Giving Feels Good Contributing time, finances, gifts and talents doesn’t just help the recipients – it benefits the donors, too.
Only James Brown knew for sure what he meant when he sang, “I feel good,” but charitable giving just may be a way to harness some of that souldeep inner warmth. Oklahomans know this well. “Research shows that philanthropy can decrease blood pressure, lengthen your life and provide other health benefits,” says Lindsay Goble-Jordan, founder and chief philanthropic adviser for Write On Fundraising in Tulsa. “But exactly how that happens is highly individualized.” Philanthropic experts frequently cite a 1990s study, “The Seven Faces of Philanthropy,” to describe the values and beliefs 6
SOCIAL DATEBOOK | 2019
that motivate people to help charities. These “faces” include those who communicate via giving (so-called communitarians); investors; those who support family legacies; socialites; altruists, who expect nothing in return; “repayers,” who have benefited in life and want to give back; and those who give for religious or spiritual reasons. Many Oklahomans fall in that last category of giving (described in the study as devout), Jordan says. “The Midwest in general has a more conservative, value-based system, and so the ‘devout’
