What's the Best Way to Do Good?

Frances Moore Lappé

Cofounder
The American News Service
Cambridge, Massachusetts

The problem with the phrase "giving back" is that it denies our true nature. It presumes that we perceive ourselves as standing on the outside of our community, feeling obligated to contribute because we're so privileged -- as opposed to being deeply entrenched community participants. Fundamentally, we are social beings. Our true nature calls us to connect deeply to our community and to find larger meaning in what we do there. Community makes life fun and meaningful. It brings depth to our lives and enriches our most intimate relationships. In that way, making a contribution becomes a mutual exchange, rather than a one-way transaction.

How do we reclaim our social nature? By creating new cultural norms. To transform our society into something truly life-serving, we have to project images of people who act on their innate need for connection and meaning -- not on some sacrificial inducement to be charitable. When the media glorifies a do-gooder, we think, "I could never do what she did." The do-gooder is turned into a kind of freak. But really, that person is just like you. The only difference? She took a risk. She would shock you with her ordinariness, if you really knew her.

How can you reclaim your true nature? Find an exemplar. Seek out people who are emotionally intelligent and who are already acting on their deeper social nature. Call them, get on their boards, become friends with them. When you start associating with people who are living the way that you want to live, you start to become a different person. And when you break away from the give-back mind-set, you will begin to reinvent social expectations about what it means to be an entrepreneur -- and a human being.

Frances Moore Lappé (smallplanet@mediaone.net) is a social commentator and the author of 12 books, including Diet for a Small Planet (Ballantine Books, 1971) . In 1995, she cofounded the American News Service to cover possible solutions to social problems in America. The New Diet for a Small Planet, which Lappé coauthored with her daughter, Anna, will be published by Ballantine in 2001.

Lisa Belzberg

Founder and chairwoman
PENCIL (Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning)
New York, New York

Before you give your energy or your money to a particular cause, be clear about why you're doing it. Understanding your motivations anchors you and keeps the idea of giving back appealing. Once you're clear about why you're giving back, start by thinking small. Thinking small doesn't mean that you lack ambition. It means that you're building something meaningful, manageable, and sustainable. The smaller you set your sights, the more likely it is that you'll succeed. Learn to find joy in the baby steps.

That lesson became clear to me during PENCIL's first few years. Business leaders who had the resources to help dismissed public education. Their stance was, Why should we care when our kids go to private schools? Meanwhile, many public schools were defensive: No outsider was going to tell them what to do.

My strategy? Baby steps. I asked people in the private sector to be the principal of a school for a day. When you actually see the human faces, I told them, you'll see a very different story of public education. At first, people asked, "How can I get deeply engaged in just one day?" But once they walked around in the principal's shoes, they understood. They learned that principals are shrinks, managers, customer-service agents, and mechanics. From there, business leaders started to learn the facts about overcrowded classrooms and dwindling supplies.

That initial understanding was the first step in forging a long-term partnership between the community and public education. And PENCIL became a catalyst for ongoing change.

Lisa Belzberg (lisa@pencil.org) was a producer of The Charlie Rose Show before founding pencil in 1995 with a mission to improve New York City's public schools. Through programs like "Principal for a Day" (in which such celebrities as Bill Cosby, Henry Kravis, Jane Pauley, and Jerry Seinfeld have participated), PENCIL has created partnerships between public schools and the private sector nationwide.