Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / Making Generosity Part of Everyday Life | Tammy Kyte

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Making Generosity Part of Everyday Life | Tammy Kyte · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

0:01
I think back of something just came to my mind during COVID
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when it was like, one of those cold nights and there's nothing to do in
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the winter and everything's shut down, and you're, like, just kind of feeling
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glum and sorry for yourself. And my daughter and I,
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I was like, what if we just went out and let's go buy 10 bouquets
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of flowers and just go deliver them to people? And it was so
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fun. Like, it was nothing and we had nothing to do. So it wasn't even
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a huge sacrifice, but just that act of, like,
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dropping off flowers at the door lifted our spirit
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so much. What if generosity wasn't something
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you reacted to, but something you actually built into your life?
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Because most of us want to give. We care about our communities, our
0:47
churches, the people around us. But between the busy
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schedules, fluctuating income, and trying to stay organized,
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it's easy for generosity to become inconsistent or even
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forgotten. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of
1:01
Neighborly, a podcast geared towards stories to inspire us to love
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our neighbors better. I'm Johan, your producer, and today Shannon sits
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down with Tammy Kite, one of the people behind GiveWise, a
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platform designed to make giving simpler and more consistent. But
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this isn't a conversation just about a tool. It's about a bigger
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question. How do we make generosity part of our everyday
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lives and not just something we think about when we're asked?
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So let's join Shannon and Tammy at the table.
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Tammy, thank you so much for coming on the Neighborly podcast
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today. I've been so excited to have this conversation. I think it's going to be
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a little bit of a unique conversation than some of the usual ones,
1:43
but I think it's going to be just as meaningful. And I can't wait
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for our audience to hear more about you and hear more about givewise. So
1:50
welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me, Shannon. I'm excited
1:54
to be here. And, yeah, I'm excited
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because I just visited your beautiful city a week
2:02
ago for the very first time, and the people there are just so
2:05
warm and friendly. So I'm so glad. I love Winnipeg.
2:10
We always kick us off with the same icebreaker question
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for everybody. So, growing up, who was
2:18
a neighbor that you will never forget? Yeah,
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that one took me a little bit of thinking because I grew up in the
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country, and so we didn't have a lot of neighbors.
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So I was thinking, who can be in place of my neighbors?
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And in light of that, we're talking a lot about generosity
2:35
today. I really thought of My aunt and
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uncle, who we got to spend a lot of time with. And so they didn't
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live next door, but it kind of felt like they did because we spent a
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lot of time together. My cousins were much younger. I
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got to boss them around and babysit them along with my little brother.
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But my aunt and uncle were very special in that they were so generous.
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And I just remember, like, going out for dinner with them all the time. Our
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parents would argue back and forth about who got to pay the bill,
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and they were just, like, super generous with their giving.
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And in my later years, after I finished university,
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I worked for a nonprofit for a year, and they were, like, some of my
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biggest supporters. So I would say that
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they're family and substitute for neighbors. Yeah, I
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think those are some of the best examples of neighbors that we can have, even
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if they live close or not. Family that really shows
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us what generosity looks like is some of the best
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examples, for sure. Well, I'd love to
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introduce our audience to you. You and your
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husband had built a successful home building business
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for over a decade. Just tell us a little bit about that season, what
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that was like, and just what was stirring in you during
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that time. Yeah, we loved what we did.
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We started by building a couple of houses for ourself and
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just kind of built and flipped. We were both teachers at the time, and
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so, you know, we had summers off. We thought we might as well do some
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extra work. And it was a great season. It was fun working
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together. We had our unique roles as a couple,
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and we're able to build up some equity doing that.
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And it was a bit of a crazy time. We started having kids at that
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time. We have two kids. And, you know, as a mom, it was a
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little crazy trying to be in business and raise your
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kids, but it also gave me the amazing opportunity to
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have them with me a lot of the times and swap off with my husband
4:37
for different things. So it was really a great start
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to a family and a great start to a business. Although we loved
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building and we. We loved the work, we
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loved the people that we worked with. We felt a strong purpose in building
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homes and the various relationships. But we also wanted to always
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tie our success with involvement in the community
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and just thinking, you know, beyond the construction, but
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just the idea that not everyone has the ability to build,
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like, a very nice custom home. And so it made us start thinking about
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ensuring what can we do to ensure everyone has access
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to something as foundational as housing. Yeah,
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it's a neat evolution then, to hear
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what the core then kind of was. It sounds like before,
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like the origin, before givewise was givewise,
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that there was always a mission, there was always something
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there for your family that you knew that this was more than
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just about building homes, but creating access, it sounds like for
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everyone. Exactly. So when you and your
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husband started building givewise, what were you trying to solve or what
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problem were you trying to address through that? Yeah, basically a
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couple of things. When we learned about the concept,
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it really struck with us because it's like a charitable bank
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account. And I won't get into too much detail yet, but the idea is
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that when you're a builder, you have really high income years and really low
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income years. We realized this is something that we could really
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use because it would help level out our giving. And
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also it would help. I don't like administration.
