, and in many cases that may be enough reward in itself.<\/p>\n

Of course, we get rather cynical about all this.\u00a0 Many charitable organizations prey on our need to be loved and to feel like we’re making a difference.\u00a0 After a while we get the sense that maybe we’re not actually making the difference that we’d hoped, and that some of the unscrupulous types might be taking advantage of us.<\/p>\n

That’s why Peter’s example is so powerful.\u00a0 It’s about making a difference to someone here and now, in a way that makes a difference that you can actually see.<\/p>\n

Here’s what we learn about giving:<\/p>\n