An open letter to charities about happiness
Happy people are more giving. Scientists have shown that those who are happier are more likely to give to others. It is not how much money a person has that determines their charitable inclination but their level of happiness.
Charities who would like donors to increase their donations might consider giving significant donors happiness classes in order to increase the level of giving.
Research shows that helping other people contributes to happiness but Not when it is done from obligation or to obtain something else, even our own happiness, if we are not already happy.
The key to happiness lies in becoming happy first and then doing for others from an inspired place where we do it for the joy of it rather than from obligation, guilt, coercion, or to try to make ourselves feel better.
Of course the research shows that those who are happiest do for others but that is doing from a place of wanting to do it because it feels good and right to do it; not a place of someone putting external pressure on another to do for others.
You can probably do your own reality check on this. Think about a time when you did something for someone else when you had said ‘yes’ when you really wanted to say ‘no’ or when you were ‘guilted or coerced’ into doing it. Did it raise your level of happiness? Probably not. It probably raised your frustration level, at the least and maybe more, perhaps you began berating yourself for your inability to say ‘no’, etc.
Now think of a time when you did something for another ‘just because’ the thought of doing it felt great.
Do you feel the difference?
It is huge.
One is life giving.
The other is life draining. It isn’t even all that great for the one who is being ‘done for’ because they can feel the emotional resistance of the giver on some level.
We are giving further thought to ways charities might leverage our classes to increase donations.
The science is clear that happy donors give more. Please feel free to collaborate with us on ideals to help us help you.
We would be very interested in offering discounted rates to the first charity that offers our classes to donors if an agreement that data reflecting the impact of the course was collected and shared so that we could document the effectiveness of the program for this purpose. Individual identities would not be needed in order for the data to be of value.
Together we can contribute more toward making the world a better place for everyone.
Sincerely,
Jeanine Joy, President
Happiness 1st Institute