108: Celebrate Abundance

"...When we have decided to accept, let us accept with cheerfulness, showing pleasure, and letting the giver see it, so that he or she may at once receive some return for their goodness..."

This week, I am reading a quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger, published in 59 AD.  Seneca uses the word “benefit” to denote an act of charity.

Reflection question:

• Think back to the last few donations you’ve received.  How have you received them?  With lukewarmness, distraction, pride, or true expressions of gratitude?

Reflection on quote:

When a donor makes a gift to our organizations, they're not just writing a check. They're extending trust, hope, and belief in our missions. Yet too often, our lukewarm responses leave them wondering if their gift even mattered. Seneca understood something profound: how you receive that first donation determines whether there will be second and another. Gracious, public gratitude creates a positive cycle where donors experience immediate joy from seeing their impact, naturally leading to deeper engagement. And, as this quote outlines, authentic gratitude which celebrates both the gift and the giver creates abundance. When we celebrate donors enthusiastically, we are inviting our entire community into a story of collective transformation that's far more powerful than any individual effort.

To explore fundraising coaching deeper and to schedule an exploratory session, visit ServingNonprofits.com.

Music credit: Woeisuhmebop

Transcript

Welcome back. This podcast explores the wisdom of generosity, from ancient to modern, and the beautiful space where generosity occurs.

This week’s ancient wisdom reveals something profound about human nature that directly impacts your fundraising success: how we receive gifts says everything about our heart posture—and donors notice.  I am reading a quote from On Benefits by Seneca the Younger. Published in 59 AD.  Seneca uses the word “benefit” to denote an act of charity.

Quote

When we have decided to accept, let us accept with cheerfulness, showing pleasure, and letting the giver see it, so that he or she may at once receive some return for their goodness: …Let us, therefore, show how acceptable a gift is by loudly expressing our gratitude for it; and let us do so, not only in the hearing of the giver, but everywhere. He or she who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first installment of it. There are some, who only like to receive benefits privately: they dislike having any witnesses and confidants. …Some return thanks to one stealthily, in a corner, in a whisper. This is not modesty, but a kind of denying of the debt: it is the part of an ungrateful man or woman not to express their gratitude before witnesses. …Those who do the like, who take care to let as few persons as possible know of the benefits which they have received. They fear to receive them in public, in order that their success may be attributed rather to their own talents than to the help of others…. Some men or women speak in the most offensive terms of those to whom they owe most. ..no one can be grateful who forgets a kindness, and he or she who remembers it, by so doing proves their gratitude. We ought neither to receive benefits with a fastidious air, nor yet with a slavish humility: for if one does not care for a benefit when it is freshly bestowed--a time at which all presents please us most--what will they do when its first charms have gone off? Others receive with an air of disdain, as much as to say. "I do not want it; but as you wish it so very much, I will allow you to give it to me." Others take benefits languidly, and leave the giver in doubt as to whether they know that they have received them; others barely open their lips in thanks, and would be less offensive if they said nothing. One ought to proportion one's thanks to the importance of the benefit received, and to use the phrases, "You have laid more of us than you think under an obligation," for everyone likes to find their good actions extend further than expected. "You do not know what it is that you have done for me; but you ought to know how much more important it is than you imagine." It is in itself an expression of gratitude to speak of one's self as overwhelmed by kindness.

Unquote

When a donor makes a gift to our organizations, they're not just writing a check. They're extending trust, hope, and belief in our missions. Yet too often, our lukewarm responses leave them wondering if their gift even mattered. Seneca understood something profound: how you receive that first donation determines whether there will be second and another. Gracious, public gratitude creates a positive cycle where donors experience immediate joy from seeing their impact, naturally leading to deeper engagement. And, as this quote outlines, authentic gratitude which celebrates both the gift and the giver creates abundance. When we celebrate donors enthusiastically, we are inviting our entire community into a story of collective transformation that's far more powerful than any individual effort.

Let’s reflect on one question this week:

Think back to the last few donations you’ve received.  How have you received them?  With lukewarmness, distraction, pride, or true expressions of gratitude?

Share this podcast if you enjoy these five-minute reflections and subscribe to receive these reflections released every Monday. To explore fundraising coaching deeper, visit Serving Nonprofits dot com. See you next week.