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Three Ways You Can Activate Your Philanthropy Now

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UntitledPhilanthropy is a pretty “big” word, and many people associate the word philanthropy with being rich. Philanthropists are those rich men and women who give money to the people who actually take the actions to make the projects work. If you don’t have money, you can’t be a philanthropist.

CNBC recently posted an article that backs up this belief (you can read it here: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/08/charting-philanthropys-new-age-of-exploration.html).  The article talks about three methods philanthropists are utilizing: venture philanthropy, impact measurement and evaluation, and socially responsible investing. What do these mean?

  1. Venture Philanthropy uses venture capital funding tools to promote the start-up and growth of non-profits and social ventures. It provides non-profits with the much-needed funds for operations and to generate growth until the non-profit can become financially sustainable.
  1. Impact Measurement and Evaluation Philanthropy focuses on measuring the real results of charitable efforts, results that are difficult to measure without the proper funding. It allows non-profits to identify and measure real results instead of focusing only on the easiest measurements they can gather due to limited funding.
  1. Socially Responsible Investing Philanthropy involves philanthropists making investments with the intention of generating social and/or environmental returns for society while also making financial returns for the investor.

All three of these philanthropic methods are much needed and appreciated, but they all sound unattainable for most people, and bring the focus of philanthropy back to the requirement of having money.

But, philanthropy isn’t just for the rich, and it doesn’t have a “lots of money” requirement. In fact, if you look at the definition of philanthropy it never even mentions money. Philanthropy is:

The ‘love of humanity’ in the sense of caring, nourishing, developing and enhancing ‘what it is to be human’ on both the benefactors’ (by identifying and exercising their values in giving and volunteering) and beneficiaries (by benefiting) parts.

Nowhere in this definition (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanthropy) does the definition mention needing money.

You may not be able to provide venture philanthropy, impact measurement and evaluation help, or socially responsible investing as the philanthropists do in the CNBC article, but you can provide your own philanthropic support that works with each of these larger types of philanthropy:

  • Donation Philanthropy uses whatever funds you can afford to offer to the start-up, growth, and maintenance of non-profits and social ventures. What ever amount of money you can afford to share helps support the Venture Philanthropist’s funding one dollar at a time.
  • Volunteer Philanthropy focuses on helping create real results with your charitable efforts, results that occur because of the direct actions you take to help the cause. It allows non-profits to actually create the results that are then measured my the Impact Measurement and Evaluation Philanthropist.
  • Social Philanthropy uses your personal methods of communication (telephone, email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, community groups, etc) to spread the vision of the non-profit and share the message that the non-profit needs support. Your investment of time works side-by-side with the Socially Responsible Investing Philanthropist generating social and environmental returns for society through your communications.

Both big money and small (or no) money philanthropic efforts are needed for a non-profit to succeed in their mission and bring their vision to life. The best part is:

You get to choose what YOUR philanthropy looks like.

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Indrani’s Light Foundation would love your support as a philanthropist. You can activate your personal choice of philanthropy by:

  1. If you would like to be a Donation Philanthropist you can do so on this page: http://indranislight.org/support-us/donate-now/
  1. If you would like to be a Volunteer Philanthropist sign up and take the free Live a Brighter Life Program http://indranislight.org/engage/intro-course/
  1. If you would like to be a Social Philanthropist visit the ILF Facebook page and “Like” our page, share our blog posts, and help us spread the word. https://www.facebook.com/indranislight/

We thank you for whatever form of philanthropy you choose to add into your life, whether it is with Indrani’s Light Foundation or a non-profit of your choice. We all need your support.

 

The Clock is Ticking …. TIC TOC

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The countdown to the public release of her TEDx Talk continues!  Here is part four of an excerpt of Indrani’s TEDxPortofSpain Talk!

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“By the way, the clock is ticking to count how many women and children will be abused by the end of my talk.

…. Every time a hand is raised to strike someone a question must be asked WHY? Why do we insist on passing on the disease of pain and violence to the most vulnerable?

My task today, in these precious few minutes, is to empower you to go home to your communities and families and STOP the violence to women and children.

Now before we continue, please hold up your hand if you know someone who has been beaten or violated?

Please look around, to see the prevalence of abuse in our communities.”

CALL TO ACTION

We need your support! We invite you to click on the social media buttons that appear when you hover over the image above and share this post with your friends, family, and community.  Then ask them to share this blog.  Remember, there is someone out there that you may know who needs to see this TEDx Talk because they are suffering.  Thank you for considering this call to action.

