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For Profit. Nonprofit. Social Profit. Social Prophet.


I mentioned “The Soul of Money” author Lynne Twist in a recent Wisdom Well. I was writing about her in the context of how we serve the world. When Lynne taught at MEA last December, she spoke of money or currency being like water.

She says what’s beautiful about water isn’t necessarily the quantity but the current or flow and the context—think of a meandering river in the woods. Water—like money—can purify or contaminate. It depends on how we’re supporting our own healthy ecosystem of water or money.

Lynne believes that one’s purpose creates a water or currency purifier. Her purpose is “to facilitate the reallocation of the world’s financial resources away from fear toward love.” Don’t you love that?

I’ve spent four decades as a for-profit entrepreneur, albeit with a social mission. More recently, I’ve spent more of my time in the non-profit world, both on Boards as well as with AGE (Association for Growth and Education), a non-profit that helps fund MEA’s plentiful scholarship programs (as well as supporting other non-profits focused on education for those in midlife and beyond).

Lynne prefers the language of “social profit” instead of non-profit because it speaks to what an organization does—provide social good—as opposed to what it doesn’t—make a profit. As usual, I think she’s right. She also says the world needs more “Social Prophets,” people who take responsibility for what they worry about and whose behavior is consistent with the future they stand for.

As modern elders focus on leaving the world better than how we found it, how might we become Social Prophets in a way that could be a role model for others?

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