The Joy of Giving
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by Carolyn Stevens
The marvelous dynamic of joyful giving permeates my life. In my career, I work with not-for-profit institutions to help them strengthen their fundraising, communications, and leadership, so that they can bring their missions to life. As a Shalem volunteer, I work with a talented, devoted staff and team of volunteers along the same lines.It is our joyful duty to tell the story of Shalem to those who may thirst for its myriad programs and services and to invite all of Shalem's thousands of friends to give to advance this institution's precious mission and vision.
In my professional and private life, therefore, I am blessed to live in a gentle, flowing abundance. I get to watch the process of grace-filled giving and receiving unfold from every angle.
As a partner in communications with other volunteers, I hear the group's urgent desire that those who are ready and looking for contemplative prayer find us before them, standing out like a bright penny in a gray gravel path, the moment the seeker realizes the desire for another way to God. So we put ourselves before the world in many ways- this newsletter, program guides and brochures, invitations to events and open houses, advertisements and announcements, and, perhaps most effectively, by word of mouth.
Thanks to Jerry May's leadership, Shalem has a Website (www.shalem.org). I love to turn over in my mind the wonder-ful juxtaposition of the ancient, intimate practice of contemplative prayer with the instantaneous, vast community of the Internet. Now hundreds of millions of people can find a source for the single most important relationship of their lives and souls. Log onto God. It's a hoot! And it is a gift.
As a partner in fundraising with other volunteers, I share the fear and wonder of the annual campaign. We come together in the fall for the first meeting of the new campaign. We celebrate the achievement of the year before, praying our thanks-giving for the thousands of individual acts of love and generosity that once again brought Shalem the resources it needs to thrive and be a living guide to God. And then we take up the new year's goal. We begin again at zero-a silent, spacious number if there ever was one-and scale the chart of needed gifts.
It must be how the first west-bound settlers felt when crossing the Rockies: up one mountain, only to find the next, looming even larger. We climb as a team, giving thanks with each step for each person who responds, offering our prayer that their gifts bring them joy. We come back after Shalem's fall board meeting and find a great leap forward toward the goal. Then the responses to the letters Tilden sends to every friend of Shalem begin to cascade in, and we rise, and rise. Throughout the fall and winter, dozens of people close to Shalem are in touch with one another again. Calling, writing, reconnecting, all around prayerful consideration of making a financial gift to reflect the love they feel emanating from Shalem in so many ways.
As a donor, I am reminded of all the times I have urged the board members of my client organizations to honor the importance of their board service in their giving, to make their largest personal gifts to the organizations where they serve as leaders. Considering the scope and power of Shalem's gifts to me, I am-as always- awestruck. It was on the path Shalem opened for me that I first believed God loves and accepts me fully, just as I am. It was here that I began to find the stillness within where God's love and will live and speak. It was through Shalem that I first touched that rare, ineffable sense of endless peace, through Shalem that I learned how to find a place where joy and peace cascade from within like a tropical waterfall unbound from gravity. Here I have found the most beautiful people- generous, loving, gentle, joyful, brilliant, humble, grateful, grace-filled.
I contemplate the magnificent scope of Shalem's gifts to me, and I am both humbled and filled with joy. I say thank you with the best and biggest gift I have ever made in my life and feel completely light and free, laughing out loud.
Hundreds of Shalem's friends have joined me in this joyful act of giving already in this program year. More will do so in the winter and spring. By the end of June we'll find the summit of our goal once again in reach.
Next fall, we'll begin again, our slow walk up the mountain of blessings Shalem's friends bestow. I like to think that for every giver, the gift is, like mine, just a tiny reflection of what we have received and a source of joy.
Carolyn is a Shalem Board member and current chair of the Development & Communications Committee. She is also a professional fundraising consultant.
© 2008 The Shalem Institute.