LIBRARY RESOURCES & BLOG
This area is filled with how-to articles, engaging conversations, and tons of examples of Catalytic Thinking in Action including actual planning sessions. Much to explore and learn from!
It is no secret that programs are more effective when the people who will be impacted by those programs are the ones to help build them. And it makes logical sense that the time to engage folks in dialogue about a new program is not at the program’s formal coming-out party, but at the moment … Read more
It’s time for us to do one of the most exciting things I can think of – recruit the founding board for Creating the Future! Yes, exciting. It’s exciting because a board means this organization is real (not that we don’t already have programs that are extremely real, and all the other stuff that says, … Read more
What stops the Community Benefit Sector from achieving its potential to build a healthy, vibrant world? I know I ask that question a lot – it is the “B” side of the question that guides all our work at Creating the Future. (The “A” side of that question is, “What would it take for the … Read more
Happy Magical Monday, everyone! And it is indeed magical. After last week, I cannot help but see magic in everything around me! Last week, in a small room papered with wisdom and passion, six of us shared our dreams for the future we want to create. We laughed and we cried and we learned. In … Read more
Most of my quasi-sabbatical time has been spent exploring what I have been calling a “Continuum of Becoming” – a placeholder name, but a descriptor nonetheless. The “continuum” is a critical component to the work we are doing at Creating the Future. If we are seeking to engage everyone doing social change work in the … Read more
Most of us have had the experience of sitting by the sea, or on a mountaintop, looking out over the vastness of everything. Sitting there quietly, breathing in and out and in and out, the world seems to all make sense. We feel small, we see the inter-relatedness of everything. For a moment, we get … Read more
On August 1, I embarked on a month of “semi-sabbatical,” writing and exploring and planning and reading. I say “semi-sabbatical” because I only decided mid-July that the time was right. So there are still some tasks to be done, some projects with timelines that won’t allow me to simply abandon ship. This post is about … Read more
A thought occurred to me today, as I was reading a post from yet another well-meaning business person wanting to donate his skills to a “nonprofit” because those “poor nonprofits” so badly need business skills. Well-meaning. Patronizing. Maddening. We all see varying degrees of this in individuals and institutions who speak from their self-appointed place … Read more
Last year, as we planned to incorporate the Community-Driven Institute as its own tax exempt organization, we considered all the steps new organizations take in the beginning – build a board, apply for tax exempt status, build sustainability (financial and otherwise), and a whole line-up of tasks beyond that. As we began that planning, the … Read more
An organization Dimitri and I love is about to die. Everyone says it is a casualty of the economy. We know that is not true. Even when times were good, the ABC Group was struggling. And so five years ago, when we were teaching an earlier version of our “Building Engaged Support for Your Mission” … Read more