Our mission is to build a world based on compassion.
In 1939 my father was rescued from almost certain death. He was put onto a train out of Austria bound for London. The Kindertransport, as it became known, went on to rescue 10,000 Jewish children from the encroaching Nazi army – offering them safe passage from continental Europe to British shores. That effort ranks amongst one of the proudest moments in British history and it saved my father’s life. There’s no doubt: I am alive today because of compassion.
Awareness of my good fortune stays with, motivates, and guides me. I want every child to grow up in safety and every adult to receive care and attain their right to education, democracy, and a decent standard of living.
That is why the GCC exists: to build a world in which people and nature are cared for and thrive together. We know the challenges we face. Poverty, hunger, climate breakdown, and mental and physical ill-health represent serious challenges to the wellbeing of humanity.
But humanity has the power to address them. Decades of scientific research have shown that humans are wired for compassion. When we cultivate that natural inclination, amazing things can happen. Compassion helps us alleviate suffering, build bridges, and foster connection. It lets us overcome conflict and create conditions for peace. It even increases our happiness and improves our health.
Just imagine if that power was harnessed. Imagine if we could inspire individuals, organizations, and governments to act from a place of compassion, to attend to suffering, and build communities of care and belonging.
The GCC will do this by working at a global scale to elevate, promote, and champion compassion as a value, motive, and behaviour. We will fund and support research into compassion, educate citizens in the nature of compassion, apply compassion to work, education, healthcare, and politics, and promote compassionate and systemic solutions to global problems.
And we will do all of this with you. The wonderful thing about compassion is that we all have it, deep inside us. We can be the flakes of snow that come together to form an avalanche. In the coming weeks and months we will be reaching out to you with opportunities to share and shape our work. And, in the New Year, we will be launching a website which will offer a one-stop-shop on compassion with exciting news to follow about our projects and interventions.
So, thanks for being with us. We’re going to do something pretty special.
By Jennifer Nadel, Chair of the Global Compassion Coalition.