We are excited to announce the first Temple Foundation Peace Grant Cycle. Over the next 12 months, 25 Grantees will receive $5,000 USD each to support a proposed project or activity that advances peace in the world here and now.
We identify spiritual peacemakers who are making a clear, strong and positive impact on the world, in order to help them cultivate their practice while expanding its reach.
Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge; and through humane ways.
14th Dalai Lama
Our working definitions
Peace is not the absence or suspension of conflict but an engaged peaceful disposition toward harmonious conviviality between humans.
Spiritual peace is a practice of the self, geared toward the development of a compassionate disposition toward self and others.
Spiritual peace infrastructures are material and organizational structures, facilities and technologies that support the development and enactment of spiritual peace.
In a Circular spiritual peace economy, every dollar invested in peace generates a positive feedback loop of spiritual peace practice growth.
This peace symbol brings together 3 elements: the universal peace symbol, the paper crane that represents peace in the Japan, and the familiar olive branch.
Motivation
Too many peacemakers have to make a choice between spiritual development and wealth. As a modern society this is not a trade-off that we can or should accept. Material and inner wealth should not be at odds with each other. The Temple Foundation bridges this gap by making sure that individuals and organizations that are bringing us closer to spiritual peace feel supported and are properly funded.
We are building an environment that turns financial wealth into spiritual peace by contributing to the construction of spiritual peace infrastructures and the development of a circular spiritual peace economy. By generating a collective biosphere of peace that turns vicious war-like cycles into virtuous peaceful ones we are fueling a peaceful, effective and determined transition to a fairer and more collaborative World.
Our foundation serves as an effective way to deploy capital and resources towards the proliferation of spiritual peace. Via slow but firm incremental steps and engaged in lateral relationships of mutual learning with practicing spiritual peacemakers and those partnering and donating with us, we are overcoming challenges to the funding of spiritual peace.
Purpose
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr.
Approach
A new way
Building an organization that is capable of turning financial resources into spiritual peace as peacefully, effectively and efficiently as possible, requires that we handle the following steps with deep care:
1
Identifying and meeting a wide variety of spiritual peacemakers and leaders across the globe.
2
Speaking and working with spiritual peacemakers and leaders to learn how to best measure the impact of their practice on the broader community.
3
Providing financial and operational support to these spiritual peacemakers and leaders, while making sure that progress along specific mutually agreed-upon metrics is occurring.
We are looking to build our donation portfolio along two distinct, yet interrelated, types of funding projects: Seed donations and Growth donations.
These distinct funding avenues combine cash and non-cash/in-kind contributions.
The balance between these, depends on the specific needs and goals of potential grantees and is determined on a case-by-case basis.
For both Seed and Growth donations, potential grantees are primarily brought to our attention by reputable peacemaking/peacebuilding organizations with a deep awareness of exemplary spiritual peace activity happening around the globe in the here and now.
When we meet potential grantees, we start by asking questions and listening deeply to their specific needs. Beginning in such a manner, allows us to explore together challenges and possibilities, and helps all of us determine if and how the Temple Foundation might be of support.
Once we have met a potential grantee whose practice and activity aligns with the mission of the Temple Foundation - Supporting spiritual peacemakers who are making a clear, strong, and positive impact on the world –, we design with them a suitable donation approach that can align our resources with their individual/organizational needs.
Working with the grantee, we provide in-kind executive, operative, design, communication, and fundraising support. We develop with them an executive plan that addresses their challenges and needs, and work begins once everyone agrees on specific tasks and responsibilities. For each grantee project we earmark a certain amount of grant funds that can be used to supplement/support in-kind donations the Temple Foundation provides to the grantee.
Although potential grantees are primarily referred to us by reputable peacemaking/peacebuilding organizations, we welcome individuals and organizations reaching out to us directly.
Seed donations
Seed donations cater to individuals and/or groups who are recognized in their communities for their spiritually grounded peace activity, and are looking for support to build, develop,carryout, communicate and/or fund a specific set of practices and activities in need of incubation.
