Ten Percent

Alon Ben Joseph

TEN PERCENT

My parents always have taught me to give back. They have always showed my how beautiful life is and that one should be grateful for every day. The giving back was quantified: ten percent. Try to give back at least ten percent of your disposable income AND also ten percent of your free time. I have always tried doing this by giving to different charities in monetary value and also actively helping in fundraising and doing actual labour for charities & non-profit organisations. As the highest form of giving is anonymously, I prefer not to disclose what organisations I am affiliated with.

I hear you think: "So why even write a page about it on your personal website?". Very good and valid question indeed. I am doing so after contemplating about it for a very long time and the reason is twofold:

  1. I want to inspire and motivate others to allocate more of their disposable income and free time 'to do good'. To help others. Especially help people that matter to you.
  2. I want to give back publicly in two ways:
  • Together with my buddy Jonathan Salomon we founded a start-up and we have decided to give back from the start. We will try to give back 10% of our corporate time and 10% of the net profits on the company.
  • I always loved to share my knowledge and as I am father now (loving every second of it) I have noticed I have to start sharing more of my knowledge with 'the next generation'. And, therefore I have decided to reallocate my 10% 'charity time' to mentor others. I have set-up a new page on this site with my idea and an application form: Mentorship.

These are my 'two cents' on the topic ten percent. I case I have inspired you and/or you want to share a story with me, please reach out to me. Would love to hear your experiences.