From time to time we will highlight thoughts from a migniter—a male “igniter” who is excited about women hearing the message of generosity and who encourages them to get in the giving game.
Our post this week comes from one of the original—and one of our favorite—“migniters,” Todd Harper, who serves as President of Generous Giving. He’s an advocate and visionary for reaching women with the message of generosity.
I’ve been a highly interested observer of the emergence of Women Doing Well (WDW) and its focused effort to encourage generosity among women. There are several reasons what they’re doing is important. I’ll name two in this brief reflection.
First, the limiters of giving for men and women are different. When it comes to accumulating wealth, men and women often have different goals. Men tend to keep score with their wealth. It can become a measure of their significance. If you keep score in this manner, then giving can seem irrational or counter-productive. For many women, however, money is primarily for security. If they feel secure that their family will be provided for, there is a strong bias toward giving or blessing others. Simply put, it takes more money to keep score than to achieve security. Similarly, women are likely to be more generous than men when their security is clarified with planning.
For many women, however, money is primarily for security.
Second, encouragement through the modeling of others is a powerful means of expanding the perspective and practice of giving. Women Doing Well fosters a community where generous women live and give in radical ways. And this spirit of generosity is catching fire as women live out their passion to not only give generously, but to also invite their friends to experience the joy of giving.
I’ve been privileged to walk alongside several of these women in my role at Generous Giving. Though I could highlight many, I’ll focus on one who is living out of her purpose, passion, and plan to become all that God has called her to be.
Janice is a gifted businesswoman. She has achieved financial success by creating and marketing products and services for the health and beauty industry. She is by nature a passionate person and her enthusiasm is contagious.
As she has been challenged and inspired by others in her giving, she has stepped out to give in ways that are beyond the norm for our culture. I’ve seen the joy and purpose she finds in listening and responding to God’s invitations to spend her life for the sake of others. She has increasingly found that spurring others on to love and good deeds is a way of reminding herself of the truths of God’s Word while multiplying the joy through others.
With Janice and many others, I’ve seen the impact of the Inspiring Generous Joy (now WDW Signature Event) events as they launch women into a fuller understanding of their purpose, passion, and plan to be all that God has called them to be!
