Philanthropy Should “Dream the World As It Ought To Be”
One of my favorite quotes that has guided my career and leadership style comes from a 1988 benediction at Sarah Lawrence College given by the revolutionary Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison:
You will be in positions that matter. Positions in which you can decide the nature and quality of other people’s lives. Your errors may be irrevocable. So when you enter those places of trust, or power, dream a little before you think, so your thoughts, your solutions, your directions, your choices about who lives and who doesn’t, about who flourishes and who doesn’t will be worth the very sacred life you have chosen to live. You are not helpless. You are not heartless. And you have time.
It reminds me to always do two things: (1) acknowledge the power I hold, and (2) use it to harness the potential of reimagining everything for the good of all. The deeper I embed my commitment to reform in movement work, the more I am compelled to sharpen a critical lens. This has fostered a growing passion for Solidarity Economy grounded the principles of care and community building. After reading a recent Chronicle Philanthropy article, How One Word Could Change Philanthropy, I had mixed reflections.
Aside from the role of funders, it is perplexing the vast number of social impact organizations with progressive missions that perpetuate outdated human resource policies. Lack of pay transparency, limited time off, demanding meeting schedules, little to no "work-life balance," just to name a few. Many such policies are a fundamental disservice to social justice capacity building and are rooted in a lack of trust--the antithesis to community. To "be the change" we hope to create in this country, we must take a more radical approach to practicing solidarity.
I'm encouraged to see this getting more attention. Let's never forget, all we have is each other and our dreams.
To read Toni Morrison’s collection of essays including the full transcript of this speech excerpt, check out The Source of Self-Regard (2019).