Consistent in Their Values
The investments that virtuous philanthropists make through their wealth, wisdom, and work reflect personal beliefs as well as values they feel strongly will create a more just and humane community. The entries in their checkbook registers reflect the issues they support. The money in their investment portfolios is allocated to the corporate and social institutions that practice responsible corporate citizenship in their conduct of business. Volunteer time is specific and focused on the causes that they have identified as important and that reinforce their shared family and community values and the giving of their other resources of money and talent.
Business owner and entrepreneur Jody Potts Bond gives us another example of how she puts the principles to work on a daily basis. Bond tells us that she has been blessed with a wonderful family. It is always a joy to visit her jewelry store, Just Gold in Stuart, Fla., where on many occasions a contented grandchild sits happily in a playpen while mother and grandmother attend to customers.
As a community activist, Bond believes in family values and in the economic vitality of a community fostered by a good education system. A former school board member and past president of the Soroptimist International of Stuart, she grew up in a loving family where “we always looked out for each other, worked hard, and encouraged each other to do our best at home and in school.” For Bond, family, education, and community were and still are her most cherished values.
“I prefer that my money help families. I think more than anything about family issues, whether they are domestic problems or children’s issues, that’s where my first allegiance lies,” she says. “These are values I hope my daughters and grandchildren will inherit from me as we work side by side in the business. I want them to take an active part in making the business decisions of where we volunteer our time or give financial support in the community.”
When it comes to her philanthropy, Bond is very focused and direct and purposeful.
“If I think there’s a real need out there, I research it; I go over it; and I decide what I want to do about it. Do I want to give it my time? Do I want to write them a check? Do I want to give them material goods? I have to determine if there’s a real value, a real need. I primarily only give to local charities, because I want to make sure those dollars go to the individuals or the entity that needs it. And I am the first to recognize that when you do it, you feel good about yourself, you feel good that you can share with another person, that you can help someone that needs help.”
For more, read “Women, Wealth & Giving: The Virtous Legacy of the Boom Generation” by Margaret May Damen and Niki Nicastro McCuistion.