FUNDRAISING FROM THE HEART
with Lynne Twist
An Audio-Video Course on Effective Generative Fundraising The Fundraising from the Heart Audio-Video Course is designed as a training tool for fundraisers in the social profit (not-for-profit) sector.
It is comprised of this handbook, a 25-minute video tape, and three one-hour training audio tapes. Additional copies of the course may be ordered at a cost of $95.00 from:
Fundraising from the Heart c/o Synergem 115 Newfield Ave Edison, NJ 08818-6292 tel 800-867-5432 ext. 16
The funding of this project was made possible through generous grants from The Fetzer Institute, Ted Mallon, the Alan Slifka Foundation & Heather McFain.
The inspiration and vision for the Fundraising from the Heart Audio-Video Course came from Dr. Dee Mosbacher. Project Manager: Tracy Apple Howard Media Consultant: Neal Rogin
VIDEO: AUDIO: Producer: Dee Mosbacher Editor: Tracy Apple Howard Director/Writer/Editor: Neal Rogin Post Production Sound: Narrator: Michael Tucker Silver Shadow Productions Video Editor: Kenji Williams Associate Video Editor: Mike Palumbo WRITTEN MATERIALS: Music Composer: Kenji Williams Editor: Tracy Apple Howard Line Producer/ First Camera: Matthew Siegel Layout and Design: Rhonda Dubin Camera Operators: Alison Rider, Mike Sloat Gaffer: Jeff Wager Key Grip: Rainy Ran Sound: Lori Dovi Production Assistant: David Tennant Sound Recording: Barbara Morgan
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
The Institute of Noetic Sciences, Joan Holmes, The Hunger Project, Schulberg MediaWorks, Golden Gate Productions, Pat Jackson, Beth Jones, Rob Lehman, Jon Schulberg, Darren Lawson, Tom McCallanan, Angela Wilson & the participants in the May 2000 Fundraising from the Heart Symposium
Produced by Woman Vision • www.Woman-vision.org copyright © 2001 Woman Vision and Lynne Twist ii
Table of Contents
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Mission Statement ...... 5
Principles of Fundraising Principles of Effective Generative Fundraising ...... 9 The Four Key Elements to Successful Fundraising Conversation...... 10 Background of Relatedness...... 11 Asking for the Money ...... 12 Approaching New Investors ...... 14
Tips & Tools that Enhance Effectiveness Identifying the Purpose of Meetings and Interactions ...... 19 How to Lead a Great Meeting & Motivate Your Team ...... 21 Conversations for Possibility, Opportunity & Action ...... 22 Organizing for Action at the End of a Meeting...... 23 Partnering Resources ...... 24 “Conditioning” a Target ...... 25 “Conditioning” a Target - Sample Worksheet ...... 26 “Conditioning” a Target - Worksheet...... 27 Tracking Pledges ...... 28 Sample Pledge Form...... 29 Displaying Fundraising Results ...... 30
Resources “Soul of Money / Money of Soul” ...... 35 “The Joy of Fundraising” ...... 43 Tips for Transformative Leaders ...... 47 Recommended Reading on Fundraising and Money ...... 49 About Lynne Twist ...... 53
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“Come to the edge,” she said.
They said, ‘We are afraid.”
“Come to the edge,” she said.
They came.
She pushed them ...
and they flew.
- Guillaume Apollinaire
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Mission Statement
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Take a few moments to reflect on your life—past, present, and the future as you envision it.
Below, write down your life mission, as best you can articulate it at this point in your life:
Now, write down the mission of the organization for which you are fundraising:
Reflect and consider: Is there a compelling synchronicity between the two missions?
If so, continue with the Fundraising from the Heart Audio-Video Course, and good luck!
If not, reconsider—it may be time to find another place to put your energies, or to find a way to become deeply aligned with and committed to the organization with which you are
currently affiliated.
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All that is not given is lost.
- Hasari Pal
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PRINCIPLES
OF FUNDRAISING
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When you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need –which is what we are always trying to get more of– an enormous amount of energy is freed up to make a difference with what you have.
When you make a difference with what you have–it expands.
- Lynne Twist
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Principles of Effective Generative Fundraising
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• Fundraising consistent with, and born of the mission, will both fulfill the mission and ensure that the work is always viable.
• When you bring joy, privilege and honor to fundraising, it will always be productive and fulfilling.
• The integrity of the donor’s (investor’s) relationship to his/her contribution is what gives the contribution power. Money given to make a difference, does. It is blessed money.
• The moment you ask for money, you raise the quality of the dialogue. You elevate both your relationship with the donor/investor and the work you are doing, and you will be taken seriously.
• When you ask people to invest, to be vested in a new future, you honor them by asking them to risk, to take a stand, to cause something unpredictable to happen. This calls for them to be great with their money.
• Inspiration and being moved transcend position, opinion and points of view. When people are moved to give their money and moved to have their financial resources allocated consistent with their deepest commitments, it gives them an experience of their wholeness.
• A fundraiser has the rare opportunity to empower people to be prime movers— to generate, catalyze, found, invent; to make possible a beginning of something.
• A request born of respect for the commitment of the potential investor/donor and an affirmation of who they are will always serve them-even if their answer is no.
• The act of investing calls up accountability and ownership. The true value of the interaction is well beyond the money; it is in having called forth a
committed partner.
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Fundraising Conversation
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POWERFUL CONTRIBUTIONS / INVESTMENTS ARE MADE WHEN:
People are in touch with themselves, with their own vision and 1 magnificence, and with the difference they make.
People see that the work you are asking them to fund really 2 makes a difference.
3 People see that their money makes a difference.
4 Someone asks, giving them an opportunity to contribute/invest.
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Background of Relatedness
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In fundraising we often think that in order to get more money we need to drive ourselves and our colleagues harder. Sometimes that may be true, but more often than not when results are sluggish and there seems to be a ceiling or a plateau, what’s needed is to broaden and deepen the background of relatedness of the key players.
The pyramid below, which represents the relatedness of your team and extended team, demonstrates how the most viable way to make the pyramid grow taller is to broaden the base. (Think of making sand castles at the beach as a child: if you wanted to make it taller, you had to keep broadening the base.)
In the diagram, the base is the alignment, commitment and clarity of those who are working most closely with you. The deeper, cleaner and clearer these relationships are, the more capacity there is to produce financial results.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR TEAM’S RESULTS START TO WANE:
• Gather together your core team.
