Marriage and Pregnancy

Disney Offers $1 Million Match for 'Stretch' Gifts

Challenge So right now I am going to make a challenge to you, but listen carefully, because it is a little unorthodox. I am challenging you to make two gifts. Why? Because I don"t believe in either-or. What I believe in, and what will kick start change, is both-and. If you do make the two gifts and they fulfill the requirements I am about to list I will match both of your gifts, dollar for dollar, in the form of a grant to the New York Women"s Foundation, up to a million dollars. I want you to make one gift this morning to the New York Women"s Foundation, and I want you to be generous because the grantees you have heard from need all of your pragmatic solidarity. (Disney subsequently approved reaching out to other potential donors through Women"s eNews and extending the deadline for the gifts to the New York Women"s Foundation.) And then I want you to go home and think of one organization that does the best, most creative work for justice and social change, and I want you to make a second gift to that organization. It might be to the New York Women"s Foundation again, or to another women"s fund, or it can go to something else. As long as your gift supports the work of change and social justice we know that your heart is with us and we will support you. I know this sounds crazy. But in reality there is a broad universe of wonderful organizations, including this one and all of the other women"s funds that spend a good deal of time and energy fighting hard to get their share of a finite pool of charitable dollars. With this gesture I hope to bust that pool open, to unleash new dollars, partly because I know they are there, and partly because without more new money we all are condemned to continue chasing our tails ad infinitum. I have spent the last 15 years at this foundation learning that when you trust people to rise, they rise, and when you ask people to aspire, they aspire, and when you let people find their own best way, the world is always better served. In order to meet this challenge your gift will have to fulfill three criteria. First: it must be a stretch gift for you. It must be over and above what you normally give in a year by a significant amount. Your fingers should shake a little when you sign the check. Second: it must reflect your strongest, most passionate belief about justice. And third, it must be instead of something else you wanted--a pair of shoes, a car, even a house. Quite literally, I want you to give until it hurts. And then give some more, because I happen to know that that"s precisely the only thing that will feel better than all the shoes and boats and cars in the world put together. If you do this within the next 90 days and send an e-mail to the New York Women"s Foundation telling us about how your gift filled each of the three criteria, I will match your gifts, dollar for dollar in the form of a grant to the New York Women"s Foundation up to a million dollars. I want to be very, very clear that today I am asking you to do something new, something different. I am not normally such an exhibitionist about things and believe me it is a very vulnerable feeling to stand here talking about this at all. I have always believed firmly that decisions about giving should never be driven by a need for recognition, but I have come to see also that they should equally not be hampered by a fear of exposure, especially when there is the opportunity to move the hearts and minds of others with it. In 1967, Bobby Kennedy took us to task for losing sight of what matters. He said: "We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones average nor national achievement by the gross national product . . . They measure everything . . . except that which makes life worthwhile; and they can tell us everything about America--except whether we are proud to be Americans." We have got to start a quiet revolution in this country and it needs to start by this being the first day of the rest of your lives. Let"s take our cash flow projections and make a mess of them. Let"s change the order in which we choose. Let"s never ever forget to feed the baby. I want you to feel in your hearts that when you give till it hurts, it turns out to be the only thing that feels really, really good. This is my declaration of interdependence. This is my thank you to you, to this foundation, and to this city, which have given me so much more than I could ever have wished for. For more information: New York Women"s Foundation: http://www.nywf.org/ Daphne Foundation: http://www.daphnefoundation.org/ Worth magazine profile: http://www.worth.com/Editorial/Money-Meaning/ Philanthropy/Feature-Wonder-Women.asp Note: Women"s eNews is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites and the contents of Web pages we link to may change without notice.

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Body jewelry commented:

I appreciate the effort of Abigail Disney, for her fabulous job. I really enjoyed your well written blog which is really full of informative stuff.

06.04.2012

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