Meet the People

Did what they’d never dreamed possible

Bob Rogers
Philanthropist and former Chairman and CEO
of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

It was from Jim Lord more than 25 years ago that I first learned about sacrificial giving.

I saw a way of giving that actually makes a difference in my life, both in terms of affecting my wealth in order to invest in a large way and, at the same time, in increasing my sense of meaning in the results I’ve seen from those investments.

My wife and I were able to do something we never dreamed possible at that stage in life when I first met Jim.

With his encouragement and know-how in philanthropy, we decided to endow a chair at a Midwest U.S. seminary that brought society and the church together.

We have seen great things happen as a result. A whole generation of church leaders has been taught by the holder of the chair new ways to bring church and society together. We later participated in funding another chair at the same seminary.

Jim and I have stayed in touch over the years as he often does with people he’s worked with. He gave me the opportunity to chair a conference at Cambridge University on cross-sector cooperation among business, nonprofit and government leaders from the U.S. and Europe.

And we were reacquainted this past year when I was invited to his workshop. It was a powerful experience, even at my point in life. Among other advantages, it’s strengthened my desire, and now my decision to write a book about Mr. Kauffman, a great mentor in my life, and my relationship with him. It’s underway.

Retreating pays off

Jackie Kelm
Consultant and volunteer
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

I took more than two weeks of unpaid leave while working for a "Big 5" consulting firm to attend Jim's program in Australia several years ago.

I have never been the same since! Jim has a wonderful gift for being able to create the space for miracles to emerge.

Board members may take as much back to their own offices as they do to the nonprofits they serve.

Community foundation gains a leader

Kevin K. Murphy
President, Berks County Community Foundation
Reading, Pennsylvania, USA

The workshop I attended with Jim came at an inflection point in my life. I needed to decide whether I was going to become a "leader" or a "foundation administrator" for our community.

Developing a deep understanding of Appreciative Inquiry helped me become more comfortable with the idea that leaders don't have to have all the answers (which I didn't) but can be the people who ask the right questions (which I learned to do).

In the intervening years, we've grown the foundation tremendously, both in size and in service to the community.

Energized to build democracy in Nepal

Sahadev Mahat
Community Leader
Kathmandu, Nepal

I came back home from the workshop with a renewed energy and confidence. With that I was able to initiate a network of people who believe in democratic values, have commitment to generate a new future and also positively influence political leaders to take bold actions. I have been engaged in this journey for last 15 years and I am fully convinced and confident that the learning I received at the workshop is what we need for a greater social transformation.

These days, I have been continuously traveling to many parts of Nepal to meet with political leaders and to organize workshops for bringing transformation at personal, professional, team and organizational levels.

I am very much excited and in action! Things are getting positive in Nepal. I feel very confident. I see a great future potential for Nepal. I want you to keep us in your prayer for the deep transformation that we deserve in Nepal. I strongly believe this is happening!

Confidence to launch a new project

Gabriella Havard
Student, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
Capetown, South Africa
www.bkwsu.com

After leaving the workshop, I attended a two-week women’s conference at the United Nations. The topic: “Budgeting for Gender Equality and Financing Women’s Empowerment” (so not exactly the most inspiring topic for someone like me). There were 2,000 women from different governmental and non-governmental organizations.

It was a great arena for me to listen and observe in the context of what we learned at the Quest workshop. I became very aware of the contrast between the ways different people try to get a message across.

I remember one particular session clearly, in which a professional psychologist/psychiatrist was talking about the need for increased mental health care for women and children in countries experiencing extreme situations, such as war and natural calamity. She began the whole talk by saying: “All I’m going to do now is try to cover some of the issues that demonstrate how big the problem is,” and proceeded to give all the statistics on women’s mental health issues, focusing on the extreme need.

I realized that in the context of the UN, this is not an unusual angle to take because the guys who distribute the funds do so based on the perceived need.

However, I also realized very quickly, that despite the shocking statistics, people in the room would start nodding off to sleep or shaking their heads in dismay, and possibly even despair.

