Our Minds are Holding Us Back: Solutions to Overcome Psychological Barriers to Moving Resources

As humans, we all face obstacles to taking action. From the mundane—going to the gym or paying a bill—to the consequential, like switching careers or moving, we often put off decisions and tasks. Philanthropists face their own specific barriers to action, many of which are psychological and unconscious. In philanthropy, moving capital effectively is the crux of the work, and inaction can have significant consequences for the issue areas and populations that donors support. Happily, donors can take small steps to change their circumstances and ultimately move past the obstacles that prevent them having the type of impact they hope for.

Psychological Barriers: A Common Experience

Throughout my time in philanthropy—from the Giving Pledge to The Philanthropy Centre at J.P. Morgan, and now at NCFP—I’ve consistently noticed a gap between what well-intentioned donors hope to achieve and their actions or inaction. Despite generous and sometimes even very public commitments, many families are unsure how to continue to learn and mobilize capital. They are in search of a better understanding of the practices that promote effective family philanthropy and are often encumbered by psychological barriers that presented in particularly personal ways.

The recognition that donors need support to act on their good intentions and practice effective stewardship is what drives the work of NCFP and much of what brought me to the organization. Much criticism is levied against philanthropy for not moving fast enough or being bold enough. Those criticisms are warranted. And yet, what we’ve uncovered is that the slow flow of resources and ineffective practices are not because donors do not want to move resources and move them well. In fact, behavioral science tells a different story.

Uncovering the Barriers

Earlier this year, we set out to understand what poses the greatest challenge to the flow of resources and the answer was unsurprising: our minds. We partnered with ideas42 and Arabella Advisors to conduct a series of interviews to uncover the ten most common psychological barriers that donors encounter, including lack of time, too many choices, and fear of public scrutiny. Most donors experience a combination of barriers that prevent them from moving forward. Additionally, most barriers are unconscious and the process of identifying and acknowledging the barriers that you experience most acutely is a significant step toward overcoming them.

Moving Through a Confluence of Barriers

There are countless stories about donors experiencing and overcoming psychological barriers. One such story stands firm in my mind. Several years ago, I had the privilege to partner with a donor who observed tremendous need in communities across Washington, DC—the city where the family created its wealth. However, the donor and her family felt stymied by the complexities of change, and in particular:

• The scale of change required
• The number of issue areas available to fund
• The time required to give well
• The amount of information she did not know about giving practices and various funding areas

These factors were reinforced by the absence of a forcing mechanism requiring her to make distributions with urgency, which in turn, resulted in a frustrated donor who took little action and found her philanthropy to be a burden. Ultimately, we sat down and identified her fears and hesitations. She was honest about another critical factor that was holding her back: a general mistrust of nonprofits. The donor shared her experiences with nonprofit inefficiencies and how that vivid experience colored her perception of nonprofits in general.

Through many candid conversations—some difficult—the donor was able to get comfortable with the uncertainty and the discomfort that often accompanies the practice of giving and move to action. We started by establishing trust with one local nonprofit. She merely needed to get started, and ultimately, she gave a seven-figure gift to that nonprofit (the largest in its history). She also tapped into their knowledge and expertise to meet peer organizations and begin to develop a portfolio of grantee partners that aligned with her giving goals. It started with an honest assessment and reflection of what was holding her back from taking the first step. And that first, small step led to more and more action.

The Solutions

While each of the ten barriers identified in the research has a set of specific solutions to pursue, several themes emerged that apply across all the barriers:

1. Act: Even a small action can create momentum.
2. Reframe: Shifting your mindset to reframe how you view success or risk can help you get unstuck.
3. Simplify: Breaking your work into chunks, outsourcing, or narrowing your choices can help reduce the complexity of the work.
4. Connect: Find peers who have faced similar challenges to build your confidence and help you explore ideas and solutions.
5. Get help: Don’t forget to ask for help from issue experts, advisors, and facilitators.

For the donor I mentioned above, naming the barriers she faced, taking a small action, and getting help propelled her giving. For others, merely reframing success as getting started instead of perfection is enough to build their momentum.

Assess Your Own Barriers

In our publication, Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Giving, we outline the ten most common psychological barriers that prevent donors from giving. The report features a diagnostic tool to help families identify the barriers that are most prevalent in their work. I encourage you to use the tool to assess what roadblocks are negatively impacting your giving. Acknowledging the truth of your circumstances is the first step toward behavior change and becoming a more effective philanthropist. I think we all believe that philanthropy can move more resources, and behavioral science agrees.