Sheree Meredith Legacy Planning | LAYC66

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My guest today on the podcast is Sheree Meredith, and although Sheree is right

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here in Ontario, Canada where I am, her impact, her influence, and her

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resources are relevant to everybody at any age, anywhere around the globe.

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I just loved connecting with Sheree and getting to know more about her

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and discovering that her 40 years of experience and leadership in the

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foundations, not-for-profit, and education sectors have culminated in her purpose,

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which is helping individuals really identify the values and the issues

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that create for them a personalized, meaningful, philanthropic plan.

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Sheree works with individuals and organizations and corporations

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to help them map it out so that it's really relevant.

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Her credentials are extensive.

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The details will be in the show notes and also the link to Sheree's website

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where she provides a lot of resources that I think you'll be lifted by.

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One of the things that really intrigued me on her website is the resource that she

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has, helping you to create the cornerstone of your legacy, and additionally, the

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seven steps to creating a giving circle.

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I didn't know until I talked with her today that anybody can create

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a giving circle anywhere, of any size of any theme, of any impact.

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So without further ado, welcoming our guest, Sheree Meredith.

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And I just know you're going to learn a lot today.

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It is gonna be a great conversation.

Isabel: 00:02:50

Welcome again everyone.

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I hope you've had a fabulous week, and I am delighted today to bring to you another

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new resource, new connection to me.

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But I feel like I've known her forever because we have so much in common,

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including vocabulary because we were talking offline about being catalysts

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and lifelong learners and women that are continually looking to expand our impact.

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So today, please welcome to the Lift As You Climb podcast, Sheree

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Meredith from Ontario, Canada, and Sheree has a business called Sheree

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Meredith Consulting but wow, there's a whole lot more to her background.

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I've invited Sheree to be here today to help me really clear up the mystery,

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the intimidation, perhaps around the word philanthropy, and how each of us

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as individuals can find the right way to make a difference, make a contribution,

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create the legacy that is really aligned with our own values and interests.

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So please welcome Sheree.

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Good morning.

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Good morning, Isabel.

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Thank you so much for inviting me to be a guest.

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I appreciate it.

Isabel: 00:04:21

Well, I'm really delighted that, and this is another thing

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that I think is wonderful.

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We talked a little bit that women have this fabulous ability to build communities

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and collaborations and share connections and so it is, through one of my other

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guests on the show, Lisa Bilodeau with 100 Women who Care Burlington, the

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Giving Circle, that I became aware of, Sheree and her work and what she is

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doing to help us all kind of figure out at this time in our life, like really...

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How do we create a difference?...

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And not feel like we just don't have enough resources,

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or we don't know how to begin.

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Sheree, please talk to me a little more, about what we were sharing earlier about

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like how does somebody figure out, how to get started and , what really is aligned

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with their own values and place in life.

Sheree: 00:05:23

Absolutely and this is something that I could talk for hours about so you

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can redirect me as we go, and I'd like to start with that word, philanthropy that

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you mentioned, Isabel, because it's a very old word and I think it's a lovely word.

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Some people think it's old fashioned and we should get rid of it,

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but, I'm hesitant to do that.

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It really means love of humankind.

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And I think instead of getting rid of it, we should modernize

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it and really use it well.

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When I start talking about philanthropy, often people start by

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saying, I'm not a philanthropist.

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And I'm sure in their mind they have a picture of honestly, old, wealthy,

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white men who've given millions, have their names on buildings, and

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have done some phenomenal things.

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But the average person would say, that's not me.

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They're very different.

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They have more money, they have more power.

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They're men.

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There's lots of reasons why people say I'm not a philanthropist.

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So what I've been trying to really help people think about in my work, and this

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is paralleled, I think in the field of philanthropy at the moment, is a real

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broadening of how we think about it.

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And also, shifting of some very traditional structures that

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have been in philanthropy and one is that shifting of power.

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The donor had all the money.

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The recipient was the charitable person who had to be grateful and

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kind of do whatever the donor wanted.

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And all of that has been shaken up a lot recently.

