Your gift today will contribute to our work at the intersection of money and Spirit, helping those with abundant financial resources engage with money from the heart. In this way, money becomes a gateway for spiritual transformation, and the energy through which Spirit’s work can be done in the world. Our hope for you is that all flows of resources–both your giving and receiving–are experienced as a gift that opens the heart. We invite you into this flow of gift this Spring 2023, as we invite gifts of $855,000 ($599,000 to cover our 2023 expenses, and $256,000 for our reserve fund).

The page below includes information about our budget, our finances, and the what and why of the gifts we are inviting. Our hope is that it will help you in your discernment process..

If you would like to make a gift to Wisdom & Money, you may also:

Make a check payable to Wisdom & Money and mail to the following address:
Wisdom & Money
1259 El Camino Real
Suite 241
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Email Jon at [email protected] for larger ($75k+) or more complex gifts (DAFs, stock transfer, bequest etc.)

Naming the gifts we are inviting this Spring 2023

Here are the gifts that Wisdom & Money is seeking:

$389,000 in Gifts from Individuals.
As of May 2023, we have received $170,000.
$160,000 in Grants from Foundations and Trusts.
As of May 2023, we have received $110,000.
$50,000 in Gifts to support the Trailblazing Institute & National Conference.
$256,000 for our reserve fund.*

That is a total of $855,000, of which $280,000 has already been given or pledged.

*This year we are putting out a special invitation to our community to help us build our reserve fund. At present, we have $44,000 in reserve, which covers approximately one month of operating expenses. We hope to grow that to 6 months of reserve, or about $300,000. A reserve allows us to have funds available during low cash flow times, to continue our work while minimizing impacts to our network through reduction in programming and to staff through cuts in salary.

Specific Requests

We are specifically asking those who have the capacity to consider making gifts at the higher end. As a relatively small network, we can only reach our financial goal to sustain our staff if those of us who can (and who are so inspired) make larger gifts. It is also important for us to continue to broaden our network – which means your participation and gifts of any size really matter.

Here’s one way that we could imagine reaching our financial goal:

1 gift of $75,000
3 gifts of $50,000
5 gifts of $25,000
4 gifts of $15,000
10 gifts of $10,000
10 gifts of $5000
10 gifts of $1000
10 gifts of $500
10 additional monthly donors (making gifts from $5-500 per month)
50 gifts of $5-100

CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE SECURELY

How the gifts will flow forth

This year, we anticipate our expenses to total $628,000, additionally the $256K will be added to our reserve fund to set us up well for 2024. Here is how that breaks down:

Supporting Transformation: Our vision is to give our staff salaries that cover their actual needs and to support their wellness and future. We invest in our staff because they have stepped in to cultivate this community. Our staff includes full-time employees (Rose & Nadia) and part-time employees (Sawyer & Jon). ($399,000)

Cultivating Community: In addition to our virtual gatherings, this year we will offer six in person retreats to members in our network as well as gather our staff and board members for retreats to support the organizational development. These gatherings house much of the deep transformative work we offer. This part of the budget covers travel, food and lodging. ($61,000)

Trailblazing Growth: We are investing in our staff and our community through the Trailblazing Institute & Conference to work across race, gender, class, and power toward inner transformation, partnerships, and social justice. ($50,000)

Maintaining Systems: We call on the services of consultants to help us with a range of things–from human resources and accounting to website and legal questions. Additionally with this budget we cover office expenses, supplies, insurance, postage, etc. ($118,000)

::Pause for a breath and check-in::

Before we go further, take a quick pause to invite you to check in with yourself. What questions do you have? What inner responses do you notice?

If you would like any support in opening up anything that arises, please email Jon ([email protected]) to request a 1-to-1 conversation, or schedule one directly on his calendar here.

What programs do these expenses support?

Here are our program offerings this year. We hope you can see how these dollars translate into the retreats, gatherings, one-to-one conversations that make up Wisdom & Money. This year, we have planned the following:

12 Monthly spiritual practice gatherings open to everyone in our network
Monthly gatherings for five circles
Spiritual companionship: in 2022, we offered over 200 hours of companionship
Two open retreats
Six in-person retreats for our circles
Three sessions of the Trailblazing Institute, in partnership with Be Present Inc.
Trailblazing National Conference, in partnership with Be Present
Monthly blog reflections inviting and articulating new perspectives on money
Continued work on a Wisdom & Money book
Transformative Giving events to invite new perspective on giving

We anticipate that 100 people will actively participate in Wisdom & Money gatherings this year and 100 people will participate in the Trailblazing National Conference. In addition, our readership extends to nearly 1000 people.

Why support our work

Millions of dollars have been offered in service of spiritual transformation and social justice through the people in our network as a result of our work.

In that sense, Wisdom & Money is a leverage point; we work with people of financial wealth and people from a culture of wealth for the benefit of all people. That said, we do not quantify the precise amount of money that has changed because most does not flow through our organization. But we do often hear stories of what is happening in the lives of people.

To hear stories of transformation in the words of our network members, see both the Stories and the Blog sections of our website.

We’d be so grateful for your support!

And now we invite a time of discernment. After hearing our call above, after listening to what arises within you as you are invited into the flow of gift, what is yours to do? What decision will open your heart and transform your life?

Supporting your discernment

If you would like a time of continued discernment and conversation companioned by Jon, please email ([email protected]) to request to schedule a one-to-one conversation, or schedule one directly on his calendar here.

How to donate – online, checks, DAFs, so forth.

If you would like to make a gift to Wisdom & Money, you may

Click here to donate online securely
Make a check payable to Wisdom & Money and mail to the following address:Wisdom & Money
1259 El Camino Real
Suite 241
Menlo Park, CA 94025
For larger ($75k+) or more complex gifts (DAFs, stock transfer, bequest etc.), please email Jon here: [email protected]

As always, we welcome clear yeses, nos and maybes.

All responses that arise out of heart-centered discernment honor our work.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE SECURELY

With gratitude,

The Wisdom & Money team

Wisdom & Money’s staff and board