Isabelle is a vegan vet on a mission to educate the next generation of veterinarians on biases in...
Spotlight On Grantee: Isabelle Tancioni
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#ShiftHappens
A Small Part in the Extraordinary
Where We BeginIf I’ve learned anything from being an advocate for a better world, it’s that the...
Spotlight On Grantee: Lourdes Jimenez Mora
This year Lourdes celebrates 33 years working to protect animals! Lourdes has been a grantee since...
Rebuilding Lives
Sarah Yener, the English Department Chair at a high school in Antalya, Turkey, created a project...
Spotlight on Grantee: Greta McClain, fighting for the health and safety of all
In late November, Greta McClain, Executive Director of Silent No Longer TN, was approached by a...
Greenhouse: Spiritual Capital
The final session of Greenhouse, the community & capacity-building experiment we’ve been...
Experiential Capital: The Value of Experience
This week in Greenhouse, our community came together to explore the idea of Experiential Capital;...
Financial Capital: Let’s Keep the Light On
Financial Capital. This one topic has the potential to stir fear in the hearts of changemakers....
Reflections from the Greenhouse
“Nothing for us without us.” This basic but powerful idea was the underlying foundation behind...
Greenhouse: Material Capital & the Art of Giving and Receiving
This week in Greenhouse, our friend Birju Pandya shared his experiences in experimenting with gift...
Social Capital: The Beginning of the Greenhouse Experience
“We are a tall tree in a desert allowing everyone to take shade.” - Greenhouse Participants ...
Spotlight on the Arts
“Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the...
Focus On Health & Wholeness
At The Pollination Project, we think about the word “health” holistically, encompassing physical...
Focus on Human Rights & Dignity
This week, we continue looking in-depth at stories and projects within each of our focus areas....
Focus on Education
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”– SocratesOver the last ten...
Spotlight on Women and Girls
Over the last ten years, The Pollination Project has funded 2,208 woman-led projects, and 848...
Grassroots Animal Advocacy at The Pollination Project
The Pollination Project is committed to a people-powered model of social change that is rooted in...
Five Unique Ideas in Service of Environmental Regeneration
In The Pollination Project’s ten years of operation, our community has funded almost 700 projects...
To Be Rather Than To Seem
My home state of North Carolina’s motto is “esse quam videri,” which translates from the Latin as...
A Compassionate Warrior’s Heart
In the wake of the decision to overturn Roe V. Wade in the United States last week, I found myself...
Thank you TPP Volunteers
“If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be...
Reflections from The Greenhouse
Over the last six weeks, nearly 50 grassroots volunteer leaders gathered each Tuesday and Thursday...
News From the Resilience & Recovery Fund
This month, The Pollination Project’s Resilience & Recovery fund will turn two years old. It...
Journeying Together
Dear Friends, I want to thank you for the warm messages I have received from so many of you during...
Transitions
It was nearly ten years ago when I found myself at a crossroads. After years of monastic life -...
Doing Nothing Is Easy
To see something takes little effort. And when we see something, doing nothing is easy. Part of...
The Heartivist Legacy of Thich Nhat Hanh
Last week, the prolific author and thinker Thich Nhat Hanh died; although in penning that sentence...
Meet Me in the Greenhouse
Much of our world is oriented around accumulation of financial capital. Even in the non-profit...
New Year’s Evolution
I must admit, I am not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. I appreciate setting positive...
Sharing is Caring
"Sharing is caring" is a common phrase, yet it carries a rather uncommon meaning. A meaning that...
The Greatest Gift
The highest expression of humanity is the spirit of serving others. In my humble opinion, our...
Perfectly prepared
When I entered highschool, I was blessed to have a wonderful home room teacher who went above and...
#PreparedToServe Campaign – More than a feeling
How do you define care? According to the dictionary, the definition is, ‘the provision of what is...
Advanced Disconnection
The advancement of technology has revolutionized the way we live. We have access to untold amounts...
Conscious Feeling
About a year ago I had surgery. I was fortunate to have a wonderful team that, even all this time...
The Place Where We Are Kind
This week, I am drawing inspiration from the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai. In particular, his...
Greatness and Perfection
“You are not ready for independence. If we were to grant it, you would make so many mistakes.”...
Planting Seeds or Stones?
Lately I have found inspiration in the writings of the Polish-born American Rabbi Abraham Joshua...
What Philanthropy Can Learn From Afghanistan
Recently, I read the report of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction titled...
Heart Like a Mirror
"The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form." -Shinto proverb Most...
Real Friends
There are over 7 billion people on the planet, each born with a drive to connect. The explosion of...
My Friend, Death
Amidst this extended season of loss and grief, my family experienced another last night. My wife’s...
A Truer Picture
Suppose two people are on opposite ends of a vast and lush forest that stretches for many...
Listening is Revolutionary
There is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that inspires me: "I don’t like that man. I must...
Make it your problem
“Let me drop everything and work on YOUR problem.” I recently saw this written on a tin sign in a...
Becoming Justice
Over the last year, much of America and the world waited with heavy hearts for the outcome of the...
The Entire Ocean in a Drop
One person can’t make a difference. - 7.8 billion people At The Pollination Project, we often say...
Activism, Identity & Service
The scholar Juana Rodriguez defines activism as “an engagement with hauntings of history, a...
Never Waste A Good Crisis
The New York winter was beginning and I had just made a decision that was going to change life as...
Activism Takes Both Hands
Growing up in a working class town to immigrant parents, I found myself in the same kinds of...
Statement of Solidarity with Asian American Communities
Our country has faced multiple crises in the past year as the world grapples with a global...
Seek and ye shall find
I have a dear friend who is a gifted biologist. Hiking with her, she always manages to notice a...
Seeds to Trees
Here in California, the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range are the only natural habitat of...
Friends and Enemies
“Every year, we receive many more applications than we can fund. While we value your work, we...
Living Your Legacy
As you will read in our “Changemaker of the Week” blog this week, many of us are thinking of our...
A Blade Of Grass Is The Journeywork Of The Stars
“A blade of grass is the journeywork of the stars.” -Walt Whitman What does the term “grassroots”...
The Hole-y Bucket
Earlier this week, our friends at Service Space retold Gopal Dada’s story of “The Hole-y Bucket”...
Live to Give
The wisest thing I ever learned was to take advantage of every opportunity. By this I mean not the...
Forgiveness
Last week, the comedian Dave Chapelle hosted Saturday Night Live. Addressing the deep division in...
Invest in Kindness
We are now beginning to realize what you may have already known would be true: a political...
The Fine Line Between Success and Failure
In a world of outcomes and data points we often measure success externally; How much money? How...
Totis Viribus
Today I learned a new phrase – “Totis Viribus,” which means “with all one’s might.” Living life...
Humility is a wise teacher
Humility is a wise teacher. To be humble is to admit when we may not know everything, which is a...
Sides To a Story
How many times have you heard someone say “there are two sides to every story?” We are taught to...
What makes you happy?
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks...
It’s the little things
My father had a friend, I call him my uncle but he is so much more than that. His name is Vijay...
The Direction of the River
It has been said that a person cannot step in the same river twice, for it is not the same river...
Direct Giving Promotes Diversity
For much of history, giving happened directly. You saw a neighbor in need, and reached into your...
Beyond the horizon
Recently, I was looking out over the horizon of the San Francisco bay. This is usually a view that...
Embracing the Pause
When I was a monk, my days began with four hours of meditation. Today, my life looks very...