In contrast, there were also many sessions during which people who work at the grass roots told stories of hope and success, and shared “best practices.” These discussions were a lot more engaging and left you with a feeling of wanting to do something, and feeling able to do something!

It struck me very deeply, how disempowering deficit language actually is. When a women talked about statistics (generally the problems), the message addressed matters of the head/intellect, but when a women told a story from the heart, the message would strike the heart of those listening, and that was when you saw women inspired to act … inspired to make change.

The Quest workshop was perfect to set the stage for the past two weeks at the UN, and also for making plans for furthering a new project for empowering young women. The confidence I gained simply by hearing the words “think big” and feeling that I have the capacity and capability to make a significant contribution, and that that it was OK to want to change the world! … that has been such a gift.

Thanks once again for being the brilliant coordinator and inspirer of this work (i.e. changing the world! :)

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

Rufus Woods
Editor and Publisher, The Wenatchee World
Wenatchee, Washington, USA
wenatcheeworld.com

I had no idea how profoundly this remarkable experience would affect my view of the world and the way in which I view my ability to change the world.

As for what happened for me, all I know is that I could have floated home to Washington state — no airplane was needed. I found such clarity of purpose and I have been able to give myself permission to joyfully express my own essence.

As for what’s next, every day is a new adventure and a series of opportunities to make the world a better place. I have the profound privilege and responsibility of owning and operating an information company which gives me the freedom to help change my own World (The Wenatchee World), and in so doing help transform the conversations around an entire region. We can be the great convener of people.

Most importantly, I want to collaborate on a project to facilitate deep and meaningful conversations in communities throughout the region on the assets, tailwinds and great stories that make their cities a wonderful place to live. Raising the level of discussion will, we believe, change the way people perceive their opportunities in the same way the workshop has changed our perspectives.

Inspired to inspire others

Maggie Coon
Lifelong conservationist
Co Director, Twisp Public Development Authority
Washington, USA

My husband and I decided to make what is for us a very significant financial commitment to a cause we care about. We were asked to speak to a gathering of potential supporters about our contribution.

Inspired by your work, I was able to tap into my deepest feelings about how this contribution gives meaning to my life.

The most amazing and wonderful thing was how I knew I had connected with others. Their tears and their words told me so.

Building self-reliance in rural Kenya

Jastus Suchi
Reach the Children
Nairobi, Kenya

At first people in my community thought it was impossible to do anything because of lack of funds. But after the workshop and leadership program, I used your methods to work with them and discover hidden confidence and resources. It just took someone to light the fire, and this was my role.

Jim and the workshop members had helped me discover that what I do springs from who I am (more than from opportunities or circumstances). And my team members in Kenya also began to see the power within themselves. The new community learning center and other initiatives have been the tangible results, and this is just the beginning.

He lit up his board

Gordon Johnson
Civic leader and trustee, The Centre on Philanthropy
Bermuda

It’s almost too easy to talk about paradigm shifts these days. The words have entered the pop culture lexicon and rather than signal a profound change in the way you see the world, they now pass as comment on virtually any recalibration in perception.

But there is no other way to describe the effect that the Philanthropic Quest has had on the work of The Centre on Philanthropy, a non profit organization that advocates on behalf of the Third Sector in Bermuda. There has truly been a paradigm shift in the way that I, as a Board member, and my fellow trustees, view the opportunities facing us to make a difference in Bermuda.

It is trendy to call challenges and problems “opportunities,” but learning to assess what kind of world we want through the frame of the Philanthropic Quest means you focus on what is possible. You don’t get sidetracked or deterred by thoughts of the impossible. You believe you can make a difference and aren’t thwarted by voices that tell you that you can’t. You are buoyed by the conviction that you will succeed in finding solutions and aren’t dragged down by naysayers who say issues are unsolvable.

