We have started an on-going conversation and newsletter about becoming generous Asian Ameriacn Christians, thanks to my friend Jeff Lee. He’s had many years of experience in nonprofit management, advancement, and fundraising, while I’ve had some years in the past where I worked for a small private family foundation that funded nonprofits through grants. We’re recording our conversations into a podcast so we can learn from each other and to learn from our growing community together.
Generous Asian American Christians
Subscribe to the newsletter and listen to the podcast at generousasians.substack.com – also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
Why Giving Away Money is Good
Why is this an important topic? In a day and age when we’re bombarded with thousands of messages and brands every day about buying more and consuming more, it does our hearts good to hear joyful stories of generosity as well as thoughtful reflections on how to share our resources for the benefit of others, to make the world a better place. It’s been our experience that money is a difficult topic to talk about, and that much more challenging in Asian and Asian American cultures.
That is all the more reason we need to figure out how to talk about it in a humble and honest manner, so that we can experience more joy and freedom after we’ve earned enough money to have a comfortable lifestyle. There’s more to life yet to be discovered, when you go on a journey of generosity.
In other words, you may have noticed that there are so many resources about making money, investing money, saving money, getting out of debt, and spending money. But coming upon chatter about giving away money comes around only a few times a year or only from nonprofits asking for your donation. There’s so much more to philanthropy that is accessible to the everyday person; it’s not only a privilege for the independently wealthy.
As Mister Rogers said, “What can be mentioned can be managed.” So when we can talk about money more comfortably, we can better manage money in the area of generosity rather than only talking about savings and investments.