What Does Culture Have To Do With Giving?

And then they use your company , your organization , your brand , your institution to communicate their identity , to express how they see the world , and people will start to evangelize on your behalf and the behaviors that are associated with that evangelism will create the reverberation that goes from niche to normal .

Let's transform your mission into a movement . What you're about to hear today in this episode could change everything about how you think about fundraising and marketing for your organization .

This is going to be a special episode of a previously recorded keynote session from this year's Monthly Giving Summit with Dr Marcus Collins , where he talked about tapping into the network of influence . How does culture play into the spirit of giving and how should we think about calling in our believers and finding our super fans ?

With that said , I'm going to go ahead and introduce this segment from the Monthly Giving Summit with Dr Marcus Collins . Welcome , the stage is yours .

But since I don't have a lot of time and we're in a sacred space , let's get started , and I want to take you back to a time that one would say was simpler . At the very least , technology wasn't as robust and pervasive as it is today . Things were just simpler . Out of this time , birthed a group of people in the 1950s that we know as the beatniks .

The beatniks they had a point of view about the world . They believed in egalitarianism , they believed in self-expression , they believed in pushing against conformity , they believed in challenging or usurping and subverting what we know as capitalism . And out of these beatniks , shortly thereafter , 1960s , we got hippies .

These are sort of the children of the beatniks , if you will . They too believed in egalitarianism , self-expression , pushing against conformity , challenging the trappings of capitalism . And this was a small little group of people , very small group of people , but over time they began to grow . In 1965 , a thousand prototypical hippies lived in the Bay Area .

10,000 grew to join each other on what they call the trip festival , organized by the original hippies , the Beats , of course , and over time , thousands of hippies descended on the Hayden Ashbury corner of San Francisco .

In fact , 15,000 self-identifying hippies lived in this area , 20,000 of them attended the Human being event , 100,000 attended the Summer of Love Festival in San Francisco , and the apex of it all , we know , is Woodstock . Over half a million hippies descended in upstate New York to participate in this festival .

In fact , artists came for free to perform at this festival because they , too , believed in the ideologies , the ethos of what it means to be a hippie . And by the 1970s , there were millions of people who adopted the characteristics , the ideas of what it means to be a hippie . Who adopted the characteristics , the ideas of what it means to be a hippie ?

What started as a small little group of people grew over a 10-year period to become a massive collection of folks . Now , of course , we know , by the 1980s , hippies took off their flower aesthetic and picked up power suits to become yuppies , but we would see a glimmer of them 20 years later , right around 2008 .

We found ourselves in the throes of a recession here . Things were bad , things were terrible , in fact , in this country . But the recession didn't give us one gift , and that gift was the urban hipster . The urban hipster , we know that . We see them Right Ironic facial hair , man buns , lots of plaid suspenders . And , oh , what were these folks ?

What was their alcoholic beer brand of choice ? Of course PBR , pbr . And why PBR ? There's nothing unique about PBR , nothing unique about its hops , nothing unique about its filtration system that made it just right for hipsters .

However , hipsters , these people who , like their predecessors , hippies , like their predecessors , the Beats , believed in egalitarianism , self-expression . They believed in challenging conformity , they believed in subverting the trappings of capitalism . And these collections of people held these beliefs , and so did PBR .

Pbr also believed in egalitarianism , self-expression , individualism , challenging the conventions of capitalism . And , of course , everywhere you saw hipsters , you definitely saw some PBR . It was sort of a badge of identity . So what's the point ? Well , why does this matter ?

Well , just like the Beats and the Hippies , what started as a small group of people that we know as hipsters grew PBR's business Hockey Stick Growth . Not only that , they turned PBR , this small little beer brand , turned it into a billion-dollar business at the time when the categories flat and the leading competitors were declining .

This is Superman powerful stuff here . These little groups of people that no one was paying mind to collectively were able to catalyze a contagious gravitational pull that only brought people together but ultimately drove them to consume , not because of what the brand was , but because of who these people are . And so is the same with us today .

