The Values Volumes: Give Big
Welcome back to The Values Volumes, our ongoing look at the six core values that shape everything we do at YeskeBuie. Every value in this series has built on the one before it. We started by tracing where The BIGs began, then spent time with Client Big, the value everything else flows from, and Be Big, which asks our team to show up fully in service of that purpose. Give Big is what happens next. The care we hold for you doesn’t stay contained within the firm. It widens.
Where Give Big Started
Long before Give Big had a name, it had a shape. Goodness was never something our Founders performed, it was simply who they were, and it was a quality they looked for in everyone who joined the team.
Early on in their careers, while simultaneously running their businesses serving Clients, Elissa and Dave gave their time in volunteer leadership positions to help create the Financial Planning Association and shape the Foundation for Financial Planning from its earliest days. Elissa led the Foundation’s shift toward one-on-one pro bono planning, Dave served as FPA President when the Financial Services Institute was founded, and together, they pushed the CFP Board to recognize research as continuing education, built academic courses and mentorship programs, and contributed to industry textbooks.
Why spend so much time in volunteer positions?
Because…
We believe sharing unconditionally is the path to abundance.
In this way, Give Big is one of the threads that runs through every decision about how we spend our time, talent, and treasure. We lead with both hands open, because that’s what abundance asks of us.
Give Big in Practice
Give Big shows up everywhere we look if we’re paying attention. It’s in the quiet moments, like taking extra time to celebrate a teammate’s win, or appreciating a Client for trusting us with something as personal as their financial life. It’s in the way we show up for our profession, encouraging our team to take on leadership roles with local FPA chapters, share our knowledge and expertise via articles, quotes, and publications, and open our doors to externs and interns eager to learn. It’s in the ten hours a year every member of our financial planning team is required to commit to our Pro Bono Initiative (and it often ends up being more hours because it’s a passion of ours!) – our expertise given freely to people who need it most.
Supporting causes important to those in the YeskeBuie community is another way our Give Big reach shows up. Each year, our Give Big Games turn your Super Bowl predictions into real donations, letting you choose the causes that matter most to you. In 2026, that tradition supported more than 25 organizations across the country. For years, we’ve also taken part in local gift drives each holiday season, providing gifts to families in our communities who could use a little extra warmth, alongside our year-end donations to the SF-Marin Food Bank, Food for Others, and the Foundation for Financial Planning, made in your honor.
Our team has also given its time directly at food banks, at animal shelters, and to other causes that feel personally meaningful to each of us, because Give Big works best when it starts from what someone actually cares about, not from an assignment.
Give Big also asks us to look beyond who’s in front of us today. We believe elevating the next generation of financial planners is its own form of giving back to our profession and your family, since the planners we mentor now are the ones who will one day sit across the table from your children, your grandchildren, and generations still to come. This kind of giving means returning to alma maters for career building presentations and mentoring through FPA Residency. It also means volunteering with Junior Achievement to teach K-12 students the basics of saving, debt, and cash flow, and refreshing our financial literacy program to reach hundreds of children with resources to give them a head start.
None of this looks exactly the same from one year to the next, and it isn’t supposed to. Give Big takes the shape of whoever is living it.
Building the World We Want Together
Values only matter if they impact what we do, and The BIGs genuinely impact everything about how we show up for you and for each other. Give Big is no exception. It shapes how we show up for you, how we spend our time, and what kind of firm we choose to be.
Give Big doesn’t stop with us. If charitable giving is already part of your own plans, or you’re thinking about how to make your giving go further, connect with your financial planning team. We’d welcome the chance to continue to learn more about your giving strategy and adjust as your desires evolve.
If you’re interested in reading more from this series:
- The Values Behind Your Experience
- The Values Volumes: Client Big
- The Values Volumes: Be Big
- More installments coming in the months ahead!