Community Builder

In 2018, I helped form a group of dedicated Glendora Gems Lapidary Club members into a registered 501(c)(3) organization, the Bidwell Gem and Mineral Museum. Lapidary, the art of cutting and polishing stones, is a fairly expensive and inaccessible hobby. To make this hobby accessible and our sixty-year-old club sustainable, we formed this nonprofit organization. With a museum, we could display the decades of Glendora Gems’ collections, preserve its history, host our weekly lapidary workshop, and even fiscally support other local lapidary clubs. As part of my role as a Board Director, I spearheaded the effort to submit the 1023 Application to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and subsequently receive tax-exempt status under code 501(c)(3). While I have previous team leadership experience, I had never done something like this before. I had never collaborated with and delegated tasks to a group of people who had decades of experience on me.

Importance

This experience has been profound for me. Compiling the 60-year-old history of the Glendora Gems Lapidary Club into a written narrative for the IRS application strengthened my proficiency as a writer and as a presenter. I have continued to develop my ability to work within groups and be an active listener who collaborates and is receptive to feedback. I also view my role within the group as someone who sees the ‘bigger picture’. I value the regional focus of our club, but I am also able to see the potential impact – national and even global – that our organization can have. What is the relationship between our decades-long regional history in Glendora and our potential to be a global player in the museum industry? How can we fiscally sustain our Glendora club for the next sixty years, while also building a museum that could potentially be visited by gem and mineral enthusiasts from around the world? As I collaborate with the individual board members, I think about and address these questions, and I see how our different life experiences and belief systems all connect to the greater purpose of our organization.

Skills Gained:

  • Capacity to perceive multiple perspectives
  • Collaborative nature and appreciation for the ideas of others
  • Ability to focus on the big picture
  • Effective management of projects and ability to delegate
  • Knowledge of trends in nonprofit management

Impact

The impact of this experience is continuously unfolding. At the beginning of our nonprofit journey, our Board of Directors created our mission statement – to promote earth science education by providing access to hands-on experiences in lapidary arts and geology – that continues to drive our actions. While our original goal was to build a permanent gem and mineral museum, we have transformed that idea into a more tangible stepping stone – a mobile museum/classroom. In fact, I just helped plan and execute a Glendora community event to promote our idea on Monday, March 18, 2019. We invited local government officials, educators, and fellow lapidary enthusiasts to this event. As much as I have contributed to this organization, this experience has also had an impact on me. I have learned how to empathize, listen, and empower others in this community as we work towards a common goal of promoting earth sciences education. I have also found joy outside of my career and am happy to see how I can contribute to a completely different aspect of the nonprofit and educational world. In fact, I also helped the residential camp group Mountain Respite Camp form into an official nonprofit and joined its newly formed Board of Directors in 2017. I have been able to strengthen my interest in nonprofit management, residential camp experience, and learn about the mental health field through this experience.

Work Samples