How to Sell Helping Others

Good Morning! In today's issue of The New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof writes an article about humanitarian aid and how humans choose to help other humans, or choose not to help. At the beginning, Kristof talks about the humanitarian aid meetings at the G-8 Summit in Italy for world leaders. But near the end of the article, he says several things useful to us as VISTAs.

"As some research suggests," writes Kristof, "people give in large part to feel good inside. That works best when you write a check and the problem is solved. If instead you're reminded of larger problems that you can never solve, the feel-good rewards diminish." Near the end he asks, "I also wonder if our unremitting focus on suffering and unmet needs stirs up a cloud of negative feelings that incline people to avert their eyes and hurry by."

So, how are these thoughts relevant to what we do as VISTAs? Well, part of "indirect service" includes enticing people to contribute to the organizations we work with in some capacity, whether through donating their time or their money. To convince these people to donate, we have to effectively market our services to them, so they don't feel as if they are wasting their time and/or money. This means selling the problems in our communities, and Kristof argues that individualizing "suffering and unmet needs" makes volunteers and donors feel like their contributions will actually help someone this moment, rather than attempting to solve a massive problem in which their contributions will barely make a dent.

Honestly, I'm hesitant to "sell poverty," partly because I feel like I'm using and manipulating other's lives without their consent so my organization benefits financially. I'm still not entirely comfortable with that. But, learning effective marketing strategies to help others can be part of a valuable VISTA service year, and Kristof's article gives us ideas to reconsider as we work to "build capacity."

I hope everyone has a great day!