The Get Ready Money Podcast

The Get Ready Money Podcast with Erinn Andrews: Giving With Intention

• Tony Steuer

Share episode

Send us a text

On the latest episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Erinn Andrews, the founder and CEO of GiveTeam about changing the way we think about money and giving with intention. 


In this episode we discussed:

  • Why we need to talk more openly about giving.
  • Being intentional with your giving.
  • Aligning your personal values with your personal donations.
  • How financial advisors can support their clients with their giving.
  • Engage your kids in conversations about giving.  

Erinn Andrews, the current VP and incoming President of the National Board of Advisors in Philanthropy and serial social entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of GiveTeam. With an extensive background in philanthropic research and education at Stanford University and nonprofit strategy at GuideStar, Erinn has created a unique consultancy that collaborates closely with financial advisors to help clients be more intentional in their giving.

Connect with Errin Andrews:


Website: https://www.thegiveteam.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinn-andrews/



Support the show

Speaker 1:

Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and transform your financial future? Then you've come to the right place. This is the Get Ready Money Podcast with Tony Stewart, where Tony has insightful conversations with financial experts who are changing the way we think about money. Catch up on the latest financial trends and hear practical advice from Tony and his expert guests so you can build healthy habits that work, Be empowered with tips for implementing small changes that can have a big impact on your financial future. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast changing the way we think about money. I'm pleased to be joined today by Erin Andrews. Erin is the founder and CEO of GiveTeam. In this episode, we'll be discussing Erin's insights on how we change the way we think about money and giving with intention. Aaron, welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast. Thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for having me, tony. I'm thrilled to be here, really appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah well thrilled to have you on the show and to talk a little bit about philanthropy and why it's so important. So to get started, tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your origin story?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you. Well, you know, when I think about the work that I've been doing for my whole career, it's interesting because you can talk to different people and you sort of say how did you end up in philanthropy or charitable giving, and usually there is no one standard story, charitable giving and usually there is no one standard story. Every story is very different. I did not grow up thinking I would work in this field. I did not go to do my undergraduate or my graduate work with this in mind. But, as life often happens, we get exposed to different ideas and talks and viewpoints, and so I guess I would say my story really starts in graduate school. And I was in graduate school at Stanford studying education policy and school reform, thinking I wanted to focus on post-secondary access. A lot of my work prior was in that area. Lot of my work prior was in that area.

Speaker 3:

And then I went to a talk on philanthropy and I thought, oh, what's this? I met up with a few folks who were working on an idea about how to identify high impact organizations, and this is really where my interest in philanthropy started. It was around the idea of how do we make sense out of a complex system when we have limited information? That was really the question that I was drawn to, and this was at a time when Charity Navigator was really the main evaluator in this space, promoting things like overhead ratios and fundraising efficiencies to consider before deciding where to give, and we just felt that that was a little bit misguided. It's not that that's something you shouldn't think about ever, but it's not the first number of things I would consider when deciding. Is an organization doing great work? So we set out to try to come up with a new way to think about which organizations were doing really great work. And that's really where the story begins, and I haven't looked back since.

Speaker 3:

I've been focused on strategic philanthropy ever since and as I look over my career over the last 15 some years, every job and work, every bit of work that I've done, really is in the effort of trying to solve sector-wide problems in a scalable way.

Speaker 3:

So, as much as I love education, if I were to pick a vertical, probably that would be it, but really my career has been at a sector-wide level, looking at how can we make processes, systems, more efficient, more effective, from the nonprofit side, from the donor side, from evaluation, data management all different angles. So anyway, I've been working in that area for a long time, ever since Most recently now I'm leading Give Team. I came to this work through the many experiences and reflections I had at Stanford running a research lab on effective philanthropy and there I was really looking at how to help wealthy donors give more thoughtfully and I just saw some gaps in the sector that led me to start Give Team to try to solve for those. So I can talk more about that, but I would say that's sort of where I started and where I am today.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's awesome. Well, you know, I think there's a couple things in there. One for people I think in careers it sounds like your career choice came through your desire to do something and a passion for it, and I think that's important for people. Is you know when you're thinking about something? Is you know it sounds like your passion drives you and it drove you to start gift team?

