[ This letter was written when I launched the web site in the summer of 2012.]
Dear friends,
[tooltip content=”亲爱的朋友，当我开始写这封信时，感觉像是在跟你们说话似的。你们中的一些人，我们已经认识；而还有一些朋友，我们彼此还不认识。对于未曾谋面的朋友，我忍不住想是什么把你们带到这个网站了呢？不管怎么说，谢谢你们所有的人，花时间来读这封信。我希望我们能渐渐熟悉起来，而这个网站的确需要所有如你这般充满关爱的朋友。接下来我会谈谈为什么会建立这个网站。” url=”” ]When I am writing this letter, it feels like I am actually speaking to you. Some of you I have already known personally, and some I don’t. For those whom I have not met, I can’t help wondering what has brought you here. Nonetheless, I am grateful that all of you are spending time here. Before I tell you why and how I brought this site to life, let’s hope we will get to know each other better as time goes on.[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”建立这个网站的想法，起源于我希望连接中国慈善和环球慈善的梦想。说起来有点不可思议，2008年以前，我在一家美国公司的上海分公司担任总经理，每天忙忙碌碌，对于公益慈善没有什么概念。而世事偶然。2008年四川地震期间，我做志愿者帮助地震灾民。而这次短短的志愿经历对我的生命产生了很大的影响。我开始意识到，我需要完全调整自己的职业发展。不久后，我来到美国，希望能专修公益慈善。2009年，我入读波士顿大学，攻读非营利组织管理的MBA。我一直知道自己希望能为中美慈善做点什么，而这个具体路线，却花了相当长的时间、研究和探索才逐渐清晰起来。” url=”” ]The idea of building this site originated from my passion to connect Chinese philanthropy to global philanthropy. To make a long story short, I used to be a busy CEO for an American company at its Shanghai division, knowing little about philanthropy. In 2008, I served as a volunteer during Sichuan earthquake to help the victims. This short volunteering experience fundamentally changed how I viewed my life and career. In the fall of 2009, I came to the States and enrolled in the MBA program concentrating on public and nonprofit management at Boston University. Although it was clear to me from the outset that I wanted to do something connecting American philanthropy and Chinese philanthropy, I was struggling to find the clear direction and right methodology to pursue that goal. The entire process took some time and zigzag paths before all pieces finally fell into place .[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”2011年的夏天，我花了2个月时间做横穿美国的公路旅行，试图了解这个国家和它的人民。多年跨文化跨背景的工作，让我知道，快速理解复杂情形的一个窍门是获取可比较信息，所以我决定向所有可能对话的人问一个相同的问题。我的导师道格拉斯·霍尔教授，也是职业发展大师，在他的帮助下，我们打造了这样一个问题：“你生命中对什么最有激情?” 没想到这个我问题开启了如宝藏般丰富的故事。（我们中国人不怎么谈激情，甚至少有谈梦想。激情这个词甚至都不太合适。简单的说，激情就是让你内心深深感动和渴望，一想到就会给你无尽力量的东西） ” url=”” ] In the summer of 2011, I spent two months on a cross-country road trip to learn about this vast country and the people. Through years of working with people from different cultures and with diverse backgrounds, I’ve learned that getting comparable information is an efficient way to develop a good understanding on any subject. With the help from Tim Hall, my mentor and guru on career development, I decided to ask one simple question to all people I would have a conversation with, “What are you passionate about in your life?” This question opened a wealth of amazing stories. [/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”Thelma是个刚退休的小学老师。她来自很偏僻的肯塔基东部山区。家里一直没什么钱，吃的反正从地里采。她的父母一直希望家里能出个大学生，很快，身为老小的Thelma发现这个愿望只能由她来实现了，而这也是她自己的梦想。虽然很穷很艰难，Thelma如愿以偿上了大学。毕业那天，父母特地从肯塔基的大山里来参加她的毕业典礼。家里甚至没钱为她买件体面的衣服，姐姐用一截窗帘布给她做了条裙子，那是Thelma觉得最漂亮的衣服。典礼开始前，父亲在她的毕业袍子上别了朵小玫瑰，好从远处在一堆一模一样的袍子中认出她来。父母都哭了，那是Thelma第一次看到父亲流泪。亲身经历了教育如何改变生命的Thelma，从此成为了一名热情而执着的小学老师。虽然退休了，她仍然积极参与各种社区服务，还要帮助他的丈夫抗击癌症。Thelma绝对是迄今为止我所遇到的最为积极的人之一。” url=”” ]Thelma is a recently retired elementary school teacher. She came from a farm in eastern Kentucky. They never had much money and food came directly from the land. Thelma’s parents always wanted to have a college graduate in their family. Very soon, Thelma, the youngest among the 5 children, realized she would be the only hope in her family to fulfill her parents’ dream, and her own too. Despite poverty and hardship, Thelma got into a college in Louisville. On the commencement day, Thelma’s parents traveled all the way out of the eastern Kentucky mountains for her graduation. Thelma’s sister made her a dress out of a piece of curtain cloth, which Thelma thought was the most beautiful dress she’d ever had. Before the commencement ceremony, Thelma’s father pinned a little rose on her robe, so that he could identify her from distance. Her parents cried, and that was the first time Thelma saw her father in tears. Having experienced herself the power of education, Thelma has been an enthusiastic elementary school teacher since graduation. She is active in all kinds of community service, besides helping her husband fight cancer. She is absolutely one of the most upbeat people I’ve ever met.[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”另一个人叫Richard，30出头，挺成功的工程师，刚刚订婚。这一切，在他12岁以前几乎是难以想象的。那时候，他是街头的一个小混混，那年被送去参加一个男孩夏令营。在营地的第一天，他的教练伸出手跟他握手，告诉他：“我会尊重你，带领你，如果你肯尊重我、跟随我的话。