{"id":187,"date":"2013-05-28T12:31:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T16:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/?p=187"},"modified":"2013-05-28T13:19:13","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T17:19:13","slug":"the-iceberg-theory-what-donors-cant-see-cant-help-charities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/?p=187","title":{"rendered":"The Iceberg Theory – What Donors Can\u2019t See Can\u2019t Help Charities"},"content":{"rendered":"

During college I took a literature course from a professor who greatly respected Nobel Prize winning author, Ernest Hemingway.\u00a0 One characteristic of this great American\u2019s writing style is the Iceberg Theory, also known as the \u201ctheory of omission.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

If a writer stops observing he is finished. But he does not have to observe consciously nor think how it will be useful. Perhaps that would be true at the beginning. But later everything he sees goes into the great reserve of things he knows or has seen. If it is any use to know it, I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn\u2019t show. If a writer omits something because he does not know it then there is a hole in the story.
\n— Ernest Hemingway<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What if non-profit organizations kept this iceberg principle in mind when talking to major donors? What if their executive directors and development officers started \u201cobserving\u201d their donors\u2014consciously listening for the \u201cpart that doesn\u2019t show\u201d \u2013 the 7\/8 they can\u2019t see or perceive because donors typically reveal only the tips of their icebergs? \"iceberg\"Donors do not consciously omit information, but they only reveal what is necessary to answer your questions. And isn\u2019t the typical question, \u201cAre you willing to increase your donation amount this year?\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is interesting because it ignores the 80% of donor wealth tied to non-cash assets like land and buildings, a business, or holiday home. A typical family earning $100,000 a year gives a little over $2,500 to charity. What wonderful things could happen if donors only knew how to leave a legacy by leveraging their wealth tied up in vacation homes or vacant land!<\/p>\n

At the Stewardship Foundation we provide tools and support that advisors and non-profits can use to help their donors realize the charitable intent potential hidden \u201cbelow the iceberg.\u201d\u00a0 For example, on our website we post Questions for Donors<\/a> to help development offices and other financial professionals listen for certain donor concerns that may indicate a willingness to move from \u201cdonation\u201d to \u201clegacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tragic story of the Titanic illustrates the danger for those who ignore the Iceberg Theory\u2019s suggestion that when a writer (think nonprofit or charity or donor) omits something then there is a \u201chole in the story.\u201d By ignoring the wealth that lies beneath the iceberg, charities and nonprofits may lose the opportunity for sustainability, and donors lose the opportunity to accomplish great things during their lifetime.<\/p>\n

If you are a nonprofit or charity and want to learn how you can apply Hemingway\u2019s wisdom to your development efforts, then we\u2019d love to share our knowledge about transformational giving. If you are a donor who has never considered using your \u201chidden wealth\u201d to make a difference in your community during your lifetime, then we\u2019d love to share our knowledge about planned giving. As a huge Hemingway fan, it would be my pleasure to honor this great American author by helping in some way to plug a few holes and leave our community and causes in a better place because we did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During college I took a literature course from a professor who greatly respected Nobel Prize winning author, Ernest Hemingway.\u00a0 One characteristic of this great American\u2019s writing style is the Iceberg Theory, also known as the \u201ctheory of omission.\u201d \u00a0 If a writer stops observing he is finished. But he does not have to observe consciously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,41,3,33],"tags":[32,6,20,21,47],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-legacy","category-giving","category-stewardship","category-tax-planning","tag-deduct-now-and-give-later","tag-charitable-giving","tag-charitable-lead-trust","tag-clt","tag-ernest-hemingway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stewardshipworks.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}