How to Motivate People to Do Good

It’s a common problem no matter where you are, and whether you’re gathering donations for your church or a charitable organization: you can really have a hard time motivating people to do good. Try as you might, you will always bump against people who do not think that going to a homeless shelter for a night of volunteering is not as worthwhile as going to the club.

No matter how hard you work at it, it can be hard to convince people to help you fold clothes or gather canned goods for the less fortunate, especially when they have jobs that they think are more important than any other earthly activity. And no matter what you do, there will be people who will criticize your work as being a band-aid to other problems that should be solved.

Despite all these criticisms and setbacks, you should be able to do the work that you want without worrying about what people think. Moreover, you should be able to bank on a willingness on your part to motivate people to do what they can to help your cause out. How do you motivate people to do good? Here are a few tips that you may want to take into consideration.

- When starting off your marketing blitz to get people to listen to you, keep in mind that you are not preaching to the choir, but neither are you trying to make devils listen to you. You will have a healthy mix of people who both want to help and who don’t really care. The key is to hit your note in the middle and not end up alienating any of them.

By being too solicitous and too pity-inducing, you end up irritating the people who don’t care yet. By being too appealing to people’s emotions, you may end up annoying the people who already do care and want to help out. Avoid being self-righteous or off handed. Remember, when you want to help people, you don’t want to show how helpful you already are.

- Avoid using negative language, such as, “Don’t go to the club tonight when you can help people!” You don’t want people to feel that they are doing something that they should substitute with something that you are endorsing. This could lead them into thinking that you are trying to change them, and whenever people feel that their feelings and perceptions are being attacked, they will go on the defensive.

- If you are working with a charitable organization, try to tie in your work with something enjoyable. Have a dance party or rent out the club for a party and charge for entrance. Promise that you will give proceeds from your earnings to a charitable organization or cause. Have people dress up in costumes, and then give prizes away for the best costume, and ask people to bring canned goods with them.

Find a way to tie in your cause to something that people could do and have fun with. You want to look human, too, and you want to get as many people as possible. Just be sure to stay within the bounds of decency and you will be fine.

- Lastly, surround yourself with reputable people. No one wants to donate a cause that is associated with gangsters, thieves, or anyone who doesn’t have a solid enough reputation. You want to have people around you that anyone can look up to and admire.

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