Multi-Generational Generosity Within the TGT Family

One of the keys to the consistency of the effectiveness and outreach of The Generosity Trust is the quality of our Board of Directors.  Each of our board members is an expert in their field, whether that is banking or law or human resources or accounting or ministry/church efforts or running a business.  They are all also known as generous, Godly men and women.

We ask our Board members for a ten-year commitment when they join the board.  And I believe in the over twenty-five years that I have been here, we’ve only had four board members that had to leave before their term expired, mainly for health reasons.  That longevity allows our Board to really get to know the ministry and the outreach of TGT, to get to know our needs, and to contribute in extraordinary ways.

One of those Board Members in years past was Mr. Bill Lane.  Bill had an extensive career in public accounting and finance, and was already an active part of the community in civic and church responsibilities.  Bill served as our Treasurer for many years, Chaired the Board for a few years, and remains (to this day) an active member of our Audit Committee, even though he rolled off the Board a number of years ago.

Back when Bill was on the Board, I mentioned at a Board meeting of our need to hire for a part-time finance/accounting position we had created, someone to assist with gifts in and grants out of our growing Donor-Advised Fund family.  Bill mentioned that his oldest daughter, Sarah Paone, had recently graduated from UTC with a Bachelor’s degree in finance, and she was looking for part-time work.  I had known Sarah since she was in middle school – I had actually been her Sunday School teacher for one year.

While we had to be cautious about the appearance of nepotism, when we brought Sarah in and interviewed her, we could tell there was a maturity about her that we really wanted.  Sarah started working for us in February of 2018 as a staff accountant, handling gifts and grants and relationships with our growing DAF family.

Sarah’s husband, Scott, is a Chattanooga fire fighter, and the two of them along with their son, Elijah, quickly became TGT family.  Through the years Sarah has grown with the job, and we recently promoted her to our Assistant Director of Finance and Accounting, supporting the director, Rhonda Burditt, in many of the high level finance and accounting systems.

Those who know and work with Sarah find her to be delightfully refreshing.  She combines the roles of wife, mother, daughter, sister, employee, school classroom mom, and former volunteer chair of her son’s school parent council, doing it all with a smile and a cheerful attitude.  She never gets flustered; she just pushes through and solves problems with an ease that belies her youth.  I consistently hear from donors how Sarah helped them work through a situation they were in, whether that was getting a gift into their fund, or recommending a grant out of their fund, or even a technology question.

Generosity comes in many and varied forms.  Bill Lane displayed generosity in his service to TGT all those years.  And he has left a generosity legacy at TGT through the gift of his daughter.  Sarah has played a critical role in helping TGT to become one of the best and most efficient Donor-Advised Fund providers in the southeast.

At TGT, Generosity begins with our Board of Directors, and it flows out through the hands and feet of the wonderful men and women who call this place home.  I am so thankful for each and every one of them, as they serve the Lord with gladness, expertise, precision, and care.  They truly live out our core values as they are Diligent, Aware, Faithful, and Strategic.

And if you happen to run into Bill Lane, whether at church or out in the community, please thank him for his service, and his recommendation of adding Sarah to our team.  That simple act of generosity will have wonderful implications on the Christian community of Chattanooga for decades to come.

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