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But the other thing, and I think another very positive piece is that people are

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saying philanthropy is about making a difference in something you care about.

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Maybe that's a social issue.

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Maybe it's improving the environment.

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Maybe it's sustaining good things that you valued in your community

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that you want the to be there forever.

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We all have those things that we value.

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And part of the philanthropy angle that I take is, I'd really love for us to

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move away from that charitable model of giving back and helping the disadvantaged.

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And that sort of, "I have.

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You don't."

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kind of notion.

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We all have gifts, we all have things.

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And the notion rather that, It's part of being a, citizen in a civil

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society to contribute and shape the world of the future, right?

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So when you think of philanthropy that way, it's important to

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really think, well, it's much more than writing a check, right?

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How do you make a difference in an area that's important to you?

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There's so many more ways of doing that.

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So the first step is figuring out what is important to you and what do you value?

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Sometimes people go to advisors and they're given a values checklist and they

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check off five, and then you're done.

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I think it's more important to think about the things that have been important in

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your life, the stories, if you like, the people you've admired, what's created

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positive change, positive things in your life, and begin to build that.

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And likewise, the things that concern you.

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What do you worry about in the world?

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And we have so many complex things to deal with.

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There's such a range of possibilities, but really figuring

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out if you can narrow it down.

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What is the issue or area where you really feel very strongly that you

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would like to make a difference?

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And then I encourage people, if you like to put that at the center of

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a wheel, their philanthropy wheel.

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and some people even create a little vision statement

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that I would like to do this.

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And then I encourage people to think about all of the resources, all of

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the things in their life and their, including their talents, their own,

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capabilities, that could be drawn on to make a difference related to this.

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And that's where it becomes much more than a check, and it becomes, accessible

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to all of us at any point in our life.

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I'll give you an example.

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I was working with a young woman once who had a very senior, professional

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job, young kids, had an hour commute to work and she said to me, Sheree,

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I honestly don't have an ounce of money, strength, time, whatever,

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to do anything philanthropic.

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And I, we talked a little bit more and she was saying, you know, about

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environmental issues and whatever.

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So I said, well, do you talk to your kids about those?

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And she said, oh yes, we do this, this, and this, and I teach them that

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and environmentally we're doing this.

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And I said, you are making a significant difference there by what you're teaching

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your children and creating a generation that will be more responsible stewards

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of the environment, and that's worth more than a hundred dollar check.

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That is a really important thing that you're doing right now.

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So is that philanthropy?

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Not in the traditional definition, is that making a difference

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in something you care about?

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Yes!

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Hugely!

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So when you look at that wheel and all the possible areas, it's

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important to look at your finances.

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Increasingly now, people are looking at their investments.

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Where is my money invested?

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Is it aligned with what I care about?

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Or am I being concerned about one thing, actually investing in

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companies that work against that.

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That whole, or could I bulk up my investments to support

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one area more than others?

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So there's that part of.

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The money side too.

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There's your time and some of the traditional things of doing

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volunteer work, but also there's your networks and so how do you mobilize

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your book club, your workplace?

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People who run small businesses have an excellent opportunity to align

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some of their, corporate social good with their personal values or their

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values of their employees, your neighborhood, your children's activities.

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For each person, the things around that circle will be

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unique, but they're extensive.

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All of us have opportunities that way.

Isabel: 00:11:36

I really like that perspective that you put on it, Sheree.

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Thinking of it's not just about do you have a lot of money or some money

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that you want to donate somewhere.

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I love the fact that each one of us have, what I'd call a currency of influence.

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They are connections, our personal connections, our business

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connections, all of our network.

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, and how do you bring that to play besides selling them a raffle

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ticket or something for a charity.

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Right?

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, I love the fact that you're helping us to redefine our relationship with the

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word philanthropy; where it used to be almost an anonymous transaction, write

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a check and the money goes somewhere.

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Particularly, I think there are some, many of us that had kind of a bad

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taste in our mouth with some charities when we found out how much of the

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money we were giving, what percentage was going to administrative costs.

