I think my giving is pretty much done for the year, so here is my recap for those who are interested.
At the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to redistribute wealth. My general feeling is that I do not have any more right to the money I have gained through privilege than anyone else. From my perspective, to fix many of the systemic issues in this country, those of us with privilege need to part with it, and reducing financial privilege is one way to do that. As a well-educated white woman I will likely always be financially stable, so I set out to dramatically increase my giving with the ultimate goal of parting with a significant portion of my net worth.
I knew direct giving was a big part of what I wanted to do, and a focus on the Black community. I didn't end up doing a few of the things I wanted to, but will likely do them in 2021.
Thank you all for your cheerleading, connections and recommendations along the way. If you have additional ideas for me for 2021, or questions about 2020, feel free to ask below.
$105,655 total (probably a little higher than this, but I wasn't the best at tracking some smaller transactions) 80% was non-deductible (not given to 501(c)3s) 24% was given to individuals or causes provided by people on GBCN 80% went to Black individuals and orgs, including over 50k in scholarships and education via direct giving (i.e., not scholarship "funds" in schools, but individual connections). Additional areas include entrepreneurs, abortion providers, justice groups and straight up reparations. 3% went to Latinx individuals and causes, particularly farmworkers (an area that will be more of focus in 2021) 1% to indigenous orgs (an area that will be more of focus in 2021) 60% was directed based on recommendations from Black friends, coworkers and acquaintances Not included (of course) are the number of Black businesses I have begun to support as a consumer. This has been a big shift for me, and I know I need to do even more.
For 2021, I need to come up with a new plan. But a few ideas come to mind: Raise annual giving to $150,000 Focus more on Latinx and Indigenous orgs and individuals Continue redistribution to the Black community Continue to say yes to almost any ask that come my way that aligns to what I want to achieve Continue to share my journey and adjust my own spending and consuming patterns (including banking Black) Join Resource Generation alumni group for additional ideas and accountability (just signed up this month)
This is so incredible and admirable and I appreciate you recapping your journey here. You have also inspired me to increase my annual giving this year.
Thank you so much! I am thankful that you have kept us updated! I love that you were able to contribute directly to college educations for individuals. I think education is the key to so many things and in particular trade school and higher education.
I wish I was in a position to give more money, but I'm happy the bills are paid monthly. I usually give my time but was unable to this year because of COVID-19 and the focus on my own health issues & surgery. I hope to do more in 2021.
Thank you so much for sharing and taking us on the ride this year! And thank you for a truly fresh, yet so important, MM topic. I don’t think people of means our age discuss intentional giving nearly enough, and there’s a lot of potential influencing to be done there. As evidenced already by the responses in this thread!
My husband’s bonus hit last week, and my immediate question to him was, “how much will you “let” me give away?” We’re still in negotiations on the number, but I’m swinging for the fence. 🤣
And as cool as the $4.2B Mackenzie Scott donation was, I am more inspired by what you’ve done. Thank you for thinking of and helping others.
My husband’s bonus hit last week, and my immediate question to him was, “how much will you “let” me give away?” We’re still in negotiations on the number, but I’m swinging for the fence. 🤣.
This is AWESOME! I am so impressed. And so glad to have been an inspiration.
Poppy, I am not sure. I was disappointed (for lack of a better word) to see that my net worth hadn’t changed at the end of this year. I basically gave away enough to stop a net accumulation. I did also move my investments to more “responsible” funds and reduced some capital gains by moving several stocks directly to my fidelity charitable account. A financial advisor recommend I commit X amount to an org over 5 years, say, so they can plan. But I get so much joy from giving individually that I don’t know if I will go that route.
So, it could be 5 years, it could be 10 years if the market does well or even longer if I receive an inheritance (my parents admire my giving and are incredibly generous themselves, but at this point still plan to have significant assets when they pass. I have inspired them though). If I was really bold I would take my money out of the market that gives me value for (generally) paying Black and brown employees terribly.
Thank you so much for the update. I love your focus on helping others. I do not have a lot of $, but charitable giving is huge for me. I do what I can to help my community.
I am in awe. Not just your giving level (equal to our entire HHI) but your strategy. It would have been way easier to just make a single donation to a tax-deductible org and pat yourself on the back but you chose to spend wisely and maximize impact. Thank you for being willing to share and be transparent.
Post by lightbulbsun on Dec 21, 2020 9:51:42 GMT -5
This is amazing! How many organizations did you contribute to total? Did you allocate the amount you donated to specific organizations based on their size/need? Or did you just do a flat rate for each donation, like $1000/each?
This is amazing! How many organizations did you contribute to total? Did you allocate the amount you donated to specific organizations based on their size/need? Or did you just do a flat rate for each donation, like $1000/each?
Good questions!
I ended up giving to over 110 orgs and individuals. Lowest amount was $30, highest was around 5k.
Sometimes I did a flat rate (like when I asked for recommendations here, unless it was something that I decided could use a bigger boost), others I considered the specific need or what I thought was enough to make a difference but not enough for someone to feel uncomfortable.
