Starfish Initiative VISTA -- Beyond the Year of Service

End of an Era

2009-08-14T10:16:00.004-04:00

If you'll look at the dates, you'll notice that it's been a month since I lasted posted on this blog. Before that, the posting was getting more and more sporadic.

So, I've come to a decision.

I'm going to stop blogging here. It's really a time thing: I'm rather swamped to keep up with this and I'd rather go back to my first blog (Word Nerd) and try to breathe new life into it. The Word Nerd blog is really where my head is a lot of the time with my novel-writing aspirations and author interviews and book reviews.

Thanks to everyone who's been a regular reader here over the past 15 or so months. It's been a great time being a VISTA and transitioning into this new world of fundraising.

Glad to have you along for the ride.

Back to the Grindstone

2009-07-13T12:40:00.002-04:00

I returned to the job today to find some 60 e-mails waiting for me (I'm not counting the 50 messages in the SPAM folder...), a pile of mail and one voicemail.

I've waded through the e-mails and am trying to get my brain off of vacation mode and back into work mode.... It's not like I've got a shortage of grant deadlines to meet or anything.

We're also starting into planning for the fall fundraising breakfast. We've got the location already (of course), but now it's time to start lining up guests and writing speeches and things.

I think it's good I took my vacation when I did because I think my desk will be the main focus of my attention in the near future.

Return to the Roof!

2009-06-29T16:17:00.003-04:00

Remember those two crazy days last summer where Mentor Services Director Bob Goodrum lived on the Starfish Initiative office roof?

Well, he's doing it again.

8 a.m. tomorrow (June 30) Bob will re-ascend to the roof for another stint aloft to show the need for mentors in Indianapolis. This year, Bob won't be alone on the roof, but he'll be joined by local notables and some dignitaries. (IN First Lady Cheri Daniels is scheduled to join him for a while Wednesday afternoon.)

So, come on down to Starfish during Bob's time on the roof to wish him well (there's a scissor-lift to take you up to say hello), or use this as your opportunity to sign up to be a mentor.

Meanwhile, as Bob's up on the roof recruiting mentors and working on his tan, I'll be in my office writing grants. Which is where I've been for the last few weeks.

All in all, my nose is getting rather pointy (...y'know, from keeping it to the grindstone.)

Hopefully, there will be pictures over the next two days!

Hello again

2009-06-15T08:59:00.002-04:00

I have officially emerged from the federal grant writing hole I was in for the last two weeks. The thing was submitted last Friday in the early afternoon, after which time, I went home and tried to catch up on some much-needed rest.

Of course, now, I'm trying to catch up on the projects that got pushed to the back burner while that grant was top priority. I've got a couple of rapidly approaching deadlines (one is Wednesday) but that feels really do-able. This is a much shorter application, so hopefully it will come together easily.

Last week was also a $30K week for outstanding grants that came in. :)

Federal Grant Writing Foxhole

2009-06-05T15:11:00.002-04:00

I have been incommunicado since Monday because I've been in my hastily dug foxhole for a federal grant application.

This is one kind of proposal I have not written yet and I must say -- all the horrible things I've heard about how hard they are to write are true. The feds certainly want things in a certain way (going as far as telling you what font to use) and it's been quite the learning experience.

As of this point, the first rough draft of the narrative part is done. This is the product of pretty much three straight days of outlining/researching/writing/planning/researching more/writing, for more than 8 hours a day.

In 40 minutes, I'm making myself crawl out of said foxhole for the weekend, though a copy of the proposal is coming home with me to read sometime this weekend. Monday, I will crawl back in to improve the narrative, add in missing sections and write the required attachments. The due date is June 15. The goal is to be done and have it submitted by June 12, a week from today.

At the moment, that feels doable. A lot of work and some more long days, but doable.

Open House

2009-06-01T09:13:00.006-04:00

The open house was Saturday, and I have to say, it was a rousing success.

Saturday kicked off with the dedication of the Commons after former Starfish board member Rick Webster. It was Rick who had the original vision for what this building could be and his tenacity for making the project happen that brought it about. Sadly, Rick passed away late last summer before we'd even gotten the final green light to do the renovation.

Rick was the most excited about turning the garage into the Commons, and so, it was only fitting that we officially dedicated and named the room as the Rick and Patti Webster Commons.

The afternoon was full of great tours of the building with many of our current and incoming Scholars, mentors and donors. It just goes to show that good planning leads to good events. All the hardwork totally paid off.

A few photos from the morning's dedication:

The photo on top is the general view of the new Commons. The photo on the right is representatives from each of the businesses who donated to make this project happen.

This last photo is Starfish founder Mike Feeney with Patti Webster, presenting her with a copy of the plaque that names the Commons after Rick and her.

Open House

2009-05-29T08:17:00.002-04:00

I am down to the wire on prep work for this open house.

In 24 hours, I'll be back at work for the final morning-of set-up and then it's showtime.

Today is cleaning day and finishing things day.

And I'd better get started...

DONE!

2009-05-27T14:00:00.002-04:00

The construction/renovation is done!

We have a few touch-ups to go before Saturday's open house, but today, the last of the furniture was installed. Included in this last furniture order was all of our task chairs. We'd been carrying on with the old ones since these were back-ordered. Now that we have the new chairs (all shiny silver and white!) our offices look finished and pulled together.

Progress is being made on getting everything ready for the dedication/open house on Saturday.

Of course, there's a great deal to go, so back to work for me! (Hopefully, pictures will be forthcoming next week of the open house...)

Welcome to Crunch Time

2009-05-18T09:27:00.003-04:00

In a few minutes, I'm headed into my weekly Monday morning meeting and then -- then -- once that is over, crunch time begins.

The open house is now in 10 business day (counting today) and there's quite a long list of things that need to be done/completed for that.

Last week, I got the June issue of our donor newsletter sent to our graphic designer (YAY for making self-imposed deadlines). With that out the door, I could erase my dry erase board full of those plans and re-fill it up with a giant open house to-do list. This list has everything on it from "tent delivery" to "name tags" and all sort of things in between.

Granted, not everything on this list is something I have to accomplish. Our Event Planner VISTA is doing a great job of helping to coordinate things and make displays and just think through what all needs to be done and finalized.

Just in case you were wondering, grant applications and other things are still on-going. In fact, we've got another fairly major grant that's due shortly after the open house is over and I've also got a new e-mail blast marketing system to figure out.

To be clear, I'm not whining. I'd rather be busy than bored any day.

There goes the dumpster

2009-05-13T14:16:00.002-04:00

Literally.
The big construction dumpster we've had during this whole project is pulling out of our driveway RIGHT NOW.
Apparently, that means they really are close to done.

Looking around, they really are close to done. More of the super cool stuff (pictures to come) has been hung up and I've spent my day working on a display wall.

Open house, t-minus 12 business days. (There's no point counting weekends because I really hope I don't have to work those to finish this off...)

One last bit of sawing

2009-05-08T08:36:00.003-04:00

I thought we were mostly done with the drilling and sawing here, but it turns out, they needed to install decorative lights in the bathrooms and wouldn't you know, my office is directly next to the bathrooms...

So, I'm trying to work once more through drilling/sawing. I'm also trying to remember that this project is almost done. More furniture gets installed on Monday. Middle of next week the Commons gets finished. We are really coming down to the end.

Which is good. Considering the open house.

Open House planning and more

2009-05-04T09:31:00.003-04:00

The grand re-opening house/dedication of the Starfish building is now in t-minus 19 business days. This suddenly seems like a frighteningly short time to get this all pulled together.

Invitations are at the printer/going out in the mail any time now, plus we've got a gazillion extra to pass out to friends, acquaintances, etc.

In addition to getting people invited, the construction has to get finished (which I really don't have any control over or hand in, obviously) and then the building has to get completely spruced up. I think later this month, we'll all be on big cleaning jags, washing down walls, dusting, vacuuming, etc. to make this place sparkle for the open house. We've also got displays to put together, posters to assemble and the like in all our new areas.

Of course, in the midst of all this, there's the regular work to get done too...

Meanwhile, consider yourself invited to the open house:

12:30-4 p.m., May 30
Starfish Initiative Office
814 N. Delaware St.
Indianapolis IN 46204

Running Silent

2009-05-01T14:00:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately.

Work and life have been very busy.

Check for updates maybe next week.

New Data

2009-04-23T14:44:00.003-04:00

I discovered today that earlier this month, America's Promise Alliance released their 2009 Crisis in the Cities report, "Closing the Graduation Gap."

Bottom line, it presents bad news for Indianapolis. The Circle City is now 50th out of the 50 largest metropolitan cities in the country, for a graduation rate of 30.5 percent. Last year the report had Indy at 49th of 50 and it's no fun being one of the cities that went down, not up.

The report covers some traditional ground, looking at the disparities between urban and suburban districts, potential earnings of non-high school diploma holders vs. those with more education and rates of poverty for those without a diploma compared to those with or with more education.

I think the conclusion of the report draws some of the strongest attention to what this crisis really means.

At no point in our nation's recent history has the economy found itself in such dire straits. And at no point has the critical role of a quality education been more evident. For individuals facing a worsening economy and weakening labor market, a strong education may offer the best protection for weathering the storm. Likewise, it is also clear that the brunt of the crisis will be borne by those with the least education -- those without a high school diploma.
As this report and other research have shown, two very different worlds exist within American public schooling. In one, earning a diploma is the norm, something expected of every student; in the other, it is not. The stakes attached to graduating have never been higher.

