Thursday 22 April 2010

Change for the better

There seems to be change in the air: not the vacuous, meaningless version of it pedalled by David Cameron and other election hopefuls, but a sense that we need to address some more subtle issues relating to how people see and deal with the world if we are to secure a better future.

We have been speaking to a couple of these initiatives recently with the possibility in mind of collaboration in the future - one is the Movement for Happiness set up by Professor Lord Richard Layard, Geoff Mulgan and Anthony Seldon, which is due to launch in September this year. Another is Citizen Ethics, set up by Madeleine Bunting and Mark Vernon. Check them out - each has its strong merits and areas of crossover with Life², but each is different from Life²'s work of equipping people with the tools, ideas and information to live more self-determined, wise, happy and meaningful lives.

I see Life² sitting in the middle of all this work, pulling together linked issues such as ethics, happiness and well-being - and I hope this puts us in a good place to move various strands of this agenda forward in the coming months and years.

Monday 12 April 2010

Why should we use an agency?

A short while ago, I was asked by a fundraiser at a small-to-medium sized charity to draft them some notes about the benefits of using a fundraising agency, in order to help them convince their board to test it out.

When working with small-to-medium sized charities, we've often had to go through this process of 'building the case for using an agency' to non-fundraisers in the organisation before we can work with them (and are happy to do so, as it's a perfectly reasonable thing to ask). I therefore thought it would be useful to post the notes on here - so whether you are a fundraiser looking to convince your board or a non-fundraiser seeking to understand the benefits of using an agency - I hope these notes are useful. Check them, and other papers, out at the 'papers' section of the ChangeStar site here, or via this direct link.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

The science of happiness


Most of us seek it in our lives, yet it has proved to be something that politicians are unable or unwilling to put at the centre of policy making – until now. In recent years, the science of happiness has been a growing area, and we are now able to identify and measure (with scientific backing) a number of the factors that are proven to make us happy and, conversely, unhappy.

Although policy makers are just starting to get to grips with the implications of this work for policy making, this report by the Young Foundation gives a useful overview of the impact that this thinking on happiness and well-being could have on policy developments in different areas of life – from the elderly to the workplace.

Anyone working for social or environmental change will be interested to read about the possible ways a focus on happiness and well-being could increase their effectiveness in seeking behaviour change from the public. Contact me if you want to discuss ways of applying this thinking to your organisation’s work.