Most people give the way they were taught: a check at year end, a gift when a friend asks. This week: what if your most valuable gift is not money?
Most of us give by habit. What if your most valuable gift is not money?
InvestBetter™ episode 4 is about a charitable giving strategy that invests time, belief and capital in people, not just checks in organizations.
A charitable giving strategy is a plan for where your time, skills and money do the most good, decided on purpose instead of by habit. For most successful people, giving means writing checks. That matters. But a friend once told Sten Morgan he was generous with money and not with his time, and it changed how he gives. In this episode Sten talks with Will Acuff, founder of Corner to Corner, which has helped close to 2,000 neighbors in Middle Tennessee plan and launch their own small businesses.
Why is a charitable giving strategy an investment?
Because the return is a person coming into their own. Will's rule is that if you see your neighbors through a lens of pity, you only build relief. Relief is a great place to start and a terrible place to stop. Corner to Corner builds a pathway instead: equip someone to plan, launch and grow a business so they become their own economic engine. One graduate started with a thirty-dollar juicer and an idea. Ten weeks of class and a small loan later, she runs a real company. The money was the smallest part. Treat generosity like any other line in your financial plan: a purpose, a plan, and a way to see what it changes.
What does it take to invest in a person?
Will says it is simple: three ingredients. You do not get to skip one.
Who is your customer, what problem do you solve, what is your break-even. Not a pitch deck. The market, not a coach, decides whether the idea is good, so students sell it to neighbors from week one and learn to pivot.
Information is everywhere. What is rare is a person across the table saying, I know this is hard to believe in right now, so I will hold a little belief with you as we go. Classes are co-led by graduates.
A modest loan to upgrade equipment or buy the first inventory, once education and mentorship are in place. Start small, start now: what is the shortest path to revenue?
Will's challenge to every entrepreneur: fear is motivating, and it is toxic. It hollows you out. Your best self is hopeful, creative and generative, and that is a different energy to build from. Do the self-awareness work. Notice which state you are building from.
Do this week
- Take ten minutes, get still, and ask: where do I feel most alive right now?
- Find one place in your community where your skills could be put to work.
- Give one hour of time this month, not just a check.
Will's last word is for the owner who has made it and settled into comfort: if your whole life is built around your own comfort, you have slipped into apathy, and there are very few places you feel alive. Pay attention to your heart. When you hear about an opportunity and it beats faster, there is a little life there for you. Every entrepreneur had someone invest in them first. Passing that forward is the strategy.
How to invest in people, a quick self check, and three questions to bring to your advisor.
See where you stand across the core areas of a plan. It is not a financial plan, but it is a clear first step.
One short note a week with the new episode. Nothing else.
FAQs
What is a charitable giving strategy?
A deliberate plan for how your time, skills and money support the people and causes you care about, with a way to see the impact. It replaces reactive giving (the year-end check, the friend's ask) with giving on purpose.
Is giving time really worth more than giving money?
Not instead of money, alongside it. Money is a tool. Mentorship and belief are what most people cannot find anywhere else, and they are what turn an idea into a business.
Does giving fit in a financial plan?
Yes. Treat it like any other category: a purpose, an amount and cadence you chose, and a review. Your tax and estate professionals can show you which ways of giving fit your situation.
