Every three months for the last 25 years, Pete Cooper, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, has written and submitted a quarterly report to his board of directors.
Tuesday morning, he wrote his last.
Cooper retires on Dec. 31 after a quarter-century of foundation work. In a city of millennials and nouveau innovators, Cooper is an elder, with knowledge of institution and community that is unmatched.
His last report was full of good news: the foundation distributed nearly $7 million in grants in the third quarter alone. Cooper estimates he's presided over $250 million in gift-giving in his tenure - including more than $160 million in the last decade, $23 million so far this year, and the more-than $1 million raised for the Heroes Fund.
Yet as he sat down to write his last report, he did more than crunch numbers. He turned inward and reflective. Looking back over his shoulder at the last 25 years, Cooper wrote the board about the lessons he's learned about charity, community and the ways we treat each other.
He calls it his "epistle."
I call it Pete Cooper's proverbs.
* "Some of the finest people I know have the least amount of money."
* "There is great wisdom in all corners of society, even the hidden ones."
* "Successful people are like turtles on the fence post. They had help getting there."
There are 41 proverbs in his report, and one of the trending themes is humility. Having witnessed untold acts of giving and receiving, Cooper is crystal-eyed-clear on the social and spiritual truth that giving is better than receiving, and the wreckage that happens when we forget this.
* "Social isolation is a terrible curse."
Cooper sees what our egos tell us to forget: each of us is part and parcel of a larger community. Self-made men don't exist. We have all been given more than we could understand. Cooperation, not competition, is our best nature. It's as if Chattanooga is an ecology of givers and receivers.
* "People in a community are far more interdependent than we think."
Yes, but how should a board or charity support that? Cooper knows the paths that lead charities astray: weak boards, middle-class agendas that have no working knowledge of poverty, leaders that suck the life out of the room, and so on.
* "Strong boards make strong charities."
* "There are heroes in our society in many hidden spots. Support those people."
* "All fundraising is based on relationships, credibility and communications."
* "Love your work or do something else."
Cooper's letter comes at a time of impending troubles. The social stake posts we have erected - schools, prisons, mental health hospitals, public housing, police and teacher salaries, our roads and bridges - seem to be eroding, along with the will to support them. Like sandbags before a hurricane, we should be funding and bolstering the parts of our society that keep us safe and sound, looking not elsewhere for a solution, but to ourselves first.
David Cook* "The federal government is not going to step in and solve our problems. We must do it ourselves."
* "Families are the building block of society."
* "The price of our indifference is very high."
He also reminds us that the problems we face aren't so mysterious. Get to the root cause of one, and you begin to understand many others.
* "Treat root causes, not symptoms."
* "Look for holistic answers since few problems exist in isolation."
It's also remarkable what Cooper doesn't write about. In 41 proverbs, he never encourages arrogance or a blingy way of seeing the world. Never writes about making money or climbing the ladder. Never boasts, never blusters.
* "Help others if you want to help yourself."
* "Much of the conversations in our civic dialogue are either based on fear or intended to increase fear. Neither serves society well."
* "Ethics is the basis of civilized society."
It may be the wisest board report ever submitted in this city. It's his call of duty, his manifesto of empathy. The bonds that connect us are strong, and gift-giving helps us remember, strengthen and celebrate those bonds.
Pete Cooper, thank you for such a compassionate career, which has been such a gift to this city.
* "We can all be philanthropists in our own way."
* "Love really is the answer."
To see Cooper's entire list, visit timesfree press.com/opinion.
Contact David Cook at dcook@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook at DavidCookTFP.