Do North American evangelical Christians really believe in heaven? Not if you look at their behavior, says one speaker. Here’s his evidence.

I’m at the The Seed Company’s President’s Forum. Great stuff coming out.

One of the speakers spoke provocatively: “Based on their giving patterns, American evangelicals do not believe they are going to heaven.” Read the rest of this entry »

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

In business you’re told to find a niche and fill it: define clearly what you’re all about, and focus on that one thing. I believe it should be similar when it comes to charity.

I met today with a guy who has given several million dollars to a number of charitable causes over the past 25 years or so. He told me his story. Maybe one day I’ll share it here.

But in the midst of all the other fascinating things he told me, one thing stuck out above all else: he knows his charitable niche. Read the rest of this entry »

What do you get from the following personal letter Sarita and I received Monday from the president of one of the charities we support? I believe it raises some strategic questions major donors ought to be thinking about as they fund their favorite charities. Read the rest of this entry »

Patricia Sellers, editor-at-large for Fortune magazine has written an inspirational and thought-provoking article about Melinda Gates and her perspective on Bill, working with Warren Buffett, and giving away their billions.

Just so you understand what, exactly, we’re talking about, let me note:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has assets of $37.6 billion, making it the world’s largest. In that total is $3.4 billion that Warren Buffett has already given, and still to come are nine million Berkshire Hathaway B shares, currently worth $41 billion, that he has pledged to contribute in coming years. Assuming that Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune 500) shares continue to rise and that the Gateses continue to bestow their own wealth on their foundation, Melinda and Bill will very likely give away more than $100 billion in their lifetimes. Already the foundation has disbursed $14.4 billion - more than the Rockefeller Foundation has distributed since its creation in 1913 (even adjusted for inflation).

Anything to be learned from someone like Melinda?

Here are a few of my take-aways: Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes it’s good to support relatively inefficient charities in order to achieve one’s charitable purposes. On its surface, the idea may sound preposterous, but some baseball analogies should illustrate the point. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, a couple from Ohio, serial entrepreneurs, talked a little about their personal “journey in giving.” It’s amazing how encouraging it can be simply to hear someone else express much the same idea you have in your own heart and mind.

The thing that jumped out at me in what they said — more than anything else — had to do with what they said about their latest company: “We are giving 100% of the profits to our favorite charitable causes.”

“????!!!!” –How can they do that?!? You have to pay taxes, at least!

This afternoon, at lunch, I was able to corner the husband and get a little explanation. Read the rest of this entry »

Our family has owned a private (”family”) foundation for about eight years. We use it as a kind of detention pond^* for funds we want to give away.

Our attorney sent me some information today about the differences between private foundations such as the two we set up — one, a “family” foundation; the other, a “corporate” foundation (sponsored by the company we own) — and public foundations, especially foundations that offer Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs).

The following comparison chart is slightly modified from one put together by a cause-oriented foundation (COF) whose brochure our attorney gave us. Read the rest of this entry »

When should the funds God has entrusted to us be passed along . . . and to whom?

Sarita and I have been challenged to consider whether we should “dump” large sums of money on agencies now, or, rather, “trickle” them out a bit at a time: put them in a foundation, for example, and distribute five to eight percent of the principal each year, with the expectation that the principal will grow at a rate faster than the distributions. . . .

In favor of the former idea, we consider: Read the rest of this entry »