Every Gift Matters

How Your Passion Can Change the World

Greenleaf Book Group, 2015

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Responsible charitable giving means far more than simply writing a check.

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The National Center for Charitable Statistics reports that the US has upward of 1.5 million nonprofit organizations, including many charities. Many more charities operate worldwide. So how should individuals, companies and foundations decide where to bestow their philanthropic gifts? Carrie Morgridge, vice president of the Morgridge Family Foundation and an expert in what she calls “venture philanthropy,” offers valuable, tested advice on the best ways to give to charities. Besides writing donation checks, Morgridge has given more than 10,000 hours of her time since 2000 to assist the nonprofits she supports. If you want to know the best, most productive ways to donate, you will appreciate her counsel. getAbstract recommends Morgridge’s guidance to philanthropists, corporate social responsibility executives, employees of foundations and nonprofits, and anyone who wants to give.

Summary

The Dying Starfish

It was low tide. A young boy walking along the beach noticed an abandoned starfish partially buried in the sand. It lay there, removed from the water it needed to live, baking and dying in the sun. The boy looked up and saw dozens of starfish, all trapped in the sand, waiting to die. He picked up the first starfish and threw it in the ocean, immediately giving it a new lease on life. He picked up another and threw it into the ocean as well. Then another and another and another.

The boy’s mother, walking behind him, said, “There are too many starfish. What you’re doing doesn’t matter.” In one sense, she was right. No matter how many starfish the boy threw back into the sea, far more would die in the sand. This did not sway the boy. He picked up another starfish and held it in front of his mother. “It matters to this one,” he said, throwing it into the ocean.

The young boy could not save all of the starfish, but he still did something good: He saved each one that he picked up and threw back into the ocean. His story is an apt allegory for philanthropy. No matter how vast the problem or how small the donation, the act of giving can make all the...

About the Authors

Carrie Morgridge, vice president of the Morgridge Family Foundation, is also an Ironman competitor. John Perry is a professional writer.

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B. S. 8 years ago

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Carrie Morgridge and John Perry