1.20.2009

History vs. Work

It's a bit tricky to get any work done today, what with history being made out in Washington D.C.

One of our Starfish VISTAs is in the nation's capital, hopefully on the Mall by this time to take it all in. One of our college interns is also participating and I'm extremely jealous (albeit, warmer.)

We set up a little, old TV in our office so that we can all watch the inauguration later. Being the newsjunkie that I am, I'm finding it difficult to concentrate on work this morning between reading news coverage updates. I've been flipping back and forth between Cnn.com, npr.org, usatoday.com and walking back to the back of the office to watch CBS (the only station we get...)

At least I think I can get my desk cleared off this morning and maybe my Chronicle of Philanthropy read.

1.08.2009

Proofreading

I was just rereading a grant proposal I wrote last winter because it's time to do the final report and resubmit a new application for this year.

We told this funder last year that we would, "Recruit a minimum of 100 additional qualified and promising low-income youth for participation in the Starfish Initiative in the 2208-09 school year..."

Talk about long-range planning... *groan*

At least they still funded us.

And hopefully I can avoid any sort of similar errors in this year's proposal.

1.07.2009

This One's All Mine and 2009's start

Late in 2008, I wrote a professional development grant to attend another class through the Fundraising School.

Today, I got the letter that I was approved and get to take the class in March.

It's a little strange that this grant, for once, is largely for me. Of course, the whole point of me doing this is to be better at my job and therefore help the organization. But, instead of writing about the need for more college grads, I wrote about how I needed to know what I was doing!

We've been asked here to compile a new list of goals for our jobs here at Starfish and I've spent quite a while today hashing out a set of things that I think can be accomplished in the next year but that will push the envelope somewhat.

But, with everything on the list, I'd best keep working.

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