To Give or Not to Give?

The Ethics of a Small Business Philanthropy

Money is what drives our world crazy. Money is what gives people power, status, stability, and motivates
almost all of us to work and earn as much money as we can. They say money cant buy happiness, but it can
surely buy everything else. Now the question about a business, to give or not to give? Off course that
business/CEO can do endless things with money, they can invest in equipment all the way to upgrade their
company cars. Why give away the money that you earned so difficulty in an unstable, brutal economy?

We must first understand the meaning of giving. According to the Buddhist book the Lotus
Sutra (sutra 4:236) the meaning of giving is interpreted depending on the motivation behind the action.
For example: you can be forced to give, give to receive something back, give to feel good about yourself
etc. So the first thing to do before giving should be to determine the reason why? If we analyze the situation
behind the case we can see how Manuel Sanchez actually felt like it was the right thing to do.

After analyzing the reason behind why you want to give (in this case because Manuel feels it is the
right thing to do) he must analyze the reason of that feeling. Manuel felt a moral obligation about giving
most likely because he followed a religion (Christianity most likely since he is Mexican). If we analyze the
Christian profile and what the Bible says about giving we can conclude that God is in favor of giving. The
Bible actually encourages us to give because God loves the people who give happily to others in need
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able you bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times,
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (Bible, 2 Corinthians 9:7-8). If Manuel is
indeed a follower of religion, he will understand that God and his religion is in favor and actually
encourages giving since money is only something earthly that leads us in a sense to sin.

Other world religions also express their positive thoughts about giving. A world religion with millions of
followers such as Islam expresses the following about giving, Never will you attain the good until you
spend from that which you love. And whatever you spend-indeed, Allah is Knowing of it. (Quran, Surat al
Imran 3:92). Now we can come to the conclusion that in the aspect of religion, it is always encouraged to
give from the heart not because you want something in return.

Manuel should analyze the reason of why he wants to give. In this case he wants to give back to
Queretaro something since he feels they have given him a lot. They only thing that is holding Manuel back
is the fact that he could use that money to reinvest it in his company. So now, what should Manuel do?
Money comes and goes, there will always be a need to reinvest, or their will always be something in your
company that you can improve. Manuel should do what he feels best, he should only asks himself the
following question, who will make better use of that amount of money being donated? According to that he
should make his decision. And what about where should he donate his money or the fact if the money
donated is being used accordinglywell Manuel will never know if his money is being used appropriately.
Manuel cant be spying the goodwill institutions. Manuel should just feel comfortable with his heart and
know that he did his part, he donated money even if it was a small amount. He donated the money he
believed was better in someone elses hands and he did his part. If that money is not used appropriately,
Manuel will never know, he will just know that he did the right thing according to his values and according
to most world religions. Money comes and goes, we should not hold our coins so tight that the eagle
screams of pain, we should instead look as money as a blessing and know that we have way more than
many others and that there is always some that we can give.





















































References:

Holy Bible. Christianity, New International Version. NIV, 2011

The Qur'an, Translation by Haleem Abdel. Oxford University Press, 2008.


The Lotus Sutra. Buddhism, BDK English TRIPTAKA. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and
Research, 2
nd
edition. March 23, 2007