High-capacity donors are people who are just that: individuals with the ability to give generously and in large amounts of money. They can be very generous when they want to and to whom they want. They are very judicious in who is the recipient of their largess. They know that money is essentially a magnifying glass – money gives a person the ability to be either more generous or stingier.
My experience with wealthy people is that almost all of them are generous with causes which appeal to them and which they feel will make a difference. They don’t give money out to bleeding hearts; they do their research to ensure that their gifts really will be leveraged to improve the quality of life of people and their community.
I’ve known quite a few high-capacity donors and all of them have one thing in common: they have wealth. Some earned their wealth, while others inherited it. Some have come into sudden money and others had it from the day they were born and thus don’t know anything different. Almost all of them have parents or grandparents (the originators of the family fortune) who want their offspring to learn generosity. They don’t want stingy family members. The elder generation knows the value of sharing money and the joy it brings to the donors and to the recipients.
The church in general is not “developing” these donors. In its haste to ensure that the church treats all people the same, many churches unintentionally do things that push away high-capacity donors. Some donors have rare skills which the church could use but for fear of elevating them, the church does not use their talents.
I challenge the church to find ways to cultivate all high-capacity donors. These individuals and families truly want to give back. Churches become poorer (in many ways) by not accepting the gifts (both monetary and talents) of high-net-worth individuals. The Body of Christ is made up of different people with different skills, and the Body of Christ needs ALL members doing what makes them unique—so that TOGETHER we can all excel in doing what God requires of us.
Lead On!