Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Hi! My name is Paul d’Hyver and I am a senior at Ohio State studying integrated business and engineering. Over the next couple of months, I will be working with the development team of the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation (CMLF).

CMLF just finished a huge capital campaign, where they raised around $20 million as part of their renovation project “vision 2020.” CML has a network of 22 libraries across the Columbus area and as a part of this project, many of the branches will be completely rebuilt or updated and renovated. The Dublin branch has a lot of visitors and high circulation, therefore it will be completely rebuilt and doubled in size. To accomplish this, there is a gap of about $2 million in funds, so this will be my focus during my time here.

Over the next 5 months, I will help to plan the capital campaign to raise the needed funds to finalize the Dublin branch renovation.

The development team is comprised of 9 people and they all have different roles. I will work mainly with the development director and the fundraising manager, although I have already received help and learned information from some of the other team members.

During my first week, I read a lot of information and talked to a variety of people in order to understand all aspects of development at the library at a deeper level, specially concerning the Dublin project.

After catching up to speed, I leveraged existing documents to write a new campaign plan and to begin writing documents such as a committee description. Although I did not have much guidance writing these new documents, I found it helpful to take initiative to give it a try and then submit it for feedback. This helped me learn quicker and showed my manager and director that I am willing to learn and that I can be responsible for the tasks they need me to complete.

For the remainder of my time here, my main tasks will be to update and finalize the campaign plan, create a gift table to ensure we can raise all the needed funds, perform a lot of prospect research, and create profiles for these prospects.

If you want to learn more about the library, go to their website here: http://www.columbuslibrary.org/

Also, here is a picture I took during my first day with a hat they used at a big celebration event called the Celebration of Learning:

Hello all,

My name is Max and I am currently a fellow with the Childhood League Center. So far, my experiences have been awesome. I was seeking this fellowship because I want to learn more about the ins and outs of nonprofits and how they are run. At the same time I wanted to give back to the community. The Childhood League Center is a nonprofit that is giving children with mental disabilities an equal opportunity to education. For every $1 you invest in these kids, we see a $17 return down the road!

My main responsibilities are to seek out new donors and I am currently helping the Childhood league center restructure there strategic management plan. Very cool and progressive things are happening and it is awesome to be a part of it!

Here is a link to the Childhood League Website if anybody wants some more info.

Home 2023

Max

Hi all! My name is Keely Buckley and I am the Columbus Foundation’s Fellow at Equitas Health (formerly AIDS Resource Center Ohio). I will working with their Development team on creating a new initiative for their annual AIDS Walk. This AIDS walk will take place in April and will be one of the biggest fundraisers for the organization.

Currently I am a senior attending The Ohio State University here in Columbus. I am a Psychology major with minors in Nonprofit Studies and History. I would love to pursue a career in the nonprofit field, hopefully in development or community engagement. In my free time I like to stay involved on campus. I am a part of Buckeyes for Life (raise awareness about organ and tissue donation), Gift of Life (campus ambassador for a bone marrow donor registry), Association of Fundraising Professionals, and Alpha Chi Omega. I stay pretty busy but I figure as long as it is all stuff that I enjoy doing, I will not regret it!

I am so excited to work with Equitas during this fellowship. They have recently changed names from AIDS Resource Center Ohio to Equitas Health to better encompass their focus on total health care. HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence anymore and the work that Equitas has done in the past and continues to do is a big reason why. They work primarily with the LGBTQ communities to give HIV/STI prevention materials, primary and specialized care, behavioral health, advocacy work and community initiatives.

The project I will be working on for this fellowship is a new initiative they want to add to the AIDS Walk. We will be adding in honor of/in remembrance of signs along the sides of the AIDS Walk for all three that happen in April (Central Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo) as well as trying to incorporate the name change of the walk for next year from AIDS Walk to A Future without HIV. I am very excited to be working on this project as it will give me a better sense of fundraising, development, and marketing/communications and how those all must work seamlessly together to create an effective project.