Speaker 3:

Yes, I am very passionate about my work. I think about it all the time and I'm very driven to try to improve systems. Whatever, whatever problems I'm trying to solve, I really am thinking about them all the time and figuring out ways that we can implement them. I'm the kind of person who likes to think big picture and then come up with an action plan and affect change, not stay just in the thinking mode but move into the. Well, what can we do about it? How can we make this practical? How can we?

Speaker 2:

impact folks with these solutions. Well, that's awesome and I know you know we need to get into the subject of the show, but I think for many people they struggle with that in their careers and you know, I just love how you're expressing that. Your mission led you through your career and it sounds like it's giving you fulfillment in your work and I think that's so important for people to think about. So that's awesome. Appreciate you sharing your story.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2:

So you know before we get into the questions. I think the obvious question people are going to have is what is Give?

Speaker 3:

Team. Yeah, that's always a good place to start, so I'll describe what we do. So Give Team, we are a philanthropic advising firm. We do philanthropy planning, charitable planning, with clients. That in and of itself is not necessarily novel, but who we're serving and how we serve them is different, and that's what really differentiates us. So most philanthropic advising firms support donors who are giving away many millions plus, who need really complex strategies, want to spend a lot of time building out those strategies and really are again moving significant amounts of money, have really complex needs, and that's really what the sector has been structured around.

Speaker 3:

What we are trying to do is support donors who are just below that segment. These are high net worth individuals, ultra high net worth, ultra ultra high net worth folks, and I characterize them as giving, at the upper end, a few million per year, maybe one or two, and at a lower end, tens of thousands of dollars each year, which is there's quite a range in between. So they're characterized by their giving level as well as where they are in their journey. So these are folks who are earlier in their journey. They're still figuring out, or maybe they're ramping up their giving, or they had a major wealth event and now they're there, they want to give more. How would they start? So those are some characteristics of the folks that we support.

Speaker 3:

So we partner with financial firms to support donors in this segment. I call them the top two to 10% of givers and we help them through a few steps in a really streamlined but thoughtful and strategic way. First we work with them on a 60 minute reflection session where we talk about where they've given in the past, they build a charitable mission statement and we learn about their personal preferences. Then their advisor supports them on building out their budget, their charitable vehicle, if that hasn't been determined. And then we follow up with them a few weeks later to present nine to 12 different, usually regional, nonprofits we've handpicked for them based on their priorities.

Speaker 3:

So what we're trying to do is streamline the advising process, not make it be overwhelming, but still be completely personalized and meaningful and intentional to help folks build a plan and move into action. Because what I saw so often is I love my financial advisor colleagues but they usually feel really strong and solid on the budget, charitable vehicle conversation, sort of the tax planning strategies, but where they tend to not have as much to give is around. How do we build a mission statement and how do we find nonprofits to fund? So I'm trying to fill the gap there for this segment of many millions of donors who are giving at meaningful levels, but the existing philanthropic advising solutions just don't fit them. It's not what they need, it's not at the right price point, it's not the right time commitment. These folks are pretty busy, so that's what we're trying to do. We work with clients all across the country and really do this work by partnering with different financial advisors.

Speaker 2:

Well, fantastic. And what I love about what you're doing is I think this can apply to anyone, even if they're not giving tens of thousands of dollars a year To start with a charitable mission statement is what do you want to accomplish with your donations? I don't think people oftentimes think about that, as oftentimes, you know, I mean some of the donations we have to give, you know, is like our kids are selling candy bars or their friends are selling candy bars and you know those are donations you pretty much can't say no to. But with the rest of your donations is, what do you want to achieve? And as part of what gift team does? But you know there are research tools where people can come up with nonprofits on their own. Obviously not to the level you can with your services and everything, but I think this is important for people. Think about who you want to give to and as part of that is being intentional. So can you share with us? Why should donors be intentional with their giving?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think this is a really important question. So many donors, as you say, give when they are asked, right. So maybe they graduate from college and their college asks them to give money. They give money. They send their kid to a school, there's a fundraiser, they're asked they give money, their kid's selling Girl Scout cookies or candy bars and they are asked and yes, you bet they're going to say yes and there's nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 3:

