By Jacqueline Debets
“I used to think that top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of good science could address these problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation and we scientists don’t know how to do that.”
~James Gustave Speth, founder of World Resources Institute.
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Brett Cobb
By Brett Cobb
© Compassionate Tampa Bay
Welcome to the Compassionate Fundraising for Holistic Centers blog. After hosting a recent HCN webinar, I was asked about practices to keep donors informed and interested once they have made a contribution. A quick search for donor stewardship best practices will yield numerous articles on helpful practices that center squarely on four key ideas, 1) thank them correctly; 2) confirm their intentions and expectations; 3) recognize them accordingly; and 4) report their impact.
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At the heart of perhaps every center in the network is the recognition of the interdependence of all life. We foster connection to self, other, nature and spirit, in an ever evolving relational dance. Connectivity is vital, a powerful antidote to the chaos and crises of these times. Leading scientists recognise large scale shifts in human consciousness are essential. Is our unique role to create safe space for healing, growth and transformation, to be custodians of the earth and inspire others with our place based centers? HCN seeks to link these centers around the world and to connect with other like minded networks. These include the Global Ecovillage Network and Bioneers. Together we can accelerate and amplify the urgency of our work and maximise our collective impact of doing good in the world. [Read more…]
Interview by Geoff Dalglish
The life of former US Army Special Operations Sergeant Thomas Miller is a story of radical transformation and a journey from war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq to the celebrated Findhorn Ecovillage and spiritual community in the northeast of Scotland.
Today the 38-year-old American serves as the head of the community’s fundraising team and is tasked with helping manifest the bold vision of a new Ecologically-inspired central area within The Park Ecovillage. At the epicentre of this is Findhorn’s now world famous Original Garden. [Read more…]
By Jason Courtis
Operations Manager, Saratoga Springs Retreat Center
Bringing together 21 participants, from eight different centers…
Oh, the gift of knowing that you’re not banging away at this thing called ‘holding conscious space’ all on your own in the world! That was such a rich take away for me from the gathering. I ‘know’ other centers are out there–banging away–but to have an embodied, in-person experience of that was profoundly energizing. Especially as the day before, with the tyranny of the TO DO list clamoring, the presentation undone, I was thinking, ‘Oh Jeez, why did I agree to spin ONE MORE PLATE!’ But so worth it.
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Harnessing the power of united Global Cooperation to bring in the Light of the New Era with the Global Ringing of the Bells. This is a Call to all People of Goodwill. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has just endorsed the Global Silent Minute and the image below includes the bookmark made especially for Olivia Hansen to take to Dharamsala to gift to HH.
At 9.00pm London GMT on the Solstice, 21 December 2019, let us ring a bell to prepare to enter into one minute of silence in communion with the Forces of Light, as we generate a reservoir of united global thought that will inspire cooperative endeavours to create a better world for all.
“There is no power on earth that can withstand the united cooperation on spiritual levels of men and women of goodwill everywhere. It is for this reason that the continued and widespread observance of the Silent Minute is of such vital importance in the interest of human welfare.”
Major Wellesley Tudor Pole O.B.E. instigator of The Silent Minute in 1940
By Peter Moore
Hosted by the House of I, China
October 13 – 16, 2019
I was invited to attend the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) Ambassador Training Conference by my friend and colleague Dan Hines, a trainer extraordinaire who teaches internationally at many holistic centers. For the better part of this year he has been based at House of I, a center in China that offers programs and services as part of a development north of Beijing improbably named “Jackson Hole”. HOI does its work in a beautiful set of buildings and park-like grounds at the base of the Yanqing Mountains, and is managed by a wonderful staff of people headed by Annie Liu. My friend Dan humorously terms HOI “the Imaginarium” and, as I spent a few days and became more familiar with the emerging social reality there, I began to understand the deeper symbolic truth embedded in this name. Truly, the House of I is a place where improbable dreams can (and do) become everyday reality. It is a wonderful setting. [Read more…]
The HCN monthly webinar series is held on the second Wednesday of each month and you’re welcome to join us as we explore effective fundraising.
Theme: Compassionate Fundraising – Clarifying who you are, what you need and actually asking for it
Date: Wednesday, 9 October
Time: 10am PDT
Hosted by: Brett Cobb, President, Compassionate Tampa Bay, and HCN [Read more…]
By Thomas Miller
This summer I participated in a money and consciousness course, Financial Freedom, led by Karen McAllister, Mindful Money Coach and co-founder of Clear Sky Retreat Center in B.C. Canada. Together with others, like me, who work in the Findhorn Foundation (a spiritual community that holds transformational learning experiences for participants) and co-workers from similar centers around the world, we explored something I’ve always found somewhat challenging: money, and in particular money in relationship to spirituality. [Read more…]