The Joy Campaign: Sharing the Wisdom of the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu to Bring Spiritual Practice to Contemporary Generations

Sir John Templeton wrote: "Real joy is a deep and lasting quality that helps transcend difficulties and restores a zest for life and living no matter what happens." He believed that joy was an essential pursuit, regardless of one’s situation or privilege. Sir John also wished to support work that would help people overcome their resistance to examining their own spirituality and ask questions with an open mind and heart. In that vein, recent Templeton Prize Winners The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu co-wrote The Book of Joy (forthcoming), which captures their wisdom from two of the world’s great religions combined with the latest science and includes 40 pages of specific practices anyone can do to be more joyful. Building off the momentum of this historic book release, we’re using technology and behavioral science to engage people who might not otherwise pursue the experience of authentic joy. We’re doing this on a massive scale. We are: spearheading a major Kickstarter campaign for a global community outreach program creating a toolkit for local organizers to bring joy initiatives of all sizes to life developing a high-tech messaging tool (SMS and Facebook) that will prompt users to create joy each day working with big technology and media partners, artists, and celebrities Our team is ready to engage millions of people with The Joy Campaign. We’ve already secured $70K in funding from the Omidyar Trust and $50K from the Bridgeway Foundation. We have strong partnerships with high-profile organizations like Facebook, which have the promise of collectively leveraging many millions of dollars in ad spend, visibility, and creative execution. If we’re able to secure operating budget from The Templeton Foundation we can activate the incredible generosity of these partners. The Joy Campaign will use modern tools to invigorate people from all walks of life to discover more joy, humility, forgiveness, gratitude and compassion in their daily lives.