Interlude

Welcome back to Spend Donate Invest! I go by GG, that’s short for Genet Gimja. This is a podcast that’s exploring the topic of whether there might be some ways we can line up what we’re doing with our money and our values when it comes to the kind of world we’d like to help shape. For a lot of us, there are so many things that keep us up at night. Whether that’s climate change, or homelessness, or the systematic oppression of our communities,there’s a lot on our minds.

And the question that we ask ourselves is, what can we do about these things? How can we claim our power? We talk about how we can educate ourselves on these issues, vote, protest…and sometimes it seems to me that there’s another source of power that we don’t often consider tapping into, our money.

For a long time, I thought about my activism, my allyship, my values driven lifestyle as being almost completely separate from my money.

And then it hit me. Wait a minute, why can’t my money align with my values?

Fundamentally, I think we need systematic change, huge overhauls to achieve the kind of change that our people and our planet deserve. And I want to continue to advocate for those changes.

But in the meantime, what can we, as individuals, do? When it comes to our money?

This podcast is 1.5 years young. There are more than 75 episodes covering all kinds of topics, most of which were sent in by you, the listeners. And today I just wanted to come on here quickly to ask for more of your submissions.

I have a couple of big questions that I’m working on answering, so if we’ve been in touch about that, please know that I’m still working on those episodes.

But in the meantime, as we prepare for summer, I would love to dig in to more of your topics. Do you have a conundrum? Questions? Do you want to settle a debate with your spouse?

When you think about your money and your values, do you feel aligned? Could a forensic accountant look at everything you do with your money and understand what you value? How you vote? What you advocate for? Or are your money and your politics completely separate?

Your topics could be about how you spend your money, they could be about how you invest your money, and of course, how you donate your money.

Or maybe you are interested in what other folks are doing with their money. How they’re lining up their money and their values. Recently I know a lot of people enjoyed the episode about celebrity giving, that was episode 61.

Maybe there’s someone else you’d love to know more about as a case study. Or some schools of thought that you’ve heard a little about but are still unsure about.

Generally what I do when a topic comes in, is I will do some research, that might mean reading articles and books, it might mean reaching out to people that work in that field. And then I try to spend time thinking about how to distill the information into clear, concise episodes for you containing gentle, practical suggestions that reach for progress, not perfection.

Sound good?

Please let me know what’s been on your mind.

Email the show at spend donate invest at gmail dot com. And you can send feedback too. Maybe there’s a recurring segment you’d like to hear on the show. Maybe you’d like a different level of depth to each episode, keep it light or go deeper? Up to you, send a note anytime, again the email address is spend donate invest at gmail dot com

Thanks so much. That’s all for this week. Let’s talk again soon!