That is sort of status quo, default philanthropy. But if you really want to be intentional in your charitable giving, be more thoughtful, more purposeful, there are different ways to do that and there are good reasons to do that. So one is when you align your personal values, the things that you care about, with your charitable donations, those donations become more meaningful to you and your family. You can stand behind that. You can say, look, as a family we care about kindness and generosity and stewardship of the land, and so we give our money to preserving open spaces or whatever the focus is. That then helps you as a family or an individual ground your values with your charitable giving. It's just an alignment.

Speaker 3:

Another reason to have an intentional focus is if you pick just a few areas to focus your charitable giving on, you can learn more about those organizations and those causes, which can enable you to go deeper into those areas and to learn more and say, oh, this is a really great way to solve for this problem.

Speaker 3:

Or, now that we're supporting this shelter, we're going to look to support this permanent housing solution. It just gives you a chance to go deeper and be more strategic over time, and maybe sort of the last thing I would say is one of the best reasons that I hear from donors when they go through this process. One of the great things that they find relief and comfort in is when they then are, in the future, asked to make a donation. They actually know what they are supposed to say yes to and what they can say no to, and they can say no to it gracefully, respectfully, and not feel like they're spreading themselves so thin. Right, if you write 100 checks for $10 each versus you know a few bigger checks, you're going to have a deeper impact. So having a strategy enables folks to know when to say yes to the things that align with their strategy, their intentional plan, and when to say no, and that can be very powerful and freeing for individuals too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I love that. And I think people sometimes you know that happens is because they've given to their non-profits through the year and then something comes up that they really would like to contribute but they may be hamstring because they've given out a lot of money. Now I know for us is my son has type 1 diabetes, so we're partial to giving to organizations, especially those that support children with type one diabetes, but you know, that's that's become our own personal mission statement. But I think the other thing you said there too is family is that we make that decision as a family and my son has donated money himself that he has raised to those causes because he's passionate about them and they align with our values as a family.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we actually supported one family, but really the son. The 15 year old son was driving the conversation, having just gone through his bar mitzvah and he had a sizable amount of money that he wanted to give away amount of money that he wanted to give away and so we helped him build a very simple mission statement about what he cares about and find some organizations to fund For our family. We've gone through this process and we've printed our family mission statement and it's framed on our wall so our kids know exactly the things that we stand for and what we fund and what we care about, and it can be a really helpful exercise to bring the family together and to teach values and to instill those priorities.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I'd love that. Half the family, because I think that's an important part of the financial literacy conversation is this helps kids with so many other things as they grow. As you know, being goal oriented, being values oriented, understanding that your money, the money, has an impact, and if they can see it, like you know again, in our cases, my son can see the impact that his giving has with the organization and that'll make him more charitably inclined in the future.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely yeah. Start them young and early, get them involved and used to being generous and giving in that way, and it makes a ton of sense that those are the causes that you're rallying behind and want to support and that you have an intentional strategy around that, and it adds meaning to your life and your family, and so that's really the goal.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love this. This is so fantastic, you know. So talk to us a little bit about the gift team process. I mean, I know you touched on it perfectly, you know. Can you go a little bit deeper so people can get a sense of your process and maybe think about what one is? Advisors can think about how gift team can benefit them, but for other listeners, you know how they can maybe implement a couple of your tactics.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, definitely. So I would say that with with the reflection session. So when we, when we start, sometimes donors come to us directly that's fine too Sometimes through the relationship with their financial advisor. The financial advisor is welcome to be part of any of the conversations, assuming the client wants them there. This can be very beneficial because the advisor then learns a lot more about what their clients care about and can also help them carry forward on their plan. So whenever possible, that can be a great strategy.

