Jay Dykstra MD Radiologist Bless Big Effective Altruism Giving Financial Finish Line Podcast
Finish Line Podcast Episode 48

Jay Dykstra, Physician and Founder of Bless Big, on Why Where You Give is More Important than How Much You Give

As your income grows, you may want to give more generously while still wondering how to keep lifestyle growth in check and know where your money can make the greatest difference.

How do you build generosity into your financial life early, then direct what you give toward needs and organizations where those resources can have the most impact?

Meet your guide

Jay Dykstra, a physician and founder of Bless Big, began thinking intentionally about generosity while moving through medical school, residency, and eventually a dramatic increase in physician income. Rather than allowing that transition to automatically raise his family’s standard of living, Jay and his wife built habits of living below their means, giving consistently, and setting an expenditure limit that created growing financial margin.

Jay also became deeply interested in the effectiveness of charitable giving. Influenced in part by research from the Effective Altruism movement, he began studying how dramatically impact can vary depending on where resources are directed. That work eventually led to Bless Big, which brings together research from more than twenty charity evaluators to help donors identify highly effective Christian and secular organizations across different causes.

Throughout the conversation, Jay connects generosity with both sacrifice and careful stewardship. By the end, you may see that giving wisely involves not only deciding how much to give, but also learning where your resources can accomplish the most good.

What you’ll gain

  • How to prevent lifestyle growth before your income increases
  • Why generous habits matter long before you have wealth
  • How an expenditure limit can create lasting giving capacity
  • Why where you give may matter more than how much
  • How research can strengthen your charitable giving decisions
  • Why global needs can offer dramatically greater impact per dollar

Inspired? Take your next step

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Play the Game of Life Simulator

Not ready for the assessment? Try a quick interactive simulator to see how you stack up in managing wealth.

play now →

Inspired? Take your next step

Try the Game of Life Simulator

Step into a four-minute interactive experience and see what unfolds as you decide how to manage your resources.

Game of Life Simulator Mobile Screenshot
Game of Life Simulator Mobile Screenshot

Inspired? Learn how to partner with ministries well.

A compelling ministry story can inspire you to respond. But wise partnership often begins with better questions.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Focus

What is the ministry really seeking to restore?

Learn to look beyond visible needs toward people, context, relationships, and flourishing.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Fruitfulness

How do you recognize meaningful impact?

Consider how ministries learn, evaluate their work, and pursue lasting change.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Faithfulness

What does genuine ministry partnership look like?

Explore how to foster trust, alignment, and shared mission in your giving.

In our Intervention Series on the Applied Generosity Podcast, we’ll help you become a more thoughtful, discerning, and faithful partner.

Quotes to Remember

  • “Just set aside an unspendable chunk of money that feels a little sacrificial and is something you cannot spend.”
  • “Get used to the mindset of having something you cannot touch, that’s going to be used for something else.”
  • “It was huge for us to be able to learn those principles while we were still in the financial formation phase so that when we did have more to give, it wasn’t at all difficult for us to decide where to give or how to give because we had already been doing that.”
  • “Jesus knows that what we do with our money is really more of a heart issue than a how much you give issue.”
  • “It ends up being where you give that ends up being far more impactful than how much you give.”
  • “Is our heart truly somewhere where we want to give, or is death the only thing that is going to succeed in separating our money from ourselves. Death should never be more generous than we are.”
  • “Money is just another resource to use as an expression for how we are aligning ourselves with God.”
  • “In developed nations, we’ve solved all the problems that money is good at solving. And all the problems that are left are problems that money is not good at solving.”
  • “Give time to those around you, that’s what empathy is for. But give cash to the world’s lesser served and you’ll heal 10,000 more.”

Links from the Show

Bible References from the Show

Mark 12:42-44 | A Widow’s Offering

42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Matthew 13:8 | The Fruit of a Seed

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Matthew 7:16-20 | Know a Tree by its Fruit

16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Acts 4:34-35 | There Were None Needy Among Them

34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Use Our
Free Guide

Have you considered the ways you are uniquely called into generosity? We’re not all called into the same adventure.

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Use Our
Free Guide

Have you considered the ways you are uniquely called into generosity? We’re not all called into the same adventure.
Generosity Profile Image
Enter your information below and we’ll send you our free PDF guide to explore the specific adventure you were called into.
Generosity Profile Image