Head, Hip and Heart: A Trifecta Approach to Returning

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June 7, 2016 ~ Written by: W.B. “Bud” Kirchner

fordToday numerous people and corporations promote the fact they are donating money to worthy causes. Don’t get me wrong this is great and there should be more of this charitable mentality but there is a smarter way to give back than just giving money away and results should be more than financial.

At the Kirchner Impact Foundation (KIF) we spend a lot of time thinking not just about how much to give back, but how to make the biggest impact with each dollar and return what we have borrowed. We have come to a concept reflecting a few perspectives, we think of it as a holistic model related to “returning” (or consistent with my title – making three ‘bets’ simultaneously).

 

Our Kirchner Impact Model includes three integrated components of contribution:

 

  • ‘head’ (sharing decades of creating solutions and building enterprises),
  • ‘hip‘ (providing essential financial resources), and
  • ‘heart’ (unwavering commitment to successful execution, supported by passion and desire to make a difference).

inheritWhile the benefit of just writing a check and wishing the beneficiary ‘good luck’ is helpful – we believe successful and passionate individuals have much more to share and much more value to provide.

We believe the head, hip and heart approach is relevant particularly to us because most of our impact activities focus around businesses that not only make an immediate difference, but also have the ability to become commercially successful – or in other words – sustainable. So as it is often the case in business – you can’t fix a problem just by throwing money at it and that is why we developed the Kirchner Impact Model.

As usual with me, the thought process is not very complicated. Each section of the head, hip and heart model is vital to success but neither of the three will be as successful without the others. In other words – the hip is important but equally so are the head and heart.

From our proprietary Kirchner Food Fellowship program to co-founding the Interaction Advisory Group to our in-kind collaboration with a university exploring the Business Brain Model we are giving back with our head, hip and heart in everything we do!

About the Author: W.B. “Bud” Kirchner is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist and sponsor of impact activities with more than 50 years of business success. He is the Founder and CEO of Kirchner Group, a traditional merchant bank and Founder of the Kirchner Impact Foundation that aims to harness the positive power of enterprise to make a difference in addressing some of the most important issues in the world today.