Member News

The Modest Heroine Of The 2011 Opus Prize: Lyn Lusi

As Lyn Lusi accepted the $1 million Opus Prize on Wednesday night at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, she threw down a gauntlet. Churches must take on the challenge of changing relationships between men and women, everywhere in the world.

Two centuries ago William Wilberforce, a lifelong social activist, goaded churches in England to rethink the ancient assumptions that allowed people who saw themselves as virtuous and religious to accept slavery as “normal.” They did not respond immediately, but over time norms and teachings changed. Supporting slavery today in a church setting would be unthinkable. But churches today are Read More “The Modest Heroine Of The 2011 Opus Prize: Lyn Lusi”

IN PERSON Questions For: Bookda Gheisar Executive Director Of Global Washington

After spending more than two decades working on urban Seattle issues with Social Justice Fund Northwest, grassroots fundraiser and nonprofit guru Bookda Gheisar took on a global challenge. As executive director of Global Washington, a member association for the state’s growing global health and development sector, she’s had to lead the new group during an economic downturn and a period when international aid faces enormous challenges in conflict and disaster zones.

Do you sense a competition between local and global nonprofit movements in the Seattle area? Because of the tough economy over the last few years, a lot of my Read More “IN PERSON Questions For: Bookda Gheisar Executive Director Of Global Washington”

Washington State’s Most Important Export: Hope

Think of Washington state and you probably picture a rainy emerald region with an economy powered by airplanes, timber, software, and salmon, and a people powered through the eternal mist by coffee.
But there is one vital industry absent from this otherwise, pretty accurate understanding of my birthplace and home: hope.

It is arguably the state’s most important industry and export.

From the University of Washington, which regularly sends more of its graduates into the Peace Corps each year than any other American college, to Washington’s army of non-profit workers armed with professionalism and passion – working for the Read More “Washington State’s Most Important Export: Hope”