Mark Wheless spent most of his life practicing the kind of generosity he says comes naturally when you’re a follower of Christ. He gave to his local church, taught Bible studies, and served as a deacon and an elder. But in retirement, his giving took a new shape, and Mark discovered the calling God had been preparing him for all along.
Early in his career, Mark’s financial priority was taking care of his family. However, after retiring from decades in planning and operations for a major food and beverage company, he realized he’d been entrusted with enough to provide for more than just his family. Today, Mark and his family give much more than just money. They also give priceless skills, knowledge, and time.
In his line of work, Mark had learned how to solve problems, improve systems, manage costs, and help organizations grow. As he got more involved in generosity, he realized his business experience could be even more valuable than his financial capacity.
“I thought I had a career,” he says. What he says now is that career was really “a 30-year training program preparing to help people and organizations who do the heavy lifting in serving others.”
Today, Mark spends full-time hours helping charities grow stronger so they can help more people. His daughter, Jennifer, has joined him in the work, bringing her own 20 years of business experience, deep local relationships, and careful discernment. His son, Jeff, who lives in another state and works full time, also contributes his business acumen on special projects. Mark’s wife, Barbara, plays an important role in the administrative responsibilities of the family’s philanthropy.
More than money
The Wheless family’s giving is built on a simple conviction.
“Everything we have belongs to God,” Mark says. “It’s not ours. Intellectual capability, life experiences – they can all be applied to giving.”
When they began thinking about how to make the most of all they had, they thought about issues like poverty, underemployment, education, and substance use issues. But instead of just funding immediate needs, they began by trying to identify and understand the underlying causes of those needs.
Why can’t a family afford groceries? Because they’re underemployed. Why are they underemployed? Because there are personal barriers. What are those barriers? Transportation, education, personal reliability, relationship skills, or family instability.
“We just keep peeling the onion to get to the root cause,” Mark says.
Jennifer describes the same process in practical terms. Two families may both need food from a food bank, but not for the same reason. One may need temporary help during a seasonal gap in income. Another may need deeper, ongoing support because other barriers haven’t been addressed. The same visible need may point to very different root causes.
That’s why the Whelesses decided to get specific about what causes they would support and wrote their own giving plan, or, as Mark describes it, “a plan for problem solving.”
Their plan states that the Wheless Family Stewardship Fund exists to address what they call the “Four Life Essentials.”
- Healthy family formation and practices that provide a safe, stable, and nurturing environment
- Social skills with an “other-centeredness” that lead to mutually beneficial interactions
- Work that provides personal fulfillment and financial self-sufficiency
- Spiritual formation that gives life meaning and informs daily decisions
These four things continued to surface as root causes, regardless of the issue they were helping with. They realized that when one or more of the life essentials is missing, symptoms like substance abuse, incarceration, and underemployment often surface.
Over the years, the Whelesses have revised their giving plan many times. Jennifer says the document is never really finished. They revise words, clarify outcomes, and keep asking whether their giving is reflecting what they’re learning from the people and organizations they serve.
With this document as their guide, they use the Wheless Family Stewardship Fund to help start new organizations, like Christian schools and residential programs serving people re-entering their communities after incarceration. They also support existing organizations that address one or more of the four essentials and want to extend their work to a new geography or expand their programming.
The work behind the gift
The Wheless family calls their approach “reverse grantmaking.” Instead of charities coming to them with a grant application, they actively seek out organizations that fit their giving plan. When they find an organization helping people overcome barriers to one or more of the Four Life Essentials, they schedule an on-site visit to see and hear about the work firsthand.
Next, they draft a Letter of Understanding articulating how they can support the organization’s mission. Often, that includes strategic planning, helping with operational process, and defining success measures in addition to funding. All this happens before they ever make their first grant.
“Funding is just the beginning,” Mark says. “The most rewarding part is helping with strategy, operations, and developing relationships.”
Jennifer became one of the family’s primary connectors after her parents moved to Richmond to be near her and family. She’s lived there nearly 30 years, and through her church, school community, friends, boards, and her husband’s network, she’s connected to many leaders of local nonprofits.
“My daughter is the world’s best networker,” Mark says of Jennifer. “She knows everybody (or somebody who knows them) in the state.” Not a day goes by that they aren’t networking to find or serve a charity. And sometimes, that networking leads to work in other states and with national organizations.
They look for charities that stay connected to the people they serve, building ongoing relationships for lasting change. A summer camp matters more when mentors stay engaged with the campers back home. A recovery program is stronger when participants have long-term support. A school can shape a child’s life long term because the child is there every day. “That’s how change lasts,” Jennifer says.
Getting to the root cause
A few years ago, the family worked with an organization that helps people build a stable life as they’re coming out of incarceration, often with a lifetime of substance use issues. One practical barrier kept surfacing: Even when participants seemed ready for employment, many failed to keep a job.
So, the Whelesses supported the development of a six-week course that addressed the root causes. Instead of hard skills, like equipment operation, the course taught soft skills, like how to interact with coworkers the first week on the job or why it’s important to show up for work – every day, on time.
“It’s a problem-solving process like I’ve used many times in business,” Mark says. “Identify the root cause. Then, help people remove the personal barriers that contribute to the root cause.”
For the Whelesses, spiritual formation is central to the Four Life Essentials. Sometimes that happens through supporting a faith-based organization. Other times, it could be through adding a Bible study, a mentorship program, or a faith-friendly partner to an organization. Mark says they aren’t trying to impose their four essentials on organizations. They simply look for work that already overlaps with those essentials or a willingness to add programming for one of the essentials.
Again and again, he says, the response isn’t resistance. It’s recognition that, “Wow, we’ve got a lot of things in common.”
Finding the right structure
As Mark was working on estate and financial planning after retirement, he also planned for giving. He didn’t know much about donor-advised funds, but the idea came up as he explored how to give with more intention and plan for the future.
At first, he considered a family foundation. But because his business approach is always “go with the simplest solution,” and because the family’s giving is rooted in their Christian faith, he wanted to find a Christian-based organization that could help. That search led him to the National Christian Foundation (NCF), where he found the kind of value-driven support he’d been looking for.
“Every interaction I’ve had with NCF has been, ‘How can we help you?’” Mark says. “The posture has always been responsive, relational, and willing to help me think through what’s possible.”
NCF has also been a source of connection, introducing the Whelesses to some of their favorite people and organizations in the Christian generosity community.
They’ve found that donating stock is a very efficient way for them to give. The structure of having a Giving Fund allows Mark and his family to keep their focus on meeting leaders, understanding needs, and helping organizations grow.
What has God given you?
Through his career in business followed by his second career as a philanthropist, God has given Mark considerable wisdom we can also learn from. The part he wishes more generous people understood is that there’s more to offer than money alone. And often, money may not be the best solution to a problem.
His advice to anyone leaving a long career is to “start by defining your financial capabilities, and probably more valuable, list the unique experiences and talents God has given you. Then, go find organizations that meet your giving objective and need your talents in addition to your funding.”
When Mark retired, he knew he had an opportunity to help a lot of people with financial support. But his desire went beyond grantmaking. It led him into a full-time second career – for him, and now for his entire family too, because they believe real giving means being generous with everything God has entrusted to you.