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I can be messy and disorganized. And so
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trying to keep a spreadsheet and finding all the receipts
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at the end of the year for the accountant was never my dream.
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And so the idea that it could all be in one place
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really spoke to both Dan and I. So we were really just
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excited about the idea. Yeah, I'm excited to
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get a little bit more into the practicality of GiveWise. But first,
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just talking about that, that shift from going from
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this business that you were building and then starting
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givewise, I guess how has that changed your view of
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generosity or has it changed your view of generosity today?
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Yeah, I think a couple of things. I was reflecting on that this morning,
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and I guess the biggest thing is that I feel like I've always thought
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that generosity is innate and it's in all of us, but it needs
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to be part of our everyday life, not just when we're asked,
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you know. And so how do we ingrain that into
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our lives, into our kids lives, into those people's lives around us?
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And I really realized that a lot of it is
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storytelling and visibility to the needs
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and giving people a simple and easy
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way to make it happen. Because people's lives are
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busy and they're complicated. And we were business owners and
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we worked with a lot of other business owners and, you know,
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young families. There's a lot of things going on, but how could we
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simplify the act of giving and not have these
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complicated spreadsheets so that it felt fun and there was
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more of a joy and in it. I love that.
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And you kind of touched on this earlier that, you
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know, giving is for ordinary people. And I
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think there's a sometimes a perception or misconception out there
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that we have to have a lot to be able to give. Why
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does it matter to you that giving be so accessible and it not
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just be for those that do have more significant wealth?
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Yeah. I think really a lot of it has to do with the individual.
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Like giving. We think it's for the other, and it is,
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and it's important, but it's also for us. It's for ourselves.
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Right. And it's so true. Like, there's so many times
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where, because it's simple, I can just give
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easily. I already have the money put aside. And then there's such joy
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that comes in that giving. And I'm talking through the eyes of givewise,
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but in a broader context. We all know, you know, going out and
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just meeting a need that we see in the community, whether it's money or
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time or. Or whatever, you know, it's. It's a. Such a great
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practice to do. I think back of something just came to my
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mind during COVID when it was like one of those cold
9:08
nights and there's nothing to do in the winter and everything's shut down,
9:12
and you're like, just kind of feeling glum and sorry for yourself and.
9:16
And my daughter and I, because, you know, everybody lived at home at that time.
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I was like, what if we just went out? You know, grocery stores are still
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open. Let's go buy 10 bouquets of flowers and just go deliver
9:27
them to people. Yeah. And it was so fun. Like, it was nothing
9:31
and we had nothing to do. So it wasn't even a huge sacrifice. But
9:34
it just. That act of like, dropping off flowers at the door
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lifted our spirit so much. Yeah. You know, so I think
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it's so much for the giver as well. Absolutely.
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Well, let's get into more of what exactly givewise
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is. How would you explain it to someone who is hearing about it for
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the first time? Or you're just wanting. With friends around the table. What would
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you say? Yeah. So givewise is an online
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giving platform. So it's in the form.
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So you set it up like you make any online account these
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days. Your name, your email, you confirm it. And
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then you have a giving fund with GiveWise.
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And the giving fund acts like a charitable bank account. So you
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get to put money in and give out at any
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time. So it allows it to kind of separate those two things.
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It can be together. You could put money in today, give it
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out today to your favorite cause or your favorite charity, or you can put
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it in, save it up for a bigger project or something
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like that over time and then it organizes everything
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in one place so you can see what you've given throughout the year to each
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charity and just keeps everything organized. And my favorite
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is you have one tax receipt at the end of the year always available in
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your giftwise account. Wow. And how does
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that. I'm already thinking about for myself, having one tax
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receipt would be so nice. And in our house we have
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to file two countries taxes each year. And so I'm just like, oh, that would
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be so nice. Absolutely. From what
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you've seen, how does things, things being centralized really
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change that experience for the donor, for the giver?
