Hook it to what’s important to you NOW.  When my middle child, Ruth, was younger (now 17 and college-bound), she was deeply involved in a local children’s theatre – making Mom and Dad proud playing everything from a Shakespearean sprite to the lead in wacky comedies.  I saw what a gift this organization was to our community and to the children who were involved (including Ruth) – building self-esteem, teaching teamwork skills and providing a creative outlet.  But the organization was floundering financially.  Its survival mattered to me on a personal level.  So I started out volunteering a few hours a month pitching in as part of the “parent squad” raising money, and then joined the Board of Directors to help navigate the rocky insolvency waters.  The theatre survived, I contributed as one of many devoted supporters, and it felt good to have helped sustain a resource for helping kids like my daughter coming to the program for nurturing and artistic encouragement.

Don’t try to boil the ocean – every ‘wave’ counts.  In the business world (generally speaking), the bigger the impact, the grander the results that you can make as an individual, the larger the rewards and recognition usually are.  In the world of ‘paying it forward’, every step forward – each dollar raised, each child educated, every homeless person sheltered, each book donated to a library…makes a difference.   There have been times in my life where I have had the time and the mind space to lead a philanthropic effort – at other times I have joined the rank and file and took on a small part of a much larger effort. Both have been incredibly rewarding.  It is easy to feel as though what “small part” you do won’t really matter…it does.

Don’t do it if you don’t “feel the passion”.  Giving of your time, experience, and energy to ‘pay it forward’ needs to come from your heart – if it sounds like an assignment you’d rather not do, find something else! I love to get people talking about the volunteer work that they do – have them describe how they got started, what drew them in, what’s been the most rewarding, what successes (and failures) they’ve had. It reminds me a little of “informational” interviewing – if I get excited just listening to their description, maybe it’s something I can be passionate about too.  Personally, I am really glad that there are good people who are willing to help dig ditches to provide irrigation in developing countries…others who relish time spent sewing quilts for homeless to stay warm in the winter…still others who have the mettle to support autistic children who need undivided and specialized attention.  There are an incredible number of worthy organizations and projects that need volunteer help – but the choices you make need to come from excitement you feel when you visualize yourself as part of that specific effort. 

Just start.  We are all busy making choices…we each choose how to fill 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours each day – and it’s a finite “jar of life” that after about 80 or so years will be finished – and at that point we don’t get to choose what we do anymore (at least as far as I know).  If ‘paying it forward’ is something you really want to do while you can still make choices, you have to just start.  Small or big commitments, at home or far away, on your own or with others who feel the way you do, it starts with simply taking that first step – a commitment to carve out a slice (or a sliver) of your pie for giving back.

Esther Schorr has been involved in philanthropy…”paying it forward” …in one way or another for most of her life.  She’s been active as a consultant and volunteer with numerous arts, education-related, and community service organizations  –  in parallel with a career journey that has included founding a health education company, working for a major accounting and consulting firm doing systems development and user training, and doing marketing and project management at Microsoft. Esther currently donates time to work closely with the Mona Foundation to help fund education programs and schools around the world, and is starting a private foundation to help empower patients to take charge of their own health care decisions. She lives in Mercer Island Washington with her husband and three children.

Contact:  eschor@live.com | Blog: http://eschor.spaces.live.com/