• Clear the air between team members as needed.
• Reinspire them (and yourself) with the vision of what you are doing and the difference it will make.
• Open the space for recommitment and a deepening of everyone’s love and respect for one another.
• Regenerate your and your team’s commitment to producing the result.
When you take these actions, new vistas will open up, new possibilities will appear, and a
fresh and powerful new landscape will be available to everyone.
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Asking for the Money
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There is a time when it is right to ask for the money. Sometimes it comes early on and sometimes after many interactions over months; but there is a point when people are eager to contribute. As a fundraiser if you commit yourself to listening deeply to people, to being connected to them and holding them in your consciousness, you will know when the time is right.
When it feels like the right time to ask, schedule a meeting (which is always better than a phone call, although a phone call can also deliver the result). Prior to the meeting take time to:
• Visualize the person you will be talking to. Open your heart to him or her and experience who they are.
• Allow yourself to fall in love with them; be present to your love for them, or their commitment, for their eagerness to participate, and their passion about the mission.
• If they are a current investor with your organization, do your homework so you are clear about how much they have given to date. Take a moment to appreciate and experience the power of the money that has already been invested.
• Get clear on what you are asking for. The amount you envision should be a match for who you experience them to be. Be bold, and validate them with the boldness of your request. Center yourself in their magnificence and generosity—not in your needs. Ask them for the amount that will have them flourish, stretch and will have them inspired.
• Finally, recall the beauty of the mission of your work and your profound
commitment to it.
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When you are with the potential donor, keep in mind:
• Always begin by connecting with them. Be warm and personable; ask after their family, their work; find out how they really are. • Thank them for giving you their time and attention.
• Find out how long you have to spend together (and be sure to stay inside of that time frame). • Acknowledge and affirm them for their relationship with you and your organization. Share authentically how important they are and have been to your organization and to you, if appropriate.
• Listening is almost more important than speaking; if you listen deeply, potential donors will tell you exactly how and when to ask them for the money. • Go with the flow, and at some point early on, tell them why you are there. (Make sure they have had a chance to express themselves first.)
There is no “formula” for the conversation. The more authentic you are, the deeper the interaction will be and therefore the more powerful it will be for both parties. Be sure to clearly and authentically ask for the money—and give them an opportunity to respond. Whatever their response, if you have asked from your heart with authenticity and clarity, the interaction will deepen and expand their involvement with you and the organization, and you can trust that result.
After the interaction, send a written acknowledgment of whatever happened, whether it was a cash donation, pledge or agreement to transfer money, thanking them for their time and for the outcome. The sooner you send it the better; promptness demonstrates that they are a priority for you, and the timing is a communication as well.
When you receive the money, take a moment to appreciate the power of the gift and the giver. If the fundraising came from the heart, so then will the donation, and the money will be a conduit and expression of their love and commitment. Experience the delivery of that
love and commitment through the vehicle of money when it arrives in house.
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Approaching New Investors
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Every organization feels that it needs new investors–and it does.
But we in the social profit sector get sidetracked and often leak some of our best energy trying to go after new investors when there is often a more high leverage use of our time and energy.
The fact is that if you are doing a really good job with the investors that you already have and are continually deepening and expanding their involvement, then they will bring you their friends who will become your new investors! Then it is your job to deepen and expand the engagement and involvement of the new people in a way that they will bring you new people and so on.
The best way to find new investors is through the cultivation and good work with the investors that you have now.
Before approaching a new investor, either through an existing relationship or approaching them “cold,” explore and imagine compelling ways to begin to approach them. Identify the best person to make the request and know that it will only work if the person doing the asking is excited about the opportunity. You won’t do a good job unless you’re excited about asking; and you will if you are. If the person doing the asking has resolved their own doubts and considerations about asking, then when they are doing the fundraising they can have all their attention on the prospective investor rather than on their own fears and doubts.
The first step might be to imagine what the conditions would need to be to have the person feel excited and comfortable making their first commitment.
Create the whole possibility of this potential investor out loud with someone from your inner -group so you can figure out how to approach them. Keep talking about it until there is a “clunk,” until you see it could work with that person. Then, and only then, do
you approach them.
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The Ibo tribe in Nigeria have a proverb that says, “It is the heart that gives; the fingers just let go.”
Giving is something that only the heart can do. The heart knows that all belongs to all so when we live from the heart, we are free to give without fearful clinging.
- Br. David Stindl-Rast
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This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
- G. Bernard Shaw
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TIPS & TOOLS THAT ENHANCE EFFECTIVENESS
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I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to learn to solve.
I asked for prosperity and God gave me a brain and brawn to work.
I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love and God gave me people to help.
I asked for favours and God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted. I received everything I needed.
- Hazrat Inayat Khan
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Identifying the Purpose of Meetings & Interactions
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One ingredient that contributes enormously to making meetings, interactions, conferences and campaigns effective is to create at the outset a clear purpose and a set of measurable intended results. The purpose establishes and distinguishes the direction you are heading, and should always inspire and provide momentum to you and your team. The intended results (sometimes referred to as goals or intentions or deliverables) are the measurable results that you intend to produce in service of the purpose.
HOW TO CREATE A PURPOSE STATEMENT:
Look and see what is the overall direction that you want to take people or the project or the work. A purpose sets the direction and defines the territory to be covered and is not set in time. In a certain way, it can never be measured because it is intangible; if your purpose is to “go east,” there is always more east to go, no matter where you are on the planet. If your personal purpose is to “live a happy life” or “to contribute to humanity,” there will always be more that could be done. Purpose statements usually begin with a verb, preceded by the word “to”: e.g., “to provide, to create, to generate, to empower, to bring into existence, to inspire.”
SAMPLE PURPOSES:
The purpose of the Fundraising from the Heart Symposium is to empower the participants to be able, time after time, to meet and exceed their fundraising goals within the designated time frame and be empowered to cultivate, manage and sustain their core investors for the lifetime of their work.
The purpose of this workbook is to provide materials and distinctions, guidance and techniques that empower the participants of the Fundraising from the Heart Symposium to be more effective in their work as fundraisers.
The original purpose of Apple computers was to invent tools for the mind that expand the
capacity of human beings to contribute to the evolution of life.
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Intended results, on the other hand, are the specific measurable outcomes that you intend to have produced by the end of the event, project, meeting or campaign. They take place in real time, and are best worded as already having been accomplished.
