The Fruition Coalition
transforms organizations and communities by imparting wisdom, mobilizing resources, building relationships, sharing ideas, and evoking inspiration. Founded in 2001, we provide professional development and consulting services for social change and community benefit organizations, schools, universities, faith communities, artists, visionaries, healers, thinkers, organizers, peacemakers, and activists.
Our approach is:
Optimistic – Together, we can realize our dreams for a more compassionate, just, sustainable, harmonious, and beautiful planet.
Holistic – Individual organizations are a symphony of interconnected ideas and have unique integral roles within society.
Creative - An organization’s greatest resource is unleashed through the liberation of its collective imagination.
Intuitive – Precocious sensitivity cultivates understanding and wisdom that can be accessed and utilized at any moment.
Open-ended – People, organizations, and societies provoke insatiable curiosity; we continuously seek greater clarity, meaning, and understanding.
Authentic – Sincerity and transparency serve as the foundation of genuine relationships.
Pragmatic –Transformation is a joyous, natural process; its progress is advanced and sustained through realistic strategies and plans.
Let us help you change the world.
A great capacity for wondrous things can be found within each of us. When we join with others through organizations, the possibilities are infinite. Organizations are dynamic, living, open systems that integrate individual and communal visions for a better world. The Fruition Coalition uncovers, illuminates, and elevates organizations’ experience and wisdom so that we can realize our collective dreams.
Through the Fruition Academy of Social Imagination and Action, we connect research to practice through engaging webinars and online collaboration.
The Fruition Coalition also provides consulting services. We collaborate with organizations through a seven-step circular consulting process:
1. Listening – Listening is the foundation of, and continues throughout, the consulting process. The Fruition Coalition will seek to understand and work within the context of your organization’s culture, relationships, resources, processes, policies, mission, and vision.
2. Inquiry – Our staff will ask questions to uncover and clarify both your practical needs and visionary dreams as well as to reveal your organization’s mysteries and complexities.
3. Planning – A practical, detailed plan will be cooperatively developed to help your organization achieve its goals and fulfill its mission.
4. Education – The content of the plan, along its assumptions and justifications, will be shared throughout the organization to cultivate awareness and to inform, engage, and motivate stakeholders.
5. Implementation – The plan will be carefully and lovingly put into action.
6. Evaluation – Progress on implementation will be measured. Feedback regarding the process and outcomes will be collected, analyzed, and summarized.
7. Integration – Everything that was learned throughout the consulting process will be integrated into the organization’s culture and daily activities.
The Fruition Coalition acts as a:
Connector – We partner with organizations to leverage our respective and collective time, energy, expertise, ideas, relationships, and resources.
Catalyst – We spark changes in thinking and actions that ripple throughout organizations and communities.
Cultivator – We plant seeds of hope and nourish them with love, attention, and opportunities for growth.
Educator – We share innovative ideas that inspire action.
Facilitator – We bring people together to share information, build relationships, clarify vision, and design the future.
EDUCATION * TRANSFORMATION * LIBERATION * ACTION
Radiating ideas from the academy to the streets
Reflecting the wisdom of all people
Through a series of 20 online seminars each year, The Fruition Academy of Social Imagination and Action synergizes the most innovative, exciting ideas from research and connects them to effective social change and service practice. Upon completion, students are energized and equipped to integrate new concepts and implement new strategies.
Each 60-minute seminar is complemented by unlimited discussion and collaboration with the facilitator and colleagues at Le Salon Utopique. Participants receive a copy of the slides and detailed notes so that the content can be reviewed and shared with coworkers.
All classes cost $29 per computer and are held on Fridays at 11 a.m. EST/EDT.
Full course descriptions and registration will be available in July, 2012.