With deepest gratitude,

Team ILF

Female Avatars – Helping teach about gender equality? – A follow up post

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(You can read the first part of this post here: http://indranislight.org/female-avatars-helping-teach-about-gender-equality/)

Almost a year has passed since I wrote the original “Female Avatar” post, and I have been waiting, and waiting, to write a victorious follow up. A post where I could tell you that using a female character in that video game, and the conversations that followed, made a difference in how my son views gender.

The problem being, there were no earth shattering changes for me to report from that original conversation.

Sure, there were little signs of change. My son would get excited and cheer on the female contestants in America Ninja Warrior competitions, but he would also comment that “the girls never make it as far as the boys” (which is true, but still made me wonder if his view was changing).

We read, Wings of Fire, a series of books with some female main characters. However, these characters were also dragons, and my son LOVES everything dragon. So, I wasn’t sure if he was accepting the female characters completely, or if he was accepting them because of their dragon status.

My son has also become more accepting of the colour purple, which may seem unimportant, but for years purple has fallen into the category of “princess colour” and “boys don’t like princesses”. Unfortunately, pink, is still a colour that forms a grimace on his now 8-year-old face, and a disgusted comment of “pink is for girls.”

Now, to give the poor little guy a break, he is only 8 years old, so I am not expecting him to approach me and ask to have an in-depth discussion about gender norms and how he can work towards behaving in a manner that supports equality (to be honest, if that DID happen I would be a bit wigged out). But, I have been hoping that something “8-year-old big” would happen, showing that he was starting to see that boys and girls are equals.

That 8-year-old-big event happened last week.

We were in Kids Books, an amazing bookstore in Vancouver BC, shopping with Fionn’s cousins for some books for his birthday the following day. I was looking through some 7 to 10-year-old book series when I felt a poke. Looking down I saw Fionn, three books precariously clutched in his arms, looking up at me.

“Daddy, how about these books, they sound awesome”

“You’ve read the backs?” I asked, taking the books from his hands.

“Yes, they sound really cool.”

“For you to read, or for me to read to you?”

“I think I can read them, but I want you to read them to me.”

I looked down at the first book and the 8-year-old-big moment happened when I saw the cover:

sun catcher amazon

Let’s break this down from the view of a Dad, trying to teach his son about gender equality, and see that boys are not better than girls:

  • The picture on the front of the book is clearly a girl, and he still chose to pick up the book and read more.
  • The subtitle of the book has the word “witch” (a “girl” word) in it.

Most importantly, and amazing for me:

  • The subtitle has the word “princess” in it. A word that my son, and all of his friends usually have an allergic reaction to, with much frowning and spitting, followed by “princesses are dumb.”

All right, as earth shattering as this book selection already was for me, it might not be convincing for you. Totally understandable.

I smiled down at Fionn as I turned the book over to read the back, which read:
“Silk tells stories. It sings of secrets long forgotten. It sings of fire. Maia dreams of being a Story Teller, or a Weaver, like her father, Tareth. But when the Watcher names her Sun Catcher, she must face a destiny that Tareth has kept hidden from her. For Maia is more powerful than she knows, and she is about to discover that though the sun’s fire may be dangerous…so is she.”

The back of the book makes it clear that the protagonist is female, and, from the sounds of it, a female that will be kicking some serious butt. Looking at the backs of the other two books, each book is clearly about girls leading the way and being the focus of the story. Not just a side character in the book, but a female protagonist.

For me, after just a year ago when my son refused to even think about reading Tamora Pierce’s “Song of the Lioness Quartet” because the main character was a girl, this is a big sign that our conversation around gender equality has shifted.

Whether it was switching my video game avatar to a female character, or the follow up conversations we have had, or the changes I have made in my own behaviors that has brought about this shift I cannot say.

To be honest I don’t care what has made the difference, but I cannot explain how much pride I felt in this simple moment in the bookstore when my son chose Sheila Rance’s trilogy of books to be our next “Dad and Son” reading project.

I looked up from the backs of the books and smiled, “you bet buddy. Let’s get them all, they sound awesome.”

Fionn smiled, turned, and ran off down one of the aisles to look for more books.

 

 

Children Who Are Abused Go On To Abuse

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Here is our continuing blog series of excerpts of Indrani’s TEDxPortofSpain Talk.  The public release of her entire TEDx Talk should be available soon.  Until then, here is the third excerpt from Indrani’s TEDx Talk:

“Jails are full of people who were abused as children.