SAMPLE INTENDED RESULTS:
The intended results of this workbook are:
• To have given the participants clear and uncomplicated information to guide them in specific areas of their work. • To have provided working materials and concepts that will be useful ongoingly in fundraising.
Intended results of Apple Computer might have been: • To have achieved 30% market share by 3/98.
• To have Mac computers in a million schools by the end of the century.
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How to Lead a Great Meeting & Motivate Your Team
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Part of being a great fundraiser is generating action, enthusiasm and participation from others in fundraising itself. In order to do that you will be leading a lot of meetings. When you lead a meeting it is important to develop the skill of being able to move the action forward. Meetings that wander, have no clear purpose and don’t end up with anyone committed to taking effective action end up being a waste of time for everyone.
Following are some guidelines that may be useful to you in leading effective meetings.
• Start and end the meeting on time.
• At the start of the meeting, make the purpose and intended outcomes clear to everyone.
• Lead the meeting with direction and also in a way that ensures that everyone is heard. Have the intended outcomes drive the meeting rather than the agenda.
• If the conversation starts to stray off purpose, stop and refocus the group.
• Affirm progress as you go, and capture comments that translate into action steps along the way.
• At the end of the meeting, summarize what has been accomplished in a way that is affirming. Revisit the purpose and intended results and acknowledge that they are completed.
• Be sure that everyone leaves clear about the actions they have agreed to take, and their next steps.
• Thank everyone for their time, attention and participation.
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Conversations for Possibility, Opportunity & Action
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CONVERSATIONS FOR POSSIBILITY When you are beginning a project or when you feel stuck or closed down, it works to create an environment where there is a spacious feeling, a “blue sky” without ceiling or limits, and to create from that space. You gather together your key players and invite them to let their imaginations go wild, without parameters, stops or barriers. Together you give yourselves the opportunity to create and dream of ways and pathways and ideas that are consistent with accomplishing your mission or target or goal.
In a conversation for possibility, people speak freely and all ideas are captured without criticism or negative response. (No one gets to blurt out, “Aw, that wouldn’t work” during a conversation for possibility!) A flip chart is a good mechanism for capturing all the ideas quickly so that everyone can view them. Use as many sheets as you need to capture all the ideas, plastering them on the walls with masking tape as you go along. During this process, there should be a sense of freedom and creativity; it’s fine if it is somewhat untidy and wild.
Some refer to this type of process as “brainstorming.”
CONVERSATION FOR OPPORTUNITY When the energy of the group starts to slow down, you can then move into a conversation for opportunity. In this conversation, you look at all the possible ideas that have been generated and together you select, without arguing or voting, the ideas that are appealing and that can be grounded in the reality of action.
Example: “Call Bill Gates and have him fund the project” is probably NOT a grounded idea; “Have conference call with the Board of Directors to generate a new list of $100k prospects” might be a good opportunity to act upon.
On the flip chart, using another color pen, circle those ideas that appear to be opportunities that call out to be fulfilled.
CONVERSATION FOR ACTION Then go back to a clean sheet on the flip chart, make a list of the ideas from the conversation for opportunity that the group is drawn to act upon, and open the floor for people to choose the actions that they want to take. (Not every action may be spoken for, and that’s okay.)
Translate the list into a Who/What/By When management document as shown on page 23.
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Organizing for Action at the End of a Meeting
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In every effective meeting there is a point where the participants start moving into action. At that point a flip chart for all to see is a great way to begin to capture people’s commitments and promises for the actions that need to be taken.
Below is a sample of a Who/What/By When document that can be a useful tool in recording the action items that come up in a meeting. As soon as possible after the meeting, a copy of the list should be distributed to all the meeting participants. This simple tool can be a good way to manage your team to deliver on the commitments they make.
PROJECT: Date:
WHO WHAT BY WHEN Lynne Call Board members to invite to December event 11/15 Tom Reserve ballroom 11/08
Robin Draft first copy of press release 11/08 Lynne Confirm Carol’s availability 11/25
David Invite 10 people to event 11/25
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Partnering Resources
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Shared Vision
People & Resources Commitment
$$$
Commitment
The organization and people who have the People with wherewithal and people financial resources capacity to fulfill and vision the vision Partnership in Shared Vision 1 2 Circle 1: The people who have financial resources and who see the power and beauty of that same mission.
Circle 2: The organization (that wants to serve, wants to deliver the mission).
It is important to understand that when the people in Circle 1 give their money, they are not actually giving their money to Circle 2; they are giving their money to the vision and become partners with Circle 2.
The focus is the top of the tepee—the vision—not getting money to Circle 2.
There are always other players involved, if only peripherally, as well; it all does not depend on just the two groups, the funders and the organization. Also contributing to the realization of the vision may be the government, other not-for-profit organizations, the media, the people themselves, aligned organizations, and so forth.
What is important to keep in mind and in perspective, is that people are interested in funding their vision. The way to do that most effectively may well be through your organization, but it is important for you as a fundraiser to recognize and acknowledge that what they are doing with their money is investing in and funding their dream rather
than simply pouring money into your organization per se.
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“Conditioning” a Target
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We “condition” a target in order to demonstrate that it is possible to meet the target. Conditioning is not a map with precise directions to the goal; it is simply a process to allow you and your team to see that it can happen.
What conditioningI does is create a pathway from where you are to the delivery of your goal; it may or may not be the pathway that you end up using, but people cannot take action when they are unable to see a way to deliver—they become immobilized.
Once you can see it is actually possible to make your target, a transformation occurs in you and the team. After conditioning the target, you and the team move from uncertainty, worry and inaction to potent, vital action. Afterwards, you put a Who/What/By When management plan in place and get back to work.
Do not fall into the pitfall of trying to make the conditioning a rigid plan; it is simply one possible pathway to the results. And once one pathway opens, many others also become available.
Make copies of the “Conditioning” a Target Worksheet on page 27 to use with your team to
map your own organization’s fundraising goals.
