At the end of January, Spear’s wealth management magazine published an interview with “the father of Entrepreneurial Giving”, Maurice Ostro.
The interview tells the story of EG.
One day, though, an employee at my company Air Fayre was looking for a few hundred pounds of sponsorship and I realised that no one working at my firm knew that 10 per cent of the company’s proceeds – millions of pounds – was going into the Fayre Share Foundation and was designated for charity. It dawned on me that modesty is all very well, but if I told people, wouldn’t they be delighted and work harder?
This was when Maurice began to think about EG. Surely there could be an easier way for businesses to pledge money to charity. Or, better still, a network of pledgers to ensure that they do not keep their giving to themselves, but share knowledge with other like-minded and purpose-driven entrepreneurs.
According to a study from the University of Southhampton, working to benefit a good cause can increase productivity by up to 30%. While according to The Guardian, 62% of Millennials want to work for a company whose values match their own. Why should these privileges be reserved for those with time and resources for philanthropy?
That’s why we’ve made the pledging process at EG so simple. Rather than the process that Maurice used to create his foundation, we want to make our pledge totally transparent. A solid commitment made easy. With tax work by EY and legal advice from BWB, we have put together a first-rate pledge that is watertight and free to use.
Read the full Spear’s interview here.
Photo: Spear’s
