A quote about generosity for a fundraiser is a short, attributed line about giving or kindness that frames a donation appeal as a principle instead of a transaction. Pick a line that matches the tone of your campaign, keep it short enough for the medium you are posting in, and credit it properly so donors can verify it.
Most appeals fail at the same point. The cause is real, the goal is real, and then the ask arrives flat, because nobody has given readers a reason to care before asking for money. A well-chosen line fills that gap for free, and experienced fundraisers on r/nonprofit keep repeating the same advice: lead with the specific goal and what it buys, then let the quote carry the tone.
Table of Contents
- 1Quotes About Generosity for a Fundraiser at a Glance
- 21. “The best way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself useful.”
- 32. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
- 43. “Generosity is not just giving something; it is giving freely.”
- 54. “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
- 65. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
- 76. “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
- 87. “The more joy you give, the more joy you get.”
- 98. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.”
- 109. “In a world where we can be anything, be kind.”
- 1110. “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others remains.”
- 1211. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
- 1312. “Those who are generous will themselves be blessed.”
- 1413. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
- 1514. “The best gift is the one you can’t buy.”
- 1615. “Giving is not just about making a difference; it is about making someone feel seen.”
- 17How do you pair a generosity quote with a specific fundraising goal?
- 18Frequently Asked Questions
- 19What is the best quote about generosity for a fundraiser?
- 20How do I use a generosity quote in a donation email?
- 21Are these quotes suitable for a church or faith-based fundraiser?
- 22How can I make a generosity quote sound personal?
- 23Should I include the author’s name when sharing a fundraising quote?
- 24How many times should you ask people to donate?
- 25Conclusion
Quotes About Generosity for a Fundraiser at a Glance
| No | Quote (short form) | Tone | Best fundraising use | Suggested placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make yourself useful | Practical | Volunteer recruitment | Volunteer email or sign-up sheet |
| 2 | We make a life by what we give | Grounded | Opening statement | Donation page header |
| 3 | Giving something versus giving freely | Honest | Thank-you note | Donor thank-you email |
| 4 | No one is useless | Dignified | School, shelter, neighborhood drives | Flyer or banner |
| 5 | The happiness of your life | Reflective | Gala address | Speech or printed program |
| 6 | That little candle throws his beams | Hopeful | Matching-gift campaign | Social post or youth fundraiser |
| 7 | The more joy you give | Cheerful | Community campaign | Event sign or thank-you email |
| 8 | Lifting people up | Compassionate | Relief or caregiver fundraiser | Printed appeal or toast |
| 9 | Be kind | Brief | Social post | Instagram or text caption |
| 10 | What we do for others remains | Lasting | Memorial and legacy giving | Memorial card or donor letter |
| 11 | The purpose of our lives | Outcome-led | Food, shelter, education, care appeals | Donation page body |
| 12 | Those who are generous will be blessed | Faith-based | Church and community giving | Bulletin or program |
| 13 | More blessed to give | Scriptural | Goal statement and volunteer invite | Pledge card or ask slide |
| 14 | The best gift is the one you cannot buy | Warm | Donated services, auction | Auction catalog or invite |
| 15 | Making someone feel seen | Human | Story-led appeal | Closing paragraph of the ask |
Use the table as a filter rather than a reading list. Pick the row whose tone matches your campaign, then read the full note below it before you commit the line to print.
1. “The best way to make yourself indispensable is to make yourself useful.”
Use this line when your fundraiser needs hands more than it needs donations. It reframes volunteering as competence rather than charity, which is the pitch that keeps people showing up for a second shift.
Commonly credited to Ernest Pinard, a French physician, with no verified first print source. Print it as a line about usefulness rather than as a doctor’s opinion.
For a volunteer recruitment email, pair it with the actual list of jobs. “Insulation and gutter clearing, Saturdays from 8. Our goal is 20 volunteers; signup link below.” A quote about usefulness plus a concrete task list beats a quote about generosity plus a vague appeal every time.
2. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Use this to open an appeal that needs to feel bigger than a transaction. It works because most people already know the getting part of their week, and the line quietly points at the other half.
Winston Churchill, echoing a proverb recorded in Kentucky folklore in the 1800s. The attribution is genuinely his; the sentence is older than him, which is worth knowing if anyone asks.
Put it at the top of a donation page description, then move straight into the numbers. “We need 120 volunteer hours a month to keep the pantry open. Two shifts, four hours each.”
