I love my morning coffee, usually made at home. A latte from Starbucks is a rare treat. When picking up my latte recently, I was pleased to learn that the car before me had paid for my commute beverage. Being a recipient of a pay-it-forward moment was nice, but I had no way to say thank you. I hoped I would remember to do the same the next time I treated myself.

A team of researchers found that, while admirable, this kind of upstream or pay-it-forward indirect reciprocity is transient and not sustainable (Horita et al., 2016). It is nice to have someone buy your coffee but, since no relationship is created, we do not always remember to continue the chain; the kindness is transient. However, when reputation or prosocial values were involved, the researchers found that cooperation becomes contagious and paying it forward becomes sustainable; a community of generosity is created.

I have worked with some incredibly generous scholars throughout my career, researchers who included me in their project when I had very little to give or encouraged me when I doubted myself. As an undergraduate student, my Dean encouraged me to write about making the most of clinical experiences from the student perspective. That short article, written with her expert guidance, gave me confidence and likely changed my chosen career path. Later, I was fortunate to receive small grants, often funded by generous donors, to move my research along. Along the way, people have included me as a collaborator or consultant on various projects. All of these acts of scholarly generosity helped me learn about research and writing for publication and eventually earn tenure and rank. Now, I try to include clinical partners, junior faculty, and students in my projects whenever I can. I know providing opportunities for others to learn, experience success, and gain confidence can be transformative—a pay-it-forward with contagion to create a community of generous scholars.

This kind of scholarly generosity is one of the signature characteristics of the Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRS). SNRS has an amazing mentorship program that pairs newer scholars with expert scholars—the outcomes have included shared publications and shared funding proposals. The relationships between members of SNRS are the kind that means you can email the members of your Research Interest Group and ask for advice about how to solve a prickly problem and get suggestions from a dozen other scholars. You can present your research at the SNRS annual research conference and meet other scholars with similar interests who offer new ways of thinking about your research. SNRS has several small grants for which members can apply. Donors, often researchers who benefitted from receiving those small grants early in their careers, have generously funded these grants.

No matter where you are in this continuum, I hope you are including SNRS in the process. If you are a beginning scholar, know that you are welcome in SNRS and that you will be supported as you grow. If you are a senior scholar, I hope that you are serving as a mentor, donating to grant campaigns, and buying the occasional latte for a newer member.