A Celebration 40 Years in the Making!
VISION COMING TO FRUITION AS NETWORK MARKS RUBY ANNIVERSARY
Gathering at the nonprofit Thursday Club, more than 200 nonprofit and community leaders joined Fieldstone in celebrating its 40th anniversary. The energy was palpable as learning groups, coaches, funders, supporters and community leaders had mini reunions throughout the space. Photo booths and selfie-stations provided activities for friends and colleagues to have fun together. Many members said the event had the feeling of a “family wedding in all of the best ways”.
The celebration event was catered by Toast and included custom cupcakes featuring the 40th anniversary theme of BUILD, LEAD, SUSTAIN and AMPLIFY.
Fieldstones engraved with CELBRATE were given to each guest as a souvenir but also as a reminder that “leaders understand the value of celebrating people and milestones and everyday moments of success and good effort”.
City and Congressional Proclamations
June 29th, 2023 was declared Fieldstone Leadership Network San Diego Day by the San Diego City Council as a proclamation was presented by Councilmember Kent Lee from the 6th District. Lee is a graduate of Fieldstone’s Learning Group program and spoke eloquently on the impact Fieldstone has had on his career and his life, “leading him to where he is today”. FLNSD also received a proclamation from Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, District 51, which was presented by Matt D’Arrigo.
Achieving Our Vision
Using a quote from Mother Theresa, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” Mason shared with her guests how “Fieldstones” (our members) are constantly cast throughout our community and, that the impact of those stones, their personal impact, continues to reverberate throughout our community, making their way to others and transforming lives in ways we could never have imagined. She went on to say, “Whether these ripples are seen or unseen, they represent the dramatic consequences of being part of our Network. A ripple can take many shapes: increased confidence, a new collaboration, a shared resource, a friendship, a dream job, or a renewed store of energy. While a ripple may seem secondary, it has great power to impact the quality of our lives and our leadership. This is the real magic of Fieldstone.”
“Words” from the Members
As part of the festivities, Mason was surprised by a presentation from Network Members. Lee Ann Kim produced a video for her with members sharing words that described her and gifts she had given them. A handcrafted piece by Michelle Schneider featuring all of the words, four hearts to represent the four decades and a ruby to mark the 40th anniversary was gifted to Janine. Lee Ann Kim and Michael Carr also spoke as part of the presentation. Kim, self-identifying as a Fieldstone Super Fan, introduced the video saying that “words are Janine’s superpower” – “we know how much she values words and how much they mean to her because of how she shares them with us through meaningful conversations, blessings, poetry, and inspirational writings. Kim expressed love to Mason for allowing Members “to live out their life purpose and live our best lives”. Carr shared that each of those words describe the fundamental uniqueness of what Mason has done to hold a vision over many decades. Carr went on to point out that Janine manages all of us for the” sake of the mission without any formal authority and pointed out that they are all there (as part of the Network), not because they are paid to be there, but because everyone is a direct recipient of the Fieldstone mission. He said, “our leadership has been supported and enhanced” by Mason’s work and “as a result our organizations and our sector are vastly more effective and our organizations and sector have been enhanced”. Carr called Mason an “absolute champion of the nobility and importance of our work and our organizations.” Watch Michael’s Presentation Here
After the event, Mason reflected, “as we gathered to celebrate our 40th year and I looked out on all of the faces in the ballroom, I could see our vision of a well-developed, highly effective, deeply connected nonprofit sector was coming to fruition! Here was a large group of skilled and successful leaders who were in relationship to each other, enjoying being together. I knew it was happening, but this anniversary drew me up to 30,000 feet and showed me in a new way how we are accomplishing exactly what we set out to do! It is quite a feeling. Of course, we will never put ourselves out of business as there will always be more to learn and new people to get to know. But we have reached a tipping point and its matters and it is a magnificent feeling!” Mason was grateful for the surprise tribute.
A Communal Story
The story of Fieldstone is one which has always been communal and to celebrate this milestone, it made sense that these chapters would be written collectively. As a result, Fieldstone created an anniversary blog which features the experience of a Network member. It is produced each Monday on the Network’s website. Each post uniquely captures the depth and breadth of Fieldstone’s impact on our nonprofit leaders and the ripples that have been created as a result of our leadership community. The blog will continue through 2023 and then each post will be included in a bound book.
Thank You
Fieldstone’s anniversary event was sponsored by Clare Rose Foundation, Alliant Educational Foundation, Blair Search Partners, Rancho Santa Fe Foundation and United Way of San Diego. Viewpoint Brewing was the beverage partner for the anniversary event.