3. “Generosity is not just giving something; it is giving freely.”
Use this when your campaign has been criticized for feeling transactional, or when donors keep asking what they get out of it. The line names the thing most appeals leave unsaid.
This circulates widely without a documented original source, so print it as an anonymous line rather than attaching a famous name to it.
It sits well in a donor thank-you note, where the subtext is gratitude rather than strategy. “You gave freely and asked for nothing back. That is the whole point, and we noticed.”
4. “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
Use this for campaigns where the work is unglamorous and the need is plain: school supply drives, shelter supply lists, neighborhood repair projects. It gives small contributions a place in the story.
Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, 1865. One of the few lines on this list with an easily verifiable published source, so it is the safest choice for anything printed permanently.
On a flyer, run it above the supply list rather than above a photo. Readers can measure a need against a list of specific items themselves.
5. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
Use this when the room needs slowing down. In a script for a gala video or a printed evening program, it pulls the audience out of the pledge-total mindset and toward intention.
Usually credited to Allen Lakey Potter, opening his 1912 book Thoughts Live. The wording varies between printings, so copy the version you can trace rather than the one a social post gave you.
Keep it short around the quote. A reflective line followed by three paragraphs of appeal copy loses the effect entirely. One line, a pause, then your specific ask.
6. “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
Use this when one contribution should trigger others. The image works for matching-gift campaigns, where the promise is that one donor’s gift will be matched, and it works even better for youth fundraisers where the donors are small.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1874. The rhyme means you will need a design that carries two lines rather than one, so budget for a slightly longer text block.
For a social post, run the line with the match mechanic stated plainly underneath. “Every gift matched until noon.” The image earns the pause; the sentence underneath earns the click.
7. “The more joy you give, the more joy you get.”
Use this for cheerful campaigns with a light tone: a school readathon, a community picnic, a bake sale where the atmosphere is the point.
An anonymous line in wide circulation, with no traceable author. It is a good mood-setter and a poor argument, so do not lean on it for a serious appeal.
It works well on an event sign or a thank-you email after a successful day. “Thirty-one readers logged 400 laps, and every one of them came back smiling.” Follow the line with what actually happened.
8. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.”
Use this for relief fundraisers and campaigns built around caregivers, where the emotional register is heavier than a typical donation ask.
Usually credited to Abraham Lincoln. The phrasing circulates in several versions, so keep the version above if you want it to match what readers have seen.
In a caregiver campaign, pair it with a practical commitment rather than sympathy. “Eight respite hours a week. We schedule, you sit.” The quote opens the door; the shift description walks people through it.
9. “In a world where we can be anything, be kind.”
Use this where you have very little room, such as a text message, a story slide, or a caption under a single photo.
Short lines travel and short lines get misattributed. This one is regularly pinned to John Lennon, to a film, and to several actors, none of whom can be confirmed as the source. Print it unattributed.
On its own it says almost nothing about your cause, so always attach a specific beneficiary and a real number. “Be kind to the 12 cats at Cedar Street; vet visit by Friday.” Without that second sentence the quote floats free of your fundraiser.
10. “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others remains.”
Use this when the appeal is about legacy: memorial funds, scholarship campaigns, planned giving conversations, or the closing line of a speech.
Albert Pike, Ex Corde Locutiones, 1899. The 1874 version begins “What we do for ourselves alone dies with us”, and the later revision is the one readers recognize.
On a memorial card, leave generous white space around it. In a donor letter, follow it with the mechanics of giving so the sentiment does not become the end of the conversation.
11. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
Use this to set up an outcome-led appeal. Instead of describing the problem in the abstract, name what a gift produces: meals, shelter, a course, a course of treatment, a night off for a caregiver.
Widely attributed to the Dalai Lama, with no single published source I could point you to. Treat it as a line of general wisdom rather than a quotation from a specific talk.
It is the best of these lines for a donation page body, because it lets you move straight into specifics. “A 40 dollar gift covers groceries for one family for a week.” Support it with the outcome, and the vagueness of the quote gets absorbed by the detail.
12. “Those who are generous will themselves be blessed.”
Use this for church, school, and community giving where a faith reference fits the audience and would feel out of place anywhere else.
Proverbs 22:9. Quote it as scripture rather than as an individual author, and name the reference so readers can look it up themselves.
