History
June 2005: Spun-Off from Amherst H. Wilder Foundation
Click here for more details about the spin-off
In June 2005, the publishing and consulting programs of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation spun-off into a new, independent organization called Fieldstone Alliance.
Since Fieldstone Alliance is a spin-off, not a start-up, we already have a significant—and long—history of success. The groups that constitute the spin-off organization had been offering services as part of the Wilder Foundation since 1982.
Our capacity-building work with nonprofit organizations changed with Wilder Foundation’s focus, with what works, with what the community needs, and perhaps most importantly, with our increasing sophistication in choosing strategies that achieve greater impact with fewer resources.
Our history has moved through four phases: 1) improved management, 2) mission and impact, 3) vital communities, and 4) sector impact. The history is instructive. It shows how we've increased our impact through constant innovation and by deepening and broadening our core competencies.
1982-1985: Improved management
During our first years (1982-85), our focus was on helping nonprofit organizations become better managed, including better planning and strategy, leadership and governance, resource development, and systems and operations. The underlying assumption was that better managed nonprofits would better serve their communities.
During this period, we offered an extensive curriculum of management training programs, organizational consultation, and client accounting services to nonprofits across the St. Paul/Minneapolis Twin Cities area. Everything was rigorously evaluated. Demand for these services was high, clients’ evaluations of services were excellent, and we grew.
1985-1990: Mission and impact
From 1985 to 1990, other providers joined us in strengthening Twin Cities’ nonprofits. But for some organizations, better management had become an end in itself. We refocused to emphasize mission accomplishment--community impact--as a goal.
Various Wilder Foundation programs involved in capacity building were consolidated or linked into a range of services that included consulting and training to nonprofit organizations, evaluation and research services for nonprofits and government (through Wilder Research Center), conferencing, and capacity-building assistance to social networks in neighborhoods and congregations.
All of this work emphasized increased impact. In concert, we formed a loose partnership with a university-based research network around “service effectiveness” and packaged that material for general use.
During this time, we also:
- Established a Marketing Center and a Community Collaboration Center to help nonprofit organizations develop stronger capabilities in these areas.
- Spun off our client accounting services to another technical assistance organization.
- Began developing and distributing practical, “how-to” publications for use by nonprofit organizations and technical assistance providers nationally and even internationally.
- And, in response to demand stimulated by our publications, we started national training and consultation on a very limited basis.
1991-1996: Vital communities
In 1991 a new Wilder president, with their board, refocused the Wilder Foundation’s work on improving the vitality of St. Paul’s core neighborhoods and on increased opportunity and quality of life for low-income residents in these neighborhoods.
We reshaped our local capacity building work to achieve this goal. In addition to working with nonprofits to increase their general effectiveness, we put more emphasis on how nonprofit organizations work together--along with business, government, and other community groups--to improve neighborhoods and the region.
We began focusing a portion of our consultation work on national organizations, networks, and systems, while continuing to deliver services locally.
We conducted our first research on success factors in collaboration and community building, continued extensive local training programs, and formalized the publishing program into Wilder Publishing Center.
1997-Present: Sector impact
In 1997 The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a supporter of our publishing efforts, suggested that we dramatically expand our national work. In 1998, with Packard’s support, we formally began marketing and delivering consultation and training to national audiences. At the present, our consultation and training work is distributed approximately 40 percent to the local Minneapolis-Saint Paul community and 60 percent to national networks and intermediaries. During this period the Publishing Center greatly expanded its offerings and actively sought out field leaders as authors.
Our international work is growing as well. Recognizing our role in creating a vital nonprofit sector, foundation, nongovernmental organization, and other leaders from across the world meet with us to learn and trade notes, and return to their countries with an expanded vision for their nonprofit sector. Our publications are now used across seventy countries. Corporations like 3M and McKinsey & Company have shared what they have learned about knowledge building and innovation, in the hope that together we can extend these tools to others across the country and world.