I remember, in my previous time as a reporter, one school board meeting where a parent asked why the socioeconomic level of students in school buildings mattered. At the time, I remember being shocked as I sat there, about the complete lack of understanding this parent had about the challenges faced by those growing up in poverty and how much more it takes from schools and the community to help those children succeed.

Clearly, the parent lived in the first world and too many students in the school district were living in the second world.

I sent the Crisis in Cities report out to my colleagues here at Starfish. It's sobering data, but as I said to them, when you are at the bottom, you can only go up and that's why we're here.

One Month till the Big Check

2009-04-22T09:04:00.002-04:00

We found out yesterday that Starfish was chosen by a local group to receive their annual grant of $15,000. We're really pumped about this because it's been awhile since we got any major money.

Let me just say, the no major money thing isn't because of the economy, it's the funding cycle. We've got a bunch of applications out to funders that we'll start hearing from in May/June. Still, it's nice right now that we know this funding is coming because it lets us work on fall plans for camp.

We'll officially get the big check at an award luncheon in May.

Also, the construction progresses along. They are hard at work on the lounge and the commons areas. There was some loud sawing/pounding noise for a bit this morning, but I'm really hopeful that the loud stuff is going to be over soon.

Unexpected

2009-04-10T11:31:00.002-04:00

Today was not at all like what I thought it would be.

I spent a good three hours this morning cleaning and organizing our new kitchen. Because we stored all the kitchen stuff in the garage, all of it was covered in a fine film of dust. I washed EVERYTHING and found it a logical home in the new kitchen.

We have tons more space to add to our kitchen, things like pots and pans. We haven't been able to cook for our Scholars in a long time, but we really like doing that and now the new kitchen makes it possible.

Not bad for having prune-hands now.

Fighting my Alligators

2009-04-09T11:33:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I went to a brown bag lunch-and-learn deal all about how to prioritize. I signed up for the workshop because it had such a great title: When you are up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original goal was to drain the swamp. This was a fantastic workshop and I thought some of the points were worth sharing.

Generally, I'm a pretty organized person. I'm left-brained; I scored pretty high as a "C" on my DISC profile, meaning I like organization, lists, systems, etc. I'm normally good at seeing both the forest and the trees and figuring out how to get through tree forest and avoid the underbrush that would trip me up.

That said, ever since I took over this job for real in October, I've felt on the verge of being overwhelmed. It's not easy to fundraise in a recession, but it's still possible. It's not easy to be a mostly one-woman development/PR department, but it's still possible. My problem is that when I get overwhelmed, I can become paralyzed. Forest. Trees. I'll plunge in, but let myself get distracted by the pretty flowers or the stream or whatever makes it easier.

This prioritizing thing has been on the forefront of my brain for a while. I've been listening to what people say about it, from the advice of one of our board members, to veterans in this field and now this workshop.

Here are some great tidbits from what I've been hearing lately:
1. You can lose 2-3 hours of work time a week because of having a cluttered desk.

2. Follow the OHIO principle -- Only Handle It Once. Maybe it's hard to handle something only once, but if you can reduce this from 4-6 times to 2-3 times, it's still an improvement.

3. Don't live in your inbox. Turn the ding off that tells you when you get new mail. Turn off the little box that pops up in your corner. Organize your e-mail with folders so that your inbox never has more than a certain number of emails in it. (One I'm adding... deal with it and delete it if it doesn't need to be archived.) I read/heard somewhere that it takes 15-20 minutes for a person to get their concentration back after checking email/blackberry/phone, etc.

4. Most people do their best work in the mornings. Therefore, don't meet in the mornings. Push meetings into the afternoon when the day starts to drag.

5. If you are the only one screaming for a job to get done, maybe it's not that important. Sometimes important jobs are the self-directed ones, but really, most of the time, they aren't.

So, how am I using these tips?

Since the move into the new office, I'm determined to have an uncluttered desk. Yesterday, I spent a bunch of the afternoon dealing with boxes of stuff that got bequeathed to me. I circular-filed a lot of it and have a new pile that I need to go through a second time to really decide what to keep and then where that goes. I'm sure this will be a constant battle to keep things under control, but I know that when they are, I'll feel more in control.

I also started going through my inbox. Right now, mine's got 485 emails in it. I'd like to set 100 as the goal. I know it's going to take me a while to get there, but I'm being pretty ruthless with this.

I'm sure this will continue to take time, but I'm going to fight off these alligators.

More Construction Photos

2009-04-07T09:12:00.002-04:00

Now that my network is behaving again, here are some more images. This is the upstairs meeting room, set up classroom style.

This is the wall of my office and my window!

This is my wonderful new desk, with tons of storage space and drawers with handles and locks. Hopefully, more pictures will follow when it's all unpacked and cleaned off for the open house.

Office Renovations -- Sneak Peak

2009-04-06T12:05:00.005-04:00

Since the downstairs offices are mostly done, I thought it high time to get some photos posted for a sneak-peek at the renovations.

So, beginning at the front of the building:

This is the new reception/lobby. Note the fun swirly orange carpet.

This is the former blue office. Not blue anymore. Also, not the space where I work anymore.

Argh. I just lost my network connection and can't get to the photos on our shared drive.

Sigh. Hopefully more later.

The new office

2009-04-01T08:53:00.003-04:00

I'm moved in to my new office. Hooray!

Yesterday I was without Internet while the move happened. Today, I am without a camera because we've got a group of Scholars on spring break who are taking a trip with Starfish staff to Ball State. Since college access and planning is a big deal with what we do here, I won't begrudge them taking the camera.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have the ability to share photos.

The great news though is I'm in and it looks fabulous and I have wonderful file storage for everything and all the other offices are beautiful too.

Office

2009-03-30T16:19:00.000-04:00

The furniture is installed.

I'm in.

Pictures to come.

Furniture Day

2009-03-30T09:21:00.003-04:00

The furniture has begun to arrive this morning.

So far, one semi truck (or, to use correct AP style "tractor trailer") has been here this morning, dropping off filing cabinets and things. More deliveries are expected this morning and then the installers will start to set up the Exec. Director's office and then my office.

I think I'm being overly optimistic that I will get to move into my office by EOB today, but, I've still got my fingers crossed. In the mean time, I'm repacking up my table from all the stuff I've been using for the last month.

I have to say, I'm really surprised by how much I've gotten done while banished back here. I'm sure I've been less productive than I was even in the old Blue Office, but I've gotten a lot done. Hopefully, I'll get a grant report sent off today and then be ready to start writing some new requests at my new desk this week.

The new office

2009-03-18T15:06:00.001-04:00

The official furniture installation dates just went out.
Of course, it's subject to change, but ---
*drumroll please*
If the schedule stays as is, I could be moving into my new office on March 30 or 31.

Let the countdown begin!

Construction and Classes Update

2009-03-17T09:52:00.003-04:00

Today's a big day in the renovation world -- ceiling tiles and light fixtures and flooring are being installed. (Oh my.)

The furniture should be here around the end of this month or early next, so it's looking like early-to-mid April to move back into the "real" offices.

I was out part of last week for another Fundraising School class -- Developing Annual Sustainability. The material is starting to sound repetitive, which I'm thinking means that I actually know it now. Next up, implementation of what I learned.

I've got one grant due today that I've got to go turn in and then finding the bottom of my table will be a high priority for this afternoon.

No new photos of construction right now, but hopefully I'll get some more in progress shots soon.

Talkin' about my fumigation...

2009-03-10T08:55:00.002-04:00

They are spray painting again today in the office, meaning day two of paint fumes. When they painted walls last week, it wasn't so bad, but the spray paint is a bit noxious (though nowhere near as bad as the dry-erase wall paint upstairs).

The downstairs renovations are now in week two of hopefully four total. The walls have their first coat of paint. The spray paint is where they are doing the ceiling tile grid. (It's a huge cost savings to paint over the old dingy grid instead of putting in new grid and it looks great upstairs.)

Despite all the noise and fumes, we're still plugging along here at work. I've got two major grant applications due in one week, so I'm bouncing back and forth between these projects and wondering how I was always ahead of deadlines last winter/spring and when that changed.

And, just to help the craziness of this week, I'm back at fundraising school tomorrow and Thursday to learn about developing annual sustainability. Good stuff, I'm hoping.

Construction, Pt. 2

2009-03-03T09:29:00.006-05:00

We are all back at work now and relegated to little tables in back rooms. It is far from ideal, but we keep telling each other that it's all going to be worth it in the end after the spiffy renovation is done. The upstairs, which has everything but furniture, looks awesome. The downstairs will be equally as awesome after this period of displacement.

Despite the chaos of the morning, I went through the downstairs offices and snapped some photos of the now-empty offices and the current workspaces.

This is my current "desk."

The other main work room, for about five staff.

The old blue office, now sans carpet, furniture or ceiling tiles.

The room that will be my office once the renovation is done.

The reception area, with sunshine coming through the window.

New Website

2009-03-02T10:10:00.006-05:00

One of the things I've been doing during my out of office exile is to work on updating the new Starfish Initiative website.

