I saw “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” last night.  It tells the the often forgotten story that “stuff” does not make us happy.  And, related, it reminded me of its corollary that it’s better to give than it is to receive. In fact, as usual around Christmas, I’m seeing stories about how giving is the key to our happiness. This week, I read “Chasing Happiness: You’re Doing It Wrong“ and “The Secret to Happiness: Giving”, both reinforcing this fairly simple idea.  And, at Charity Blossom, the most common requested feature in November was for the option to make a donation as a gift to someone else. So, we implemented the “Give the Gift of Giving” feature so you can do this.  (BTW, here’s the cheat sheet on how to do this if you want to give a donation as a gift.)  We’ve seen a significant uptake of this feature. Over 30% of donations are specified as a gifts to someone else. Maybe this is a seasonal thing but it certainly a significant number of our donations. Clearly people like to give the gift of a donation.

It’s Good to Give But Is It Good to Receive?

We’re encouraged that people like to give gifts of donations. And that it purportedly has a positive impact on their happiness. But, what about receiving gifts? And, in particular, what about receiving a gift of a donation made in their name? It seems so simple — shouldn’t we enjoy receiving gifts? However, growing up, I realized that in Japanese culture, and I presume others, this is really quite complicated. What are the rules of reciprocity? How should you acknowledge a gift? What if you don’t like a gift you’ve received? What obligations have you incurred in receiving a gift? In short, it seems receiving a gift, in a complicated inverted way, might suck.

And, Further…

What does it mean to receive the gift of a donation to a charity? Are the rules different since the recipient didn’t really receive anything themselves? Hopefully, the giver is giving to an organization that you support or at least he or she supports. So, some organization that at least one of you are passionate about gets benefit. So, there is some good here that we can all feel good about. But what about the recipient of gift of the donation made in their name?

So, we did an experiment to find out. Actually, let’s call it a “study” since it lacked scientific and statistical rigor for it to be called a experiment. I gave the Gift of Giving to a handful of people through Charity Blossom — $25 to the Charity Blossom Human Fund. When they received the card informing them of the gift, I asked, 

“Do you feel good about receiving the gift of giving?”

Over 90% said yes.

After I asked them this questioned, I followed up with a second gift, a $25 Amazon gift certificate.  I then asked, 

“Which do you enjoy more — the Gift of Giving or the Amazon gift certificate?”

Over 80% said the Gift of Giving.  Let me re-phrase that: Significantly more people enjoy receiving the Gift of Giving than receiving an Amazon gift certificate for themselves.

We were a little surprised. For those that preferred the Gift of Giving, I asked, “Why?” The most common answers (I paraphrase):

• Doing good makes me feel good.  It’s all good.  Without guilt.
• I’m not obligated to return a gift.  I don’t even have to send a thank-you note.
• It’s easy.  I don’t have to do anything.  (I guess there’s effort in the decision process in what to buy when you get a gift certificate.)

There you go. Give theGift of Giving. You feel good and are happier. Charities get money that is desperately needed. And your recipients of your gift feel good (in a significant way) too.

Happy Holidays!

[Side note: A donation to the Human Fund also has a bit more of trickiness to it as well. As you may know, the “Human Fund” is central a parody skit on the television show Seinfeld. At Charity Blossom, the Human Fund is real but there is a complicated mental interplay with the fictional fund on the TV show. At Charity Blossom, the Human Fund is playful but does serious good.]