The Community Benefit Fund has provided this community with some of the same sorts of benefits a "giving tree" might. The benefits are sometimes visible, like the fruit it bears, but often times they are not directly seen or felt, for example, the clean, filtered air, or the seeds that fall from it and create "giving trees" in other places. (Below) are graphs that depict tithing dollars spent (percent of cumulative total) and tithing expenditures (percent of net operating revenue). As you can see, the uninvested dollars roll over to the next year and the fund continues to grow. This enables Memorial to make multiple-year funding expenditures.

The tithing policy has created some highly visible results. It has supported dozens of projects to date. The CHAG selected these projects after careful consideration of the criteria outlined in the Community Benefit Policy. Click here to view some of the projects funded through the Community Benefit Fund.

These are some of the more visible gifts of the "giving tree." However, there are dozens of others that exist in a less obvious way but are no less important. In fact, many of the results of tithing are illusive and non-recordable in a traditional format. (Mark Chambers), VP Memorial Health System, theorizes that, "when you go out and do good things, good things will happen. You may not be able to explain why or be able to record it in some systematic way, but it seems to be happening. It's like a leap of faith."

(Phil Newbold), Memorial Health System's CEO, gives an example, "During a meeting with Leland Kaiser and the Knights of the Health care Round table, Dan Wilford, CEO at a large Health System in Houston, said that since they have been tithing they've been doing very well financially, and every other way. He told us at that meeting that he believes tithing doesn't cost a cent. A week later, I called Leland and told him that we've had the same experience. It really doesn't cost us a cent! It's coming back to us in so many ways. We decided to form a club, we're going to call it the Tithing-Doesn't-Cost-You-A-Cent club. We'll accumulate a dozen CEOs that have been tithing for a while and who will go on record as saying that this has been our experience. So when others say, 'Why should we tithe? We can't afford it.' We can say, 'it doesn't cost you a cent! If you don't believe me, you can ask Dan Wilford and the other CEOs who are members of the club. They'll tell you the same thing.'"

Phil Newbold and other CEOs have experienced the illusive and undeterminable phenomena of what Maya Angelou describes as a "psychic force of good" in this quote from her: "I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. The size and substance of the gift should be important to the recipient, but not to the donor save that the best thing one can give is that which is appreciated. The giver is as enriched as the recipient, and more important, that intangible but very psychic force of good in the world increased."

We hope that this "learning history" will help you to develop a tithing policy in your organization. It has been our experience that tithing is one way in which to increase the "psychic force of good" in the world! We trust that you will have the same sense.