Theory of Change and Organizational Development Strategy INTRODUCTION Dear Reader
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Theory of Change and Organizational Development Strategy INTRODUCTION Dear Reader: The Fetzer Institute was founded in 1986 by John E. Fetzer with a vision of a transformed world, powered by love, in which all people can flourish. Our current mission, adopted in 2016, is to help build the spiritual foundation for a loving world. Over the past several years, we have been identifying and exploring new ways to make our vision of a loving world a reality. One aspect of this work has been the development of a new conceptual frame resulting in a comprehensive Theory of Change. This document aspires to ground our work for the next 25 years. Further, this in-depth articulation of our vision allows us to invite thought leaders across disciplines to help sharpen our thinking. This document represents a moment when many strands of work and planning by the Institute board and staff came together in a very powerful way that enabled us to articulate our Theory of Change. However, this is a dynamic, living document, and we encourage you to read it as such. For example, we are actively developing detailed goals and action plans, and we continue to examine our conceptual frame, even as we make common cause with all who are working toward a shared and transformative sacred story for humanity in the 21st century. We continue to use our Theory of Change to focus our work, inspire and grow our partnerships, and identify the most pressing needs in our world. I look forward to your feedback and invite you to learn about how our work is coming alive in the world through our program strategies, initiatives, and stories at Fetzer.org. Sincerely, Bob Boisture Fetzer Institute President and CEO 2 TABLE OF Our Mission and Community 4 CONTENTS Our Mission 4 Our Long-Term Goal 5 Our Community of Freedom 6 Our Theory of Change 8 Our Movement-Level Theory of Change 9 Our Institute-Level Theory of Change 14 3 OUR Our Mission MISSION AND Helping build the spiritual foundation for a COMMUNITY loving world We are spiritual beings. Born into mystery, we cannot escape the deep questions of existence and the human condition. We long for a life- affirming connection with transcendence—a connection that will give us the love, courage, and hope with which to these challenges will ultimately build a life and to build a world. depend far less on our In the end, whether we find this technology, industry, and public sustaining spiritual connection policies than on whether a critical makes all the difference. mass of us opens our hearts in love to each other and to the Each moment in history presents natural world. The future is in its own new version of this our hands, but it is much more spiritual challenge. Ours is the in our hearts. challenge of finding a personal spiritual path that will sustain us This is the exciting and individually, while at the same important work of building the time finding together the spiritual spiritual foundation for a loving common ground on which to world. Along with millions of build a loving global community. others around the world, we wholeheartedly take up this work We face this challenge in a with joy and hope. rapidly changing and increasingly fragile world. Globalization is Just as moments in history bring overturning old ways, old values, their own spiritual challenges, and old institutions, lifting many there is a corresponding spiritual but leaving many others behind. evolution of humanity that Religious, ethnic, and ideological provides the potential to meet conflicts are dividing us at those challenges. Through our precisely the time we need to be Community of Freedom, we bring coming together. Climate change the strengths of our institution and environmental degradation into creative relationship with are threatening the natural these spiritual challenges and systems that sustain us and all life. capacities. The Fetzer long-term goal and strategic program areas In our hearts we know that serving that goal have emerged whether we meet and overcome from this creative relationship. 4 Our Long-Term Goal Our goal is to help catalyze and support a broad-scale, spiritually grounded transformation from an ego-centered way of being grounded in separation and fear to an all- centered way of being grounded in wholeness and love, with the result that a critical mass of persons around the world embraces love as the guiding principle and animating force for living in sacred relationship with Spirit, self, others, and the natural world. Several key elements of this goal statement have important implications for our Theory of Change and our strategy: This is not a Fetzer-centric strategy. We cannot do it. We cannot design it. We Our goal is to help catalyze cannot direct it. It is much bigger than we are. and support a broad- This is a big, audacious, global goal, scale, spiritually grounded and only a powerful global movement can achieve it. This cannot be a “post- traditions” movement, a “spiritual-but- transformation from an not-religious” movement, or a Western movement. It must be global and it ego-centered way of being must embrace both the faith traditions and persons on spiritual paths outside grounded in separation and the traditions. fear to an all-centered way of Our goal is more profound than simply changing beliefs, or even behaviors. It is a fundamental transformation of our very way being grounded in wholeness of being from ego-centered to all-centered, from separation and fear to wholeness and love, with the result that and love. a critical mass of persons Our goal is to help catalyze and support the growth of a movement that can support the around the world embraces spiritual transformation of enough people around the world to drive fundamental love as the guiding principle global change. Experts on system and culture change refer to this critical mass as the “tipping point.” Some leading experts and animating force for living believe that for most complex systems, this tipping point comes once 15% to 20% of in sacred relationship with individuals embrace the change. Spirit, self, others, and the Our ultimate goal is a world filled with persons grounded in love and living in natural world. sacred relationship—sacred communion— with Spirit, themselves, others, and the natural world. 5 Our Community of Freedom John Fetzer saw clearly that the Institute’s mission would not GUIDING PURPOSE be the work of a single lifetime, To awaken into and serve Spirit for the but rather of many lifetimes, and, therefore, that our mission transformation of self and society, based on the could only be carried forward principles of wholeness of reality, freedom of by a deeply grounded spiritual spirit, and unconditional love, and the integration community committed to what of the inner life of mind and spirit with the outer he called “freedom of spirit.” Accordingly, in his final words life of action and service. of counsel to the Institute trustees, he said: The second milestone came in the fall of 2013 when we renewed I am sure that as you and redoubled our effort to listen, you will hear the put this Guiding Purpose at the ring of truth, first and center of everything we do. Since foremost, trying to create a then, once a week, our entire staff community of freedom … of 60 comes together for three hours to work on this challenge. on which we can all stand? If During board meetings, the so, what is it, and how can we It was in this Community of trustees join in. We call these honor the fact that we reach it Freedom, he said, that the weekly meetings our “Community by very different paths? How can Institute would discover the of Freedom Gatherings.” we strengthen and deepen this particular focus of its work in common ground that unites us, the world, noting only that, At these gatherings, we share while at the same time supporting Whatever the final verdict turns in spiritual practice, work on each other in going deeper on out to be, its summary will be building relationships and the particular spiritual paths that unconditional love. building trust, explore our each of us has chosen? How can spiritual identities, and discuss we live our values of love, trust, The Institute has been living ever our emerging program vision and authenticity, and inclusion in all more deeply into this vision over strategy. It has been exciting to that we do? the quarter century since Mr. realize that in this work, we are Fetzer’s death. Two milestones in wrestling in microcosm with the This effort has borne amazing this journey bear noting. The first same spiritual challenges that fruit. Truly transformative love came ten years after his death, face the global community. and leadership have come when the trustees of the Institute forward from every corner of our and our sister organization, the We are a spiritually diverse community. Through this work we Fetzer Memorial Trust, took up community of people on any are beginning to write the next the challenge of stating as clearly number of spiritual paths, both chapter of the Fetzer story. and concisely as they could their within and outside the world’s understanding of the essence faith traditions, including some We have come to a new of John Fetzer’s vision and the who simply ask not to be labeled. understanding of “freedom of Institute’s mission. The resulting From this diversity, challenging Spirit” as entailing both the statement has become our questions have emerged: Is “positive freedom” to become Guiding Purpose.