I think that you are asking the wrong question. The role of organizations such as ours is not to set the most ambitious standard, but rather to influence as many people as we can to give to the nonprofits we recommend.
To clarify, I agree the goal is not setting the most ambitious target. I was not that clear, but I meant to allude to that in the post:
TLYCS also emphasises the idea of striving towards one’s personal best in terms of effective donations. Which amount of annual donations should be recommended to increase annual donations to their ideal level is an empirical question. I do not have an answer for this, and here I mostly wanted to start a discussion.
I have one clarifying question. You say your goal is i) “to influence as many people as we can to give to the nonprofits we recommend”. Is your goal closer to any of the following?
ii) Causing as many donations as you can to recommended nonprofits
iii) Causing as many donations as you can to recommended nonprofits per dollar you spend, i.e. maximising your multiplier.
I believe the optimum stragegies under ii) and iii) have a greater focus on larger donors and more ambitious asks than the optimum strategy under i).
To clarify, I never intended a harsh tone, I was merely stating that I thought the comparison was missing a significant aspect of why we take the approach we do, and could also be read to be critical of the people behind the effort into the accomplishments of the organization to date (least of all me to be clear).
To your follow-up question, we try to do both across our online and managed donor segments.
Thanks. Clarification on my side too. In the reply just above, I said “I was that clear”, but I forgot one word. It was supposed to be “I was not that clear” (corrected).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jessica!
To clarify, I agree the goal is not setting the most ambitious target. I was not that clear, but I meant to allude to that in the post:
I have one clarifying question. You say your goal is i) “to influence as many people as we can to give to the nonprofits we recommend”. Is your goal closer to any of the following?
ii) Causing as many donations as you can to recommended nonprofits
iii) Causing as many donations as you can to recommended nonprofits per dollar you spend, i.e. maximising your multiplier.
I believe the optimum stragegies under ii) and iii) have a greater focus on larger donors and more ambitious asks than the optimum strategy under i).
To clarify, I never intended a harsh tone, I was merely stating that I thought the comparison was missing a significant aspect of why we take the approach we do, and could also be read to be critical of the people behind the effort into the accomplishments of the organization to date (least of all me to be clear).
To your follow-up question, we try to do both across our online and managed donor segments.
Thanks. Clarification on my side too. In the reply just above, I said “I was that clear”, but I forgot one word. It was supposed to be “I was not that clear” (corrected).