The Drive to Give (Laura and Royce)
LAURA: We always felt that it was really important to be able to tap into the organizations we were already volunteering with and then be able to support them with our Schwab Charitable Account. It's been really, really nice.
When we learned about the ability of giving this way we were really excited about it. And I think we're very fortunate with each other that we both were so onboard with it. And we just had to agree on how much and we kept upping it.
He didn't want a fancy big, new car or anything. Or you know ...
ROYCE: Right.
LAURA: No fur coats for me. You know. We love having the idea of the money going to purposes beyond what we can do ourselves is really important.
ROYCE: It’s an amazingly joyful thing to be able to hear somebody's story and to be in a position where we can just get on the Schwab Charitable website and make a donation and feel like we've participated in the wonderful work that they're doing.
LAURA: One of the organizations that we help with here in the Phoenix area is Mulligan's Manor.
It's a group home for LGBTQ kids, a foster situation, and it's one of the very few in the country that provides a safe place for kids to come in.
One time we just went over and we saw them all trying to cram all the kids into a couple of vehicles, and it just wasn't happening. We were like, "Wow, you really need some transportation."
ROYCE: Laura was getting ready to head out to work one morning, and she just wrote on a sticky note "let's do something special today,"
So I took that Post-it and I just said, "If we have our Schwab Charitable account give you $20,000, "can you find something suitable for these children?" They just about blew up.
LAURA: We were able to get them a van, and that was a one-time grant.
ROYCE: This was exactly the thing that they needed, and then to basically make it all happen within a matter of an hour or two was just, again, another joyful experience.
I could not be happier that we ultimately decided to start this fund. It's given us the ability to do so many things that have brought us so much joy.