The New Faces of Philanthropy: a President, a Billionaire and a (late) Boomer
Ordinary people can do extraordinary things. It’s a simple thought, but a powerful one. I remind myself of it often, 
particularly when facing extreme challenges.
You see, I was called to serve in a roundabout and unexpected way hence the label “The Accidental Philanthropist” in recent media coverage of the birth of our “giving” story.
But the vision I share with Alex for the future of SMARTSTART|Giving is no accident; it’s a deeply inspired business strategy that began with “divine intervention”.
Actually, I believe it’s been a series of divine interventions, each uniquely designed to better prepare me to take on this important work.
How else can you explain the shift in circumstances that brought me face-to-face with former President Bill Clinton last November so I might have an opportunity to show him why Alex is the best person on the planet to lead the global marketing of philanthropy? (Time Magazine cover is a mock-up on Alex’s “vision board”)
And who could have predicted our innovative micro-fundraising program would be on the agenda for a meeting with Oprah Winfrey (thanks to Alex’s friendCameron Johnson, a contestant on The Big Give) less than six months later?
If you’ve been following the story, you know our strategy leverages the internet and uses webcast technology for sustainable micro-fundraising and is based on our shared belief “small is the new big”. We want you to know no action or contribution is too small to have an impact or be meaningful.
And we aim to prove our strategy is so effective that one day Alex will be recognized, along with President Clinton and Oprah, for his contribution to philanthropy as the whiz kid of micro-fundraising!
In fact, nothing would make me happier than to see our very own Alex recognized on the cover of Time Magazine for his work in this regard. Can’t you just picture it now?
It’s a big vision, I know. But when you have a dream, are committed to bringing your best professional excellence to it every day, and are willing to do whatever needs to be done, no matter what that may be, the smallest actions - consistently taken - can make big things happen.
It’s true; we don’t have the “name recognition” that comes with being a President or a world famous billionaire. And certainly we don’t have their financial resources or extensive contact networks either. But we have more in common with Clinton and Oprah than you might think.
For example, we’re all boomers: Clinton was born in 1946, Oprah and I in 1954, and Alex is the late boomer making his debut in 1964. (Did you notice the bookend effect between him and Clinton? Coincidence? I think not!)
We are all people with big ideas (and even bigger hearts).
We are all willing to take action to bring them to life.
We are all willing to put our own money behind our programs to cover development and administrative costs to ensure operational expenses do not erode the funds available for giving.
(For those who’ve just discovered us, we donate the funds we raise to Kiva.org to help entrepreneurs in developing countries around the world who need only small amounts of money to bring their dreams to life.)
We are all willing to bring our professional best to the table and stake our reputations on our commitment to giving.
We are all willing to withstand the slings and arrows of detractors, dissenters and critics who attack, demean and try to undermine our efforts.
And, last but not least, we are all smart enough to know without your support for our programs and your ongoing confidence in our leadership, we would be limited in what we can achieve.
That is why we are eternally grateful to you for your support and encouragement despite knowing we are neither a President or a billionaire, we are just ordinary people who have committed to this extraordinary thing called SMARTSTART|Giving. Every day we work hard to continue to be worthy of your trust and make you proud!
Thank you so much for making our work possible! So let’s stay focused on our vision… it’s only a matter of TIME.
Tags: alex mandossian, kiva.org, linda m lopeke, smartstart giving, smartstart mentoring, teleseminar secrets
April 24th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Greetings to Alex and Protegés
I am both fascinated and a little puzzled.
I am fascinated to behold this REAL philanthropy. It is the
one organisation I have heard of that I am now supporting
in any way I can. This one is making a difference already.
…and puzzled at the emphasis on an ex American President
and a magazine owned by the corporates who have nearly
brought America to its knees. Oprah is indeed an effective
publicity machine and this certainly deserves it. Are you
saying that in order to get publicity we have to touch our
caps (we ‘just ordinary people’) to the dubious establishment?
I don’t think we need to fumble their coat-tails either….
Wherefore this is a brilliant concept in itself and the movers
in this initiative should be setting their sights higher than
the sort of ‘celeb’ recognition that the press promulgate.
I think that this is the fulcrum of a TURNING POINT away from
bankrule corporatism towards the promotion of humanity.
There’s been a Nobel prize already. The Grameen is now in a
‘microfinance industry’ and if the website is anything to go by
they have taken the word micro rather to heart. One of their
success stories tells of a second loan (when the first was
repaid) to print 200 more books - in New York City. Ah well
there’s a Rockafeller on the board. No more nobels likely -
It’s well corporatised and they do business training
Now Alex is taking over to catch some money for - Kiva.org
and he’s going for it big time.
This is the kind of thing thats MAGNIFICENT! that needs the
Ecademy as Alex has already established. This movement
in itself has now a momentum of it’s own as “a way that heart
+ integrity + commonsense as a mixture can make a HUGE
difference - so large that no fame or recognition is required
- rather the simple gratitude of men and women all over the
earth and the shining of a light on real philanthropy meaning
the love of humanity - not merely tax deductable donations.
No press accolade can properly acknowledge true love. Even
those who have been mean and greedy toadies to the world
money machine can now join in, make amends and contribute
with no patronage nor the usual provisos nor constrictions.
A question - as more and more pours in can this not cancel
the debt so that it is in fact GIVING rather than LOANING?
And how can we guard against the banks and the taxmen
getting their hands on the cash mountain as it develops? It
can be done I know it - so don’t listen to detractors - even as
they position themselves ready to control. Being all the more
vigilant, we’ll take responsibility so they can’t wear people down.
I am inspired!! Thanks Alex and all contributors…. not far off is
a day when we will all be trooping off to a developing country to
be able to develop ourselves
love - Jackie
April 26th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Hi Jackie,
Thanks for your comment. Our intent with the mocked up magazine cover was to suggest Alex, who is neither an ex-President or a billionaire with tons of money and connections, will in the long-term have no less of a positive impact with his micro-fundraising campaigns. And some day, I do expect he will be recognized for his contributions and efforts in this regard.
Both Alex and I have a deeply rooted sense of self and are prepared to stay our course because it is the right course for us and we believe in what we are doing. We are grateful to those we have inspired to help us by donating and over the coming months we hope to inspire many more as well. Hope to hear you on future calls and thank you for joining in the conversation!