There's still to be work to done to update all the text, but the new site is leaps and bounds ahead of the old site, and far more professional looking.

So, check it out.

The new Starfish Initiative website.

Out of Office

2009-02-27T08:59:00.003-05:00

Today is the first of the working without an office days. At the moment, I'm working from a table in a coffee shop. Later, that might be the library (I don't think I can spend all day here).

Monday we're office-less too, because of the installation of the HVAC system. Upon returning Tuesday, I'll be working at a table in a back room. It's less than ideal for the time being, but in the end, it will be so worth it because of the renovations. Hopefully, some new pictures of the completed upstairs soon.

End of class and the move

2009-02-25T14:15:00.002-05:00

My fundraising school class was great. Lots of excellent information about how to raise major gifts.

The office renovation move now happens in less than 48 hours. That means between now and then, I've got to re-find the bottom of my desk and move all the rest of my stuff.

I better stop blogging and get to work.

Entropy in action

2009-02-19T10:01:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday morning, when I thought I had to have my entire desk packed by the end of today for the move that's not happening now until next Friday, you could actually see most of the bottom of my desk.

This is no longer the case.

I do not know what happened. I sort of refuse to believe that I am that much of a piler that I covered over an entire desk in a day. One day.

Obviously, this is proof of entropy or blue shift, that the universe is closing back in on itself or something.

In other news, the painters and the carpet people are here today working on the upstairs. No new photos to post of the work. I think that may just wait for the big "reveal."

Also -- next week, I will be in fundraising school learning all about major gifts and then moving my office, so I'll update when I can.

This is a holdup

2009-02-17T13:42:00.003-05:00

Well, not that kind of holdup, but the kind that involves the carpet not being in yet, meaning the carpet layers can't install it upstairs, meaning that we can't move upstairs/to the back of downstairs this week because they aren't done yet.

That's right -- the move is delayed until the end of next week. We were on track for moving this Friday, but carpet's kind of an important thing.

Most of my office is in boxes, although not quite all of it. I'm holding off on packing the remainder until it's time to move, because I keep having to get in the boxes I packed to get files I need. Many of the boxes are coming with me to the temporary digs I'll be working out of next month.

The move gives the whole office sort of an unsettled feeling as we transition. But, then if I just go upstairs and start looking at the new paint and everything that's been done up there and how AMAZING it's starting to look, it makes all the unsettled-ness completely worth it.

Hopefully, I'll get upstairs for some more sneak-peek photos soon.

If I can remember what box I put the camera in.

The move

2009-02-13T14:55:00.003-05:00

The word is I may need to be out of the blue office by next Friday.

So far, I've packed up five boxes and hauled them into the garage where we can store our stuff during the move. This afternoon, I also erased my "Word List" board, after I copied it all down into a computer file. The board also had the definitions of "inputs," "outputs," "goals," and "outcomes" and I used that side for reference every time I wrote a grant.

It's strange to be unpacking the blue office as its really, finally starting to feel like my workspace after more than a year here.

And just to prove that construction is really happening, here's a photo I took for the newsletter. This is the upstairs training room.

Two Boxes Down

2009-02-10T09:09:00.002-05:00

I began packing up the blue office this morning.

The word here is that we will be moving out of our offices by the end of next week or so. I decided that if I packed a box or two each day this week and next (maybe I don't have that much stuff...) that the whole concept of packing up my office will be not so bad. This morning, I started in on the bookcase, packing up books and binders and things I'm confident I will not need until I move into my remodeled very, own office.

I'm also resolving to start working through the stacks on my desk. (If you could only see the piles...) These things also need homes (and ones that I can find again) during the move. I do still have to keep working during all this renovation hullabaloo. My fear is that I'll pack some project into a box and TOTALLY forget where it is, that I'm working on it, or when it's due. (Of course, in the nightmare version of this fear, it's a gazillion-dollar grant that I forget to turn in and all of Starfish goes under because of me.)

Needless to say, this desk-packing-organizing thing is a much bigger deal.

Grants and Monopoly

2009-02-06T13:13:00.003-05:00

Today is a $5,000 day.

As in, we just got a check for $5,000 from a repeat foundation. This is, I'm fairly sure, the third year they have supported us and specifically our Algebra Camp and Homework Club. These programs make a huge difference for our students academically and this continued support is great.

Second, today is the day of the IndyCrew Monopoly tournament for which Starfish Initiative is the charity of choice this year. Joyce (the executive director) and I are headed to the Conrad Hotel downtown later this afternoon for the tournament. We'll get to meet the players, talk about Starfish and perhaps Pass Go and Collect $200. I've got the camera, so hopefully, we'll have some event pictures from this one to post later.

Meanwhile, back to writing reports.

Construction Season...

2009-02-03T12:45:00.005-05:00

... is officially open at Starfish.

The roll-away dumpster is here and the demolitions folks began work upstairs today. Last I looked, there were no longer baseboards on the walls and another guy was measuring door frames.

So you have some idea of the progress later, here are some "before" shots of the areas where they are constructing right now.

Breakfast 2.0 (and the pending construction racket...)

2009-02-02T09:07:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I'm thinking about breakfast planning again.

But, honestly, it is time to start some of the planning already. In fact, last week, we decided on our venue. We're not having it at the same place as last year, because we're really going to work to get 500 people and 500 people won't fit in the room we had it last year. (Which is sort of too bad, because it was really pretty...)

This morning, I'm meeting with our event planner VISTA to brainstorm sponsorship opportunities for the breakfast and get our sponsorship stuff ready so we can contact businesses, etc., about that. The idea is to get sponsors for everything -- the invitations, the food, the table decorations, all of it, along with just general event sponsors.

Also... the construction is really supposed to start here at Starfish this week. We've been saying "next week," "next week" for the last few weeks, but this week is really supposed to be it. There's signed contracts now and everything...

I'm excited because the end of the blue office is near. I'm also excited for my current VISTAs who will get to move into MUCH better work spaces than where they are. (The blue office will become the gray and orange office with new furniture, better lighting, comfortable chairs and will go to one of the new VISTAs).

The construction, I'm sure, will make it hard to work somewhat, but the end result will be so worth it that I'm willing to put up with just about anything.

History vs. Work

2009-01-20T09:53:00.002-05:00

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.

Proofreading

2009-01-08T09:31:00.003-05:00

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.

This One's All Mine and 2009's start

2009-01-07T14:16:00.003-05:00

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.

Finishing up 2008

2008-12-30T11:40:00.002-05:00

Since tomorrow is New Year's Eve, the office is closed, so today is the last day I'm in the office for 2008.

And do I have a lot to get done. (Why are you blogging then, you ask... good question... but now that I've started, I'll finish this entry.)

We've received a number of year-end donations. This is always a good thing. As is thanking donors, and I've got to get letters out.

There's a grant that's due tomorrow. Most of the time, I don't run up against deadlines quite this close, but since this is an online application, I can submit this afternoon and still be on time. (Somehow, this one wasn't on my radar before last week.)

Tonight is the Starfish Christmas party for our Scholars.... I will not be wearing roller skates, but I will have the camera, so photos should be forthcoming.

In the realm of VISTA supervisordom, I've also got to submit my monthly report of what the three VISTAs have been doing since the beginning of December.

Well, enough whining... I suppose I should actually get things done.

A little lesson

2008-12-22T10:53:00.002-05:00

Here is a little lesson on not giving up on your goals too soon.

Remember how I said at $967,000 it was time to reset the money count for the next year because everything I'd written for during my VISTA year had come in? Remember how I said I just missed raising a million bucks?

I may have spoken a bit hastily.

There was an outstanding $50,000 grant that I forgot about. I wrote it in July. Five-six months ago. It was passing through a bunch of hoops that I didn't have anything to do with and what with the breakfast and becoming a VISTA supervisor, etc., it dropped off my radar.

Until today, and a copy of the $50,000 check was on my desk.

So, the money total now.... drumroll please... $1,017,000.

Yes, that's a "1" the millions column.

I guess this is what that expression about "feeling like a million bucks" refers to.

Take Two

2008-12-16T10:16:00.004-05:00

It's strange now that I've been here a year, I'm starting to write final grant reports and new proposals for funders that I wrote to at this time last year.

Just this morning, I emailed off a final grant report to the funder of the first grant application I wrote when I was just learning how to do this last winter.

Likely later this week, or next week, just before the holidays, I'll write a new proposal to this same funder.

Something makes me think round two will be harder than round one was. Granted, our grants officer has said, like every foundation, this one is concerned with the stock market and the downturn and the impact that will have on how much they can give away. This makes me think that every proposal I write this year will have to be amazing to make the cut because there will likely be less dollars on the table and more people going after the same pot of money.

But, what this really reminds me of is though is school. When I was in college, because I went to a smaller school, I tended to have the same profs semester after semester. Yet each semester, there was that learning curve again of remembering how they graded their papers. This reminds me of that feeling, wanting to make sure that whatever I resubmit matches what they want.

Not like there's any pressure or anything.

Big News, Part 2

2008-12-09T15:46:00.003-05:00

Here's the rest of the news --- this was just too much to put in one Big News post.

Last week, Starfish was awarded the capital improvements grant from United Way! No more blue office for Bethany!