Speaker 3:

The reflection session we purposefully have folks come to that session without really doing much pre-work. We want them to come sort of with a clean slate, and one of the first things we ask them and this is something your listeners can do on their own. I'll share this process, but it's something you can reflect on yourself. One of the first things we ask them is where they've given in the recent past. But we don't want them bringing receipts very much on purpose, because it can often be revealing which nonprofits folks remember giving to and really caring about and which ones may not actually rise to the top because maybe they don't fully align with their priorities. So we always start there and do a short reflection on where have you given recently and do you want to continue giving to those groups? And there's no right or wrong, even if we build a strategy around climate change and you still want to give to the local shelter, that's, of course, perfectly fine. But then we move into a values-based exercise and this is where we just go down memory lane for these donors. We have them reflect on formative moments in their life, things that were meaningful or impactful to them, shaped them, changed them, made them who they are today. We look at different values and identify which values are meaningful to them. When it's a couple going through this process, I have them build out their values separately and then we reveal them and see how much overlap is there. Do they want to come up with a blended list? And then we hear stories from them about why they chose different values.

Speaker 3:

This is an incredibly meaningful part of the exercise because we learn so much about what's important to these folks, and advisors who listen into those conversations really learn a lot about their, their clients. It's these are emotional conversations and a lot of we just do a lot of listening and reflecting back and then we're moving into action. So which causes do they want to fund? Which populations or communities, geographies, and ultimately we build a mission statement based on everything that we've learned, asking specific questions, because if they want to fund education, that's so big, how can we, you know? Are we talking about literacy, post-secondary access, tutoring? There's so many different facets, so trying to get as specific as we can, because everyone has limited resources. Even if you're giving away millions of dollars per year, you can't fund everything. So that's what the first session is like, and it's again very emotional, very rewarding. We've had laughter, tears, aha moments. I can't believe we've been funding that when we care about this. So many just really wonderful stories.

Speaker 3:

And then, if it makes sense, the advisor checks in. I mentioned on budget vehicle. One of the things that can be helpful is my preference always is to have the uh, the reflection session before budget and vehicle is finally set, because sometimes we learn and not all advisors ask this, but sometimes we learn that the donors are interested in political giving or giving to 501c4 advocacy groups and if that does become part of the charitable plan, we don't want those donors. Those donors can't put all of their charitable money into a donor advised fund, for example, because you can't give to politicians through that vehicle politicians through that vehicle. So if we've learned something useful we'll share that back with the advisor so they can better advise their client on the financial piece. So it's a team effort in that way.

Speaker 3:

And then when we present the organizations we've picked out for the donors in a 45-minute delivery meeting a few weeks later, we go through each of those organizations in a good bit of detail. We usually present three or four organizations per cause area. So maybe education is one of the areas we might share. Three or four organizations. Each one will talk about why it's a good fit for that donor. Maybe they wanted to fund a direct service organization having a deep impact on small numbers of folks with strong quantitative reporting. Whatever those parameters are that they care about, we'll talk about the mission, the programs, the impact, who's funded them, their latest expenses, their ruling year, how much they might consider giving to that group. So they really have a good sense of what the organization is up to.

Speaker 3:

And as much as possible we try to recommend local organizations.

Speaker 3:

There's a reason for that strategy. One of the big reasons is for donors who are giving at these levels in the tens of thousands to the low millions, those dollars go a lot farther locally than they do to a large national organization, and so you know donors think about that and this might be something your son thinks about. If he has $100 or $1,000 to give away, he wants it to make a difference, right, and so finding an organization where that is a meaningful donation to them you know can make a difference for a donor to feel connected to that organization, that mission. And the other reason is a lot of the folks we support have been giving reactively, sort of when asked, and so to give to an organization that's nearby, where they have a chance to get to know the organization over time and maybe go to an event or volunteer that can help them feel more connected and stick with that organization in the longer term. So that's, those are a few reasons why having a regional strategy can be really helpful. Yeah, that's sort of the process.

