Social Investor: Giving / Serving

Experience

I was raised in a home where I was taught that God expected me to tithe any money I earned or was given and invest a tenth of my time on behalf of others. And if at Christmas time supporters in the United States sent us more than one present, my mother would persuade us to take these as presents for some of the poorer children in the neighborhood.

“Never forget, Harry, it’s not about you, it’s about others”

At Wheaton College I continued the practice of always have some “Christian service” in addition to my school activities. For several years I taught a 4th grade boys Sunday School class in my grandmother´s Baptist Church. Later I spent a day of the weekend in a ministry helping migrant workers.

While I was teaching at INCAE, a pastor took over a bankrupt gas station and organized a group of high school and university students to run it as a way to earn money to pay for their schooling. Several of the boys having no homes, slept in the back bodega. He asked me to help them develop a strategy and learn how to keep accurate books and I accepted. (See Finding a Path, p. 118). Often during my vacation, I would work pro bono helping rural cooperatives in some of the poorest rural areas, in part, to learn about development at the grassroots level.

“There is a lot of wisdom in the saying, ‘It is more blessed to give than receive.”

In 1993 when I returned as a Bain & Co consultant to live and work in Central America, I consciously designated it the start of my “public service” decade. Everything I did had to be justified as contributing to the development of Central America. My work focused on helping the family business groups of Central America become globally competitive and play a leadership role in the region. I believed this was the highest impact use of my talents, experience, and Bain network. One criteria in selecting clients was their commitment to philanthropy in the region.

Until I semi-retired in 2010, I spent about 20% of my time directly in pro bono work, like the part-time teaching at INCAE. Since 2010 I probably spend more than 50% of my time on pro bono activities. One of my first projects was a strategy to save the Hospital Clinica Biblica in a financial crisis. This led to a long term advisory role. (See Finding a Path, p.119).

There are two projects worth their separate sections: the Strachan Foundation, the Strachan Chair for Social Investment at INCAE.