I Want To Be A Philanthropist

Before you line up with your hand out, let me clarify.

According to Wikipedia, the modern day understanding of Philanthropy is a bit altered from the original intent:

‘Philanthropy etymologically means “the love of what it is to be human”. In modern practical terms, it is “private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of life”.

The love of what it is to be human.

That in and of itself brings up the question of what it even MEANS to be human, and I’m not out to bore you on a Saturday morning with philosophies of thinkers far older and wiser than I. Instead, I just want to take the statement at face value.

I want to have a love of what it is to be human. That implies that I’m not quite there yet.

In truth, I get incredibly frustrated with some of our human-ness. I was on a juicy call with Leesa Barnes yesterday, discussing one of the best books I read in 2010. Nearly 100 years old and incredibly hard to come by, this book has shifted my thinking about how I operate in the world as a human being and a business owner. Leesa and I spent nearly 90 minutes sharing our thoughts and parallels from this book and how it applied to “modern day business”.

One of the things that came out of our discussion is the idea of doing what’s right even if it’s harder or costs more. You know, going the extra mile. Bob Burg would call it being a “Go-giver”, and while many of us think this is a refreshing new concept in business, it’s an idea that’s been around for centuries.

It crops up every hundred years or so with a fresh perspective, but the underlying core message is still the same: Folks have got to stop doing “just enough” and then justifying their behavior because the cost outweighs the gain.

Let me be clear, I’m not talking about investing in a losing proposition. I’m talking about doing what’s right because it’s the right thing to do – even if it costs you a little more to do it.

I was up so early this morning, I could barely stand it. Finally, I crawled out of bed and shot a video of my “new office”.

We live in a custom-build from the 1920′s. Hardwood, great bones. Needs a lot of work. When we bought the house it was way under market, and I told my husband that even if the market tanked, we’d still probably be okay on this property.

That was about 4 years ago, just before the market tanked. Psychic? Perhaps. But one thing was clear – I was wrong about being “okay” on the property. Like many Americans, we’re upside down on our home. Not by a lot, but enough to make my husband roll his eyes at me every now and then.

See, it was a foreclosure, and like many foreclosures, this one needed serious TLC. It still needs some. A friend of mine suggested moving my office out of the butler’s pantry into the spare bedroom – a room we’ve never worked on since we moved in.

A room that needed the most TLC of all the rooms. My husband was skeptical and essentially left it to me to “pay for” the repairs. So I prayed first, and then I got started. It’s still not finished, but it’s habitable, and I’m writing from there now. In less than a month, and for about $100, the bulk of the hard stuff (including some wiring) was completed. I’m grateful to have a good friend that was a GC in a past life, so he knows how to do wiring – I won’t touch that stuff.

It’s been hammering on the back of my mind lately. By the time it’s completed it will cost about $2-300  to fix up the room. The “return” on that investment is negligible, considering we’re about $20-25,000 upside down on the property.

But then I think about how much use I’ll get out of a room that’s been neglected for at least 4 years. That “cost” of $300 more than covers what I might have paid for rent somewhere else – or the grumpiness that was developing since I was too cramped in the butler’s pantry.

To me, it was a no-brainer.

Sometimes, being a good steward means re-investing in and caring for the things you are tending. Sometimes it means taking a loss in the short-term because there’s a greater long-term good that’s being served.

The other day I had a revelation. I’ve been willing for a while now to say that I’m just a steward of what God has given me: my stuff, my things my family, even my business. But it was only a few days ago that the idea crept up on me that I’m not just a steward of my “stuff”, to some degree I’m a steward of you.

My clients, my readers, my subscribers, etc. – are not mine!

Yes, I have a list, but YOU are not mine. You can come and go as you please! Instead, you are an endowment, a gift that I’ve been given. As caretaker or steward of that gift, it’s my job to tend and nurture – to care for that gift – because it’s the right thing to do.

In that, there are times when I have failed. My “two talents” have been buried in the sand for a while. Protecting what I thought was “mine” in an effort to not lose it.

I’m not a multi-millionaire (yet), by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, I feel compelled to do things differently – a lot differently than what’s happened in the past. All of this is coming to the surface now that I’m on the “new shore,” and it’s going to take some time to work it all out.

I thought my journey was over. Then, as I watch my ship burning on the shore, it occurs to me…

…the battle has only begun.