Ladies & Philanthropy: 2011 Ladies Luncheon
Over the years, Truepoint has hosted a number of events for our clients, but nothing gender-specific. As nearly half of Truepoint’s employees and clients are women, we decided to host our first ladies luncheon on May 11th at Kenwood Country Club.
Internally, our ladies-only group began to discuss ideas for topics that would be suitable and entertaining for our clients – from presentations on stress management, health, time management, estate planning and even fashion. It was clear we had such an endless list of ideas that we could host several ladies luncheons! However, we felt we could dedicate our first ladies luncheon to a truly inspiring topic – women and philanthropy. With so many of our Truepoint team members and clients already heavily involved with charities, foundations and volunteer projects, the topic seemed to be a natural fit.
Truepoint’s first ever ladies-only event kicked off with keynote speaker Sally Alspaugh, the Director of Family Philanthropy at Xavier University. Sally has over 30 years of experience in financial, investment, philanthropic and estate planning and is passionate about sharing the story of philanthropy. Sally spoke about philanthropic women throughout history who paved the way for many of us today.
Sally was inspired to share the stories of philanthropy detailed by Claire Gaudiani, the author of The Greater Good. Each attendee at the luncheon received a copy of the book. Claire is an idealist and an activist, calling on colleagues, students and fellow citizens to leave the world a better place. Claire’s book is informative and interesting, providing insight into America and how our country flourishes with the generosity of its people.
Without philanthropy our cities would not have the hospitals, museums, libraries and universities, for example, that we have today. Claire asks in her book: “Which makes a greater impact through visitors and revenue on the economy of Chicago, its five major-league sports franchises or its nine major museums?” The answer is the museums. Without the gift of giving, so many of our everyday luxuries would not be available today.
Claire goes on to describe in her book that philanthropy is the backbone of our country. It is the framework for building human, intellectual and physical capital for our society. We are the only country where the government is not solely responsible for the creation of these opportunities. “Most people think that Americans are generous because we are rich,” Claire states. “The truth is that we are rich, in significant part, because we are generous.”
As a follow up to our ladies luncheon, we are hosting a book discussion on June 22, 2011, at Truepoint’s office. We will discuss the findings in Claire’s book which unveil the gift of giving and how it has changed the world we live in today.
