Community Chest Guiding Principles

We are brought together to do very important work that cannot be accomplished alone. It is not a coincidence that we are here today, although we may move on to other places and organizations in the future.

Our work is as much about our own spiritual growth and that of this planet’s as it is about addressing needs and strengths of children, families, and people in our community.

We all have ideas, talents, special qualities that need to be honored and encouraged to make our work together more successful. We each take responsibility for creating a role that is meaningful and that fits with our talents as well as supports the overall mission of the organization.

We are part of this organization by choice and with that realization, we will direct our energy to the growth and health of the organization as well as to the work we accomplish through the organization, until that point we are ready to move on.

We are a transforming organization and accept that we are involved in carving out new and sometimes ambiguous ways of doing our lifework.

We will support each other taking risks, making decisions, making mistakes, and achieving our goals.

We will listen carefully to each other to learn what our next steps must be to fulfill our vision. We are willing to look as critically at ourselves as at each other, and to recognize and accept that we may have some shortcomings and barriers that need to be overcome if we are to bring the best we have to offer to the organization. The group agrees to support one another in this effort, to be honest and direct our concerns to the individual team members in a respectful and caring manner.

We are envisioning an effort that we will remain committed to despite current funding or resources. That is, we’ll pursue whatever we need to make this happen. Our vision is doable and there are resources to support the vision.

We will utilize all ideas to work to our advantage— giving credit and building on our collective strength.

We believe the philosophy and the process are as much of what we’re about as the programs we support.

We are creating a new model for doing business; we will not replicate what we know doesn’t work or that places someone or some agency below and some above. We support shared leadership and decision-making toward a shared goal.

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We Are a Team!