Happy Early St. Patrick’s Day!

One of the cool things about trying to find the REAL Richest People in America, is to find stories of people people like Jacquie Berglund who has a passion for brewing and selling her own beer. AND she givies away the profits, every bit. Since September 2000, when she started Finnegan’s Amber, she’s given away nearly $60,000 to poverty programs across the state of Minnesota. Jacquie oversees a volunteer crew of seven who meet monthly to give direction to the company. Her lawyer, her creative team, and her PR company, all work pro bono. She says, “When people help me out, I pay them in beer. We are like the little beer engine that could with a lot of commitments from people wanting to making a difference”, says Jacquie. In her college days, Jacquie dreamed of starting her own non-profit company. She was always thinking of ideas for a business but at the same time she wanted to do something that would leave the world a better place. She lived in Paris for seven years, where she worked on development aid and development assistance and eventually did a masters thesis on development aid. Jacquie had a keen interest in helping others help themselves effectively. After moving back to MN, she became a director of marketing for a group of Irish pubs. In her job, she was giving lot of money away. But her concern was that the money was given to so many different causes that the contributions weren’t making an impact on any one cause. During that time, she volunteered at a homeless shelter and she found it ironic that she had to get up during the middle of the night to wake some of residents who had jobs. She wondered why so many were homeless. She become frustrated and wondered why a person who could work fulltime seemed incapable of taking care of their basic needs. One day while working, she had an epiphany. Jacquie said, “I came up with the idea for the beer company and decided that all profits would be given to a foundation. I knew if we picked one cause to support in the community, we would have far greater impact.” Within a year, Jacquie had a business plan and a product. Finnegan’s Amber was introduced in the pub she worked for at the time. It was an immediate hit. The owner of the pub told her that she was way more passionate about her beer than working for him. So being a considerate Minnesotan she didn’t quit without first asking her boss if she could leave to pursue her dream fulltime.

Her next step is to create a model that will move Finnegan’s beer into other markets like
Chicago, Boston and New York. Like her

Minnesota operation, all the money would go back to those communities to help those in poverty. One of her recipients of the Finnegan Foundation is an apartment community North of Minneapolis that caters to homeless youth. The foundation recently raised money to buy all new furniture. Jacquie said it was amazing to watch the homeless kids moving in with all brand new furniture. “It was a big confidence boost to them and their self respect”, Jacquie said. “That is the kind of stuff that is really powerful”. The Finnegan’s Foundation supporters are very involved with the non-profit activities they support. Each month, they visit a different nonprofit so everyone can see the difference they are making but also they can also witness firsthand the poverty issues in the community. She told me that a big part of what moves her is engaging the volunteers.” I get such joy of out people sharing their talents and time for a project that is bigger than me. It is so exciting to see them get fulfillment through giving back in a fun way. So many are enriched by this project and it includes a whole community.” Part of her motivation may have been her upbringing. She admitted that she grew up poor as the daughter of a waitress and a janitor. She also had the experience of moving up social classes as her father worked his was through school and ended up in management at a hospital. “You can ALWAYS move up,” Jacquie says. “If we create opportunities for people, help them to build their own capacity, provide tools for them and give them hope, I think anyone can do anything!” Is Jacquie rich? I think so. As she told me, “I absolutely love what I do. I have the best job in the world and am passionate about it. I own a beer company and am able to give all the profits back to the community.” According to Jacquie, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com