A common way to solve social problems is through collaborations.
In every collaboration I participate in, there is often a failure to align in a meaningful way, and a failure to change core social problems. Change happens for individuals, but the problems in whole communities remain.
What we need is a values-based alignment that has the power to shift resources based on priorities. Values keep us aligned on the positive and actionable plane – they would be things like “All children are nurtured to Adulthood”, “All knowledge is respected” and “All of us deserve happiness and inclusion.”
This is not possible with any collaboration I know of – they all have voluntary, non-paid members. Members are not aligned around self-improvement objectives, which would assist in aligning and prioritizing – rather, they are assumed to be doing good work.
Some collaborations are good at aligning on values, but still lack the power of influence over operations (the power stays with the partners, not the coalition)
Some foundations are directing funding, but doing so loosely and without any alignment on actual values – they center on social problems or cause areas. They often have only a superficial level of insight into the organizations they fund, and no power.
The only organization capable of doing what we’re talking about is a church; a church
that implements it’s own programs based on the needs of it’s patrons. But until now it’s never been done successfully, the power corrupts with the influx in uncontrolled, unaccountable wealth. Size conflicts abound – smaller churches lack resources and larger churches get bogged down with bureaucracy.
Yet an un-corrupt, un-bureaucratic church can align on value, and invest their own donated dollars towards community needs. They can identify priorities, shift funding, and do it all together. The do this by internalizing the collaboration- education, food service, mental health, economic support, it’s all done without the need to setup separate, in some cases competing organizations.
However, church values are skewed toward belief systems that do not prioritize sustainability or true self improvement. If those values were swapped for something more in line with science, with a better understanding of human behavior. With that model, the church could direct support toward initiatives that cause real change, with individuals and then with the community.
A large church with many resources, local action, distributed leadership and science-based values would be powerful. It could change the world.
The Next Step 