64: Childhood Impacts Generosity

Reflections on Generosity

"...Consistent with social learning theory, individuals tend to carry beliefs about money and money skills learned in childhood into their adult lives..."
This week, I’m reading selected quotes from Money Beliefs and Financial Behaviors by Bradley Klontz, Sonya Britt, and Jennifer Mentzer, published in 2011.
Reflection Questions:

• Have you spent time thinking about your childhood and the beliefs around money you were raised with?

• Which money script have you been operating in and how might you break those patterns?

Reflection on Quote:
Earlier this week, I was talking with a person with new fund development responsibilities. She talked about her fears with asking for money. Like almost everyone I’ve met in the field, her fears were directly related to her childhood. It’s a reminder that often we have to unpack our own beliefs around money before we can discuss generosity with our donors.
As I read this research, I immediately recognized correlations to fundraising. Those with money avoidance scripts can struggle to ask for donations. Those with money worship scripts tend to engage in magical thinking around one major donation. Those with money status scripts can find crossing wealth classes intimidating when building a relationship with a more wealthy donor. Those with money vigilance scripts may find fundraising work too all-consuming in their lives. And, there are more correlations that you may have immediately thought of as well. The good news is that, in my experience, once a fund development professional recognizes their own money scripts, they are able to move past them and develop new patterns in discussing generosity.

Copyright: Klontz, B., Britt, S. L., Mentzer, J., & Klontz, T. (2011). Money Beliefs and Financial Behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory. Journal of Financial Therapy, 2 (1)
What do you think?

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