Become a Community Shareholder

Below you'll find the transcipt of CEO Alyssa Kopf's speech given at the 2008 Summer Celebration on June 11, 2008. Please post your comments below.

"We celebrate community in all we do. We celebrate community when we ensure giving campaigns reflect the diversity of our vital and vibrant community.

Before Community Shares, many companies believed if a nonprofit organization might conflict with the values of one person, it was best not to include the group at all. Community Shares encouraged people to talk about tough problems and support the charities and causes they care about most.

Some of our members deal with issues that push comfort boundaries. We welcomed groups addressing women’s issues and never shied away from discussing real-world concerns like affordable childcare, wage equity, reproductive choice, and political involvement, we talked about concepts like decent homes, accessible healthcare, and jobs with dignity, we included groups fighting to conserve the environment back when environmentalists were kooks, decades before going green was cool, we were the first workplace giving fund to welcome groups working for equal rights for gays, lesbians, and we championed community-owned arts and culture.

Our membership, in itself, is a celebration of community. We celebrate community through our grassroots funding structure. Rather than using a top-down model to establish community priorities, we welcome each donor to select the charities and causes they care about most. Our funding power is due to our collective strength.

Many of you are familiar with the term, “share holder”.

The definition is:

Any person or other institution that owns at least 1 share in a company.
Note:Shareholders are the owners of a company. They have the potential to profit if the company does well, but that comes with the potential to lose if the company does poorly.

We invite people to become Community Shares Holders. Just as a shareholder owns a company, we own our community. We have the potential to contribute and make our community thrive, and we face tremendous loss of health and humanity if we don’t devote attention to our community and demand investment in our shared future.

Philanthropy is a tool for democratic decision making and effective community building. As a Community Shares Holder, each donation, each designation, is your vote on how to build a stronger community. Together, our influence is mighty.

Finally, we celebrate community when we redefine the word “philanthropist” to include all people who give.

What do you think of when you hear the word, “philanthropist”?

The definition of the word “philanthropist” is fairly simple: one who actively promotes human well-being.

However, when we hear the word “philanthropist” our minds often jump to the most extreme examples; we think of black and white photos of the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, the names that grace our buildings, theaters and streets, and the new generation of billion dollar givers.

We tend to define “philanthropist” by the exception- an elite group of the largest givers- rather than the reality of giving in the United States. These “mega-gifts” only account for 1% of the national giving total. Individual gifts account for over 75% of giving and 65% of households earning less than $100,000 per year give to charity.

Why do we look outside ourselves to define something we do every day?

How does Community Shares define the word philanthropist?

You.

You are an everyday philanthropists, someone who makes our community better one choice at a time.

Philanthropists don’t just exist in black and white photos, they live in bold colors in our vital and vibrant community.

You are a philanthropist if you give an amount that is personally significant to a cause that is personally meaningful. You are a philanthropist if you set aside a few hours to volunteer each month. You are a philanthropist if you check in on an older neighbor. You are a philanthropist if you take the bus or carpools to work. You area a philanthropist if you adopted your an animal from a shelter. You are a philanthropist if you take the time to recycle, even when it isn’t convenient. You are a philanthropist if you stand up and be counted for something you believe in.

We have tremendous power as a shared community. Our giving matters. We are more powerful together than alone, and big changes require community ownership and action.

What does a “philanthropist” look like?

A philanthropist looks like you. Looks like me. Looks like us.

Thank you for celebrating community with Community Shares."