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“Conditioning” a Target - Sample Worksheet
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A sample target conditioning follows:
1.Target amount: $300,000
2.In house so far: $ 41,000
To Go: $259,000 3.Ensured pledges
T. Smith $30,000 S. Stevens $ 5,000 F. Strong $50,000 $85,000 So Far: $126,000 To Go: $174,000 4.To be raised
A. Highest probability
R. Jones $15,000 L. Cue $60,000 M. Lee $25,000 W. Frank $20,000 $120,000 So Far: $246,000 To Go: $54,000 B. Less probable
W. Tomlin $15,000 J. Chase $20,000 $35,000 So Far: $281,000 To Go: $19,000
C. Shortfall/New Possibilities
T. Glen $ 5,000 B. Shaw $10,000 T. Eppler $ 5,000 $20,000 So Far: $301,000
To Go: $0
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“Conditioning” a Target - Worksheet
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1. Target amount: $ ______
2. In house so far: $ ______
To Go: $ ______
3. Ensured pledges (list names and amounts) 1. ______$______2. ______$______3. ______$______Total: $ ______So Far: $ ______To Go: $ ______4. To be raised:
A. Highest probability (list names and amounts) 1. ______$______2. ______$______3. ______$______4. ______$______Total: $ ______So Far: $ ______To Go: $ ______
B. Less probable (list names and amounts) 1. ______$______2. ______$______Total: $ ______So Far: $ ______To Go: $ ______
C. Shortfall/New Possibilities (list names and amounts) 1. ______$______2. ______$______3. ______$______Total: $ ______So Far: $ ______
To Go: $ ______
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Tracking Pledges
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Once investors make a pledge, your job as a fundraiser is not over, for there may be many actions that need to be taken to turn that commitment into an investment received in house on the timeline you are counting on.
Having a clear record of the outstanding pledges available to you will ensure that you are always current with what is so, and will help you manage the action of moving the money in house. While this may seem obvious, often this area remains shrouded in uncertainty and unclarity. Knowing exactly what has been promised and by when it is due, is what makes the job of getting the money “in house” achievable.
The pledge record should be kept confidential, but should be easily accessible by the people who are managing money into the house.
A sample pledge tracking form is below:
Pledge Pledge Amount Amount Date Balance
Donor Date Pledged Received Received Due Comment
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Sample Pledge Form
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“It will be the oppressed, malnourished, underweight, rYES! illiterate women themselves who • I stand in solidarity with the will be the key change agents and grassroots women of South Asia true heroes of this revolution.”
- Joan Holmes, 23 September 2000 • I am a stakeholder in the South Asia Initiative
Enclosed is my check. r • I am investing my money in the Hunger Project r Please charge $ ______to my credit card.
Card Number: I am investing____today. Name on card: r (please specify an amount) Expiration date: Signed: Date: r I pledge a new investment of____. (please specify an amount) Contact Information:
Name/s: Signed: ______Address: Date: ______
Phone: Fax: Home: Work: Congratulations. Email: You are now part of the South Asia Initiative.
The Hunger Project will contact you
regarding the schedule of your pledge.
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Displaying Fundraising Results
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It is essential to always keep yourself and your team current on where you are on your fundraising goal. The best way to do that is to create a vivid visual display that gives you the status at a glance, and which you post in a public place in your work space. It is important to keep this display updated daily, so that all who see it are informed at a glance about the target and the progress to date.
For example, you may want to use a line or bar graph or picture graph that shows where you are on your campaign or annual target, including how much more there is to go before you meet your target.
If you are not on track or if you are behind on your targeted fundraising, you may feel reluctant to let others know about it, but keeping your results (or lack of them) hidden will ultimately disable you.
Before too long you will find out that “what’s so” is always good news, and the truth about your target will always set you free.
A sample visual representation of a fundraising campaign is below:
Target $300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
Name of Fundraising Campaign
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Here’s the tough part of what I know now: that the lessons of kindergarten are hard to practice if they don’t apply to you. It’s hard to share everything and play fair if you don’t have anything to share and life is itself unjust. I think of the children of this earth who see the world through barbed wire, who live in a filthy rubbled mess not of their own making and that they can never clean up. They do not wash their hands before they eat. There is no warm water. Or soap. And some do not have hands to wash. They do not know about warm cookies and milk, only stale scraps and hunger. They have no blankie to wrap themselves in, and do not take naps because it is too dangerous to close their eyes.
Theirs is not the kindergarten of finger paint and nursery rhymes, but an X-rated school of daily harshness. Their teachers are not sweet women who care, but the indifferent instructors called Pain, Fear and Misery. Like all children everywhere, they tell stories of monsters. Theirs are for real—what they have seen with their own eyes. In broad daylight. We do not want to know what they have learned.
But we know.
And it ain’t kindergarten stuff.
The line between good and evil, hope and despair, does not divide the world between “us” and “them.” It runs down the middle of every one of us.
I do not want to talk about what you understand about this world. I want to know what you will do about it. I do not want to know what you hope. I want to know what you will work for. I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity. I want your muscle. As the wagon driver said when they came to a long, hard hill, “Them that’s going on with us, get out and push. Them that ain’t, get out of the way.”
Robert Fulghum
Excerpt from It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It
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Don’t ask yourself what the world needs
Ask yourself what makes you come alive And then go do that
Because what the world needs
Is people who have come alive.
- Harold Thurman Whitman
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RESOURCES
33
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I lived on the shady side of the road and watched my neighbours’ gardens across the way, reveling in the sunshine.
I felt I was poor, and from door to door went with my hunger.
The more they gave me from their careless abundance, the more I became aware of my beggar’s bowl.
Till one morning I awoke from my sleep at the sudden opening of my door, and you came and asked for alms.
In despair I broke the lid of my chest open and was startled into finding my own wealth.
Rabindranath Tagore
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“Soul of Money / Money of Soul”
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Speech delivered at the Third Annual State of the World Forum in San Francisco, 6 November 1997, by Lynne Twist
INTRODUCTION Let me begin by saying that I’m going to talk about money a bit personally. I’m clear that money is one of the central, linchpin issues in all of our lives. It is in mine, and it is a central issue for everyone I’ve ever met, encountered or worked with. Many of us pretend that money isn’t important to us and many of us openly live with the accumulation of money, wealth and financial resources as our primary goal and almost our reason for being. My life journey has been one that has afforded me the opportunity to work side by side and in partnership with some of the poorest people on earth. By that I mean people who are in resource-poor situations where hunger and poverty are the very climate and environment in which they live.
