FAQs
Compassionate DFW, is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.
Federal Tax ID: 81-0757454
Address: P.O. Box 836764, Richardson, TX 75083-6764.
The Charter logo incorporates the ancient symbol for infinity: From Wikipedia: “Infinity is an abstract concept describing something without any limit and is relevant in a number of fields, predominantly mathematics and physics. The English word infinity derives from Latin infinitas, meaning “being without finish”, and which can be translated as “unboundedness”, itself calqued from the Greek word apeiros, meaning “endless.”
The symbol has long been used to represent the concept of “endless love”. Our use of the symbol in the context of the Charter for Compassion represents the limitless potential of compassion to transform human relationships, institutions, and communities. Compassion enables the infinite capacity of human kindness and creativity to relieve suffering, connect us to ourselves and to each other, create justice, heal our planet, and protect the natural world with all its inhabitants.
Compassionate DFW has several logos. As a full partner with Charter for Compassion International, Compassion DFW adopts and uses the infinity logo, as well as two other logos, which together more fully define our Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex compassion efforts. We recognize “love,” the Greek concept of “agape,” as integral to compassion. Without agape, there can be no compassion. Compassion and Agape go hand-in-hand. We say we “love with our heart and mind and our soul”—the real meaning of “agape.” Therefore, our primary logos have symbol of love or agape as intertwined three hearts, each heart colored with one of the primary colors, with a resulting different color where each heart overlaps another, making the three hearts “one,” yet each heart different in its own right, representing both individuality and diversity, to be celebrated and shared. These logos represent and reflect who Compassionate DFW is and wants to become.
You may use the Compassionate DFW (CDFW) logos and the Charter for Compassion International (CCI) logo on your website or in printed promotional materials when you become a Partner. Please email us at compassionatedfw2@gmail.com to request CDFW logos. To become a partner go to http://charterforcompassionforms.org/charter-partner-application to apply. There are no obligations to becoming a partner other than your affirmation of the Charter and a commitment to use the Golden Rule as the guiding principle for compassionate action.
For Charter for Compassion International links, go to http://www.charterforcompassion.org/index.php/about1/faq#what-regular-communication-is-offered-through-the-charter
Newsletters and opportunities for Conference Calls in the various areas of partner interests are available at the website. Register to be on the mailing list for these opportunities.
The best way to contact Compassionate DFW Officers and Board of Directors with questions, comments and suggestions is through our email address: compassionatedfw2@gmail.com. We have no paid staff, so we will get back to you as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours.
The best way to contact Charter for Compassion International is to use the Contact Form at www.charterforcompassion.org. Or you may email questions, comments and suggestions to contact@charterforcompassion.org. You are welcome to send all inquiries for Karen Armstrong to contact@charterforcompassion.org, and the Charter team will be happy to forward them to her. This is also true of contacting members of the Charter Board of Directors or members of the Global Compassion Council (GCC). Please note in all cases, mail will be forwarded to the appropriate person and replies will come directly from them. In the case of Karen Armstrong, her calendar is very demanding and it is often very difficult for her to respond to messages asking for personal opinions. Requests for speaking engagements, endorsements and attendance at special events will be immediately forwarded to her personal assistant.
We can’t do this alone–it takes people power to maintain and expand our network and respond to the needs of our compassionate communities in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and with our global partners in the United States and globally. Do you know that the Charter for Compassion International (CCI) and Compassionate DFW exist with the generous support of a growing group of local, national, and international volunteers and there are only one full-time and three part-time people at Charter for Compassion International at the national office? As the number of compassionate communities and partners expands, we need to increase our volunteer staff and services more than ever. Here are some of the areas in which you can help:
Books and Film Annotated Bibliographies
Anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area interested in reading may contribute by recommending books that speak directly or indirectly to compassion and the attributes of compassion (i.e., altruism, empathy, happiness, kindness, resilience, mindfulness, self-compassion). You might find that you’ve found an extraordinary book and you want to do a review of that book. If you write a review, we can post it on Compassionate DFW Facebook (both our general and book club pages), and you can forward on to CCE where it might possibly be published as an article or blog on the Charter website, and may be included it in one of CCI’s annotated bibliographies. This also goes for doing the same with recommending films.
Charter Salon Organization
Local Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex Charter Salons are events where individual CCI members or partner organizations can bring together people who may be interested in the concept of the Charter, its mission and vision and subsequent work. Through Charter Salons we hope to inspire and motivate participants to affirm the Charter and invite them to become members or partners, or to become involved with Compassionate DFW community initiatives. Also, Salons act as CCI and CDFW general grassroots fundraising activity.
