Todd Harper, Co-Founder, Generous Giving
Over the 25 years I’ve spent sharing the message of generosity, I’ve had countless conversations with people who feel reluctant to give away surplus capital. In those moments, I often mention what I jokingly call “The 11th Commandment.” I explain it with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, suggesting that this unwritten commandment is the one most faithfully observed among the wealthy.
I will ask if the listener(s) is familiar with the 11th commandment, and of course, no one ever is because I made it up! So what is this commandment? It is, “Thou shalt not touch the principal.” I say this because I so rarely see people giving away their capital. They may give away significant portions of their income. Even among very generous people, who are aging and intending to give the majority of their wealth away rather than pass it along to their heirs, there remains a strong reluctance to give in such a way that their net worth actually goes down.
While I feel no judgment about this observation, I find it interesting. My theory is that for wealth creators or wealth accumulators, it is difficult to switch gears after decades of watching their wealth increase to consciously decide to go the other way and give their wealth away.
At Generous Giving, we are often challenging the conventional norms of what generosity looks like. I have found this is a way to do that in a winsome not prescriptive way. This is a observation I will reference, if prompted by the Spirit, most often at some point during a Journey of Generosity (JOG). After a recent JOG where I shared this observation, I received this text from a long-time friend:
Breaking the 11th commandment…To add to your prayer list…
We are signing a contract tomorrow to buy a lot. Going to build a house that we will have less than 1/2 the investment in compared to our current home. Annual expenses will also be much less. Downsize, simplify, free capital for additional giving (our church needs to build) and get closer to our grandsons. Your line of “thou shalt not touch the principal” would not get out of my head! In a good way.
It is my opinion that this needs to be shared with humility and without a sense of judgment. In other words, someone can be continuing to accumulate financial capital perfectly in keeping with God’s will for their lives. And I believe if everything we have is God’s, it must be permissible for Him to call on our resources at some point in our lives.
My sincere prayer is that more people, as illustrated in the above text, will be responsive to God’s invitation to give not just out of their income but out of their wealth.
As a founder of Generous Giving, Todd has been actively engaged in spreading the biblical message of generosity for 20 years. In his current role as co-founder, Todd focuses on mission-related activities: strengthening and developing relationships with champions, facilitating JOGs and trainings, and contributing to program and story development. He and his wife, Collynn, have five children and live in Orlando, Florida.
