So, which is bigger, better, more important? 1000 cranes or 1000 dollars? Answer, neither, or both. Gifts, of whatever scale, open the heart. They present, with no thought of or need for payback, the fruits of one wild, precious, generous heart to another.
1000 cranes for 1000 strangers
The world can seem like a cold place sometimes — a place where you are completely disconnected from the people around you, even if you are sitting across from them on a bus. Designer and artist Mariëlle Coppes believes you have a tremendous power within you to do good. And once you discover this power, there are no boundaries. Watch this short, sweet video of how Coppes decided to brighten people’s day and show them that they are connected and loved.
The Pollination Project: Gifting A $1000 A Day
October 15, 2014
A 13-year-old collects items for animal shelters. An 88-year-old offers up land to community agriculture. A young man trains prisoners in nonviolence. For Ari Nessel, each story is just another day along his journey in giving. After making a fortune in Dallas real estate, Ari wanted to give back. Yet he noticed that modern-day philanthropy tends to hold a disconnect between the funders and those who are doing the work. So he decided to seed projects rather than fund them, and has embarked on an experiment to give away $1,000 a day, every day, for the rest of his life. “My experience is that transformation happens on the fringes and in the micro areas and the individuals,” he explains. “It doesn’t happen on a large scale, it happens through all these people coming together in communities.” Learn how the seeds of The Pollination Project continue to blossom. { read more }
Be The Change
Read more stories of grantees that have been seeded and encouraged by the generosity of the Pollination Project. Perhaps you might be inspired to submit your own idea! { more }
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Here’s a February 2013 article which gives more background and notes that this philanthropist has pledged $1000 a day for a year. Which means that in 2014 he upped it to pledging that amount per day for the rest of his life! It feels good to give, eh?
Dallas developer pledges $1000 A Day to philanthropic projects