The Foundation’s goal here, is to be the “first donation in”, to help get the individual or group
effort off the ground and operating (when possible) in a self-sufficient manner.
The donation connects to a clear goal and metric that the individual or group is hoping to
achieve. Goals vary on a project-by-project basis and are agreed upon prior to donating.
Growth donations
Growth donations are designed to help individuals and/or groups with exemplary peacemaking practices, engaged consciousness and an established trajectory, to evolve/improve a particular area of their practice, activity and/or organization.
The Foundation’s goal here, is to be the “donation that helps consolidate and grow” the exemplary peacemaking practices and activities of small foundations, associations and/or groups.
As with Seed donations, Growth donations connect to a clear goal and metric that the individual or group is hoping to achieve. Goals vary on a project-by-project basis and are agreed upon prior to donating.
Scale
Our goal is to become experts at helping organizations of all sizes.
By working on multiple projects, expertise, skills and infrastructures that we develop while supporting one initiative inform the work we do for another. In fact, much infrastructure development that we contribute to one of the projects we support can be readapted to fit the needs of another.
Donation sizing
Our donation model shares a family resemblance with the way in which venture capital firms and seed investment models operate.
We are confident that applying a donation model that is inspired by, learns-with, and draws from the seed/ VC model, has a positive and transformative impact on the practices and activities of the peacemakers we support. For this reason, although our approach to donation sizing will likely evolve over time, this is where the Foundation starts.
Criteria
We support peace centred individuals and groups from different spiritual peace traditions. Their integrity is of paramount importance and our focus is on co-defining with them common metric driven outcomes that are clear and we can all commit to. Our goal is to support their path toward financial independence.
Integrity
We support individuals and groups with a deep commitment to integrity. Individuals and groups with a willingness to report successful or unsuccessful outcomes and data. People fully aligned with their mission and for whom their mission is more important than personal gain or progression. We do not support financially bloated and inefficient organizations, unless they are looking to restructure.
Clear outcomes
As part of making any donation, we work with the team receiving the funds to agree upon a place they are looking to get to in the six months following the receipt of funds.
For most of the projects that we fund we can come up with some core objectives/numbers that those receiving the funds can be focused on. Being clear on such issues allows the spiritual peacemakers we support to remain focused on their core practice, while concrete results are met and we are able to measure the impact of our donated dollars.
Here and now
Any individual or group that we donate to, is primarily focused on spiritual peacemaking practices and activities that contribute to the wellbeing of all living beings in the here and now.
Such a peace here and now for everyone approach to spiritual peacemaking practices is of paramount importance for us at the Foundation. We are confident that by approaching spiritual peace practitioners in such a manner we are enhancing the peacemaking potential of our contributions.
Self-supporting and interconnected
Our goal is to support individuals and groups in a manner that helps them become non-reliant on us for further support while at the same time promoting interconnection between the different groups we work with. We do this by helping them grow enough to be able to successfully fundraise on their own, while encouraging mutual support relations between all our partners.
We weave together our knowledges and practice in order to diligently and carefully identify, meet, understand and support spiritual peacemakers across the globe.
So war and peace start in the human heart.
Whether that heart is open or whether that
heart closes has global implications.
PEMA CHODRON
Knowledges and practices
Rigorous academic research
We use our academically trained research skills to survey the field of spiritual peace both globally and locally. In this manner, we identify currents of thought, current trends, different practices, and concrete activity carried out by individuals and groups in different parts of the world.
Lateral relationship building know-how
Our team is well versed in dialogical practices aimed at reciprocal learning and the building of gift-gratitude-reciprocity relationships. Through approaching relationship building in this manner, we are able to meet with spiritual peacemakers to learn with them about how best we can support their practice and outreach. Grounding our Foundation on a dialogical ethics also allows us to learn with donors about their needs when funding spiritual peace. By bringing together, into conversation, spiritual peacemakers and donors we are contributing to a circular spiritual peace economy.