Today, we continue to work with nonprofit organizations and networks to improve their performance, but we also help develop larger research or demonstration projects to study emerging aspects of capacity-building work, and to demonstrate application of new approaches to strengthening nonprofits and communities. We are now partners in large capacity-building initiatives that link the resources of organizations within a city or across cities to achieve particular goals:
We worked with Habitat for Humanity International to study factors that contribute to the success of selected urban affiliates. These success factors have now become the backbone of Habitat’s knowledge system that aims to improve the performance of urban affiliates and expand affordable housing in cities across the United States.
We worked with Leadership Foundations of America to build capacity in faith-based organizations in thirty cities across the country. This has increased our understanding of what faith-based organizations need to function effectively, and improved our techniques for broad network capacity building and mobilization.
We partnered with a local foundation and four national foundations to implement the Payne-Lake Community Partners Initiative. This initiative tests how revitalization of aging, inner-city commercial corridors can improve economic opportunity for refugee and immigrant populations.
We are conducting research, along with ten other capacitybuilding providers across the country, on effective approaches for strengthening refugee- and immigrant-led organizations. What we learn will dramatically increase the availability and quality of capacity-building work being done around the country with these critical organizations. (Click here for more information on this project.)
Through these projects, we’ve found that helping clusters and networks of organizations achieve a shared goal is a more effective capacity-building strategy than simply responding to scattered technical assistance requests from individual organizations; it is also less expensive. Helping intermediaries around the country do this will be the major part of our work as Fieldstone moves forward.
In 2004 we provided consultation and training to ninety-three organizations and networks, and distributed 43,100 publications.
About our spin-off
Fieldstone Alliance...
23 years old and brand new
On June 1, 2005, Wilder Publishing Center and Wilder National Consulting Services spun-off from the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation to become Fieldstone Alliance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What prompted the spin-off?
The decision to spin off these programs from the Wilder Foundation was due in large part to the national scope of the publishing and consulting services. Wilder's mandate is to serve the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Will your services change?
No, we will continue to provide publications, consulting, training, and demonstration projects that work together to strengthen the performance of the nonprofit sector.
Current contracts and services will be unaffected by the change, and Fieldstone Alliance will continue to seek new partners, authors, and clients.
Will you have any ties to Wilder Foundation?
No, Fieldstone Alliance is an independent, national organization totally separate from Wilder.
Will you keep the Wilder brand?
Our books will continue to carry the Wilder name until current inventory is depleted. Reprints, new titles, and our consulting services will carry the Fieldstone Alliance name.
Will you be moving?
Yes, in fact we already have. Our new address and contact information are at the bottom of this page.
What's happening with the rest of Wilder Center for Communities?
The other programs in Wilder Center for Communities will remain at Wilder. These include the Shannon Institute, Vital Neighborhoods, and Neighborhood Leadership programs.
How did you come up with your name, Fieldstone Alliance?
Fieldstones are natural building blocks mined from the ground and used world-round to construct strong structures for families and communities. We work in partnership with many groups around the world to build a stronger nonprofit sector. Our new name embodies our mission and method. It fits us well. (Click here for more about our name.)
Who's leading Fieldstone Alliance?
Carol Lukas, formerly director of Wilder's national consulting services, is the President of Fieldstone Alliance and led its creation. Fieldstone Alliance has started with thirteen staff, including many of the senior staff that current partners, allies, and customers already know well.
Our founding Board of Directors includes:
- Jon Pratt, Executive Director, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
- Barbara Kibbe, Vice President, Skoll Foundation
- Paul Light, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Public Service, Brookings Institution
- Ron McKinley, Executive Director, National Network of Grantmakers
The Future
You can expect us to be passionate, committed, focused, and accessible every day to help build on our long history of excellence and leadership in providing solutions to the issues facing the nonprofit sector.
We owe much of our growth and success to the trust you placed in us over the past 23 years. And, we look forward to serving again you in the future.
