The CSO for #GivingTuesday says generosity is the key to avoiding a social recession

Editor’s note: This column originally appeared in Medium‘s “Unleashing Generosity” publication. It is reprinted with permission.

The world feels like it is falling apart around us. COVID-19 is threatening our health, economic collapse is threatening our livelihoods, and social distancing is threatening our civic bonds.

We are now officially in an economic recession, and we are facing another recession that may be even more devastating to our well-being: a social recession.

A social recession is a deficit in human connection and security. Ezra Klein explains social recession as “a collapse in social contact that is particularly hard on the populations most vulnerable to isolation and loneliness.” Uncertainty about the future, separation from family and community networks, and worries about money can have a profound effect on our collective psyche. Unless tackled head on, a social recession will compound the impact of an economic recession by amplifying the anxiety of this precarious moment.

Governments are stepping in to stabilize financial systems and prevent our economic recession from becoming a depression. Regardless of your political leaning, most agree that intervention in monetary and social policy is critical right now, and is a role that only the government can play in the face of systemic crises.

If policy and legislation are the government’s tools for ‘flattening the curve’ and stabilizing society, generosity and humanity are the levers each of us can pull to bolster our communities and to avert the looming social recession.

In a recent blog, GivingTuesday’s CEO, Asha Curran, reminds us that “Generosity is a powerful countervailing force to isolation and loneliness, which already are prevalent in our society and bound to worsen now. Our ability to give help and hope gives us agency, dispelling feelings of powerlessness.”

We each have substantial power to deploy generosity, individually and collectively, to stanch the spread of social isolation, and head off a social recession. It’s a win-win, good for you and good for your community. Generosity and connection are two of the hallmarks of the societies with the greatest happiness and longevity, according to Dan Buettner, author of Blue Zones. In discussing one of the world’s Blue Zones, Costa Rica, one of the happiest places on earth, Buettner says “This is a place where religion, family and social interaction are the main values, unlike trying to get ahead, or financial security or status.”

Costa Ricans and others in these happy places have an abundance mindset, a powerful foundation for stability in volatile times. With an abundance mindset, everyday people who see friends and neighbors in need recognize the fullness of their wealth, and all the assets they have to support others: their money, kindness, compassion, and action. Facing an economy in crisis, it may seem paradoxical to think in terms of our personal wealth, but the one currency we all have in deep reserve is generosity. We can deploy it like investment capital, with strategic intention and determination.

Reframe social distancing as physical distancing

The best investment plans have an underlying philosophy that guides decisions. Social distancing isn’t the right frame for this moment — in fact, we can be as connected as we choose to be even without physical proximity. There is no reason that our physical separation means we can’t provide the financial, emotional and social supports that nurture our families and communities. We all have gifts to give, and with social media, online giving, delivery, mail, and phones, there are limitless ways to use your generosity to support others. Embrace your power to be a beacon for others, and act.

How can you get started? Intention. Inventory. Instigate. Impact.