Philanthropy and Memoirs

I am thrilled to report that my home town newspaper recently published an article about books my daughter and I have had published.  The Traverse City, Michigan Record Eagle newspaper article, titled "Mother's, daughter's books" featured both our books.  The mention means so much to me because Heather Shaw, whose book is Write, Memory is not only my daughter but was also an editor for our book, Women and Philanthropy, Boldly Shaping a Better World.  You can read more about Heather on her blog.

From the 6 C's to the 4 C's

Last September, I spoke to the Dining For Women's Leadership Summit in Atlanta and I wanted to share some of what an attendee from Atlanta, Alexis Atwood had to say about a new personal twist on the C's of women's giving. In my keynote address, I had explained the 6 C's of women's giving and then said that I read Donna Karan also had her own C's: cashmere, cotton, candles, and compassion.  In the excerpt below, Alexis takes it from there.

                     Leadership Summit, Friday, September 24th, 2010, 8:00 PM

In closing, Sondra discussed the idea of four personal “C’s “. It’s simply words that begin with the letter “C” that describe yourself, three of which are personal and the fourth being philanthropic. Sondra told us that her “Four C’s” were Comfort, Coffee, Cologne, and Caring, and then she asked each one of us to determine our own “Four C’s.” Upon returning to our room for the evening with several Atlanta chapter ladies in tow, we found ourselves discussing our “Four C’s.” After claiming that it seemed difficult, with most of us thinking only of food items…Cheeseburgers, Cookies, Cheese, Cupcakes, Chocolate, etc… (I mean, yum!!!) we suddenly started finding our own words… Clever, Compassionate, Creative, Contagious Personality, Confidence, Character, Co-creating... It appears that when we women give ourselves just a few moments to actually think about ourselves (because you know we often forget to do that!), we remember what really lies beneath, why the women’s philanthropic movement is thriving and growing, and why we are a part Dining for Women.

- Alexis Atwood