I’ve also had the great opportunity of working side by side and in partnership with some of the wealthiest or resource-rich people on the planet. I’ve done all of this in the context of my lifelong personal commitment to end world hunger. For the last twenty years I’ve been privileged to work for The Hunger Project, an organization dedicated to accomplishing that goal–the end of chronic persistent hunger on the planet on a sustainable basis and in harmony with nature.
During that time, I’ve had the honor of working in and traveling to some of the most fascinating and culturally rich places on our planet. I’ve worked with my brothers and sisters in the Sahel Desert of northern Senegal, in the heat, in the dirt, sitting under the baobab tree. I’ve worked with our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh, where floods, typhoons and massive deforestation have created a situation of great challenge and a people of intense, raw determination. I’ve worked in India, I’ve worked in Ethiopia, I’ve worked in Central and North America, in Ecuador, in Guatemala, and I’ve worked in most of the affluent countries in the north: Sweden, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States.
As an executive and as a fundraiser, I have seen the world through a particular lens called the end of hunger and the unleashing of the human spirit, and in that context I’ve learned a
great deal about money.
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I’m not an economist or a banker. I have no degrees in finance or business. I have been responsible for raising over $100 million—mostly from individuals—and for training more than 20,000 people to fundraise in 37 countries in the north and the south—rich countries and poor countries, men and women, young people and old people and even children. I have seen through that lens how we have enslaved ourselves to the inflated meaning we’ve given this thing called money.
MONEY AS A DISTINCTION/WHAT IS MONEY? Money is an inanimate object that we made up and created centuries ago to enable us to more effectively share our goods and services with one another. It has no power or authority other than what we assign it—and we have assigned it immense power, immense authority. Even though money is the invention and creation of human beings, we are now completely dominated by it.
We have made it more important than we are, given it more meaning than human life, and even in some cases have used it as a replacement for God or any kind of spiritual higher power.
This is a fundamental lie that permeates the human family at every level and causes us to behave in ways that are so inconsistent with who we really are that it’s hard to look at or face with any kind of real truth or integrity.
We will do and have done terrible things in the name of money. We’ve hurt people, we’ve done immense damage to mother earth, we’ve marginalized whole segments of our society, and most of all, we’ve demeaned and devalued ourselves in order to accumulate money and profit and get more and more and more. The trap is so large and so permeates our way of thinking that we can’t see it any more and even the best of us go along and play the game as if it doesn’t really matter.
The culture of money that we’ve created, be it a culture that’s based primarily in poverty in a country like Mozambique or Bangladesh or a culture of affluence and wealth in a country like the United States or Japan, has shaped us in many ways that we would not
have chosen had it been a more conscious process.
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We’ve allowed this culture of money to shut down our heart, close off access to our soul, and drive us such that we behave in ways that undermine and erode the very center and core of our most human values.
I believe it’s possible to transform our relationship with money and the culture of money that we’ve created in a way that resources continue to flow, that prosperity continues to be available, and that all of us can be served, nurtured and empowered to more fully express who we are as the human family.
GERTRUDE’S STORY I learned a lot about money from a woman named Gertrude. I’d like to tell her story. I met her in a church basement in Harlem. I was doing a small fundraising event for The Hunger Project. I had come from Minneapolis where I had met with an executive of a large food company. The food company had an image problem and felt that making a donation to The Hunger Project and being seen to support the end of hunger might help clean up its image. The executive I met with had given me a check for $50,000—but he gave me the donation basically to get me to go away, to assuage his guilt about some public mistakes the company had made and to have the company look good in the eyes of the public. I could tell in the interaction we had that he had no real interest in connecting with resource-poor people or in making any kind of a difference in the work to end world hunger. The money was given from guilt, and the guilt was passed along with the money. I now felt guilty receiving it. I had received the money and the guilt. And both he and I were unfulfilled.
I had the $50,000 check in my briefcase, which sat behind me on a table in the basement of the Harlem church. There were 75 people gathered before me. All of them were black. It was raining and there were leaks all over the room we were in. There were buckets strategically placed all around us catching the dripping water and there was a constant background noise of the rain outside and the dripping from the leaking walls and ceiling.
I looked out at the audience and I knew that the people sitting there did not have much to give. I spoke to them about The Hunger Project’s work in Africa, as I thought it would be the most relevant to their own lives and their heritage. When it came time to ask for donations, my palms were sweating and I began to perspire all over wondering if it was the right thing to do. I went ahead and made the request, and the room was
absolutely silent.
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After what seemed like a long, long time, a woman named Gertrude stood up. She was sitting on the aisle in the second row from the back. She was in her late sixties or early seventies. She had gray hair and when she stood up she was tall, thin, erect and proud. She said to me, “I ain’t got no checkbook. I ain’t got no credit cards. To me, money is a lot like water. For some folks it rushes through their life like a raging river, but the money comes through my life like a small trickle. But I want to pass it on in a way that does the best good for the most folks. I see that as my right and as my responsibility. It’s also my joy. I have $50 in my purse that I earned from doing a white woman’s wash and I want to give it to you.” She walked up the aisle and gave me her precious $50 and at that moment I saw the power of money in a new way. I knew that the $50 that I received from Gertrude would buy more for the end of hunger than the $50,000 check in my briefcase. I knew that that $50 was money that came from the soul and not from some bank account. I saw that the power of money can be seen in the way we use it and the integrity with which we direct it into the world. Gertrude taught me a great lesson and I never forgot it.
As Gertrude tells us, we can look at money like water. It flows all over the planet and everywhere it goes it’s useful, it makes things happen and it’s passed along. We could say that water doesn’t belong to any of us or it belongs to all of us. When water is flowing and moving it cleanses, it purifies, it makes things green, it creates growth, it nurtures. But when water starts to slow down, is held back and starts to be still, it can be toxic and stagnant to those who hold it. All of this can be true of money.
It’s possible to have money flow in a way that serves our highest ideals and commitments rather than accumulate it so that we can gain power, authority and special privileges over others. Money can bear the mark of he or she who passed it on and in many ways can be voice, expression and commitment.
As I said earlier, money has no inherent value but it does bear the value that we give it and that can happen in at least two ways: if I held up a Zambian kwatcha, which is the currency of Zambia, only the Zambian people in our audience would be able to give this piece of paper meaning. It would have no meaning to many of you until I told you what it was worth either in your currency or in terms of the American dollar.
I use this as an example to display that money itself has no meaning other than what we’ve given it. The meaning lives with us and not with the money. Beyond the economic domain of meaning, the philosophical, spiritual and emotional meaning we’ve given to money has
literally enslaved us to our own creation.
