Charter for Compassion plaques are available for purchase now. Hang one in your home, office, school, community center or house of worship. Send one as a gift to your family member, friend, organization or religious community.

Beautifully designed by Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject, the plaque serves as an elegant reminder that every day is a new opportunity to live more compassionately. The design focuses on the power and meaning of the Charter’s words rather than purely the form. The plaque’s isometric perspective reminds us of a book, and expresses the depth of the Charter’s text and encompassing points of view. The plaque consists of sustainable maple, simple construction and laser-engraving to create a unique and iconic design reflective of the key messaging of Karen Armstrong. Each plaque is hand-crafted by Thomas Duffy, a designer and craftsman with 30 year of experience.

The plaque costs $200 (USD), including shipping & handling. Some international locations may require additional payment for shipping. The Charter for Compassion is a non-profit initiative and the plaques are priced at cost. Plaques can be made in any language we have available for download.

If you are interested in purchasing a plaque, please visit our webstore. If you can’t afford to purchase a plaque, we encourage you to download a copy to frame and hang on your wall. You can find a downloadable version for over 30 languages in the sidebar here.

For the launch of the Charter for Compassion over 60 plaques were hung in significant religious and secular locations around the world, including India, Botswana, Australia, Malaysia, England and Brazil.

Here are a few thoughts from those already displaying the Charter:

IBN ABBAS, NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA

“The hanging of this Charter is an important event symbolising aspects that unite civilisations across the globe, in particular the principle of compassion which is a cornerstone of Islam. It is even more significant as it focuses on children who are at the core of the work of our network.” – Hademine Ould Saleck, President, Imams and Oulemas Network for Child Rights

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHAPEL, CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, PHILIPPINES

“May those passing into the Chapel be reminded by this plaque at the entrance to the Chapel, and reflect again, as they read it on the way out, that we are one with all our suffering brothers and sisters throughout the world, and as members of the Xavier University community, always and ever men and women for others.” – Fr Calvin Poulin,SJ, Chaplain, Immaculate Conception Chapel

LITHGOW CORRECTIONAL CENTER, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

“The Charter of Compassion plaque is now hanging in the prison chapel at Lithgow correctional centre. It is very rare within a prison for people to have the opportunity to step out of their very fixed roles. The hanging was one of those occasions. To be together for the shared purpose of instating the Charter of Compassion was very special. The governor, head of nursing, a welfare officer and two of the Christian chaplains were in attendance, along with ten inmates. We shared the reading of the Charter between inmates and staff.

We asked the guys why they considered it significant to hang the plaque within the prison. They offered the following responses:

Because you find peace in the most unlikely places
Because everyone wants to be happy
Because compassion spreads compassion.

The atmosphere in the room testified to all of these responses. The governor and head of nursing both requested copies of the photos to hang in their respective offices. The inmates all requested copies to share with their families and friends and links to the Charter of Compassion website to pass on to them.” – Aileen Barry, Liberation Prison Project

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Karen Armstrong's Wish Blog, TEDPrize Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.