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Yeah, I think it's just really quick and easy to act
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on because just like if you go on vacation, you know, often
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you'll put money aside, that money's already there for vacation, then
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you don't feel bad spending it on vacation or whatever it is.
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You don't have to think, oh, what else am I going to have to cut
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out to do this or, or whatever. It's just already
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set aside. And so I think that's a really big thing.
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It keeps it top of mind as well because you're putting money
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aside for charity and it just removes some of that
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admin and decision fatigue when you just get things cleanly
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set up in that way. And I'll just give
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you one little story the other day from my own experience is
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that I was reading an email and getting caught up on some emails
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and friends of ours who help raise funds
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for work that's done in Myanmar, you know,
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and a country that has been in civil war and so much
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unrest and they needed a motorcycle there and it was
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a small need. And I was like, boom, I
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already have that in my gift wise giving account. I logged in,
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I gave two minutes later, I was done. Wow. You know, and
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so it's just like there's not those extra steps, I guess, to make
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it happen. And in today's world, if we can pull off something
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quick and easy and get a quick win, I think that gives us a
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little bit of a boost and also meets a need in the world, which is
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really cool. Yeah. At the beginning of our conversation you talked
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about when you were starting your business, there
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would be kind of an ebb and flow with income and how that worked just
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in that type of business. Can you explain how,
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how this solves for that and how, you know, this works in a simple
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way to kind of address that generosity doesn't have to be so up and
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down. Yeah, absolutely. So
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for us as builders, for example, you know, I think most of your
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listeners are probably old enough to remember the 2008
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market mortgage disaster when all the real estate
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plummeted. So for us, you know, we had a couple of houses sitting
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out there. We live in D.C. and so those houses are
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a million dollars plus for sale. And you know, there was just no
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buy. And in years like that, like how do we keep giving to
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our church, our Compassion Child, our community center, our food bank?
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Everybody still needs the money. In fact, they need it even more during those times.
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And so in those times, you know, we always
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tried to still give, but it was often more
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difficult. And had we been able to put money
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aside from those very high years, you can put
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that money in your giving fund and it can sit there and it can
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accumulate and you can keep a bit of a balance, just like a
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bank account. If you think of, you know, we always teach our kids, you
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have your emergency rent fund, right? You have to have like, you know,
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five grand for emergency in case your car dies or whatever it is. It's kind
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of like that. So you just have that money sitting aside there for charity
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and you can give it out in those lean times.
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And so I think it's a great way for Canadians to just keep a small
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amount in their. Not like you want to keep a whole huge
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piece in there for no reason because that money is needed by charity.
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But I think a small amount is good for those times.
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But also, you know, with business owners, you may sell a business or
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you may inherit everyday Canadian, you may inherit money and you might have
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a big estate tax like all of those things. So there's really
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beneficial ways and there's complex ways that we won't get in
15:00
here, but that people can benefit from tax
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wise as well to put bigger amounts in there and then give
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it out over time. It sounds like there's just so much
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opportunity across sectors because you even, you mentioned church, you
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mentioned nonprofit organizations or child sponsorship
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that I can only imagine the different kinds of stories
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that people have had from using GiveWise. I'd love to spend
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a little chunk of time here and just hear some of those stories of
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someone whose generosity grew or what are some of those things that come to
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mind? Yeah, for sure. And I mean, I don't
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get to hear, I think a lot of the stories, right? Because I mean, people
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just go on their merry way. But a few testimonials and things that
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we've seen I can share. And so, you know, in the early days when we
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just launched and every day we'd sit on the platform and see, oh, my gosh,
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is anyone signing up yet for this? It always stuck with
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me that there was somebody who is a young professional just out of university
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and their first sort of job. And it was so neat
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to see him put in consistently monthly, year over year
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over year. And just that consistency with the gifts every time,
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probably I. I don't know the scenario, but every time maybe that he got a
16:15
paycheck, he put something in. It was like every single month without
16:19
fail, and then granting it out. So that was really neat to see
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younger people as well just get on board with that and
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start that habit of generosity. And then there's also
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somebody in their later half of life
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who was probably in their mid-70s or so. They
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started to understand some of the complex assets and the way
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that you can give those and the tax savings that
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happen when you do that. And they were actually able to add like a zero
16:50
onto their gifts. And that was really fun for everyone. And I
16:54
got to talk to this donor and it was like, this is so cool. I
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mean, who wants to pay more in tax? Nobody.
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You can unify people, conservative or liberal, wherever you are on
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the spectrum, but nobody really wants to pay more in tax. So if you can
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see those tax dollars going out specifically to needs that you're
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passionate about, everybody's on board with that. So that's one of the
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really cool things that I see that it allows you to do.
