Anniversaries a time to look within

SET THE DATE: Embrace Home Loans employees, from left, Claudia Mobilia,  Joe Muscarella and Mike Manley volunteered at Methodist Community Gardens as part of the company’s 30th anniversary day. / COURTESY EMBRACE HOME LOANS
SET THE DATE: Embrace Home Loans employees, from left, Claudia Mobilia, Joe Muscarella and Mike Manley volunteered at Methodist Community Gardens as part of the company’s 30th anniversary day. / COURTESY EMBRACE HOME LOANS

The trajectory of a company or organization sometimes shifts a few degrees around the time of a major anniversary, whether it’s 20, 25, 30 or 60 years.
Company goals may not change much, be it offering a product or service, growing or establishing a niche in the industry or community. But a maturing organization often develops a natural deepening and expansion of mission that broadens or clarifies its course.
“We’re a ‘think and do tank,’ ” Providence Plan Executive Director Patrick McGuigan said of the 20-year-old nonprofit that provides extensive data to serve as a foundation for informed decision-making for government, business and the public.
“But at 20 years, we’re taking a serious look at how we can position ourselves to have a bigger impact on policy and people. I think the thread of the discussion we’ve had so far is that ‘think and do’ is not enough. We have to be more intentional.
“It’s about influence or impact,” said McGuigan. “If you want to make a difference, what difference do you want to make and why? We’ve learned a lot, and now we’re ready to take it to the next level.”
But many paths that help fulfill the mission have changed, including a funding environment that’s increasingly competitive, as well as monumental developments in technology that allow data to be more easily, efficiently and broadly communicated.
“The things that made us successful in the first 20 years are not necessarily the same as what will make us successful in the next 20 years,” said McGuigan.
While a major anniversary is generally a good opportunity to go deeper than a celebration, McGuigan said the Providence Plan specifically held a 20th-anniversary celebration with a substantial goal – to deepen the connections among those who work with its many programs. More than 400 people came to the anniversary celebration in October 2012 at the Casino, the special events venue at Roger Williams Park.
“Most people at the event didn’t know most people,” said McGuigan. “It gave people a chance to connect.”
Connecting through community service was a priority for Newport-based Embrace Home Loans for its 30th anniversary in May. Employees of Embrace donated 1,500 hours of community service to organizations all along the East Coast, from Florida to West Virginia and Rhode Island.
More than two dozen 30th-anniversary projects in May included painting the Methodist Community Gardens Soup Kitchen greenhouse in Middletown, preparing for the Sheep & Fiber Festival at Coggeshall Farm in Bristol and spending time with veterans at the federal Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol.
Embrace Home Loans has also deepened its focus on connection among its employees.
“Another value is to invest in the personal and professional development of each other and that took on a different emphasis about three years ago,” Embrace Home Loans President Kurt Noyce said.
“Strategically, we identified relational skills as not only good for employees in their work with customers, but also in their personal lives,” Noyce said.
“Through this training, we’ve seen dramatic changes,” said Noyce. “We’ve seen empathy, accountability and respect. We’ve seen job satisfaction improve.”
The law firm of Partridge Snow & Hahn is celebrating its 25th anniversary by deepening its involvement in the community. The firm has been donating 25 things each month, including 25 tickets for the New Bedford Symphony Youth Orchestra to see the Rhode Island Philharmonic and 25 coats to Children’s Friend. On a bricks and mortar scale, the firm is moving from space it has outgrown on South Main Street in Providence to three floors of the Textron Building.
“The most important thing is that we continue to do everything for the good of the client,” said Managing Partner David M. Gilden.
The firm will have a strategic planning retreat in October “to focus on what clients will expect in the future,” said Gilden.
Four Corners Arts Center in Tiverton marked its 20th anniversary with an August celebration.
“There’s been talk about expansion. Even though we’re a small arts organization, we’ve built a nice following,” said Executive Director Jennifer Sunderland.
The Four Corners Art Center has its main office, gallery and classroom space on one floor of the historic Soule-Seabury House. When larger space is needed, the arts center uses the Meeting House at Four Corners, a special-events venue.
“We’d like to expand … and have a space of our very own,” said Sunderland. “We offer a lot things for free and we’d like to expand our outreach.”
Marking its 60th anniversary this year, The Business Development Co. has stayed true to its mission of creating and retaining jobs by financing the growth and expansion of companies in Rhode Island, southern Massachusetts and Eastern Connecticut,” according to its website.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve changed that dramatically. Now we go into eastern Connecticut and southeastern Massachusetts,” said President Peter C. Dorsey Jr.
The company is a nonbank lender that works with its member financial institutions to fill a funding gap for companies that are often undercapitalized, but promising.
“One thing that’s stayed the same in 1953 and now is that quality of management is the most important thing,” said Dorsey. •

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