The fellowship is over! I can’t even begin to describe what an incredible and invaluable experience this summer with Ohio Humanities and The Columbus Foundation has been. I am not ready to say goodbye to the office and the staff. It feels very bittersweet, since I am sad to leave behind the kind and amazing team at Ohio Humanities but I well prepared and ready to move on in my career as a leader in the nonprofit sector because of the skills and experience I gained as a result of the team’s encouragement and willingness to help me grow as a professional. Rebecca, Scarlett, Kiley, David, Aaron, Melvin, Jim, and Marc – thank you so much for everything.

I am told that the projects that I worked on this summer have been incredibly helpful for the advancement and development strategy at Ohio Humanities, and I am grateful to have had an impact. The database is organized and cleaned up which will be beneficial for future campaigns. All donors from the past two years have received some form of communication from me on behalf of Ohio Humanities to show how they are valued for their support of the mission, which will help the organization meet the goals of the advancement strategy. The screening at the Over-the-Rhine film festival sponsored by Ohio Humanities was a huge success, in part because of my organization and planning tactics.

All of my projects this summer were very conducive to my understanding of the functioning of non profits, and I now have much more clear understanding of advancement, advocacy, grant writing and reviewing, philanthropy, programs, board communications, and how to make all of these come together to make the organization achieve its mission.

Everything that I learned this summer put me in a position to develop my career and meet my personal goal of having an impact on my community through the mission of the organization that I work for, and I’m so excited for the opportunity to work hard to advance my career to a place where I have the capacity to do this. Thank you to The Columbus Foundation and Dr. Lomax for coordinating this amazing fellowship and providing lessons that I will always remember. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity and encourage all potential future fellows to apply.