This also significantly changes the VISTA year money total. It now stands at $967,000. The capital fund grant was around $370,000 on its own. This grant pretty much closes out the grant writing I did as a VISTA, so the money coming in now is not part of this rolling total. (The counter has been reset to $0... or more like $2,000.)

So, I didn't quite hit the million-dollar mark. There were a couple grants that we didn't get that would have easily propelled me over that bench. But, I have to say, I'm exceptionally pleased with this total. (The prospect of the non-blue-office is quite appealing as well.)

We're meeting with the design and construction team again next week to finalize the design (it's been June since we really talked about it) and figure out who's moving to what offices and finalize picks of furniture, etc.

Hopefully, I'll have pictures to post of the renovations within a few months.

Big News, Part 1

2008-12-09T15:39:00.002-05:00

I had no time to blog yesterday, but some big news here that I must share.

Starfish had three, new full-time VISTA members start yesterday. The other news (which I shared already) is that I'm their supervisor.

All three new members successfully went to PSO and still came to work. (And they came back today for day 2... always a good sign....)

More on them and their projects later. (and hopefully some guest blog posts...)

In little news, we got a $2,000 grant today. In tight times like this, every little bit counts.

A cross-post

2008-12-08T10:55:00.001-05:00

Here's what I had to say today in my other blog.

Check it out here.

Holidays and training

2008-11-24T13:20:00.004-05:00

I'm not going to be in the office much over the next two weeks, so this is my post to explain why.
Obviously, just about everybody knows that Thursday is Turkey Day, so the Starfish Office is closed for 2.5 days. Since I've got a 300-mile drive to get home, I'm going to not be the office for 3 days. (Who wants to work for a few hours on Thanksgiving Eve, anyway?)

Then -- next week, I'll be in Chicago for AmeriCorps*VISTA training.

But wait -- aren't you done with being a VISTA? you ask.

Yes, yes I am. Apparently VISTA alums make good supervisors for new VISTAs so I'm going to Chi-town for a few days to learn how to supervise the new Starfish VISTA members.

Last year during VISTA training, I was with the rowdy orange-dot table. Something makes me think the supervisors will be more serious than that table was.

This is a quite a change, suddenly being a supervisor. Then again, it does make sense that alums make good supervisors since we have gone through all the VISTA stuff. (No direct service!) We've got a lot of stuff to get set up in the office as well for three new people.

It is pretty exciting to have new VISTAs starting, to continue the capacity-building the four of Starfish VISTAs did last year and the eight summer VISTAs helped with. Starfish has grown so much in the last 13 months and I can't wait to see it grow more.

More on the new VISTA and being a supervisor come Dec. 8.

Check Presentation

2008-11-18T13:08:00.002-05:00

It's time to update the money total again.

This is still from what I did during my VISTA year. The new total raised as a VISTA is: $594,000. That's right folks, we were awarded a two-year grant for $50,000 each year. I'm counting it all at once for purposes of the money total.

Yesterday, we went to a small awards ceremony for this grant.

Here's the "official" event photo.

Tell it like it is

2008-11-17T13:33:00.002-05:00

Given the time of year, I'm doing a number of grant reports to funders.

It's not enough to just get the money -- most funders want to know what you did with their money. Many foundations ask for reports, but some don't. I'm sending reports to funders who didn't ask for reports because I just think it's a good practice.

I think it's a particularly good practice when I hope to go back and ask these same funders for a new grant.

That's not to say all reports are rosy. I think it's good to explain what challenges were faced in reaching a projected outcome. If we missed a target, I'd rather explain why, or what it made it impossible instead of trying to rose-tint the picture.

Also on the writing front is polishing off the next issue of our donor newsletter and producing another scholar newsletter. Best get back to the looming deadlines...

Starfish receives award

2008-11-13T14:55:00.000-05:00

Here is the press release I sent out this morning... it's strange being on this side of the reporting process....

Starfish Initiative wins “Charity of Ethics” award

Indianapolis, IN – Starfish Initiative was named the 2008 Charity of Ethics at the Central Indiana Better Business Bureau “Celebration of Ethics” Thursday.

Presented by the Central Indiana Better Business Bureau and sponsored by Riley, Bennett & Egloff, The Charity of Ethics award honors a charity that goes above and beyond in its service to the community. Starfish also received a $2,000 check from Riley, Bennett & Egloff.

Starfish provides mentoring services to promising students who qualify for Indiana’s Twenty-first Century Scholars Scholarship.

“At a time of economic uncertainty, those who support our organization want to be sure that their funds are being used wisely. We are honored to be recognized as an ethical organization and know that this award will ensure donors that Starfish is worthy of community support,” said Executive Director Joyce Johnson.

In the application for the award, Starfish explained a recent ethical dilemma the organization faced – whether or not to accept students who are illegal immigrants. After consulting with United Way, local high school and college administrators, the Board of Governors and Scholar Committee decided to make Starfish services available to immigrant students who fit the admission guidelines in every other way.

Starfish Initiative’s mission is to cultivate promising, economically-disadvantaged, high school students into college-educated leaders by providing them with individual mentors, leadership training, and community service opportunities to instill in each student the desire to contribute to his or her community. Today, Starfish Initiative serves nearly 200 high school students in Marion County in more than 30 schools. Each student is matched with a volunteer, adult mentor.

For more information on Starfish Initiative and the Charity of Ethics award, please contact Director of Advancement Bethany K. Warner, 955-7918 or bethany@starfishinitiative.org

###

Money

2008-11-12T13:37:00.001-05:00

I hope I'm not counting this twice (this money might have been in the total from the breakfast), but best I can tell, my total is now $499,000.

I'm still counting this in what I raised during my VISTA year because it's related to the breakfast which happened then.

New Look

2008-11-11T10:14:00.002-05:00

Since the blog has a bit of a new focus with life beyond VISTA, I decided it needed some sprucing up, so here is it with a facelift.

Two Weeks Now

2008-11-06T15:45:00.002-05:00

I've had a real job for two weeks now.

Today, I got my first paycheck. I don't want this to come off as sounding materialistic, but WOW, is it nice to have a check that will let me buy more than rent and some groceries.

What's been more worth it is coming through this experience with a set of skills that let me have a job. Granted, I stayed here at Starfish and didn't have to go through a long job hunt, but even if I'd had to do that, I'm sure I have the skills in development now that would have helped that to happen.

Halloween, Starfish style

2008-11-03T15:15:00.010-05:00

Starfish hosted our second annual "Trick or Treat so Others Can Eat" Halloween Party on Friday night. Let me just say, it was nice to attend an event that I had no part in planning.

The party was a big hit and it was the first time we threw a major event here at our facility. We used our parking lot and garage and one common room. Even though the building hasn't been remodeled yet, it still worked really well just to hold something here. (We're still waiting for final word, BTW, on the remodel project...)

As usual, I was the event photographer, so here's a glimpse of the party.

In case you can't tell, I was dressed up like someone from The Matrix.

More on the $100K grant

2008-10-28T15:40:00.002-04:00

The official press release about the 100K grant I said we were awarded has been put out.

Here's the full scoop:

INDIANAPOLIS (Oct. 28, 2008) — More than $500,000 is being pumped into local programs that help students find success in the classroom and prepare for life after high school.

The gifts come from the College Readiness Fund, created earlier this year through a $2.6 million grant from the Lumina Foundation as a way to improve access to college, help students prepare for continuing education and enhance college success.

The Fund administrator, Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), announced this week that 10 local organizations would be among the first to receive grants, which will be used to reach out to Marion County students and their parents, particularly minorities, low-income families and students who are the first in their families to attend a two- or four-year college.

“Many first-generation students have not even considered college as an option,” said Roderick Wheeler, grants officer at CICF. “We’re working to break down those kinds of barriers with this program. Our message is simple: College is possible for all students.”

Two organizations received $100,000 gifts. The Center for Leadership Development will use the funding for its College Prep Institute, a program designed to equip African-American college-bound students and their parents with the necessary tools to succeed in college. Starfish Initiative, which works with at-risk and economically challenged high school students, will use the funding to continue to provide and build its one-on-one mentoring programs for youth.

“We are thrilled and sincerely honored the College Readiness Fund has selected CLD as one of its collaborating partners to help the students of our community excel in high school, college and life,” said Dennis Bland, president of the Center for Leadership Development. “This tremendous grant affords CLD a powerful opportunity to help prepare hundreds of youth throughout Indianapolis for the highest academic, college and career success. Along with other community partners who care deeply about the academic crisis we face, we can begin to lay a foundation for establishing within our city and state, a culture of academic excellence where high school and college achievement is the expectation and norm.”

The College Readiness Fund will provide grants annually to nonprofit organizations with programs focused on reducing the high-school drop-out rates, increasing college readiness skills or increasing college attendance rates.

“Most students understand that going to college is important, but they don’t all know how to take the steps to make it possible,” said CICF’s Wheeler. “The College Readiness Fund will help provide additional resources, so professionals dedicated to helping youth succeed can show students and their parents the steps they need to take.”

An important partner in the College Readiness Fund is the 21st Century Scholars, a publicly funded program that facilitates training and provides scholarships to students who wish to attend a two- or four-year public college or university in Indiana. The 21st Century Scholars program registers participants in grades 6 to 8 and leverages additional financial resources for College Readiness Fund participants and their parents.

College Readiness Fund grants awarded to 10 organizations
Center for Leadership Development: $100,000
Starfish Initiative: $100,000
Indiana University’s University College: $70,000
Encouragement Services, Inc.: $50,000
YMCA of Greater Indianapolis: $60,000
LaPlaza Inc.: $40,000
College Mentors for Kids: $30,000
The Indiana Partnership Center: $25,000
Indiana Youth Institute: $25,000
College Resource SAT prep: $10,000
Total grants awarded $510,000

Things I wish I didn't have to learn

2008-10-24T12:41:00.003-04:00

My VISTA year is over, but that hardly means the learning stops. This week, I'm confronted with learning something I wish I didn't have to.

Earlier this week, one of our founding board members passed away. My heart goes out to his family and aches some for what his loss means to Starfish; he was such a big thinker and so excited about what we do.

Because of his long commitment to Starfish, we have been designated as one of the organizations where gifts can be sent in his memory. Suddenly, I'm learning how to do tribute gifts in the donor database and writing a very different kind of thank you letter for those donors who make memorial gifts.

While I guess it's important to have to do this (I don't grow as a person or as a development officer without doing things that are hard and unpleasant,) I must admit, this is one thing I'd rather not know.

At the Last

2008-10-22T09:58:00.002-04:00

So. This is it. My last day as a VISTA.

My last VISTA monthly report has been turned in. I have a little bit more of my sustainability report to write, but it's mostly done.

I feel like I should have profound thoughts about what being a VISTA has meant this past year. Honestly, all I can think about right now is the fact that tomorrow I start earning a real paycheck again. My savings account will be very grateful.

I'll probably post some other thoughts over the next couple weeks as I transition. I hope to keep this blog going somehow, but I'm guessing it too will need to be adapted. Into what, I'm not sure yet. Stay tuned.

And thanks for reading this year.

If I'm Wearing a Goofy Grin..

2008-10-16T11:18:00.002-04:00

If I'm wearing a goofy grin on my face right now, there's a really good reason.

I just got a phone call about a grant. A really good phone call. The kind where the grantor tells you that you've been awarded the full $100,000 you asked for.

I was really hoping to crack that 100K mark in a single grant during my VISTA time and with four-and-a-half days of service left, I got my wish.

So, the grants-only total now is $312,000.

If you add to that what we raised at the breakfast, my total now sits just $6K short of the half-million mark, at $494,000 and some odd change.

I'm guessing there will be an official press release coming out about this grant later and when it hits, I'll post it here. (I'm not sure the announcement of grantees is public knowledge yet, so I don't want to post about who funded this and spill the beans.)

Don't mind me smiling while I sit here working on our Scholar newsletter and my sustainability report.

Grateful

2008-10-13T15:34:00.002-04:00

I'm still in post-breakfast world to large extent.

Today was thank you letter day. I had the foresight to get the letters written before the event, so all I had to do was the mail merge and then stuff envelopes. I'm not quite sure how many letters it was, but I feel worse for the Ex. Dir. who had to sign them all.

We're also making follow-up phone calls to everyone to thank them for being there. I used to be on the phone all the time in the old reporter job, but it's been odd to be on the phone this much for these thank you calls Friday and today. What's really amazing is how stunned people seem to be that we're calling to thank them for coming. It's really not that much work, or that hard of work, just to express gratitude. Hopefully, it makes an impression.

End of VISTA service countdown: 8 days.

Friday's Docket

2008-10-10T08:54:00.002-04:00

On day 1 after the breakfast I still have a fairly full docket -- though it's nothing like the last few weeks.

Today's top job: Find the surface of my desk.
#2. Put all the breakfast planning material in a folder for next year.
#2.5 Write a press release about the breakfast.
#3. Make a to-do list for next week of all the things that haven't gotten done because of the breakfast.
#4. Make thank you/follow-up phone calls to guests who attended yesterday's breakfast.
#5. Send thank you letters/receipts to all new donors from the breakfast.

Oh -- and I have less than two weeks left as a VISTA now.

The Breakfast

2008-10-09T09:35:00.003-04:00

Went off fabulously.

Everybody who I talked to said they loved it (that's including people who had no idea I was planning it.)

We're getting ready to count the money.

I'll update with more info, hopefully later this afternoon. If I can stay awake. (it was an early morning...)

3:20 p.m update:
We've counted the money and the pledges and have a preliminary total.

Drum roll please...........

We raised more than $200,000.

We know there are guests who said they would mail in a donation later, so it's hardly a final total yet.

But, adding the breakfast donations to what I've raised this year in grants, the money total is now $412,000!

With a few outstanding grant applications still out there, I'm still really hopeful that I'll cross the 500K mark before the end of my VISTA service.

T Minus -->

2008-10-06T10:34:00.004-04:00

Note the new countdown ticker on the sidebar tracking the time left to the breakfast. (The widget isn't working quite right...)

Nevertheless, the point remains.

I am completely busy with this.

If you look at the bottom page, in other countdown news, I apparently only have 16 days of VISTA service left.

Updates (or look out Tokyo)

2008-10-02T08:59:00.002-04:00

So I promised updates and then got swamped.

Here they are now.

My new(er) computer at work is so very much better than my old one. The old one would, sometime between 2:30-3 p.m. each day, get so bogged down in its processing that the whole machine would lock up. I couldn't run Publisher and a photo program at the same time. If I got an e-mail with an attachment, the whole system would get sluggish until my Outlook dinged at me that I had a new message. After two days with the new computer, I haven't had any of these problems once I got my e-mail up and running again.

Our big fundraiser breakfast is in a week. Technically, by this time next Thursday, the breakfast will be over. (It's only one hour, from 7:30-8:30 a.m. The rest of the day we'll be counting up money!)

Anyway, with the event just a week away, I am doing little else but prep work for that. (Save for writing a short grant that has to get done too!) I'm putting guests at tables, I'm printing up pledge cards, I'm making table tents, I'm making the PowerPoint recognition slides. I have a seating chart on my wall, with 45 tables drawn in marker. I'm fairly set on about 22 of them (only 23-28 more to go, depending on numbers.)

It's a huge amount of work. I sort of understand why brides turn into bride-zilla when planning this kind of a large event. The pressure to make it perfect is intense. I quipped to a friend that I was turning into fundraiser-zilla...

New stuff

2008-09-30T09:15:00.001-04:00

So I moved into a new apartment this weekend and when I returned to work today, discovered a new(er) computer on my desk.

I can tell it's faster already, but I'm having some technology issues with e-mail.

More updates later.

Title Change, or what I'm doing after VISTA

2008-09-23T14:11:00.002-04:00

One month from today will be my first day as a non-VISTA.

It will also be the day my job title changes from AmeriCorps*VISTA member/Resource Development Associate (which is a bear to type, by the way) to Director of Advancement for Starfish Initiative.

Other than the title changing (and the addition of a paycheck so I can earn real cashy money ), not a whole lot else will be different on Thursday, Oct. 23 compared to Wednesday, Oct. 22.

The job I've been doing as a VISTA for the last 11 months will be much the same as what I do as the Director of Advancement. I will still write grants; still fund-raise, still do newsletters.

I had no idea when I started this year that this would be what I would be doing a year later, full-time. I thought I was interested in development/advancement. While I was pretty unhappy with where I was before VISTA (too far from home, frustrations with trying to get involved in the community, long/terrible hours), I wasn't really sure if I would be able to get the "ink" out of my blood. (There are days when I miss journalism terribly, but not enough to go back full-time.)

So, I'm going to keep going with this fund raising thing as a career.

It's been a good year.

New Total

2008-09-19T11:34:00.001-04:00

$212,000

$20,000 more just came in with another grant award.

I may only have another month left, but with the pending applications, I'm still hopeful I'll hit a minimum of $250,000 raised this year, if not $500,000 (there's that much money on the table yet that this could happen...)

My service really is almost over

2008-09-18T11:34:00.003-04:00

Today I got an e-mail of forms and things I need to do to process my education award and finish out my VISTA term.

I know it's a month away, but getting this paperwork makes it really official that I'm almost done with my year of service.

Five Weeks

2008-09-17T09:09:00.002-04:00

I'm down to five weeks left of my VISTA service.

I cannot believe I'm that close to the end. This has been quite the year.

I'm hoping to have time to reflect more on this year in the coming weeks, but for right now, all I can say is that I'm far busier at this point in my service than I was back at the beginning.

End of a Task

2008-09-09T15:14:00.002-04:00

I'm done with the donor records!

WHEW! I feel like I need a victory lap for being done with this job.

Let me back up and explain.

This spring, we got an online donor database system. Only when we ported our data over, it didn't translate well.

For the past, well, months now, I've been going through our donor records making sure all the gifts and donations and pledges were all entered correctly. The database system allows for quite a few complicated queries and reports to be generated, but without the data in right, the queries don't work. Fixing the records meant going through hundreds of paper files, making sure that what was in the database matched the paper trail. Sometimes they were perfect... other times, not so much.

So -- talk about a big sustainability leave-behind. Having the donor data in order is huge. It's especially important that it's done now as we approach our next fundraiser in a month. A month from today. Oh, gasp. (I could have another post here freaking out about how much work is left to get this sucker ready, but I'm going to refrain. And breathe deeply...)

Now that all the data is in the database, I need to go back to watching online training modules to learn how to use all the nifty features available to me.

Still, I'm celebrating getting done with this part of the job!

Homestretch

2008-09-03T14:03:00.002-04:00

Seven weeks from today will be my last day as a VISTA.

Who knew a year would go so fast? My schedule is jam-packed for these next seven weeks as well, so I'm sure the end will go by in a rush as well.

Since I'm coming up on the end of my service, I'm working on my sustainability report and plans. This is a big part of VISTA, making sure the work done over the past year can be carried out by the organization when the VISTA leaves.

Doing this sustainability report is a huge look back at everything I've done over the last year. I spent time this afternoon updating a spreadsheet of deadlines for interim and final grant reports and when we can reapply for funding. Back when I started my service I was constantly updating this spreadsheet, but sometime around March I lost track of it in the press of everything else. When I went to look for the file this afternoon, I couldn't even remember where I'd saved it... or what some of my notes meant.

So I started a new file and will work to update it more over the next few days.

I've also got a section in the report about the newsletter I do, including production schedules for the next year.

There's more I want to put in this report, and I'm guessing there will be some long evenings to get everything on my VISTA workplan accomplished before the end of my service.

But the end is in sight!

Brightening up the Blue Office while on deadline...and some good news

2008-08-27T09:53:00.004-04:00

One of my Starfish coworkers just brought me a little vase of zinnias to brighten up my desk as I sit here for hours today working on a major grant.

This one is for $100K and it's due on Friday at noon. Since I'm taking off for a long holiday weekend on Friday that means it's due by EOB on Thursday. (EOB here is used loosely... I'll be here Thursday until as long as it takes to get done...)

I think it's really sweet that she brought me these flowers since I've spent all week in my office. (9 hours monday... 8.25 tuesday... ??? wednesday).

We should be a good fit for this grant. A really good fit. I think that's making me more stressed than when I go after a more long-shot funder.

Also brewing in the background still, the Capital Funds grant to the United Way which could make my office a color other than blue, goes back to the committee tomorrow. Still keeping my fingers crossed on this one because I would much rather have a gray and teal? gray and lime green? office than this blue that's here now. (All our offices get feature colored walls in the plan... I don't know how to pick which accent color I want if we get the money...)

Back to work...

4 p.m. update: The money total now stands at $202,000.

Total

2008-08-20T16:55:00.000-04:00

$192,000

'nough said.

It's too quiet...and too busy...

2008-08-15T08:54:00.003-04:00

Our summer VISTAs left us last week and wow, has it ever been quiet here since they're gone. This is the bad kind of a quiet, not the finally-it's-quiet kind of relieved quiet.

It's the bad quiet because they brought a level of well, fun, to the office. It's not that the rest of us aren't fun, it's just we're all pretty focused on what we're doing. The summer VISTAs did things like send out memos declaring it Hawaiian shirt Fridays. Now it's Friday again... and no Hawaiian shirts.

I also miss their enthusiasm for tackling projects. There's so much we need to get done right now, we could really use the extra help. I won't even begin to run down my to-do list because it's overwhelming.

One piece of good news -- we got the capital projects request resubmitted yesterday so that's off my plate for the second time. (Hopefully, the second time is the charm.) I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for getting the Blue Office to be a color that's not blue and to have new, unbroken furniture and workspaces in here before my official VISTA time is over. (Two months and one week left...so says the ticker at the bottom of the page...)

Anyway... in a break from routine, earlier this summer I joined some of my fellow VISTAs for a fun video spoof project of the The Office. Click here to watch our short film.

Money total

2008-08-05T14:11:00.003-04:00

I haven't updated the money total for a while, because there hasn't been that much coming in.

Not for lack of trying, mind you, but things in the grant world are sort of between cycles and I've been doing a lot of planning and organizing for other things (United Way campaign, fundraiser breakfast, donor and Scholar newsletters, etc.)

Anyway, it's time to update the total.

Last time I reported in, I said I'd hit $250,000. This is just another example (ahem) of I'm a writer and not an accountant because accountants don't count the same grant more than once.

The actual total right now stands at $187,000.

Yes, it's less than $250,000 ($63,000 less, I know) but I'm still darn proud of that total. If I added in everything we've brought in this year including in-kind gifts, sponsorships, and individual gifts since I've been working on things, I'm sure the total would be very close to $250K.

The latest grant that came into today was a small one, just $1,000. Still, as my office mate said, "$1,000 is more than zero" and she's absolutely right.

I'm also proud of this one because it's a to a new funder -- a small foundation that's never given us anything in the past. I thought an application to them was a bit of a longshot, but it turns out, it wasn't! With their support, we can pilot a new program, which is always a good thing.

I've got about 2.5 months left on my year of service (WOW, does time fly!) and I'm still optimistic that I will cross the quarter-million mark before Oct. 22. In current outstanding proposals, there's more than a quarter-million dollars that we could get from things I've written, so I don't think my hope is misplaced.

Starfish phone home

2008-07-29T14:33:00.002-04:00

For weeks now, my cell phone hasn't been able to call into the desk phones here at the office. This started a long time ago after we switched over our phone service provider for Starfish.

It was a weird problem ... some of us with certain cell phone companies could not call into any of the work numbers. After a lot of test calls, calls to our old provider, our new provider and our cell phone companies, it seems to have been resolved. YAY!

Of course, this just means I have the ability to leave myself messages when I'm not at work....

After the Roof Stunt

2008-07-29T08:49:00.004-04:00

With the roof stunt over, things are getting back to normal here at Starfish HQ -- though what "normal" is will change again.

We've got about a week and a half left with our awesome summer VISTAs before they head back to college this fall. They have been amazing and gotten so much great capacity-building work done.

Also, in about a month, we'll start having regular homework club again meaning we'll have Scholars here on weeknights which can be fun.

I'm back to proposal writing -- turned in one yesterday and working on another preliminary proposal that needs to go out by the end of this week. Also I'm busy with the planning for our fall fundraising breakfast. Things need to be in motion for that now to make sure we have a good event later.

Also, I'm doing some revisions to the capital grant to help that process. It's not dead, just tabled and I still have high hopes for this office not being blue for my entire year of service.

Raising the Roof on Graduation Rates -- Bob Returns to Earth

2008-07-25T08:50:00.008-04:00

Bob has safely returned to the ground floor after 48 hours on the roof. This morning, we had a small celebration to welcome him back.

This included presenting him with the "smiling Starfish" traveling trophy -- an internal prize for staff or VISTAs who go above and beyond their job description -- and a photo collage of images from his time on the roof.

Keep reading for more photos and the final tally of mentors who have made verbal commitments to Starfish by the end of the event.

This is Bob and the WTLC booth that came yesterday afternoon for a live remote broadcast over the lunch hour.

Friday morning... notice the change in the weather with the overcast sky... the cherry picker from the tree service truck came back to bring Bob back down from the roof.

And the final tally of people who called in and made verbal commitments to be mentors during the 48 hour stunt is......

63!

We are completely blown-away by this response from the community and the amount of media coverage we received during the past two days. All of us are a bit bleary-eyed this morning from two days of crazy work hours, but it was worth it.

And the brainstorming for next summer's event has already begun... the leading idea? Survivor: Starfish Roof.

Raising the Roof on Graduation Rates -- Above the fold

2008-07-24T12:18:00.003-04:00

So it's bigger news if it runs with a photo above the photo in a print newspaper.

The story is technically what would likely be known as the "secondary centerpiece," but half of Bob's head is above the fold of today's Metro+State section of the Indy Star.

Here's the link to the whole article.

Right now, we've got WTLC out in the parking lot with a booth, prizes and a live broadcast. Other staff has the camera, but more photos to come later.

Raising the Roof on Graduation Rates -- The VISTA photos

2008-07-24T09:02:00.005-04:00

Bob is still on the roof.

Yesterday afternoon, I got busy and never had a chance to post these photos. These are mostly the summer VISTA crew (along with yours truly occasionally). Without their help, this event would not be going as well as it has been. They've also just been very cool and helpful all summer long.

The count for potential mentors is hovering around 30 right now, give or take a few.

Today at the lunch hour, we've got WTLC coming to do a live remote broadcast. Expect more photos later...

Raising the Roof on Gradution Rates -- Life on the Roof

2008-07-23T12:30:00.005-04:00

Bob has now been on the roof for not quite 5 hours.

So far, the camera has been passing from staff to staff, so I can't claim that all these photos are mine, but here are some further glimpses of life on the roof for Bob.

Up with him on the roof, Bob's got his laptop, a table and chair, his cell phone, a very long extension cord to plug his stuff through the window upstairs, a tent, sleeping bag, umbrella, pillow, cooler, and, um, bucket. I don't think I need to elaborate on what that's for.

We've gotten a number of calls from people who have stopped by on the street or saw him live on TV this morning. The current count for potential mentors is ..... drumroll please.... 30!

48 in 48 should be no sweat!

Raising the Roof on Graduation Rates -- Bob Ascends

2008-07-23T09:36:00.006-04:00

Yes, mentoring fans, Starfish Initiative Mentor Services Director Bob Goodrum is on the roof of Starfish Initiative.

He's been up there for about 105 minutes so far, and his feet won't touch the ground for another 46.25 hours-ish.