And the wonderful, life-affirming truth is that the process you follow in the Quest works. I know I experienced an epiphany when I realized what a difference it makes to approach situations knowing you can, and will, succeed. When I introduced the Quest to my colleagues at The Centre, I watched as the proverbial light bulb went off for them, too. Their faces lit up, their voices rose in excitement, they became energized and motivated - not surprising, when you consider the freedom a belief in the future gives you.

These are difficult times for everyone, everywhere. There is much to be concerned about. But because of the Philanthropic Quest, there is more to be applauded and celebrated. I do believe the key to a better world lies with the Quest.

By the way, it took us ten years to get Jim to Bermuda, and after I introduced this work to some of Bermuda’s leading lights, they experienced so much amplification of their spirits that they’ve now gone off the island to take part in workshops. They’ve returned with renewed commitment to even higher aspirations and are achieving much on their way to greater dreams to benefit this country.

This work has made such a difference in the lives of some very significant people and so I know I’ll long be connected to Jim and the others who are working and studying with him.

Her audacious vision came to be

Rosemary Cairns
Researcher and Consultant
Canada and Serbia

My first workshop with Jim was the moment I was able to see that my life had a pattern. It wasn't a patchwork of unrelated things, as I had thought (because I didn't have a career, moving as I did from journalism to public affairs to running a business to doing election administration and observation). I saw that I was a learner, a teacher, and a researcher and explorer.

It felt so wonderfully good to see that pattern, because it gave me something to build on for the next part of my life. (I remember that Jim told me how impressed he was that I was investing in myself, to come to that workshop; and that has stayed with me. I had never thought of it in quite that way before.) At that workshop, I wrote a vision for the future that seemed so audacious that I promptly put it away for several years and only rarely looked at it.

And then I realized recently that it is indeed coming to pass.

Dreams become real in India

Vibha
Founder of Muskaan
Lucknow, India

Jim magnifies one's power to dream and dream big.

My first workshop with him gave me courage to take the plunge and start my own non-profit organization, Muskaan (which means "smile" in English).

The full package -- the book, two workshops and leadership program, and the APPRECIATION that I have received from my workshop mates -- has made me love my dream all the more and has given me energy to translate it into reality.

I am grateful to Jim for allowng me to be part of this work because it has strengthened my courage to create the kind of world I want. Carry on Jim and Pam, together we are making a difference.

[Vibha uses only her first name in defiance of India's caste system.]

Encouraged by global community

Debbie MacDougall
Co-Founder, Southridge School
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
www.southridge.bc.ca

Thanks for the rejuvenation that comes with spending time with people who think about how they can strengthen the world. My world has been strengthened, my stance has been strengthened, and my commitment to supporting the dreams of and opportunities for people I have not met has been strengthened.

Meeting and knowing people from around the world who are contributing to a dream, and witnessing the courage, compassion and conviction they bring to the kind of world they want is truly inspiring.

Today is a “being” day for me as I think about the influence each workshop member had on me personally and the contribution each made to workshop. The whole is definitely larger than the sum of the parts and together we will see the kind of world we want as we “be” together.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to spend time with you again, and for your special talent of bringing like-minded people together.

At first it seemed a bit “out there,” but then ...

Roger Hoesteroy
Senior Vice President, The Trust for Public Land
Seattle, Washington, USA

When I first signed up for the Quest workshop, staff asked me, what are you doing? I responded, I'm going to spend a few days with the Lord.

On the first day I thought Jim was a bit "out there." With all the talk of endless possibilities, appreciative inquiry, mapping the future, releasing the spirit, I thought maybe Jim Lord was the stage name.

By the end of the week I was fully bought in. Like lessons from the original, I was reminded of the power of the paradox; the greatest gift you will receive is in service to others, the way to build deep connection is by listening not talking, forgiveness is more powerful than bitterness, hope is greater than fear, we gain when we let go, deep inside each of us is pure spiritual connection to one another. Thank you Jim for teaching us.

Most successful campaign in 150 years

Dan Loritz
Vice President-University Relations, Hamline University
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Applying Jim's model, we concluded the most successful campaign, by far, in our 150 years.