Schedule:
October 5, 2012 – Existential leadership
October 19, 2012 – Program evaluation planning
November 2, 2012 – Quantum physics for activists
November 16, 2012 – Theatre of change
December 7, 2012 - Persuasion
December 14, 2012 – Strategic planning in an uncertain world
January 11, 2013 – Power
January 25, 2013 – Grassroots philanthropy
February 8, 2013 – Resistance
February 22, 2013 – Theories of change/logic models
March 8, 2013 - Deviance
March 22, 2013 – Embracing and leading change
April 5, 2013 - Social contagion
April 19, 2013 – Qualitative evaluation
May 3, 2013 – Evolutionary language
May 17, 2013 - Collaboration, partnerships, and coalitions
June 7, 2013 – Dialogue for change
June 21, 2013 – Frames and lenses: Repicturing our world
September 13, 2013 - Negotiation
September 27, 2013 – Vibrational fundraising
October 11, 2013 – Class and social movements
October 25, 2013 – Fundraising planning
November 8, 2013 – Attachment and liberation
November 15, 2013 – Marketing and outreach planning
December 6, 2013 – Appreciative inquiry
December 13, 2013 – Appreciative organizing
The Fruition Coalition helps organizations develop their capacity for growth and success. Areas where we may be of service include:
Strategic Plan Development
Sustainability Planning
Policy Development
Needs Assessment
Program Planning and Evaluation
Marketing Planning
Community Relations Planning
Outreach and Community Engagement Planning
Volunteer Planning
Advocacy Strategy Development
Board and Staff Training
Retreat Facilitation
Document Review
Research
Strategic Philanthropy
Do you need assistance that is not described on this website? We may be able to help you; if not, we probably know someone who can. Feel free to send us an email to describe your needs and we will point you in the right direction.
Jessica R. Dreistadt is a visionary dreamer, creative thinker, scholar, poet, social philosopher, and results-oriented community change practitioner. She is the founding director of The Fruition Coalition, a second-year doctoral student in organizational leadership, a writer, a social justice and nonprofit organization educator, and a passionate advocate for progressive social change. She has self-published two books, The People Pages: Resources for Social Change and Ashley and Tiana; her third book, Limitless Loving Leadership, is in progress. She has also written and published many articles, including Voting Rights: The Struggle for Democracy which was recognized with a Williams Award. She has served nonprofit organizations for over 13 years including more than five years as an executive director. As a community advocate, Jessica acted as executive producer of a MarCom Award winning documentary video, Food for Thought: Hunger in the Lehigh Valley, and organized the Lehigh Valley Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage. Jessica has a master's degree in sociology from Lehigh University as well as a master's degree in nonprofit management from Eastern University. In addition to developing many community-based workshops, she has designed and taught college courses about entrepreneurship, fundraising, public relations, and program evaluation. She is a transformational leader, educator, and writer who is dedicated to working toward a more compassionate, just, sustainable, harmonious, joyous, and beautiful planet.
Sharon Descoteaux has over 40 years experience in the nonprofit, government, and business sectors, Her most significant experience has been in financial analysis, contract compliance, proposal development, and data management and administration. Sharon's areas of expertise include organization and administration, system development, financial management, financial audit review, contract review and negotiation, proposal preparation, and editing. Her interests include children, immigrant families, senior citizens, and animal welfare.
"The amount of work that we accomplished in one session with The Fruition Coalition was amazing. With Jessica on hand to facilitate our strategic planning session, our vast myriad of ideas became a cohesive, workable step-by-step plan. She has the remarkable ability to harness the energy of a group and put it to focused good use. Throughout the process, she enabled all of our board members voices to be heard and, therefore, to become a part of the plan" - Betsy Hawley, Executive Director, Helping Hands - Healing Hearts, Pittsburgh, PA, 2011
"Jessica is a wordsmith extraordinaire. Her ability to quickly assemble otherwise randomly organized documents and information into cogent, straightforward reports and proposals is nothing short of genius." - Stanley R. Pokras, Executive Director, Nonprofit Technology Resources, Philadelphia, PA, 2010
"We had a great vision and passion to help others, but we had no idea how to get started. Thanks to a one day workshop with The Fruition Coalition and Jessica's book "The People Pages," we learned everything we needed to develop a vision statement, create a Board of Directors, develop bylaws, become incorporated, apply for a 501c(3) tax exempt status, and do strategic planning. We put what we learned into practice and now have a thriving non-profit." - Beverly Prestwood-Taylor, Executive Director, The Brookfield Institute, Brookfield, MA, 2010
"Your assistance, guidance and insight helped us develop an excellent plan of action for our ministry. You are a diligent, conscientious and industrious worker. You are also very creative, energetic and results oriented. I am also very impressed with your sense of professionalism. I would highly recommend your services to any grass roots, non-profit organization." - Sherry Hill, Executive Director, Christian Entertainment Fellowship Network, Philadelphia, PA, 2002
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134 E. Madison Street
Easton, PA 18042
(610) 252-5362
fruition
(fru•i•tion) /fro͞oˈiSHən/
when a plan or an idea begins to happen, exist or be successful
coalition
(co•a•li•tion) /kōəˈliSHən/
an alliance for combined action
Sources: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary; Oxford English Dictionary
(c) 2001-2011 The Fruition Coalition. All Rights Reserved.