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Give This Blessing to Your Donors

June 25, 2019 By Barry Leave a Comment

Giving returns a bigger benefit to the giver than the receiver. It expands our hearts… our capacity to love and be loved.

Givers always receive the greater blessing. Think about that. From the physical to the spiritual, the benefits are amazing.

It transforms the giver… their family, their business and their community. The receiver is blessed as well, receiving gifts of donor’s money and time… more importantly, their heart and spirit and support of you, the organization and the mission.

You will never wonder who benefits the most: the giver always does!

We should never apologize (even to ourselves) that we are essential in making giving happen.

So, who can YOU bless today… by creatively, passionately and whole-heartedly introducing them – or reminding them – of the power and pleasure of planned giving.

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Book of Acts 20:35

Filed Under: General

Best Time to Plant a Tree

June 5, 2019 By Barry Leave a Comment

The Chinese ask and answer a series of questions to illustrate this point. It goes something like this:

“When’s the best time to plant a tree?”

“Twenty years ago.”

“When’s the second best time?”

“Today!”

When’s the best time to start giving back… start giving more… more time, money, energy and influence?

Twenty years ago.

Second best time: Today!-

Quote

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
Lao Tzu

Filed Under: General

Miracle Cure

May 28, 2019 By Barry Leave a Comment

In 1885, Commodore Vanderbilt’s grandson William, an heir to $60 million in 1885, declared, “Inherited wealth… is as certain death to ambition as cocaine is to morality.”

Today, the Vanderbilt’s once great fortune is just about depleted. The money, designed to be a blessing, became a curse instead.

How do you avoid the potential dangers of inherited wealth?

Giving back can equip inheritors of wealth with the skills to keep wealth a blessing! Philanthropy can unify a family around shared ideals and values, helping the members to maintain a grounded identity apart from their inherited money.

Giving back is the perfect inoculation against what’s been called “affluenza.”

Pass on your wealth… and this miracle cure along with it.

“If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.”
Bob Hope

Filed Under: General

Circle of Influence

May 22, 2019 By Barry Leave a Comment

Donors have spent a lifetime developing professional relationships to enhance the success of their business or career.

It’s their “circle of influence.”

Now, in retirement, that network has only occasional value.

Ask them, “What if you could bless a local nonprofit and bless your circle of influence as well?”

A portion of The Donor Motivation Program™ shows nonprofits how to help their best donors become “champions” and provides donors with a simple, step-by-step method to introduce their circle of influence to the transforming power of giving back.

Then ask, “How would you like to become a champion of our organization without having to write another check?”

Then… watch their eyes light up!

“There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother.”
Theodore Roosevelt

Filed Under: Charitable Giving

Generations of Philanthropy

May 9, 2019 By Barry Leave a Comment

Their jeans have always told the story of hard work and good value.

In 1866, Levi Strauss, a German-Jewish immigrant, built his first store and the foundation of five generations of private philanthropy, which would include numerous family foundations and the company-controlled Levi Strauss Foundation.

Fourth-generation Walter Haas, Jr., serving on the board of his parent’s private foundation, reflected, “It’s in the way we were brought up… I saw what my parents were doing. I guess we tried to emulate them.” Haas would later start his own foundation.

Philanthropy can link us back to former generations and the values that helped create the wealth.

You can be an example to everyone watching – your family, your friends, and business colleagues.

Help your donors pass on a heritage of giving back!

They’ll thank you for it!

“Be charitable and indulge to everyone, but thyself.”
Joseph Joubert

Filed Under: Charitable Giving

Involuntary…

April 30, 2019 By Barry Leave a Comment

Webster’s Dictionary defines a philanthropist as “a benevolent supporter of human beings and human welfare.”

When I grew up and heard that big word, guess who I thought about?

Andrew Carnegie. Henry Ford. The Kennedys. The mega-wealthy.

Who’s this, “Someone who surrenders up to one-half of their family’s wealth or one-fifth of their capital gains to support the general welfare of our country?”

The answer: a taxpayer.

In my vernacular, a taxpayer is an involuntary philanthropist.

Our tax code makes us all philanthropists… and tax is the ultimate loss of control. Don’t get me wrong; I’m wholeheartedly for paying my fair share of taxes.

That said… to avoid taking advantage of tax incentives that have been available for decades is… well… ludicrous.

The estate tax and the capital gains tax are both voluntary.

Your donors have the choice to opt out of both of them… and control where that money goes through a more joyful process: Voluntary Philanthropy.

Are you letting them know about all of their choices?