This morning, we had Fox 59 news here doing a live shot from the roof (another segment will run on the 10 p.m. news tonight). Also, the Indianapolis Star sent over a photographer and we're expecting a reporter to come by at some point. Mitch Daniels' campaign RV was here as well (don't worry... no VISTAs were involved in any sort of campaigning activity and we've invited his challenger, Jill Long Thompson to stop by sometime too...).

We had a pretty good crowd of mentors and guests and staff this morning to cheer Bob on as he went up to the roof. The original plan had been that Bob would just climb a ladder... but his ladder was too short so he called a tree business who brought over their truck with a cherry picker and Bob rode up to the roof.

And then watched his "ride" move away.

Now that Bob's on the roof, he's taking phone calls from potential mentors and calling folks who expressed interest in the past.

More photos to come later, along with updates on the recruitment count.

Raising the Roof on Graduation Rates

2008-07-17T08:40:00.002-04:00

Here's what we're up to at Starfish right now...

This is the actual press release we've been sending out. Want more details? Drop me a line in the comments. Or call Bob (his contact info at the bottom) to learn about mentoring.

Local Mentoring Organization to “Raise the Roof” on graduation rates
Staff to live on roof for 48 hours to bring awareness and recruit volunteers

Indianapolis, IN – Starfish Initiative Mentor Services Director Bob Goodrum will live on the Starfish Initiative roof for 48 hours to “raise the roof on graduation rates” in Indianapolis. At 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 23, Goodrum will ascend to the roof where he will stay until 9 a.m., Friday, July 25. While on the roof, Goodrum will be recruiting volunteer mentors and drawing attention to the need to improve graduation rates in the Indianapolis area. His goal is to recruit 48 new mentors in 48 hours.

Starfish Initiative’s mission is to cultivate promising, economically-disadvantaged, high school students into college-educated leaders by providing them with individual mentors, leadership training, and community service opportunities. In so doing, it is their aim to instill in each student the desire to positively contribute to his or her community. Today, Starfish Initiative serves nearly 100 high school students in Marion County in more than 20 schools. Each student is matched with a volunteer, adult mentor who serves as his or her “college coach.” Starfish Initiative is adding 100 new students to its program before the start of the 2008-09 school year.

To provide services for 100 new students in the upcoming academic year, Starfish Initiative also needs 100 new mentors. Forty-eight new mentors in 48 hours is the idea of the “Raising the Roof on Graduation Rates” campaign.

“The possibility of a Scholar going to college becomes a real probability when an adult invests five hours a month in them,” Goodrum said.

Studies show that students who have support from adults are more likely to succeed in their academic work and less likely to drop out of school.

To learn more about becoming a Starfish Initiative mentor and the “roof-in” event, contact Mentor Services Director, Bob Goodrum at (317) 955-7912 or bob@starfishinitiative.org. www.starfishinitiative.org
###

Overwhelmed

2008-07-16T11:22:00.001-04:00

About three months of service left...
Currently, the work load has me overwhelmed. Too many projects, too many things going wrong at the moment. It's all very frustrating and VISTA doesn't pay enough for this much stress.

Still Alive...

2008-07-10T11:16:00.002-04:00

I realized it's been more than a week since I wrote anything here.

With the holiday weekend and the subsequent digging out/catching up from that, I've been very busy here in the blue office.

But time for some updates on a few things and what's occupying my time and head-space.

1. The major capital grant. We didn't get a "yes" or a "no" -- rather the committee tabled our request until we can come back with some more information in August. Round two of meetings for this is beginning next week as we meet with some other vendors and get some new quotes on furniture and construction pricing.

2. Being a United Way agency.
Yesterday we attended our first ever United Way agency fair for a campaign through the local office of a major company. We learned a lot through this first one and talking to other agencies also there. This is an exciting way to get our story out into the community.
Also, in two weeks, I've got training to learn how to be a United Way Torchbearer. This basically means that I will be giving short speeches at United Way campaign events, talking about Starfish and how being a United Way agency helps us. And it gets me out of the blue office... I hope they schedule me a lot. One of my goals for 2008 was to help coordinate our first year as a United Way agency and I'm doing a lot of scheduling right now to make this all happen.

3. "Raising the Roof on graduation rates: 48 mentors in 48 hours"
More info coming on this soon, but we're planning a crazy event here at Starfish to recruit more mentors. It involves our mentor services director, our roof and lots of PR.

4. 3.5 months of service left. YIPES. This year has flown by. Yesterday at the United Way fair, there were several other VISTAs and/or VISTA alums. It's fun to meet them and talk about doing service.

5. Grants, grants, grants. The deadlines don't stop coming and next week, I'm taking two days to do a proposal writing workshop put on by the Fundraising School. Obviously, I've been having some success at this writing thing, but I'm convinced I can always learn more things to make my proposals even better.

6. Dictionary Drive. Have $20? For that, you can buy a dictionary and thesaurus set for Starfish scholar who otherwise doesn't have reference books to help them with their school work. Maybe it's just the writer in me coming through, but I love this campaign and can't wait to get these letters in the mail to donors. I know I don't make much as a VISTA, but I am giving serious thought to donating a set because it means that much to me.

As you can see, there's a lot going on. I will try to update more on some of these initiatives/campaigns as I can.

Why I'm a writer

2008-07-02T15:58:00.004-04:00

1. Because I like words.
2. Because I don't like math

This is why I can't get the numbers in the grant application budget I'm working on to add up right now. They add up on one form, but not the other. The SAME numbers. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

UPDATE -- July 3, 10:38 a.m.
The budget now balances.
The problem? I was trying to make $5,000 + $6,000 = $13,000, when in reality, it equals $11,000. Hence, the missing $2,000.
Now, it all adds up.

Connected

2008-06-27T12:58:00.002-04:00

After a long week, we are finally reconnected to the Internet.

As I posted before, it's been a learning experience to be without it. It's good it's back though, because there are online grants I need to submit next week. :)

It's nice to rejoin the technological age, and I hope next week to have more blog posts to get caught back up.

You Can't Live Without It...

2008-06-24T10:18:00.003-04:00

Starfish has been Internet-less since Friday.

It's a huge wake-up call to see how dependent on technology we are. It also makes getting things done more complicated so this morning, I'm camping out at the public library with my laptop and using their wireless to blog, check work email and get some Internet-based things done.

We know that a lot of our students and families don't have Internet, but what a wake-up call these past two days have been for what that really means for them. I have felt completely cut off from the world, not having e-mail and not being able to read the news. (There are some parts of being a recovering reporter that I may never get over and reading several newspapers online is likely one of them.) But I also can't do research, can't look up contact information in our donor database, can't file online applications.

It makes me think about how hard it must be for these families to do things since they aren't connected to the Internet. How do you look for colleges and scholarships and do your homework without an Internet connection?

We're supposed to get ours back at Starfish today *fingers crossed* but I hope I don't forget what I've learned without it.

I should go away more often...

2008-06-16T10:22:00.003-04:00

I get back to the blue office this morning after a needed weekend off and discover not one funded grant on my desk, but two!

Amazing. Go out of the office for a day and a half and come back to see copies of checks totally $30,000.

My money raised total is now sitting right at $250,000.

Yep. A quarter million. I can't believe it.

One of these grants is the first one I ever wrote. We got the news awhile ago that they were going to fund us, but now we have check in hand. I'm still rather stunned that we got it, given my inexperience in grant writing.

I don't think I really thought about how much money I might raise during my VISTA year, but I have to say, $250,000 is way beyond what I think I might have imagined.

Tally

2008-06-11T15:04:00.002-04:00

The money total = $220,000. The success to failure rate is something like 11-4 to 12-4.

It's so wonderful to get checks in the mail after the hard work of writing grants.

Even though it seems like I'm having success with the grant proposals I'm writing, I signed up today to take a two-day proposal writing workshop through the Center on Philanthropy. The workshop was free and I figured there's always something else I can learn about how to write better proposals.

Yippee! One hurdle down

2008-06-10T15:56:00.004-04:00

I've been working for the last two days on a major, major, capital project grant.

With Starfish growing, we've expanded into the back half of our building and with the help of a designer, put together an AWESOME-looking remodeling/renovation plan. No more blue office!...

At least, no more blue office if this request gets funded.

Anyway... the cool part of the story. Shortly before 3, the executive director and I hand-delivered our application to the funder since it was due by end-of-business today. Just a few minutes ago, she got a call from the grants manager that we are on the agenda to present our plan to the grant committee in about two weeks.

This is a great hurdle to get over so now we know we're on for sure!

I'll post more about the project, cost, status of the grant, etc, as it goes along.

Every little bit

2008-06-04T15:06:00.002-04:00

The money update:
$215,000.

We got another little grant today for $1,500. It's not a ton, sure, but it's $1,500 more than we had.

Marathon

2008-06-04T08:12:00.004-04:00

Fundraising is definitely a marathon, not a sprint.

I wouldn't say it's quite a tortoise-and-hare scenario (ie, slow and steady wins the race). I am thinking more like fundraising tends to mean you're in it for the long haul. Grant cycles are slow. It takes time to cultivate relationships with donors. Even special events take a long time to plan to be successful. Bottom line, you can't make a quick fundraising buck.

That said, this week has been a flat-out run and will stay that way till through a big deadline next Tuesday.

