Welcome to the inaugural post of the RFC's new blog!

When I was a sophomore at Earlham College, I wrote a weekly column in the Earlham Post entitled “Out on a Limb.” I used this platform to sound off about any campus-related activity that caught my attention. Mostly, it was a “student power” rant that really put me out on a limb given the conservatism of much of the student body and administration.

Now, over 40 years later I’m taking another step into the 21st century by starting a blog in which I will answer RFC people’s communications (without breaching anyone’s privacy), as well as address topics that I believe will interest the RFC community.

I’d like to entitle this new blog, "Out on a Limb."  But I wonder if I’m just indulging in a bit of nostalgia. Then again, I think the title is not as far-fetched as it might seem at first. In a number of ways the Rosenberg Fund for Children project is really out there.

A number of people felt I was delusional when I first floated the idea of working full time to raise money to give away to targeted activists’ children. No one had ever heard of a public foundation with that goal.

Beyond that, the RFC established four guiding principles: All people have equal worth; people are more important than profits; world peace is a necessity; and society must function within ecologically sustainable limits. The children of activists who have been targeted for promoting these principles are eligible for RFC grants even if we disagree with some of their tactics, actions or beliefs.

We fund children whose parents participate in such a broad range of progressive movements that I think almost every one of our supporters would disagree with some of the positions of at least one of the activist families we support. Asking people to give money to an organization that might give some of it away to people they disagree with is really going out on a limb. Yet, I take great pride that we have thrived while adhering to this pluralistic principle for almost 20 years.

But then I worry that those who first read the blog without seeing this explanation of the title will be completely perplexed by it.

So what you do think? Is this title, and what it says about this organization, the right one? Or do any of you creative readers have a suggestion for a different title that you think would better reflect the essence of the RFC community?

Send us your feedback  by commenting on this post or emailing rfc@rfc.org [3].   (If you comment on the post and want us to be able to reach you, please include your email address in your comment.)  If we decide to use one of your titles, we’ll reward you with a suitable prize of RFC material such as a book, poster, t-shirt, tote bag, etc!