Michael Amin Explains the Potential Return on Investment from Proper Parenting

When Los Angeles-area businessman Michael Amin created the Maximum Difference Foundation (MDF), his nonprofit organization, almost a quarter century ago, he had a very particular notion in mind for its core mission—one perhaps best reflected by the entity’s name itself. “I wanted to make the maximum possible positive difference on the future, both for the human race and for this wonderful planet that we all inhabit together,” he explains, adding, “but I knew that to realize that ambitious goal, I had to think like a businessman, which meant keeping a laser-like focus on return on investment from the very start.”

Primed by his business training—first at Pepperdine University and then Cal State, Northridge—and his previous experience as a successful entrepreneur—he has founded multiple companies, most notably Primex World Inc.—Amin’s worldview is what has driven MDF’s operations. From day one, he applied the same principles of return on investment (ROI) that he had used earlier in his career developing small businesses from the ground up, managing a slew of successful pistachio orchards, and investing in other real estate ventures. With MDF however, instead of focusing on gains in terms of dollars and cents, Michael Amin shifted his attention toward what he calls “units of positive change.” His theory goes like this: by influencing the lives of children in their most formative years, MDF can maximize the impact of not only each dollar it spends but also the impact those children can have on the future.

“Children are the future of our society,” Amin says. “If we can help parents raise happy, confident, and well-developed children, the return on that investment will be massive—and not just for the individual families in question, but for the world as a whole.” Put simply, Amin believes that investing in children, specifically ones under the age of ten, has a cascading effect. The happier and more well-adjusted children are, the better they will perform as adults in their careers, communities, and society at large. 

One of the core ideas behind MDF is that parents are the key to achieving these goals. “Parents are the first and most important teachers in any child’s life,” he asserts. “However, many parents struggle with knowing the best methods for raising emotionally healthy children. Our approach focuses on motivating parents to improve their parenting skills rather than offering direct training or classes.” According to Amin, providing parents with the resources and knowledge to make informed decisions about raising their children is far more effective than simply telling them what to do.

This method of motivating parents involves a multi-step approach. MDF motivates parents to read books on child development, watch educational videos, and attend parenting seminars. If necessary, parents are also advised to seek guidance from skilled counselors or therapists. “The younger the children are, the higher the return on investment,” Michael Amin emphasizes. “When parents invest in their child’s well-being from an early age, the benefits will last a lifetime and will snowball. Much like investing in a solid opportunity at its outset, for a small initial price, we can reap disproportionately large dividends.”

So, how does Maximum Difference Foundation go about implementing this lofty goal? Amin once again references ROI. “In deciding what real-world tactics to adopt, the team at MDF and I had to consider return on investment again. After a great deal of research, we concluded that using mass media was the most efficient way of spreading our message.” MDF has been buying broadcast time on local radio stations, calling on parents to give serious thought to the way they raise their kids, as well as to be open to the expertise of authorities recognized in that field.

Michael Amin points out that many parents, particularly those in the lower and middle classes, often don’t take the time to evaluate their own child-rearing skills. “Too many parents simply fall back on the routines and mindsets they learned from their own parents, without considering if those practices are truly the best for their children,” he says. “It’s crucial for parents to take a step back and reflect on whether they are fostering the emotional and intellectual growth needed in today’s world. We hope that the impact of our broadcast-based awareness campaigns shakes them out of this complacency.”

In the end, the Maximum Difference Foundation’s innovative approach to humanitarian work—zeroing in on the parents of the youngest and coming generations as a starting point in order to maximize ROI—is an experiment well worth conducting. If successful, it has vast potential to reshape the culture of parenting for decades to come.

It also ought to be said that in addition to its focus on parenting, MDF actively partners with a range of other nonprofits in order to extend its impact and maximize its efforts to do good in the world. These collaborations include charities like Doctors Without Borders, which provides critical medical services globally, The Innocence Project, which advocates for criminal justice reform, and UMMA Relief, which offers free medical service to underprivileged families. These partnerships serve to amplify MDF’s core mission to improve the lives of communities across a rainbow of sectors, from healthcare to human rights.