Leave a Billion Dollar Legacy on Less than Five Dollars Extra a Day

Good morning!

When I was interviewing a famous CEO recently whose net worth was almost a billion dollars, his assistant told me that he only does interviews with authors on the weekends. This was in contrast to years earlier when his net worth was a lot smaller . . . and he would see me anytime.

When we got together, he told me that this problem arose because so many authors and charities were vying for his time. If he met with such people during the week, he would never have time to do his job. On the day of the interview, he told me that he was meeting with four university presidents later in the day in individual sessions. Each one was hoping to gain a donation of over a million dollars from him.

The CEO said that the requests for money never stop.

I asked him how he felt about this . . . and he said that it was a challenge. He would like to help everyone, but cannot. He hated to disappoint anyone . . . but felt that he often did. That was a downside of being a caring person who is rich that I had not considered before.

So perhaps those of us who aren't billionaires may have an advantage in our philanthropy. We can choose to help people in any way we want without having to disappoint many.

One of my earliest experiences with donations came when I headed up a new fund raising program for my graduate school. Our class decided that it was important to raise funds to pay off loans for students who wanted to go into public service careers that don't pay much compared to private legal practice. I made as large a donation as I could and was able to raise about ten times that number from other people. Later, others asked me about this idea . . . and joined in. Over the years, tens of millions of dollars have been raised to further this goal following on my simple gift and initial leadership. That made me realize that we can leave a greater legacy through our efforts than simply through our financial gifts.

Since then, I have been seeking out teaching opportunities with bright graduate students in developing nations. I'm especially attracted to those who are in populous parts of Africa and Asia who want to do something for the educational, medical and spiritual needs of the poorest people in their native lands. I encourage each of these students to pursue a project based on a book I co-authored, The 2,000 Percent Solution. Part of each assignment is to find ways to create 20 times more benefit from the same or less resources as are being used now for these purposes. The students always succeed in finding ways to do this.

Next, I encourage them to teach others how to create their own 2,000 percent solutions for the same purposes. If this teaching contination occurs again, their students will eventually teach still other students. If this generational sharing of knowledge occurs often enough, millions of people may gain.

As a recent example, one of my students in Africa came up with a way to extend vocational education to another 400 students on a part-time basis in his school at no additional cost. There are almost a hundred schools like his in this country and neighboring lands that can use the same approach. If he is diligent in sharing his 2,000 percent solution, hundreds of thousands of students will benefit in the next decade. And the benefits should grow from there. Currently, there are over 900 students who want vocational education in this country for every available place. So if he can expand the supply of such education, that will be great. In the long run these countries can be more economically successful, unemployment will be less and all families in the nations will benefit in various ways as well.

By comparison, even a billionaire would find herself or himself constrained in trying to help that many people by simply writing a check.

Where can you leave a billion dollar legacy for the future by helping others?

We each have a gift. Yours may be being patient in the midst of family turmoil. If you can teach others how to do that (perhaps starting with a free blog), many more families will live in wholesome homes. Or you may be good at helping people to overcome depression. Your suggestions could help lift thousands from that slough of despond.

Whatever your gift is . . . share it with others . . . and hone your talent so that you can provide more value in the future to as many people as possible. Then your love for other people can become a fruitful legacy that will make any billionaire green with envy at the riches you have shared!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell