Revolution of the Heart
by By Shore, William H.
Category: Social Science , General

Alarmed by the spread of poverty and its closest ally, hunger, Americans eager for solutions have found themselves with few ideas and little hope. Shore provides not only inspiration but also lucid directions for the journey from traditional politics to a more direct and powerful way of connecting to our communities and, through them, to the people in our lives and to ourselves.His is a two-part strategy: First, he calls on the nonprofit sector to become self-sustaining by creating new wealth with the same aggressive financial acumen essential to any business. Second, he calls on us as citizens to assume responsibility for the next generation by becoming personally involved with those in need - not through the donation of our own "leftover wealth," but through the contribution of skills, talent, and time.In Share Our Strength he has created a revolutionary organization which has grown in one decade to a $30 million grant-giving operation that takes none of its funding from the government, and in so doing he has reinvented the traditional notion of a nonprofit that survives on foundation grants and private donations. Instead, Share Our Strength generates new wealth through entrepreneurial ventures - corporate marketing partnerships and the sale of goods and services - that exploit the forces and demands of the marketplace for greater good. Share Our Strength and a number of other innovative organizations are at the forefront of a new breed: the nonprofit run for profit. Money made is reinvested in community-based projects and programs that directly serve those in need.