Return on Generosity
A common business term many people have heard is “Return on Investment.” It is often shortened to R.O.I. and refers to how much value you get back from what you put in, and it is almost always associated with money.
You have likely heard it time and time again around saving for retirement, buying stocks, or investing in your cousin's new business venture over the holiday dinner table.
At City Leadership, we look at the idea of Return on Investment in a special way.
We call it Return on Generosity, or ROG.
In the same way you are looking at your financial investments and taking those seriously, we are hoping to help each of you maximize your giving investments.
When you donate your time through volunteering and donate financially, we want to provide you a huge “RETURN.” We take our job seriously to make sure every resource invested into this work creates the biggest impact possible.
ROG for 2024
This week, we shared highlights from the generosity of the hundreds of families who invested in the work of City Leadership in 2024.
Some of those include:
A 250% increase in the Choose901 Alumni College Scholarship Fund.
Over 90% of our College Freshmen re-enrolling for their Sophomore year.
Nearly 8,000 more hours of volunteer service across the city.
More than 700 educators connected to local schools.
It has been a very impactful year, and I invite you to flip through our digital book recapping some of the highlights.
Compounding Impact
Compounding returns are the superpower of saving and the magic behind the way we do the work of City Leadership. Each year is building on the next.
One of my favorite stories just happened a couple of weeks ago at the Exchange event where current leaders in our community connect with the upcoming leaders in the Choose901 Alumni program.
A special exchange happened when one of our earliest Choose901 Alumni from the high school class of 2016 connected with another alum currently in college at the event. The elder alum had graduated from Clark University in 2020 and had been living in Atlanta until last year. We helped recruit him back to Memphis and get him a job as a project manager in commercial construction. He is currently helping build the new towers at St. Jude.
While at the Exchange, he met a younger alum interested in commercial construction. They exchanged info and even discussed a possible internship.
It was a full-circle milestone in the history of this work—one that, with your help, we hope to facilitate again and again.
Grateful for Each of You
For those of you who gave in 2024, you likely already received a link to the 2024 Year in Review E-book along with your giving receipt. If you haven't had a chance to check out the highlights, here is the link again.
But I also wanted to share this online book with all of you who follow City Leadership. I hope you can take a couple minutes to flip through it.
