Modest Needs

My name is Keith Taylor, and I’m writing to you today because I have based my life on the simple, Shakespearian principle that nothing comes from nothing.

In 2002, I was a 34 year old professor of English Literature teaching at a state university just outside of Nashville, TN. Without giving you all of the details, the period of my life was not a particularly happy one; I spent much of my time since becoming a professor (in 1999, after 13 consecutive years of higher education) concentrating on what I had considered to be my failures.

For a reason that I can’t explain, on a drive home from work in March 2002, I was suddenly struck by how lucky I was to have been the beneficiary of human kindness throughout my life. During my time in college/graduate school, and despite working several jobs in addition to attending classes/teaching full time, there had been several occasions where my entire future appeared to hinge on my inability to remit payment for a small, unexpected expense – a medical bill (when I had no insurance), a car repair (when I could barely pay my rent). In each case – and often without my having to ask – someone in my life had stepped forward and remitted payment for an expense of this type on my behalf. It was solely due to the kindness of these persons that I was eventually able to complete my degree and begin working in what was, by any standard of measurement, the holy grail of academic jobs – a tenure-track professorship in my field.

Suddenly dumbstruck by the gratitude I felt for these persons – none of whom I ever had ‘repaid’ – I decided that I would make it my life’s mission to pass their kindness on. To that end, I sold much of what I owned and downsized my life substantially, to the point that I had 10% of my gross monthly income left over each month, after I’d paid my basic living expenses. I then launched what I had intended to be a small, anonymous personal project: a website called ‘Modest Needs’ (http://www.modestneeds.org) On that website, I simply explained that having been the beneficiary of such altruism, I wanted to use this 10% of my income to help one, perhaps two people each month with similar types of unexpected expenses – no strings attached. I simply invited persons who needed that type of help to ask for it.

Today, that leap of faith has become Modest Needs Foundation, and I have become a full-time philanthropist. Modest Needs is unique in every possible way, but perhaps the most unusual facet of this work is that the persons who apply for assistance from us consistently demonstrate a type of human kindness that is truly rare in the world. I’ve actually seen people turn funding *down* because they perceived someone else who had requested assistance from us to need it more than they did. And in almost every case, the person whom we’ve helped have become regular donors – passing on to others the kindness that helped them to retain their self-sufficiency.

In this way, and in every other respect, Modest Needs has become a living tribute to the power of human kindness. And every aspect of my life has changed because of it.

Modest Needs has received a great deal of media attention, particularly in 2002. One the earliest stories on Modest Needs – which appeared on CNN (you can see the clip if you want at http://www.modestneeds.org/explore/media) began with a clip from the film ‘Pay it Forward,’ which I had neither nor heard of at the time I launched Modest Needs. It was only after months of comparisons to ‘Pay it Forward’ that I actually read the book and saw the film (you’re right – the book is *much* better). In reading the book, I was struck above all by this sentence – which you actually have included on your website:

“The most important thing I can add from my own observations is this: Knowing it started from unremarkable circumstances should be a comfort to us all. Because it proves that you don't need much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordinary ingredients. You can start with the world you've got.”