Deeper Dive - The Speed of Trust - May 10, 2022
I have been taught that giving moves at "the Speed of Trust", so why are there so many speed bumps?
One of the most poignant lessons I learned while taking professional development classes at The Fund Raising School in Indianapolis is that, “Giving moves at the Speed of Trust”. It is a memorable comment because it really rings true. Our donors and our volunteers give to us because they trust what we are doing, they trust what they see; they trust our leadership and our stewardship. Even if they may not have the knowledge of everything that happens in our organizations, they know enough to see the good work we are doing and the changes that are being made in their communities.
But those wise words are also a bit worrisome. If there is one thing we are seeing way too much of, it’s a loss of trust. And that is specifically felt in the institutions we may have grown up with or we felt always leveled with us. Places like churches, government, businesses…and maybe even some nonprofits, have been seeing as failing us as an institution since that trust has been eroded.
Trust is a unique relationship that grows between two parties. I have heard it grows like a thermostat, slowly getting warmer, but can be lost as quick as a flip of a switch. In a trusting relationship, each party is offering and giving something of value and reciprocating something in the process; both parties are better off in a trusted relationship. It’s not merely a zero-sum game. Relationships, friendships, business; all of these things are built on some level of trust, some deep-seeded intuition that the other party is coming to the relationship with clean hands and an open heart.
So, where did it all go wrong? How did all the institutions that we trusted leave us with a feeling of betrayal? Or at least give us a feeling that those we used to trust can’t be trusted?
I am not an expert on the matter, but I have some thoughts on how trust was lost by the institutions we depended on the most.
Some Institutions Grew Up and Left Us Behind
I live in a small midwestern city, Troy, Ohio. You have probably never heard of it, but it you ever spent any time in a commercial kitchen, odds are you have may have seen a “Hobart” label riveted to a large mixer or perhaps a freezer. Troy is home to Hobart, a company that made commercial kitchen equipment (and even those Kitchen-Aid mixers that are really popular).
The Hobart Brothers called Troy home after moving from Middletown and they started a number of companies. all of which made things from cabinets to kitchen equipment. The heyday of the company was right when American Manufacturing was hitting it’s peak, after World War II up until the 1980s.
And Troy was like any other community with a large manufacturer, it was a Hobart town. Recent high school graduates could line up at Hobart and get a job making equipment and earn enough money for a comfortable middle-class living in a stable community.
There were other benefits of having the founders living and working in town. The Hobarts were extremely generous; an ice arena, a large football stadium that could fit the whole town and a golf course, were all the results of the Hobart’s philanthropy. Furthermore, the Hobarts, and those involved with the company, held leadership positions within the community. Hobart was Troy, Troy was Hobart. Never should the two be split. Or so it was thought.
Staring in 1981, a series of sales of Hobart eventually put the company under the control of Illinois Tool Works in 2001. The decision was of course made for the benefit of the company and it made economic sense. But, what was lost was the local decision making ability, the leadership, the civic pride. Hobart moved on and in some respects, left the town behind.
Some Institutions Tried To Do Too Much
If you spend any time at all in my hometown, you are going to be struck by the number of churches that exist in the downtown area. It is not an exaggeration to say that each street corner either has a church or had a church. The community’s unique architecture is accentuated by domes and spires topped with crosses and reaching towards the Heavens.
These churches represented a wide swath of denominations, both Catholic and Protestant, and all these churches enjoyed long and stories histories in the community. Walking through some of these old churches you can see stained glass windows installed in the memory of some of our town mothers and fathers. Admittedly, some of these institutions are hanging on by a thread, but they are still there. Places that are quietly getting older, but still serving and loving the community they have always called home.
But, not all churches survived. I vividly remember some churches that seemed to catch the world on fire as a kid, but they are nothing but a mere memory (and an empty lot) now. These were the churches that had programs on local access television. They brought in lots of people. These places had a lot of buzz, a lot of interest. But they never had the staying power.
Perhaps it’s because the community I live in has a streak of distrusting new things, but I tend to think that is an oversimplification. I tend to believe these were churches that tried to do too much. There were festivals, activities, etc. All in the name of attracting new members (which isn’t bad), but I wonder if it happened at the expense of the members they had attending. Those churches that grew too fast, too quick that tried to do all the things, ended up flaming out.
It seems like slow and steady wins the race.
Some Institutions Lied To Us
On August 9, 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned as fallout from the Watergate scandal, which was an illegal break-in of the Democratic Party Headquarters during the 1972 Presidential Campaign. Many historians cite the Watergate fallout as a seminal event in which a whole generation of Americans began to lose faith in government as a trustworthy institution.
Granted, before then government was always a bit fast and loose with truth and made decisions that are not consistent with today’s moral code - Japanese internment during World War II comes to mind. But, in 1974, I would venture to say you could see the widening chasm of trust the government tried to build.
The Greatest Generation, well in their adult years by this time, had defeated both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II and were brought up in the hardscrabble environment of the Great Depression. The coming of age Baby Boomers, no doubt had friends and neighbors die in a War in Vietnam in which the goals was clear (defeat the Communists) but the objectives were not (are we going to take over Vietnam?). Generation X, too young to do anything in 1974, would grow up in a world of massive self-reliance. These were the latch-key kids that ended up learning the world on television and having a ruddy distrust of any authority figure.
Fast-forward fifty years and faith in our government is nearly non-existent. Even the media, who is often seen as the watchdog of government, is often seen (and even proven!) to not be honest. Honesty is in short supply; trust is nearly non-existent.
So what does this mean for me?
As those in the nonprofit and philanthropy fields, we work and represent institutions; organizations that we hope will last longer than our tenure there and pray will continue to provide benefit to the communities we are serving long after we are gone.
Institutional trust is low and these are headwinds we have to contend with. We have seen institutions that have not been honest, or institutions that have moved on, or institutions that have tried to do too much. My best advice is to understand yourself, your role in your institution and your institution’s role in the community you serve. Don’t change who you are and don’t cater to the quickest dollar you can fundraise. I am sure there are many stories of nonprofits that tried to do that and while they made a relatively easy dollar, it came at the expense of losing trust with those that the nonprofit had already built a relationship.
Remember, fundraising happens at “The Speed of Trust”, trust in our work, our institution’s work and the trust we have in donors. Being honest and available while staying in our own lane for the long haul, I believe is a recipe for nonprofit success.
I have had my say, what’s yours? Feel free to leave a comment and share this with your colleague. Also, feel free to drop me a thought at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.
Warmest Regards,
Bill