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Permalink Reply by David McKay on 8th mo. 14, 2016 at 8:21am

There is a Quaker spiritual director named Margaret Benefiel who has written a book about spirituality in business called "Soul at Work". I have NOT read it, so cannot recommend it. (it is on my, I-really-ought-to-get-around-to-it list).

https://www.amazon.ca/Soul-Work-Spiritual-Leadership-Organizations/...

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Permalink Reply by Martin Kelley on 8th mo. 16, 2016 at 10:36am

UK Friends have had a network going for a little while. Check out their site at http://qandb.or and follow the links to other social networks. There is a Friends and business group in LinkedIn, I believe. And Facebook has "Quakers and Business (Q&B)" at https://www.facebook.com/groups/quakerbiz/. 

There's also an occasional Friends in Business column in Friends Journal (disclaimer: I'm an editor there): http://www.friendsjournal.org/departments/friends-in-business/. Some articles will need a subscription.

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Permalink Reply by Kirby Urner on 8th mo. 19, 2016 at 1:36pm

Hi David --

Our Multnomah Meeting in Portland for awhile had a Quaker Economics Study Group (as distinct from a committee, standing or ad hoc). Joe and Teresina Havens were Quaker elders who moved to Portland and gave new life to our meeting in many dimensions. 

Teresina led a Quakers & Buddhism workshop which my late wife Dawn Wicca and I attended.  I did a lot of reading.  Kenneth Boulding's writings received some attention.  He was a "big picture" writer, and a Friend, interested in "general systems theory" (as were some others in his time).

The Right Sharing of World Resouces program (www.rswr.org/) was an inspiration for my parents when living in Bangladesh.  Micro-lending and helping ostracized members of society band together to make quilts was one of their key projects.  Mom taught them enough bookkeeping to keep their little quilt-coop going semi-autonomously.  She's done similar work in the Philippines, with the women of Carmona.

Both macro and micro-economics come into play (thinking globally, acting locally). 

My parents were happy to live overseas and not pay into the tax coffers of the warlords who'd hijacked this country.  As pacifists, they were not enamored of US policies dating back to the war in Vietnam (called "the American War" by people who live there).

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Permalink Reply by Howard Brod on 8th mo. 19, 2016 at 8:24pm

Hello David,

My meeting began a charitable business for which it appoints the board of directors and through the by-laws of the business, the meeting is involved in aspects of that business; yet the business is legally separate from the meeting.  The website for the business  on the ABOUT page explains more about this arrangement.

I serve on the board of directors for the business and am sharing with you (in case it is useful) two documents in pdf format (below).  Even though most of the employees are not Quakers, we operate the store and its environment on Quaker values.  The store has become a visible representative of our Quaker meeting in the town we live in.  The whole community (not just our meeting) has embraced the mission of the store.

 

Attachments:

• TQ - Employee Values.pdf, 29 KB
• TQ - Successful Conflict Resolution.pdf, 36 KB

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Permalink Reply by Howard Brod on 8th mo. 19, 2016 at 8:26pm

P.S. David - hover over the phrase 'website for the business' in the comment above and click to see the website.

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Permalink Reply by David Anthony on 8th mo. 22, 2017 at 3:03pm

Dear Friends, thank you all so much for the responses to my questions, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. So sorry for the ridiculously long delay, I've been totally useless on social media this past year, but I'm very grateful for your input and I'm following all the links you sent. Thank you for taking the time to respond. In Friendship, David

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Permalink Reply by David Anthony on 8th mo. 22, 2017 at 3:06pm

That was incredibly useful, Friend, thank you so much. I can't wait to show my partner, I know he'll find it just as interesting I did :)

Howard Brod said:

Hello David,

My meeting began a charitable business for which it appoints the board of directors and through the by-laws of the business, the meeting is involved in aspects of that business; yet the business is legally separate from the meeting.  The website for the business  on the ABOUT page explains more about this arrangement.

I serve on the board of directors for the business and am sharing with you (in case it is useful) two documents in pdf format (below).  Even though most of the employees are not Quakers, we operate the store and its environment on Quaker values.  The store has become a visible representative of our Quaker meeting in the town we live in.  The whole community (not just our meeting) has embraced the mission of the store.

 

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