You already know this, but I will echo others when I say that your plans this year have influenced me and I have stepped up my charitable giving. I need to go and figure out what that amounted to but I think it is safe to say that I doubled it. Which sounds impressive, but isn't. It's something I need to keep working on.
You have inspired many of us with your "peak behind the curtain" to view your giving adventure. We tripled our giving this year due to the incredible need everywhere and plan to increase beyond that next year. Sincerely, thank you for sharing.
Since you asked for ideas for next year... I’d look at giving in part through the lens of climate. The climate crisis, if it’s not seriously addressed in the next decade, is going to exacerbate every other problem we have that you’re also trying to fix - racial/gender/orientation inequalities, health care issues, education, immigration, the divide between the haves and have nots. Things have the potential to get so much uglier. Since I’ve been reading and trying to do something about carbon emissions, I’m trying to focus on aspects that can most make a difference. The book Drawdown spells out what is most effective, so I’ve focused on what I can do about those. The things in the top ten that I’ve tried to work on include reducing food waste (I helped divert school share table food to the food bank last year and have tried to reduce food waste in my house), a plant rich diet (I stopped eating red meat because it is so destructive to the environment), educating girls (I run two Girl Scout troops with a heavy community service focus and a “lift while we climb” mentality, but of course these are kids who already mostly have a tremendous leg up), solar farms (we’ve switched our power source to one). But also, electric vehicles (bought one), composting (got rules changed and helped the daily operations of a program before coronavirus), recycling (just joined a local committee to try to help on this), talking about this with people I know (family, friends, and a wider community I’ve helped establish). A book I just read this past week (All We Can Save) said anything you can do to help with the climate now will have so much more impact today than the same action will have ten years from now. That’s motivating me right now.
It’s a little uncomfortable. I’m a well off educated white lady who has long been the beneficiary of expended carbon emissions and my family will probably be able to weather quite a bit of what’s coming. Being a loud vocal stereotypical “tree hugger” is not exactly who I am. But the science is clear as day, and that is where I put my trust, and it’s telling us this is a Big Fucking Deal. I don’t see enough happening around me, so I have felt compelled to pipe up.
My husband has done a lot of work with Black Deaf Advocates www.nbda.org and they are a great group that does amazing things within the Black Deaf community if you are looking for another org to support.
I'm curious how you found and approached individuals to give to. Through the pandemic I have Venmo'd some individuals in the F&B/service industry through a local program that shared names and accounts, but without that entry, I don't know how I would find and talk to those people. Or, for example, if you wanted to buy textbooks for a student, it seems like a hard topic to broach without being awkward or presumptuous.
I'm curious how you found and approached individuals to give to. Through the pandemic I have Venmo'd some individuals in the F&B/service industry through a local program that shared names and accounts, but without that entry, I don't know how I would find and talk to those people. Or, for example, if you wanted to buy textbooks for a student, it seems like a hard topic to broach without being awkward or presumptuous.
Good question. I have used a few different methods.
I had a few people through here PM me which was awesome.
I also have a dear friend who is very active in her Black church, so I worked with her on needs in her community. It has been very rewarding for both of us. I told her I had something possibly uncomfortable for her to consider, and she was shocked and amaze and thought about it for a while. We have done mostly scholarships, but also some other needs as well. Everything goes through her - so I give her checks, etc and she tells everyone I don’t want acknowledgment.
I also follow KinfolkKollective on FB (recommended through here). There I have been able to connect with a woman who runs a daycare in a major area and is very connected to her Black community as well. She reaches out with specific needs.
Sometimes my family runs across needs as well (for example, my sister’s friend had someone close to her be a victim of gun violence, so we contributed to help out her child). Or coworkers I am friends with are on boards of orgs I want to support.
I have a few friends and former coworkers who are very active in the Latinx community. So for one, I reached out and asked about the best way to support farm workers. A relative of hers is very active in the specific community I wanted to support so I worked through her. I have more people to contact for 2021, including a few that are very involved in Latinx professional development. I hope I can work with her to support Latinx entrepreneurs.
Then I also follow different accounts on social media.
Post by ellipses84 on Dec 29, 2020 11:59:47 GMT -5
Thank you for sharing what you have done. It is so inspiring! I wish people talked about it more. I dislike the attitude of the wealthy only donating to qualified orgs for the tax breaks. I’ve donated more this year than other years, although not nearly as much as I wish I could, and most of those causes were not tax deductible. Most were need based things I heard about in my community, because there was an immense amount of need this year. People have helped us out in tough times so I’m determined to pay it forward. I also want to be more intentional and when it comes to consumerism for both social and environmental reasons.
You are such an inspiration, konapoppy! I share what others have said, that you’ve inspired me to do more with my giving. I’ve been more deliberate this year about giving directly, and definitely making sure I try to pass things on versus donating to a charity.
Love of my life baby boy born 11/11. One and done not by choice; 3 years of TTC yielded 4 MMC and 2 CPs, through 4 IUIs and 2 IVFs. Focusing on making the world a better place instead...and running.