On Doctors and Patients |
Dec 2, 2009 |
Over on Eric Foley’s Transformational Giving blog, he’s currently engaged in a 27-part blog-opus examining the motivations behind giving. Way back in part 1, he advocates that nonprofits measure growth in champions’ giving and impact in the cause, for, as it says in TG Principle Number 5:
“A Transformational Giving relationship between a champion and an organization is primarily a peer-level accountability relationship, not merely a friendship or a mutual admiration society.”
My question: is there a metaphor for a peer-level accountability relationship out there that can replace friendship?
For a long time we in the nonprofit community used metaphors based in finance, which is why we have odious terms like donors, investors, and patrons. But lately these have given way to the metaphor of friendship, or, in Christian nonprofit circles, ministry. Our donors have become our friends, friends we minister to. Who can argue with that?
I’d like to suggest we would do well with the doctor/patient metaphor to describe the relationship we should have with our constituents.
The doctor/patient relationship is based on a prescribed course of action to achieve the health of the patient. The doctor is a regular person with specific, rigorous training, talents, and experience that lend her authority over the patient. Yet there is a peer-level quality here, as the doctor cannot coerce the patient to take any action, and good doctors even encourage their patients to seek alternate opinions to validate the suggested treatment.
The doctor has responsibility to inform the patient about preventative measures and remedial measures to take to achieve and maintain health. These measures are specific and defined, written down in the form of a prescription.
The doctor patient relationship is defined by the terms of the illness. Ideally, you don’t go to the doctor forever. You go to receive treatment, to get well, and when cured, you stop going.
You like your doctor to be friendly, but it’s silly to a doctor’s office for friendship. You like your doctor to be caring, but you don’t expect her to pick you up from the airport, or pray for your nephew who is looking for work. In fact, you’d sooner choose the unfriendly doctor with a stellar record of success over the friendly doctor who’s got the coroner on speed dial.
Next post we ask:
1. What do champions need from a nonprofit, when we’ve always been taught that we need them?
2. What would a nonprofit prescription for a champion look like?
3. What happens when champions “get well” and no longer need the nonprofit? Aren't we designing ourselves out of a job?
4. So who's going to take our champions to the airport?
Dec 2, 2009 at 9:10 AM Matt,
Thank you for the creative analogy for our relationship with our champions. An interesting thing about patients is that one doesn't have to take the advice of the doctor if they do not trust the remedy and they can do their own thing... not usually recommended, (I admit I've done it once or twice). The point being is that the champion has this freedom and if he or she doesn't have confidence in the non-profit they will decide what they want to do.