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Our personal pain and inherited cultural ignorance must never be passed onto our beautiful and vulnerable children. Children need to feel cherished.

…… Boys who receive abuse go on to abuse their wives and their children. They think violence is love.

Girls who receive abuse go on to expect and accept abuse and to abuse their children, they think abuse is love.

They grow up to parrot another one of the Living Lies…when they are struck with force and fury, they are told …

This hurts me more than it hurts you…, This Is A Lie!”

CALL TO ACTION

We need your support! We invite you to click on the social media buttons that appear when you hover over the image above and share this post with your friends, family, and community.  Then ask them to share this blog.  Remember, there is someone out there that you may know who needs to see this TEDx Talk because they are suffering.  Thank you for considering this call to action.

With deepest gratitude,

Team ILF

 

Ordinary Household Items Becoming Instruments of Torture

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In the last blog, we promised you an excerpt of Indrani’s TEDxPortofSpain Talk every day until the public release of her entire talk in the coming weeks.

Here is the second excerpt from Indrani’s TEDxPortofSpain Talk:

TOOLS OF TORTURE.

“I had the great fortune to speak to a group of young people here on the Island …all top students from the best schools.

I asked them they were experiencing violence at home. EVERY one raised their hand.

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I then asked what weapons were being used…

Here is a short list

  • LARGE SPOONS
  • SHOES
  • BELTS
  • HANGERS
  • SHOVELS

ORDINARY HOUSEHOLD ITEMS BECOMING INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE.”

CALL TO ACTION

We invite you to click on the social media buttons that appear when you hover over the images above and share this post with your friends, family, and community. Then ask them to share this blog.  Remember, there is someone out there that you may know who needs to see this TEDx Talk because they are suffering.  Thank you for considering this call to action.

With deepest gratitude,

Team ILF

2 Million Missing Women Every Year & One Small Step You Can Take to Help!

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Indrani is back from TEDxPortofSpain.  She is over-the-moon excited about how her talk landed with the audience, and for herself.  She spoke her truth ….. she also spoke for millions of women on our globe who can’t speak for themselves.

The ILF Team will be posting excerpts of Indrani’s TEDx Talk on social media, leading up to the public release of her talk from TEDxPortofSpain sometime next week.  We feel strongly about sharing her TEDx Talk to as many people on the planet as possible, but we need support!  We need YOUR support.  If you want to be an activist to end violence against women, but you do not have the bandwidth to be a trainer right now, you can take one minute a day to share our social media posts and tweets, comment on them, and spread the message.  This work is so important to us that we will not be shy about asking for support.  Just as you should not be shy, or ashamed to ask for support when you need it.

Here is the first excerpt of Indrani’s TEDx Talk:

“The United Nations recently listed the greatest Public Health threat gripping our world.

Once it was mosquitos, once it was HIV/AIDS, once it was Ebola. Now it is violence to women and children and it has reached plague proportions. If we knew the extent of abuse taking pace at this very moment within a ONE mile radius of this building, we would scarcely be able to carry our own weight, we would be on our knew. Let alone the TSUNAMI of abuse happening across the world at this very moment.

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It costs the US, Canada and Australia, over 18 Billion dollars each year because of Intimate Partner Violence.

Would you believe 107 MILLION females are missing from the planet today and every year 2 million more go missing?

Yes, this is the world we are living in.”

CALL TO ACTION

We invite you to click on the social media buttons that appear when you hover over the images above and share this post with your friends, family, and community.  Then ask them to share this blog.  Remember, there is someone out there that you may know who needs to see this TEDx Talk because they are suffering.  Thank you for considering this call to action.

 

With deepest gratitude,

 

Team ILF

Indrani prepares for TEDx

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12122540_10153724816049048_3691618882161301749_nThis has been an extraordinary year for Indrani and the team here at Indrani’s Light Foundation.  The opportunities Indrani has been given to speak about the pandemic of violence against women has superseded her expectations, and has launched our mission into high gear.  Not only has she spoken to the United Nations this year, but she has spoken to audiences in many countries about her dream to end gender based violence globally.

What’s next you ask?

Indrani has been invited to be a keynote speaker at the TEDx Port of Spain this month! 

As Team ILF helps Indrani prepare for her talk, we observe and feel Indrani’s passion and desire to use this platform to speak for all of us who want to help abused women in the world.

Time is ticking ….. every second that passes, a woman in the world is being abused, raped, kidnapped, beaten, or killed.  TIC TOC. 

