Giving Ethically

What are your reasons for giving?

Discussions now going on in the American Ethical Union suggest that there are different motives for giving to that organization; some fairly strong voices even say that AEU should be giving money to its member Societies rather than the other way around.  The Ethical Society of Austin is also in budget-making mode, trying to balance projected needs against projected income.

I had the privilege of speaking to another Ethical Culture Society a couple of years ago.  The topic was giving, and I was invited to help inspire the opening of wallets.  There just wasn't enough money to do the things that the group wanted to do unless people started contributing more than the occasional $5 bill.  It's a common problem for all our Ethical Culture Societies.

Looking through my papers I ran across a draft of that speech.  It was titled "Giving Ethically," and based on a model that I use for framing Ethical Action as Living, Giving, Serving, and Educating.  Three reasons that I cited in that speech for giving to the Ethical Culture Movement seem relevant to current discussions.  I called these the "Why" of my giving.

• First, there is still much work to be done. Democracy is in danger. The end of racism is still so far away. We do not act like a peaceful nation no matter what our leaders say. Ethical Culture’s voice–and its reason and its humane concern–are all needed in today’s public dialogue. This moral voice can lead, inspire, teach others to be better, to be their best. I would give all I can to support the voice that says that ethics is and must be central to all we do.
• Second, there are other people like me still out there, people who have never heard of Ethical Culture. These are people who long for the light of understanding, the warmth of compassion, and the fire of commitment. Those words–”the light of understanding, the warmth of compassion, and the fire of commitment”--are what we say when we light a candle at the beginning of our Sunday meeting in Austin. Those words were what first drew me into Ethical Culture. I would give all I could to turn that candle into a beacon that signals from hilltop to hilltop that here in Ethical Culture is a community of kindred spirits in which you can grow and flourish to do and be your best.
• And third, on a more practical note, I have always been one to pay attention to the basics. I’ve been known to give the kids new underwear for Christmas. Once, when I had no cash to give, I supplied a candidate’s campaign with toilet paper (I just bought extra supplies when I bought groceries). In 25 years of managing non-profit organizations, I am well aware of the dreaded administrative costs. I know from experience that the smaller the organization the higher the percentage of budget allocated to administration. Ethical Culture–to be a beacon for those who would join our Movement and to be the voice of ethics for this nation–must have a sound foundation for its daily operations. I would (and do) give to make sure that the lights stay on and there’s someone there to keep things going.

 Nothing has changed for me in the past two years.  These are still my reasons for giving.  I have to ask:  What is your "Why"?

Reflections on Indigenous Peoples' Day

Muriel Tillinghast @ BSEC

I recently visited (October 8) the Sunday meeting of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. The speaker was a dear friend, Muriel Tillinghast, whose topic was the Indigenous Peoples' Day holiday. We talk about Native Americans little enough in Ethical Culture, though some of Societies do ritually include a land acknowledgement in their meeting programs, that I felt a need to attend the BSEC meeting as much to support Muriel as to hear what she had to say on the topic.

What Muriel had to say was quite powerful.  She talked about history (real history, not the mythology that we were taught in school), language, population (and population decimation through disease, violence, and the genocidal destruction of a primary resource for survival), the very real contributions of Native Americans to this nation.  Muriel also emphasized the existence--and neglect (or worse)--of indigenous people throughout the world.

In the discussion that followed, BSEC members talked about what they had done in the past--and could do in the future--to support Native Americans and learn more about reparations.  One suggestion related to supporting higher education by donating to the American Indian College Fund.  It happens that I agree with that strategy; it's an easy, arm-chair Ethical Action and is one way to work toward achieving the recommendations of UN Sustainable Development Goal #4:  Quality Education.  SDG 4 targets 4.3 and 4.5 are also served by this action.

Several members left the in-person BSEC meeting as soon as it ended to go to a local PowWow.  The Sacred Springs PowWow was held here in my city this weekend.  I didn't attend, but my family did (and came back with multiple tee shirts).  These events are ways to experience elements of the culture of indigenous peoples and learn a little bit about beliefs and crafting practices.  The entrance fees and the purchase of products and foods can contribute to the community.  I was pleased to see that multiple powwows are held around Texas at various times of the year.  Check in with this site to see when and where powwows will be held near you.  (And don't forget to follow the local protocol for visitors.)  I think my family will want to go to more of these events because, yet again, here is an opportunity to show and teach my great-granddaughter about the present as well as the past of our diverse nation.  