I'm glad this powerful thinking — which was fundamental to our achievement — is now available more widely. I want to see my colleagues share in this experience of even greater professional success and personal fulfillment.

She turned around a “crisis” in her organization

Graciela Selaimen
Executive Director, RITS
(The Information Network for Civil Society)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
www.rits.org.br

When I took part in “The Quest” workshop, I was going through a profound process of change. I felt an urge for abandoning old patterns of professional relationships. It seemed to me, at that point, that the only possible way to do it was quitting my job.

The learning process I went through during those days brought me the confidence and the assurance that I was ready to move on and to undertake the new challenges I was yearning for: to build a personal project based on my highest beliefs and my sense of spiritual purpose … rather than just following on with a career where I was regarded for my intellectual abilities and political capacities, but where there was no space for the full expression of my most inner values.

I came back home lighthearted, hopeful and refreshed in my dreams.

But when I returned to my office, a profound crisis — financial and institutional — faced by the organization I work with had to be dealt with immediately.

Ironically, I believed it would be useless proposing to my colleagues a new approach to the situation. I was so used to see them as skeptical, critical and sometimes cynical, that I didn’t feel keen to propose to them a new frame of mind. I’ve been the only woman in a management position in this NGO for almost seven years, and many times was challenged for making decisions based in my feelings and intuition.

But the seed that was nourished during the workshop was stronger than my tiredness. Moving to another job or organization would not have revealed the most powerful learning I had gained:

I can change the world, just being who I am.

So I was able to speak my mind and my heart, provoking people to let go their defenses and look at the most important achievements we’ve made together, as a team. In our last meeting, amazingly, the hard feelings vanished and a new focus for the NGO’s work was achieved. At the end of the day, we all shared new hopes, new perspectives, and a sense of relief and cooperation.

The most powerful outcome: I’m ready to move on with my plans. I’m not just leaving or giving up a project which brought me an enormous amount of self-realization and happiness over the last seven years. I’m just moving on, towards the attainment of my dreams.

“Changed our organization forever”

Dick Boysen
Executive Direct, Spokane Guilds' School and Neuromuscular Center
Spokane, Washington, USA

Jim has had profound impacts on both me and the Spokane Guilds' School and Neuromuscular Center.

In my 32 years at the school I would say that meeting and working with Jim has been one of the highlights for all of us. His name and thoughts come up around here every day, and he is held in the highest regard by all.

His whole appreciative perspective has changed our organization forever. We feel so blessed to know him and the compass and direction he has provided for us.

Giving that can change the world

Judi Taylor Cantor
VP of Development
Boston Children's Museum
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The impact you've had on my thinking about the raising of money never ceases, Jim.

I am always struck by my managers or even by donors who are so pleased by the results (of greater gifts or making a legacy gift.) They feel as if they haven't had their "arm twisted."

Many years ago, you introduced a new vocabulary about fundraising. Then you added music, history and storytelling.

You showed how a person's story can generate the kind of love of giving that, if this world would listen, could really change the world.

What you gave me has impacted my professional behavior for the past 12 years and made me a better person. Thank you!

Brought his best to his consulting practice

Eric M. Kapono
Owner, Advancement Services for Native Nonprofits
Hilo, Hawaii

When I first attended Jim's workshop it was a few months into my nascent consulting practice of working with community organizations.

That experience with Jim showed me how to bring my best to my work, and how to translate that to organizations and communities.

I am now 12 years into my consulting practice and my learnings from Jim continue to shape how I work, how I live, and how I am.

“Mind-wide-open leadership”

Ben Field
benjaminfield.com
Wenatchee, Washington, USA

It is clear that Jim sees philanthropy not just as a part time endeavor but a way of life — a notion that rightly blurs the lines between non profit and for profit organizations like mine.

Through his work I learned the profound difference between mere dreams and hope, that most powerful of human impulses – a reasonable expectation of the bright future to come.

I don't just see it, Jim. I am it – and so are we all, thanks in no small part to your mind-wide-open leadership.