Richard Hartung - Is Giving Worth It?: Find out the Answers from Volunteers Who Give Their Time, Talent, Treasure

First published August 2014

Copyright 2014 Richard Hartung

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Is Giving Worth It?

Find out the answers from 25 volunteers who give their
time, talent and treasure

National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Hartung, Richard L., 1956- author.

Is giving worth it? : find out the answers from 25 volunteers who give their time, talent and treasure / Richard Hartung. Singapore : Candid Creation Publishing LLP, 2014.

pages cm

ISBN : 978-981-09-0467-8 (paperback)

1. Volunteers - Singapore. 2. Voluntarism Singapore. 3. Helping behavior Singapore. I. Title.

HN700.67.Z9

Acknowledgements

This book only came about with the support of many people and we want to acknowledge their contributions.

Centre for Non-Profit Leadership (CNPL) CEO Yoon Wai Nam, Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) CEO Catherine Loh and National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) Capacity Building Director Kevin Lee provided ideas, introductions, support and far more to make the book actually happen.

Former CNPL CEO Francis Wong came up with the idea and the name for the book from the very beginning. CNPL senior manager Marianne Tan set up the initial meetings and lists that got us going.

Carolyn Seow and Angelyn Syn from the Family Business Network generously offered time, advice and introductions.

Our publisher from Candid Creation Publishing, Phoon Kok Hwa, offered insights that made the book better and patiently put up with our delays.

And especially important, every one of the people profiled in this book has been generous with their time and insights about the wonderful contributions they make in the non-profit sector.

Thank you, to each one of these people for putting time, talent and sometimes even personal "treasures" into bringing the book to fruition.

Introduction

Is giving worth it? It's a question you probably have asked yourself many times, such as when the school requests for donations, the welfare home asks you to help with an event or another non-profit asks you to conduct a workshop that uses your skills. When there's so much else, from finishing projects at work and taking care of the family to grocery shopping and keeping up with all the activity on Facebook, it might seem like it's not worth giving up more to yet another cause, whether it be your time, talent or "treasure", often invaluable skills and resources built from many years of experience and personal endeavours.

Yet plenty of people do give. When a charity asks for money, a social welfare home for time or a non-profit to teach, they readily say "yes". Still, some of these donors question whether they should be giving so much of themselves.

The academic answer is easy. Many studies show that volunteering or donating increases happiness, improves health and well-being, boosts optimism and even makes people feel like they have more time. But even though the research sounds good, it's important to ask those who actually give for their perspectives.

To find out whether giving is actually worth it, we talked with more than two dozen people from all walks of life who do indeed give, whether time, talent or treasure, to non-profits here in Singapore. Recent graduates, successful businesspeople running companies, a septuagenarian who has been giving for decades and a slew of others all shared how they started, what they do, and whether volunteering is worth it. We heard storiesand there are manyabout how good they felt when they brought a smile to a grandmother's face, saw a man walk for the first time, or watched children learning to play the guitar. The common thread was that these people found giving more than worth it. Indeed, some said they receive far more than they give. Some have been so profoundly affected by their giving that it has changed the entire course of their life.

When we started talking with the individuals profiled in this book, we divided them neatly into those who had given their time, talent or treasure. But along the way what we also realised is that it's not a matter of "or" for many. They had given time and talent and treasure, benefitting the organisations they work with in a multitude of ways rather than just one.

These stories from more than two dozen people tell how they started volunteering, what they do, and why giving is worth so much that they keep on long after they could easily have stopped. Turn the page to read their stories, and to find what giving is worth.

Building Stronger Non-Profits and Changing Volunteers' Lives through Consulting

Jeremy Au Co-Founder, Conjunct Consulting

As he reflects on the growth of Conjunct Consulting, the non-profit venture he set up and runs, Jeremy is rightly proud as he ticks off the accomplishments. Consulting to non-profits and social enterprises in Singapore. Deploying volunteer-managed teams of experts who help charities and non-profits with everything from financial planning to sustainability. Empowering the next generation of social change leaders. And less than a decade ago, Jeremy might never have believed he would set up such an impactful non-profit.

THE TURNING POINT

Jeremy grew up caring deeply about people around him, always volunteering and helping at charity fairs or even doing mundane tasks like licking envelopes for non-profits. "I was happy to do it." His dream was to become a medical researcher.

When he was in junior college, however, he suffered a major personal loss of a close friend that changed everything. He went from being highly motivated to despairing, almost overnight, dropping to the bottom one percent of his cohort in school and almost flunking out.

Only when he went into national service did his life start to turn around. "I spent two years running around and got some discipline back in my life," he said. He also made several important decisions. One was to persevere, no matter what happened and even though he didn't understand why bad things happen. "I chose to have faith that there is meaning in life." He also decided to return to helping people, through volunteer teaching and giving math tuition. Gradually, he got his life back together.