Inspired Stories: Newsletter Volume 16, Spring 2010

TEAM MEMBER Ruqayya Gibson, Program Consultant Ruqayya Gibson, Program Consultant for Marketing, Youth Giving Circle Tools, and Coordinator, Inspiring Our Communities: Leaders of Color and Donor Partners Collaboration (Houston pilot.) Ruqayya Gibson has worked for over 10 years in the non-profit sector. Ruqayya has assisted in the successful development of numerous non-profit programs, events, and campaigns. Her work focuses on supporting the emotional development and empowerment of families and youth, social justice, vulnerable populations, and human relations. Ruqayya has received numerous awards for her work in the community. She has personally led organization fund raising campaigns securing over $2 million to support community programs. See full bio on our staff and consultants page. "Inspired Legacies has started a movement. Connecting donors to organizations in need of financial support and guidance bridges a gap that has long been overlooked in the non-profit community. I am honored to have the opportunity to be a part of such a meaningful process!" See our whole team.   UPCOMING EVENTS MARCH 5-6 Frontera Women's Foundation, El Paso, TX 7-9 Donor meetings on legacy, Bay Area, CA 11 Meeting re IL Associates, Austin, TX 14-17 Seasons Fund, Meetings and Events, NYC, NY 18-21 Bush School and various legacy meetings, Seattle, WA 21-28 Youth Giving Circle work, Monterey, CA APRIL 7 Women & Philanthropy event, St. Thomas U. Houston, TX 8 Donor Partner Training, Grundy County Comm. Fnd, IL 14-18 Seasons Fund fundraising, Santa Fe, NM 19-22 Donor visits and trainings, and Women's Funding Network, Denver, CO 22-23 Funders for GLBT Issues and National Network of Con. to Grantmakers, Denver, CO 26-30 UBS Global Philanthropy Conference, Singapore MAY 1-5 TEWA Women's Fund, Kathmandu, Nepal 12-14 Women's Foundation of Chester County, PA 20-26 Fundraising and donor visits, Bay Area and Monterey, CA 28-30 MFA Houston, intro to film, Houston, TX Click here for updated and extended calendar We welcome your feedback and ideas at any time! To contribute to the next issue of Inspired Stories, please submit by April 15.   LEGACY TOOLS Bolder Giving Take the Bolder Giving Challenge and move ahead with your own giving goals. We offer a form to help you consider your Next Steps after reading this newsletter and the many ways your process for making change is informed.   INSPIRED PRODUCTS Two books (one a PDF) we recommend: Women's Giving Circles: Reflections from the Founders (pdf) by Sondra Shaw-Hardy A new The Giving Circle booklet, that's just a terrific support for those seeking creative next steps for your giving circles. It's by our Associate, and giving circle expert, Sondra Shaw-Hardy. It was published by The Center on Philanthropy for their Women's Philanthropy Institute. Women, Wealth and Giving, The Virtuous Legacy of the Boom Generation by Margaret May Damen and Niki Nicasto McCuistion This is a much needed book about the next steps in women's philanthropy and giving. Tracy had the honor of being invited to write the Forward for the book. It is both inspirational book and a call for the leadership of women world-wide to step up full-force. Here is a timely and practical tool, full of recommendations and resources, to help all women do so! As Karla Williams has said "Every woman donor and every development professional...should read this book. It offers a window into the realities of why women need to express their philanthropic voices and values." Forward by Tracy Gary (pdf)   RESOURCES The Big 5: Issues that Matter Most to Women and Girls in 2008 (pdf) Thanks to the excellent research on what issues women world wide want to see addressed, see The Big Five, a great tool from the National Center for Research on Women, for planning for those who want to fund and support women.   Please feel free to send us links to resources that address legacy or philanthropic planning and revitalize democracy through citizen participation.   MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN Lambi Fund of Haiti PO Box 18955 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-833-3713 www.lambifund.org The Lambi Fund was founded in 1984 by Haitians and No. Americans. It is a vital and much needed resource for micro-enterprise and economic development and a key partner in rebuilding Haiti now. MADRE 121 West 27th Street, # 301 New York, NY 10001 Phone: 212-627-0444 www.madre.org MADRE uses human rights to advance social justice. We partner with women in communities worldwide to meet urgent, local needs and create long-term solutions to the problems that women face. Our programs areas are: • Peace Building • Women's Health & Combating Violence Against Women • Economic & Environmental Justice Partners In Health P.O. Box 845578 Boston, MA 02284-5578 Phone: +1 617-432-5256 www.standwithhaiti.org Partners In Health is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts, and active in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, Russia, and the United States. Their mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. PIH strives to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair. Paul Farmer founded PIH. Boys and Men Healing Documentary International Documentary Association Film by Big Voice Pictures www.boysandmenhealing.com From the outstanding team who made The Healing Years, comes a much needed breakthrough project. Only $15,000 needed to complete this film in time for the mid-March Male Survivor International Conference. Call me, Tracy Gary, 415-377-9447 to give or contact directly Simon or Kathy: kathy@bigvoicepictures.com or 805-898-3696.   Be sure to check our next issue in June 2010! We welcome your feedback and ideas at any time! To contribute to the next issue of Inspired Stories, please submit by April 15. Would you like to donate to support Inspired Legacies and Inspired Stories?   Planning Youth Giving Activities? Use our tools. They are free and downloadable, with thanks to our donors. Share your concerns and best practices. Tracy Gary Presentations and Workshops See the services Inspired Legacies offers. Read about workshops and keynotes we do Inspired Legacies Program Chart

