Generosity Planning

Have you known one of those people who say they don’t plan their vacations—they just take off and head in a direction and see what happens? Are you one of those? Well, my thinking on this is that they cannot say they don’t plan their vacations. You see, they had to do some planning: taking PTO from work, syncing the kids’ schedules, determining if they are going to drive or fly, arranging for the financial resources to take a vacation, arranging (notice I am trying not to use the word “planning” here) for someone or a kennel to take care of the dog, arranging for picking up the mail and making the house look like it is lived in while they are away. And on and on.

The issue is not about saying, “I don’t plan the vacation,” but more on how much planning you must do just to get ready to go. Face it—we are planners. We make grocery lists on our phones. We make lists of things to do today and this week either on our phones or post-it notes. Our lives revolve around “to do” lists. I am certain that there are people with better memories than mine who make their lists in their head.

We plan our finances with budgets. We plan birthday parties for the children or grandchildren. We have plans for family holiday gatherings and plans for our health including medications and supplements.

Planning gives direction and facilitates coordination of objectives.  It reduces risks and encourages ideas. If one fails to plan, one plans to fail. Planning is an integral part of our lives.

We have a plan for most things in our lives, so why don’t we have generosity plans? The sharing of our resources is done in an improvising or extemporizing manner. Giving patterns in most households are  spontaneous or because of guilt.

Your generosity plan must first include the why. Some would respond to this quickly and say, “Because the Bible tells us to be generous,” but that is not necessarily your why. This is about your motivation for being generous. What are the passions of your family? What are your values? What is the Lord saying to you?

Your plan includes the what—meaning to define the causes that you wish to support and then identify the organizations that you believe are doing the best job addressing these causes. Do not move through this too quickly as you need time to do a deep dive into organizations to make sure their mission and values align with your family’s. By the way, this is not just about your money. Generosity includes your talents, your time, and your treasure.

The plan also includes the how—matching the resources that God has given you and your family to have the greatest impact on the causes that you have identified.

We need to bring greater intentionality to our giving, and we also need to align our valuables with our values. The best way to do that is to have a generosity plan.