I hope this doesn't come off as whining. I'm not whining, I'm just ... explaining.
Here's the list of things on my plate:
1. $50K grant application... would have been better to have gotten this one done in May. Others are waiting to read it.
2. $????K grant application for a capital project. Waiting still on numbers from the construction folks. Due on Tuesday. Expect gnashing of teeth Friday-Monday-Tuesday to get this puppy finished. Also, don't expect to see me those days.
3. Donor newsletter. Gotta keep folks informed.
4. Scholar newsletter. See #3.
5. Summer direct mail campaign. We've got a cool campaign we're launching... letters need to go out in two weeks from tomorrow. I'm still on draft #1.
6. Donor database. We got a new donor database system this spring. After a bunch of online training, I'm now making sure our paper records jibe with what's in the database. Last names beginning with "F" and "G" should get done by the end of the week...

I'll hopefully come up for air next week and let you know what progress I've made.

And the money kept rolling in...

2008-05-29T13:59:00.004-04:00

(My apologies to fans of Broadway musicals who are now humming bars from "Evita" because of this post title.)

On to the good news:
We got the call today from the very first foundation I wrote a grant to this fall as a brand new VISTA and grant writer. The board approved $20,000 for us.

While I've applied for and had other grants funded in a shorter time span than this one, I was really still holding my breath for this one because it was first. I think I've gotten better at grant writing in the past six months, but the first one of something new you do always carries with it some bit of trepidation. Getting the grant award is huge to me because I think it validates, in a way, everything I've done since then.

The total grant dollars raised YTD now stands at $213,500. $213,500!

I'm a bit stunned at that myself. I have a hard time imagining $213,500. I know I've seen the checks for it come in, so I know it's really happened, but still. When I was a reporter, I covered projects and things that had much higher price tags (multi-million-dollar construction projects, airplanes that people shelled out seven figures for). I guess it's different in covering big bucks than raising the bucks.

The next milestone I think will be getting a grant in a lump sum of $100,000 or more. I've got one application out that would meet that criteria. Stay tuned in September to see if it's funded!

Summertime Service

2008-05-27T11:11:00.003-04:00

Today Starfish welcomed our new summer VISTAs!

We have nine more people who are spending their summers doing national service and helping with projects here. It's very exciting!

Here's the new crew (minus one, who's a teacher and doesn't start till later after her school year ends):

This is a huge plus for Starfish to have this group for the summer to help with a variety of projects.

And, it's fun for us VISTAs to have more poverty-fighters working along with us.

Deadlines are no match for me and my happy fingers

2008-05-22T16:19:00.006-04:00

Updating from the post on Monday where I was discussing (OK, whining) about all the deadlines I had coming at me.

I have completed both of the grant applications I wanted to get done this week. I have also sent the text and photos to our graphic designer to get going on the next issue of our newsletter. I have one more day left in this week, which means I can move on to other things on my list.

Getting these three projects done or moving forward (in the case of the newsletter) is a huge relief. All of a sudden, May was feeling mostly gone and what with the holiday Monday, having not enough time all told to finish everything. I still have more things on my to-do list than I have crossed off, but I use the list as well as a way to look ahead to the next things.

Also, this week, the Starfish IT guy brought me over an ergonomic keyboard and my fingers are so very happy already.

Here's what I'm talking about if you've never seen one.

For people who spend a great deal of time at the keyboard, this style of keyboard is much better. Every time I go back to one of these, my typing accuracy improves and it's just so much more natural because it keeps your hands angled instead of turning your wrists in.

I guess it's silly that a keyboard and meeting three deadlines would make me happy, but it does!

Grant Cycles or why I'm hibernating in May

2008-05-19T09:34:00.003-04:00

Grant applications come in cycles.

If you recall, back in November and December, I was churning out about one proposal a week. Everybody, it seemed, had deadlines between Nov. 30 and Jan. 15. For a while then, the grant proposal writing slowed down.

Until now. Now I am deep in the throes of the spring grant cycle. Everybody wants stuff between May 15 and June 30 for the summer funding cycle. On my to-do list for this week, there are no less than four grants that I should work on. The goal is to write two and save the other two for next week.

The problem with the non-stop grant writing is the chained-to-my-desk feeling. I eat lunch at my desk. I sit at my desk and write all day. Not too many meetings, not even pestering other colleagues for information or data. I've done that already. Now comes just the sheer task of putting words on paper, one after the other to form coherent, compelling sentences.

In the applications that I'm writing and submitting this month alone, we're talking total funds somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000. That's a quarter-million. All in one month.

Never mind the two newsletters, database work, photo editing and prep work for our summer VISTAs coming next week. (more on that later...)

Add to the grant writing I'm doing the things I'm doing in real life (launching a writers group, teaching a four-day writers workshop, working on my own book, planning a trip in June, etc), it's pretty clear why I'm feeling a bit whelmed by all this. (Note, not overwhelmed, not yet anyway... just whelmed.)

So, I guess I should stop blogging and get to the grant writing. Maybe that would make this all feel a little less hectic.

Killing my darlings*

2008-05-13T16:16:00.002-04:00

*No violence has been done for this post.

Killing your darlings. It's a phrase that many writers have heard, a description for how ruthless they need to be in revising their beloved pieces. No matter how great a turn of phrase, or a scene might be, if it's not working for the piece, it's gotta go.

The same holds true with grant writing.

I've got a Thursday deadline to meet for a big grant. I spent all day yesterday working to craft this puppy. I wrote a great needs statement.

Except it's not a great needs statement for this grant. So I did it; I cut 291 words -- darling words, and a great quote from a respectable researcher. I put in different words (not sure how many.) I got rid of the great quote from a respectable researcher and put in other quotes for perhaps less flashy sources but ones that better illustrate the point that needs to be made.

Grant writing is a mix of tugging on heart-strings and appealing to the intellect. I think my original needs statement was a little intellect-heavy. Were I writing an academic paper, the argument would have held up well. But for a grant, there's an element of inspiration that needs to happen as well, helping a funder catch your vision.

I guess I'll know if my revisions worked come September and we get the word on funding decisions.

I'm available for weddings...

2008-05-08T16:40:00.003-04:00

I've spent my afternoon addressing envelopes.

Quite literally, the entire afternoon. In fact, I had no idea it was 4:45 p.m already. The fact that people were leaving the office should have been a clue, but it didn't sink in until just now when I looked at the clock. (My first thought was, "My clock is wrong!" that's how absorbed I was.)

Starfish is having a reception about a month from now at the home of one of our donors. More than 80 invitations are going out for this reception and they are all hand addressed.

I could have been done with this project already, I suppose, if I'd done labels. But even with a nice font, a label (or printing on to the envelope), still looks like a label.

Who doesn't like to open a hand-addressed card?

Direct mail studies have proven that a handwritten address will get your mail opened more often than pieces that look like bulk mail (aka, junk mail).

So this afternoon, I put aside the grant writing, picked up my nice Pilot V5 Rolling Ball pen and remembered how to write in cursive. At 60-some done, I'm calling it a day (and going home to ice my tired hand... kidding).

But maybe I could recover from my year of no-money-with-VISTA by freelancing as a wedding invitation addresser...

$$

2008-05-05T16:59:00.003-04:00

I haven't updated the scorecard on money lately so, here it is.

The score is 9-4 (grants funded vs. grants rejected).

Total dollars raised is $193,500.

I'm really looking forward to the grant that pushes that total over the $200K mark.

Move over, Tim Russert

2008-05-02T10:45:00.004-04:00

Actually, in my previous job, I met Tim Russert and he was a nice guy. In fact, I got the first question for him in a press conference.

On Monday, I was the moderator of the Indiana VISTA Symposium, "The Future of National Service." "Meet the Press" it's not, but it was a good forum and an interesting topic for discussion.

Since I'm normally behind the camera, I got one of my Starfish VISTA colleagues to take some photos to prove I really did this.

I never really moderated a forum before and I think it went pretty well. Nice to know I have a skill to fall back on if this fund development thing doesn't land me a job...

Halfway Questions and Answers

2008-05-01T09:22:00.004-04:00

With the recent craziness here at Starfish HQ, I completely blew past my six month VISTA mark.

A week ago today, I crossed into the second six months of my year of service, meaning I'm halfway done.

They say time flies when you are having fun. I guess they (whoever "they" are) are right.

The first six months has been a lot of things. I can't say "fun" would have been the first word to pop to mind. I think I would have picked things like "educational," "eye-opening" and a "good experience." If you asked me this question face-to-face and we continued talking, I probably would have also listed words like "stressful" and "frustrating" at times.

The key question I can answer at this point is, "If you could rewind time, would you choose to do AmeriCorps*VISTA again?"

I can definitively would say yes. For all the things this experience has been so far (including getting to try out the wonderful health benefit this week...), I would make the same choice. It's been a lot of sacrifice, leaving a "real" paycheck and good friends in another state, but on the other hand, I've gained a lot too. A lot of hands-on experience, the chance to see my work is making a difference and I've met new friends here in Indiana, both VISTAs (a shout out here to my PSO crew and others who I've gotten to know) and non-VISTAs who are wonderfully understanding about why I can't do social things that involving the spending of much money.

So while maybe I wouldn't have picked "fun" at first, it would be an oversight to leave it off the list.

Here's hoping the second half is as good as the first.