VIEW FROM THE FOUNDER

"When women are economic agents and leaders, social change accelerates and returns multiply. This is The Women Effect."

It's true, there is renewal. And reaffirmation and rebellion too. We are alive with intention and renewed hope. Jobs in the non-profit sector -- even if more consultancies than staffing -- are returning. While humbled to new levels of reduced assets, funders and foundations are awakening to their resourcefulness. The next generation pushes forth and sparks not only great ideas but opportunities for peers to gather. We lead together anew. Partnerships surge. A wake-up has happened. We still live carefully, but we are seeing it as our responsibility to both live more intentionally and serve others who are in greater difficulty.

2009 will go down as the hardest year I have seen in our US-based non-profit sector. And yet, it was -- for most of us -- a year of facing ourselves and the patterns of life that had become unmanageable. This is no way to lead lives for self or planet preservation. Winter has given us time to recalibrate, and so we have.

Half of IL's board/staff at our Strategic Retreat in NYC, Jan. 2010

My own awakening has been a weave of three powerful forces. Last year, I took 20 years of meditation practice and extended its framework through EnlightenNext's 10 day meditation retreat (or was it an advance!) Awakening messages:

1. We need to integrate the pursuit of justice with our healthy understanding of the power of ego and our need to transcend it. Our work for the non-profit community is a great way, if centered on the needs of the whole, to stay on a better path. Shared weaving of the use of contemplative practices in our social justice work can, and does, help us lead better with great heart.

2. Our non-profit sector IS the INNOVATION sector. With the support of advisors and donors and grassroots leaders coming together, we make change happen and lift these seeds to full fruition. At the UN State University of North Carolina, I attended the remarkable 25th anniversary of The Institute for Emerging Issues conference on Creativity hosted by former Governor and Chair, James B. Hunt and Anita R. Brown Graham, Director. Hearing more than 40 national and local speakers share on Creativity with 1200 grassroots, policy, business, and non-profit leaders renewed me. Be inspired, listen to and see videos of this remarkable conference. http://www.ncsu.edu/iei/

I try, for professional development and my own inspiration, to take myself to one or two such experiences per year. This inspired and reminded me, as I hope it will you, of our imperative to seed and spark our best ideas and support the leaders providing them. This is the time of the creativity economy. Our non-profits and foundations often lead the way with our experiments and our solutions.

3. See the POP of Emerging Initiatives.

1. Be inspired by a seven year old English boy raised $160,000 for Haiti. There is still so much to do. Please keep up your support and more over, keep the pressure on for all activism for health care, tax reform and reforms that will support our better democracy. See our list of Making Change Happen. And remember Madres and Lambi Fund and Partners in Health.
2. Bolder Giving, Marianne Williamson's Sister Power, Women's Philanthropy Institute, and Women on the Edge of Evolution, ALL are showing us new ways to lead with mind, body and heart. Also, keep up with what women can do, including Women Moving Millions who are now out raising millions. Join me and hundreds of others with women's funds from some 40 US states and 30 countries at the Women's Funding Network Conference just before the Council on Foundations in Denver, April 24-26.

