It turns out that money CAN buy you happiness. Michael Norton figured out how. He tells us all about it in the 10 minute TED talk below. (It’s totally worth watching for the dodge ball reference alone.)
Here’s one really interesting finding from his research: the frequency with which people spend money on things that benefit others–things like giving to a non profit, for instance–matters more than the amount.
If you’ve ever needed to make the case for the value of monthly donations to an annual fund, there you have it! Giving on a regular basis makes people happier.
In terms of titles, I’ve long wondered why we refer to the feature (raising funds) over the benefit of raising the funds (increasing happiness and making the world a better place).
It may be awhile before we see ‘Chief Happiness Officer’ on business cards, but wouldn’t it be great for fundraisers to have a title that spoke to their impact rather than their actions?