Issue No. 5 | Spring 2026

If you are on the board of a nonprofit, it is worth asking whether your development team has thought through a gift-giving strategy. Not all donors appreciate gifts, and some are actively repelled by them. Reactions of major donors depend on their Donor Archetype.

For example, I am a donor who identifies with the Strategist Donor Archetype. When I receive an unsolicited gift, the first thing that comes to mind is Robert Cialdini’s classic social psychology book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. In it, he describes observing Hare Krishna members giving flowers to unwitting passersby and then asking for donations, counting on the social power of reciprocity to compel people to give back even when they never wanted a flower in the first place. To me, this type of interaction feels manipulative, and a manipulative relationship is not one which I want with my grantees.

However, I fully recognize that donors who identify with other Archetypes have completely different perspectives related to token gifts. They may expect them, appreciate them, or even cherish them.

Here is how each Archetype is likely to respond:

Collaborator — Collaborators are likely to be neutral to gifts, but may warm to one if it feels like a symbol of collective membership (i.e. something that says “you're part of this community of givers” rather than “here's a thank-you from us to you”). The direction of the gesture matters a lot.

Competitor — Competitors are uniquely positioned among all the Archetypes to actually love gifts, but only if the gift is tied to a giving tier or threshold. For a Competitor, the gift could function as a trophy or as tangible proof of where they rank. A branded item sent to everyone equally would mean nothing, but a recognition gift that signals their level could be genuinely motivating.

Cultivator — Cultivators appreciate a gift that signals their identification with a cause, such as something they can wear or display among friends or business associates who share their values. A hat with a cause's logo, for instance, functions less as a thank-you and more as a badge of belonging, which is exactly what motivates this Archetype.

Embracer — For Embracers, a generic branded gift might feel cold and alienating because the Embracer craves direct human connection with those whom they're helping. But a gift from a beneficiary, such as a child's drawing or a handwritten note from someone the organization serves, could be deeply moving. The origin of the gift matters.

Illuminator — Illuminators are likely indifferent to most token physical gifts. But gifts which might resonate are those which are experiential, such as an invitation to a special convening, or aesthetically in line with their sensibilities, such as a piece of art from a beneficiary artist.

Participant — Participants are the Archetype for whom gifts have the potential to be critically important. Gifts become part of the family story or personal narrative of giving. It's the thing they put on the shelf, show their kids, or bring back from a site visit. Gifts can be meaningful touchpoints in the experience that is core to their motivation to give in the first place.

Pragmatist — Pragmatists are likely to be very turned-off by token gifts. Donors with this Archetype already view themselves as having received something of value (for example, an enhanced client relationship) in return for their donation, so sending an additional token gift cheapens the exchange.

Protector — For Protectors, a gift that honors their role as a guardian, such as a token tied to the community or cause they feel responsible for, could potentially resonate given that it carries symbolic weight. But generic merchandise would likely fall completely flat.

Strategist — Strategists are likely to view gift-giving as a waste of the organization’s resources at best, and manipulative at worst. Strategists who receive gifts may lose confidence in organizations that send them.

Before sending out gifts to major donors, it is worth segmenting them by their Archetype. For some donors, this will be obvious, whereas for others it may be harder to discern given that two or more Archetypes may describe a donor’s motivations. The key is to first prevent damage by identifying your Strategist and Pragmatist donors, and then focus on strengthening relationships through gifts to your Participant, Competitor, and Cultivator donors.

It is also important to keep in mind that some major donors may come from cultures where there are extensive gift-giving customs, thereby overriding Archetype-based preferences. The framework won’t always be exact, but even a rough segmentation is better than treating every major donor the same way. 

In 2017, the Chronicle of Philanthropy published an op-ed I wrote proposing the idea of creating a marketplace for philanthropic advice, where foundation professionals could share their expertise on an hourly basis with individual donors. At the time, it was cost-prohibitive to set something like this up and so I never pursued the idea further.

Now, however, there are tools such as Sharetribe or Kreezalid that make creating a marketplace inexpensive and easy to achieve. Sharetribe also offers an API that pairs well with Claude Code for adding custom features.

Combined with the explosion in recent years of individual donors establishing donor-advised funds (DAFs), the availability of low-cost marketplace tools creates a new opportunity to reduce friction in knowledge transfer among donors.

The natural host for a marketplace like this would be a foundation with a mission that includes the goal of strengthening the philanthropic sector as a whole. The host could offer opportunities to foundation professionals to give advice in their free time, as I originally proposed, or the host could limit the seller-side of the marketplace to professional philanthropic advisors with certain credentials.

Either way, individual donors with DAFs would have access to expert advice they might not otherwise receive, and society at large would benefit from better-informed giving decisions.

Claude recently launched a design tool, available to paid subscribers via the palette icon in the Claude.ai left navigation. Describe what you need (a slide deck, a one-pager, an infographic) in text form, and Claude builds a design for you. These export as PDF, PowerPoint, or HTML, or push directly to Canva for further editing. You can also give instructions for Claude to create a button at the bottom of the design so that you can download it as a .png file if all you need is a graphic image.

Tip: Iterate with Claude if the initial design isn't quite what you had in mind, or if lines of text overlap. Don't be afraid to ask for exactly what you want (good advice for life in general, too 😊).