Setting Boundaries for Joyful Giving

Lonnie Pacelli is an Accenture/Microsoft veteran with four decades of learnings under his belt. He frequently writes and speaks on leadership, project management, work/life balance, and disability inclusion. Reach him at [email protected] and see more at ProjectManagementAdvisor.com.

  Career Development  

In my article What You Receive When You Give, I talked about the benefits of what you provide in volunteer service in addition to what you gain as a professional.

While it’s great to give of yourself and your resources, I’ve learned that being intentional about what you give to is vital. I’ve said yes to many giving opportunities—only to either regret it, or recognize that I’ve overcommitted myself.

In talking with other professionals, I’ve learned this is a very common situation, which inspired me to write an allegory titled Why Did I Say Yes? and create a methodology that helps evaluate whether to commit to an ask of resources.

Key to the methodology is evaluating seven boundaries to help you decide whether to support any ask of your resources:

1. Purpose – In my article about Your North Star, I discuss how having a practical and sustainable purpose statement is critical to purposeful guidance of your actions and decisions. When it comes to giving, a good boundary to review is whether the cause you are helping is in alignment with your purpose statement.

For example, my purpose statement is to help others to help themselves, and not simply enable them. I am more aligned to causes where I can see how my giving helps others to help themselves within their capability.

2. Passion – While your purpose is more a …

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