Turning Compassion Into Action
From our start, Brighton Jones has continually strived to help our clients, colleagues, and community members live a richer life. Of course, a big part of that is our focus on financial wellbeing. Helping clients achieve the peace of mind and happiness that accompany vocational freedom or retirement is at the core of who we are. Over the years, however, it has become increasingly apparent to us that financial wellbeing is only one part of the happiness equation. So, what are the other components?
Our point of view is that emotional and social wellbeing comprise two additional ingredients to the happiness equation. A truly rich life derives from the inner peace and joy that emotional wellbeing offers, along with social wellbeing that strong relationships, social connections, and community provide.
We’re moving from compassion to action
In January, we launched our Year of Compassion initiative. It is based on our belief that compassion is at the intersection of emotional and social wellbeing, and that by being more compassionate we help others live richer lives while we ourselves live richer lives. Now, we are excited to announce that we are taking our initiative to the next level through two undertakings: 1% for Compassion and Compassion in Action.
With 1% for Compassion, we will be formally allocating 1 percent of our annual revenues for compassion-building in the form of philanthropy, social impact, and community investment. The first $50,000 will fund the final phases of our Volunteer Guesthouse construction project in Kajiado, Kenya, while the remaining funds will be earmarked for U.S.-based compassion projects in 2018.
With Compassion in Action, we are challenging everyone at Brighton Jones to dedicate more time to volunteering and doing things for others. To make it easy and fun, we have assembled a team of our people to organize service projects that we can do in groups throughout the year.
In addition, we will now be dedicating two full days a year to volunteering as a company. When our entire team converges on Seattle for our biannual Team Week, we will lend the combined strength of our 110 people (and counting)—and hopefully many others from our extended community—to local service projects.
Join us for a local service project
We have always enjoyed volunteering alongside our community of clients, friends, and family, and we are excited to create more opportunities to put compassion into action together. Events will happen regularly in all five of our regional offices on a smaller scale and twice a year in Seattle on a larger scale.
We would be delighted to have you and your family and friends join us for our service projects. We can think of no better way to promote a greater sense of happiness while getting to know each other better.
Please keep your eyes peeled for our updates on upcoming service projects.