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Why Your Clients Should Give
Roger Silk | 12-13-01
In the post-Sept. 11 world, people--especially successful people--are refocusing on their core values. And as Dec. 31 approaches, for many the immediate reason to give is for an income-tax break.
But many advisors, when considering charity and its role in client planning, sooner or later come up against the question of why, really, would anyone give away what they've worked so hard to accumulate.
In our consumption-oriented, "me first" culture, it's valid to wonder why people give to charity. After all, when a book titled God Wants You to Be Rich hits the bestseller list, some people question how enduring is our shared ethic of helping others.
The answer is that it's more enduring than ever. Charitable giving can be one of the most rewarding things that a person can do in life. Too often we define our lives, our selves, and our accomplishments in the familiar terms of career, marriage, and children. Philanthropists, however, appreciate a fourth dimension--helping to make the world a better place.
After all, when you've provided for your family and have more than you need, what could be more gratifying than knowing that your contribution saved a child from illiteracy, helped an aging widow buy life-saving medicine, or allowed a scientist to probe the secrets of the universe? To the uninitiated, this may seem like melodrama or fantasy. But to the experienced philanthropist, it is, if not an everyday occurrence, an everyday goal.
British scientist Matt Ridley studied the whole question of why people behave altruistically in his excellent book, The Origins of Virtue. He looks at the question from different vantage points and ultimately concluded that we are generous because, in ways that are not yet fully understood, it is bred into our genes.
And if your clients worry that their giving might be motivated by the wrong reasons--that is, to win glory or adulation for themself rather than to help others--I would tell them not to bother. After all, as Ridley observes, "it does not matter to us that a man saves a drowning companion because he wants the glory rather than because he wants to do good." And, as Carl Bakal writes about charity in his book of that name, "History demonstrates that people frequently perform good deeds for the most contemptible reasons, while others with the noblest impulses create misery."
Whatever the motivation for charitable activity, it improves life for individuals and for society as a whole. Even when a particular type of charity directly benefits only one segment of the population, it creates spillover benefits for others, sometimes in ways that are completely unforeseen at the moment the donor decides to support the charity. Charitable donors are thus completely entitled to enjoy, without guilt or self doubt, whatever good feelings arise from being generous.
People don't give because of taxes, but taxes undeniably give a critical push. That's never truer than at year-end. And this year, more than many, people have a clear idea of why they want to give. It's up to their advisors to help them do it.
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