You Don't Need To Be A Marketer To Raise $700,000, You Need A Vision

Day 8: Fusing the Business of Your Soul with The Soul of Your Business.

The night Rosa Parks died, some friends and I were sipping Korean brandy and listening to Nancy Glaser talk about changing the world. Not big, sweeping changes necessarily, but small changes, for the better. - "Desire to Live Right Life Can Change the World," Patty Fisher, San Jose Mercury News, October 26, 2005

If you think you have to be wealthy and powerful to be a philanthropist or have a building named after you, think again.

Last year, the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley honored Microsoft founder Bill Gates for his philanthropic reach. This year, it honored Jan-Willem Knapen, a 16-year-old boy known as J.W., who lost his fight with cancer this summer. He joined a list of honorees that includes Jeff Skoll and Pierre Omidyar of eBay and John Morgridge and John Chambers of Cisco. - "16-Year-Old Boy Honored For Altruism", L.A. Chung, San Jose Mercury News, October 26, 2005

The boy Jan-Willem had a vision, and people were galvanized by it.

Nancy Glaser had a vision and she was galvanized by it.

gal·va·nize tr.v., To arouse to awareness or action; spur:

This isn't a marketing success story. This isn't a fundraising success story. (And of course, it is that, too.)

Americans are hungrier than ever for the beautiful and the authentic, for experiences that challenge what we know, for ideas that show us the world from a new angle. - "Americans still seek the authentic", SF Chronicle, Joan Ryan, October 20, 2005

These stories struck a chord with me. I cried for no reason. And I cried with good reason. I still ache for the real. And obviously I am not alone:

Children sold blue wristbands. Restaurateurs threw fundraising dinners. Small family foundations wrote checks. Schools held bake sales. They did it for J.W. They did it for all the families they hope can stay at "JW House'' as they grapple with decisions that arise with insidious diseases. - L.A. Chung

Jan-Willem's vision to build a sanctuary, "a home away from home for families of gravely ill patients spurred an unusual grass-roots fundraising campaign," that's pulled in $700,000 to date. Ex-venture capitalist Glaser speaks of her vision:

"The women in Afghanistan make beautiful hand-embroidered tablecloths and napkins, but the fabric is terrible quality, the thread breaks, the colors run,'' she said. "They don't match anything you have in your home. The workmanship is beautiful, but it's the wrong color, the wrong design.''

She has enlisted designers from New York and Europe to showcase the women's work, and she's trying to raise money for better materials. It's been hard because the country is so devastated, and so much of the aid money goes for security. But she's determined to succeed.

"Once people have a livelihood and can support their family,'' she said, ``they put down their guns.'' - Patty Fisher

Columnist Patty Fisher asks us, "How do you know when you're not living the life you were meant to lead? What do you do when you wake up one day and realize the comforts you've accumulated just aren't enough anymore, that you want to use your talents to improve the lives of others?"

Recently readers in comments have asked me questions that echo these:

• How do you allow yourself to know what you know?
• Which comes first - the brand or the courage to step off the ladder?

A few years back I was on a mission to understand intuition because it seemed to be beyond my grasp. A book with the title You Already Know What to Do jumped out from the bookstore shelf. I bought it. Yet never read a single page. Somehow the title alone was enough: I'd never considered that option before. Rather I was apt to scour for books with titles like Now You Know: The Book of Answers. Trust your own compass.

People ask [Glaser] how she could take such a risk.

"I tell them that the real risk is if I stay and just live my life the way it is. Because I just can't do that.''

When Rosa Parks woke up that morning in December 1955, did she set out to change the world -- or was she just ready to stop living the wrong life? - Patty Fisher

p.s. This was the (find-the-hankerchief) clincher for me.

"I became a better doctor,'' [his oncologist Dr. Allan] Wong said at his funeral. Most patients worry when a doctor takes a vacation. Jan-Willem surprised him at his office to wish him a good trip because he deserved a rest. "Since then I find myself opening myself up more toward other patients."

To give, send checks payable to "JW House'' P.O. Box 3666, Santa Clara, Calif. 95055, or see www.jwhouse.org.

To give, send checks payable to "ARISE Project/Afghan Center", 37416 Joseph Street, Fremont, CA 94536, or see www.ariseproject.org.

p.p.s. The flames of my own vision have been stirred up to a roaring fire and I'll be sharing my story of allowing myself to know in more depth this stunning week. I realize I still haven't fully done justice to explaining my vision for artisan journalism (yet). Inspirational pieces came from links above, plus David Batstone's piece today in Worthwhile and Glaser's letters from Afghanistan here. Credit: Nancy Glaser's photo above.

Bonus Link:  Nancy Glaser says, "Even with all the devastation, there was so much hope. Turning aid containers into shops, people had already set up a bazaar on a dry riverbed.” She described women swathed in burqas and speaking perfect English (learned in refugee camps in Pakistan). Eager to be working, they presented her with resumes. She also saw school classes meeting under trees that included girls for the first time in six years.

tags rosa parks vision marketing inspiration fundraising customer evangelism business entrepreneurship startups creativity spirituality intuition