Posted by Gayle Gifford on August 23, 2010 in Great quotes
Saw this Rumi quote two days ago on a wall hanging at a crafts guild shop. Thought it was a lovely reminder especially on a day that was pouring down rain and making us a little glum:
Posted by Gayle Gifford on June 15, 2010 in Great quotes
I had just had a few moments to crack open a magazine today and happened to pick up the June 14, 2010 edition of Time magazine.
Its”10 Questions” column featured the Dalai Lama, who apparently has a new book out called Toward a True Kinship of Faiths.
This quote really called to me:
In response to the question: “How can we teach our children not to be angry?” He replied:
“I have always had this view about the modern education system: we pay attention to brain development, but the development of warmheartedness we take for granted.”
As we go about doing our own work, how much of what we consider essential, what we truly value, do we take for granted?
The Dalai Lama reminds us that we need be intentional in our actions to create the word we’d like to see.
But I also found in his concern, another request. That as we focus on achievement and producing results, we need to also remind ourselves that our humanity, our societal connections formed from kindness and empathy, are achievements too. And ones we need to work at.
Posted by Gayle Gifford on March 22, 2010 in Great quotes
“It is not your obligation to complete the work [of perfecting the world], but neither are you free to desist [from doing all you can do]…”
At today’s annual luncheon and awards ceremony of our client the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, chair of the board Rabbi Alan Flam shared the above quotation from Rabbi Tarfon (c 70CE – 150CE).
I felt it is was particularly apt given the vote by the US House of Representatives who passed an historic but imperfect health care reform bill last night that President Obama will sign tomorrow.
Posted by Gayle Gifford on December 23, 2009 in Great quotes
The universe was
a place of wonders,
and only habituation,
the anaesthesia
of the commonplace,
dulled our sight.
– Salman Rushdie
Posted by Gayle Gifford on December 18, 2009 in Great quotes
My newspaper carried a front page story of a business where the employees decided to foresake their $20 per employee company paid holiday dinner and run a food drive instead.
What really jumped out from that story for me was a comment made by the branch manager, Ray LeBouef:
” the corporate rationale for the annual holiday dinner is that ‘it builds team chemistry. But I think we need to build community chemistry‘ ”
Thank you, Ray, and the employees of Tractor Supply Company in Coventry, RI, for brightening up my morning.
Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 21, 2009 in Great quotes, Profiles of passion and courage
“We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace… We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 1964
Posted by Gayle Gifford on August 29, 2009 in Big ideas, Great quotes, Profiles of passion and courage
“Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference. The poor may be out of political fashion, but they are not without human needs. The middle class may be angry, but they have not lost the dream that all Americans can advance together…
“A fair prosperity and a just society are within our vision and our grasp, and we do not have every answer. There are questions not yet asked, waiting for us in the recesses of the future, but of this much we can be certain because it is the lesson of all our history: Together a president and the people can make a difference. I have found that faith still alive wherever I have traveled across this land. So let us reject the counsel of retreat and the call to reaction. Let us go forward in the knowledge that history only helps those who help themselves.
“There will be setbacks and sacrifices in the years ahead but I am convinced that we as a people are ready to give something back to our country in return for all it has given to us.
“Let this be our commitment: Whatever sacrifices must be made will be shared and shared fairly. And let this be our confidence: At the end of our journey and always before us shines that ideal of liberty and justice for all.”
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democratic National Convention 1980
Posted by Gayle Gifford on August 9, 2009 in Great quotes, Tidbits
We agree. Our world could use a lot more kindness.
We spotted this sign on Trinity Church in Boston.
Posted by Gayle Gifford on June 8, 2009 in Big ideas, Great quotes
“Every moment you are alive you can learn something very deep, but you will never know it unless you are listening.” John Maeda, President, Rhode Island School of Design, from an interview in Color Magazine.
Posted by Gayle Gifford on April 13, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Big ideas, Effectiveness, Great quotes, Strategic Thinking
“Beware of geeks bearing formulas.” Warren Buffet’s quote in Wired Magazine on the formula that led to the downfall of Wall Street was aptly quoted by Phil Buchanan, the Executive Director of the Center for Effective Philanthropy in an exchange on the Tactical Philanthropy blog.
This reminds me of a quote in Boards that Make A Difference by governance guru John Carver that has always stuck in my head. “A crude measure of the right thing beats a precise measure of the wrong thing.”
All this was stirred up for me by the recent buzz within the world of philanthropy for measures to better direct donor giving to “what works.”
There is a real danger in oversimplifying what works.
While I’m completely in favor of focusing the attention of our sector toward processes that produce real community results, I’m wary of reliance on simplistic nonprofit rating systems (e.g. GiveWell) that attempt to duplicate for mission effectiveness the same style of rating formulas that Charity Navigator and others use to rank nonprofits by their financial metrics. We already know that judging a nonprofit solely upon the percentage of program expenses tells us nothing about community results and, in many cases, not even a terribly lot about nonprofit financial effectiveness.
How can we better use the indicators that do exist to influence whole systems change and not just randomized philanthropic endeavors? Read More >>