Recently I met with a family that instituted a family philanthropy practice based on the business book, The Go-Giver.  If you haven’t read The Go-Giver, it is based on the “trade secret” of  ”The Law of Value – your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.”

The matriarch and patriarch were inspired by this book (as was I) and decided a number of years ago to implement a family “Go-Givers Lunch.”  In short, small and age appropriate allotments of money is given to each family member to then be given away to others.  Annually, multiple generations of this family meet for lunch and share their giving stories with one another (this includes very young children sharing their stories as well) – pictures and video are taken to capture this part of their family story.

Not surprisingly, they were kind enough to share with me the invitation they send out to family members (they gave me permission to share it with others)…here it is:

“To all of you out in the world of our clan…We want to inspire you to give as you can. Here’s some money from us to jump-start this season. Give some thought to other’s needs; we would like to hear the reason.  You can add money, too, or get together to be kind; We just want you to have others – not yourselves – on your mind. It’s that time of year when many folks are not able to have all the gifts and put a feast on their table.  It is our good fortune to be surrounded with love and we want to share with others our blessings from above. We work hard for our living and we welcome that time, but we want to reach out to others…it’s the reason for this rhyme. Help some folks who are helpless or need a boost just for now. We hope you come to lunch and tell us just “how”. Let us know if you’re coming; we sure hope that you will. And, together we will celebrate Go-Giving…it is always a thrill.”

In this spirt of giving, share this post with others who may find it of value.  Also, I included below, a link to Sir Richard Branson’s top 10 giving quotes.

https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/my-top-10-quotes-on-giving