Most recently I have been working on expanding my horizons as it pertains to generosity. In my quest for knowledge and a general insight on how to serve in this capacity I have been reading a fair amount.

Part of my interest lies in the fact that nonprofits across our great land are hurting unlike any time in recent memory. The more than ten percent unemployment rate, the tanking of stock portfolios, a general disillusionment with the established bastions of financial and corporate strength, the multitude of scandals in the business, political and religious realms, as well as a host of ponzi schemes dismantling the fortunes of our business leaders and heirs, combined with tanking home values, skyrocketing foreclosures and short sales, has put the traditional charity and nonprofit on the short end of the stick.

Contributions are down. Budgets are crippled. Staff members are being laid off. Salaries are being slashed. Services are waning. The result is that needs are not being met and people are hurting unlike any time known since the Great Depression.

Funding which traditionally came from the middle class, the upper middle class and the upper class, has been evaporating as the middle class in America is steadily shrinking. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening at an alarming rate. Middle class Americans with higher education and professional experience find themselves facing the American Scream instead of the American Dream.

Small business owners are faced with reducing their work force and the salaries of their workers just to keep the doors open. The result is more people are being laid off and having to take unemployment when they would much rather work and serve society in a productive manner. Couple that with the loss of health insurance and the reality for an alarming rate of Americans is that they could become the new impoverished if hit with a health crisis.

And we wonder why contributions are down.

And I have the experience of moving from a fully salaried position with full benefits to a non salaried position with no benefits. This was by choice and that is the difference. It is my decision to start Greater Things Enterprises and Greater Things Financial Services. But I will tell you that the choice is not born without times of thinking, "What in the world did I do?" That is when I have to remind myself that I made the choice so that I could be part of the solution for the larger whole as I offer services, products, intellectual property and counsel that will help people and organizations reach their full potential.

And this is happening! This past week I helped a family owned business begin the process of consolidating an 8% bank loan to what will be potentially as low as 4 or 5%. This family owned business is committed to generosity. They will take the additional savings and use it to enhance their business, but also to enhance their giving to their church and university.

I am also working with a university and a church in Tennessee who will be able to pay interest only instead of principal and interest on their capital debt. This will save each entity tens of thousands of dollars per year so that they can reinvest these funds for the purpose of their mission.

In addition, through my work with other partnerships, I am committed to creating programs that will make it possible for nonprofits to realize large infusions of operating or endowment funds through the generosity of their supporters. This will be accomplished with high integrity and excellent strategies with the backing of some of the best AA and AAA financial companies in America.

So, while times look bleak and while we have all experienced the pain and confusion of a topsy-turvy economy, upside down values system, corrupt ethics and poor vision at the top side of many of our leaders. I am convinced that we can expect greater things to happen in the future.

Let's work together. Let's see it happen. I am here to serve you. Let me know how I can be of service to you and your family or organization.