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But there’s another kind of meaning that can go with money. And that is the intention or the energy that it carries from the person who passed it along. If the money is passed along in anger, guilt or resentment, revenge, jealousy, it carries that imprimatur and it is imbued with that meaning and makes that happen. If it is passed along with commitment, compassion, love, healing and intention, it carries that meaning and makes that happen. This is where the real power of money can be created and empower us to be free of its grip and make it useful for that which we believe in and that which will empower us all. Money given to make a difference does.
SCARCITY: THE GREAT MYTH But let’s back up and look at a very important aspect of our relationship with money. And that is, the great myth of scarcity.
One of the things that drives all of us is the mindset of scarcity. This mindset is something we’re entrenched in so deeply that it’s not merely that we think things are scarce, but we think from a mindset of scarcity, so it runs deeper than mere beliefs. It’s at the level of fundamental, unexamined and unconscious assumption. In any culture, in any language, in any economic class, in any sector of any society, whoever you speak with will tell you what they don’t have enough of, and it will be the primary conversation they’re engaged with. We spend most of our lives worrying about and speaking about the fact that we don’t have enough.
We don’t have enough time, we don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough weekends, we don’t have enough weekdays, we don’t have enough profits, we don’t have enough good people, we don’t have enough…and then we fill in the blank.
Most people wake up every day and the first thought they have is that they didn’t get enough sleep. That automatic, fundamental assumption “I didn’t have enough sleep” has no relationship with what time we went to bed but is a reflection of the mindset into which we wake up each day no matter who we are or where we are—and that is the mindset of scarcity. That complaint, that conversation carries throughout each and every day and becomes the basis for most relationships, businesses, initiatives, not-for-profits, and most human endeavors. We have trained ourselves to believe that more is better, principally because we fear there isn’t enough to go around. Within that mindset, wants become needs and we’re certain that we are fundamentally incomplete and personally in need of more—more education, more cosmetics, more possessions, more love, more children,
more of anything and everything to even approach being a whole and complete person.
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The global market economy and the power of commercial messages reinforce and affirm our incompleteness, bombarding us with intrusive messages that we’re not whole until we purchase whatever product or service is there to be sold. These messages telling us we’re not whole, we’re not complete, we’re not sufficient come from all media and invade all corners of our lives, are hard to ignore and eventually become our truth. And only more money will then enable us to approach that wholeness and completeness we so desperately long for.
In my work as a fundraiser for the end of hunger, I have seen deeply into the vicious cycle of poverty, but I’ve also seen very deeply into the vicious cycle of wealth. Once you’re inside either one of these traps, it gets harder and harder to get out. We may be more familiar with and have more compassion for the vicious cycle of poverty—the grip of the moneylenders, the landless peasants, the enslavement of the poor—than the vicious cycle of wealth or affluence.
For those of us who come from affluent nations, we can easily see it in others wealthier than ourselves, but it’s harder to spot in ourselves. Once you begin to accumulate, it’s almost impossible to stop that process and you must acquire more and more to care for what you already have and to demonstrate your sense of yourself through greater and greater accumulation and acquisition. It’s as much of a trap and as intractable as the vicious cycle of poverty.
Of the 5.8 billion of us on earth, the gap between those trapped in the cycle of affluence and those trapped in the cycle of poverty only widens. Charity as we know it has only exacerbated the distance between these two sectors. As powerful and as noble as our charitable efforts have been—particularly in the 20th century-—charity will ultimately not carry the day. The rich giving to who they call the poor or the strong giving to who they call the weak merely reinforces the separation. There is an opportunity, especially at this time on this planet, to transform all of this through the window we call money.
SUFFICIENCY: THE GREAT TRUTH We can learn to invest the resources that flow through our lives in a new future for all of us. We can direct those resources, whether they are like a rushing torrent coming through our lives or a small trickle, to our highest commitments and ideals. We can move our money, or the money we are entrusted with, toward that which will serve us all from a
sense of our own wholeness rather than a desperate longing to be complete. I call this
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Sufficiency is precise. It means that things are sufficient, exactly enough. There is a principle of sufficiency, and it is as follows:
When you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need, which is what we’re all trying to get more of, it frees up immense energy to make a difference with what you have. When you make a difference with what you have, it expands.
This context opens the possibility of generating a new set of assumptions based in the principle of sufficiency for the 21st century. If we are willing to begin to commit to make a difference with what we have rather than putting all of our energy into getting more, then…what we have will naturally and organically expand.
This new set of assumptions or new context can create a whole new culture around money and around life. It can teach us how to be known for what we allocate rather than what we accumulate. It can teach us to be measured and measure others by our inner riches rather than our accumulation of outer riches. We can learn how to end charity as we know it and begin truly investing or being vested in a new future that will serve us all.
Although we think there are people with money and people without it, the real truth is, money is a part of everyone’s life from the poorest peasant to the wealthiest industrialist, the way we direct the money that comes through our lives defines us.
The American billionaire and the Guatemalan peasant farmer, the European industrialist and the Ethiopian grassroots leader can stand together in co-equal partnership and invest their time, energy and financial resources in a new future for all of us, in a future that will serve us all.
CONSCIOUS USE OF MONEY/A POSSIBLE PARADIGM SHIFT In that context, money becomes a blessing. It becomes blessed money. Money at any level can be utilized to connect, to awaken, to endow, to anoint, to express a stand for
that which we believe in. We will see clearly what we need and make a distinction between
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our needs and our wants. Given the power that we have assigned to money, it will take uncommon courage to begin seeing things this way, and express oneself in a world that’s now based in scarcity, from a context of sufficiency.
But the personal satisfaction, fulfillment and sense of wholeness that comes from making this shift enables one to have access to that unlimited pool of inner resources that we have ignored for so long, those inner resources that have no limit, that are already there, and that generate a world where sufficiency, wholeness, integrity and completeness are the natural course of events, and are in balance with the truth of the natural world.
CHALLENGE I challenge you to be one of the people who consciously and clearly begins to direct the flow of financial resources that comes through your life, to realize that each expenditure, each investment, each financial choice you make is a powerful statement of who you are and what you’re standing for.
I challenge you to move the resources that flow through your life toward your highest commitments and ideals.
