The age of 55 is a seminal waypoint in life’s journey. At 55 you’re approaching the apogee of your career, both in terms of accomplishments and financial success. The kids are usually, or soon will be, on their own; you’ve paid it forward with their education. Your retirement plans are beginning to take shape. Life is pretty good. It may even be time to shift your perspective from how to achieve success to how to celebrate the successes you have achieved.
Well, it just so happens that November is designated by many groups as National Giving Month or (sometimes) Generosity Month, and used to encourage acts of kindness and charitable giving.
One way to do that, and one which many of us already do to at least some degree, is by contributing our time and skills in volunteer programs, or even financially, in a manner of our choosing. Now might be a good time to consider upping the ante.
Fortunately, Georgetown is a very giving community. That’s one of the several reasons Gina and I settled here in our retirement years. Opportunities abound, including The Caring Place, Habitat for Humanity, the schools, the library, Faith in Action, the hospitals, and so many more (many of which have been featured in the Georgetown View magazine!).
I could go on with the names of wonderful organizations from which to select, but that’s not the point of this article. My objective here is to highlight some of the benefits and features of volunteerism, along with some common characteristics successful volunteers possess.
Generosity reflects that you have succeeded to the point where you have enough to share.
One of the best things about volunteering is that it’s enjoyable. You’re a volunteer, and so are your colleagues. You’re finally in an organization where everybody who’s a member actually wants to be there and to have the organization and the other members succeed!
Why Volunteering Works
Whether you’re there to help with the front-line work of the organization, raise money, or provide leadership at the board of directors level, you’re going to be working with a lot of people who share your general outlook on life and are dedicated to the mission at hand. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Volunteering is also a team effort. Good teams develop a spirit in and of themselves. To build that team, members must be reliable. They have to show up, as promised, with enthusiasm, and come prepared to do whatever needs to be done. When a volunteer doesn’t show up, suit up, and step up, it can have a huge impact on the organizations’ success. Be a team player, and play for the team.
A Different Kind of Giving
The spectrum of available organizations for which you can volunteer in Georgetown is wide and deep, but they are not all in the traditional non-profit realm as the previous narrative might suggest. You might consider serving on your homeowner’s association (HOA) board or a committee. If you do, then the HOA structure brings in a new set of considerations.
The first factor is that the clients of the organization are the owners, the financial base, and a primary source of volunteers. That’s different from a traditional non-profit (charitable) organization in which the clients are outside the organizational structure and, as a general rule, are not the major source of volunteers or funds.
Patience and Perspective
Even more importantly, in an age-restricted HOA, the client/owners can’t just quit the organization if they don’t like the way things are going. In a traditional organization, if the clients don’t like the service, they can stop doing business with the company. Dissatisfied investors/financial contributors have the option to sell out and move their money elsewhere. In an HOA, this sort of divesting/departure means selling your home, moving and abandoning your social support structure. For an HOA member, especially for an age-restricted HOA, this can be a nearly impossible choice.
What this means is that an HOA volunteer (on the board of directors, or a committee), has to be patient and willing to listen to members’ perspectives far more so than in a traditional organization. It’s not a matter of having a “thick skin” (although that does help); it’s a matter of being willing to appreciate that individual problems, even though they may seem unimportant to you, matter greatly to the individuals raising them. They deserve to be heard, and they have few options other than to come to you for that hearing.
This also means you shouldn’t be a single-issue volunteer/candidate. Single-issue candidates often run out of steam when they get onto the HOA board (or committee). Sometimes they find out their issue really isn’t the issue they thought it was, and may not be a problem at all. Or they may discover there is no way to resolve their issue within the resources of the organization. Or they may actually solve their issue then have nothing else upon which to focus. In any of these situations the single-issue member is likely to lose interest and disengage to the detriment of the organization in which they are taking up a leadership slot and contributing little.
Patience, flexibility, and dedication to the mission are the watchwords in an HOA, or in any volunteer position for that matter.
Beyond Today
Most of what we have talked about thus far has been giving back in the here-and-now. So let’s switch gears and talk about legacy giving. A legacy gift leaves your mark on the future of an organization. If there is an organization or a cause you feel strongly about and want to support well into the future, a legacy gift is something to consider. Such financial gifts are often made through estate planning, but can also be done with current assets that allow you to see how your gifts are used.
You can specify how the gift would be used (e.g., to support medical research, provide a youth scholarship to summer camp, etc.), or you can offer an undifferentiated gift to be used as needed. The point of a legacy gift is to make a lasting impact on something you strongly support.
Thriving After 55
It is a blessing to be able to consider any of these opportunities to give back, whether it be in the immediate present through volunteering, or over the long haul with a legacy gift. Philanthropy, in whatever form, is not just for the wealthy. It’s a framework for voluntary giving to promote the common good and share the fruits of the success we have earned. I encourage you to give it some serious thought as part of your own thriving after 55.
Go For It!