After nearly half an hour of searching, Steven had gotten the nas of the restaurants he was going to use.
Yes, he intended to call up multiple restaurants, five of them to be precise, and he had also made a decision on how much he was going to spend on each, $200,000.
With that amount, Steven would be putting up a significant buffer covering the day’s service, compensating the staff generously, covering any logistical costs, and leaving the restaurant with a aningful surplus on top of everything.
And that was exactly what he wanted.
Without hesitation, Steven dialled Hargreaves’ number and the call was picked up almost imdiately.
"Mr. Craig," Hargreaves said.
"Hargreaves," Steven said. "I have sothing I need coordinated. Five restaurants across Houston. I want each of them to offer free service to walk-in custors for a full day. Food, drinks, everything covered. I need soone to handle the arrangents on my behalf."
"Of course," Hargreaves said. "Do you have the restaurants in mind already, or would you like us to make recomndations?"
"I already have them," Steven said. He read out the five nas and locations one by one, waiting while Hargreaves noted each one down.
Steven didn’t add his forr workplace to the list. While he would have loved to, with Jason still there, he highly doubted the remaining money would reach Tisha and the others.
But he did choose a restaurant in his forr neighbourhood.
"Got all five," Hargreaves said. "And the budget per location?"
"$200,000 each," Steven said.
There was a brief pause on Hargreaves’ end.
"That puts the total at one million dollars," Hargreaves said. "I want to confirm — you’re authorising a spend of one million dollars across these five locations?"
"Yes," Steven said. "I want each restaurant fully covered regardless of what the day brings. Whatever is left after the service costs goes directly to the staff as a bonus."
"Understood," Hargreaves said. "I’ll have the coordination team reach out to each location today and get everything arranged. I’ll call you personally once all five have confird and the transfers are processed."
"Good," Steven said.
"One more thing," Hargreaves said. "Would you like your na kept out of it? So clients prefer the gesture to remain anonymous."
"Yes," Steven said. "Keep my na out of it entirely. And take the money from the Reserve Card credit line rather than directly from my account."
"Understood," Hargreaves said. "It’ll go through the Reserve Card and settle on the weekly cycle as arranged. Nothing traceable back to you either way." A brief pause before he continued. "Actually, while I have you — are you considering any formal charitable donations alongside this? JP Morgan has a dedicated philanthropic advisory desk. They work with clients on structured giving — foundations, endownts, direct grants to vetted organisations. Given what you’re already doing here, it might be worth a conversation."
Steven hadn’t thought about it in those terms. But hearing it frad that way, it didn’t feel like a reach.
"Of course, set it up now," Steven said. "I have ti."
A brief pause on Hargreaves’ end.
"Give two minutes," Hargreaves said. "I’ll conference in the desk lead directly."
"Go ahead," Steven said.
He heard the line go quiet, then a brief hold tone, and then a second voice joined the call.
"Mr. Craig," she said. "My na is Catherine Ellsworth. I head the philanthropic advisory desk here. William has given a brief outline. I’d love to understand what you’re looking to do."
"I’m open to it," Steven said. "I don’t have a specific cause yet. But I want to give properly, not randomly. Sothing structured and sothing that actually reaches the right places."
"That’s exactly where we start," Catherine said. "Can I ask what areas matter most to you personally? Education, food security, housing, youth developnt — there’s no wrong answer. It just helps us point you toward organisations doing the most effective work in spaces that an sothing to you."
Steven thought about it for a mont, and replied, "Food security and youths."
"Then we have a lot to work with," Catherine said. "For soone looking to give properly and structurally rather than randomly, I’d recomnd starting with a donor-advised fund. It’s the most effective vehicle for what you’re describing."
"What is that exactly?" Steven asked.
"You make a single contribution into the fund," Catherine said. "You receive the tax deduction imdiately at the point of contribution. From there, we distribute grants to vetted organisations on your behalf over ti, in the focus areas you’ve specified. You set the direction and we handle everything else — the research, the vetting, the distribution, the reporting. You can be as involved or as hands-off as you prefer."
Steven absorbed that for a mont. It felt like exactly the kind of structure he had been looking for without knowing it existed.
"How much can go in at once?"
"There’s no legal maximum on a single contribution. The fund receives whatever you put in and we size the distribution schedule accordingly."
Steven didn’t deliberate, as he made a decision.
"Two million. Food security and youth developnt. Houston first, broader scale where it makes sense."
A brief pause on Catherine’s end, as she registered the number and confird that she had heard it right.
"That’s a significant and genuinely impactful contribution," she said. "At that level we can establish a properly structured distribution program across multiple organisations simultaneously, with enough scale to create lasting change in both focus areas rather than just supplenting existing work." She paused briefly. "One thing worth confirming — would you like your na attached to the fund, or would you prefer to keep the contribution anonymous?"
"Anonymous," Steven said. "And I want the contribution taken from my Reserve Card credit line rather than directly from my account, if that’s possible on your end."
"Both are straightforward," Catherine said. "The fund will carry no identifying information back to you, and we can process the contribution through the Reserve Card without any issue. I’ll coordinate directly with William’s team on the paynt structure."
"Good," Steven said.
"I’ll have the fund structure set up and the full distribution frawork ready within forty eight hours. You’ll receive complete docuntation before anything moves."
"I’ll be waiting," Steven said.
"It’s good to have you with us, Mr. Craig," Catherine said, and left the call.
Hargreaves ca back on the line.
"Is there anything else this afternoon?"
"That’s everything," Steven said. "Thank you, Hargreaves."
"Of course, Mr. Craig."
The call ended.
Steven collapsed back on the sofa, with a small smile on his face. He had taken care of everything, putting both his plans in motion.
Having Hargreaves really made things easy for him because all it took for everything to get handled was just a single phone call.
He couldn’t begin to imagine how difficult things would have been for him if he had decided to do everything himself.
He had spent a total of $3.2M that day. Now, all he had to do was wait until the weekend when the settlent would be done and the rebate reward would follow.
He hoped a high rebate multiplier would be triggered. But he would make do with whatever he got.
He decided to push the thought to the back of his mind and go make himself lunch, as he was feeling hungry.
He dropped his phone on the sofa and was about to stand up when his phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and a smile crossed his face.
He imdiately picked up his phone and took the call.
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