Speaker 2:

Well, that is that is so awesome and you know it really resonates with us and I know it's been important in our giving is. You know my son has given to organizations shout out to JDRF and DYF, you know, for the services they provided to our family when we really needed them to adjust to this different life. And you know it did make an impact because now he knows how his money's going to be used. He's seen the services, he's used the services not used the services, that's not the right word but he's benefited from the service. So he knows that this is going to help other kids and so you know we and he can identify with that. So I think that is so important and, as you pointed out, is with that.

Speaker 2:

So I think that is so important and, as you pointed out, is with that community centric is, you can go in there and physically feel how your money is being used. And you know, I mean that's not to say that national organizations don't do amazing work, of course, but it's it's. It's different um, and this is a way to give on many levels. It's not just financially is you can give financially, you can serve on a local board, um, and, you know, put out a plug, for small non-profits are always looking for board members, have talents in areas such as legal accounting, marketing. Um, I don't know how many times I've been the treasurer for a small nonprofit, because they're always looking for something about money, definitely. So get out there.

Speaker 2:

Not only give money but volunteer to serve on the board, you can make a huge difference.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Or organize a school outing to do a volunteer event or do a clothing drive, or there's so many ways to get involved in so many opportunities. And, yes, especially those small organizations can use lots of help in a variety of different ways, formally and informally.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, 100%, 100%. So you can have a multi-leveled strategy to support nonprofits that includes. It's not just about money, it's giving your time as well. So, Erin, let's switch gears and go into the get ready questions. The first one is what basic money concept do you wish people knew about giving? Or just generally?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So I would say that there are really two things I wish folks would think about slightly differently in terms of charitable giving that relate to money. One is thinking about giving from your net worth instead of your income. So a lot of times folks think about maybe I will give 1% of my income or 10% of my income, and that I mean any amount is great right To give generously. But what a lot of people don't realize is if you think about giving from your liquid net worth, if you have appreciated assets and you give from those that actually can help you increase your charitable budget without actually like you can actually give more without having it impact you. So that is to say, if you give from appreciated assets, you can reduce your income tax as well as your capital gains tax, whereas if you're giving from cash, you only are reducing your income tax. So that's one thing. Maybe the specific example would be if you were planning to donate, say, 10k in cash, but instead you gave 15K from appreciated stock, your tax savings might actually be about equal. So you, at the end of the day, your taxes would look the same, and yet you've suddenly now given 5,000 more to charity than you had anticipated. So there are ways to increase your giving without actually impacting your bottom line Something to ask your financial advisor about, in case that is something that could be relevant to you.

Speaker 3:

The other one is, when thinking about how much to give, my suggestion is, if clients and in many cases clients are doing this if clients can afford to pay, say, 1% of their liquid net worth each year to hire a financial advisor team, I would say you might also be able to afford to give 1% of your liquid net worth to charity. So if you had $2 million in liquid net worth, maybe you could afford to give away $20,000. Of course, every situation is unique, but if anybody's looking for a well, what's a number I could start playing around with and see, talk to my financial advisor. That's just a simple one. That can be a way to get the conversation going and see, you know, is this a way we can stretch and be more generous? So those are my philanthropy related tips and suggestions, for, yeah, those are my philanthropy related ones.

Speaker 2:

Well, those are awesome and I think that's helpful because, you know, I think the important thing well, there's a lot of important things in what you said, but I think something that's readily applicable is having a plan for your charitable giving, is. You know? One thread I've heard throughout is to think about your giving and how you're giving. You know that, like with anything about, you know it's who, what, where, when and why, have a plan for your charitable giving.

Speaker 2:

So, erin, what is one simple thing people can do each year to set themselves up for financial success?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I think automating one's savings is probably one of the best things you can do. Figure out you know how much you can save each month and just make it a default setting. Just automating your savings is a great way to help with budgeting and make sure you're not spending more than you need to and are able to save for the future.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's awesome, and I hear that for people watching and listening to the show on a regular basis. You've heard this tip before and it's such an important tip is, you know, automate your savings the money saved before you spend it all. Exactly, yep, great advice, yeah, awesome. So what is one habit that people can change when it comes to their money and their giving?

