Fearless Focus: Ned Breslin

In our journey to Be Fearless and champion a fearless approach to tackling social challenges, the Case Foundation team will spotlight leading changemakers across sectors that have embraced fearlessness. Our spotlights will provide personal accounts of why these changemakers adopted a fearless approach, how they overcame hurdles, and how taking risks, being bold, and failing forward led to quicker results and deeper impact.

We recently spoke with Ned Breslin, Chief Executive Officer of (Case Foundation grantee) Water for People. Ned strongly believes that conventional approaches to water supply and sanitation are not scalable or sustainable – helping some but not others and often failing shortly after implementation. Finding this unacceptable, he has led innovative programmatic efforts that demand greater accountability of water and sanitation programs so that the lives of “Everyone” are truly transformed, not temporarily but forever, and without continued dependence on charitable organizations.

Learn more about Ned Breslin here. Read more about Be Fearless campaign. Know someone that we should spotlight for Fearless Focus? Let us know here in the comments or tell us on twitter @casefoundation using #befearless.

Fearless Focus: Barbara Van Dahlen

In our journey to Be Fearless and champion a fearless approach to tackling social challenges, the Case Foundation will spotlight leading changemakers across sectors that have embraced fearlessness. Our spotlights will provide personal accounts of why these changemakers adopted a fearless approach, how they overcame hurdles, and how taking risks, being bold, and failing forward led to quicker results and deeper impact.

This Fearless Focus is on Barbara Van Dahlen, Ph.D., Founder & President of Give an Hour™, a national nonprofit organization that provides free mental health care to our returning troops, their families, and their communities.  Barbara was recently named to the TIME 100 list for her efforts in creating and leading Give an Hour to help fill a critical need for mental health services for our nation’s military.  Admiral Mike Mullen shared more about Barbara’s fearless work with TIME:

“Through her organization, Give an Hour, she has mobilized thousands of mental-health professionals to volunteer countless hours of counseling for those in need, at a time when there is a critical shortfall in the military and throughout our country.

Barbara has tenaciously attacked the epidemic of posttraumatic stress disorder, helping break through the stigma that prevents many from seeking help. She has also created an opportunity for many who have not served in uniform to make a difference.

Barbara cares for people and is dedicated to making their lives better. She has served thousands nobly and has been an extraordinary example for all of us in her life and her giving.”

I am the president and founder of Give an Hour and a licensed clinical psychologist. I am also the mother of two girls who will inherit the world that I leave behind.

There are many social issues, both local and global, that require our attention. Some appear more urgent than others, but all result in suffering and should, therefore, concern us. In order to successfully address any one of these issues we must be determined, resourceful, and yes, we must be fearless. We must be willing to face rejection of our ideas-not once but repeatedly. We must be able to withstand uncertainty, doubt, and disappointment-for if the tasks were easy, others would have accomplished them long ago.  And we must tolerate the limitations of others and ourselves-for if any of us were perfect, social issues like the ones that burden our communities (poverty, illiteracy, homelessness, hunger) would be rare occurrences indeed.

My father taught me to be fearless. He was a World War II veteran. He served in the Navy in the Pacific. He fought in battles, he was injured, and he never talked about it. But he did talk about honor and integrity and service. He raised four children, for many years by himself. He taught by example, and he never took the easy way out. He followed his principles, and he encouraged his children to follow theirs even if they differed from his. He valued honesty and directness, and he always spoke up when he saw an injustice. I learned how to accept adversity – and how to appreciate my accomplishments – from my dad. I admired his compassion and selflessness, and I learned that if you find your passion and you focus on a mission that is greater than yourself, being fearless sort of comes with the territory.

Two years ago our organization faced a crossroads. No one on staff (other than my vice president, who has been my trusted partner from the beginning) knew about the crisis. We had expected to receive continued funding from a major sponsor, but a decision that had nothing to do with us changed their funding priorities. It was a very uncertain and difficult time. I worried about our staff members, their families, and our mission. Rather than allow our fear to paralyze us, we developed a plan to save our organization and its mission-even if it meant turning over the reins of GAH to another organization. Fortunately, the head of the foundation that had provided our funding, with whom I had a wonderful relationship, championed our cause and secured a chunk of funding to help us during the transition. No one was laid off, and no programs suffered. Within a few months we had several additional funding streams in place, and Give an Hour has continued to expand ever since.

Launching and growing a nonprofit organization in the current climate within our country is very difficult indeed. But it isn’t impossible. Funders want to support good programs. It is important that nonprofits provide a quality “product.” It is critical that we engage in best practices when we can find them-and create them when they don’t exist. If we are successful in accomplishing this, then foundations and corporations will support our critical efforts. In our case our funder was so pleased with what we had accomplished with their generous financial gift that he stepped up to ensure that we had the funding we needed to continue our mission.

Fearless Focus: Doug Holladay

In our journey to Be Fearless and champion a fearless approach to tackling social challenges, the Case Foundation team will spotlight leading changemakers across sectors that have embraced fearlessness. Our spotlights will provide personal accounts of why these changemakers adopted a fearless approach, how they overcame hurdles, and how taking risks, being bold, and failing forward led to quicker results and deeper impact.

We spoke with Doug Holladay, CEO of Buxton Initiative & PathNorth, former Special Ambassador to South Africa, Goldman Sachs executive officer, and advisor to Presidents and military brass alike. Doug’s strong belief in change and the opportunities we can gain from taking risks have shaped his stellar life of service and led him to co-found a movement to bring leaders of different faiths together for honest and constructive conversation in the weeks immediately following 9/11, and continues today.

 

You can watch Doug’s answers to our questions in the video above, or share each segment individually:
What do you think it means to Be Fearless in approaching social challenges?
Tell us about a time when you and your organization were Fearless.
What did you learn & what advice would you give other organizations facing a similar decision point?
What inspired your organization to Be Fearless?

Learn more about Doug Holladay here. Read more about Be Fearless campaign. Know someone that we should spotlight for Fearless Focus? Let us know here in the comments or tell us on twitter @casefoundation using #befearless.

My Fearless moment: Saying “Yes” to a Startup

This post was written by Chris Fowler on behalf of the Case Foundation:

I’ve worked with or at the Case Foundation for more than five years now. And for the past six months, I’ve had the honor of being the Foundation’s Director of Marketing and Partnerships. During that time, we’ve strengthened our partnership with Startup America, continued our support of non-profits taking an entrepreneurial approach to their work, and made a commitment to Be Fearless. Roll all those things together and you’ve got a pretty compelling narrative.

Startups + entrepreneurship + Be Fearless.

I’ll admit it. I’ve caught the bug. And that’s why in early April, I will join a former colleague at a DC-based, digital and mobile design startup.

To be frank, I have some fear about becoming an entrepreneur. Fear that I’ve missed my window for such a thing at the ripe age of 34. But maybe that’s not quite right. The Founder Institute has research that shows the average age of a founder is 34.4 years. And the Wall Street Journal puts me in the majority of entrepreneurs-the 86% of whom are 39 or younger. Maybe instead of being fearful, I should accept that this is all happening just in time.

I’ve learned an important lesson going through this process: When faced with this-or any-fear, you can find the strength and courage to work through it. Those things that help you break through may not always come from the same place. They may come from your personal experiences and research, or from external sources like supportive friends, family or mentors. But it’s important to find “it”, to Be Fearless and make things happen.

So, while I have all the natural fears and anxiety about starting something new, I am more excited about our potential, and for the opportunity to build and grow a business with a great colleague and collaborator.

I’m ready for this.

I’ve committed to Be Fearless.