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(Happy Monday! Today’s post is from Sande Smith, our communications expert.)

For the past week, I’ve been thinking about the critical importance of sharing our perspectives, experiences and solutions to the problems we see.

By our, I mean the people who are passionate about bringing more empathy, equity and exuberance to the world!

These thoughts were catalyzed last Sunday, when I attended a workshop on writing op-eds that was led by Katie Orenstein and Katharine Mieszkowski. Wow! Talk about passionate.

Orenstein is passionate about changing a basic inequity: Women’s voices and perspectives were not appearing in the op-ed pages, a major forum for influencing public debate and public policy. Op-ed pages of leading newspapers such as the New York Times, LA Times, and Washington Post are read by congress members and their aides, corporate CEO’s, journalists, philanthropists, donors, influencers in all sectors, and yes, even President Obama.

And why are women’s voices missing? At a minimum because women weren’t submitting op-eds! According to the Washington Post, out of 10 submissions, only 1 is written by a woman.

Incensed by this knowledge, Orenstein tried to get someone to start a program to train women in writing and submitting op-eds. When that failed, she started it herself. Now 2 years old, the Op-Ed Project has trained thousands of women, and seen many of the graduates successfully publish op-eds in news outlets across the country.

On Sunday, I was amazed by the women in the room. They were exceedingly accomplished in their professions, as well as passionate about using their knowledge to make a difference in the world.

Yet, when Orenstein asked us to consider any area of our life and then finish the statement, “My name is ____and I’m an expert in ____ because ___”, many of the women found it difficult to answer.

I want to restate that Orenstein emphasized that we didn’t have to give an example from our professional lives. For example, we could say something like, “Hi, my name is Sande and I’m an expert on making frittatas because I’ve made hundreds of frittatas with ingredients such as artichoke hearts, bacon, and gruyere, and when my friends eat them, they ooh and ah, compliment me, and then ask for seconds.”

Orenstein said that women in the US often find it hard to finish the statement of expertise because they haven’t learned how to provide the evidence that establishes their authority to speak on a topic.

Yet, we can’t successfully write and publish op-eds about the issues we care about unless we develop and present ourselves as credible experts. So what are some of the elements that establish our credibility?

• personal experience
• statistics
• anecdotes
• expert quotes (keeping in mind which experts will be credible to your audience)
• testimonials
• history
• legal precedence
• logic
• trends (three of something makes a trend)
• university and other academic credits
• authoring a book
• awards
• results you’ve achieved

And please don’t think that personal experience is less worthy than the other items on the list. In fact, the opposite is true. Personal experience often trumps all else!

I left the workshop excited about finishing my own op-ed (see basic op-ed structure here), but also determined to take more seriously the expertise that I’ve already developed and the importance of sharing it. What about you?

p.s. The picture above is a Wordle, created by playing with the words from my bio. Make your own at wordle.net.

I have a new favorite book.

Written almost 100 years ago, in 1913 by Eleanor H. Porter, this book is about a little girl who helps people find something to be glad about in every situation.

Maybe you’ve heard of her. Her name is Pollyanna.

She’s had a hard life. Her mother died when she was a baby and she grew up poor, living with her dad until he died too. Then she gets shipped off to an aunt she’s never met, a woman who forbids her to speak of her beloved father and who sticks her in a small bare room next to the attic so she’ll be as isolated as possible. Oh, and she also gets hit by a car and is paralyzed.

Pretty daunting life challenges – especially for a kid. But somehow Pollyanna manages to survive with a love for life and the people around her. She transforms her situations by playing a game her dad taught her. The game is to “find something to be glad about in everything – no matter what ’twas.” Her enthusiasm is infectious and pretty soon the whole community is playing her ‘just being glad’ game.

Pollyanna is a reminder of the power of our attention. What are we focused on? “You see, when you’re hunting for the glad things, you sort of forget the other kind.”

The Pollyanna story also highlights the affect we have on one another.

As Kay Redfield Jamison writes in her memoir, Nothing Was the Same, “Moods are contagious; they spread from those afflicted to those who are not.”

Jamison talks about how hard resisting the human interplay of mood is and says, “Moods are too insinuating, too persuasive; despair begets despair; suspicion and anger give rise to paranoia and rage. Concerned disengagement is the Holy Grail at such times, but obtaining and holding on to such a state is difficult; to remain impervious to provocation flies against all odds and is scarcely reasonable to expect from human nature.” (pg. 18)

The beauty of Pollyanna is that she never denies what is happening, she merely looks to find the silver lining and no matter how small it is – focuses on that.