One caution on tone: it is a promise about blessing in the source text, and turning it into a promise about a donor’s finances or health is not something the line supports. Keep the framing spiritual or moral, not transactional.
13. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Use this to explain the spirit of an ask before the ask arrives. On a pledge card or an ask slide, it gives the transaction a frame that makes saying yes feel natural.
Acts of the Apostles 20:35, a line Jesus is recorded as saying in Acts. Name the passage and let the source do the credibility work.
Follow it with the number. “Pledge by the 15th. Our target is 400, and 190 is committed.” On r/gofundme, the same three beats come up constantly: current situation, why you are raising money, and what hitting the goal changes.
14. “The best gift is the one you can’t buy.”
Use this when you are asking for time, skills, or professional services rather than money. It suits nonprofit auctions, donated-service campaigns, and volunteer-led events.
An anonymous line in wide circulation, frequently and wrongly attached to Lao Tzu. It does not appear in the Tao Te Ching. Print it as anonymous.
On an auction catalog page, list what is actually being donated next to the value. A two-hour photography session from a local studio sells itself more effectively when the recipient is named.
15. “Giving is not just about making a difference; it is about making someone feel seen.”
Use this to close a story-driven appeal. It shifts the emphasis from a number that changed to a person who was noticed, which is usually the part donors remember.
A modern unattributed line. Unlike the older quotes here, it has no publication trail at all, so attribute it to your campaign rather than borrowing a famous name for it.
Run it as the last paragraph of the ask, after the number and the deadline. “Every set of notes is packed by name, and the volunteers write the recipient’s first name on the box before it ships.” Donors give more often when the line tells them who will notice the gift.
How do you pair a generosity quote with a specific fundraising goal?
Put the quote first, then the goal, then the deadline, then what the money buys. Experienced fundraisers on r/nonprofit describe the same pattern: a vague ask gets ignored, while an ask tied to a measurable outcome gets answered.
A workable order looks like this. Line 1 is the quote. Line 2 is the target, spelled out. Line 3 is the date. Line 4 is one concrete result the gift produces, such as the number of meals, nights of shelter, or hours of care covered.
Keep it to four lines. Every line after the fourth dilutes the first one, and donors who are reading on a phone will not reach line nine.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best quote about generosity for a fundraiser?
The best quote is the one whose tone matches your medium and whose claim you can support with a fact. For a donation page, Churchill’s line about making a life by what we give works well as an opener. For a volunteer appeal, the line about making yourself useful is stronger, because it matches what you are actually asking for.
How do I use a generosity quote in a donation email?
Place it in the first two lines, as a standalone line with space around it, then move to your ask in the third line. Do not open with a paragraph of context before the quote, because many readers decide within three lines. Name the author, then follow with the specific goal, the deadline, and one concrete outcome.
Are these quotes suitable for a church or faith-based fundraiser?
Three lines on this list fit a faith-based setting especially well: Proverbs 22:9, Acts of the Apostles 20:35, and the line about giving freely, which most congregations will recognize as scripture. Check your tradition before quoting, since translation wording varies. For a mixed audience, the non-scripture lines carry the same message without the framing.
How can I make a generosity quote sound personal?
Attach the quote to one named detail from your own campaign: a person, a date, a number. A general line plus a specific fact reads as written by a person, while the same line alone reads as stock copy. Length matters less here than specificity does.
Should I include the author’s name when sharing a fundraising quote?
Yes, always, and be honest when the author is unknown. Several widely shared generosity lines have no traceable source and are regularly attached to famous names. Print those as anonymous lines. It costs nothing and it protects your credibility when someone checks.
How many times should you ask people to donate?
Ask before the event, once at the event if you are running a live total, and once afterward with the result. People on fundraising forums describe that sequence as reasonable and describe repeated one-to-one pings as the thing that turns donors away. Share a link publicly rather than messaging people cold.
Conclusion
Start with tone, not fame. Pick the line that matches whether you are asking for money, for hours, or for a service, credit it accurately, and cut it to fit the medium.
Then do the part most campaigns skip: follow the quote with a specific goal, a real deadline, and one number describing what a gift produces. A four-line ask built in that order will outperform a beautiful quotation every time.
If you only remember one thing from these quotes about generosity for a fundraiser, remember the order rather than the wording. Quote, goal, deadline, outcome. The line you choose is replaceable; the sequence is what makes people give.
