The Fiddlehead Foundation
For 20 years now, Dr. Chuck and I have been interested observers, as many of our patients graduate from college without a firm plan, finish raising their families, or reached retirement age with time and energy to "give back" in some way.
These three groups are filled with individuals ready to branch out into new territory, but as far as we can tell, there are no organizations that specialize in pointing people toward well-established, worthy causes. It's all very piece-meal and with currently available pathways, it would probably be a random process for an individual to come upon a "cause" that they could be passionate about. The Fiddlehead Foundation was born of this need to have a "connector" organization.
In short, many people have the best intentions but just don't know how to get started in a phase of service to others.
That's where our organization will come in.... The Fiddlehead Foundation will have a unique mission. Simply put: We will connect people with gifts, to a world of need.
With that in mind, the Fiddlehead Foundation will basically do two things: 1. It will develop a highly varied list of “recommended” charitable organizations that we have personally, extensively researched for authenticity, results and sound practices. 2. It will work in a comprehensive, personal way with individuals to help them find a charitable organization that they can share their gifts with and connect deeply. The Fiddlehead Foundation will facilitate relationships between fortunate individuals and non-profit organizations that are doing exceptional, courageous and praiseworthy work. The “giving back” may take the form of simple financial support. It may be in the form of assisting the charity’s efforts by remote means, or it may mean that the individual would journey to far off lands to help in a hands-on way.
HERE ARE THE FOUR PREMISES THAT WILL GUIDE HOW WE SELECT OUR REFERRAL NON-PROFITS:
1. The Fiddlehead Foundation will only work with organizations that can offer our “givers” a deep connection through a personalized approach. Sadly, our research so far has found this to be rather rare. Many organizations outgrow their ability (and interest) in maintaining truly meaningful lines of connection with their individual donors. In their race to the finish line, they seem to forget where they started. But this is important. Chuck and I start from the premise that long-term change is only possible when the giving is as much of a gift to the giver as it is to the receiver. Most good organizations start this way - with a committed individual or small group who personally connected with others so well that EVERYONE involved felt like they were an important part of something bigger then themselves. In this phase the outreach expands exponentially. Unfortunately, as organizations grow, their “system” and “policies” usually become their undoing by making their donors feel like a faceless number. In our search for organizations, this has been a startlingly common finding. The key is usually good, visionary leadership that puts people before process – a rare find.
2. And that brings us to our second premise: We will only work with organizations that prove to have a track record of good leadership and an energized “corporate culture”. An organization that changes directors frequently, or cannot maintain a motivated staff will not be a stable place for our givers to commit to. That’s why Dr. Chuck and I will have to actually visit the principals and headquarters of far off organizations before we can truly endorse them.
3. Our third premise is that we will choose organizations that can prove financial efficiency and a very high degree of project effectiveness. In this day of frauds and corporate excess, no one really knows who they can trust anymore. We will do our homework about an organizations’ effectiveness so our givers can trust that their time, money or efforts are well placed. Chuck and I will personally work with these organization to be able to vouch for their fiscal soundness and responsibility.
4. Lastly, we will work with organizations whose mission has short-term as well as long-term implications for social improvement. Their mission must be more than a “response” to need. They must have some part of their strategic planning that includes long-term, proactive solutions to the challenges they are addressing.
If you want to learn more of about the background on this vision…
When Dr. Chuck and I were about to graduate from Dental School in 1987 we did not plan to practice as typical general dentists. We had lived abroad after college (Dr. Chuck played professional basketball in Spain) and we had decided that a global life was the one for us. We carry both U.S. and Irish passports so we applied for dental positions with over 200 of the world’s dental related non-profit organizations. Basically, we offered our skills if the organizations could minimally cover our student loan debts. [Applying to 200 groups was no small feat in the late 1980’s. This was before computers, cell phones and the internet. Google and email did not exist. All our inquiries were typed on a typewriter or hand written, and I can’t even remember how we found the addresses to all these groups. I still have the notebook we kept of our “mimeographed” copies of the letters. ]
Unfortunately, the only organizations able to accept our offer were 2 that were in the most dangerous places in the world at that time: Cameroon West Africa, and Afghanistan (during the Soviet conquest there). We declined both, moved to Italy to practice with an Italian colleague for a time, and eventually came back to the states to make a “normal” professional life for ourselves.
But we never lost the dream of working in a meaningful, global way.
For many years now, Dr. Chuck and I (Dr. Lynda) have been interested in the growing abundance of organizations that do good works in the service of others who are less fortunate. You only have to google "volunteer opportunities" to see the thousands of non-profits and foundations that work to improve the quality of life for people, animals and the environment all over the world. This speaks very well for the prospects of humanity.
We have also become aware of a growing interest in "giving back" among fortunate, skilled college grads, parents who are finished with raising children, and retirement-age people. There are three things at work here:
1. Given the current economy, we see a generation of graduates that have little prospect for immediate employment. Many are fortunate to come from families that will support them while they take on some meaningful adventure.
2. We see a great number of people who have successfully raised their children, and want to continue an active life in the service of something outside themselves.
3. We see up-coming retirees who may not be satisfied with the same kind of retirement that their parents aspired to. There is a coming generation who may want to remain active, giving back to a world where they found opportunity, education and good health for themselves.
How do we know this?... Remember; we have a fairly unique vantage point as dentists… Essentially, we get to sit and chat, in-depth, for an hour or so with 40 to 60 people every week while we are doing their dentistry. It’s just the best part of our job! We talk about everything under the sun, but our conversations tend to gravitate to shared insights about philosophy, people’s goals, their hobbies and interests. It really does give us a strange sort of “finger on the pulse” of our culture.
Bottom-line: More and more, we see a tipping point emerging: people who realize that their search for fulfillment may lie in the realization that their life’s journey must include a period of giving.
We have also noticed a kind of "restlessness" in many new college grads, parents, and retired folks who were accustomed to being busy students, homemakers or professionals. Many express a longing to find some way to give meaning to another potentially rewarding stage of their lives.
But where to start? How do you find a good match for your specific skills and interests? How do you know if a specific non-profit or service organization is legitimate? How does one find a cause or an organization that they can deeply connect with? Many of us have the best of intentions, but never act on them for lack of a pathway.
Initially, Dr. Chuck and I thought our calling someday would be to do dentistry in the back waters of the world. We have traveled the globe extensively since the age of twenty. There is a lot of suffering and unmet need out there for our particular professional expertise.
But the more we spoke to others about this concept of "giving back", the more we realized that a lot of people share our interest in finding a meaningful philanthropic endeavor, they just don't know where or how to start.
Our path became clearer with every conversation and our calling emerged: We need to lead an organization that will fill the void that exists between the person with the gift and those with the need. It is the perfect fit for our greatest gifts: Chuck and I are both "connectors" and discriminating "mavens": We have never met a stranger, and we are like the town criers when we find something to sing about. We get excited when we find something that stands out as truly unique and we can get others excited. Dr. Chuck could befriend anything from a soap dish to a Scoundrel. He’s very warm and magnetic. I am visionary, driven, and meticulous about detail and communication. It's been a good combination for leading our team of 14, and providing care for more than 4000 patients. Relationship building has been the foundation of our success with our practice for 20 years. We will bring these same gifts to this wider undertaking.
The Fiddlehead Foundation has a very specific mission. If there is a reliable and user-friendly establishment that does this already, we have been unable to find it. If you know of one, please let us know so we can research its effectiveness.
Thanks for taking the time to learn about this endeavor. We’d love to hear from you. Again, until our foundation’s website is finished, feel free to contact us at lynda@sover.net .