Giving while living:
how wealth owners can approach their strategy
for philanthropy

We spoke to philanthropist John Wood on why finding meaningful, impactful
causes is key to unlocking the joy of philanthropy

As the festive season approaches, it’s only natural for our thoughts to turn to giving. To our friends, family, and our wider society. 

But with so many possibilities for philanthropy, how can wealth owners and their families design a strategy that’s right for them? How can they find causes they are passionate about? And what should they expect their contribution to achieve? 

We spoke to philanthropist John Wood about his two decades of giving, and the lessons he has learned along the way. 

After a successful career in business development with Microsoft, John founded the global literacy charity Room to Read in 2000. Since then, Room to Read has benefited over 39 million children around the world.

At Conduct, we’re proud to collaborate with John’s new venture U-Go: an educational charity that helps young women in low-income countries pursue higher education by providing financial scholarships funded by individuals and corporations.

 

1. Where did the idea for U-Go come from? 

Before I founded U-Go, I set up Room to Read with the ambition of creating a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality. Over twenty years, I saw the enormous difference education can make to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some of the young people we helped were the first to be literate in their family, or the first to finish secondary school.

But I also saw how their ambitions went far beyond that. I was often approached by parents and grandparents who would say: “thank you for helping our village, but our daughters are not finished yet. They want to be doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs. They want to go to university, but we cannot afford to send them.”

I knew Room to Read simply wasn’t set up to have a university scholarship programme. But it broke my heart to tell these families that their daughters would be denied further education.

So I started to personally fund a small number of university scholarships, at an average cost of $800 a year. Soon enough, we had over a hundred young women at universities in places like India, Nepal, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I realised that a relatively small amount of money supports a young woman not only for the three or four years of her degree – but puts them on a path towards becoming a doctor, an accountant, an entrepreneur.

 

2. What difference to this support make – to the young woman, and her wider society?

It is guaranteed to make a difference. When a young woman begins earning money, the first thing she typically does is look after her parents, and her wider family. So U-Go’s support is already affecting far more than just one individual.

But these young women often end up in careers that benefit wider society. If she ends up as a qualified paediatrician, not only does she benefit herself, her family, but the families all around her. When I realised this, creating an organisation like U-Go seemed like a giant no-brainer. 

 

3.How did you get other investors interested in contributing to U-Go? 

This was very different from Room to Read. Back then, I was known as the person who ran business development for Microsoft in China – but what did I know about literacy?

Twenty years later, I am lucky to have a decent track record of building teams and making a difference around the world. So, when I first started talking to people about U-Go, a lot of people told me they’d invest because they felt that their previous support of Room to Read had shown high ROI.

The second reason was that our proposition had already been tested. We already had 100 young women in university before I asked anybody else for outside capital. 

The third reason was that investors realised: “wow, a little bit of money goes a long way with this partner.” We have a zero-leakage model, where every dollar raised goes directly to the scholarship programme. So far we’ve raised about $13 million in multi-year commitments, in over just eighteen months since launching. And that’s not mentioning the expertise donated – we have over 60 members on our global board and corporate supporters, representing us across the world in cities like Singapore, Sydney, or London.

 

4. Why do you think investors find U-Go such a compelling charity to be involved with?

I think our investors find the young women we support incredibly inspiring. The U-Go scholars know that they’re potentially only three or four years from a life-changing qualification. That’s why in our first year we had a dropout rate of less than 3% – despite the fact that some of these young women face huge challenges, like commuting from rural areas, or working part time jobs to help make ends meet. It’s called resilience in English, but I prefer the term scrappiness. 

A friend of mine who lives in Bangladesh told me that the young women “live lives of consistent inconsistency”. As a U-Go donor, it’s very rewarding to be able to offer the exact opposite: consistent consistency, and guaranteed support over the duration of a degree. We will be with every U-Go scholar until the happy day when she graduates, as long as she performs academically. 

 

5. What guidance would you give to a wealth owner or family on how to develop their philanthropy strategy?

Most of the people I know who have a lot of money have achieved this by being very strategic. They’ve known what the plan is for their business, their investments, and so on. But I’m always surprised that often these same people haven’t developed a plan for their philanthropy.  

I’ve met with lots of wealth owners who have said: “I don’t have the time to figure this out.” Well, I always tell them, you ought to find someone to help you do just that. To help you establish where your passions lie, and design a strategy to help you contribute to them. I’m a big fan of Benjamin Franklin’s advice: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

6. How can families develop their philanthropy strategy?

MacKenzie Scott is someone I admire greatly, and I’d advocate following her approach. Her first step was to simply reach and talk to other wealth owners. She asked them: what are you doing, and would you recommend that I fund them too? She was thoughtful, and strategic, but also decisive.

I would advocate for similar questions. Do you feel good about the results? Do you feel your money is being well-spent?

And I would advocate asking yourself: what are you passionate about? In my case, my passion lies in education – and particular university education. My father was the only one of seven children in his family to go to university, via a scholarship. Meanwhile, my mother – a very smart woman – grew up being told that women don’t go to university, and that her ambitions ought to lie in marriage and raising children.

Once you’ve asked those questions, a Venn diagram emerges: the areas you’re passionate about, and the areas you’re able to make a difference. I’d recommend that any philanthropy strategy starts there. 

 

7. What do you think is changing about how families think about their philanthropy strategies?

Well, I’m hopeful that more people will pursue the idea of giving while living. 

I’ve always liked the example set by the DFS founder Chuck Feeney (who recently passed away). He said: “why wait until you’re dead to give money away? Why not do it when you’re alive to see the difference your money makes?”

I’m also reminded of the example of Harrison Steans, who built his fortune in banking (and whose family have been very supportive of both Room to Read and U-Go). Towards the end of his life, he took his daughters to one side and said: “I’m thinking of leaving every single dollar I have to the family foundation, not to my children and grandchildren. How do you feel about that?”

His daughters responded: “Dad, that’s exactly what you should do. We’re all fine.” I find that very inspiring and I’m happy that I can honour the legacy of a man I greatly respect, and work with all three of those daughters, to keep his energy alive through U-Go scholarships.

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