6 Points of enLightenment from the 2024 Points of Light Conference

After 4 full days of inspiration and a-ha moments at my first Points of Light Conference—a time to hone in on how the corporate and nonprofit worlds collide, converge and collaborate to tackle our communities’ challenges—a few moments stood out, six to be exact:

1. “We’ve stopped believing in the idea of a common purpose,” Eric Liu , founder of Citizen University , a non-profit organization promoting civic empowerment declared to a packed ballroom of people inherently committed to purpose. It was the wake up call we needed. Repairing the structures of our society without addressing the torn fabric of our culture is fruitless, Liu said. And I understood exactly what he meant. If we’re going to do this work—the hard but critical work of addressing the challenges and inequities in our communities—we must first get on the same page with what we believe and what we value, and focus on creative collaborations rather than waiting for formal government systems to fix what’s broken.
2. “There could be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others,” the first President Bush famously stated, and he and I are in complete alignment. And I’m not alone. The 1,500 people who packed the room wouldn’t have been there if we didn’t believe this already, weren’t already committing a significant amount of time and talent to serving others. But even we needed this reminder.
3. “We are all better off when we are all better off.” Another one of Eric Liu’s simple statements that must be part of our foundation and must be a core tenant of our cultural values if we have any chance of moving forward together.
4. “The wrong first question is ‘what do we need to do?’ The right first question is ‘Who do we need to become?’” In just a few words and a few minutes, Ben McBride, author of “Troubling The Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging,” pushed us out of our comfort zones, forced us to confront our silent biases, and challenged us to create circles that welcome people in rather than pushing people out. Thank you Ben, challenge accepted!
5. “It is a bad time to be a word in America.” Amy McIsaac from Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) gave an amazing presentation of her organization’s multi-year research, studying Americans’ perceptions of common civic language (21 words like patriotism, democracy, freedom, belonging and more). PACE’s five year study is helping us to understand a central question: “Are we talking past each other about values we think we share?”
6. “What shall I give, so that together we will advance?” I found this note scribbled in the margin of my notebook, so I don’t know who to credit, but, wow, does this even need an explanation? There’s a reason I wrote it down. It’s time for me/us to stop waiting on others to fix the things we want fixed. It’s up to me, and the time is now.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. (Reach out if you want to hear more.) I loved being surrounded by an inspired and inspiring group of folks and learning about the work of Points of Light, whose CEO, Jennifer Sirangelo set the tone by reminding us that in America in 2024, “there is an urgent need for connections, compassion and community.” How many of us will heed that call?