Where we spend our money , where we spend our time , where we spend our attention , where we spend our social capital have less to do with what the things are and everything to do with who we are and who are we . After all , we are our identity , the monikers that we use to describe ourselves .

These are the labels that we use to carve out the place that we occupy in the social world . And all this complexity , all this intersectionality , all of this contradiction , right Like , there's individual reference I'm a professor . It's a part of my identity . There are group references I'm in a fraternity Phi , beta , sigma . It's a part of my identity .

There are abstract references I'm a father to little girls , george and Ivy . That's a part of my identity . And these things make up who I am , not the boxes that we put people in Age , race , gender , household , income , geography . These things are labels that are meaningless , these things that we affix to who people are .

We have to refer to them as demographics , even generationalism Gen Z , gen Alpha . No one talks about Gen X , no one cares about us . But the idea here is that we affix labels to people and while these labels are easily accessible , they're easily observable , they don't represent what's actually happening on the inside .

You can affix a label to anything , but it doesn't necessarily capture what's on the inside unless we understand who people truly are . And that's important , because who we are ultimately informs how we see the world , the beliefs and ideologies that we hold right .

That's why , for some a cow is leather , for others it's a deity , for some it's dinner , for some a rug is decor , for some it's a souvenir , for others it's a place of worship . Which one is it ? It's all of those things based on who we are and how we see the world . And because we see the world the way we do , we navigate life accordingly .

The artifacts that we don , the behaviors that are normative , the languages that we use , these become outward expressions of inward beliefs , much like we saw with hipsters and their aesthetic and the way they talk and how they behave . You know , I'm a Collins . We believe family and church come first . Therefore , sunday mornings , I'm in the church sanctuary .

If not , I get a passive , aggressive call from my mother in the afternoon how was your morning , marcus ? That's how she gets down .

Now there are no stone tablets that I sign in blood saying that I'm going to go to church , but I do that because that's just what we do , and every single identity marker by which we subscribe our identity , there are expectations of what people like us do . I think of it this way . I am a . We believe this . Therefore , I , I am a Collins .

We believe family for church converse . Therefore , sunday mornings , I'm in the church sanctuary . Why ? Because that's just what we do , and the same thing goes for you and everyone else that occupies this phenomenal social world in which we reside . Because of who we are , we see the world a certain way and , as a result , we behave a certain way .

The world a certain way and , as a result , we behave a certain way . Think of it this way which Alex is more committed to running ? Alex who is a Gen Z demographic , alex who likes to run , a psychographic , or Alex who is a runner ? Clearly , it's the latter . It's Alex who is a runner .

That's the Alex that gets up in the morning and run , even if she's tired , even if he's had a long day , even if they just don't want to do it . That's the Alex that runs . Why ? Because it's who they are , the demographics that we use to describe people .

It's the hardware , it's the veneer of who we are age , race , gender but it's our identity , our beliefs and ideologies that ultimately govern how we show up in the world , how we move , where we spend our time , our effort , our attention , our energy and our dollars . And because of who we are , we see the world a certain way .

And because we see the world a certain way , we navigate life a certain way , and then we express ourselves through shared work . What the literature refers to as cultural production is art , literature , film , television , tv , podcasts , poetry , pottery , pottery , and brands and branded products like PBR for hipsters .

I grew up watching Spike Lee movies , listening to hip hop , watching the Cosby show , before we knew he was a dirtbag . Don't judge me . It's because of these works that I have the perspectives that I have . It's because of Spike Lee that I have the ideas of race

relations that I have . It's because of hip Lee that I have the ideas of race relations that I have . It's because of hip hop that I have a certain aesthetic of what is cool . It's because of the Cosby Show and my parents that I have an idea of what it means to be good parents .