World-class asset management expertise
Our expertise in starting, building and running a successful quantitative hedge fund grounds our ability to manage donor funds and invest them peacefully, effectively and efficiently into spiritual peace. We work with donors to explain each concrete project receiving funds, we track every dollar contributed, and we document for and share with our donors how these dollars become spiritual peace.
Strong, design, communication and branding capabilities
Having designed, communicated and branded a multiplicity of projects over the last 25 years, from Fortune 500 companies to small mom-and-pop NGOs, our team is well positioned to communicate and proliferate the practices and activities of spiritual peacemakers from around the globe.
Ongoing spiritual peace study and practice
Each of us at the Temple Foundation studies spiritual peace from our own traditions and cultures. We each have our own approach and our own preferred practices and ways of contributing to spiritual peace in our daily activities. We express this through our ongoing work with the Foundation, through art, design, writing, conferencing, and through the ethical management of a quantitative hedge fund.
Team
Vasily Andreev
Vasily is currently the founder and CEO of Temple Capital, a quantitative hedge fund that he has managed since 2018. Prior to that, he has had extensive experience in managing sales teams, working on software development and design projects, along with data science experience. Vasily has also had a long lasting meditation practice since he was 14 years old, primarily rooted in various Buddhist traditions, with a great openness toward learning from all spiritual traditions.
Karen Yen
Karen is a graphic designer and visual artist with over 20 years of experience. As a designer she began her career working with international and nationwide retailers in San Francisco and New York. The following years up to the present find her focusing on small meaningful projects with low design budget capabilities, benefiting from her design support. These projects range from local businesses, academic research projects, academic centers and institutes, alternative and sustainable projects, government agencies as well as non-for-profit organizations.
Martha Rabchuk (she/they)
Martha is trained as a musicologist and anthropologist, and has experience as a performing musician and teacher. She has done research on spiritual musical traditions in the US and their relationships with the commercial music industry. More recently, she has been considering questions of trans-ness and political belonging in contemporary Brazil, with a particular interest in how such notions of belonging are being negotiated through state-sponsored projects for reconciliation and community empowerment. They are also a student of Tibetan Buddhism, and hold great reverence for all spiritual practices of liberation.
Tasha Schumann
Tasha Schumann is an artist, writer, and contemplative teacher based in Toronto. An acclaimed creator of genre-bending music and art, she’s been profiled in media like Billboard, New York Magazine, The FADER, and AfroPunk. Also a teacher of contemplative practice, she’s authorized in both Indo-Tibetan Buddhist traditions and in Western contemporary modalities, which she illuminates for a whole new generation of practitioners. A passionate community-builder, Tasha works with national and international non-profits to mentors emerging creatives and contemplatives, she co-hosts the Consciousness Explorers Podcast, an Apple top-5 rated podcast, with fellow explorer and NYT best-selling author Jeff Warren, and she hosts Floralogic – an award-winning show about nature at its weirdest.
Javier Dichupa
Javier has experience in research and policy, having worked with the Covida Collective at the University of Victoria, the Cedar Trees Institute and British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner. His past research experience has focused on democratic theory, human rights and the European Union. Javier is interested in how NGOs, private companies, governments and other groups can work together to address the multiplicity of issues currently facing the world.
Pablo Ouziel
Pablo has experience in advising Fortune 500 companies, in building Internet companies and is also a philosopher specializing in political theory and nonviolent democratization practices. He is a co-founder of the Can Poeti ecosocial stewardship project in the Garrotxa region of Catalonia, Spain. He is a co-founder of the Cedar Trees Institute at the University of Victoria, Canada. He has recently published a book, Democracy here and now, with the University of Toronto Press, and has published a co-edited volume, Democratic Multiplicity, with Cambridge University Press.
At this very moment, for all the people’s and the nations of the earth, may not even the names disease famine war and suffering be heard - rather may moral conduct, merit, wealth and prosperity increase and may supreme good fortune and well-being always arise for them
TIBETAN PRAYER