If you want to learn more about Equitas or the AIDS Walk please visit their website: http://equitashealth.com/

The Columbus Foundation is currently seeking college or graduate students to fill Fellowships at a wide range of Franklin County nonprofit organizations.

The deadline to submit a student application online is Monday, December 12, 2016. To qualify for a Fellowship, applicants must be a college junior, senior, 2017 graduate or graduate student in the fall of 2017, and be a Franklin County high school graduate or pursuing a degree at a Franklin County college or university.

Selected students will be placed with a nonprofit for the length of the Fellowship Program, from June 5–August 11, 2017, and receive a stipend of $6,000. Highly desired qualifications for Fellows include a strong academic record (preferably a 3.0+ GPA) and strong verbal and written communications skills.

Further information:
Application & Process
Host Sites & Project Details

The Columbus Foundation is now accepting applications from eligible college seniors for the 2016-2017 Fundraising and Development Fellowship Program. This Fellowship serves to link students with meaningful experiences at five area nonprofit organizations. Projects have been selected to allow for the Fellow to have a meaningful contribution to the organization’s needs, while learning a substantial amount about the fundraising and development profession. Through a special partnership with the Central Ohio Association of Fundraising Professionals, Fellows will have access to exclusive networking, continuing education, and select AFP membership resources.

To be eligible for The Columbus Foundation Fundraising and Development Fellowship, the interested individual must be:

• A college senior, graduating May/June 2017
• Enrolled in an accredited central Ohio college or university and be in good academic standing, with competitive credentials
• Interested in the nonprofit sector and fundraising and development

Students should submit their application by Noon on Friday September 30, 2016.

We encourage applicants read the FAQs for further information on the Fundraising and Development Fellowship Program.

Potential host organizations and project details are below:

If you have additional questions, please contact Dan Sharpe .

Hello, hello! So, this is end. The final blog, the final pictures, the final witty (or so I thought) words for my summer. Let’s rewind a few days aallll the way back to August 5th.

Long story short, it was amazing and beautiful and just about everything went according to plan. Now, you may be thinking, “What Ana? What was so amazing?”. Well! The 6th Annual Youth Summit, of course! My final project, the one I had dedicated this summer to, was a complete success and everyone had a blast, adults included.

The morning session was dedicated to thanking all those who helped ETSS create this amazing day for the youth. To name a few, Ramona Reyes, Columbus Board of Education, Councilmember Shannon Hardin, City of Columbus, Dr. Cimbolic, ODU, and many more. To keep the youth involved, I had been going to each site and practicing with 2 selected youth the week of. These selected youth were to speak during the morning session, whether it was introducing a key person, or thanking a sponsor, they all did wonderful and I was/am so proud of them! After the morning session, I was able to help everyone set up for lunch before leaving.

I ran over to the Columbus Foundation and gave my presentation on my summer. It was a nice break to the day and it was great to give a quick run down of all the great projects I had been able to be a part of during the summer with ETSS. After that, I ran back over to ODU (where the Youth Summit’s afternoon session was beginning). For this part of the day, the youth were to be outside from about 12:30pm to 2:30pm. In the past the heat had been a huge factor and discomfort. So! For this year, I made sure to have tents, and water jugs to make the heat bearable. I was able to acquire 4 tents for the youth, 1 giant tent for the DJ and about 8, 5 gallon water jugs. By the end of the day, the youth were throwing water at each other, safe to say we had enough water for them to drink and more, haha. The last event was for the 4 sites to perform their cultural dance and/or song. Peep some pictures below. 🙂

All in all, this summer was the most incredible experience I’ve ever had. I never felt like I was working (except when I did haha) and I never thought twice about staying and extra hour or so to make sure things turned out perfect. I’ve completely fallen in love with this organized and will be returning to work for the after-school program they provide. It’s so crazy a few months ago I didn’t even know ETSS existed and now they’ve sucked me in. And none of it would have been possible with the Columbus Foundation and this fellowship! A million, “Thank you”‘s to everyone who helps make this program possible and never, ever end it!