I challenge you to hold money as a common trust that we’re all responsible for using in ways that nurture and empower all of us, all life, our planet, and all future generations.
I challenge you to imbue your money with soul—your soul, who you are, your love, your heart, your word, your humanity.
More than 50 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi said in a press interview,
“My life is my message.”
Whether we are conscious about that or not, I believe that is true for all of us. Your life is your message. Gandhi also said,
“The great challenge of the modern age is not to remake our world but to remake ourselves.”
And finally he said,
“Be the change you wish to see for the world.”
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“The Joy of Fundraising”
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Printed in Grupo Esquel newsletter September, 1991
Following are excerpts of a workshop led by The Hunger Project’s director of global funding, Lynne Twist. The comments were made at the Grupo Esquel Foundation’s fundraising seminar by Ms. Twist in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 10 of 1991. She addressed members of the national Esquel groups from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador and Peru.
“For me, fundraising is the greatest privilege on earth. I think it is a joyous, honorable, thrilling, brilliant way to use your time.”
“Ultimately, when it comes right down to it, people want to make a difference. No matter where I go, and what I’m raising money for, that’s what I find. I’m sure that’s true in Latin America. People want to make a difference with their life, with their energy, with their money and with their time. And I think a good fundraiser is someone who can unlock that hunger to make a difference in the arena of money in a way that leads people to a new accountability for their world.”
“There’s 14.3 trillion dollars of goods and resources in today’s world. You need a very, very small percentage of that redirected towards what you’re doing. It will be the conversation that you generate with people–people with influence, and people without influence–that will determine what percentage of that 14.3 trillion dollars comes your way.
“You need to be in touch with the truth and integrity of what you’re committed to and what you’re asking the person for. You need to know that over there, no matter who the person is, if you really tell the truth passionately, from why you’re doing this, it will resonate with them. It will touch them; it will get to them. Underneath all the cultural beliefs and myths and rules, your message, if it’s really yours, can reach any human being– someone wealthy, someone poor, someone who thinks they have nothing. That’s really the job of fundraising. Fundraising with this kind of integrity accomplishes your mission as much as it raises the money.”
“The way you raise the money can really shape the way you spend it, not because the donor directs the money, but because the energy or commitment behind the money and who gives it can bring an effectiveness and efficiency to your operation that may not
necessarily be there.”
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“We’ve attached all kinds of meaning to money, and in some ways we’ve given it a meaning it doesn’t deserve. In other words, money is just an invention. It changes value every day; it has no inherent value; it is paper; someone invented it. Sometimes we make money more important than people, and I think this is where we get into trouble. There’s a lack of integrity in that, which I think is one of the great challenges on the planet right now. And what you’re endeavoring to do with your foundations, in creating a new way of thinking in your countries with money for not-for-profit work, begins to give money a different meaning for people. I think that’s a historic turning point and something worth putting your heart and soul into.”
“Most of us have a belief that there’s not enough money, there’s not enough good people, there’s not enough volunteers, not enough clarity, not enough participation–and I’m sure you can list a lot more things that you think there’s not enough of. Mostly people believe in a whole mindset of scarcity, as if there is a finite amount of time or money and you can’t get enough of that finite amount, as if there were a pie of resources and you’re trying to get a bigger piece. I assert that a good fundraiser will focus on expanding the pie of resources rather than take a piece. A good fundraiser concentrates on expanding the pie of resources for everyone. So you can invent a whole scenario where your fundraising frees up new resources or has people or money that would not have been used begin to flow towards your mission, towards your commitments.”
“This may sound very backward to you–but in my experience, people don’t often discover their commitment before they give their money. They discover their commitment in the action of giving money. I had thought that first you have to get them really convinced, clear and committed, and then they will give money. Actually, it’s often in the action of giving the money that they find their commitment.”
“I would say it is absolutely essential for you to be putting your own money into whatever you are fundraising for. Your relationship with the person you are speaking with has a lot to do with your own relationship to your mission. They will contribute in the environment of your commitment first, and then they will find their own. A good fundraiser is so convinced themselves that it’s infectious.”
“More important than the message or words you use is who you are about it. That’s where the real power is in fundraising, not in how logical and rational and worthwhile and clear and understandable your work is—but who you are being, how turned on you are, how deeply
committed you are, how much the work you are asking them to fund means to you.”
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“What you really get when you fundraise is people—people who are invaluable to you, people who will give you way more than financial results, people who will give you their heart and soul and their relationships and their initiative and their energy. And that’s what we’re always really after. The money is kind of a fringe benefit and when people give money and become donors, they become owners, they become accountable in partnership with you, like stakeholders.”
“You will begin to develop an understanding of the boundaries between a gesture, where somebody gives you money to get you off their back, where it’s just enough to get you to stop asking, and a sacrifice, where people are going overboard and they begin to get resentful. Somewhere in between gesture and sacrifice there is an accurate contribution for every single person.”
“A request is an acknowledgment, especially when it is a request for money. It’s an acknowledgment that means that you think highly enough of this person to ask them to make a financial contribution consistent with the vision that you are going to express to them, a vision that you know deep down inside they probably share.”
“There are three rules of fundraising: • The first, the most important one, is to ask for the money. It’s a rule most people forget—they don’t like that part.
• The second rule of fundraising is to ask only those people who you see are fundamentally open to a commitment, those people in whom you can see integrity, those people you respect, those people you want to honor, who are naturally committed.
• The third rule of fundraising is to ask everyone. ”
“These three rules are really a possible way to look anew at the world. You’ll
never run out of prospects if you look at things that way. You’ll have plenty of candidates.”
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“Most people don’t discover their wealth until someone gives them an opportunity to contribute money. This quote by the Indian poet Rabbinathe Tagore sums up what we’ve been talking about.
I lived on the shady side of the road and watched my neighbors gardens across the way reveling in the sunshine.I felt I was poor, and from door to door went with my hunger. The more they gave me from their careless abundance the more I became aware of my beggar’s bowl. Till one morning I awoke from my sleep at the sudden opening of my door, and you came and asked for alms. In despair I broke the lid of my chest open and was startled into finding my own wealth.
“All of us are longing to discover our own sufficiency, our own wealth. As a fundraiser, you have the wonderful opportunity of giving people that gift. I urge you to give the gift as often as possible, to as many people as possible, everywhere you can. Congratulations on
being the people who have taken this on.”
