The Crown Jewel of Giving: Joy

I read an inspirational story on Facebook the other day. It was supposedly written by Katharine Hepburn about a time when she was a young child. According to the story, Katharine and her father were in line to buy tickets to the circus. Ahead of them were two parents and their eight children. When it came time for the big family to pay, the man did not have enough money, leaving him in the awkward position of having to tell his family they could not go after all. As the story was told, Katharine's father did not want to embarrass the man in front of his own family by giving him a handout. Instead, Katharine’s father took his own $20 and dropped it on the ground near the man, then tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the money, while encouraging the man to pick up the money that he appeared to have dropped. Understanding what Katharine's father had done and grateful for the kindness, the man picked up the money and was able to buy tickets for his family. Meanwhile, Katharine and her father got out of line and went home, as her own father had dropped his own ticket money to help that family.

It was certainly a feel-good story about the power of giving. In fact, Katharine purportedly ended her story by saying, “Although we didn't get to see the circus that night, we both felt a joy inside us that was far greater than [what] seeing the circus could ever provide. That day I learnt the value to give. The giver is bigger than the receiver. If you want to be large, larger than life, learn to give. Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything. The importance of giving [and] blessing others can never be over emphasized because there's always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy by acts of giving."

Being the perpetual “Doubting Thomas” that I am when it comes to Facebook claims, I searched the real source of the story. Apparently, it has been making the rounds on Facebook since at least 2017 as being attributed to Katharine Hepburn. According to several veracity checkers, however, the real story originally appeared in 1995 as “The Circus” by Dan Clark in the book, A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul (stories compiled by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen).

I have a couple takeaways from this story. First, take what you read on Facebook with a grain of salt. Do your research. What a shame that someone felt the need to attach a celebrity’s name to a touching account of the value of giving to try to add power behind the story. The account was powerful enough on its own. Second, the untruth of the story’s authorship does not negate the truth of the power of giving. The sense of joy for the giver that comes with the giving of gifts is quite palpable.

The premise behind starting Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc. is "Impacting Education by Inspiring Giving." Yesterday, CES experienced great joy in presenting a letter to The Cornerstone Christian School, representative of an $8,000 computer upgrade grant being given to the school. In the words of Paul at Acts 20:35 (NIV), “…the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” CES knows this to be true. Will you come alongside us in experiencing this same joy by helping to support our mission?

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Big Dream Blog

What Motivates You to Help?

By Tammy Choleva • January 20, 2025

When it comes to motivation to do something that needs to be done, the best motivators are intrinsic. In other words, the ideal is doing (or helping to do) what needs to be done simply because one has the inner sense that helping to meet the need is the right thing to do. Extrinsic motivators, on the other hand, are the promise of external rewards for helping out (or the withholding of negative consequences for not helping out). When seeking help to meet a large group need, extrinsic motivators do not typically move the meter, because not everyone is motivated the same way. Some may find small prizes to be motivating; for others, only big prizes. Some may find simple praise to be motivating; for others, only public recognition. Some may find winning a trophy to be motivating; not so for others. Some may find not being punished to be motivating; others do not care about the threat of punishment. You get the point. Here is the conundrum with getting families on board with school fundraising. If families support the need for raising funds for the cause at hand, they will naturally want to do everything they can to bring success to the fundraiser. They will be intrinsically motivated to help to the best of their ability. On the other hand, if they do not support the need for raising funds and/or do not comprehend the potential outcome if funds are not raised, they will (at best) put in the bare minimum of effort or (at worst) not help at all or even speak negatively about the need for fundraising. Likewise, donors are intrinsically motivated to give or they are not. Extrinsic motivators do not typically raise goal thermometers. This is the bottom line. Since we cannot motivate others intrinsically (that's the work of the Holy Spirit), the leaders of nonprofits (including schools) must instead pray for intrinsically motivated helpers to step up. Even so, we can still provide extrinsic motivators, but not with the expectation that they will move helpers to help more or givers to give more. Instead, the purpose of extrinsic motivators is to help keep the need in the forefront and to try to add some "fun" to FUNdraising.

Winning in Business (and Life)!

By Tammy Choleva • January 13, 2025

In the world of nonprofit fundraising, it can be easy to fall prey to a discouraged spirit. The same is true of starting up a new business and figuring out how to go from zero customers to sustainability. For that matter, it can be discouraging for even organizations that have been around for decades to constantly have to reimagine marketing, especially when reaching out to a very specific niche. The lattermost marketing challenge can be particularly difficult for a small Christian school that simply desires to accomplish well its mission. In the case of The Cornerstone Christian School , that mission is “To engage and educate young people to know and be transformed by Christ through the ways they think, act, learn, serve, and work together for God’s Kingdom.” It is not easy to navigate how to most effectively and affordably find and market to families who desire to partner with a school that will teach their children from a biblical worldview. As a 501(c)(3) that is designed to support Christian education by supporting this school, we at Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc. also experience a similar challenge. The difficulty is particularly true now that we live in a world of information overload. Since the advent of the World Wide Web and email and texting and app push notifications and social media and so on, the over-sharing of knowledge has become the norm. Many people simply muffle the cacophony by quickly skipping past the word noise. This does not bode well for organizations that must communicate their mission in order to survive (both nonprofit and for-profit entities alike). Here’s the thing. There is one God, and we are not Him. He alone is responsible for results. He simply calls us to be faithful to the steps He calls us to take (including pivoting when He calls us to change course), while trusting Him for the results. So, there are three interlocking keys to avoiding discouragement by what seems to be an insufficient result: (1) Seek God’s wisdom on steps to take (moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour, day-by-day); (2) Rely on the Holy Spirit for the empowerment to take those steps; and (3) Trust God for the results. Only then can we rise above discouragement and WIN at accomplishing what He has set forth for us to do, all for His glory. The same goes for both business and life!

Looking Ahead to Year-End Giving

By Tammy Choleva • November 25, 2024

As a public charity 501(c)(3), CES is responsible to pass the public support test. “In other words, [CES] must be supported by the general public. For that to be true, a significant amount of revenue (at least 33%) must come from relatively small donors (those who give less than 2% of the organization’s income), other public charities, or the government. That leaves 67% to potentially come from other, less diverse sources.” ( “Private Foundation vs. Public Charity: Spot the Difference,” by Greg McRay, EA, Founder and CEO of Foundation Group ) To help us reach this year's public support charity test, we are looking for friends of CES and CCS to help spread the word that we are challenging ourselves to receive 100 donations of $500 each (or 50 donations of $1,000) by December 31, 2024. Keep in mind that many companies generously match the charitable contributions of their employees, and some may also match gifts made by retirees and/or spouses. To find out if your company has a matching gift program, check with your company’s Human Resources office to ask if they offer gift matching. Your Human Resources department will provide a matching gift form to complete and mail to Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc., 903 Main Street, Manchester, CT 06040, or email to Tammy@CornerstoneEducationalSupportInc.org. Company matching programs give your donations twice the impact! In addition, taxpayers who have already reached the age of 70.5 years or older may plan on making their charitable contributions directly from their traditional IRAs via qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), thus possibly reducing their taxable income. With other age restrictions being considered, these donations might also count as required minimum distributions (RMDs). A QCD is a direct transfer of funds from the traditional IRA custodian, payable to a qualified charity, such as Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc. QCDs are counted for the tax year in which they are taken and (if meeting the additional age requirements) might also count toward satisfying that year’s RMD. Disclaimer: We are not accountants or lawyers, and this is not tax or legal advice. You will need to talk with your tax and/or legal advisor to see if you qualify and to learn how current federal and/or state tax laws affect you.