BTW, check out ETSS for more pictures and future events. 🙂

Well, this is it.

My time as a Columbus Foundation Fellow has officially come to an end, and with that, I think it’s only fair that I reflect a bit on my experiences, in the form of a little list:

1. Don’t be afraid to take on more responsibilities. As an intern, it was difficult for me to find my place within an already tight-knit workplace. But the more people I reached out to, the more friendly faces I created around me, and the more diverse experiences I gained. Asking for more work felt awkward at first, but paid off a thousandfold in the end. If you’re a future Fellow and you’re reading this post–DON’T FEEL BAD ABOUT ASKING FOR MORE WORK!
2. Enjoy the journey. As a rising junior at Ohio State, I’d be the first to admit that I often get very caught up in thinking about “what’s next?!” I often find myself trying to figure out how to best check all the figurative boxes in my life. But this summer, I realized the importance of just taking a step back to really enjoy all the small amazing moments that occur every day. It makes you feel way more satisfied if you focus on what makes you happy each day rather than worrying about what you’ll be doing tomorrow, or how you’ll fix that issue that might pop up in a few weeks.
3. Learn as many new things as you can. Before this summer, I was the friend who calls you when you’re studying at the library because I can’t figure out how to work the TV remote. Let’s just say that technology is… often not my friend. But this summer, I spent my time utterly surrounded by technology, conjuring up spreadsheets and working with Excel more than I ever thought possible. And it was FUN! Stepping out of my comfort zone made me learn that I actually do have skills in the computer realm, and I’m excited to pursue these more in the future.
4. Be nice. One of KIPP’s most famous mottoes is “Work Hard. Be Nice.” While this is a great set of phrases to instill in young students, I think it’s also just a great mantra for everyone in life. Not only should you always give things your best try, but you should also focus on being a good person. It’s an invaluable trait to have in the workplace and just as a human being. And it absolutely shapes the culture at KIPP, where each person is both hardworking and kind, and the type of person you just want to be around.

I can’t believe the fellowship has ended, and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity. Thank you so much to both the Columbus Foundation and KIPP Columbus for being incredibly welcoming, kind, and wonderful mentors, as well as to my fellow Fellows, a truly remarkable and inspiring set of women.

(Pictured below, some Faces of the Fellows from our final luncheon: Anna, Kerigan, myself, Katie, and Kathleen.)

I intended to get my final blog post up on August 4 – my final day at The Center for Balanced Living. However, with many goodbyes to say and good luck conversations with those who I have worked alongside for the past ten weeks, I didn’t want to place this task before these relationships.

So then I intended to get this blog post up yesterday on August 5 – my final day as a Summer Fellow where we each presented in front of our co-workers, supervisors, Summer Fellowship advisors, a few selection committee members and other staff members from The Columbus Foundation.

But here I am, on August 6 (I am obviously having a hard time letting go (:) and can no longer call myself a Summer Fellow. As sad as that sounds and as sad as I am that this summer rapidly flew by, yesterday was as sweet as an ending as it could be. Waking up this morning in the period between that send-off and life’s next adventures, I am feeling thankful, confident and excited with a hefty dose of nostalgia.

We sat in the room where it all began but this time, the introductions between us fellows turned into introductions between us and leaders at their nonprofits as well as those at The Columbus Foundation who took time out of their day to listen to our summer journey. Being able to watch and laugh with (I may be referring to Demi and Kathleen’s selfies) these ladies as they shared their growth and achievements made me so thankful to have been surrounded by brilliant, hard working and encouraging women. This may sound overly cheesy but I was truly proud of each fellow, especially as I had a bit more insight on the challenges they faced and their day-to-day success stories from our learning sessions and excursions together.

In my presentation, I discussed a bit of history from the date I learned that I made it to the “second round”, my interview in January and the day when I found out I had been selected.   Looking back, I can only laugh at myself who thought I had a good grasp on what I wanted to do with my life after graduating from Otterbein. The 19th slide on my Pecha Kucha was dedicated to my (still pending) next step ahead. I am completing my majors in Health Communication and Public Relations but am highly considering getting my master’s in dietetics to become a registered dietitian.