Speaker 3:

So it's a bit of a continuation of the last one, which is, you know, setting a savings goal, maybe setting a charitable goal, automating that, but then the one that and I'm stealing this from my husband, full disclosure he says don't feel bad about spending the rest, right? So if you've set your savings goal, you've set your charitable goal, you're doing all the things you want. You have extra leftover, go ahead and spend it, enjoy it. You know we only have one life and whether that means you give some of that extra to charity or you go out to dinner for a special event, you take a trip, whatever it is but sort of freeing people up to feel okay about you know, if there is extra spending it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think that's amazing advice because you know, I know that's something that comes up in the financial planning communities. People retire and they have a hard time switching from accumulating to spending. But you know also, so many people are maybe into the fire movement financial independence, retire early and they're not enjoying their life, um, as they accumulate their money. So that's, that's awesome advice, yeah, so what money myth are you trying to break um about giving?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think I think it's what I said earlier with. I really, really hope that people, if they aren't already, will really look at giving from appreciated assets instead of cash. To me, this is a way that individuals can unlock significantly higher levels of generosity with again out actually impacting their bottom line, if done well, talk to your advisor about that. Talk to your advisor about bunching, which is another tax strategy to unlock more charitable giving. These are really really great ways and not all folks know about it. So that's, I think, the biggest one I would encourage folks to think about Awesome, awesome. So, before we get to the next one, I would encourage folks to think about Awesome, awesome.

Speaker 2:

So before we get to the next question, would you mind just spelling out what is appreciated assets, in case there's anybody who's curious? Yeah, sure.

Speaker 3:

So appreciated assets are especially things like stocks, right? So you might buy stocks at a certain amount and over time that stock price goes up and now they're worth a certain amount, and over time that stock price goes up and now they're worth a lot more. Well, in order to take that money out and turn it into cash, you will have to pay taxes on the appreciation from the purchase price to where it ended up at that selling price, and that's going to come out against your income tax and also capital gains tax and so but if that money is donated to charity, if it turns into a charitable tax deduction, then you actually can can give the full amount without having that capital gains tax be part of it as well. I am not a financial planner, so I can't promise. I explain that the best way possible, but that's the concept.

Speaker 3:

So appreciated assets can be a really, really effective way of donating and achieving a greater impact with your dollars.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome and I think that's a super helpful definition for people. Helpful definition for people. And I think the thing for people to consider is you know, when you have these assets and retirement plans or you've had gains in your stocks, that it's always good to know your options and you know, before you make any money moves because there may be better options for you. And I think that's the key here.

Speaker 3:

Yes, absolutely. If you are charitably inclined, you should absolutely be talking to your financial advisor about all of the tools at your disposal, because if you are in retirement, if you're above age about 72 and you have an IRA and you're required to take the minimum distribution and you don't actually need that, you can donate that to charity and that will also help you from a tax standpoint. There are lots of different options, as well as different, more complex charitable trusts and annuities and things like that, depending on your unique situation and what you need, what life stage you're at, what you hope to leave to your heirs or not. So many. There are just so many options out there, so do talk to your financial advisor to think creatively in case there's a good solution that's going to be just right for you.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Well, I think something super important you said is RMDs, which are required minimum distributions from qualified plans. Is that, as you said? This tracks back to what you said earlier. If you're giving from the RMDs that you don't necessarily need, you're not reducing your income from other sources and it can have different tax benefits. So you know whether it's for yourself in retirement if you're listening to this or if you're helping your parents manage your money. For those of us who are in that sandwich generation, who have older parents, that we're helping out, it's great advice. So, erin, you know, let's get out the time machine for a minute. What advice would you give your younger self if you could go back in time, knowing what you know now about giving and money?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, I think I think it's not that my parents didn't give charitably. I just don't really remember it being a big part of our conversations. I was a little bit aware of charitable giving growing up, but it wasn't as big of a part of my upbringing and so I guess, in as I look back and as I'm raising my own kids now, we're talking about it all the time. We're talking about giving back in a lot of different ways. We're engaging our kids in these conversations. Kids are 11 and 12, so it's not like they're we can do a lot, but we're doing. We're doing what we can. So yeah, I mean I think it's just exposure to these ideas caught, the concept of kindness and generosity and teaching that to young folks from an early age and having that carry through.

