Donor Spotlight: Garrett Lew
A Nest Egg in the Attic
As Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area’s database administrator, Garrett Lew helps our fundraisers by pulling reports on current and potential donors. This sometimes includes windfall data—when someone experiences unexpected financial good fortune. Little did he know that he would soon be eligible for this report himself.
Lew joined the Make-A-Wish team three years ago and made an immediate impact on the chapter’s data management capabilities. When the COVID-19 pandemic happened early in his tenure, he decided to do some home organization.
“I, like a lot of other people, started going into my parents’ attic to see and clean out things,” he says. What he uncovered, though, was much rarer than your average childhood keepsake.
“One of the things I found I’d had since I was in middle school,” says Lew. “So it was just tucked in my parents’ attic for probably eighteen or so years.”
Lew’s big find was his old Pokémon cards—stored individually in penny sleeves and collectively in hard plastic top loaders. He’d read online that people were making a lot of money selling Pokémon cards on eBay and that prices had jumped since the start of the pandemic. He researched his haul and discovered he had a rare card, the Lugia—a white dragon-like bird and the Trio master of the Legendary Birds in the game.
“This card was in really good condition and was highly coveted,” says Lew. “I sent that over to a professional third-party grader, and it came back with an extremely high grade.”
In fact, his card was graded a 10 out of 10, and is one of only three known 10-grade Lugias in existence. Lew used a third-party consignment company to list the card and handle all communication and the final transaction online. While some of his other cards sold for a few hundred dollars apiece, the Lugia netted a six-figure sum.
“It’s a life-changing amount of money,” Lew says. “For what amounted to a shiny piece of cardboard, basically.”
Lew quickly determined to donate a substantial amount of his windfall to Make-A-Wish and, like a Trio of Legendary Birds, his reasons were threefold. First, he gave because, practically, he knew he had a huge tax bill headed his way. He set up a donor-advised fund or DAF, which gave him an immediate tax deduction on the money he put in the fund.
“If you come into wealth, either from working at a tech company or selling a Pokémon card, DAFs are a great way to give back to your community while getting a massive tax break,” says Lew.
Secondly, he wanted to give back to his place of work. “I kind of felt like the Pokémon card did so extremely well—beyond my expectations—that I wanted to profit share with Make-A-Wish,” he says. “Make-A-Wish kept me employed throughout the pandemic, and I wanted to support the organization that supports me and cares about me a lot as well.”
“Make-A-Wish kept me employed throughout the pandemic, and I wanted to support the organization that supports me and cares about me a lot as well.”
Garrett Lew
Finally, Lew believes in the mission of creating life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. “I donated because I see firsthand the impact that our wishes have on the wish kids, their families, and the community,” he says.
Right around the time that Lew was selling his Pokémon cards, Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area was launching a new giving society—the Wishmakers Guild—a group of philanthropic partners who commit to multi-year giving pledges in order to sustain the chapter’s mission now and in the future. Lew was the first staff member to join. Inspired, CEO Betsy Biern and Senior Director of Individual Giving Dennis Schrag also became inaugural members. “So, there was nice peer pressure there,” Lew says with a laugh.
“Garrett already helps our chapter immeasurably through his smart and thorough work wrangling our data and connecting us to our community of supporters,” says Biern. “For him to additionally share this good fortune with our chapter and our wish kids, it’s truly heartwarming. I’m so impressed by Garrett’s generosity of spirit. And he did inspire me to join Wishmakers Guild, so he may have a second calling as a peer-to-peer fundraiser as well!”
Throughout his career, Lew has combined his aptitude for technology with his commitment to non-profit organizations and doing good for others. He’s now adding good fortune sharing and smart money management to the mix.
“The Pokémon card was worth a lot,” says Biern. “But employees like Garrett are priceless.”
Do you already have a donor-advised fund?
Consider joining #HalfMyDAF by September 23, 2022, and any commitments you make to Make-A-Wish will be eligible for #HalfMyDAF matches. Learn more now.