If you told me that ten weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. But ten action-packed weeks of personal and professional growth and new friends and mentors can truly change a person. Thank you to The Columbus Foundation and The Center for Balanced Living for instilling this change in me! This summer has easily been one of the best experiences of my life and the nonprofit sector and Columbus have stole my heart yet again.

It feels as if I blinked and the ten weeks passed. To try and sum up my fellowship would be impossible, but if I could use one word to describe my experience it would be nourishing. According to Merriam-Webster, nourish can be defined as “providing the things that are needed for health, growth, etc.” This is fitting in multiple ways; first being that LifeCare’s mission is to nourish the human spirit. Second being the way in which those at LifeCare and the Columbus Foundation have given us fellows an array of opportunities that have cultivated growth and development. Our host organizations and the Columbus Foundation have nourished us; shaping, guiding, and providing us with the tools to be successful leaders in our community. Although not without challenges, the past ten weeks have been filled with enlightenment, discovery, and mainly nourishment as each day brought new opportunities for learning and growth.

As I stated in my final presentation today, reflecting on my time at LifeCare leaves me with four main points, which I feel have been most significant in my fellowship. These skills will prove indispensable as I enter my senior year of college and begin my career.

The first is collaboration. Each and every day, I collaborated with different people to get tasks done. I communicated and worked with multiple people at LifeCare to craft the newsletter, coordinate events, and establish different procedures that can be utilized after my time at Carrie’s. I was challenged to venture out of my comfort zone talking to so many people each day, but realized that it is in collaboration with others that gets the job done. I used and continued to improve skills such as organization, brainstorming, and communication, which were extremely beneficial in collaborating with different people.

The second is job enlargement or the ability to ‘wear multiple hats’, as us fellows would say. All of us concluded that working at a nonprofit requires the ability to perform multiple duties. LifeCare really kept me on my toes, as I was usually given a new task almost every day. I learned the importance of going with the flow, completing one task at a time, being open to new things, and challenging myself to learn from something I may not have expected to learn from.

The third is the importance of volunteers. I was opened up to a whole new world of volunteering and all the different facets that come along with it. LifeCare has shown me the importance of volunteers and how necessary they are in an organization like theirs. Volunteers are truly the heart and center, and how an organization creates and sustains relationships is so important. Volunteers often lead to becoming donors, and donors also are at the heart and center of an organization in a different way. Both are needed for the success of a nonprofit. I was able to learn about and witness the cultivation of relationships with volunteers at LifeCare.

The fourth, final, and most important (in my eyes) is relationships. I found as if the environment at LifeCare nourished and cultivated the ways in which I was able to meet and build all kinds of relationships. From the first day at LifeCare, I found myself engaging with many people. I was able to meet with different staff members from LifeCare, sit with clients at Carrie’s Café for lunch, play bingo with the seniors every 2^nd and 4^th Wednesday of the month, talk to people at meal tastings, welcome volunteers from all over the city, engage with a countless amount of people at coupon distributions, and chat with people at fan distributions. Being able to build relationships with those who benefit from LifeCare’s services was extremely beneficial and really aided in motivating me to complete all my projects to the best of my ability, because I knew in the long run they would benefit these people with whom I encountered daily. In addition, I have been able to get to know and learn from the other fellows who have filled me with motivation and passion to truly make a difference in Columbus and the world.

I feel extremely and truly blessed to have been able to meet so many people throughout the past ten weeks, from all walks of life. I have taken in great amounts of wisdom from a countless amount of people. I feel grateful for all of those at LifeCare, especially my supervisors who have taken me under their wing and have seen the potential in me to complete tasks I wasn’t really sure I could myself. As it’s hard to believe that August 5^th is here, and the fellowship is coming to a close, I feel as if my time at LifeCare has filled me with knowledge that will benefit me for the rest of my life. Thank you to LifeCare Alliance and the Columbus Foundation for this opportunity!