How to invest $$ with the greatest promise of the best return
By Dean Collins
The angel investor, the venture capitalist, the philanthropist, and the college president go into a bar...
Okay I don’t really have a joke here, but for some reason that’s how many jokes start. Bars may not be the wisest of places to do business , but every college president looks to angel investors, venture capitalists, and philanthropists for help. In my own life as a nonprofit leader, I’ve looked to all three as well as many others whose contributions are necessary for the enterprise to operate and fulfill its mission.
The investors
The angel investor usually puts their own money into a start-up business. These funds may have come from the sale of their business, a family inheritance, good personal investing, or some or all of the above. Often the angel investor chooses businesses and industries they know something about. There are structured agreements in place if and when the business succeeds, but there’s no guarantee they will. There is an element of risk involved.
Venture capitalists may pool their money with funds from other investors. Sometimes the venture group consists simply of employees in an investment firm. Often these investors choose deals with companies better established than those chosen by an angel investor. Again there is expectation of return on the investment, but still there is speculation. The return an investor may receive can be quite significant, but many times there is a loss. The investors hope and believe their wins will cover the losses if they are wise and patient.
One of the interesting comments I often hear when raising money for the small university, whether from an investor or a philanthropic giver, is that the donor doesn’t want to give to operations. In other words they don’t want their gift to cover salaries or utility payments. Often they want to give to capital projects, usually buildings or sometimes new products or research. And often those capital projects create additional operational expenses for the institution receiving the gift.
The fundraiser
The apostle Paul was doing some fundraising in the eighth and ninth chapters of 2 Corinthians. He shared that non-Jewish Christians, the church in Macedonia, were sending a gift to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. His challenge was for the church at Corinth to do the same.
There were real needs in these churches, and as far as I can tell no one said the money was for the building campaign. The need was operational. People needed food and other help to make it day-to-day. Meeting the basic needs of workers leads them to give thanks to God and keep advancing the kingdom cause. I suspect angel investors and venture capital investors as well as philanthropists understand you have to keep the lights on and pay the salaries if a profit is ever to be achieved.
The giver
Paul’s words to the Corinthians give fresh air to all of us, whether we are the givers or the receivers who need the gifts. These principles are important to know, to remember, and to practice:
If you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly.
What you give should be done at the heart and mind level and not reluctantly.
God is able to meet the need of everyone in the equation.
God is sufficient in all things and at all times.
God supplies the seed (the gift).
God will multiply the results. You give a material gift, and it blesses the recipient materially and spiritually.
Giving generates prayers of gratitude and praise to God.
Giving flows from our confession of faith and not just our bank accounts.
Both the apostle Paul and the psalmist agree; when we are generous we create generosity. God generously gave us his Son Jesus. The least we can do is share his love with those who have need.
And who knows, maybe your generosity will be noticed by those who don’t yet know Jesus. They might just see something in you that motivates them to take a deeper look at why someone would give away their money to help another. And the opposite may be true as well. Those outside of Christ seeing stingy Christians might decide there isn’t much good news in this gospel.
We reap what we sow.
Your time with God’s Word
2 Corinthians 9:6-15; Psalm 112:5-9 ESV
