Briefing No. 5

WHAT WE'RE READING
On the Greenwood Place bedside table


The Book of Joy is a beautiful book that documents a week of conversations between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2015 at the Dalai Lama’s home in Dharamsala.  The two men look back across their lives and reflect together about finding calm and joy in a world filled with suffering.  We plan to re-read it this Christmas as we seek to take some of its lessons into 2018.

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LOWER COST & HIGHER VALUE

We’re looking forward to having Tom Adams and David Bonbright visit Greenwood Place early in the New Year to help us think more clearly about impact measurement.  
 

We’ve been reading some of their writings in preparation.  We particularly liked Tom’s practical advice in ImpactAlpha about how to make data gathering something that is cost effective and works as well as possible for frontline companies, funders and investors.

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EXACTLY WHAT IS THE GREENWOOD ANYWAY...?

People keep asking us how we came up with the name Greenwood Place.  And so, we wanted to share the excerpt below from Roger Deakin’s book “Wildwood, A Journey through Trees” .  

As Deakin says, “To enter a wood is to pass into a different world into a different world in which we ourselves are transformed. It is no accident that in the comedies of Shakespeare, people go into the Greenwood to grow, learn and change.  It is where you travel to find yourself….”

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A COUPLE OF PODCASTS FOR A WINTER'S DAY WALK…

We loved Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman’s interview on the On Being podcast.  His insights into why we think and act the way we do, and how at odds that can be with how we like to think of ourselves, are fascinating, unnerving, and very relevant. Listen here. 

And Darren Walker, CEO of the $11.7 billion Ford Foundation, had a fascinating conversation with students at the London School of Economics last month.

Walker believes that “philanthropy today must be motivated by justice, generosity isn’t enough. Generosity allows those of us who are privileged to be comfortable in our giving. Justice requires that we get uncomfortable.” Skip the introductions - it gets interesting around 12m 36sec when the Q&A begin. Listen here.

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EVENTS AT GREENWOOD PLACE

We’re talking impact measurement in January at Greenwood Place, attending the Skoll World Forum in April and planning an immersive Greenwood Place Community trip to Kenya in the Autumn - where we’ll be talking with low-cost solar companies, community-owned conservationists and agricultural co-operatives amongst others.  Do let us know if you’d like more details regarding any of the above.  

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Ariana Murray Wells