The Power of One
Mother Teresa once said: “If I look at the many, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”
Our work together at Bethany is in service to ‘the many’, but it has the biggest, and perhaps most lasting, impact when we connect to ‘the one’.
When you think about it, our daily connections are a series of ‘ones’. We have conversations, interactions, emails and moments that occur all day long – one resident, one family member, one volunteer and one work colleague at a time.
How we show up in those moments with each ‘one’ is important. Are we carrying over our last interaction into this new one? Are we present or are we distracted? Are we listening to understand or are we waiting to talk? What’s this person trying to tell us (verbally or non-verbally)?
As the Foundation looks to inspire donors to join in supporting Bethany’s mission, we always have the best success when we also consider our donors as ‘ones’.
When people think about giving, research shows that brains are wired to respond differently when processing information about a large number of people who have experienced a tragedy, like an earthquake or a tsunami… or when they learn that millions suffer from an illness like cancer or dementia. People feel empathy. They care and yes, they give.
But people have a much deeper emotional response, and give more, when they hear about one person, or one family, within that large group. When they know something about them, hear their stories, understand their pain.
Our job in the Foundation is to get to know our donors as ‘ones’ – to find out who they are, what they care about, and why they care. When we do that well, their generosity flows to Bethany’s ‘many’.
The next three months are typically our busiest and best time of the year for getting to know our donors and asking for their support.
Thanks for all you do to help us build great relationships with our community supporters.
Have a great week!
– Gail
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