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“Tips for Transformative Leaders”
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Over two thousand years ago, the mathematician Archimedes said, “Give me a place to stand and I’ll move the world.” Taking a stand is a way of living and being that draws on a place within yourself that is at the very heart of who you are. When you take a stand you find your place in the universe, and you have the capacity to move the world.
Stand-takers have lived in every era of history. Many of them never held public office, but they changed history through the sheer power, integrity, and authenticity of who they became as a result of the stand they took. Remarkable human beings such as Mother Teresa, Dr. Jane Goodall, Marion Wright Edelman, President Nelson Mandela and President Vaclav Havel lived their lives from stands they took that transcended their identities or their personal opinions.
Anyone who has the courage to take a stand with their life joins these remarkable figures. You may not become famous or win the Nobel Prize. Your work may be centered on raising children or any of the other tasks that contribute to the evolution of humanity. Whatever you do, your stand gives you a kind of authenticity, power, and clarity.
I had the privilege to be in South Africa during the final days of apartheid. It was clear that apartheid was composed of a multitude of “positions.” When people take a position, it immediately creates an opposition, just as left creates right, up creates down, right creates wrong, bad creates good. That positionality itself can create a strained environment flooded with force, opinions, anger, resentment, prejudice, and even hatred.
In South Africa, the environment was shut down, almost intractable. Then, while he was still in prison, Nelson Mandela took a stand; he came to the realization that in any liberation movement, it is as important to liberate the oppressors as it is to liberate the oppressed. The oppressors have to shut down their hearts, their access to their own spirit, and their own humanity in order to hate. And because of that, they are as much in prison as the oppressed.
At a luncheon, following his inauguration as president, Mandela said that he came to understand that his jailers were also trapped. He took a stand for the liberation of all
races, all people.
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When Mandela took this stand, he created an environment that elevated everyone’s thinking and action. Even President F.W. De Klerk, his former enemy, opened up to profound dialogue. The shift from an environment caught up in “positions” to one inspired by a “stand” was central to the miracle at the end of apartheid.
A stand such as Mandela’s is almost like a magnetic field for greatness and for truth. In the presence of someone who has taken a powerful stand with their life, new qualities, new visions, and new clarity become accessible to everyone.
When you have taken a stand with your life, you see the world as the remarkable, unlimited, boundless possibility that it is. And people see themselves through your eyes in new ways; they become more authentic in your presence because they know you see them for who they really are. The negativity, the dysfunction, the positionality begin to fall away and they feel “gotten,” heard, or known.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks about the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he chaired. During the commission’s sessions, people had the courage to forgive the person who murdered their daughter, or amputated the arms and legs of their son. They forgave horrible atrocities and rose above the sea of hatred and entered a new place where they could take a stand for life. In the presence of a stand such as we witnessed in South Africa, positionality dissolves and people find a place in their hearts and souls for forgiveness.
Buckminster Fuller once said, “When you discover the truth, it is always beautiful, and beautiful for everyone with no one left out.” This is also true of taking a stand. Taking a position does not create an environment of inclusiveness and tolerance; instead, it creates even greater levels of entrenchment, often by insisting that for me to be right, you must be wrong.
Taking a stand does not preclude you from taking a position. One needs to take a position from time to time to get things done or to make a point. But when a stand is taken it inspires everyone. It elevates the quality of the dialogue and engenders integrity, alignment, and deep trust. Taking a stand can shape a person’s life and actions and give them access to profound truths that can empower the emergence of new paradigms and a
shift in the course of history.
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Recommended Reading on Fundraising and Money
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Raising More Money: A Step by Step Guide to Building Lifelong Donors, Terry Axelrod. Can be ordered from her website: www.raisingmoremoney.com
Creating Affluence: Wealth Consciousness in the Field of All Possibilities, Deepak Chopra, New World Library
Inspired Philanthropy, Tracy Gary et.al., Chardon Press
The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, Lewis Hyde, Vintage Books
The Seven Stages of Money Maturity, Understanding the Spirit and Value of Money In Your Life, George Kinder, Delacorte
Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!, Robert Kiyosaki, Sharon Lechter, Techpress
Give to Live: How Giving Can Change Your Life, Douglas M. Lawson,—out of print- Amazon.com can do a search for you
Money and the Meaning of Life, Jacob Needleman, Doubleday Books
Money, Money, Money: The Search for Wealth and the Pursuit Of Happiness, Jacob Needleman, Michael Toms. Hay House (Book and Audio Tape)
The Golden Ghetto: The Psychology of Business, Jesse O’Neil, Hazelden
Courage to Be Rich: Creating a Life of Material and Spiritual Abundance, Suze Orman, Riverhead Books (Book and Audio Tape)
The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying, Suze Orman, Crown Publishers, (Book and Audio Tape)
Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, Penguin Books
Wealthy and Wise: How You and America Can Get the Most Out of Your Giving, Claude Rosenberg, Little Brown & Co.
The following audio cassettes are available from New Dimensions Radio::
The Soul of Business, Edited Interviews by Michael Toms, book $12.95
The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist interviewed by Michael Toms, audiotape $9.95
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I will not live an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance to live, so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom, and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
- Dawna Markova
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Be the change you wish to see for the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi
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Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
- As told to Goethe by W.H. Murray
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About Lynne Twist
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Lynne Twist has been a fundraiser for more than 30 years, and more recently, a highly acclaimed fundraising consultant. During that time, she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the not-for-profit sector organizations she has been involved with which include The Hunger Project, The Pachamama Alliance, the Institute of Noetic Sciences and The State of the World Forum
Ms. Twist serves as a trustee of the John E. Fetzer Institute and is on the boards of Youth for Environmental Sanity and the Global Security Institute. She is vice-chair of the board of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and serves on the Council of Sages at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Lynne has served as an advisor and consultant to many global organizations including the State of the World Forum, Katalysis North/South Development Partnership, The End Hunger Network, Esalen Institute, The Abraham Fund, Global Commission to Fund the United Nations, International Commission on Peace and Food, Grupo Esquel Foundation and others. She is also an associate of the Center for Partnership Studies. Lynne has contributed chapters on fundraising in various books, has written numerous articles and is currently writing a book called The Soul of Money.
Lynne Twist is also the co-founder of The Pachamama Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending the destruction of the earth’s rainforests and the loss of its indigenous cultures
and wisdom, and a founding member of The Turning Tide Coalition.
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Notes
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