How can business owners become more generous? That’s a question Lori Watt has spent 46 years as a financial advisor helping her clients answer. Lori helps generous owners and entrepreneurs like herself make generosity part of their holistic, faithful financial plan.
As the Founder, President, and CEO of IAG Wealth Partners in the Milwaukee area, this is how Lori works to inform, support, and walk alongside other business owners as they increase their desire and capacity for giving. We sat down with her to hear more of her heart.
How did generosity become so important to you?
I didn’t grow up with a strong biblical understanding of generosity. But when I got married to my husband, Dick, in 1978, we started really growing in faith and getting involved in church. Early on in our marriage, our pastor gave a sermon asking families in the church to pray about what God called us to give to missions – over and above our tithing – and to trust God to provide whatever he led us to give. That was truly the first time I’d heard someone present the link between faith and generosity.
What’s amazing is that Dick and I both prayed and came up with the same number to give separately. At the time, the number seemed crazy to us, as we were living paycheck to paycheck. But we stepped out on faith and promised to give that number in response to God’s leading that year.
To be honest, we struggled financially that year, so we really had to lean on our faith to continue giving generously to our church. By the end of the year, we had no idea how we were going to come up with the rest of the money to fulfill our commitment. And then my husband went to the mailbox one night to find a stock certificate for a company he had invested in many years ago and had forgotten he owned. The value of that investment was the exact amount we needed to fulfill our promise to the church.
That moment shaped the way I saw giving forever. It showed me just how faithful God is to provide for us. Our job is just to trust him with the resources he’s given us and choose to be faithful to giving wherever and however he leads.
How do you incorporate generosity into your work?
I work with a lot of business owners, so it’s been fun to help them incorporate generosity into the plan of their company, both for now and in the future. We look at their current cash flow, their projected earnings, and their future financial plan to come up with a giving solution that works for them. Business owners tend to be tight with funds during the building phase of their companies, but as they grow, they start to have more liquidity. Suddenly, they have the ability to be more generous than they’ve been in the past.
So, we look at what they’ve been giving and come up with a new plan to give more as their financial situation changes. Sometimes there’s a hesitancy because they don’t know what their company is going to look like in the future. That kind of giving requires faith. But when I can also pair that faith with the practical – showing them the numbers, projecting the growth, and even playing out a few worst-case scenarios for them – it becomes a much easier decision.
Several of my business-owner clients have opted to open Giving Funds with NCF based on those financial plans. They fund it with a five-year giving budget, and almost without fail, they’re replenishing the fund within two to three years because they’ve found so much joy in giving more generously.
How do you start those conversations about giving with your clients?
For the ones who are giving from a place of faith, we just approach it from the truth that we simply can’t outgive God. What’s great is when they begin to see this principle lived out in their own generosity. They’re giving, giving, and giving, and God keeps providing. He gives them growth that allows them to give more freely and generously, and that’s been amazing to see.
Tell me about a time you helped a client become more generous.
I worked with a business owner who sold his company and wanted to be generous with the earnings. He already had a Giving Fund where he kept about 10 years’ worth of funds to give. But within three years, he was already adding money to it because he’d gifted everything.
But beyond that fund, he came to me to ask for help to give directly to his siblings, too. They were well into their sixties at that point, so they didn’t necessarily need his money the way they might’ve in the past. But still, he wanted to bless them from what God has blessed him with, so he set up a way to give directly to them every couple of years, too. That desire to bless the people he loves was so moving to witness.
Why did you decide to work with NCF?
I began serving on the board of NCF Wisconsin about eight years ago. I’ve loved the impact their help and resources have made on my life personally, as well as in the lives of my clients. That’s why I always present NCF as an option for giving solutions.
I’ve chosen to work with NCF for my own company, too. We set up a charitable fund for the business several years ago, and we give a portion of our profits to fund it every quarter. Internally, our chartable committee meets together to evaluate requests for grants submitted by employees and clients. They can propose an organization or cause for us to give to, and our committee prayerfully determines how we respond. NCF is such a great partner in this work for us. They’ve reviewed charities ahead of time, so I know we’re not giving to any cause or organization that conflicts with biblical principles. It makes things clear and easy.
That fund has been one of my biggest blessings as a business owner. God has used it to do so much through our company, and I’ve been privileged to watch my employees have the experience of practicing stewardship and making an impact.
What’s been the impact of incorporating generosity into your work?
Seeing the ripple effect of generous giving is it for me. It starts by opening the eyes of business owners and helping them see what giving faithfully could look like. Often, it’s something they’ve never considered before, but once they understand the value of it, there’s a ripple effect from there. They’re impacting their companies, employees, communities, charities, and so much more. When I get to experience the joy and blessings that come from their generosity, that ripple is making an impact on me, too. And you really never know where that ripple effect will end.