These works become ways by which we socialize characteristics among the community , and they help us stimulate and catalyze what people like us ought to do , based on how we make meaning , not because of what these things are , but because of who we are .

Because of who we are , we see the world a certain way , and because we see the world a certain way , we navigate life accordingly . Then we express ourselves through shared work .

The alchemy of these systems , or systems of systems , make up our culture , what Emile Durkheim , one of the founding fathers of sociology , would define as the system of conventions and expectations that demarcate who we are and govern what people like us do . Now , why is that important ? Why is that worth talking about a monthly giving summit ?

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Should we not wonder why people were in droves buying a water bottle that hadn't changed its look or aesthetic , and then they were able to buy a bottle of water in seven years and the brand's been around for a hundred years plus are now just getting interest ? It wasn't because of the water bottle Stanley , it was because of us people .

We choose brands that align with our identity , projects Based on who we are and what we believe . We choose the brands that align with that Based on our ethnicity , our nationality , our religion , our corporate organizations , our social communities and our consumption groups .

We consume as a way to project who we are , and culture moves forward on the basis of one simple question Do people like me do something like this ? The answer is yes , we do it . The answer is no , we don't .

We make that decision hundreds , if not thousands , of times a day , whether we're aware of it or not , and that's superman powerful stuff when you think about the business that we as a community are in Getting people to move , getting people to give .

In fact , I would go as far as to say that consumption , and giving at its core , is a cultural act what we wear , how we style ourselves , how we style our hair , of course , if you have it , the car you drive , where you work , where you went to school , who you date , who you marry , if you marry , where you vacation , where you bury the dead , if you

bury the dead , how you give , if you give these things are culturally constructed , based on who we are and how we see the world . And you hear that and go . Yeah , of course that's obvious .

But I tell you , the obvious typically isn't obvious until someone points it out to you , because the truth of the matter is that we go through life thinking that we have agency .

We go through life thinking that we wake up in the morning and make the decisions that we make , that we choose the clothes that we're going to wear and what we're going to eat and where we're going to go and what we're going to do .

But the truth of the matter is that we only have an illusion of agency , that our decisions are being negotiated and constructed by other people our people and to maintain our status as good standing members among our communities , our teams , our organizations , our families , our sororities , our fraternities , our congregations , our people .

To maintain good standing status , we act accordingly . Aristotle said it best we are social animals by nature . We're just looking to crash into each other . Evolutionary anthropologists were arguing that that's how we're able to evolve , was our ability to socialize and cooperate .

And that happens by observing other people and mimicking them as a way to foster social solidarity . Emile Durkheim referred to this as collective effervescence , and oh , I love that phrase . He says that people who subscribe to the same culture act in concert in an effort to promote social solidarity .

Alex Pentland would say that our behaviors can be predicted by the exposure to example behavior of other people . We saw this just as recently on a big screen on a massive stage at the Olympics . We observe other people and get a sense of what we ought to do . That is just how we're wired . Social groups are important to us .

They serve to tell us who we are , identity , what to think , cognitions , how to behave , a way of life , and the more we value the social group , the more willing we are to be influenced by it .

This is unbelievably powerful If we want to get people to move , if we want to get people to take action , we start by appealing to ideologies and beliefs based on their cultural subscription . And when that happens , something magical occurs . Something magical happens we catalyze network effects .

Now , look , I'm a professor , so I'm going to get a little professorial for you just for a moment . Just bear with me for a moment . This is known as the Gaussian curve . Carl Gauss was a German mathematician that postulated this idea in the 1800s . This is the most accurate depiction by which value propagates into a population .

You probably know this more colloquially as the bell curve , or for the statisticians out there , it's the normal curve . And what do we know about the normal curve ? The more in the middle you are , the more normal you are .

When we think about a population of people , there are social pressures pushing on you , telling you to be normal , dress like this , act like this , talk like this . Give to these places those social pressures . That's culture , sort of a measurement of normality . And the more in the middle you are , the more normal you are . In fact , we'd call that popular culture .

