If you’re a Marin nonprofit founder, it’s your time to shine. Founders of Marin nonprofit organizations will convene on Sunday, April 26 at the Marin Founders Celebration at the Buck Institute in Novato. The event is being presented by Marin Founders, a new nonprofit organization that was formed to present the celebration, a documentary and a TV series featuring a different Marin nonprofit founder each week.
The purpose of the event, which is open to all Marin nonprofit founders, is to recognize and celebrate the contributions of those whose organizations have been in existence for 10 years or more. With more than 400 active Marin County nonprofits–the Marin Symphony, the Agricultural Institute of Marin and the California Film Institute, to name a few–there will be much to celebrate. “Our volunteers are helping to identify founders and we plan to honor at least 50 at this inaugural event,” says Marinda Freeman,” one of the event organizers.
The idea for Marin Founders, and the celebration, came from Jacqueline Janssen, a nonprofit consultant who has served on the boards of various Marin nonprofits. She said that she got the idea around a year and a half ago–she was amazed and inspired by the stories she heard from nonprofit founders about what they were doing to serve the community. “Nonprofit founders are inspired, passionate, committed, persevering and amazing,” Janssen says. “Some have been celebrated and some have not. Nonprofit founders should all be honored and brought together to be appreciated as a group.”
Janssen decided that she wanted to find a way to spread the word about these unsung heroes, and collaborated with two of her colleagues–Marinda Freeman of MF Productions, and Mary O’Mara, the executive director of Marin Link.
The event will feature a preview trailer of a Spirit House Productions documentary that includes interviews with nonprofit founders, board members and staff and volunteers who contribute to each organization. The interviews will be aired as a weekly TV series after the event, on the Community Media Center of Marin’s Channel 26.
Marin Founders Celebration, Sunday, April 26, 2-5pm, the Buck Institute, 8001 Redwood Blvd., Novato. Tickets, which are $50 (free for honorees and Marin nonprofit founders), and include wine and hors-d’oeuvres, can be purchased at brownpapertickets.com. For more information, visit marinfounders.org. For volunteer opportunities or to nominate a founder, email [email protected], or call Jacqueline Janssen at 415/999-1111.–Lily O’ Brien
