NEWS

Insights for Change, report, ideas, inspiration Danielle Goldstone Insights for Change, report, ideas, inspiration Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: Unleashing Our Spiritual Imagination

Faith & Philanthropy, an exploratory joint grantmaking initiative that aims to shape “a philanthropic landscape that embraces the transformative potential of spirituality and faith to address the pressing challenges of our time,” recently released a Spiritual Imagination report featuring twelve grantees rooted in various spiritual traditions that are leveraging faith and spirituality for social impact.

Read More
book, ideas, inspiration, theology, Insights for Change Danielle Goldstone book, ideas, inspiration, theology, Insights for Change Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: Liberate leadership from the pyramid

Like every institution in the 21st century, religion today confronts existential questions about its future, uncertain of its place in an era where trust in institutions has eroded and traditional hierarchical organizational structures have started to flatten. The formerly reliable foundations of our religious life feel insecure–for no one more than clergy, who are largely trained to be solo, prophetic leaders of congregations. But in this uncertainty lies possibility. A new book by two religious leaders, Rev. Kathleen McShane and Rabbi Elan Babchuck, will help clergy, and all faith-rooted leaders, embrace the liberating opportunity this current moment provides. It’s time to adopt a new form of leadership, free of the burdens of pyramid-shaped empire that have shaped our past. 

Read More
Insights for Change, ideas, inspiration, book Danielle Goldstone Insights for Change, ideas, inspiration, book Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: Weaving networks

Houston, we have a problem. The complexity of the issues we face, both global and local, are simply too great for any one person or organization to take on alone. And yet, the systems in which we operate tend to incentivize heroic leadership, organizational competition for funding, and transaction over relationship. The good news? There's a different way if we shift our frameworks, incentives, and approaches: cultivating networks.

Read More
event, ideas, inspiration, Insights for Change Danielle Goldstone event, ideas, inspiration, Insights for Change Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: Tapping our transformative potential

Last month, I attended a gathering of “spiritual changemakers.” Participants at this event, Soularize—co-hosted by Ashoka, The Presencing Institute, and Co-Creative—came from around the world and from all layers of spirituality and religiosity. They shared a common commitment to imagining a different world in which all people thrive, and to the role that spirituality plays in creating that world.

Read More
Insights for Change, ideas, inspiration, video Danielle Goldstone Insights for Change, ideas, inspiration, video Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: "We have to evolve past random worthy efforts"

Ending homelessness is not a pie-in-the-sky aspiration for the organization Community Solutions. They are working to actually end it and have shown it’s possible. Fourteen counties across the U.S. have already reached “functional zero” homelessness—meaning it’s rare, quickly flagged when it happens, and quickly and sustainably resolved—using the Community Solutions methodology. In this Ashoka interview, founder Roseanne Haggerty talks about the approach and methodology.

Read More
ideas, inspiration, Insights for Change, video Danielle Goldstone ideas, inspiration, Insights for Change, video Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: Our purpose matters more than our form

I had the pleasure of being part of Spencer Burke’s Next Sunday Summit last month. Check out my conversation with Spencer on how our purpose as faith communities matters more than our form and how we need to expand our horizons and imagination about our spiritual, community, and change power.

Read More
Insights for Change, ideas, history Danielle Goldstone Insights for Change, ideas, history Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: Creative courage to build for an envisioned future

On a recent call, a friend of mine in Poland shared his take that the innovation of the underground Solidarity movement in 1980s Poland was that it basically ignored the tanks on the streets that threatened political repression. While the tanks rolled, the people went about building their own underground civil society, which then became the foundation for democratization. Surely they couldn’t actually ignore the threat, and Solidarity continued to organize protests against the government even after they went underground. But I think he meant that they did not let the tanks steal their focus. They didn't just act against something, they built something new. Underground, they built the structures for a democratic society.

Read More
Insights for Change, ideas Danielle Goldstone Insights for Change, ideas Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: From service to solutions

As faith communities, we engage in so many essential social service efforts in our communities. It is sacred work to be present to people marginalized by the systems of our societies. It is also sacred work to change those systems. As we serve, we have the opportunity to learn, collect data, spot patterns that can help point to systemic solutions.

Read More
Insights for Change, ideas Danielle Goldstone Insights for Change, ideas Danielle Goldstone

Insights for Change: Success metrics for faith communities in a changing world

In April, we hosted a conversation with Henry De Sio, Stephen Lewis, and Rabbi Elan Babchuck about how people and communities of faith can lead in a world of explosive change. One thread that emerged in the conversation was the question of how faith institutions think about success in a changing world. As Elan explained, “The old way has an old set of KPIs [Key Performance Indicators]: budgets, butts [in seats], and and buildings. This puts us in the entertainment industry, not the transformation industry.” So let’s start imagining a different framework, one that helps us position our leadership to bring transformation to an increasingly complex world. What would that look like?

Read More
inspiration, ideas, Insights for Change Danielle Goldstone inspiration, ideas, Insights for Change Danielle Goldstone

"How do we keep a people as old as Moses innovating?" Insights for institutional religion from a gathering of spiritual innovators

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend a gathering of the Kenissa network, a group founded by Rabbi Sid Schwarz, that brings together leaders who are re-imagining Jewish life and fostering "communities of meaning." Kenissa supports and connects these leaders to help their efforts and emerging communities to thrive. The gathering was representative of a growing movement of faith-based innovators operating outside the bounds of traditional religious institutions and a model of three characteristics I believe our religious institutions must learn to adopt if they are to flourish in the current era and into the future.

Read More