more funding community work?

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Tue Nov 20 05:33:05 PST 2007


Doug (and all those looking for funding) -- 

I know it is usual to seek funding first so that you can do the work. But I
have found that the reverse order works as well or better, and with a lot
less problems. Do the work first, and then see what shows up.

I guess that seems a little bravado, but there is some method in the
madness. First off, most funding sources (foundations/government) are so
constrained by rules and timetables that by the time you actually get some
money out of them the issue you wanted to work has resolved, or so
transformed that what you were going to do (and got funded for)is either
undoable or maybe even counter productive.

To the extent that you are going to use Open Space in whatever work you
propose, the speed, simplicity, and economy of OST is such that I have never
found money to be a problem. In other words, when your up front organization
time is about zero, and site costs of the same, or similar, magnitude (and
this is where most of the out of pocket expenses come from) -- who needs
money? Just Do it!

And once done -- you are then in an excellent position to point to something
real and go after funding for subsequent iterations and/or maintenance. I
grant you that there is a certain lag time between your effort and
compensation, but your level of exposure is quite small. True you have
invested some time but you might ask yourself whether it is better to spend
that time anxietizing and perseverating over the availability of funding --
or take the same time and do something useful. If you have to account for
this time in some way, then think of it as an investment in the future,
recognizing that not all investments pay off. Probably most don't (pay off),
but the experience itself can be more than sufficient pay off. My personal
experience is that I always learn something which inevitably finds
application somewhere, somehow, sometime. It is also useful to remember
sometimes that your person represents something like 1/6.5 billionth of the
available human capital. Sort of keeps things in perspective :-)

Just to give you some idea of what I am talking about, I offer the several
"OSONOS-by-the Sea" gatherings I have hosted. I grant it doesn't quite fit,
but all the elements are there, I think. In terms of order of magnitude,
there have been (as you may know) two such gatherings. The first entertained
some 40 people, and this year we had over 60 -- and in both cases we had a 3
day affair. The conference fee was an exorbitant $25 which turned out to be
more than sufficient to the point that we gave most of it away to the Access
Queen. We had great space (local church, $300) and a great final day picnic
($250 including an open bar). Organizing time for me was probably on the
order of 6 hours per conference, which counts answering emails and creating
a webpage invitation. And then of course I had the superb pleasure and
privilege of being with most excellent friends and colleagues from around
the world for three whole days of magnificent conversation and community.
The long term pay off in terms of ideas generated, sharpened, and/or
discarded, to say nothing of relationships made or remade is unknowable, of
course, but if past experience is any indicator, it will be huge.

Just about now I can hear some folks saying -- "That's all very well,
Harrison -- but you are Harrison." True of course, which may give me some
advantage in the present moment. But it is also true that I have ALWAYS done
things like this and there was a time when being Harrison didn't amount to a
hill of beans. Saying that doing something like OSONOS-by-the-Sea requires
some very special person to do it makes as much sense to me as saying that
only a very special, highly trained, globally known person could facilitate
an Open Space. That, as we all know, is bunk. Anybody with a good head and a
good heart qualifies. Just Do it!

Harrison     

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com 
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of douglas
germann
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 8:27 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: more funding community work?

Harrison, Kerry, Peggy, Jeff, Raffi and all--

Sorry to have gone quiet on all of you...but you did it to me.

Your responses on this topic have sent me off into silence to ponder the
meaning of it all.

Harrison, following your nose sounds like such a small thing, but it is
profound. It tells me I have to be more willing to risk telling the
story of conversation and open space.

As Peggy asks, is there a money trail in that scent somewhere, enough
that will support the work that needs doing?

Kerry, I do not know if there is a Roundtree-like foundation in the US,
but I suspect there are several. Perhaps someone can help us pinpoint
some likely suspects. Anyone?

You say "Public decision making and politics clearly are failing" and
this reminds me of something Len Traubman (of Living Room Dialogues)
says of the peace process, dialogue and building connections between
peoples--that it is something of which governments are incapable.

So let's take your idea, Kerry, a half step further: Let us package
conversation as the forgotten key to the great human work, and then find
a champion who will help match it up to funding sources. (Are there
people who do this?) Or find some worthy cause which is looking for an
effective way to engage people in its work and partner.

			:- Doug.

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