Would you like to join our mission to end violence against women?  Take a look at this short interview with Indrani, and her explanation as to how just one person can change our world.

If you would like to be a volunteer, go to our website at and learn about our Train-The-Trainer Online Course which starts on October 16th.

If you would like to help our mission by sharing our updates and events with your friends and family, go to our website at www.indranislight.org and sign up for our newsletter.

You can also follow Indrani on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/indranislight

Stay tuned for the aftermath of Indrani’s TEDx Talk at the Port of Spain.  We will publish the talk as soon as it becomes available.

 

Love and Light,

 

Team ILF

Brighter Life Bit #22: Critical Awareness – Letting Go

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ILF_Wtagline_Logo rgbYou can listen to the original teaching at the 55 minute mark of the Class 3 recording. You can download the audio from iTunes here  or from the ILF website here.

In this section, we teach you about “Critical Awareness, and how can you practice it?

Critical Awareness is knowing why something exists, how it works, how our society is impacted by it and who benefits from it.

In order to practice CRITICAL AWARENESS, you must:

  • Contextualize, and see the big picture
  • Normalize, and realize you’re not alone or the only one
  • Demystify, and understand its source

To practice Critical Awareness, answer these questions in your journal:

  • What are the expectations around your trigger?
  • Why do these expectations exist?
  • How is our society influenced by these expectations?
  • Who benefits from these expectations?

Share your experience with how these exercises worked for you in the comments below.

 

Someone Like You Can Change the World

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UntitledYou might be wondering how “someone like you” can change the world. You might try to convince me you are afraid to speak in public, you are in introvert, or you don’t feel you could say the right words to comfort someone in pain.

Well I’m here to remind you that you don’t have to speak on stages, you don’t have to be a “socialite,” and you don’t have to always find the right words to comfort someone.

Here is a simple “everyday” story that Indrani shared with us the other day. This may help you understand how you can be an activist by just sitting on a train.

Indrani’s Train Scene:

I am sitting on a train.

A woman enters and is very nervous.

Woman: “Does the train to go city hall?”

Indrani: “Yes it does.”

She sits and I can feel her anxiety. We talk …she has important business. Her breathing is very shallow.

I teach her how to belly breathe. She does it for the whole time.

Woman: (Smiles at me) “Where do you teach?”

Indrani: “Right here.”

What is the lesson in this story for you?

You see, people need YOUR wisdom.  People deserve YOUR compassion.  And you CAN make a difference in the world by just sitting on a train.

Let’s pretend we know the ending of this story.  How did this simple breathing exercise that Indrani taught this woman make a difference, and how did the actions of this woman at city hall eventually effect hundreds of lives in a wonderful way.

Yes, YOU can do this work.  You can be an activist in a quiet way and still change the world….. One woman at a time.

I invite you to join Team ILF, and our mission to end violence against women.  You can begin the journey to be an activist by listening to our FREE Live-A-Brighter-Life recordings, available here at: http://indranislight.org/engage/intro-course/

You can also become a Master Trainer for ILF by enrolling in our brand new ONLINE TTT Course beginning October 16th! Yes, you can be trained from the comfort of your own home or office. Click here for the details of this amazing opportunity.

 

With deepest gratitude,

Amy

Director of Outreach & Training | Indrani’s Light Foundation

 

DetachMEnt

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12009824_892412037516939_4778200098043983122_nThe word is detachment. The meaning is clear…..the underlying meaning is hard.

I was lucky enough to be a guest at one of the finest spas in the world, Ananda in the Himalayas.

While there, I attended a lecture on the Buddhist philosophy on detachment.

It was a good lesson.

I pondered on it and patted myself on the back about all the times I had “practiced” detachment.

12039292_892412050850271_5152356866228833580_nI went back to my room and began to work on one of the Mandalas I brought to do meditative coloring.

 

The Mandala I choose was called Mandala of the Mothers, and talked about creativity and how important it was to be able to actively destroy a piece of art.

I froze… it meant that I was going to do my best work on this piece and then actively Detach and Destroy.

It made me very sad.

 

12042884_892412087516934_6247763140236545712_nIt brought up emotions that I had not expected.

I thought that I may as well just destroy it before I did my best with it.

THEN… the true detachment lesson appeared to me.

 

“Do your very very best, then detach from it.”

 

 

12032981_892412097516933_5799320541859878675_nIt took me another few weeks before I could muster the courage to work on the art work, then actively detach and destroy.

 

What can you detach from today?

 

 

Love and light

Indrani