“ 那是Richard平生第一次正式跟一个成年人握手，也第一次对于所谓”尊重“有了点很模糊的感觉。整个夏天于他，好像洗心革面一般。从此，Richard几乎每年都回到那个夏令营，先是团员，后来是志愿者。现在，帮助那个夏令营已经成了他生命的一部分。Richard跟我说，”那个夏令营让我看到了一个从来没有真正意识到的自己，我希望帮助更多像我那样挣扎的小孩子也能拥有这样的经历和改变的机会。“说这话时，Richard的眼睛是湿的。” url=”” ]Another story is about Richard – in his early 30s, having a good career as an engineer, newly engaged. He wouldn’t have dreamed of all these before he was placed to a boys camp at age 12 when he was one of the street gang kids. On the first day, when he met his camp leader Alan, Alan offered a handshake, and said to Richard, ” I’ll respect you and lead you, if you respect me and follow me.” That was the first time he shook hands with an adult in a serious way, and also the first time he had a vague sense about what “respect” was. The whole summer was transforming, and Richard has been back to that boys camp since then, first as a camper, then as a volunteer. Helping the camp has been part of his life. He told me, “The camp brought something I never knew I had inside me, and I wanted to make it happen to young kids who are struggling as I did.” Richard said this with misty eyes.[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”故事写下去，单子会很长。让我惊讶的是，人们会如此不保留的谈论他们的梦想和激情，而且，当他们谈论起这个话题时，整个人都变了；而更令我叹为惊止的是，当我们进行着这样的对话，一切障碍似乎都不存在了—我们心意相通，无关种族、文化、年龄、性别、职业。而我，即使仅仅做个听众，常常就已经被深深打动、深深鼓舞了。” url=”” ]The list of stories can be long. It’s amazing how receptive people were to talk about their passion, and they became a totally different person when they talked about it. What’s even more amazing is that all barriers didn’t seem to exist in such conversations – ethnic, culture, age, gender, profession, and we connected so easily. Apart from that, to me, it was so uplifting simply by listening to their talk.[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”我一直对跨文化交流深有兴趣，而且从心理学和脑神经学的角度做研究令我受益良多。我们的大脑其实是个不安分不停歇的机器，它把大量的信息，组合处理，让这些信息变得有意义，而且不达目的不罢休。如果信息有缺失，它会自动的去填补空白，给我们一些解释。有时候，这种填补是很匪夷所思，而我们还自以为正确而不自知。很多研究者从不同角度阐释了类似的结论，譬如贝叶斯原理，模式识别幻象，甚至飞行员的灵魂出窍体验。大脑这种自动填空的倾向在跨文化交流中尤其有危险，因为跨文化空间的背景空白往往更大。对于这些研究，我总结了2点行动指南：1）在意识上，下结论前不断查验自己的假设和前提；2）从技术上，尽量有意识的给大脑提供相关的信息。对照我自己的学习生活经历，甚至犯过的错误，我觉得进行开放的讨论是查验假设、避免文化和认知差异所引起的误解最好途径之一。” url=”” ]I have always found cross-cultural communication fascinating. When it came to the readings in the intersection between Chinese philanthropy and American philanthropy, I found some of them confusing, even misleading in some cases, in both English and Chinese. Researches on psychology and neuroscience shed some light on my confusions. I’ve learned our brain works like restless sense-making machine— it takes a ton of information and won’t settle until it comes up with a story or an explanation. If input is missing, our brain works harder to fill in the gaps—with something that can be ridiculously wrong, sometimes without our awareness. Brain’s “gap filling” tendency is especially dangerous in cross-cultural learning space, as the gap is often much wider there. This helps explain why some readings I’ve encountered on cross-border issues could be very misleading despite the author’s genuine efforts to make sense. My two takeaways are: one, always validate assumptions before jumping to conclusions; two, relentlessly look for and feed the brain with correct information so as to minimize the “gap filling” burden from the brain. Moreover, lessons from my own mistakes have also taught me having an open discussion is one of the most effective ways to avoid mistakes and misunderstanding caused by culture gap..[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”今年早些时候，我曾经有幸和Paula Jonson一起合作过一个与中国有关的项目。我们一起看数据分析报告时，Paula说，”我们应该把对中国的捐赠放到全球背景下。“ 全球背景。一时间，如醍醐灌顶，我突然意识到为什么自己关于中国慈善的研究卡壳了：我过于狭窄的把注意力集中在中国慈善如何向美国慈善学习上了。我的视野被打开了。世界越来越关联，我们的确需要升级和更新我们的视角。” url=”” ]Earlier this year I had the privilege of working with Paula Johnson from The Philanthropic Initiative on a China-related project. When we were reviewing a data report, Paula said,” We should put grantmaking to China in a global context.” Global Context, the light bulb went on right away. At that very moment I realized why I had been stuck in my research on Chinese philanthropy—I have been focusing too narrowly on how Chinese philanthropy can learn from the U.S. The broadened perspective led me to a whole new vision.[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”这些故事促成了这个网站概念上的演化—连接人们的梦和激情，填补信息空白，促进持续的、开放的沟通。这些想法都体现在”战略路径“和”目标及方式“这2篇文章里。” url=”” ]Stories as above shaped the conceptual evolution of this web site — connecting people’s passion, filling informational gap, and facilitating open and ongoing communication[/tooltip]—the learning is reflected in the Strategic Paths of the site.
