I’m Giving Money Away! – Three Action Thursday

Three Action Thursday is all about maximizing one’s potential in the domains of personal finance, interpersonal relationships, and personal/career growth. That being said, one thing that often gets ignored when you are neck-deep in these topics is the desire and responsibility to give back.

So today I want to focus this piece on developing your own giving strategy, and obviously share with you my family’s own strategy for giving. Supporting a cause or people less fortunate is a social responsibility, and typically is done through giving of your time, talent, or treasure.

Time

Our time on earth is precious and cannot be stored up and saved. For most, it is about 25,000 days. Once a moment passes it is gone forever. As a resource, time is finite; using yours to help others, therefore, is perhaps the greatest of the three ways to give.

Examples might be reading to a child, visiting with the elderly, serving the poor, or talking with a friend.

Talent

All of us have special talents or gifts. I believe these talents and gifts are not given to us just for our own use, but for the enrichment of the lives of others.

Examples might be leveraging your professional expertise to a non-profit, being a part of a local orchestra or choir, or creating tangible things as gifts for the needy.

Treasure

This one is pretty straightforward. Treasure is giving of your money and/or possessions.

Examples might be donating money, sponsoring an educational scholarship, or passing on items in good condition that you no longer use. You can even give away stocks/bonds/real estate via a donor-advised fund.

Our Giving Strategy

My family’s giving strategy tends to take a geographical approach, purposefully giving locally, nationally, and internationally. Locally, we tend to be generous with both time and treasure; nationally and internationally, it’s through sharing of our treasure that we’ve seen the most effect. We like to think that by giving in this way, we make a difference for more people with a diversity of cultures and income levels.

An Example and Opportunity

Over the last five years, my family and my parents have been quietly building a secondary school in western Uganda. It is not something we boast about or even mention that often outside of an occasional Facebook post or two. We founded a non-profit in 2016, the Well Spring of Blessings, to be a source of support for communities seeking to improve the livelihood of their disadvantaged members or increase their effectiveness in serving others.

Our first major project is in Buheesi, Uganda. The school has been open for a few years now and will have its first graduating class in early 2021. We have also installed numerous drinking wells to help the surrounding community have access to clean water.

If you would like to help support our mission to provide education and clean water to those who really need it, feel free to check out our website and donate. If you want to skip right to the donate part you can do so via Paypal/Credit Card at this link…. Donate to Well Spring of Blessings.