For those wondering how our 4th grade
philanthropy presentation went, rest assured the kids were great, we learned a
lot, and we're starting work again tomorrow on refining our vision and story to
get ready for meeting with potential funders….more on that soon.
A friend forwarded me this fascinating article from the New
York Times Opinionator, entitled "The Destructive Influence of Imaginary Peers." It describes recent academic research around the concept of
"social norming" – an academic aka for the potential to use peer
pressure to champion a social good.
In a nutshell, researchers on college campuses have found
that they can significantly decrease student drinking behaviors not by nagging
or highlighting dangers, but simply by proving that most students on the campus
don't drink as much as their peers think they do. We are all, whether we want to admit it or not, just trying
to fit in.
The article notes that social norming seems to have a
powerful impact not just on stopping behaviors we deem "bad" but also
on encouraging people to do more "good." As Michael Haines, one of the researchers quoted in the
study notes, "You don't have to change the social norm. You just have to show people what it
is."
Perhaps it's the late hour at which I type this, but as
someone passionate about promoting philanthropy, I find this research almost
prophetic. Maybe instead of
wringing our hands in frustration that national giving rates haven't grown, as
if moral disapproval will spark more philanthropy, we should spend our time
showing how frequent and common giving really is.
As I think about it, social norming has been at the core of
this whole 4th grade and philanthropy project I've stumbled
into. That very first day, when we
talked about philanthropy, we realized very quickly that everyone in the room
already was a philanthropist. We
started with feeling really good about the giving they have already done – no
matter what it had been. I
remember writing soon after that first visit that they felt empowered as they
realized they were already givers, problem solvers, people who had the chance
to change the world. And, from
there they were off, brainstorming about real projects they could tackle
next…not first, but next. Because they were, after all, already philanthropists.
So now I'm envisioning a movement focused on showing just
how common giving is in our society.
We all do it, all the time.
Kids do it. Adults do
it. Companies do it. It's what we do. If 87% of Americans give time or money
to causes they care about, then it sure seems like we have a powerful social
norm to start promoting and growing.
Maybe we've just been telling the wrong story.
(It's funny/sad/ironic to note that I found this stat on
the percent of Americans who give from a Chronicle of Philanthropy blog post
focused exclusively on how many people don't give –"A Growing Number of Americans Don’t Give to Charity, Poll Finds").
