Community: Doing Good Through My Business
This is what it looks like when a business walks its talk.
Real partners. Real giving. No performance.
Giving is part of how I run this business
Not because it looks good. Because it’s the point.
I support nonprofit partners through financial contributions, pro bono work, and long-term relationships that reflect what I actually believe. My giving focuses on three areas: education for women and girls, women’s economic opportunity, and community resilience — locally and globally.
I don’t write checks without knowing why. I show up, stay involved, and try to be useful — not just generous.
Why giving is non-negotiable for me
I grew up understanding that community isn’t a marketing angle — it’s a responsibility. The businesses and leaders I’ve admired most over 30 years weren’t generous because it helped their brand. They were generous because they understood that business has reach, and reach comes with obligation.
Three things guide how I give:
Where I focus my giving
I give in three areas. Not because I can’t care about other things — but because focus is how giving actually works. Spreading thin means less impact everywhere.
Education
Access to learning changes what’s possible for women and girls.
I support organizations in the US and globally that make education real — not aspirational — for people who would otherwise go without.
Economic Opportunity
When women have capital, skills, and support to build businesses, the effects reach far beyond the individual. Families stabilize. Communities strengthen. I’ve seen it firsthand.
Leadership
Women who lead with confidence and values create ripple effects that outlast any single organization.
I support the development of those leaders wherever I can.
Flagship Partners
Rocky Mountain Microfinance Institute
What they do:
RMMFI supports Coloradans who are ready to build a business but have faced the kind of barriers — marginalization, limited access to capital, scarce support networks — that stop most people before they start. They provide access to funding, hands-on training, and a community of entrepreneurs who actually show up for each other.
Why I support them:
RMMFI works with entrepreneurs who are ready — not people who need convincing. They remove structural barriers that have nothing to do with capability and everything to do with access. That’s the kind of work I believe in: practical, relationship-based, and built on respect for the people it serves.
How I support them:
I mentor entrepreneurs through RMMFI’s Business Launch Bootcamp — showing up for weekly calls, retrospectives, orientations, and graduations. Not as a donor. As a resource.
“Not one dollar changed hands. But $21,000 worth of something real was given.”
What that looks like in practice:
96 hours donated across weekly calls, retrospectives, orientations, and graduations
$21,000+ in donated expertise, valued at the Taproot Foundation’s benchmark rate of $220/hour for skilled pro bono services
4 women entrepreneurs mentored through the Business Launch Bootcamp
To Learn More: https://rmmfi.org
NOTE: I am in dialogue with RMMFI to be the nonprofit to receive $1 for every copy of my new book The Good Difference: The Small Business Playbook for Community Giving sold.
KIVA
What they do:
Kiva connects lenders around the world with entrepreneurs who need access to capital — people who have the drive and the plan but not the starting point. Loans fund small businesses, education, and the kind of economic stability that changes a family’s trajectory.
Why I support them:
Kiva’s model is built on a simple truth: women don’t need saving. They need access. When women entrepreneurs have capital, they create income, stability, and opportunity for everyone around them. I’ve been lending through Kiva for years, reinvesting repayments as they come back so the same dollars keep working.
How I support them:
I lend through Kiva’s platform to women entrepreneurs around the world, reinvesting repayments to extend the reach of every dollar over time.
My Kiva lending to date:
$1,965+ total lent to women entrepreneurs worldwide
82 loans made
24 countries supported, including countries where I have done work – Philippines, Kenya, Jordan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Haiti, and Palestine
Want to give like this in your business?
Every week in the Do Well. Do Good. newsletter, I share what intentional giving looks like at small business scale — real stories, practical ideas, and the honest conversations about what works and what doesn’t.
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