You are on page 1of 4

7/28-29 2010 Bolder Giving/Chronicle Calls

Thanks for inviting me to be on the chat. I love being a part of Bolder Giving and helping
spread the word about how to live and give up to our full potential.

1. How much is enough? How do we choose to live on the edge?

I think that’s a very individual choice. For our family we have the gift of free housing and
most utilities so the money we would’ve paid for housing is available for other uses. I
can’t imagine we’d need more things! So we invest it in what we care about – creating a
more just society.

I think it also has to do with eliminating fear and anxiety about the future. We can’t
protect ourselves with money from all that we fear – so why not give it away to do good
in the present?

We live on the edge because we can – if you know you’ll never be homeless, or without
health care - there’s a real sense of security. What do we have to fear that money could
fix? Also – since we both work in the nonprofit sector – we don’t want to get too far
removed from people who use the sector for services. It’s too easy to start feeling like we
have the answers to problems because we give money. We don’t ever want to be distant
from human need, so we choose to live closer to the poverty line. I’ve learned a lot about
generosity from people who have very little money or security. When you’ve shared a
cup of coffee with someone who is living in a week-to-week rental motel room – you
really experience personal generosity.

For me, money is a tool, but it’s not the only tool we have in our human toolkit, either.
You don’t use a hammer for every repair – sometimes you need a screwdriver and some
helping hands. It’s the same way with money. It’s just one way to do something, but I
don’t divorce it from engagement in agencies I care about or being informed about
giving, either.

2. What do we give to? Why do we give?

We compiled a list the other day to prepare for this chat and it’s a very long list! We give
in a big variety of categories: disaster relief, basic human needs like food and housing
(locally & nationally), reproductive health and advocacy, social justice, human rights,
LGBT issues, political causes and candidates, all the giving options through the United
Methodist Church, community foundations, investigative journalism, public tv and radio,
and of course our minimum 10% giving to church. That’s the basis from which all our
other gifts originate. We start with 10% and then use the next 20-50% of our wages for
other giving. We give in easy ways - cash & in-kind. We make recurring gifts, annual
gifts and planned gifts. I particularly enjoyed being part of a women’s giving circle, too.

Why? It’s intrinsic to who we are. We live by the motto “all we have is gift, all we do is
offering” so giving isn’t an option. We also give because we can and because we know
that the private sector and public sector can’t meet all the needs alone. We need a strong
independent sector that requires investment and involvement, too. We give to agencies
we’re involved with and get involved with agencies we give to. Having worked in the
sector all these years – it’s become a part of my life. Some of my most generous giving
has been to the agencies I’ve led. Personal integrity is important – and living by my
values and beliefs means that I live a life of integrity.

It’s funny, in my work I’m fierce about how money is used since it’s not mine, or even
the agency’s. It’s entrusted to whatever agency I’m leading by the donors and funders.
I’m all about accountability and donor wishes when I’m on-the-job. But as an individual
giver, I don’t operate that way. I do due diligence and read 990s and financial statements
(I actually like to read financials – thank you, Guidestar.org!), but once I give a gift, I
don’t care how it’s used. The agency knows the issue best so they know best how to use
the money, too. I’ve given to individuals who’ve asked without wondering what they’ll
do with it. Nobody asks me what I’m going to do with my paycheck and whether the
outcome is measurable!

My daughter is just starting out post-college and even though she doesn’t have steady
employment yet, she gives recurring monthly gifts to her college and it turns out she’s
one of the biggest givers. I’m proud that she is able to defend her generosity from a
position of personal integrity. It makes me feel so good about the decisions we’ve made
to live our lives as fully generous people.

My grandparents were part of the 1937 Flint sit-down strike and I think collective action
and generosity is part of my personal DNA, too. My parents were both public school
teachers and I know how much they gave out of their own pockets for their work. It
wasn’t a big deal, just something they chose to do because they cared.

3. Role of faith

I was raised in the United Methodist church and learned early about the teachings of the
founder, John Wesley. He started Sunday Schools to teach miners and their children how
to read and write – a very practical man who saw the church’s role as being in the world,
not separated from it – and who believed that we’re expected to “…do all the good you
can in all the ways you can with all the people you can for as long as you can…”.
We try to live by the social principles of the church, too. You can learn more here:
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1686

I also think that being a children’s Sunday School teacher myself for the past 36 years has
made it easy for me to live more generously. Did you know that Jesus taught more about
money than any other subject? If you’d been a Sunday School teacher as long as I have
you would! I can’t ignore those teachings in my own life and be a Christian.

It’s not just about giving money, though, it’s also about how we use money in other
ways. We avoid products that harm the environment, we buy products made ethically and
without sweatshop labor (that means we need to be aware and informed), we invest our
retirement in socially-responsible vehicles, we drive a hybrid car, we share our home
with others, we buy most of our clothing and household goods from Goodwill or other
nonprofit resale shops, and we support local and independent stores and services.

Other:

For you development staff on the chat – we’re the folks that “fly under the radar”, so we
don’t fit the usual prospecting assumptions. The most important thing – just thank us.
Send an acknowledgement after each gift. A small gift might represent a significant
proportion of someone’s income or assets – we’re not the one-time big gift givers, but we
give a lot over time. We added up our gifts over the past 17 years and it ranges
somewhere between $332,400 and $520,000. That’s a lot of money by most
measurements – but even more when you realize that we’ve never made more than
$112,000 a year in any given year. Some years our income was less than $40,000, but we
always give. And another piece of advice – don’t underestimate our potential for major
gifts. There’ve been times I’ve been part of fundraising activities and the development
staff didn’t’ ask me for a gift, probably thinking that because I work for a nonprofit, I
wouldn’t have much to give. I felt really hurt by that. I was there because I wanted to
give.

Things I’m reading or have read that influence my giving:


Charity, Philathropy, and Civility in American History, Friedman, McGarvie
What’s Love Got to Do with It?, Wagner
Making Nonprofits Work, Light
A Place Called Simplicity, Cloninger
People of Integrity, Morgan
The Selfless Gene, Foster
Values-Driven Business, Cohen, Warwick
True to Yourself, Albion
The Call of Service, Coles
The Insider’s Guide to Grantmaking, Orosz
American Foundations, Dowie
 

E
ve
nt
D
et
Contact Bolder Giving in Extraordinary Times for event and ticket information. ail
s
Bold Conversation with Jill Warren- Jil
l
Thurs. July 29, noon ET W
ar
re
n
an
d
he
r
mi
nis
Ticket Information ter
hu
Type     Quantity sb
Bold Conversation with Jill an
Free   d
Warren
re
gu
lar
ly
gi
ve
ab
ou
t
30
%
of
th
eir
m
od
est
in
co
m
e,
es
pe
cia
lly
to 
re
pr
od

You might also like