There are other ways to be supportive of the indigenous peoples' of our country.  It would, however, be more respectful of those communities to reach out to the various organizations that represent Native Americans in your area to see how you can connect with the programs that they offer and be supportive.  What do they need allies to do?  Would they be interested in speaking to your Society?  Are there issues on which you can jointly participate in advocacy?  Can you begin calling out (and calling in) those in your community who speak ill or falsely about history and living people?  Get started with a simple search:  "Native American community near me."  It's way past time to make up for Columbus!

Shop for the basket and other updates

Just a few updates for the changes that are slowly occurring with ESOA and life in general:

• I made a more or less big deal about "shopping for the basket" to provide donations for the Capital Area Food Bank.  Our old basket was getting pretty broken down.  Finally, duct tape just wouldn't do the job.  Thanks to our decisive president, Rebecca Fisher, we now have a new basket.  This one is green (various shades of which will now be our official color for ESOA stuff) and folds up nicely for storage. John Thiess, our treasurer, is also the dedicated volunteer who takes our donations to the Food Bank and keeps a tally of our donations.  The good news, from my perspective, is that we now have a more or less permanent place for the basket--under the Ethical Action display table.  You no longer have to look around and wonder where the yellow basket is, nor do you have to climb over chairs and people to get to it.  When you walk in the door now, you may be looking for coffee, but the basket will be right in front of you.  With a sign even.  Subtle, huh?

• And speaking of the Ethical Action display table, we have one.  We are making every effort to park the thing right in your way and even entice you with sweet treats to grab your coffee and come over and hang out.  
• This is where you can make your donations to the Capital Area Food Bank--canned goods and ink cartridges in the basket, money in the Feed Me canister.  Test your skills at putting a whole meal in the canister without spilling it!
• While you're there you can sign up for a shift at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless.  This is a once-a-month opportunity to help make a difference by serving dinner at the shelter.
• The EA table is the place to find updated lists of opportunities for issue education and cultural events that seem likely to appeal to ethical humanists.  (Thanks to John Thiess for his weekly activity list.)  
• Advocacy training and briefing materials will also be placed on the table.  This is where you can look for more information about the issues that we are talking about and resources on how to address them. There will usually be something different there for you to look at each week, so come on by!

• In other Ethical Action news, we are updating our page on the ESOA website.  As ethical humanists we act through giving, serving, advocating, and living.  While I try to explore some of these actions on this blog, at ESOA we are really doing the stuff I'm thinking about.  How cool is that? Very.  Check out the Ethical Action page to see what we have done, what we have planned, and--soon--more of those resources on issues and actions to take.  

• Also, too, very big news (big for me anyway--learning new skills here).  We now have an Ethical Action Calendar.  This may change to become a calendar with all ESOA events on it, but, for now, this is where you can look for service events, advocacy events, and the educational and cultural events that may inspire you as an ethical humanist.  Does anyone know how to sync this with my smart phone?  clueless

• Finally (well, probably), we have managed to complete our transition to waste free potlucks.  Some months ago, we decided to try to eliminate disposable eating and serving ware from our monthly potluck dinners.  We started with the napkins--moving from paper to cloth.  Then we accumulated some donated flatware.  Dishes we had to haul in from home each month, but we've just had a generous donation of those as well (thanks, John).  We seem to be set to enjoy our monthly dining and fellowship from now on knowing that, with a little extra effort, we have reduced consumption of products destined for the landfill or even the recycling bin. A little elbow grease, some soap and water, and, of course, some composting.  

• Finally (really this time), Trish Taylor has moved but she hasn't forgotten us.  Trish continues to serve ESOA as its webmaster--and now she's blogging about her move and this new chapter of her life.  Join her at Tea Pad Tales.  Lovely walks, lovely photography, lovely spirit.

This makes me a happy human.  :)  What should we do next?

Recycling your reads

One major influence that my late mother had on my life was to develop my interest in reading.  When I was a young child, she, herself being an avid reader, took me to the bookmobile.  She was handicapped, so climbing the steps of the bus was a serious and painful effort.  She solved the problem of the squirming little one by setting her next to a bottom shelf full of books with pictures.  When we finally got a neighborhood library, our summers were wonderful, with weekly trips to that marvelous building of light and . . . books.  In those days, an adult patron could check out twelve books, a child six.  Mama traded with me, getting six and letting me have twelve!

One other influence from my mother came when I heard her say:  "I'd rather have a roomful of books than walls filled with art."  Some might think that that was a negative influence, but what's done is done.  I freaking love books.  Not just to read.  I love to touch them, hold them, see how they are made.  I love to look at them.  Take me to a party and park me next to the bookcase. I'm good for hours. I can read tables of contents and indices with great contentment.  My dream home will have wall to wall bookcases and a nice comfy chair.  Oh, and lots and lots of books.

