#ShareNotShares
12th November 2018
A year ago last week I started Financial Freedom Sooner. The company was set up as a non-profit organisation under a structure that meant it could never have shareholders to answer to. The only people I wanted the company to serve were its clients.
One of my goals when I started the business was to be able to make enough money that we could afford to make a yearly donation to charity. This was driven by my belief that financial wellbeing comes from understanding how much is ‘enough’ for you and then helping others with anything you have left over.
Today, I’m proud to be able to say that Financial Freedom Sooner donated a total of £500 across five different charities last week. These charities are either close to my heart or close to the hearts of a number of clients I have worked with over the last year.
If I’m being completely honest, I was able to make this donation by adjusting my ‘enough’ more so than the business doing better than expected. But, in a way, that is even more rewarding for me. What I could have taken from the business and spent on a holiday has instead gone to improve the lives of people who will never even have the chance of a holiday. I think that’s money well-spent.
This is just the start and as the business grows so too will the donations. Next year I hope to get all the FFS clients, or community as I like to think of it, involved in having their say where the donations go.
The charities supported this year were –
Baraka Community Partnerships – is run by FFS client, Andy McKee, and aims to improve the lives of people living in rural communities in, primarily, Zambia and Laos. The charity works with local people to help ensure positive change is sustainable.
A New Beginning Rwanda – was founded by Malcolm Clear, father of FFS client and friend, Ben Clear. The charity was started to assist a group of Rwandan citizens, predominantly widows and orphans displaced during the genocide in 1994.
Retina UK – this one is close to my heart as my brother, David, suffers from a degenerative retina disorder that means he is slowly losing his sight. The charity assists the visually impaired and invests in ongoing medical research.
Starkey Hearing Foundation – FFS client, Bryan Tiller, is involved with this charity and went out to Armenia with them earlier in the year. The charity’s mission is to give the gift of hearing to those in need.
Against Malaria Foundation – I’m interested in effective altruism; how to make the biggest impact with your money. Against Malaria is on the GiveWell.org list of most effective charities. Our £100 donation will buy 64 mosquito nets, which could save 64 lives.