The hunt to capture ‘boundless’ generosity
Rapid changes in types of giving has pushed leaders of charities to ask how Americans actually practice selfless love toward others.
The Frye Elementary School in Chandler, Arizona, has set up a food pantry for families who experience homelessness.
AP
It’s tough to measure the infinite. No, not the infinity of outer space. Rather, the inner space of people’s generosity. In a few months, a U.S. national panel known as The Generosity Commission plans to issue a report that’s expected to rip up old notions of giving – whether in treasure, time, or talent – and reveal how everyday Americans are re-imagining generosity and expanding its seeming boundaries.
Set up two years ago in the face of declines in current measures of volunteering and financial gift-giving, the 17-member commission has already made one discovery. In a poll of 2,569 adults last year, most people not only identified as generous but also described generosity as “boundless,” not confined to traditional charities, organized religion, or philanthropy.
“Generosity ranged from taking in a stray dog to helping a loved one with housework to buying water for teachers on strike to giving to a [registered charity],” researchers found. “People understand generosity as the multitude of thoughtful and helpful ways we interact with each other and the world around us.”
Giving to others first “comes from the heart,” the survey found, with 61% of people saying that generosity is “how they express their values.” With values being infinite by nature, new expressions of giving are always popping up.
For example, people now round up at the grocery store check-out to give. They form mutual aid societies to meet health needs. Platforms like GoFundMe and DonorsChoose have raised billions for people in need. The list even includes ethical shopping, advocating for civic causes, and parents’ providing a bedroom for a low-income adult child.
In a 2020 survey by Stanford University, less than 20% of Americans saw giving as a matter of money. They regarded generosity as “myriad informal” acts of kindness and connecting. The hypothesis of the research: Individuals give in more ways than even they understand. And they “are not primarily motivated by or looking for external validation or incentives.”
One premise for the commission’s work is that generosity is ever-present. The new research is finding that this form of selfless love is hardly stagnant or limited. In fact, one report may not be enough to better measure generosity or to capture its future.