CharityFocus hosted a fantastic Tiger-Team gathering last weekend -- about 45 volunteers, coordinators and organizational leaders, mostly from the Bay-Area but also from Houston, New York, Vermont, Virginia, Los Angeles, Florida, and London!   The idea was to be-the-change, reflect on the stories and best practices from the last year, and collectively brainstorm new ideas for the coming year!

As always, it was a no-overhead event with everything being contributed by volunteers.  And it was effortlessly magical.  Among the thank-you notes: "I felt like i was in the presence of a posse of inspirational giants", "highlight of my year", "honored to be there", "this is how i want to run my organization", "I couldn't stop tearing during our gratitude silence", and so on.  And yes, it's true that one attendee kept mumbling "gift economy hospital" in her dreams that night. :)

Thank you, all, for making it happen.  Below are some random photos and related emails:

Dear Friends, A whole lot of incredible activity is going on around CharityFocus spheres -- major publishers want us to write books, philanthropists want us to give away their money, established organizations are looking to us for advice on running an effective value-based effort, venture capitalists are writing us for requesting smile cards, :) top business schools are inviting us to give talks about the CF story,  filmmakers want to create videos about the gift-economy, many leaders quizically ask, "And you do all this without any paid staff?!?" It's the power of the gift-economy, of being-the-change, of good, ol' fashioned humanity.  It's so simple and yet so radically paradigm-bending in our current culture. Every so often, we come together in person to reflect and share stories/best-practices; to be together and share presence; to allow collective serendipity to sweep us into the next dimension of our work.  When we met last March, lots of cool stuff manifested; now that we've implemented most of it, :) we're meeting again! CharityFocus Tiger Team Meeting Saturday, March 1st, 10AM-5PM RSVP'd folks will be emailed the details, as we know them. :) We'll most likely be at a local monastery in Berkeley (which is a perfect setting for CF!).  To make space for deepening our internal connections, this meeting is not open to the general public; however, if you'd like to invite someone who might benefit from the shared space, please let me know.  We anticipate 30-40 coordinators and close friends, from the bayarea and around the country (and Trishna from the UK!).  And as you might guess, one act of kindness is the entrance fee. :) I apologize for the short notice, but I hope that most of you can still adjust your schedules.  Please let me know if you have any questions. With gratitude for your part in spinning the wheels, Nipun And the thank-you note: Dear Friends, Thank you for sharing your Saturday in the space of "CharityFocus". Words can't describe such gatherings, photos can't capture its essence, agendas can't quantify the work that got done.  It was love made visible, through deep integrity with every part of the process. We opened with some insightful presentations by about 10 coordinators as we heard Christine reflect on DailyGood, sipped on Arathi's heartfelt "lemonade" while listening to Service Space vision, debuted Guri's collectors-edition "thank-you" cards after a behind-the-scenes look at Smile Cards, heard Richard's journey with a gift-economy magazine as we reflected on "art", watched KarmaTube videos and listened to Silas's mesmerizing gift-economy life, and capped off the morning with Rachel's melodic happy-birthday blessing to Maushmi. The aboriginal idea of gift-economy was in the air.  And when we had lunch made by people we didn't even know, the power of gifting was felt straight in our gut. :)  The offering table also kept expanding -- Smile Cards, works & conversations, Rev. Heng Sure's Paramita CD, Global Oneness Project's DVD's, Helene's Ode Magazine, Rachel's 'full' CD, Jon's Your Planet Needs You books, Christine's Greater Good magazines and several other invisible blessings that weren't manifest. :) The afternoon's break out circles gave voice and energy to a lot of different ideas, only to appropriately end with a one big circle reflecting on the day's proceedings.  From authors to engineers to singers to filmmakers to educators to doctors to students, from locals to folks from Houston, New York, Vermont, Florida, Virginia, LA, UK, all 40-45 of us made for a richly diverse group!  More than half a dozen people explicitly talked about running their project in "this way".  Brian, from Los Angeles, even added, "Community Sweat is going gift-economy starting this Monday.  It's so clear to me.  Done!" George's guitar-led Om Mani Padme Hum chant buoyed us into a deep sense of gratitude.  No words were needed for conclusion.  For 25 of us that were able to stay for the evening, we topped off the day with Joe's Journey and heard some truly incredible stories from Silas and Richard! Our hearts connected, and in between stuff happened.  For many, CharityFocus is the latter "stuff"; but for me, it is the former "heart".  Thank you for being change.  May we all carry the spirit of this work into the small acts of our daily lives. In service, Nipun