Sequential Philanthrophy

About 18 months ago, Warren Buffet made big news with the announcement of his $30.7 billion pledge to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At the time, this was estimated to be about 85% of his fortune.

In the event you have been living on Mars, Bill Gates (with $56 billion) and Warren Buffet (with $52 billion) are the 3rd and 4th richest people in the world. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was started by the Microsoft founder with his wife in 2000 and now has an endowment of $34.6 billion.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet each made an enormous sum of money over the course of their careers and now are beginning to give most of it away. This is a generous, noble and rational approach to philanthropy -- wait until you are older and have more money than you and your heirs can spend, and then give most of it away. And if you are Bill Gates, who for most of his life was viewed as the ruthless brain power behind the Microsoft monopoly, it is a wonderful way to redefine his legacy.

Gates and Buffet are engaging in what I will refer to as sequential philanthropy. First make a significant amount of money, and then give it away – in such a way as to not cause much personal hardship to you during your lifetime. There are other ways to give -- ways which involve much more personal sacrifice.

Let me give you an example. Over the weekend, I met a man in his 50’s who has volunteered for the Special Olympics for thirty years. He has been a year-round volunteer for most of those years and has worked on a daily basis for extended periods of time. He coordinates regional training activities and officiates at competitive events. His wife is a volunteer too and now that their children are grown, married and out on their own, they can travel together to Special Olympic events and meetings around the world.

I asked this gentleman if he had a special needs child or loved one, who instigated his volunteerism with the Special Olympics. He said he did not. I asked him if he had made his money very early in his career and chose to spend most of his adulthood “giving back.” He said he had not and that even today he holds down a full time job to pay the bills. I asked him if Special Olympics ever employed him during that 30-year period. He answered that he has given time and energy freely and has never been on the organization’s payroll.

This man has given an Olympic-sized donation of time and energy to an organization that serves people in need. He gave up opportunities to spend time with his family and perhaps make his own millions (or billions) had he channeled his energies in an entrepreneurial direction. His donation was not sequential – it has been continuous. While he may not make headlines or cure world hunger, this man has made a far bigger philanthropic sacrifice than either Gates or Buffet. There are many others like him who contribute in a quiet, sustained way.

If you want to support this gentleman, who asked to remain anonymous, you can visit the Special Olympics website and get involved yourself – or give a donation. link In any event, don’t wait until you’ve made your money or are too old to spend it—start helping others right now.