Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

When I asked people online what comes to mind when they think of generosity,

thousands of people answered,

and most of them reference things like generous donations,

a generous job offer, or leaving a generous tip at a restaurant.

All the answers were money related. This is why the majority of people

wouldn't consider themselves generous having never given a large sum of money to a

nonprofit organization for example or sponsored the arts in their town with annual contributions.

It reminded me of a roadblock I encountered when I first tried to raise funds for our books

to prisons program a few years ago.

We needed to pay a $40,000 invoice

for printing the books and paper back

because prisons don't allow hard covers.

But a week into our campaign,

three people donated $100 each, but that was it.

Everyone else saw that invoice and immediately thought,

well, I can't pay for that, so don't look at me.

That's when I decided to change my strategy and simply ask that people

donate only $1 or maybe $5 at most and guess what happened? Less than 24

hours later we reached our $40,000 goal. That means almost 40,000 people had the opportunity

to be generous, but by a whole new definition, not by donating $1,000, but with just a buck.

I think it was a greater victory than getting 40 people to donate $1,000 each, if that makes sense.

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