Tracy with Women Moving Millions in
DC Lobbying for Health Care

What's your hope for others? What will be your legacy? Call us and let's get it seeded...Tracy at 415-377-9447. Join us, and keep making change and generosity happen.

May the true joy of giving be with you,

Tracy Gary, Director, Inspired Legacies
Primary Office: No. CA
P.O. Box 1693
40 Redwood Drive
Ross, CA 94957

Phone: 415.461.5539
Fax: 415.461.5573
tracy@inspiredlegacies.org

Satellite Office:
Houston, TX
P.O. Box 840601
Houston, TX 77284
Phone: 281.213.4180

INSPIRED PARTNERSHIPS

1. Seasons Fund for Social Transformation This is breakthrough work. We aim to help them raise $1M to support social justice organizations and leaders who are integrating contemplative practice by June 30, 2010. Join us in providing collectivized capital for shared learning and grants that heal and build stronger leaders and social justice organizations.

Join our next Seasons Fund event on March 16th at Helen Hunt and Harville Hendrix's home. (Call me if you are a major donor or funder in NYC and would like to be invited.) See their latest grants list and how to give. As we did with Changemakers, may we support them as the next evolution in what the non-profit sector needs, to exhibit exemplary leadership and to grow in healthy and sustainable ways.

Seeking donors and funders (at $5,000 plus, especially) to match a Ford Grant of $1 million. All donations welcomed.
Donations
Pledges

Please call me if you would like to have a briefing, Tracy @ 415-377-9447, or email me Tracy@inspiredlegacies.org

2. Bolder Giving Want you or your donors to become more effective and excited about giving? Get introduced to some remarkable givers and learn from their extensive and motivating experience. Join our Bold Conversations monthly from March through June. We're thrilled that the Chronicle on Philanthropy is also featuring these Bolder Givers on their online chats.

Take the Bolder Giving Challenge and move ahead with your own giving goals.

Give to Bolder Giving!

Tracy transforming dollars to action.
Houston activist leads the way.

3. Criterion's Women's Effect Investments
When women are economic agents and leaders, social change accelerates and returns multiply. This is The Women Effect. What if we could move more investment dollars to realizing the Women Effect? Criterion Ventures with the Calvert Foundation and other collaborators are creating a vehicle that enables investments in women – in their entrepreneurship, training, housing, education and childcare. By linking a mainstream, proven community investment vehicle – Calvert Foundation's Social Investment Notes – with the profound returns generated by supporting women and girls. We not only create a strong investment vehicle, we also create the promise of a much larger sea change. The model, at scale, will be self sustaining, but not profit producing. It requires philanthropic support for launch. This is a world changing effort, and we've got some great people signed on. From the streets of Los Angeles to the heart of Bogot‡, women are doing extraordinary things for their families, communities, the world. Celebrate them. Empower them. Be one of them.

Description (pdf)
Pledge (pdf)

Seeking 8 of 15 seed funders at $5,000-$25,000 for donations to Calvert Foundation for Women Effect Investments. Call Tracy for more information or email: Tracy@inspiredlegacies.org, 415-377-9447 and let us connect you to Women Effect Investments.

4. Finally two new partnership:
Media Equity Collaborative: an initiative to strengthen and broaden gender justice in the public sphere. Inspired Legacies joins with feminist media leader, Ariel Dougherty, and other feminist media leaders, in mapping the field and supporting the over 350 feminist media organizations (some non-profits, some producers of feminist news, including the Women's Media Center). Critical organizing and production work to create feminist, gender justice information, news and theory vital to the public dialogue, and precursor for advancing change, must be made visible, known and supported, especially by women funders. Seeking $50,000 for field building. Contact, Ariel Daughtery, Media Equity Collaborative: ArielCamera@gmail.com or 575-894-1844 and Tracy@inspiredlegacies.org or 415-377-9447.

Funders of LGBTQ Issues--for the evaluation of the nearly 33 LGBTQ foundations and their progress on endowment and legacy building. Results will be reported in future issues of IL's enewsletter.

GRATITUDES & TRANSITIONS

"Rachael was the heart and soul of the transformative education movement. We are now her firetenders. May each of us carry her work and heart forward." ~ Tracy