Confession One: The Best Thing Since Almost Dying (the latest time)

Billy Joel - Honesty 

Like every political party and candidate, charities have teams dedicated to “development” – which means “figuring out what potential donors want to hear and then telling them that over and over” (wherever possible, by attractive young blond women*). 

There is also a “communications” team to “build relationships with” (read: “suck up to” / “feed the ego of”) members of the media. The more nice things said by “third parties,” the more the nonprofit is “validated” and thus an easier sell to donors and other funders. (“Other people like us – you should too!”)

Comms teams are also dedicated to building a “social media presence” – getting the most likes and clicks, again to show donors just how “popular” the charity is.

For nearly all of my adult life, I have tried to get people to “like” me and whatever organization I was working for at the time. How many views, how many opens, how many likes, how many mentions, all to serve the ultimate question of how many dollars we could fundraise … so we could have bigger development and communications teams.

Two great things have happened since I was fired in 2021 in the aftermath of my fractured neck and facial reconstruction. Probably the best is that I no longer spend hours every single day desperately trying to figure out how to get people to like me / my group. 

OMG, it is so fantastic. I honestly had no idea how stressful it had been, nor how great it is to not be constantly seeking external validation.

* DUBNER: Give me a sense of how big this beauty effect is. So, let’s say one solicitor is ranked a 9 out of 10 by unbiased or disinterested parties and one is ranked a six. How much more does the nine raise than the six?

LIST: Right, you’re looking at roughly a 100 percent increase when you look at going from a six to a nine.

DUBNER: Oh my goodness. And what about hair color?

LIST: So, hair color ends up being important as well. And it turns out that blondes certainly have more fund raising more money. You just can’t beat a beautiful blonde who’s going door to door to raise money for your cause.