Focused charitable investment can put you in the room with the decision-makers.
I closed my last post with a comment that, by focusing, “Sarita and I have been able to ensure . . . that our (charitable investments) actually do ‘make a difference.'”
How can that be true?
For a number of reasons. But in this post I want to talk about being in the room with the decision-makers and those who make things happen.
One of the things Sarita and I particularly like about our focused charitable investing: we believe our giving is far more strategic than it would be otherwise.
It’s awkward to buck the crowd.
I told you about turning down the telephone canvasser for women’s breast cancer. I said I felt no guilt. That feeling of freedom is an advantage of pre-committing to a certain charitable focus.
But there are downsides to focus. And they are primarily emotional.
It wasn’t that long ago, I received a phone call. The lady said, “Is Eldon there?”
“No, I’m sorry. You must have the wrong number.”
I was about to hang up. “Oh,” she said. “Well maybe you can help me anyway?” . . .
Within another minute, I realized that her opening line was simply the latest way that her marketing firm was attempting to get me not to hang up. It wasn’t an error call. It was a deliberate way to paralyze my defenses long enough so that she could get me to listen to her spiel: “I’m calling for the Breast Cancer ____. . . . Can the women rely on you?”
My wife Sarita had a transformative insight several years ago. It changed our lives.
Her insight had to do with the way we invest for charitable causes–our charity portfolio. It had to do with FOCUS.
I want to talk, here, about that focus. Next time, I intend to talk about how the focus changed our lives.
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