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Thinking back to starting givewise and now
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where you're at and all the growth that you've experienced, what
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surprises have you had? Whether it was being
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surprised about, you know, somebody who was using the platform or just things that
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have come up that you didn't expect, does anything come to mind there?
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I think the biggest surprises recently is,
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you know, you kind of grow in your own community. And that's really cool because
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it's word of mouth and that kind of thing. And it's really neat now
17:50
to get this word out across
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Canada. And that's what we're seeing. So it's really
17:58
surprising and delightful to see it grow in
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Alberta and Saskatchewan and Manitoba and Ontario and across
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all the way to eastern Canada. And we just. We
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have a partner now in Halifax who's bringing us clients.
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So we've kind of got sea to sea. And so
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that's. Yeah, that's really, really fun. And I think the
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second thing is what I touched on in the last story, but the consistency
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in giving, like, there's a lot of very faithful
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people who give small amounts, but Very consistently,
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which is really encouraging, but something that
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maybe I wasn't aware of before. So that's cool. Yeah,
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it just, as you were talking, it got me thinking about my own
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experiences with generosity. And
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so much of what I have learned about giving and
18:50
being generous has come from watching my parents set that example
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for us, just like you were saying with your aunt and uncle.
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And I think really at the time, I think I took for granted as a
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kid what I was observing and how my parents were
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not just consistent in giving towards in their tithe and
19:09
to our church, but in other ways. I think about when I
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went to university there was. We would always do. Every student
19:17
went on a mission trip, like a short term mission trip in the spring. And
19:20
everyone had to raise their own support. And even watching my parents
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give towards friends of mine that, you know, they weren't
19:27
necessarily invested in that student, but they were
19:30
invested in them even if they didn't know them personally. And so I
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guess you talked a little bit about the example you're trying to set for your
19:38
kids. What have you noticed or what have you learned
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and what it means to teach your children about
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generosity. Yeah, and I think it goes
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much further than money. I think it's in all areas. But
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I'll just focus on the money because that's sort of what we're talking about.
19:56
And obviously it's a huge part of generosity
20:00
for us. It's been really, really neat because since our kids
20:04
were little, every Christmas we would give them a gift that we said
20:07
was for charity. And so whether maybe it started at $100
20:11
or whatever and it was like, where do you want to give this? And we
20:14
usually start with the gift catalog, you know, and they might
20:18
pick a cow for a family or whatever it is and
20:22
they would, you know, say their why. And then as they got
20:25
older, we were able to. Then Once we started
20:28
GiveWise, we were able to. We have this functionality where I can put
20:32
money into my account and I can give it to my
20:36
kids account or your account or my
20:39
employee's account. And so through that transaction,
20:44
my husband Dan and I could move that into each of our kids accounts.
20:47
And they can now, you know, they're
20:51
adults now, they're 21 and 23. They can decide where do
20:55
they want to give that money. And their grandparents have also done that on
20:58
some Christmases. And so they end up with this neat lump of money in
21:02
there. And I think it's just part of
21:06
like just having conversation and being intentional as families around
21:10
that and this platform just Gives you the opportunity.
21:13
It's not like it's the magic answer, but it just gives you the opportunity to
21:17
do it easily. And then for that discussion to happen around the
21:21
table, right. Like, where did you give? Why? What's close to your
21:25
heart? What matters to you most? It's just a really great
21:28
conversation, I think, that we can all have with our kids and our
21:32
peers and those around us. Yeah, that's powerful
21:36
because like you said, you know, we always say with. With careportal and what we're
21:40
doing with careportal, it kind of takes the guesswork out of compassion.
21:44
And it sounds so similar with givewise. It really takes the
21:47
complexity out of being generous, and
21:51
it's another way of being a neighbor. And I think we're always looking
21:55
for those ways that simplify it, that make it easy to do
21:59
but have a greater impact. And so it's just. It's
22:02
neat to hear that because I think your own kids, I'm sure, are going to
22:06
then be able to pass that on to their generations and their generations. And it's
22:10
a really. It's legacy building for sure.
22:14
For sure. And what seems like a small tool. Right. And
22:18
often technology is the tool. Right. Like for care
22:21
portal, you know, that's a tool that you're using. The
22:24
GiveWise technology is similar. It's not
22:28
like it's like the be all and end all, but it is a tool. And
22:31
when you have that tool in your tool belt, it just makes life a little
22:34
bit easier. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well,
22:38
if somebody is listening to this and they care about their church or
22:42
they care about some organizations and they're not sure
22:45
where to start, what is maybe one simple step
22:49
that they could take this week to get a little bit more intentional.