And what we do as marketers , as people who try to get people to move , we appeal to the middle . We blast as many people as possible , hoping to reach 20% of them and prayerfully , god willing , inshallah , we convert 0.012% of them . But that is not only wasteful , it's not effective . It's efficient but not effective .

And when I look at this I go well , that's popular culture . What's happening over there ? Well , that's subculture . And what do we know about the relationship between subculture and popular culture ? Everything that is popular today was once weird .

Everything that's part of the popular culture today was once subcultural and it propagated into the population to become normal , or rather , we got adopted into the population to become normal 20 years ago . If you're into comic books , this was you . Now , the movies we watch the most across the globe come from comic books 20 years ago .

If you're into collectibles , this was you . Now , collectibles are cool 20 years ago . If you were into gaming , this was you . Failure to launch limiting in mama's basement . Now , gaming is cool . It's a multi-billion dollar industry . When we focus on people who are of the same cultural ilk , people who see the world similarly , it creates and catalyzes those

people to help bring other people to the fold , creating network effects . And this changes our traditional approach to marketing . Instead of brands communicating their value proposition through ads my razor's sharper , my battery lasts longer , my car goes faster , my shampoo will give you body , whatever that means .

I don't even know what that means If your hair has body . I'm not sure what that means at all . Something different happens when brands activate a community of people who see the world similarly .

Those people not only consume , but they use the brand to communicate their identity , to signal who they are , and in doing so it propagates into the population , and technology that we have at our disposal helps make that happen faster and more effective and efficient than ever before , thanks to social media , social networking platforms .

Rather , chris Aksafalo says it this way when a small group of people , again acting in concert , displaying similar visible symptoms , an epidemic is spread along social network ties and the emotional contagion , the emotional contagion in large groups , become quickly , emotionally synchronized . This couldn't be more powerful , especially for you .

We are trying to get people to give . We're trying to get people to give in a periodic , habitual , reoccurring way . Marketing won't get you there alone . Marketing is effective , but people trust people more than any form of marketing , communication , television , print out of home radio .

In fact , people trust strangers more than they trust marketers , which should be sobering for anybody who identifies as a market here . People trust people .

More importantly , people trust their people , our people , and when things become normalized among people like me , they become ritualized and people begin to act in concert in an effort to promote social solidarity among themselves , to be a good standing citizen . Culture moves forward on the basis of one simple question Do people like me do something like this ?

The answer is yes , we do it . The answer is no , we don't . I tithe because people like me do something like this . I give to sink funds . Because people like me do something like this . It is expected of people like me and because that is how I self-identify , I behave accordingly because that's where my beliefs lies . So what does that mean for you ?

You have to first identify what do you believe ? What is your cultural outlook on the world for you , your organization , your company , your institution ? You Then go find the believers . Who sees the world the way you do ? And then , once you find the believers , go preach the gospel .

And then , once you find the believers , go preach the gospel , preach the gospel , how you see the world and say , in a way , they go , finally , someone said it .

And then they use your company , your organization , your brand , your institution to communicate their identity , to express how they see the world , and people will start to evangelize on your behalf , and the behaviors that are associated with that evangelism will create the reverberation that goes from niche to normal .

I know that seems obvious , but I tell you the obvious isn't obvious to someone pointed out to you . I hope this is helpful . At the very least , I hope this forces you to see the world differently , because if we change the way we see the world , the world will manifest differently .

Look , I study culture and its influence and impact on human behavior , and the things that we've talked about today are informed by everything I've done as a practitioner and everything that the literature has told us about how people work , and my hope , my prayer , is that you find this helpful and ultimately help you , help other people give In the spirit of giving

. If you would be so kind , take a shot of the QR code here and let me know what you think , so that I , too , can be better at giving in communities like this that I'm so grateful to be a part of . Thank you very , very , very much .

Dr Marcus Collins , thank you for being here .