What was simultaneously so wonderful and maddening about every Choose Your Own Adventure book, was that on one hand, it was empowering to have so many options. Choice is good. But on the other hand, I always had the feeling that I was making too many major decisions in the absence of important information that would have helped improve my outcomes.

What I’ve come to learn in my role at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation is that the same conflict applies in philanthropy.

Donors want to invest in important, life-changing programs. But far too often, they’re not aware of the range of programs, events and niche fundraisers that need support at their favored charities. They want to make meaningful choices, but they’re not always sure what their choices are.

I’ve been thinking about this problem a lot lately, and today, I’m happy to announce version 1.0 of a new tool that addresses philanthropy’s version of the Choose Your Own Adventure conflict. Starting from broad categories such as “Family Support,” “Disease-Specific,” and “Injuries,” prospective donors can use this tool to apply filters and fine-tune the resulting set of Phoenix Children’s Hospital programs that align with their philanthropic interests. At launch, the tool includes over 40 Hospital programs, and should provide exposure for many lesser-known but invaluable programs that many of our donors have never even heard of.

The result, hopefully, is the right combination of choice and information, in order to help donors to make optimal, meaningful gift-giving decisions, while also highlighting Hospital programs that save lives, provide critical services, and support patient families.

 

Read the source article at medium.com