Synergos is requesting support to create, in 2015 and 2016, an affinity group, or interest group, on the theme “spiritual civilization†within our membership network of 100 philanthropic individuals and families that comprise the Global Philanthropists Circle. Two years ago a small group of members, all highly engaged and influential, self-convened around the notion that more should be done to increase consciousness, or awareness, in society of the ideals that drive members of society to help each other and work towards the greater good. The ideals of love, compassion, purpose, altruism, ethics and creativity were named as core to this and their own work, and the question was raised as to whether these ideals could be promoted more broadly to create what they term “spiritual civilization.â€
Synergos wishes to support this group in order to: (1) help individual philanthropists, starting with the Global Philanthropists Circle, to nurture practices that increase their own spiritual consciousness and recognize the source and importance of the ideals of faith, love, compassion, altruism, purpose, ethics and creativity that personally guide and inspire them to help others;
(2) help these philanthropists to more consciously link these values and practices to their philanthropic work; and (3) promote more philanthropic programs that aim to increase consciousness of the value and importance of the ideals of spiritual civilization within the broader society.
Over two years, the grant will enable us to create and support an affinity group of at least 20 highly influential philanthropic individuals on the topic of spiritual civilization; host events that allow the group to share best practices, learn from each other and other experts in this field; and create an online depository that captures information so that it can be shared more broadly and used to engage and influence philanthropists and philanthropic groups beyond the Global Philanthropists Circle.
