Serendipity in Non-Profit Founding and the Healing Response of Two Servant-Leaders to Crises of Migration

This article explores the intersection of non-profit founding with elements of servant-leadership. Drawing upon current research in social entrepreneurship and non-profit founding, the article reflects on these in light of the stories of two selfless individuals, Varian Fry and Enrique Morones, whose lives of servanthood spawned the founding of two influential organizations: the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) and the Border Angels. While sharing the stories of these organizations, and of their founding, this article highlights issues of immigration offering a healing perspective through five themes of servant-leadership articulated by Robert K. Greenleaf revealed in the lives of these non-profit founders. Along the way, this article introduces concepts of global citizenship as an antidote to fears that stoke nationalistic and isolationist mindsets, which are mindsets both the ERC and the Border Angels sought to overcome.