Wisedana Foundation

Our Mission

WISDOM FOR CHANGE

We believe in the possibility of being in the world more wisely, for the benefit of all sentient beings and the entire ecosystem. Wisdom, which allows us to recognize the interconnectedness of all phenomena, is the tool by which we can build a more equitable and compassionate society.

Our name tells our mission. Wise in English means "wise," dana in Indian pali language means "to give." Wisedana therefore means "to give wisely".

While remaining a secular organization, our values and activities are within the Buddhist philosophical perimeter. We encourage the practice of mindful generosity, which according to various Buddhist schools is the first of the virtues to be cultivated in order to overcome ignorance, understood as the main culprit of suffering in the world. Generosity is thus a tool that has an extraordinary transformative power, capable of building effective responses to the most important social problems.

Wisedana is an international philanthropic foundation that draws on the values of the Buddhist tradition while expressing itself in a secular form. It caters to philanthropists who wish to be active in building a more equitable, wise and compassionate world by promoting systemic changes in humanitarian, ecological, social, educational, cultural, and fragility care.

As Wisedana Foundation, we intend to be the catalysts for systemic change inspired by the values of the Buddhist tradition, leading to the elimination of suffering and major critical issues in the world today. Our role is to identify the actors, synergies, resources and strategies to achieve this and to connect them with the right philanthropists, men and women of our time who wish to nurture the seeds of wise change.

We therefore intend to act both as a "quality advisor" capable of recognizing and supporting systemic change in all its activities, and as a "philanthropic actor" in synergy internationally with key stakeholders interested in supporting systemic change toward a wiser world.

By "systemic change" we mean a strategy for responding to problems that starts by conceiving of each critical issue as a complex system, which must therefore be addressed through a multilateral and multidisciplinary analysis. The result of this composite analysis is a strategy of approaching the problem from multiple perspectives, taking into consideration all the actors involved and questioning the sustainability of the proposed solution. The value framework of Buddhism allows for a full understanding of the complexity of reality: every being is naturally connected to all others in a relationship of infinite reciprocity, and every arrangement of the world is only temporary and constantly changing. In accepting this condition-now increasingly evident in globalized society-we understand that the only way to effectively intervene in the world is precisely through systemic change.

The tool we use is generosity (or philanthropy, which is its organized form) as an experience of relationship toward the other, as a powerful gesture of transformation capable of activating the vocation of individuals to participate in the common good and social change.