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And as you say, maybe you.

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It was a different act.

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It was like I, I would've thought before that I needed to give

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a check to one of those larger branded charitable or fundraisers,

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Now, I'm feeling I have an opportunity to get really relatable

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t o my personal values and whether it's in my community or as you say,

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like I have nine grandchildren, how my legacy can be impacting them

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around awareness and, perspective on how they can make a difference

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just by their simple daily actions.

Sheree: 00:13:25

There's a lot of research.

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If I can interject there about what you're exactly, to your point is

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Isabel and also some of what tend to be gender differences between women's

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philanthropy and male philanthropy.

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And there's pretty solid research, from the LILLY Family Institute, of

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women's philanthropy in the US and also from a woman named Barbara Stewart

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out of Canada who does, research annually looking at women in money,

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so a whole range of topics and.

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They all talk about how women tend to approach things a little differently

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and want to understand, and so take a little bit more time sometimes to

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understand the complexity of things.

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And I, I think when you think of women's traditional roles in family and

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child rearing and all that, they have a pretty solid understanding things

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aren't just black and white ; that there's complexity, there's situational

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differences, and women tend to take the time, the research tells us to

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understand that, and to then will take risks in how they deploy their resources.

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And we're seeing some of that right now with some of the high profile

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philanthropists, people like Mackenzie Scott, who's just given away millions

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and millions of dollars, and she does the due diligence, or her people do

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the due diligence in term determine the organization is, solid and doing

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their job and then gives them money.

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She doesn't try to control where that money goes.

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She gives them supporting operating money and it's that trust, right?

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So women are more comfortable, often like trusting that.

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Women also, have a greater opportunity these days than ever they have in the past

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historically, because they're controlling more money, they earn their own money,

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they're acquiring it through divorce.

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They're managing their elderly parents' money.

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They also are the key people for teaching children and grandchildren.

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So it's actually a really critical role that we're playing and has bigger

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opportunity to make a difference.

Isabel: 00:15:30

You're inspiring me to put you on the spot here on the air and ask,

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since International Women's Day is coming up pretty soon, I would love

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it if you would come back and talk more specifically on that women and giving

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and the power that we have to influence.

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That is the grandest form of lifting and climbing.

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And let's talk specifically about some of that research and data and share that it.

Sheree: 00:16:02

I would love to do that.

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Can I give an example, Isabel that I use?

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A nd for some people who are sitting out there trying to picture this wheel

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with all this, and I should say that, I can, share that tool with people if

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they're interested and they can go to my website and I'll email it to you

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. I often use the example of a

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in Hamilton was, a big reader.

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Loved books.

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Books had always been part of her life growing up.

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And it came to her attention that down in the north end of a city where people

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are more economically challenged, that a lot of those children had no books.

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A lot of them were from new Canadian families, and so their parents

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may not be as literate in English.

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So there, there were all sorts of things related to reading and

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accessing books, as well as the joy and the benefits of reading.

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So she decided she would donate money to the school and, help

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support an afterschool program.

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But then she also started to think about what are the other ways and

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who else could she bring into this?

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And she developed a whole network of doing things.

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One, she rushed off to her book club and got others interested

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because they of course were all shared that passion, right?

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She spoke at her Rotary Club and got them engaged.

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She realized that there were a couple of the little book Free

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Book Libraries um, um, down in the north end that were always empty.

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So she and her daughter, went about keeping those full.

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So she would take books from her own house, from her neighborhood,

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from her friends, and move books down to another neighborhood.

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It just snowballed.

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Then she began thinking, I've heard of the Dolly Parton

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Foundation that gives books.

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Could we make application?

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So it got bigger and bigger and it was meaningful, it was fun!

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And there is research that says philanthropy helps keep you healthy.

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It's good for you in that you feel positive, you're making a difference.

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And for women, you're often connecting with other people too.

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Writing a check's a very lonely kind of thing to do, but the engagement

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of others with something that you all care about, doing things where you

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can see you're making a difference and it's a model for others.

