Why do people donate?

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 17 February 2009, 19:55

Why do people donate? That’s the question we asked some of the 356 people who donated to Searchlight last Friday. And there were some interesting replies. There were one or two veterans of the struggle who had been active back in the 1970s and wanted to help out again now. There were others who were new to activity but had been brought in by the HOPE not hate brand and were donating online for the very first time.

I am amazed with how much good will there is out there. I spend so much time dealing with the politics of hate that I sometimes forget that the vast majority of people stand up for the values of hope. And they come from all walks of life. Several who donated were active trade unionists, many of whom wanted to give specifically to our union toolkit campaign. Others, like the London schoolteacher or man who didn’t want his Grandfather to have fought a war in vein, simply supported our wider cause.

Last week I travelled Britain with US trade unionists Liz McElroy and Lindsay Patterson and one of the points they continually made was that the main reason people did not get involved was because they were never asked. Or if they were asked then they were often asked in the wrong way.

There have been many times in the past when I have moaned about the lack of activity or willingness of people to volunteer and get involved. Well, I know realise it is because I simply have not asked. If I had, and done so in the right way, then I might have been reading these responses long before now.

There is a tremendous amount of support out there, both towards our cause and Searchlight itself, and I really believe that we are beginning to tap into this now. The task facing us is huge but we are really building something quite special.