Imagine two people meeting for the first time.
One of them (say A) buys ice cream for the other one (say B).
B becomes extremely happy to get this ice cream.
What do you think will happen in these situations to continue that story?
➡️ 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 #1: Feeling happy from that ice cream, B starts asking A TON of questions to A. B doesn’t share much, but those one-sided questions go on for hours!
➡️ 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 #2: Wanting to know everything about A immediately after that first ice cream, B starts with the most personal questions – “what’s your race, ethnicity, sexual orientation…?”!
➡️ 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 #3: : Hoping to get more ice-creams from A in the future, B starts to follow A's social presence to find if A can afford B’s future desserts right after their meeting.
➡️ 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 #4: Interested in finding more friends like A (who can buy ice-creams), B ends the meeting early so they can find more people in the world who resemble A, and thus comes a list of people C, D, and E.
➡️ 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 #5: Wishing for second ice cream soon, B starts to ask the same question about A’s interest in the friendship every other month. I suppose A might think B’s not much of a listener?
Do you think any of those situations lead to sustainable friendship between the two?
Now replace
● B with a nonprofit,
● A with their donor
● that ice cream with a gift made to the nonprofit, and,
● that act of asking questions with engagement surveys
I know our work is not that straightforward. Still, please tell me you are not scaring away your A?
