Recently, Mark Zuckerberg publicly announced his decision to give away 99% of his Facebook shares to charity. His decision aligns him with several other significantly wealthy individuals who have decided to do the same: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner, and others.
And their decision aligns them with countless wealthy individuals who have done similar things in the past. “A man who dies rich, dies disgraced,” Andrew Carnegie once said while giving away 90% of his personal fortune (almost $14b in today’s dollars).
I think these stories are important and I am glad they make national headlines. Some will try to discredit them or argue ulterior motives, but I don’t care. The more examples of generosity around us the better.
I will admit, however, there is one problem with these headline stories.
They are almost completely unrelatable.
When most people read about billionaires giving away money, their first reaction is typically, “Well that’s easy for them to say… if I had that kind of money, I would be generous too.”
And to an extent, they are right. When you begin talking about net worth in the billions of dollars, things seem to function a bit differently. For example, it was Neil deGrasse Tyson who first conjectured that, comparatively speaking, Bill Gates would have to stumble across $45,000 on the ground to discover the same amount in relation to his net worth that you or I would discover if we found a quarter ($0.25).
Of course, mathematics and emotions can be very different. Just because somebody has a vast amount of wealth, generosity does not necessarily come easy. In fact, some studies would seem to indicate that the more money we own, the more difficult it is to give away.
But nevertheless, “That’s easy for him to say,” is still the most common reaction to news stories similar to the one of Mark Zuckerberg. As a result, even though those stories are shared widely, they often leave us unchanged. How many people do you know went out and made a donation to charity after reading Mark Zuckerberg was giving away 99% of his wealth? Probably the same number as me: zero.
In other words, Mark’s story actually does very little to inspire generosity among a society.
But I think this might change if we start championing different stories.
For the past several years, I have been traveling this country speaking on the benefits of owning less. And I have met some amazing people along the way. Recently, I am being asked more and more often to speak about our new nonprofit organization, The Hope Effect. And whenever I do, something amazing happens… people begin sharing with me their personal stories of generous living.
People are quick to open up about the charities they passionately support. They share with me the experiences they have had volunteering at various organizations here and abroad. Many will come up to me afterwards and explain how and why they chose nonprofit work as their career. It is encouraging, it is amazing, and it is inspiring.
In fact, during an interview a few weeks back, I was asked, “What has been the greatest lesson you have learned starting a nonprofit?” Among the dozens of ideas that came to my mind, I answered with this one, “By far, the greatest thing I have learned over the past year is that there are generous, giving people everywhere you look. I have met so many people who are passionately committed to the care of orphans and other important causes, I almost can’t believe it. Everywhere I go, I meet people making sacrifices so they can live passionately generous lives.”
Unfortunately, nobody is talking about them—at least, they aren’t making national headlines. And I know why: their stories don’t convert to metrics like Mark Zuckerberg’s story.
A column about the adoptive mother in Minneapolis who dedicates two evenings/month serving on a nonprofit board placing orphans in loving homes doesn’t sell many newspapers. The full-time blogger in Nashville who fathers a family of three and makes a $5,000 donation to a cause he believes in doesn’t trend on Twitter. The middle-class family who gives away 10% of their income every week to an organization they trust doesn’t drive much Internet traffic.
But these are the stories that need to be told. Because these are the stories we can see ourselves in. These are the people with whom we can relate. And these are the people that can inspire us the most.
They have sacrificed in order to have time and money to give. And their stories challenge us to do the same. Unfortunately, the stories we need to hear are often the hardest to find.
I think we should try to change that.
During this season of giving, I think it is appropriate for us to recognize the people in our lives that have inspired generosity in us.
When you think of a generous person, who comes to your mind first? In the comment section below, would you draw attention to that certain somebody?
Comment and mention specifically the one person (or the one family) who has inspired you the most to greater generosity? My guess is, when you do, very few will mention celebrities or philanthropists. Instead, we will think of family members, neighbors, co-workers, or members of our faith community.
When you add your comment below, their stories will live on and their example will inspire even more individuals.
Practically speaking, I encourage you to be as specific as possible. Who has inspired you to generosity? Why? To what causes were they generous? What sacrifices did you see them make so they could give more? And in what ways did you see them dedicate themselves to others?
Their story may never be published in a major magazine. But today, you can champion it for us—because these are the stories we need to hear.
Sarah Bricker says
My mother. We grew up in a lower-middle class family. She was always giving away food or something she could sew to other people, especially to families with children.
