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| The Sharing the Harvest Initiative |
Sharing the Harvest is one of the Four Leaves, one of the four basic tenets, of the Earning Serendipity methodology. In simple terms, it teaches that to create and sustain a momentum of good fortune means to consistently work to lift and serve the community in which one resides. The sad fact is, though, that in good times this is a difficult idea for many to grasp, that their own success depends upon the betterment of those around them. During difficult or uncertain times, it is almost natural for people to look inward, to hoard their personal and professional resources. During periods such as the global economic crisis we’re experiencing now, people enter a defensive and survivalist mode. An ‘Every man for himself” mentality pervades and, rightly or wrongly, scarcity begins to ripple through every facet of society. |
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As the global economy continues to struggle, charitable giving to non-profits of all stripes has seen and likely will continue to see decline. A tragic casualty of this recession is no doubt going to be the demise of important institutions whose missions are defined by efforts to improve the lives of the sick, the less fortunate and the downtrodden. Though the institutions may fail, the importance of the causes still remains. |
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The ‘Sharing the Harvest Initiative’ is geared toward igniting collaboration among non-profits for the holistic betterment of their cause-based missions. The fable of Stone Soup is not unfamiliar to the world of non-profits; the moral that suggests an effort by the community at large can breed greater results than the efforts of each individual. What we hope to accomplish through this initiative is to provide a cauldron, provide the stone, and to light the fire that sets the water to boil. |
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| To Light the Fire |
With the upcoming release of Earning Serendipity, we have been increasingly been given the opportunity to have Glenn either create or participate in various media opportunities. Our first initial concern is to leverage the release of the book to give maximum exposure to this effort. |
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The Glenn Llopis Group (GLG), in conjunction with Dr. PK Shukla and the Chapman University Leatherby Center, is in the process of organizing a tour of the top 25 Graduate and Undergraduate Entrepreneurial Programs in the United States. The purpose of this is multi-fold. Obviously, promoting the book is central to our goals, but beyond that we are working with corporate sponsors to create an event exploring and celebrating multi-cultural entrepreneurism. The event will include keynotes and workshops from various industry voices, as well as recruiting and information booths from various organizations. We propose to include a booth promoting the STHI, where participating charities would be able to display information about their causes, recruit volunteers and to expand the contact lists created by STHI. The later release of both Korean and Spanish versions of the book (already in the works) will be supported with similar efforts, and STHI will be included in these tours as well. |
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Ideas to further promote awareness of the initiative on our side our limited only to our imaginations. For instance, just one: we have made arrangements for Earning Serendipity to be displayed and sold in airport bookstores across the US.One method of creating awareness—lighting the fire—could be Point-of-Purchase promotions through these vendors; where each person purchasing the book might be given a promotional bookmark with information about STHI. |
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we also intend to use the platform of media opportunities presented to us to promote STHI. At this time, Glenn is actively hosting the Earning Serendipity Radio Show, airing weekly on the Voice America network. This is an obvious example of a forum from which we can assist in creating awareness of the Initiative. we anticipate—and have staff actively working to achieve this end— Glenn being included as a guest in both local and national media outlets after the book’s release. We will work to actively promote the STHI at these events. |
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Additionally, we have created an online forum entitled The Thresher: Cultivating Ideas and Sharing the Harvest (to be hosted at ThresherOnline.com), scheduled to launch within the next few weeks. With a contributor base that will include best selling authors, top academicians and leading voices from the business world, we hope to find that we quickly develop an online audience. This presents a wide array of options to both create awareness and encourage support of the Initiative. |
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Lastly, of course, participating charities will be encouraged to create awareness of the Initiative through their own websites and other media efforts. |
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| The Cauldron |
In preparation for the release of Earning Serendipity, we have purchased a variety of domains that pertain to the topics presented in the book. One of these is SharingTheHarvest.org (and the related .com, etc.). GLG has a development team in place that can create a website that will serve as an administrative base, host a collection of resources for non-profits, act as a fund raising center and more. SharingTheHarvest.org will serve as the nerve center for the Sharing the Harvest Initiative. |
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| The Stone |
Critical to the success of the STHI will be creating a platform that serves a useful purpose to participating organizations and their causes. While this is still in development, and we hope to create and evolve this plan with the input participating organizations, some of our initial ideas include: |
| Direct Fund Raising |
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First and foremost, we want the STHI to be self-supporting. We expect there to be minimal administrative costs associated with the Initiative, and our initial thinking is that all funds raised above and beyond these simple administrative costs needed to run and grow the organization, be distributed back to the participating organizations. Details remain to be worked out, but one idea is that they be distributed as a percentage function of the organizations’ current operating budgets. We are certainly open to other ideas on this front; and we hope that these efforts work to help sustain the participating organizations and their causes during these lean times. |
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| Fund Raising Support |
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We are also planning a schedule of pro-bono Keynote events, by both Glenn and other notable speakers within our network, which could be used in-house for motivational purposes or as part of fund-raising events by participating organizations. |
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| Workshops and Seminars |
It was in thinking about how non-profits are going to survive the current wave that we began to conceptualize how ‘Sharing the Harvest’ might be put to work. We realized that for a lot of these organizations, the current crisis was going to demand that they look for a new model. |
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One of the services GLG provides is corporate mentoring and training, and we believe a key way in which GLG can bring real value to the STHI is through hosting workshops and seminars. For instance, we would commit both Glenn and GLG staff to hosting and keynoting a workshop dedicated to re-training fundraisers to work in this fiscal environment. We also bring organizational expertise on many levels, helping those organizations that need to retool their efforts to identify efficiencies to help them survive. Additional training opportunities could be established based upon issues which we jointly identify as in need of address. |
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| Conclusion |
So much of our company philosophy and ethos is based upon this notion of Sharing the Harvest. We have been the beneficiary of others’ good will, and have tried to return the same many times over. The Sharing the Harvest Initiative is our effort to institutionalize these beliefs, and to help make certain that good causes don’t fall by the wayside. It is a concept far from complete, but we believe that with the assistance of other high-profile non-profit organizations, we can help others weather this storm. |
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| To participate in the Sharing the Harvest Initiative, please contact us today! |
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“Glenn possesses the almost uncanny ability to conjoin the natural self-interest of the entrepreneur with a grounded and motivated sense of social responsibility. He makes a compelling case for the idea that those businesses not working with a sense of “Generous Purpose” are neither working in their own nor their community’s best interests; and that these two ideas are often—if not usually—one and the same.” |
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Brett Mansfield,
Chairman of the Board, Orange County Habitat for Humanity |
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| “Glenn offers a comprehensive approach to new venture formations. His unique experience brings non traditional insights & innovative techniques that exceed competitive standards. Glenn is a powerful speaker and high impact leader to any organization that is ready to perform at the next level." |
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Dr. Richard Hansen,
Associate Dean, University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin School of Business |
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