Celebrating 20 years – our founder’s retrospective look at what’s next

Japanese word Ikigai:
Know your reason for being.  The concept of finding purpose in life. Define the reason you get up in the morning.  Make it something you are good at, passionate about, and that the world needs.  THIS is your purpose.

Since the founding of Seeds for Change 20 years ago, I personally have been compelled by our consulting firm tag line of “changing the way non profits do business.”  And our more lofty expectations of doing meaningful work to better our communities – through mission-centric projects that demand sustainable best practices of those in the non profit space.  With over 250 clients and 500+ projects, to say Seeds for Change has been a success only tells a part of the story.  We have joyfully collaborated with service providers, Executive Directors, staff, board members, philanthropists, and volunteers – people who are passionate about serving as change agents for others.  Causes include feeding and sheltering the least among us, equipping and educating future generations, providing high quality health care and mental health services, curating historical treasures, art and music, empowering all kinds of people, and much more. 

Never one to sit still while the sun is shining, my work journey as a professional has included consulting and also several meaningful employment opportunities.  These deep dives into the heart of organizations and their missions have given me keen insights into the inner workings of non profits, funders, and the government agencies who regulate, legislate, and fund projects and programs.

Lately I have been exploring the kinds of questions I think many seasoned professionals eventually ask themselves:
   - What has it all been for?
   - Am I still making a difference? 
   - Am I finding solutions or contributing to the problems?
   - How do we measure success? 
   - Are we using the right tools to truly measure meaningful impact?
   - How do we garner enough resources to sustain all of this good work?
   - What would Jesus do?
And finally:
​   - What do I want the last 5, 10, 15 years of my career to look like?  Specifically, how do I fully realize my ikigai?

My current passion includes the revisiting of an issue I personally and professionally have explored over the decades as a consultant, employee, and volunteer - homelessness.  What I have come to believe is seemingly well meaning policies, processes, programs, and legislation created by others have manifested generations of entitlements and decades of failures. Despite the successful moving of thousands of local people from the streets to costly shelters and housing, we still have far too many people living on the streets, languishing for housing that will take years to be complete. So many excuses, assumptions, and uninformed decisions are being made by the community, at an incredibly high financial cost. Political spin, self interests, and general naivete have infected the landscape creating wasteful spending on ineffective solutions that reach a small percentage of the people in need. I’ve committed myself to find, analyze, and understand the data – transparent, comprehensive, factual – to help stakeholders and decision makers create powerful, meaningful, and sustainable innovations that move the needle on the issue – based on sound data. 

Stay tuned as Seeds for Change turns the corner into our third decade of “changing the way non-profits do business.”  We will continue to do great work for all of our non profit clients.  And I enthusiastically welcome you to follow along to discover with me the iterations of my renewed passion to truly understand the homelessness space and how we - as a community - can create sustainable change.