EssentialFoundationsForSustainingGiving

ISSUE: What is essential in an organization/community to encourage and sustain giving and flourishing

CONVENER(S): AshleyCooper

PARTICIPANTS: CourtneyGarron, AKMA, CliffAdams, DanBassill SteveHungness?

SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION, KEY POINTS, CONCLUSIONS, ACTIONS:

The essentials of the foundation and the essentials for maintaining the progress and sustaining outcomes are very different and also share similarities.

Dreaming together individual and collective vidions:

• Adherance to a vision of what's true, good, and beautiful. Creating an understanding of a sense of the landscape
• One basic essential is that people must come together to share and dialogue around their common vision, a vision that is bigger than each individual, and bigger than the group as a whole... working toward a greater good. Each individual must be captivated by, deeply commited to, have passion towards, and have spiritual convictions driving their own role in the shared vision and alighned with the shared vision itself. Grounding comes when one is captivated by a recognition of good and truth that escapes one's own definition of what is good and true. The shared vision sustains itself regardless of external influences.
• Allowing and encouraging space for conversations.
• Meeting regularly to check in and share individual/collectives, obstacles to achieving goals, resources needed.
• Facilitators that communicate the various languages of the individuals is important for cohesion. People who facilitate understanding.
• Ideas must be grounded in reality/feasable foundation.
• Having a cause that is bigger than the organization itself.

Networking/Connecting?:

• DanBassill shared extensive information about sustaining organizations through networking and pooling resources. Communicating with other organizations that have similar intentions and visions and sharing what has worked, what doesn't work, where they've struggled, where they're having succes. Rather than rebuilding the system, collaborate, learn from wisdom that is already present. Look in your neighborhood and see if someone else in your areas is already doing what you're wanting to start -- see what's needed, missing, working, etc. Rather than competing for resources, pool togeter. Use technology to create information libraries, linking groups doing similar things into discussion.
• Create a broad enough statement that allows people to work together.
• focus on things that all have in common.

Inviting:

• Each individual involved is contantly inviting on going conversations that can evolve into action (open space).
• "This is what i can do, Who can help me?"
• collective identity, a lot of commitment to identity and ethos.

Targeting Strengths/Gifts? and Needs:

• Have each person acknowledge their gifts/strengths that they bring to the organization. Lay it out and look at what areas are missing.
• As a group, recognize holes, which areas are missing, what does the whole need that is not being offered by the individuals involved? Taking action to bring that resource into the picture.
• GREAT QUESTIONS to constantly be asking: "Is each person in the group getting the resources to do what they need to do?" if NO, what can be done to help them get what they need?

Patience:

• Honoring that a seed planted will only grow at the pace at which it can grow.
• Fostering the collective belief that patience is intrinsic, results may not manifest in an immediate fashion, but commitment ot patience comes from existential comitmet to the notion that without patience, one cannot evolve.
• allowing room and acceptance of individuals as differences arise, when people are not on the "right path" as the group. *providing a nourishing setting in which differences can be shared and worked through, with trust in that overriding drive towards a higher good, truth, beauty, etc.
• haveing a space where blind spots are compassionately accepted and acknowledged by individuals and the group.
• Acknowleding the natural rhythm of time that is needed for ideas to come to life, notice the benchmarks of others, recognize progress, honor process. Recognize the baby successes.
• Is patience different from or the same as ongoing motivation? If one is oriented toward a specific goal, patience is necessary in order to see the projects to completion or dreams to fruition. If an organization is dedicated to a principle, the principle itself can provide the stamina and motivation to continue the labor.

Trust:

• Trust is fostered when each participant knows that differences are accepted.
• Avoid minimizing differences. Beware of "that doesn't matter" statements. Pushing things away.
• Trust is facilitated as individuals realize that the group supports meeting individual needs
• Trust also is developed through each individual knowing that her story may be heard. This knowing and sharing of each other's stories and experiences helps foster an environment of mutual respect and a community of teacher/learners.

Information Libraries:

• have people facilitating collection of material and easy access to information pertaining to the organization.
• Information such as, how does you get volunteers, how do you keep them, let's work together to have recruitment campaigns, etc.
• knowing who are the people/groups that are further advanced in the areas in which the forming organization is in need.
• Don't spin in circles with the same people over an internal problem. Seek outside assistance in how others have solved similar issues.

Glue that holds the foundation together:

• Each individual is always either learning or contributing.
• support
• ENCOURAGEMENT: Help individuals recongize their successes and areas of personal satisfaction. This nourishes long-term involvement and investment.
• Honor and INDIVIDUAL small successes
• Create a database in which people post(document) personal/group successes, accomplishments, things that they are excited about, projects they're proud of, etc...a LOOK AT WHAT"S HAPPENED list.
• Internalizing success by encouraging feedback among one another, teaching members to recognize and honor one another with positive feedback.
• Take note of the power and fuel that one complimentary email, letter, or comment can profice for another.
• Separate self from responsibility that what i do is not directly responsible for making change happen. it's bigger than i.