Brio’s Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt: A 7-Day Challenge to Put Your Money Where Your Community Is

I'm going to make a confession that might get my San Francisco membership revoked: I have an Amazon Prime account.  

I use it. Sometimes I use it twice in one day. And if we're being honest with each other (which is kind of our thing at Brio), you probably do, too, because convenience is a hell of a drug, and two-day shipping is too good to pass up. 

I'm not here to tell you to cancel your Prime account. But I did start paying closer attention to where the rest of my money was going, and that's when something clicked: 

Where your dollars go is who you are, and it comes with receipts to prove it. 

In capitalism, the almighty dollar is what matters. Every swipe, click, or automatic payment is a tiny vote for the kind of world you want to live in. And most of us are casting those votes on autopilot. 

This isn't about cutting back or punishing yourself for liking free returns. It's about redirecting some of that spending power toward something that actually makes your world better (and having a little fun doing it). 

So I'm issuing a challenge. I'm calling it Brio’s Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt, and it's built around three ways to help your community that most people overlook: where you spend, where you give, and where you invest.  

The 3 Pillars of Giving Back With Your Wallet 

Before we get to the challenge, a quick word on why these three categories matter. 

1. Where you spend is the most immediate one.  

Communities get hollowed out when money leaves them. When your coffee money goes to a national chain, it exits the neighborhood. When it goes to the shop on the corner, it pays the barista who lives three blocks away, keeps a storefront lit, and gives people a reason to walk down that street.  

The difference between a neighborhood that feels alive and one that feels like a strip mall often comes down to where residents spend their money. 

2. Where you give is how you close gaps you can't close with purchases alone. 

Big national organizations do important work, but giving smaller and more local means you actually get to see the impact.  

Give to a local land trust and you can walk the trail it preserved. Support a queer arts organization in your city and you can sit in the audience on opening night.  

One organization I love is the Horizons Foundation, which gives seed money to startup nonprofits doing scrappy, on-the-ground work. It's the equivalent of angel investing, but for your community.  

3. Where you invest is the one most people forget.  

When you own a share of a company, you're saying you believe in what that company does enough to tie your financial future to it.  

At Brio, we partner with a platform called Ethic to build values-based portfolios. You take a five-minute quiz about what matters to you (environmental impact, labor practices, fossil fuels, whatever sits on your conscience), and instead of owning one mutual fund that holds the entire S&P 500, including the companies you'd rather not fund, we customize. 

The bonus? This approach can potentially be more tax-efficient than a traditional index fund, because owning individual companies creates significantly more opportunities for tax-loss harvesting. 

Take On Brio’s Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt Challenge 

Alright, you've got the philosophy, now here's the fun part. 

Seven tasks, no particular order. Cross them off however and whenever you want over the course of a week. Each one is a small, intentional way to redirect your money back toward the people and places that make your community yours. 

☐ Buy your coffee from an independent shop.  

Independent coffee shops recirculate more money back into the local economy than chains. Every latte is a micro-investment in your neighborhood.  

Tip: Ask the barista what's good. You might discover your new favorite drink, and you've just had a real human interaction before 9am. Revolutionary. 

☐ Buy a book from a local bookstore.  

Bookstores are community anchors. They host events, employ neighbors, and curate in ways no algorithm can replicate.  

Tip: Tell the person at the counter what you're in the mood for. They always have the best recommendations! 

☐ Eat at a neighborhood restaurant.  

Restaurants are the heartbeat of a neighborhood. They create gathering spaces, foot traffic, and jobs, and they're often the first businesses to suffer when spending shifts online.  

Tip: Sit down. Stay a while. Tip like you mean it. 

☐ Buy something you need this week from a local small business.  

A gift, a card, flowers, a candle, whatever's on your list. Keeping that purchase local means the money stays in your community instead of shipping out to a warehouse.  

Tip: Go shopping somewhere you haven't explored in a while and embrace the blast from the past. You'll be surprised what's opened since you last looked. 

☐ Swap one online order for an in-person purchase.  

Next time you're about to click "buy now," pause and ask yourself if you could pick it up locally instead. Choose something small; you might even enjoy the errand. 

Tip: Pick the item that's least urgent. You don't need same-day delivery on dish soap. Or maybe you do, I don’t know. 

☐ Donate to a local nonprofit you've never supported before.  

Local nonprofits operate on thinner margins and smaller donor bases than national ones. Your $25 or $50 makes a proportionally bigger difference.  

Tip: Don't know where to start? Check out who Horizons Foundation is currently funding, or ask a neighbor what local cause they care about. That conversation alone is worth something. 

☐ Look at your investment portfolio.   

Most people have no idea what companies they own. Your portfolio might be funding things that directly contradict what you care about, and you'd never know unless you checked. 

Tip: If you’re already a Brio client, we’ve got you covered here—consider this a free space on your challenge list. 

Take the Challenge, Tag Us 

I ask myself a lot: what's the purpose of being on this planet if we don't have community?  

And the answer I keep coming back to is that community isn't something that just happens to you. It's something you build with your time, your attention, and yes, your money. 

These seven tasks are seven small but powerful votes for the community you want to live in. You don't have to do all of them or do them perfectly (we’re not grading you).  The whole point is just to notice where your money goes for one week, and to make a few of those choices on purpose instead of on autopilot. 

And if you do take the challenge? We want to see it. Snap a photo of your local coffee, your bookstore haul, your neighborhood dinner. Tag @BrioFinancialGroup so we can cheer you on.  

Not part of the Brio family yet? We'd love to show you what intentional financial planning actually looks like. Book a complimentary Make It Happen meeting.  

This material presented by Brio Financial Group (“Brio”) is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for personalized investment advice or as a recommendation or solicitation of any particular security, strategy, or investment product.  Facts presented have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however Brio cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information, and certain information presented here may have been condensed or summarized from its original source.  Brio does not provide legal or tax advice, and nothing contained in these materials should be taken as legal or tax advice. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Brio and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Brio Financial Group unless a client service agreement is in place. 

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