Just last weekend a child told her, “I’ve never met anyone like you. You gave us cookies and blankets!”
I remember being that child myself, learning from a mother who modeled how to think outside of yourself. It was simply part of what we did, it was our normal.
Rea says
Both my grandmother and my husband’s grandmother were inspirations in giving of the talents that you have. My grandmother, an excellent seamstress and quilt maker, sewed quilts and wall-hangings for an annual relief organization’s auction up until her 100th birthday. Thanks to her gifts and the generosity of those purchasing the quilts thousands of dollars made their way to where it was needed.
My husband’s grandmother pieced comforters out of scrap material, comforters that have gone all over the world to refugees and victims of natural disasters. By her last count before she had to finally stop, she had sewn over 5000 comforters.
She passed away 2 years ago shortly before Christmas. And several weeks later my 9 year old son (with the help of his grandmother) pieced his first comforter for the same organization. So the gift goes on.
John P. Weiss says
Retired police lieutenant John Hohmann. I’ve had the privilege to work with John for many years. He volunteers for Special Olympics. He created a “Police in Pursuit” event where local law enforcement officers race old cars at a local race track. Ticket sales go to Special Olympics. He serves on the Northern California Special Olympics committee. He teaches a law enforcement class at our high school. Being Catholic, he just hand made a beautiful wooden cross in his wood shop, to be auctioned off at our annual Fallen Officer Ball, which raises money for first responders and their families in need.
Good for Mark Zuckerberg for giving back. But John Hohmann, retired on a modest cop’s salary, is the hero in my book. Merry Christmas and thanks for your on-going inspiration, Joshua.
Kara says
My cousin Kate Mangels has been an advocate for Living Water International for the past 4-5 years. She is very generous with her time and effort traveling to be a part of bringing clean water and education in Jesus’ name. She just recently was hired by LWI in Houston and moved with her 5 year old daughter from the small town where she was raised. Big life changing experience.she’s passionate, caring and so generous with everything God has blessed her with.
Kamil says
Joshua, I think you might be confusing Dale Carnegie (author, speaker) with Andrew Carnegie (industrialist, famous philanthropist). They are unrelated, and in fact, Dale changed his last name slightly to take advantage of that name recognition. Looks like it still works today :).
Louise says
My grampy was the most generous man in my life. He was kind and lived a very minimalist life with little material things. Only what he needed practically. Always so generous with what little money he did have. It made him happy to be able to help his children and grandchildren in any little way he could. He always put others before himself.
Rachel says
My sister is the first one that comes to my mind. Over the last 10 years of my life she has always been there for me. She’s housed me several times when I needed a life change and didn’t have the money to be on my own. She’s always there when I’m sick or sad or having a tough time. She gives of her food, clothes, shelter and love. It may seem small and insignificant to some but I know I’ve been given more than one chance at a better life because of her generosity. I also know that it takes true Christ-like charity to see someone in need and offer them everything you have, even if you are related.
My parents are the other example I can think of. They have never complained and have always been more generous than they should (in a good way).
I am so grateful and blessed to have both examples in my life.
Deby says
It’s so beautiful and inspiring to read this stories!
The first thing that comes to my mind was my grandmother. She was a housewife with four children, they all live out of my grandfathers paycheck. He was a government employee so he didn’t make much. They had as neighbors a family with 3 kids. When the father died, his widow didn’t get a pension (it was in a country in South America). My grandmother started to provide meals for her neighbors 3 kids, so they won’t go in hunger.
Now, they are grown up men, the 3 of them live in U.S. and take her out “for a dinner” every time they go to their home country. They never forget what she did for them.
Sal says
I learned to be generous from my parents. I never knew till adulthood how rare their generosity is, in every day life. As a student income family with 6 children now we are humbled by the generosity love and kindness from others towards us.
I used to listen to a lot of Joyce Meyer’s preaching and found my own style of generosity towards friends and strangers, sacrificial giving. Since becoming some kind of minimalist our finances have been very different and we have been able to gift money from time to time to friends in need.
Allowing children to be generous with ideas that even seem silly to us sometimes has taught me a lot also.
Ray says
When I think of generosity, there are only two people that come to mind. My sister,a single mom to a teen, making time to mentor immigrant doctors to help them pass the medical exams, to help people inspite of her own struggles as a single mom in a foreign land. My mom, a generous soul, always giving her time and money to counsel children from poor families, and helping to provide vocational training to them to help them make good choices and to stand on their own feet.