I was honored to listen to Dr. Emmett Carson this evening at Calgary Foundation's Vital City event. He had a lot of wisdom to pass on about the future of non-profit and philanthropy and how we're not having the conversations we need to relative to where our future is headed. Look for another post on that.
The words I'm taking with me from this talk are both, and. That community foundations can address both challenges at a local and global level. The two are not mutually exclusive. There are so many issues in the world today that are not one regions to grapple with. They may be impacting one area more than another, but it's only a matter of time before we're dealing with some version of the same challenge in our own backyard. We can only keep these things out of sight and out of mind for so long.
I think both, and can go further than that though. How often do we think by choosing one option or one version of who we are that we can't be another? We limit ourselves so much by using but and or way more than both and and. It's a fun challenge I think in our personal and professional lives. Could we have a both, and situation? Maybe it's not always possible. It's definitely worth a try though to see if there is a more inclusive path forward no matter that we're considering.
Being a Force for Good 