Every Gift Matters

The Dying Starfish

It was low tide. A young boy walking along the beach noticed an abandoned starfish partially buried in the sand. It lay there, removed from the water it needed to live, baking and dying in the sun. The boy looked up and saw dozens of starfish, all trapped in the sand, waiting to die. He picked up the first starfish and threw it in the ocean, immediately giving it a new lease on life. He picked up another and threw it into the ocean as well. Then another and another and another.

The boy’s mother, walking behind him, said, “There are too many starfish. What you’re doing doesn’t matter.” In one sense, she was right. No matter how many starfish the boy threw back into the sea, far more would die in the sand. This did not sway the boy. He picked up another starfish and held it in front of his mother. “It matters to this one,” he said, throwing it into the ocean.

The young boy could not save all of the starfish, but he still did something good: He saved each one that he picked up and threw back into the ocean. His story is an apt allegory for philanthropy. No matter how vast the problem or how small the donation, the act of giving can make all the...