A week or two ago marketing guru Seth Godin had a blog post about how to make charity auctions successful. He said the trick was to reward generosity (over-paying) rather than bargain-hunting (underpaying).
I attended a dinner last night and sat next to a wonderful woman named Marcia Stepanek, Founding Editor-in-Chief of Contribute Magazine. She made a similar observation about why people shop at big box stores (myself included) when they know it might not entirely jive with the rest of their values, like wanting to support the local economy. Marcia said she’s observed that, across the socioeconomic spectrum, people value finding a deal, bargain hunting. Somehow, this value trumps others when it comes to purchasing decisions.
My husband and I struggle with this all the time. But if anyone is in a position to put their values to work through their purchasing power, it’s us. So I’m going to start looking for ways to buy fair trade, support my local economy and make other decisions that may cost me a bit more money but will not create cognitive dissonance.
Tags: charity, charity auction, Contribute, fair trade, philanthropy, Seth Godin
