There is a common phrase among charities–at least among Christian charities–that donors should consider giving of their Time, their Talents, and their Treasure (i.e., time, skills, and money). The alliteration certainly makes the concept easy to remember. But does the phrase even make sense?

Last week, while I was at the Generosity Forum meeting, Gary Hoag challenged the concept. He said the phrase not only implies something that is impossible, it also encourages a wicked attitude on the part of those who “buy” its meaning. Specifically, he said, we can’t speak of owning (possessing, holding, having) time in the same way that we own (possess, hold, or have) talents and treasure. Time is not an asset in the same way that talents and treasure are.

He had two reasons for objecting.

First, “I can’t give someone any of my time,” he said. “If you say, ‘I don’t have enough time,’ I can’t say to you, ‘Oh, hey! I have some extra time to give you. Here, take some of mine. It’s yours’–so you now have, say, 26 hours in a day when you used to have only 24.”

And second, “As soon as we begin thinking of time as an asset, we begin to procrastinate. ‘I’ll do that tomorrow, when I have more time.’ –But who is to say we will have any time tomorrow?”

Hoag pointed to two Scriptures as the grounds for his objection. James 4:13-15–

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

–and Luke 12:16-20–

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ”

“You can’t know how much time you have. You only have the present and the past,” Hoag suggested. “You cannot count on the future; therefore you cannot offer someone your future.”

My thought?

I think he is overreacting to a valuable insight.

Clearly, you cannot count on the future . . . any more than you can count on money being available at any time in the future, or talents, for that matter.

Any one or all of them could be swept away in the blink of an eye.

Moreover, while there really are some significant differences between time and the other two assets, there are also significant differences between the other two assets themselves.

So, I thought, it probably makes sense for us to analyze some of the similarities and differences between time, treasure, and talents. I don’t know how valuable it will be to you or anyone else for me to begin the process here, but I would like to make a stab at. Perhaps we may find some insights that could prove valuable in the long-term.

Here are some of the things that strike me about Time, Talent and Treasure:

I think I’ll stop there. I get the feeling that I should expand upon what I mean by the different characteristics I’ve listed. So, briefly, what do I mean by:

• “Replaceable if or when squandered”?

  Basic idea: If I fail to study hard in school as a young person, it is possible that, many years later, I could apply myself and acquire the skills or abilities I failed to develop earlier. If I make foolish decisions concerning money, it is possible that I could earn back what I have lost. But if I squander years of my life pursuing foolish ends, I can never acquire additional years to make up for what I lost. There is no turning back the clock: I advance toward my death. Always.

• “Can be developed or improved“?

  This is much like the issue of replaceability. I can improve the way in which I use my time; Through wise and disciplined habits (proper eating, exercise, sleep, etc.), it is possible that, on a statistical basis, I can improve my quality of life and, potentially, enjoy more time on earth than if I had lived a less disciplined existence. But I cannot improve the quality of the time in itself. Time just “is,” neither better nor worse.

  By contrast, I can develop or improve my skills and abilities. I can learn new things. I can practice a skill so that it is better than it was.

  I inserted question marks in the “Treasure” cell only to indicate that I could argue the case either way. If we do find “develop or improve” as increasing the quantity or increasing the velocity at which I gain more money, then, yes, “Treasure” can certainly be developed or improved. I guess, If we wanted to talk in highly technical terms, we could say that a monetary authority can develop or improve (or, conversely, debase and destroy) the value of financial instruments. But in normal, day to day talk, I think I would like to distinguish between how one might develop or improve one’s skills and abilities from how one might “develop or improve” one’s “Treasure.”

• “Liquid (Tradeable for another asset)”?

  I said “yes” for all three assets because I sense we really can trade them, one for another.

  • One can hire oneself out and receive money based on the number of hours one works. Of course, the value in one’s hours, ultimately, has nothing to do with the hours themselves; it has all to do with what one achieves with one’s time dedicated to a specific end. But we recognize, in general, there is usually a correlation between the amount of time one devotes and progress. And so I can hire myself out . . . and I can purchase the labors of others.

    I think it is on this point that Mr. Hoag’s suggestion that I must severely distinguish between Time and the other two assets is incorrect.

    While I cannot lengthen my days by acquiring your help (my days will always remain 24 hours in length), I can hire other people and thus increase the total amount of time dedicated to projects of interest to me. –The effect is equivalent to my living more days or enjoying the benefit of more hours in each day.
     

  • If I want to develop a skill or ability, I’m able to trade money (or time or skill) to a mentor in order to help me develop the skill I want. Or if I am uninterested in developing a skill or ability on my own, but I want to enjoy its benefits, I can trade money (or time or skill) to acquire the aid of a person who has what I am looking for. Again, a trade takes place.
     
  • Finally, as demonstrated in my two previous illustrations, I can trade money to acquire the benefits of other people’s labor (time) and/or talents.
• “Perpetuates on earth after owner’s death”?

  Obviously, time itself marches on and after someone dies, but when a person dies, his or her time on earth is done. Same thing with his or her talents. The results of those talents may be stored in the form of other people’s memories, in words or physical representations stored on paper, stone, or some other medium (film, perhaps, audio tape, CD, etc.). At the talents themselves will never enjoy fresh expression once the owner of them dies.

  By contrast, a person’s monetary treasure is able to continue doing whatever it did while the owner was alive.

• “Integral to the owner”?

  I think, with this characteristic, I may be being a bit too philosophical. But, as I said, I am just trying to begin to distinguish between these three asset classes. And it strikes me that, in some way, talents differ from treasure in that they are, somehow, “inside” their owner. As my father used to say, “An oppressive political regime can take my money, but it cannot take my education.” The one is external to me; the other is, as I said, inside.

I don’t know whether this analysis is helpful, but, as I said above, I sense, with a bit more meditation, we might find some insights that could prove valuable in the long-term.

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