We’ve been taught that “being Pollyanna” is a bad thing, but why? Especially if we do affect each other so powerfully with our moods – wouldn’t we rather have a few more Pollyanna’s around? Try out the glad game this week and see what happens.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday dear Know Abundance readers,

I was busy all weekend hanging art and covering my windows with black trashbags and black curtains for the next Frisbie St. Art Show: Illuminating Shadows – Art Show in the Dark.

So today’s post is fairly short. I’m excited about a new book that just came out by Kathy LeMay called The Generosity Plan.

I heard Kathy speak about the book on Friday and was inspired by her vision of a world transformed by everyone, “Doing what they can, with what they have, where they are. (This is a Teddy Roosevelt quote Kathy used to sum up the heart of her book.)

Kathy says, “There’s no single dollar amount, no particular activity or cause that is better than another, no income level or demographic that matters to generosity, no set variable that is best for giving one’s self to another in time of need.

It’s about finding your passion, envisioning a better world, and putting yourself on the path to making that vision become a reality.”

The Generosity Plan can help us all learn how to better share our “time, treasure and talent” to improve our communities and the world.

Happy Monday!

Sometimes the simplest thing can transform our reality.

Acceptance is like that. Notice this week all of the things you are rejecting – in yourself, in the world, in the people around you. Notice how your rejection builds tension in your body and a rigidness in your interactions with whatever you are rejecting.

You don’t need to change. Just add gentle acceptance into the equation as you become aware of what you are rejecting. Be soft about it. Acceptance is subtle.

Notice the thoughts that tell you, “You can’t accept this.”

What if you do? What happens?

(Happy Monday! Today’s post is from Sande Smith, our communications expert.)

Those of us engaged in social change must ask ourselves, how do we help others see the new world we are trying to create?

It’s easy to get stuck in telling stories of what’s wrong. Yet, while telling stories that show the problem is very important because it helps to wake us up, limiting ourselves to telling those stories won’t get us where we need to be.

That’s why we say, you have to be the change you want to see in the world. . . being the change provides living examples that others can see and then replicate. Even better, be the change and tell the story of how you got there.

I was reminded of the transformative power of being and telling different stories when I saw my dear friend’s new book, Prickly Cactus: Finding Sacred Meaning in Chronic Illness.

I met Concha 9 years ago, when we were taking a writing workshop together. We were both writing non-fiction narratives – mine described my experience with my mother as Alzheimer’s took her memory. Concha’s was called Dancing Still and depicted her battle with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Here was a woman whose life had been a challenge from the time she and her family emigrated from Mexico. She’d struggled with a new language and culture, battled racism, and worked tirelessly to become an advocate for other immigrant families and children seeking fair and equitable access to education. Plus she was a high-performing professor of anthropology and education. Yet, the disease threatened to take it all away. There were times when she was unable to get out of bed because of the insidious and painful toll that that lupus was taking on her body.

Concha and I would meet and share our writing with one another, pointing out places that didn’t work well in the texts and encouraging each other to keep going. I learned so much from watching Concha as she worked on her book. She refused to give up! She’d submit the book to publishers, and get rejected. She’d consult with other writing professionals, and get advice on how to change it.

She’d rewrite the book, finally rewriting the whole thing at least 3 times, and sections of it many more times. Throughout the process, which took at least 10 years, she continued to transform the pain and discouragement — of the illness and the rejections — until she published Prickly Cactus, a beautiful, life-affirming narrative, this year.

In Prickly Cactus, she describes learning how to turn chronic illness into a doorway for achieving wisdom and building community. She talks about the incredible pain that racked her body, finding a way to create a supportive and respectful medical community, and seeking and finding spiritual guidance. She talks about the challenges of day-to-day living which included redesigning her work habits and life so that she could still earn a living. She describes learning how to rest – for the first time in her life! And she tells a lovely story of dating again, and creating a loving, long-term relationship.

Both the process of watching Concha live the lessons gained as she navigated this journey of chronic illness and reading her book, in its newest form, gives me a sense of joy and hope. Her illness was not just an end, but a beginning.

She says, “We need to speak about illness, about potential for healing, and about building supportive communities around us to transform our lives.” Her narrative of discovery and transformation helps to remove the fear of disease by drawing a map for living with joy, engagement and significance, no matter what.

