224 | Can our culture of philanthropy emerge from authentic story-telling?

I have long pushed back on the notion that a culture of philanthropy can in any way be created or manufactured. That’s just not how it works. Culture emerges from interactions between individuals and groups; absent meaningful engagement with our donors, culture doesn’t have anywhere from which to emerge. At best, we might say that culture in some way or another emerges from our use of extensions; mail, special events, online platforms, etc. However it’s fair to say that such a cultural experience, like the machines from whence it came, will feel very reductionist and mechanical.

The question of where culture emerges from lends itself to the question of where our stories originate. For as often as fundraising professionals talk about story-telling, my conversation today with Ashley begs the question of how authentic these stories happen to be and whether those of us telling them have played sufficient roles enough to be telling them. We certainly don’t want to be accused of conjuring up inaccurate stories; perhaps the closer we come to the real experience, the more accurate our stories will be and perhaps the more compelling they will be at generating the support our missions demand.

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