After Edmund Hillary (born on this date in 1919) climbed down from the 28,700 peak of Mt Everest, he devoted the rest of his life to improving the quality of life for the citizens of Nepal.  He founded The Himalayan Trust, which has built 27 schools and two hospitals, and also  supports reforestation and cultural preservation projects.

I am not the first to compare building a fortune to climbing a mountain.  But what interests me is what people do after their descent.  I have known people who created wealth by practicing law, inventing medical devices, running Fortune 500 companies, collecting small hydro electric plants or radio stations, creating chains of department stores or coffee shops, mining for coal, performing brain surgery, and selling bonds and bubble-gum.  Every one of them looked at what he or she accumulated, and decided to give a big chunk of it away.

Sir Edmund was famously modest.  He refused to say whether he or his guide Tenzing reached the summit first.  When filling out forms, he listed his occupation as "beekeeper."  And he described the work of the Himalayan Trust as far more meaningful to him that his mountain-conquering feat. 

On his descent, he saw the poverty of the Tibetan villages he passed through.  But he might have seen something else.  He had had accomplished something others had tried and failed.  He might have recognized that he could accomplish great things.  My guess is that combination -- modesty and a sense of power -- is what made him such an effective philanthropist.

Every day there are people descending from the Himalayas of wealth accumulation.  Maybe one of them, today, is wandering past your organization.