Personal StoriesMike Dickson

The true impact of 'giving' first began to dawn on me at Whizz-Kidz.

Over several years I 'persuaded' thousands of people to run marathons, climb mountains, create events, and to adopt Whizz-Kidz as their company's charity of the year. And I myself ran marathons, led overseas treks, attended hundreds of events, and watched first hand people taking part, having fun and sometimes raising huge amounts of money.

I noticed that when many of these people met a disabled young person, often the child for whom they had raised the money, the impact on them was sometimes enormous. They were both moved and humbled that their fundraising efforts had helped a child who was unable to move, move. To become independently mobile, to 'whizz' about on their own, go shopping, go to a decent school, play with friends, take part in sport. Not infrequently people would confide in me that helping a child move was the best thing they had done in the year.

I realised that people who give, who go out of their way to help others, get as much as they give back in return. Which is why my book is called The More You Give, The More You Get.

Researching the first edition of The More You Give, time and again I came across examples of people who had undertaken wonderful acts of generosity, and it had made them feel like better human beings. Giving defines a person: generosity of spirit, lessons learned, knowledge gained, humility restored.

Giving is done best when it starts with the heart - not the head. The most impressive people who I know are those who are driven by the desire to help others, or to inspire others to take action. If you ask these people how they make a decision to help a person or a cause, invariably they will tell you that they are inspired by that person - sometimes even a challenging person - but a person with a passion to change a part of their world (David Gold, the chairman of Philanthropy UK, and Fred Mulder are two such remarkable people).

I've learned that it isn't really that difficult to give money to people, or to causes who desperately need it. Average intelligence, humility, a good heart and commitment to action are all that is required.

And the current emphasis on analysis and investment can obscure the real purpose and benefits of giving. Do people really want to see a 'return on investment' (ROI) on their charitable giving? Or do they want to feel valued? How do you measure ROI on a donation to a hospice, or a refuge for victims of domestic violence? And why should you do so anyway?

Our advisory service now acts for individuals and companies, including the customers of two large banks. The purpose of both the book and the service is to inspire and encourage individuals to give to those less fortunate than themselves, and to show them how giving enriches their own lives. We demonstrate, in a business context, how proactive involvement with the community through employees makes commercial sense. In the next few years every business in Britain will have a sensible charity or community programme. Their employees will demand it, and the time off to help - this is already a key requirement from graduates. Their customers will insist on it. At which stage NOT to be properly engaged will represent a commercial risk.

To end with a story: One day I visited a school in Edinburgh and was introduced to a young man called Sean. He was blind and had cerebral palsy - so he couldn't see, or move about independently. He was asked to show me how his new powered wheelchair worked, so he set off on his own round the school - the wheelchair has a laser on the bottom that followed a track from his classroom to the dining room etc. He arrived back to much applause from his friends. On the way out his physiotherapist thanked Whizz-kidz and myself for helping to change Sean's life. Then she said softly that it had taken her two years to show him how to manage the controls which move his wheelchair backwards and forwards. She gave me a hug and left. And I just sat in my car alone, crying. And deeply humbled.