Workgroup Notes: Collaborating with Large Organizations

Open Space Notes( 6/16/07 DRAFT): EXPENDING THE SYPOSIUM’S REACH THROUGH COLLABORATIONS WITH LARGE ORGANIZATIONS; Mark Dubois

Participants included:
Alexandra Rebecca Hubbell
Annemarie Korp: ackorp@cox.net
Chris (from UK)
Jeremy Johnson
Julia Earl: juliaearl@mindspring.com
Karen Flittie: Karen@suggarts.com
Kay Sandberg: kay@soulofmoney.org
Leslie: Leslieinsc@cox.net
Mark Dubois (CONVERSATION LEADER);
Rocio
Tony
Vinit Allen

Examples of groups incorporating symposiums this year (in addition to am list):

Family Nature Summit
National Wildlife Fund youth summer camp (three facilitators)
Voluntours

Goals/Intentions This Year (Mark)
1. Three examples of programs in each sector of the mission (environmental sustainability, spiritual fulfillment, and social justice organizations
2. Symposiums by end of the year for national environmental, social justice, and spiritual fulfillment leaders (Washing, DC)
3. Help organizations be more effective with their goals.

Ideas
1. The importance of follow through with organizations as well as individuals after the symposium
2. Map our respective networks when we work with other organizations to enroll others and look for synergies
3. Be part of others’ fundraisers—for example, the Center for Attitudinal Healing (Marin County, California), local churches (Unity churches have had symposiums in many locations and may become collaborators as a national body), and spiritual centers (Spirit Rock, Marin County, CA)
4. Establish a relationship with the Skoll Foundation in Palo Alto, CA, with the intent of doing a symposium as part of their annual forum in the UK for social profits
5. Consider how to market symposium; the best tool to date: latest video in DVD format and also on www.pachamama.org; show the first or the last six minutes
6. Enroll other organizations to host and invite all their members; in one example, there were 15 co-hosting organizations, yielding 150 participants
7. Be creative in looking for groups of people with aligned values—for example, churches, spiritual centers (ex. co-housing groups (ex., Northwest intentional community)
8. We’re open to and encourage groups to make the content their own; for example, Code Pink is the farthest along, customizing the symposium to their members;
9. When such a customized version is done, ATD asks that the groups report the number of participants and how specifically they changed the content for their members
10. Incorporate music into the symposium—done at one Unity Church, for example
11. Have a conversation with Al Gore’s group (Mark to follow up with Jon re: status) perhaps through the Skoll Foundation or Participant Productions, Jeff Skoll’s production company in L.A, which produced and co-funded the funding for “An Inconvenient Truth”, and/or the producers.
12. Approach Rotary International, a global organization with a tradition of giving generously to social issues
13. Create more alliances with social justice organization with the help of allied organizations like Van Jones’ Ella Baker Center (Oakland, CA)
14. A symposium is planned in July in Boulder, Co with local groups, one of which will have a half-day program with Lynne Twist before the symposium
15. Explore how to tap into Paul Hawken’s www.wiserearth.org database of over one hundred thousand social profit organizations worldwide.

QUESTION: What organization do you love and are already a part of? Reach out to theme re: symposium sponsoring; get them inspired and help create a foundation for future collaboration. For example:

1. Save the Redwoods League
2. Burning Man (this year’s theme is ‘green’)
3. Circle of Life
4. Integral Transformational Practice/ITP
5. Global Exchange
6. Sierra Club
7. Audobon Society
8. Royal Bird Society (England)
9. Newfield Network of coaches (Chile and US)
10. Global Fund for Women
11. Church of Religious Science (Northern and Southern California; elsewhere?)
12. Agape/ Rev. Michael Beckwith (Southern Cal.)
13. Rotary Clubs
14. World Café Dialogue groups

Mark will put out a list through The Pachamama Alliance website, in addition to our posting of this on the Global Gathering blog.