My vision is to widen the ripple of positive change in the world through my coaching practice. Not only do I help change the lives of my clients, but they help change the lives of their clients, and so on and so on and so on.

I’m always looking for opportunities to widen that ripple of change even when it comes to gifts for my clients. For the last three years, in lieu of a wreath or holiday treat, I make charitable donations to Heifer International. Who needs another tin of cookies or chocolates during the holidays, anyway?

This gift is in perfect alignment with my vision. Heifer is an organization that gives animals to families in third world countries, allowing them to create food sustainability for themselves and start businesses and change the trajectory of their lives. Heifer often focuses on empowering women as they are typically the ones responsible for the household, while the family relies on the husband’s work to sustain the family.

If a family receives a flock of chickens, it can completely change their lives and lift them out of poverty. First off, they have a sustainable food source for themselves. Then they can sell surplus eggs, raise chicks to increase their flock size, and eventually even expand into selling chickens at market. It is the gift that keeps on giving.

Each Holiday Season, I usually donate a flock of chickens (my joke is to tell my clients that it’s “a flock from the Flochs!”), but this year I got strategic about how I could increase my ripple effect of positive change in the world. My husband’s company offered to match any gift I made, and I knew that a triple match program was coming up through the big donors at Heifer, as well. That means that my $40 donation turned in $80 thanks to my husband’s company (Yeah, Adobe!), and then the donors at Heifer tripled that amount, making the donation so robust that I could send a pair of goats to each family instead.

When we align our businesses with charities we care about, we can create what I call “the quadruple win”: a win for the world, a win for the recipients (the family who receives the animals), a win for my clients (who loved it), and a win for me.

So, how can you create a quadruple win in your business?

With appreciation,

Tara Butler Floch