Why Should I Be Generous?

This past weekend, we saw thousands of people descend on the Hastings Amphitheatre to attend Trumble’s Annual Back to School Bash. As I watched my team handout backpacks, it made me think about generosity and the concepts I have been teaching here in our column.

Why should I be generous? Shouldn’t people work for what they have? Don’t handouts just perpetuate reliance on a system or on others? What if someone doesn’t even need the generosity I am offering? What if I get taken advantage of?

All of these questions plagued me this weekend and as I thought about it more, here’s what I concluded: Generosity is first and foremost about my heart, not about the result.

My Trumble team stood in front of a mound of 1,300 backpacks as kids got to pick out their favorite color. I got to stand on stage in front of a display of 100 scooters as kids' names were drawn and received their very own Razor scooter. Myself and my peer Max got to give teachers $10,000 worth of Amazon gift cards to start their year off right.

Coming out of this weekend of generosity, it is easy to start asking, “Will these kids even use the backpacks? Will the teachers just buy frivolous things on Amazon instead of using the gift card for their classrooms? Did this even make a difference in the community?”

But these are the wrong questions to ask. Instead, I should be asking, “Was my heart genuine in giving? Was I seeking to help? Was my team impacted by handing each backpack and scooter out to the kids?” And the answer is a resounding YES!

It is easy to be paralyzed by trying to give to the right person, at the right time, and with the right amount (or type) of resources.

I can tell you from personal experience that I have been taken advantage of more than once. I can also tell you that I have given to people that didn’t use what I gave them how I intended for it to be used. These experiences have slowed my generosity for seasons, but when enough time passed and I reengaged in generosity, it was as if my life was realigned.

You see, being generous isn’t first and foremost to help others. Being generous is first and foremost to help you and to help me. Generosity points our hearts and attention outside of ourselves. A spirit of generosity realizes how blessed we are and helps distribute that blessing to others around us.

Generosity is a spiritual chiropractic adjustment for my selfish and self preserving heart. And this is an adjustment I need on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. I hope that being generous helps the people in my life. But just as importantly, I hope the discipline of generosity keeps me humble, grateful, and outward focused. I pray the same is true for you and for our community.

Together, let’s be people who are marked by being generous, even if it isn’t perfect. Because by being generous, we will become a more perfect people.

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Zach Santmier is the owner of Trumble Agency, Inc. and the author of the personal financial course, Increase. He focuses on helping families escape paycheck to paycheck living so they can freely pursue their ideal future.