This week, my project has begun to kick into full gear at Ohio Humanities. I going to be working closely with a couple members of the team, particularly Scarlett, the Development Director, who has been very encouraging and whose instruction has been conducive to my learning. The team has been working on planning for the upcoming Over-the-Rhine film festival in Cincinnati as well as working hard in the early stages of a new advancement strategy, my primary project for the summer. Working on database cleanup and development has been a crucial part of this “Acquisition Mode” in seeing what strategies should be taken to determine what demographics we should be compelling to donate or become stakeholders in the organization. What seems to be the most important is strengthening relations with current supports or new supporters that are committed to the mission of Ohio Humanities – to share stories, spark conversations, and inspire ideas.

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to work on my first grant review! I used the application from an organization’s grant application to Ohio Humanities to come up with a review of their project in matching Ohio Humanities’ requirements for grant approval to share with my coworkers at an upcoming meeting. Given that grants are a critical part of almost any nonprofit (whether they give or receive grants), learning about the process and requirements for grant approval will certainly help me in a future position at a nonprofit. I hope to do more grant reviews during my summer Fellowship so that I can build upon my knowledge of grant writing or reviewing.

I’m extremely excited for my advancement project this summer as I’ve been given the liberty to look into ways and to perform tasks to connect Ohio Humanities closer with its supporters, which is a significant part of fundraising. Updates to come on this and the Over-the-Rhine Film Festival!