( Happy Monday! Today’s post is from Tuti Scott, an inspiring thought leader on women’s philanthropy, leadership, and social change. Tuti will be sharing her Imagine Philanthropy insights with us periodically. You can read her bio here. Thanks Tuti!)

How people are treated and how customers and clients ‘feel’ about the changes a leader or team implements has a ripple effect on the brand and the organization’s mission. Without a guiding set of values to anchor the ‘heart’ of an organization, one tends to drift aimlessly from project to event to meeting without a sense of conviction.

Values and principles are essential starting points for organizations seeking to create change. Most donor activists want to be part of an organization that has a sense of sincerity and passion.

A friend was walking on a college campus in Virginia and texted me the statement she read that was engraved in stone across the entrance to the student union; “hearts on fire” – compassionate, confident, change makers. What that statement implies about the schools’ values excites me. Hillary Clinton’s campaign t-shirt that reiterated her June 7, 2008 speech line “For everyone who’s ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out and for everyone who works hard and never gives up, this one is for you!” spoke volumes about her values as a public servant in one sentence.

Before I digress with too many examples, I want to make sure that we understand the intersection between productivity and values. People often think that what they ‘do’ and what services they ‘offer’ are their values. A mission or vision statement is not an organization’s values.

The principles and values of an organization are how you expect the organization to act toward its consumers, how you expect people to work with each other and the feeling’ that you want to leave with your clients and community about how every staff member related to them. Ideally everyone affiliated with the organization should be able to recite the values from their heart.

Whenever I am asked to be part of a strategic planning or visioning exercise with a group, I first ask to see what values have been established. Often they may not be there or they have not been dusted off for ten years, so we go through a series of steps to help shape these. Feel free to notice the connection between imagination and creating values (a not so subtle link to the reason behind the name of Imagine Philanthropy.)

1. First, imagine how you would like a constituent to view your organization.  Are you approachable and transparent? Are you innovative? Do you engender respect or courage?
2. Second, imagine a cocktail party where one of your clients, community members or donors is describing your organization to someone. What words are they using? Maybe they are saying energetic, smart, collaborative, warm, and effective.
3. Third, determine the rhythm you would like to have in your office or headquarters. If a visitor comes into the building, what do they take away? Similarly, today, we need to think as well about a web site as the place where people feel the rhythm of your organization. Contemplative space, cluttered desks, open doors, fluid movement, laughter, playful spaces, color, imagery – all of these say a lot about the culture and values of working for your organization.
4. Fourth, think about the mindset and behaviors of the people who work and serve the organization. Are they inclusive and do they embrace diversity? Are they risk takers? Do they express themselves freely and with humor? Do they exude energy?
5. Fifth, and this is where the vision and values really intersect, imagine where your organization is five years from now. What do people see in the world that would not be there without you? What difference did you make and how did you make it? What made you think you could do this? What values enabled you to get here?

The more people involved in this conversation – staff to Board leadership- the better. Set a stage to allow full expression and conversation. Once crafted, see what changes in your synergy, productivity and interaction with your constituents. And, most of all – enjoy flexing your imagination muscles!

Happy Monday!

Short post today as I was busy this weekend getting ready for the next Frisbie St. Art Show. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area come check it out next weekend. The theme is Still (in) Motion featuring photography by women.

What are you working on this week? Is there something that you are preparing for?

Notice as you prepare how your ideas and the situation change and evolve. Preparation is creation. And sometimes this process requires abandoning what we thought we would need or what we had planned for.

The more flexible we can be with ourselves, others and external conditions as they shift and change – the more synergy and alignment is possible with what is naturally evolving. Often we fight what is happening because it is not what we prepared for.

Just because we think something is going to work, doesn’t mean it will.

Be prepared and be willing to abandon your preparations. Nothing is ever wasted. Just evolving in the process of creation from one moment to the next.

Happy Monday!

Of all the advice I have received over the years, I’ve treasured most a message from the big trees:

“You take everything so seriously little one.”

I used to run after work along a redwood-lined trail in the San Francisco Bay Area hills. This is where I would go to de-stress.

I’d start out preoccupied, my mind reviewing meetings from the day, to do lists and plans to meet upcoming deadlines.

At the end of every run I would hang out with the trees, staying until my breath was back to normal and my mind quiet and more peaceful.

Some days turning off the work thoughts was harder than others. I’ve long been an analyzer – on the quest to figure out why things are the way they are and how we can make them better.