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The research also shows that doing and talking about it with your children and

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grandchildren, is good for them too, and raises children who believe that they

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have a commitment and an opportunity to make a difference in the world.

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And I think personally, we're all struggling with that a bit these days.

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The issues are so complex.

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Covid has made everybody feel a little bit more isolated and probably disempowered

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and that we need to reengage, if you like, and to find the joy in that.

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So again, that's a very simple example, a very local example, but you could take

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that around any interest and begin to have some fun with it too, as a model.

Isabel: 00:18:57

I just I couldn't have planned this out.

Isabel: 00:19:01

This is entirely synchronicity that what everything you just spoke about.

Isabel: 00:19:07

Part of the reason that I refined the format of this podcast to, to showcase

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people like yourself, who were out there actively making a difference and

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creating new paths forward for others to do so, was about the isolation that I

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was noticing for people during, after, post Covid, and there was a focus on

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purpose instead of pandemic the word on people's minds seemed to be purpose.

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Like 'What's it all about Alfie?"

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was one of my recent topics.

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My first interview on this season was with a woman who started the

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Pajama Program in the US which was about storybooks and pajamas for

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disenfranchised children and the importance of that and the ripple

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effect and how Oprah became involved.

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They've touched the lives of seven and a half million children and growing.

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It's that women coming together.

Isabel: 00:20:10

Yes, yes.

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The community, the human connection.

Isabel: 00:20:15

And then my next episode is a woman in Rotary in Bali, Indonesia.

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And how she and her Rotary group, came together to teach sewing and crocheting

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to local women to provide income from them so they could work from a home.

Sheree: 00:20:32

The stories go on, don't they though?

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It's not that men don't do these things, but there are some patterns

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that have been typical over the generations of how women do things.

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I bet everybody listening to this could probably, if I said to them,

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so if you had something that needed to be done in your community, you

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know the three people you would call that would make it happen, right?

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Women get things done, and whether it's something for their children's

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school or rallying meals for the person who lives next door, who's just had

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surgery or whatever it is in our lives.

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And so, it's a drawing on that kind of thing that really makes

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the fabric of society strong.

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You can read all the research about how we've become, more distant as

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a society and we don't have social connections, but you have to build

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those and, everybody begins to build theirs and then we add those together.

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It's like an impressionist painting, . It does make a difference to the big issues.

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All the small dots make the big painting.

Sheree: 00:21:36

I think it's really important that we be a bit more, - I'm not a big user of

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the word intentional - but I think that we need to take all those opportunities

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we can right now in our society to make sure that people feel engaged.

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I know a lot of people feel very stretched, p hysically and

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emotionally, financially right now.

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, and so, you don't want it to be one more thing, but I think there is scale

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and sometimes injecting something positive into that really stressful

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life really is refreshing, right?

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And so it's a matter of finding the right thing and the right amount of things.

Sheree: 00:22:16

I want to mention one more thing because again, I'm here in Hamilton,

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Ontario, and there's a woman here by the name of Amy Cross who developed

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this amazing thing called Gender Fair.

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It's largely in the US but it's an index of businesses, and she developed this

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whole system of rating them on their gender related policies and practices.

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So, again, you think of how much of the family finances that women control

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the spending, and when you're buying something, you can go on this index

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and compare companies about how they are rated on gender related policies.

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So everything from their personnel policies to how people show up in their

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advertising; a ny number of things.

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And so you can make choices on spending.

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If gender equity is something you're interested in, you can make choices

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on what you buy that will support that issue that you care about.

Sheree: 00:23:07

We all shop every day for something.

Isabel: 00:23:11

Thank you.

Isabel: 00:23:12

I would appreciate an introduction, to her.

Sheree: 00:23:15

Yes, she'd be an interesting guest.

Isabel: 00:23:17

Wonderful guest.

Isabel: 00:23:18

And I'd also like to get the details and I will include in this episode, show notes

Isabel: 00:23:23

and transcript, your contact information, and also any other organizations that

Isabel: 00:23:30

you recommend, for people to, consider and evaluate because it is about

Isabel: 00:23:35

personal choice and personal connection.

