Giving with Effort

"The effort to acquire money is directly proportional to the time you should spend giving it away".  GLW. 

Today Group "C" of the Investment Committee for Social Venture Partners (SVP) Cincinnati will meet to discuss ten of the 30 letters of interest from non-profits in our region.  The three page summaries are the start of the Investment cycle that SVP Cincinnati Partner will use to screen the 30 non-profits down to three.  Those three will then prepare formal request and present oral presentations to the entire Partnership in November. We then select one non-profit that we will "invest" our talent (time) and treasure (money) for the next three years. 

This is the fourth investment cycle where I have read through numerous letters from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky/Indiana non-profits that hope to be selected.  And each time I discover how passionate people are about their opinion of how best to give their time and talent to others.  The combined budgets of the ten non-profits I reviewed this morning is $20 million ( two of the oldest - 1935 & 1952 make up $13 million) and each have programs inside that focus on "youth at risk" (the SVP Cincinnati focus area). 

Comparing these non-profits is like comparing a watermelon to a insect.  They are living organisms but have very distinct genomes.  They all claim to "touch" children and youth in ways that produce positive outcomes.  Their "delivery" mechanisms include music, animals, mentors, parents, safety, art, community, housing, food, education ......  able  to  match to the excitement or enthusiasm/interest of  a diverse set of  philanthropists (like the SVP Cincinnati Partners).

How should we select?  Our personal interest; the size; the impact; the need; the skill fit; the resiliency; ......??????
What return should we expect?  More impact; Joy; learning; engaged hours; emotional connection;........???????

Answering questions takes effort - the first step of giving.  Searching for "Your Return on Life".