Giving Up ← Back to book

Giving Up — Barron J. Damon

Discovering Your Philanthropic Why

An 8-step guide to identifying your philosophy, your people, and your process for strategic giving.

Your philanthropic why is not a cause you choose from a list. It is the deep, personal understanding of why you give — the conviction underneath the giving that makes it sustainable, strategic, and genuinely meaningful.

Work through these eight steps in order. Take your time with each one. The questions are simple, but the most useful answers are rarely the first ones that come to mind.

Step One

Ask the Question You Have Been Avoiding

Reflect & Answer
What do I want to be remembered for?
Legitimacy or legacy — which one have I been choosing?
Power or purpose — which one drives my decisions?
Money or meaning — which one do I actually trust?
Step Two

Look at the People Around You

Reflect & Answer
Think of one person whose giving genuinely moves you. What specifically do they give — time, talent, or treasure?
What does their giving cost them that they give anyway?
What does watching them give reveal about what I value?
Step Three

Excavate Your Story

Reflect & Answer
What is the hardest thing that has ever happened to me?
What did I need in that season that I did not receive?
What did I need in that season that someone gave me?
What did surviving it teach me about what other people need?
Step Four

Identify What Breaks Your Heart

Reflect & Answer
It breaks my heart that in our community…
I cannot understand why no one is doing something about…
If I had unlimited resources I would spend them solving…
The people I most want to help are… because…
Step Five

Audit What You Have Already Been Giving

Reflect & Answer — look at the last 90 days
Where did I give my time that I was not required to?
Where did I give my talent without expecting compensation?
Where did I give financially because I genuinely cared?
Who did I show up for when no one would have noticed if I hadn’t?
Step Six

Name Your Three P’s

Three things make giving coherent, sustainable, and strategic: Philosophy, People, and Process.

The First P
Philosophy

Your philanthropic philosophy is your why at its deepest level — the belief that makes you give when no one is watching.

Complete the sentence
The Second P
People

Your philanthropic people are the specific human beings your giving is designed to reach — not a demographic, a person.

Complete the sentence
The Third P
Process

Your philanthropic process is how you give with strategic intention — the difference between impulse and lasting impact.

Complete the sentences
Step Seven

Apply the G.I.V.E. Model™

Knowing your why is the beginning. The G.I.V.E. Model™ turns your why into action.

G — Gather

Begin collecting evidence. Stories, conversations, moments that reveal what generosity looks like in practice. Pay attention to who is giving around you, how they give, and what it costs them.

I — Identify

Discover what you actually value — not what you have been told to value. What you actually, deeply, personally value when no one is watching. Your philanthropic why lives here.

V — Visualize

See what a legacy of generosity looks like for you specifically. Not in the abstract. In the particular — the people, the causes, the organizations that need what only you can give.

E — Execute

Legacy is built in ordinary moments. Show up. Let it cost you something. Stay. Execution is a decision made daily, without waiting for the perfect moment that never comes.

Step Eight

Give Up Something Real

Reflect & Answer
What is one thing I could give up — from my time, my talent, or my treasure — that would actually cost me something I need to keep?

Your Philanthropic Why Statement

When you have completed all eight steps, write your final statement.

Read it out loud. Then give it to someone who needs to hear it.

Take the Philanthropic IQ Quiz Take the Full Legacy Assessment →

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