Speaker 3:

I don't know if, if there had been an option to study philanthropy as an undergraduate, if I would have done that. I have no idea, but I'm grateful that my path took me where I am today. I think when I was younger I was, and I think a lot of kids are, hard on myself. What am I going to do? Where am I going to find my way? What's going to be my career path and you stress about these things.

Speaker 3:

You don't know, but I think I was lucky to be supported in such a way where I could pursue jobs and opportunities that were purely interesting to me and continue on that path and find the next thing that was really interesting and that's where I ended up. I'm in charitable giving, I'm in strategic philanthropy and I love it. I never would have known I would have ended up here, but I don't regret my path along the way. I think it was all of the experiences we have when we're younger shape and lead us to where we are today, and it's helped inform my perspective. I had a humanities background, a thinker, a writer, an arguer, a researcher. That all you know contributes to the way that I think and and and do my work today.

Speaker 2:

It has. You know that's super helpful. You know, I'm just curious do you have a? I can't think of any offhand, but do you know any programs or apps where kids can learn about charitable giving?

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's a good question. I'm not sure about programs or apps specifically. There are some. If you just Google search things to do with my kids around charitable giving, you'll find some nice little quick tips. To do with my kids around charitable giving. You'll find some nice little quick tips. It's, you know. Take them to volunteer events. Have them, you know, save a portion of their allowance for charitable giving. Talk to them about money. Help them think about where to give during the holidays, or do a birthday fundraiser, do a bake sale. There are lots of ways to get kids involved. No specific apps, though, that I can think of.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was just curious because I was trying to think. So, if there's going to be watching or listening and you have good resources, you know an app, a website that helps kids learn about giving please be sure to DM me with that information. That's awesome. So, Erin, to wrap up, what is your number one tip on changing the way we think about money and giving?

Speaker 3:

I think we just need to talk more openly about money in general and just be more. You know it's a taboo subject for many individuals. Their financial advisor is the only person they talk to about money and I think it's a missed opportunity. I think if we could all talk about our charitable giving not because we're trying to pitch somebody to give to the organizations we care about but if we can just normalize the conversation, I think people would realize that all of us are very charitably inclined. We should be talking about it, we should be celebrating it, we should walk the walk and show our kids and our kids' friends and our friends that these things are important and they help make society better and add fulfillment to our lives. So I think it's a theme that runs through all money, but just talking more openly about it and feeling more comfortable, not sort of hiding it or saving it only for talking about with your financial advisor.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Yeah, I love that advice. That's part of my get ready books is about having money conversations. Talk to people about money and if you have wishes and you don't tell anybody about it, they're not going to know your wishes. So have this conversation and this is how you raise money. Smart kids is by talking to your kids about money or, as you said, talking to your spouse, because sometimes your spouse may have good ideas about money.

Speaker 3:

They might, you never know. Talk about it about money.

Speaker 2:

You never know. Talk about it. That's awesome, erin. Well, thanks for sharing all of your insights. Where can people learn more about you? Where can they learn about GiveTeam?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean certainly to find out more about GiveTeam. Check us out. We're at thegiveteamcom the best way to follow me and my work. I regularly I'm active on LinkedIn, so just look me up on LinkedIn. Reach out, join my network. I'm constantly posting about what's going on in the charitable space, what reports are coming out, what we're finding, what events we're going to, what we're seeing. So join the conversation there. That's the best way to connect with us and follow our work.

Speaker 2:

That is so awesome. Well, thanks again for joining us today on the Get Ready Money podcast.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much for having me, Tony. Great to be in conversation with you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is awesome. Appreciate all your insights and I hope for everybody tuning in today, as always. Thank you, of course, for tuning in If you learned something today to change the way you think about money and giving. You, of course, for tuning in If you learned something today to change the way you think about money and giving. Please be sure to subscribe and share the podcast with a friend. Until next time let's change the way we think about money. Thank you.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Tony Steuer

Host