Hello! A warm welcome to you! Here you'll find reflections and conversations on the practice of philanthropy — and on being human. So glad you’re here.
What We’re About Here
The roots of the word "philanthropy" are "love of" and "humanity."
So why do we see so little love, or humanity, in the ways we practice systemic philanthropy in our modern culture?
To love and care for our fellow human beings is one of the most human things we can do. Yet, we've found a way to overcomplicate this natural impulse, to sully it.
Let's get back to the roots of what it means to be human.
Let's return to true philanthropy together.
How Do We Do This?
Loveletters: You’ve likely heard of newsletters. You probably receive more than one. This is a lot like those. But we’re calling it something different. More than a bunch of “news” when these emails land in your inbox, you’ll be receiving a whole lot of love. Some lessons. Some thoughts to stretch you. Some conversation. Some inspiration. A chance to practice with what you’re learning. The hope? You actually look forward to these emails… and they’re not just another thing clogging up your inbox.
Podcast: The For the Love of Humanity Podcast is a mix of two formats: solo, spoken-word versions of loveletters, and conversations with guests.
Written Chats: Here at For the Love of Humanity, we’ve got a written chat feature that allows all Supporting Subscribers to start and participate in ongoing chats with other community members gathering here. We’re also launching a new experiment in these chats called Asynchronous Content Club (think a book club, except we explore many different types of content besides books together, and we engage asynchronously with each other to accommodate our disparate and busy schedules). So fun!
Fire Circles: We hold monthly Fire Circles (via Zoom) for Supporting Subscribers. For countless generations, we humans have gathered in circles around fires. The warmth, the light, the fellowship drew everybody in. Here, we recreate our ancestors’ fire circles in a virtual setting. And even though there isn’t actually anything burning in front of us, we have plenty of what’s always been there: warmth, story-telling, fellowship, community, connection, support. Each month, I set a general topic area. We then come together to share stories with each other around that topic — about ourselves, our loved ones, our life experiences. Like gathering around fires, telling stories to each other has been a part of being human forever and ever. Let’s reconnect to that practice together.
Examples of Potential Topic Areas We’ll Cover Here
Charity/Solidarity
Love: Interpersonal
Love: Intrapersonal
Love: Cultural/Societal
On Being Human
Embodiment
A More Human Fundraising
A More Human Institutional Giving
On Individual, Family Giving
A More Human Donor Relations
Community-Centricity
Community Investment
& More (Open to Suggestions/Requests!)
Intended Audience
For the Love of Humanity’s primary intended audience is people who are actively participating in the “industry” of the modern-day system of philanthropy (from fundraisers, to individual and family donors, to business-based community relations folks, to foundation founders or staffers or board members, to nonprofit board members, to nonprofit staffers, etc.).
However, philanthropy — at its roots — is one of the most human things that a human can do. With that understanding, our hope is that everyone would be able to gain something from, and grow from participating in, this community.
More About Cecelia & This Work
Cecelia is a social worker, professional fundraiser, mystical priest, teacher, coach, guide, mentor and mentee, writer, reader, global citizen, community member and nurturer, co-liberation seeker, natural world-lover, musician, photographer, gardener, wife, auntie, sister, and more.
She uses this framing as a way of introduction to who she is, because she’s interested in, knowledgeable about, and skilled in a wide range of things. And she aims to bring all of her varied experiences to who, and how, she is here… and to how she guides this project of For the Love of Humanity.
We’ve grown accustomed to fractionalization in every area of our lives — and inevitably, that translates to our inner selves too. We’ve grown to normalize being one person in one setting… and another person in another setting. We’ve been taught that we’re not supposed to bring our whole selves into certain scenarios — most especially ones that we’ve dubbed “professional.”
This should change.
This is not healthy for us as human beings.
We are made to be whole.
So Cecelia models bringing her whole self here, and she asks you to do the same. We will practice a new level of integration together, here.
She started her adulthood living within two monasteries, while studying for and earning her Bachelor’s degree in English. After that experience, she moved into one intentional community, followed by another… and soon, she had moved into what was essentially an ashram, where she dedicated her days to study and growth within the inner mystical spiritual path. She has often joked that she has “monastic tendencies,” and those tendencies continue to this day.
She was eventually ordained as a mystical priest, while in the process of attending graduate school to become a social worker and earning her MSW.
Soon, she found herself engaged in lots of nonprofit-based work, as many social workers are. And she began to realize just how important the funding for the work was. Without that, nothing else was possible.
Her wheels got turning: she had studied writing and communication and was interested in these things she was hearing about, something called “grants.”
What if she learned how to write grant proposals?
She then set out to learn how to do just that, by working alongside and learning from a life-changing mentor. She soon moved into practicing all the other elements of nonprofit fundraising and development, as well (from working with boards, to PR, communications, and marketing, to event-planning, to building relationships with donors, to writing fundraising appeals).
Before long, she started becoming uncomfortable.
Things felt weird.
Perhaps because of both her spiritual and social work training, or even simply because she was especially in touch with her own humanity, she often noticed how much various gnarly societal dynamics — related to race, class, gender, and more — were creating lots of opportunity for dissonance, extra stress, and unique pressures.
Not fun.
Not life-giving.
Not very loving, that’s for sure.
She’s now been working in this field of philanthropy for nearly two decades. And she’s been working to change the unhealthy realities and systems within philanthropy for most of that time.
But changing entrenched realities and systems is hard.
We all know this.
Change of any kind is hard for us humans.
True change often seems unreachable.
So.
Instead of struggling against what is anymore, For the Love of Humanity is a new set of seeds Cecelia is planting. And she asks you to join her in helping them grow.
Let’s stop trying to change what is.
Let’s grow something new.
Together.
Join Our Community with a Subscription
For the Love of Humanity is a community of people who want to find the way deeper into love and our shared humanity — to grow a new philanthropy together.
Here’s more about what a subscription means.
Free Subscription
➡️ Loveletters in your inbox on Fridays
➡️ Generally two long-form podcast episodes a month in your inbox
Supporting Subscription
As a Supporting Subscriber of For the Love of Humanity, you’ll have the offerings above… plus these additional opportunities allowing you to engage in this community and go deeper with the community and within yourself:
➡️ podcast-based, short (5-15 min) Morning Meditations available to you every weekday, wherever you get your podcasts;
➡️ monthly Fire Circle gatherings (focused on story-telling) with the Supporting Subscriber community, which happen on Zoom;
➡️ online chats with the Supporting Subscriber community right here in our chat feature on Substack, including a regular, ongoing Asynchronous Content Club (think a book club, except we explore many different types of content besides books together, and we engage asynchronously with each other to accommodate our disparate and busy schedules);
… and perhaps most importantly, as a Supporting Subscriber, you’ll help provide the financial support needed to make For the Love of Humanity sustainably possible.
