Make Millions and Make Change! » Charity

Give 15% to Nonprofits

Mike Mann — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:51:12 +0000

For a person who successfully follows our business advice and scores big, we recommend committing 15-30% of your wealth to nonprofit interests and about 50% of your available time. Since we are only recommending you do this after you are wealthy, it couldn’t hurt you and will definitely give your life extra meaning.

Give It Away

Mike Mann — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:50:39 +0000

If you need even more convincing as to why you should optimize your work product, consider how extra income can help you send your kids to better colleges, or allow you to take an extra week per year of vacation, or renovate part of your home, or even allow you to buy a new iPhone—if that’s your thing.

Once you get past the thrill of attaining material possessions, give away as much as you can safely afford to your favorite nonprofits or put it in a charitable trust, donor advised fund or foundation for later.

How to Get Extra Motivation

Mike Mann — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:49:55 +0000

Some people require extra motivation to make more money than what is needed for their family. For those people, it is important that they learn to appreciate their ability to help the helpless by choosing a charity or cause that can make a real difference in the world.

If you visit http://Grassroots.org/ and http://MakeChangeTrust.org/, you will read about some of the other critical, time-sensitive global issues we seek to address. The point is you can help work on these issues, or other issues that touch you personally, as soon as you have some extra time and money.

Business, Family and Charity

Mike Mann — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:49:17 +0000

Although this is a business blog, we truly believe that a life with family and charity as the core is better than a life focused on business. Our goal is to teach you how to get the best out of both. We want you and as many other people, companies, and organizations as possible to produce as much as possible, so more spare money and time is created to help other people and causes when you aren’t spending quality time with family and friends.

Give it Away for Free

Mike Mann — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:23:17 +0000

We also sign people up for our newsletters, blogs and discussion forums to spread knowledge of the free resources and social messages we promote. Since we usually deliver information electronically to a broad audience, we are able to reach a wide population immediately for little money.

Grassroots.org

Mike Mann — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:21:41 +0000

With our 501c3 charity, Grassroots.org, we are using a variety of strategies to grow and expand. In the same way as a business, we seek leverage, but instead of money, we count how many people or groups are positively affected by our actions. The more people we have helped, the better we’ve done.

Moral Violations

Mike Mann — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:21:08 +0000

No one should directly profit from charitable activities, yet there are abhorrent cases where there have been executive excess at the expense of charity stakeholders and society. One high profile example is the recent discovery that an executive at United Way was misappropriating funds. This is an anomaly and not in the spirit of charity. Cases like this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Furthermore, to use charitable donations on anything other than direct charitable actions and modest expenses (to run and grow an organization) is a moral violation.

On 501c3

Mike Mann — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:20:20 +0000

Other sorts of charities, such as churches, associations and political organizations, fall into different tax classes, whereas here, we are focused on fully tax-exempt 501c3 organizations, which are essentially charitable businesses whose monies flow internally after being raised or earned. There are no shareholders, dividends, or stock sales in a 501c3.

Nonprofit Best Practices

Mike Mann — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:18:56 +0000

Charities do not distribute profits or have stock shares. All of what ordinarily would be profit from their business-like activities should be redirected back into their nonprofit projects. In a properly run 501c3 charity, there are generally staff members who receive modest salaries and other ordinary business expenses, but high salaries and expenses are frowned upon, and even illegal in some cases.

Be Charitable

Mike Mann — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:17:10 +0000

We believe a charity should operate like a for-profit business. The main difference should be that the focus of the organization and the metrics (key data), which are being managed, should highlight the number of “needy” stakeholders being well served rather than the numbers of dollars of profits.