[tooltip content=”老天保佑，网站名字来得有点“踏破铁鞋无觅处，蓦然回首，灯火阑珊处”的感觉。一个阳光灿烂的下午，我坐在一间名叫”沉思杯“的咖啡屋，面对着Boston Common，这是全美国第一个公共园地。我看着人们在公园行走、读书、嬉戏、休息，”沉思“着网站的名字。突然有一瞬，3个字浮上来：Global Philanthropy Common。就是它 了。上天指引。” url=”” ]Finally, the name of the website came relatively effortless. On a sunny afternoon, I was sitting at The Thinking Cup Coffee Shop, facing Boston Common, the first public park in the U.S.. I was “thinking” hard, trying to come up with a name for this site. As I was watching people walking, reading, playing, or just relaxing on the Common—all of a sudden, the three words stroke me: Global Philanthropy Common, that’s it! Serendipity.[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”我希望Global Philanthropy Common这个名字，其义自现。这不是我的个人网站，而是你的，我们大家的地方。一个公共的、开放的地方，让我们对慈善拥有共同热情的人一起分享。有时候，我也会想究竟有多少人对于慈善拥有同样的热情，并且希望去拓展环球慈善的边界？我没有这个数字，但相信自己不孤单。我会继续无畏的坚持这段旅程，更希望有越来越多的朋友一起加入。大家一起动手更有意思，尤其是从零开始时！” url=”” ]I hope the name of “Global Philanthropy Common” speaks for itself. This site is not intended to be my personal website, rather a common place for you, and for all of us, a common place for everyone who shares a common passion for philanthropy and and wishes to broaden the boundary of global philanthropy. I hope to meet more and more fellow travelers along the journey. [/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”一眼望去，这个网站似乎只是关于中国慈善。其实，我们希望我们能把它视为一个试验场，看发展中国家的慈善如何能与发达国家的慈善相连接，如何在环球慈善中，做一个学习者，也做一个贡献者。同时，中美慈善交流日益频繁，我希望这个网站也能增进合作双方的了解和信任，大胆向前。” url=”” ]This may seem like a site focusing on Chinese philanthropy right now, but I am hoping we can use this as a playground to experiment how philanthropy from the east and south can connect to philanthropy in the west and north, both as a learner of and a contributor to global philanthropy. At the same time, as US and Chinese philanthropic exchange is picking up, I hope this website could make some modest contribution in that space. [/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”回首，我的探索和学习之旅充满了乐趣和收获。我常常觉得自己太幸运，总是不断遇到好人和贵人。所以，我想借此机会，真诚感谢一路上有你，谢谢你们以各自不同的方式，给过我的所有的支持和鼓舞。你们知道我说的是谁。谢谢你们，真心感恩生命中有你们。” url=”” ]It has been a wonderful exploratory and learning journey for me. I often feel that I am blessed to be able to meet so many wonderful people. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank every one of you who has supported and inspired me in your own ways along the journey. You know who you are. I am so grateful of having you all in my life.[/tooltip]
[tooltip content=”很多人已经在环球慈善的领域做了很多出色的工作，而世界日益开放，全球相连，创新思考和开拓性解决方案也有了无尽的可能。我期待与你一路同行，并期望听到你的故事！” url=”” ]A lot of great work has been done in the space of global philanthropy. The increasing openness and connectedness globally allow more creative thinking and pioneering solutions. I look forward to working with you and hearing your stories![/tooltip]
Sincerely,
Helen
