"I thought we were moving back to Boulder or down to Austin to start a tech company. We landed in Guthrie, OK called to cultivate grassroots Giving Circles. Crazy."
-Mike Zserdin, Chief Generosity Advocate @newAnthropy
What does the world need now?
In 2009 Seth Godin and his friends published an ebook called, What Matters Now. It was a timely question for me and my family. Shortly thereafter TED kicked off there 2010 session with a similar, if not bigger theme: What the World Needs Now....
I didn't have an answer. Not only that, I wasn't even asking the questions. That bothered me. My life was about half over and I was still consumed with me. I was looking in.
At the same time, I was building marketing and fundraising tools in the emerging mobile sector. We worked with some of the biggest non profit and consumer brands in the world to help them raise money and get attention. But, building donor engagement tools felt hollow. As it turns out, it was for good reason.
What I discovered was that tools alone don't solve problems or even generate more donations for non profits. In 40 years no tip, trick, technique or tool has moved the generosity needle. Not one. No matter how much money we make, we still give, proportionately, the same: 2%.
This means the generosity pie never gets bigger. We just keep finding different ways to slice it.
We’re stuck...the charitable community needs to build a better mousetrap.
-John List, University of Chicago’s Science of Philanthropy Initiative
We are stuck. However I respectfully disagree with the balance of Professor List's comment. People aren't mice and we don't need to 'trap them' into giving more money. We need to inspire one another to solve problems and amplify opportunities.
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen wrote an article about Giving Circles published by Stanford's Social Innovation Review. I ran across an article Oprah shared and a fun party
So, what does the world need now? An answer that me and my friends came to was this: our attenti and intentionality.
It needs us to intentionally step into messes and magnificent opportunities together. It needs us to write a better story together.
To live and give on purpose, together.
Most everyone wants a better world. Champions are willing to fight, together, for it.
Things really won't get in better until we love one another, our neighbor, as much as we love ourselves.
“The opportunity sought is...to bask without being asked for heroics (which of course, carry risk)....picking yourself, is frightening because we’ve been hoodwinked and brainwashed into believing that it’s not up to us. But it is.”
What We've Achieved
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