Isabel: 00:23:38

I know you have, an important engagement and a hard stop coming up soon, but before

Isabel: 00:23:44

I let you go, I want the commitment that we can get to do this again, but

Isabel: 00:23:49

also just to sort of bring it down I think we've put out a lot of ideas and

Isabel: 00:23:55

possibilities for people to consider.

Isabel: 00:23:57

Not doing anything is a choice, and not knowing what

Isabel: 00:24:01

to choose can also be daunting.

Isabel: 00:24:04

But I believe that you have a tool or a resource that begins

Isabel: 00:24:09

to help people "Get a picture".

Isabel: 00:24:13

Could you talk a little bit about that today and how my

Isabel: 00:24:16

audience can, take advantage of what you're offering with that?

Sheree: 00:24:21

Absolutely.

Sheree: 00:24:22

So I do have a tool that walks you through the process of beginning

Sheree: 00:24:27

with thinking about what's important to you and some of the more deeper

Sheree: 00:24:31

questions to ask through to beginning to map this out and then, refining

Sheree: 00:24:36

that down to where you want to start.

Sheree: 00:24:38

It doesn't tell you what organization to invest in.

Sheree: 00:24:41

It doesn't tell you whether you should make, gifts of stocks or whatever.

Sheree: 00:24:45

It's not that end.

Sheree: 00:24:46

It's the upfront end, which I think is often overlooked.

Sheree: 00:24:50

It's the key to being meaningful and key, I think, to having impact.

Sheree: 00:24:55

So people can get that tool, through my website.

Sheree: 00:24:59

You just need to express your interest and I will send it to you.

Sheree: 00:25:03

I also offer workshops online or in person periodically, so if people want some help,

Sheree: 00:25:09

either in a group or individually, cuz having someone ask you those questions,

Sheree: 00:25:15

facilitate that discussion can be helpful.

Sheree: 00:25:18

Some people just need the tools.

Sheree: 00:25:19

So both are options through my website.

Isabel: 00:25:22

I most definitely will provide that information to everybody.

Isabel: 00:25:25

And just to clarify, so Sheree, would you offer your c onsulting or coaching

Isabel: 00:25:32

to individuals as well as groups that might be interested or companies as

Sheree: 00:25:37

well?

Sheree: 00:25:37

Yes, absolutely.

Sheree: 00:25:38

I'm really happy to do workshops for a group too.

Sheree: 00:25:42

I was talking to a woman's service club the other night and they were

Sheree: 00:25:45

having trouble figuring out where they wanted to put their flag in

Sheree: 00:25:49

the ground around this bigger issue.

Sheree: 00:25:51

Access to education, I think is one their bigger issue for women, s o even

Sheree: 00:25:55

a group like that, helping them walk through that process and narrow down

Sheree: 00:26:01

their strategy ... It's almost like strategic planning for a group like that

Sheree: 00:26:05

because those kinds of decisions can be very difficult for a group to make.

Sheree: 00:26:11

Sometimes it starts at the end, well, we could give to this organization

Sheree: 00:26:15

or that, as opposed to really building from the beginning, and

Sheree: 00:26:19

then getting to a meaningful end.

Isabel: 00:26:22

As Simon Sinek highlighted for us, if you don't start with the WHY,

Isabel: 00:26:28

it's very, very difficult to do that.

Isabel: 00:26:31

Alright.

Isabel: 00:26:32

Sheree, thank you very much.

Isabel: 00:26:34

This is the beginning, I believe, of what we can share with everybody

Isabel: 00:26:40

and hopefully we've ignited a few sparks and at least inspired some

Isabel: 00:26:45

curiosity to learn a little more.

Isabel: 00:26:50

And maybe Miriam Webster will redefine the definition of philanthropy with our help.

Sheree: 00:26:58

Thank You so much.

Sheree: 00:26:58

It's been a pleasure.

Isabel: 00:27:00

Thank you.