Originally published in the Unashamedly Ethical newsletter, April 2025.
“I strive to commit to remember the poor by investing generously and sacrificially in the broader community.”
There are two words in this commitment that are easy to skim past: “remember” and “sacrificially”.
“Remember” suggests that it is possible to forget. And it is. Most of us do not decide to ignore poverty. We simply stop seeing it. We take a different route. We become used to the queue, the informal settlement on the edge of the highway, the young person at the robot. Over time, what should disturb us becomes background.
This commitment asks us not to let that happen.
Beyond giving from what is left over
The second word is harder. “Sacrificially” means giving in a way that costs us something.
Most generosity comes from surplus: what is left once our own needs and comforts are met. That giving is good, and it matters. But this commitment asks more. It asks whether our generosity ever reaches the point where we notice its cost.
That cost is not only money. For many people, the most sacrificial gifts are time, attention and skill: the professional who mentors a young person every month for a year, the business owner who opens a door that would otherwise stay closed, the retired teacher who tutors without being asked.
Investment, not only relief
The commitment speaks of investing, and that word matters too.
Relief meets an urgent need, and urgent needs are real. But investment looks further ahead. It asks what would allow a person or a community to stand on their own feet, and it commits to that for long enough to make a difference.
Investment also protects dignity. It treats people as capable of building their own future, not as recipients of whatever others choose to give.
What this looks like at UE
This is the thinking behind TRIBE. Through TRIBE, we are building the next generation of ethical leaders, investing in young people’s character, values and opportunities over time rather than through once-off interventions.
In 2024, that included:
- Calling Academy:120 learners took part in our character development programme.
- Eagles Rising Leadership Academy:22 learners completed an 11-month leadership transformation programme, which also included voter education.
- Legacy Centre, Kayamandi:12 learners took part in a 10-month entrepreneurship programme and started three businesses of their own.
The numbers matter. But what matters more is what sits behind them: a young person who begins to believe that honesty and success are not opposites, and who will carry that belief into a workplace, a family and a community.
That is what investment does. It multiplies.
The question for each of us
This commitment is not one we can delegate to government, business or charities. It asks something of each of us personally.
Whose future am I investing in? And when last did my generosity actually cost me something?
If you want your generosity to be part of something larger, make this commitment your own at unashamedlyethical.com/commitment.
Yours in ethics,
Ilene Power