Hear from Phillip Chapple about being a TimeGiver and why it works for him
One of our first TimeGivers Phillip Chapple, COO at Monterone Partners explains why he believes the Time to Give Network model will be a successful one and why it works for him.
Getting the attention of someone to pick their brain, ask for advice, exchange views or even pitch your product has never been harder in this age of busyness. Those whose time is sought after are often time poor and overwhelmed by the number of emails, LinkedIn requests and whatnot that they get. It’s easy to just switch off.
Phillip Chapple, COO at Monterone Partners, is one of those people. He has been involved in the financial services industry for over 25 years and has held senior positions in the prime brokerage and hedge fund industries during that time. He has also been responsible for setting up numerous hedge fund and private equity structures. All that makes him an industry expert well worth talking to!
Although busy, people like Phill, with vast swathes of knowledge and experience, often want to give something back- to share that knowledge and experience. They also often welcome finding out new stuff, getting others’ opinions, and talking about how something in the industry works.
Traditional models for this sort of thing like sharing expertise and accessing people outside your existing network have, however, tended to be monetised and that makes things tricky in terms of declaring and dealing with that income – it’s just not worth the time for many. It can also be problematic in terms of a potential conflict of interest – especially in an industry that is so heavily regulated.
In recent years, people have begun to transcript calls and then sell them on and this creates another issue. “This makes people like me less willing to have the conversation in the first place and even if I am willing, then I’m going to be more guarded and less open with my ideas and opinions than I would be if it were just a conversation between two people,” Phill says.
The Time to Give Network, a new digital community converting human capital to charitable donations, solves those issues. Its TimeGivers, like Phill offer up their time in exchange for a donation to the charity of their choice. This removes the monetisation issue right from the start.
In addition, Time to Give Network is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company. As such there are no dividends paid and nobody is building any equity. Employees are all paid at below-market wages and at the end of the year, all excess revenue is donated to all of the charities that have raised money over the course of the year, on a pro-rata basis.
It’s basically an altruistic venture just trying to do good and raise as much money for charity as possible, while also facilitating valuable connections.
I liked this model on the grounds of the TimeBidder giving to a charity which is personally important to me and I also liked it on the grounds of broader Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) within my professional life too,” says Phill.
He’s keen to impress that the same compliance rules for a business meeting as regards insider information, commercial terms and conflicts of interest still apply. But the beauty is that he gets to decide whether to accept a bid or not. In this way people like Phill get to share their expertise and time in a way that suits them, their company and that resonates with their personal charitable causes.
“I’m a big fan and I’m hoping to be able to do two or three of these a month going forwards. I just like the concept, it feels cleaner and more in the spirit of giving and receiving in life,” says Phill.
Those who give their time and those that benefit from their time, as well as the charities all win in this unique model.
“With the Time to Give Network I know my time is going to be well spent and that I won’t miss anything that could be beneficial for my own knowledge because I am too busy to read unsolicited emails. I also keep control over who that time is given to and what I discuss and don’t discuss.”
Find out more about being a TimeGiver or sign up now.
