Values I Hold Dear
The Philanthropic Values I hold Dear
Freedom:
I believe human beings can only achieve their highest callings when they are free to make their own choices. People who are free to choose and pursue their work, location, interests, associations, etc. can turn those choices into good outcomes.
A key component to the value of freedom is freedom of conscience and speech. Without this component, the exchange of ideas, information, and views is restrained and corrupted to the detriment of creativity, innovation, and productivity, and greatly harms human progress. I believe in Freedom, and it is the most important value I support and hold dear.
Generosity:
I believe the act of giving – time, help, support, resources – anything that helps others is crucial to human progress. But it also the key element of human development. The ability and intention to shift one’s focus from satisfying one’s own needs and desires to the opportunities to help others is a key step in personal growth.
I often describe this as achieving significance and can lead to creating a lasting legacy. Because generosity has such a profound impact on both the giver and the recipient, I believe it is the next most important value I support and hold dear.
Service:
I believe the act of serving others, closely related to generosity, is also extremely valuable in producing human progress. Service comes in countless different forms, but it is all about satisfying the needs or desires of others. A society without service devolves quickly into a selfish battle of control and coercion with no ability to achieve the great benefits of cooperation and collaboration.
Like generosity, the intention and commitment to service provides the means for humans to grow and progress both individually and collectively. In that service is so critical to all human interactions, I believe it is the third most important value I support and hold dear.
How I Honor and Support these values
I believe the values of freedom, generosity and service are so prevalent in our society because they have been present and heralded since the founding of the United States.
The American Founders were the first to establish a governmental system that put highest on its values list the value of freedom: freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and to petition our government for redress of problems.
Along with the values of hard work, self-reliance, respect for private property, and community, freedom is a key part of American history and identity and has produced the richest, freest, most fulfilled society in history.
Rather than focus my philanthropic efforts solely on freedom, I believe it is most valuable to focus on preserving, teaching, and sharing America’s founding principles which have produced so much freedom, generosity, and service.