Football season: the time of year when we invest over 2 hours watching men in one color of uniform repeatedly try to hold on to an odd-shaped ball while running toward a big “H” with the intent to get past that big “H” before someone in another color uniform trips him up or somehow manages to steal that ball and run with it in the other direction.

When one guy gets the ball over a white chalk line half of the crowd stands up and roars while the guy that took the ball over that line is mobbed by a bunch of men all dressed in the same color uniform.

Getting that odd-shaped ball over the white line is very important. Much like getting prepared for end of year giving.

Football fans love a good football game, and we love watching all those last-second decisions made by the players. They remind our customers that it’s time to make investment decisions that are both “transformational” and that will make an “impact.”

Transformational giving is what the nonprofit and the donor experience when the gift “transforms” or changes either or both parties. Think of transformational giving as the football player that assumes his role in order to win for his team. In transformational giving the financial returns do not come back to the investor, rather it generates revenue so that the organization doesn’t need additional grants to run its programs.

An impact investment is a socially responsible form of investing that creates measurable social or environmental impact alongside a financial return for the investor.

This model will not work for all charities (eg: disaster relief), but for most it enables a gift to keep on giving and attracts high net worth charitable investors. If this type of long term thinking fascinates you, inspires you, challenges you… or if you are a major gift or development officer, or you know someone who is, we’d like to lead the conversation.