The Power Is In The Collective

People assume that when you start something like Seed Change Collective, the primary goal is to immediately raise money.

It’s a fair assumption for a philanthropic organization, but it’s the wrong one to lead with.

The money was never the point. The money is what follows – it follows trust, it follows participation, it follows the proof that a group of people can steward something together and do it well. Capital chases confidence and confidence is built by people…not spreadsheets!

That’s the truth that I keep coming back to when I think about what drives my heart towards the success of this organization: The power isn’t in the money, it’s in the collective.

The Engine Was Never Capital

We live inside a story that says resources come first and people come second – that if you can just secure the funding, the community will fall into place behind it. This is a story that I’ve watched fail more time than I can count. Well-funded efforts often collapse because no one owned them. Daily, decisions are made and funding is provided to individuals or organizations that utilize those funds for a purpose but are never really tied to the outcome beyond the funding. Alternatively, under-resourced efforts often thrive because everyone took ownership. It was a collective effort of people, pooling together their resources, and working together around a common agenda.

People are the engine. Not donors as a category, not “stakeholders” on a slide – actual people who show up, who contribute what they have, who hold each other accountable to something bigger than any one of themselves. When that engine is running, money is fuel. When it isn’t, money is a burden.

Collective is the Model, Not the Branding

A collective is a number of person or things considered as one group or whole. One of my favorite concepts is that of Collective Impact – a structured framework where organizations from different sectors commit to a common agenda to solve complex social problems. This framework focuses less on what we can do individually, and more what we can achieve when we work together.

Collective generosity follows the same principle – people giving what they can collectively to great a bigger impact. That is the driving force behind Small Donations. Big Impact. The is the driving force behind a $1 Campaign. It’s not the capital, or how much money we can make, it’s how many philanthropic hearts we can bring together through random acts of kindness and the realization that we can achieve far more together than we ever can alone.

Stewardship is shared and that’s harder than writing a check and walking away. It’s slower at the start, but its the only model I’ve seen that compounds because every person who participates makes the next person’s participation more valuable. That is the difference between a fund and a movement. A fund distributes money. A movement multiplies trust – and then the money moves.

What We’re Building Towards

So when someone asks me how Seed Change Collective will sustain itself, I don’t start with budget, or the amount of money we need. There is an innate level of trust in good stewardship and faith. The organization will be fine, even on the 20% grounds of our 80/20 philosophy. Our focus is on people. Are we earning trust? Are we widening participation? Are we being good stewards of what’s already being entrusted to us?

Get those three things right, and the resources will find us – because philanthropy is of the heart. The seed was never the money – the seed is us – the collective – and what we’re willing to grow together. I am beyond grateful and thankful for this opportunity to grow something with each and every one of you and look forward to the difference we can make around the world.