So there I was one day, leaning against a tree, my mind full of questions, searching for answers. And from the towering trees surrounding me there came a kind, gentle message, “You take everything so seriously little one.”

And I started to laugh. The intensity of my thoughts instantly lightened with this obvious truth. I was grateful for the friendly observation of my propensity toward seriousness in all things and for the reminder of my place (little one) in the universe.

Was the message from the trees or from my “higher” self? We have so many voices in our heads – from our past, from friends, bosses, parents, movies, newscasts, books, songs – our thoughts continually churning with internal dialogue. Processing, planning, remembering, judging, calculating, dreaming.

Where the words came from doesn’t really matter – the gift was the perspective they offered to see my thought patterns in a new light.

We all have this ability – the ability to see and observe our own behavior and to be conscious of what drives our thoughts, words and actions.

Awareness comes before change.

Happy Tuesday!

I was driving on the freeway last week and noticed a couple of “Free Leonard Peltier” signs hanging in trees off the side of the road.

I was surprised. Isn’t he free already?

I guess not. And there are still people who care.

When do you give up?

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. Or 46 if the total years of apartheid in South Africa are counted.

After ten or twenty or fifty years how do we continue to inspire passion for the change we seek?

Especially today. We have short attention spans and a daily influx of new information, new causes and new crises to focus on.

How do we raise money for issues that people think are over or unwinnable?

• First – we have to know (not just believe) that change is possible.
• Second – we need to make it personal for people and answer the “Why should I care?” question.
• Third – we need to stay focused on our goals even as public attention waxes and wanes.
• Fourth – we need to be current and link our cause with others.
• Fifth – we need to have patience.

There are many problems and issues that seem unbeatable. And structures and systems that appear monolithic.

When you are living the effects of injustice, discrimination, hatred and indifference, even yesterday can seem like too long to wait.

But take the long view. Don’t give up. Stay focused. Strategize. Communicate. Connect. Have Patience. The elusive “tipping point” could be just around the corner.

p.s. Want to make use of past research and articles? Check out this helpful guest post on Katya’s non-profit marketing blog.

Happy Monday!

We act as if only what we can count matters.

How many (Facebook) friends or (Twitter) followers do we have?

How many donors? How many opens and clicks on our email campaigns? How many views on our YouTube videos?

How much money in our bank account?

We sometimes forget that our computers and our spreadsheets only capture a portion of our work and a fraction of our lives.

Not everything can be tracked and counted.

I told five or more (I lost count) people I know the past few weeks about a 50% off special that PsPrint was having on business cards for the month of May. These were phone, face-to-face, or personal email conversations. Nothing that can be tracked “on-line” by PsPrint via clicks or Twitter messages.

PsPrint didn’t ask me to join a Facebook Fan page or suggest that I forward a message about this great price break. (Which I wouldn’t have done. I’m not big on spamming my friends or declaring love for a corporate entity.)

Mentioning PsPrint in conversation happened naturally because their services related to a real time need. They had a good deal and because I’ve used their on-line printing with success I felt confident recommending them.

Also in the past few weeks, three people told me about “The Story of Stuff” and Annie Leonard. Two of these were “off-line” face-to-face conversations, one was an email forward of the Global Greengrants e-newsletter from a friend.

The first time I heard about “The Story of Stuff” and Annie Leonard I forgot her name and the name of the video. The second time I said, “Oh yeah, I heard about that but forgot the name of it.” The third time gave me the link to the video and more information.

I still haven’t watched the “Story of Stuff” but now I remember Annie’s name and the title of the video.

These are just two examples of the vast world of “off-the-record” conversations and activity that spread information – and (we hope) create change.

Will Annie ever know the true impact of her video and message? How many people will take the “Story of Stuff” lessons and actually implement a change in their lives? And will this change be because of the video or because of a unique-for-each-person combination of things? (Like the work of other organizations and individuals worldwide on similar issues, system wide changes, media reports, monetary incentives, peer pressure and numerous other factors.)

Who knows?

Not everything can be tracked and counted.

Do your thing. Sure, you can pay attention to the numbers but don’t get lost in thinking that “how many” of anything is what ultimately matters.

——————

p.s.

I was standing in the grocery line one day when a mom and her son, about 7 years old, came up behind me. He was touching all the candy and other treats by the checkout counter and asked his mom the price of something. After she replied with a price, he despondently said, “oh, EVERYTHING costs money.”

I smiled at him and said, “Not everything. Friendship and love don’t cost money.” And his mom said, “That’s right. All of the important things are free.”