You’re afraid that this will lead to perverse incentives, correct? Signaling instead of focusing on real impact?
Honestly, I was warning against LOSING the signaling (and self-signaling) value that donors get from their donations. There’s a lot of people who donate to various causes (even yours) based on fairly vague and optimistic beliefs about the actual activities that they’re funding and the relationship between their money and the final outcomes. Disillusioning them by making them more involved in day-to-day operations could well hurt their feelings and your revenue.
ETA: Despite my warnings, I do think that experimenting and trying different types and mixtures of employee/volunteer/customer/vendor/donor/grant-recipient relationships is awesome, and I look forward to hearing how it works.
Honestly, I was warning against LOSING the signaling (and self-signaling) value that donors get from their donations. There’s a lot of people who donate to various causes (even yours) based on fairly vague and optimistic beliefs about the actual activities that they’re funding and the relationship between their money and the final outcomes. Disillusioning them by making them more involved in day-to-day operations could well hurt their feelings and your revenue.
ETA: Despite my warnings, I do think that experimenting and trying different types and mixtures of employee/volunteer/customer/vendor/donor/grant-recipient relationships is awesome, and I look forward to hearing how it works.