22:53
Yeah, a couple of things. I think one thing is just the
22:56
consistency of generosity is so important.
23:00
So just like anything, exercise, eating healthy,
23:03
taking your vitamins, it's the daily that helps so
23:07
much. And not to pick something big and overwhelming, but just to pick
23:11
something small. And so I suggest to people
23:15
like monthly giving, I know, just matters so much to
23:18
charities because they know that money is coming. They know they can keep the lights
23:22
on and keep doing the amazing work that they're doing. So, you know, set
23:26
up monthly giving, I would say, is really awesome. You know, whatever your
23:30
paycheck is, put a little bit aside for that.
23:33
That's something that I think most people can do and there's times that you
23:37
can't, and that's okay. And maybe it's more time
23:41
that you want to spend on something, but make it a small decision
23:44
and make it intentional. And I would say consistent.
23:48
And then the other is for those who do have some extra,
23:52
just actually take the time to think and learn and
23:56
educate yourself on tax efficient ways to give.
24:00
Because I see a lot of people not giving in the most tax
24:03
efficient, efficient ways. And when they do and they learn and they
24:07
educate themselves and their advisors take the time or their
24:11
accountants, you know, I see much bigger gifts going out and
24:14
more impact being made. And that's where it's at. Right. So
24:18
those are some great practical steps. And one last
24:22
question I have for you before we wrap up. If there is somebody
24:26
listening who's thinking, I don't really have that much to
24:29
give, I don't have that much extra, does this really matter?
24:33
What would you say to them? Yeah, absolutely. Every gift
24:37
matters. Pooled impact is real. We've had
24:41
different people do different things. Actually, I forgot about this, but
24:45
years ago, we don't even know where she came from or how she found
24:49
out about us. But in our very early years, a young girl, I think
24:52
she was doing a run or something. And so she did, she used our
24:56
platform, which you can do, and you get a giving link and. And she
24:59
decided to fundraise and she brought in so many
25:03
small gifts. I mean, they were $10 gifts, $20 gifts,
25:07
$50 gifts. But in the end, she raised a few thousand
25:10
dollars for her cause and it was just really cool to see.
25:14
And every week how the platform works is money goes in, it gets
25:18
pulled together, and it goes out with everybody else's to that charity.
25:21
Okay. And so it just shows that pooled
25:25
impact really makes a difference. And then I would also
25:28
say back to the idea of like bringing joy to the
25:32
giver. Right. So even if you don't have much to give, when you do give
25:35
something little, you feel a part of something and a part of a community
25:39
and it can just boost your spirits as well. And just, you know, sometimes we
25:43
just have to. We're all like this. We can become inward looking
25:46
and sometimes that inward looking does not bring
25:50
joy. And so. Or peace or we're looking at the news and
25:54
those different things that are happening and that the world's not a great place to
25:57
live in and it feels overwhelming. So I get that. But at the same
26:01
time, I think just pick one thing and do that and be consistent
26:05
with it and just feel that joy and peace that that brings.
26:09
That's so good. That's so good. Thank you. Tammy, thank you so much
26:13
for coming on and not just describing this incredible
26:16
platform. But I think you've really inspired me in
26:20
just thinking about how can I change? Or how can my husband and I
26:24
look at our own finances and think about it as this
26:28
is just about bringing joy to others and making an impact that
26:32
goes far beyond what we can see, but also
26:35
internally challenging us to think outward. So thank
26:39
you. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.
26:44
The stories we share here remind us that CARE does not have to be perfect
26:48
to be powerful, it just has to be present. Neighbourly is
26:52
an initiative of Care Impact, a Canadian charity equipping churches,
26:56
agencies and communities with technology and training to CARE Better
26:59
Together. This episode was produced by CARE Creatives Co,
27:03
a social enterprise of CARE Impact. If you're building a podcast and want help
27:07
with strategy, editing or full production, visit
27:09
CareCreativesCo CA to connect with us.
27:13
I'm Johan. Thanks for listening and keep being the kind of nature
27:17
neighbor someone will never forget in a good way.
27:34
Breaking all chains When I see you
27:38
in a stranger I'm no longer a
27:42
sacrifice Turning over table
27:46
tearing down Building
27:50
up the bridges between the
27:54
soul of his Turning over table
27:59
Breaking.