In reality, I have too many books.  I didn't think that would ever be possible, but I just can't store all that I have.  A hoard of books, packed away, is not the same as a library of books with all of them accessible for reading and, OK, admiring. Gotta let go of some.  No doubt you do, too.

I'm thinking it's a good thing to keep books out of landfills.  Also good to make them available to others who have less access, either because of money or of mobility/transportation issues.  Before we think about turning our books into trash or even about Recycling them, let's think about ways to work with the other R's in the environment:  Reduce and Reuse.  The obvious places to let go of our treasured books are Half Price Books and Goodwill.  But these options involve getting a poor return on the original investment or, in the case of Goodwill, not everyone's favorite place to donate.

There are other options to consider.

• Schools.  Talk to the teachers you know and see if they need books for their classroom or their school's library.  Not all books will be appropriate there, but a few might just find the perfect place to inspire our community's future. Once you have an idea about what is needed, consider holding a book drive in your neighborhood.
• Senior facilities.  Senior residential facilities often have a library or reading room.  My experience is that the books there need constant replenishing.  As it happens, ESOA has a link to one such residential complex, Wildflower Terrace, so this might be an easy to send your treasures on to a new life.* There are surely other such facilities near you.  Adopt one.  Talk to the management about what is needed, and consider holding a book drive in your neighborhood.
• Recycled Reads.  This program of the Austin Public Library takes donations of used books.  The donated books then may be sold to the public: $2 for hardbacks, $1 for paperbacks.  Proceeds benefit Austin Public Libraries.
• Buy used.  If the book you want is popular enough or old enough, there may be used copies available from a variety of sources:  Half Price Books, eBay, Amazon, Goodwill, etc.  Before you buy a new book, think about whether it's likely to be something that you will want to keep in your library or get rid of after one reading.  Maybe used will do just as well?  While this option doesn't get royalties to authors and it doesn't reduce the actual number of books in print, it is a strategy for reducing your own personal contribution to the landfill.  It extends the life of the book itself when you buy used, moreso when you pass it on when you are through with it.
• Download.  A variety of reading options are available for you if you just download a book instead of buying the print version.  You can read books on your computer, cell phone, or dedicated reader.  You can buy them new at a (somewhat) reduced price and, in the case of your cell phone, carry them around in your pocket for as long as you want.  You can even get free books, if you're into classics and out-of-copyright works, from several sources, but especially from Project Gutenberg, which makes them available in a variety of formats to accommodate just about any type of reading device.  Search for author Felix Adler and see what comes up.  
• Read 'em again.  If a book is worth keeping, it should be worth re-reading. Take some time to reconsider your personal library holdings.  What have you not yet read?  What have you read and forgotten?  What have you read and really want to read again?  Hate to let go of that book?  Read it again!

Do you know of other places where we can donate used books?  Do you have a favorite place to buy used books?  What other ways might we reduce our consumption of printed books or reuse the ones we have?

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*Hat tip to Bob Warren for modeling this ethical action.

Make your ethics Smile!

By Smile, I am referring to Amazon.com's donation program for charitable organizations, called, you guessed it, Smile.  Not too long ago, the Ethical Society of Austin completed the rather tedious application (Amazon is careful about additions to the program) to participate in the Smile program as a donation recipient.  Now all we have to do is go to our account page on Amazon.com and change the settings to allow part of our purchases to be donated to ESOA.

The amount donated is small, of course:  0.5% of the total purchase price.  That's only $0.50 for every $100 spent, but it does mount up over time and with more shoppers.  That is, the more of us who sign up for this program--and shop--the more donations will come to ESOA.

This sort of passive giving is becoming more common with businesses that want to be--or appear to be--more ethical and involved in the community ("giving back").  If you choose to shop through Amazon.com, consider taking the active step of signing up for Amazon Smile and designating ESOA as your charity.  Depending on your shopping levels, you can make helpful--and needed--contribution to ESOA.

A caveat or two.  First, although one does not have to create a new account to sign up for Amazon Smile, it may be necessary to create a bookmark (or equivalent) on your own computer and actively use that bookmark for at least a while to make sure that you are actually shopping through the Smile program.  I am not clear that your donations will go to ESOA if you just go to Amazon.com and start shopping.  If you do go to smile.amazon.com, you will see a clear indication in the upper left just under the search bar that you are "Supporting:  Ethical Society of Austin."  If that notation is not there, chances are you are not supporting ESOA with your purchases.  Apparently, as I discovered after one largish purchase, the system is not foolproof. *sigh*

Second, well, moderation in all things, y'know?