Cities and Community Leads and Partner Sector Leads
Help us grow involvement in Compassionate DFW by assisting in responding to inquiries about being a compassionate city government and for organizations interested in being involved in our partner/friend network (i.e., arts, education, environment, healthcare, religion/spirituality/interfaith, restorative justice, science and research and social services). We also need volunteers to help contact organizations who may be interested in becoming partner members. In addition, CCI needs volunteers who are interested in helping maintain and update CCI’s Compassion Books. CCI has a Compassion Reader for each of the partner sectors.
Conferences and Event Planning
Compassion DFW co-sponsors a number of events hosted by our partner/friend organizations. For example, in 2015 CDFW co-sponsored with Richardson Interfaith Alliance and Helping Agencies Serving Richardson to package over 20,000 meals with Feeding Children Everywhere as part of the International Compassion Games. During that same period CDFW befriended Chick-fil-A ‘s Leader Academy service effort at Trophy Club, TX High School, supporting the packaging of 250,000 meals with FCE. As CDFW moves forward more event opportunities will present, requiring a great deal of planning and support. Adding your name with area of interest to our volunteers database would be much appreciated.
Social Media
Compassionate DFW is active on both Facebook and Twitter. We have not taken advantage of Pinterest, Tumblr or Instagram, but may in the near future. All this takes a good amount of time, putting up posts and keeping up with responding to inquiries. If you are passionate about social media we could use your help with crafting content and managing our content calendars for all of these important channels!
Writers and Editors
Every day something remarkable happens that is related to the Charter work in the DFW area. If you have strong writing skills, we have stories that need to be told. Also, CCI has a plethora of articles and stories that need to be edited. Contact CCI if interested in helping in this area: www.charterforcompassion.org.
If you are interested in volunteering in any of the areas named above, please write to us at compassionatedfw2@gmail.com or to Charter for Compassion International at contact@charterforcompassion.org.
How do you take a stand and begin to change the world? Well maybe not the entire world, but perhaps the place where you live. At the very least you might change the minds of your friends and colleagues just because you brought up your concern. Who knows, maybe hundreds, thousands, and even the lives of tens of thousands of people may be different because of your deciding to do something. We want this page to be your page–a page that is generated by the concerns of the members to the Charter for Compassion. Let us know of your concern and we’ll get it up on this page for others to note. Just contact us and follow the format below by giving us a description of the issue, some background information and point us to the ways others can get involved. If you can’t find everything you feel you want to include, don’t hesitate from letting us hear from you. We’ll jump in and help.
If you need some impetus to get started we would recommend going to the website: How to Take a Stand.
Don’t overlook clicking on the links provided because there are some great suggestions for helping you deepen your commitment to make a difference in the world. For example, here is a piece on “How to do the Impossible”:
What does impossible really mean? Is anything truly impossible?
Humans can’t fly, but the Wright brothers proved an airplane could get us close enough. We can’t defy physics and teleport from one side of the world to another, but the internet made it possible to instantly bring the other side of the world to us.
What is impossible?
When I think about the impossible, I don’t really worry much about the undoable. I know I can’t jump off a cliff and start flying. I know I can’t close my eyes and teleport to China. What I worry about is the extremely unlikely – the problems that are solvable but so few people are willing to work on. Bringing peace to the Middle East might be a good example. Or, how about getting astronauts back to Earth without a space craft?
These are things that obviously aren’t impossible, but because either:
So many people have tried and failed, or no one is brave enough to give it a shot, and they inherit the label impossible.Picture, for a second, your own life and your own dreams. What are those things that you’ve always wanted to do that seem completely impossible. Hold that thought for a second. Is it actually impossible or does it just feel impractical because you don’t think you can do it. Possible for someone else, perhaps, but not for you.
There’s the problem. And the solution, believe it or not, isn’t all that complicated.It’s commitment.
The #1 thing you must have in order to do the impossible is commitment. It comes before planning and action and everything else.
It’s the hardest thing to come by, but without it, all else is wasted.
Learn more. We regularly publish issues upon which you can act.
Signing the Charter, or affirming the principle of compassion, is an important first step. An even more important step is to join the Charter as a Member, and making a commitment to sustain the global movement and participate in a compassion initiative in your community or institution. However, we do encourage you to contribute financially when you become a member, but it is possible to select a “Free Membership” when you join.
To sum it up:
• Everybody who signs the Charter gets our public newsletter
• Everybody who joins as a Member also gets a Members Newsletter
• You can join as a Member even if you don’t make a donation at the same time
Organizations become Partners with the Charter and with Compassionate DFW, and individuals become Members.