| Jenny's AmeriCorps/Nonprofit Blog |
| Monday, June 21, 2004 It's the first day without Wayne--without an Executive Director. And, it seems, nothing works! The internet, although working seemingly all right now, was misbehaving most of the day. The network itself was very slow. My attempts to create a brochure of the Cans for Habitat did not work. I don't have the capabilities on my computer, and Tim's old computer (he has now moved to Wayne's old office and computer) was not being cooperative at all but kept freezing up. So. I filed and doodled and looked for yet another place to live. And very unsuccessfully attempted to learn about wireless internet. I got nowhere with that. I read and filed and sent on about ten resumes today. Most of them were crap. What's wrong with people? I mean, no offence, but some of those resumes were really, really, bad. And many of them had nothing to do with nonprofits or executive administration. Oh boy. I'm starting to get a little impatient here. Things go so slowly! If I knew what to do, I'd try to speed things up. I believe the main problem is money, but so far I have not made nearly as much progress as Merinda did last year on the grant front. I keep feeling like I'm in competition with my AmeriCorps predecessor. And I keep feel like she's winning. I just don't know what to do?! I don't know how things work. I don't know where else to look for money. I don't know how to talk people into fundraising, or even assisting with fundraising. Everyone wants to build, but nobody wants to do any work. I can't even change toner in the copier. I'm a mess now. Copier 1, Jenny 0. I hope toner comes out of clothing! |
| Here it is: the continuing saga of my experience as an AmeriCorps Vista volunteer in Worcester, Massachusetts. I would love to hear from any other AmeriCorps volunteers or nonprofit employees--especially volunteer coordinators. Email me--tell me what you think, or share your own experiences. Together we'll survive this crazy nonprofit world! |
 |
| Return to Main Page |
 |
| Go to Blog Index |
 |
|
| Tuesday, June 22, 2004 Good news! I'm so excited! Wait, let me start over. Now that Tim has moved into the office next door, I don't get to witness the daily opening of the mail ritual. So, this morning, I walk next door to ask Nancy and/or Tim a question, and instead Nancy holds up a letter and asks me: "Do you know anything about this?" Me: "About what?" Nancy: "The Hoche-Scofield Foundation?" Me: "Why, did they send us a rejection letter?" Nancy: "No, they sent us $10,000." Me: "Wahoo!!!!!" Yes, that's right. I wrote a proposal that got completely funded! $10,000 towards Paine Street! Rock on! I'm a super star! Join me in a dance of joy! I sent out a note of victory to the board of directors. I had barely clicked on send when the phone rings. It was Deb (our President) all very excited. I don't know how she could have gotten it so fast. Nothing is going to ruin this day. I'm ecstatic. |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
| Thursday, June 24, 2004 Well, maybe there really are no more free lunches, but I got it half off for this Saturday. Thank you, Subway. I should be all set--that is, I should have everything in place for Saturday to run smoothly without me. I'm working on a new grant proposal, and I'm having a bit of trouble. I'm asking for AmeriCorps funding (GWHFH pays for half of each AmeriCorps), and that involves explaining what I do, and what Jon does (or did since he's not really our AmeriCorps anymore), and why it's important. Now, this should not be hard. And yet.... it is. How do I explain it and wind in the other necessary Habitat info. There is supposed to be a separate one page background of the organization, and then the proposal which is up to five pages. The problem is separating background from proposal... because if you put certain aspects of Habitat in the background, it's hard to separate others.... but then it gets too long, and then what do I write about in the actual proposal? |