Selling the Gift

Sofia, a 34 year old Mexican woman living in Nicaragua, runs a social program on emotional education. As the head of her program, she has faced many challenging decisions. In difficult times, she is compelled to reflect on her personal values of “integrity, honesty, responsibility, resilience, growth mindset, and spirituality”. Sofia describes a time when she was approached with a business deal to sell expensive equipment--which had been given away as donations--to local hospitals. The deal was lucrative, but in sharp contrast to her stated values. Sofia ultimately turned down the offer and held steady in her convictions.

Sofia, a 34 year old Mexican woman living in Nicaragua, runs a social program on emotional education. She explains:

“The goal is that every person discovers their gifts and talents, and by increasing their emotional intelligence, and empowering themselves; share their talents to the service of the community, and the world...I am helping people through my conferences and workshops, for free, so that they have tools for coping with harmful emotions that lead to suicide, killing and other risk actions.”

Sofia believes that personal values shouldn’t be something you simply talk about, but rather they should be “practiced and discovered.” Sofia is personally compelled by “integrity, honesty, responsibility, resilience, growth mindset, and spirituality.” 

As the leader of her program, she says has been faced with a number of situations which challenge her values. Specifically, there are times she must place these values above potential financial gains. Sofia describes a particularly shocking senario from her past:

“I met an American who had an NGO. He wanted to come and work in Nicaragua. At the beginning he told me that he received big donations of hospital equipment and for patients like (wheelchairs, special beds, etc)... I was happy and thought I could help relocate them in Nicaragua.

The sad part started when he told me that we could make money from this. He told me if I could help him sell the equipment for half the price (which he received for free as donations), we could share profits—which was a lot of money, like 5,000 USD per month. Although I needed the money, to continue my program, this was a very wrong move, because these were donations, and were supposed to be free for very poor people...I said ‘No’ to this American guy, and never saw him again.”

Sofia later explains that it was not easy to turn her back on this financial opportunity. Leaders of non-profit organizations are constantly seeking donations and fundraising opportunities—it’s part of their job. Just like any other business, they have a staff to support and expenses to cover. At the time, Sofia had just received news that a big donation she had been counting on fell through. As a result, Sofia had to scale back her organization's efforts and lay-off three employees. When asked if she ever revisits or thinks about her decision, Sofia admits:

“At the beginning yes, because I needed the money but this was the right choice.”

In the end, Sofia explains how her values and spirituality guide her through murky situations such as this:

“... I think that we are all part of God’s creation, and God is a universal energy which we are all part of, so that makes us special. We are born with gifts and talents that sometimes stay hidden because of living in fear, and thinking that we are not special. So to be a good citizen for the world, first you should empower yourself, but not in an ego oriented way, but empowering from the soul. If you start from there, everything will unfold, and your actions will be of service and happiness.”

Sofia used her values of “integrity, honesty, responsibility, resilience, growth mindset, and spirituality” to guide her decision in this matter. What values guide your decisions? Would your personal values have led you to an alternative ending?