Over 80 Massachusetts philanthropists gathered this week at Brandeis Unversity to explore the topic “Social Captial in Action”, the theme of this year’s Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts annual meeting. Needless to say, I was pleased that the local funding community is focusing on this topic. I was happy to have a chance to moderate a panel following Tom Sander’s excellent keynote presentation on the subject. Tom is the Executive Director of the Saguaro Seminar for Civic Engagement. He got everyone up to speed on some of the basic social capital definitions and trends, then focused on implications for funders. Tom also previewed some disturbing new data suggesting a widening “opportunty gap” among social classes in America. After hearing Tom’s talk, we were all ready to think about ways we might build social capital and address the problems he framed.
We had a great lineup of panelists who had diverse experience upon which to draw. It was comprised of Pat Brandes, Executive Director of the Barr Foundation; Derek Lumpkins, Executive Director of Discover Roxbury; Bill Traynor, Strategic Advisor, Lawrence Community Works; and Mayor Lisa Wong of Fitchburg. One could easily write a substantial paper on the great insights shared; but I’ve boiled it down to nine practical tips that we can glean from the discussion. Some are more geared to funders, but I think there are good lessons for all of us. Visit the full blog post on socialcapitalinc.org for the nine tips!
Generally when I’ve originally published an article elsewhere, I will intro the post here then link to the original article. One goal of this site is to round up the content related to my various interests!
I read the original post on the Social Cap website. Well done David!
One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed about social capital, is how it does not seem to be taught, either culturally or institutionally, to youth. I do workshops that teach university students how to build social capital to make social change and create careers in their desired field. But the idea of meeting with people in their respective fields and building relationships is often a foreign concept to them. Albeit, it’s a concept they seem to love and respect once they understand how to do it.
What is your take on why something that seems like a basic human desire, to connect with other people, seems to be so rarely done in contemporary society?
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Drew. Sorry for my slow reply, this came in while I was traveling. I do agree that desire to connect is a basic human desire. There’s a lot in modern society that pulls us from that–people stretching to make ends meet, screen time, etc.–but I’d like to think we are circling back around to building in more connecting time now. Some of it on social media may not be too deep, but I do see trends to people wanting more solid, local connections in our lies.