Another week at the Women’s Fund is gone like the wind! It’s crazy how fast summer has gone, it feels like as I’m getting into the full swing of day-to-day the program is ending. As we discussed with Ms. Toshia Safford, she stated that it takes 1-2 years to fully get acclimated to your job. As these weeks close out I starting to think about how to wrap some projects up so the team can pick up where I left off.

This week entailed lots of research and strategic thinking. The two projects revolve around the idea of reconceptualization and implementing new programs. The Women’s Fund hosts their annual fundraising event, Keyholder, which typically features guest speaker(s) that can offer some perspective of how they interact with their professional space as women. The goal of the guest speakers is to recognize how the interconnectedness of individuals’ various identities influences how they engage with the world. This week I have been looking for venues that could potentially be the new home of Keyholder. The team is revising what Keyholder could look like because they have been doing this format for 10+ years and want the event to be centered around something different.

My second project pertains to some potential programs the Women’s Fund wants to start in the near future. I’m looking into other women-centered non-profits to see what’s out there and how this new program can be different. In addition to researching, I’ve been strategizing ways for StoryCorps to become more active by communicating with donors and partners. This week especially, I’ve been going through the list of donors and thinking of ways to get them involved in the project whether it is through hosting an event, sending a personal email, or having our CEO meet with some people in an organization to communicate the purpose of StoryCorps. This aspect of planning is new for me as I have not been on the “strategic marketing” side of things, this experience with conducting outreach for StoryCorps has given me some additional skills.

As this week comes to a close I am eager to see how our StoryCorps board will gain momentum as we continue to strategize how to connect with organizations and the public to participate. 

Hope everyone had a great week!

See y’all in the next one.

Kennedy Smith