Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Hello everyone,

Happy August!

This week has been the beginning of the end of the fellowship as I work to wrap up all my projects and responsibilities and prepare for my presentation at the end of next week.

On Monday, we had a work from home day, so I dedicated my time to working on my final presentation. I was very happy to have so many experiences to draw from to create my slides. From festivals, outings, programming, projects, and learning sessions, my summer has been filled with action and growth. I have so many things to be grateful for, and even though I will be sad to eventually leave this fellowship behind, I am excited for what the future holds for me in nonprofit.

On Tuesday (and also on Thursday), I continued to work on the Collections Management Policy research that I started last week. I read through examples of different museums policies, took notes, and then complied a document of best practices, recommendations, and considerations from those notes. It was very interesting for me to do this research because I have never before considered the specifics behind the management and stewardship of museum collections; however, for museums, this kind of policy can be huge. On this day, I also had my last nonprofit chat with our Executive Director and fellow intern from another program. We talked about an upcoming flute convention and the details behind an event like that, we talked about endowments, boards, and strategic plans. I was specifically interested in the board part of the conversation, since serving on a board seems to be an important aspect of working in the nonprofit sector, especially if you consider how the boards of nonprofit organizations are actually over the Executive Directors and hold entire organizations accountable.

On Wednesday, I started my day off at The Columbus Foundation for our second to last Fellows Learning Session. For this week’s meeting, we had guests from UNICEF come and talk to us about Child Rights in the US. This was an interesting topic to learn about and workshop as I feel that Child Rights is a less popular topic of conversation. Later on in the day, I had a meeting with the MAC’s Executive Director to discuss an event proposal that I had written for the MAC. We went over the most important parts of creating an event, specifically focusing on the why and purpose behind the event. I am happy to say that some of my ideas will be utilized in the future.

On Thursday, the development team from The Wexner Center for the Arts came over to the MAC to get a tour and to meet with our Executive Director. I was able to come into the discussion portion of the meeting and get to learn about all the backgrounds of each team member and how they made it to where they are now. It was lovely to meet everyone because they have had amazing careers and they have so much knowledge and advice to share, as I have found so many nonprofit professionals to have. One thing that stood out to me is that in many instances in pursuing a nonprofit career the path is not linear and you get to wear a lot of hats. Something else that I learned was that if you work in development for a larger organization your role tends to be more specialized but if you work in development for a smaller organization your role tends to be more fluid with other rules. One of my other tasks on this day was to fill our new sponsorship folders with materials for future sponsor meetings.

On Friday, I worked on correcting the last of signs with old logos around the MAC. It was nice to see how I have gradually helped to make sure that the entire building is unified in message with the new logo. I also worked on collecting numerical data for the MAC’s Annual Report that will come out for the fiscal year 2025.

Overall, I feel my time at the MAC coming to the end, but looking back over my experiences this summer, I have nothing but good memories and appreciation for what I have gotten to experience.

Until next week,

Graci

Hi All,

With only one week left, this was a rather busy week for me as I began to finalize my last research project and create a transition plan for the parts of my big project that will need to be completed after my fellowship ends.

Regarding the former, I gathered the rest of the internal and external data I needed to conduct a cost-benefit analysis comparing youth who utilize services like those provided by Huck House against those who enter the foster care or juvenile justice systems. Though it was a lot of math for someone who is not really a math girly, I was pleased to find that the comparatively inexpensive costs of providing services at Huck House do lead to more positive long-term personal and social impacts.

Regarding the latter, after I finished updating all the training materials, I put together the 30 signage and/or material packets we needed to ensure that at least all of Huck House’s current partners have everything they need to continue serving as Safe Places. Also, on Friday, I was able to enjoy the nice weather while delivering materials to our library partners who requested them.

Lastly, in honor of National Intern Day, I wrote a post for the Huck House blog detailing the work I’ve been doing and some of what I’ve learned over the past eight weeks—something you all have heard about firsthand every week. Nonetheless, if you’re interested, you can check it out here.  

Until next week (for the last time),

Emoni

Hi everyone! Week 9 is officially done, which means that we have only one more week of the fellowship. I am sad to be leaving Netcare, but am so grateful to have learned so much from this experience. This week was an extremely fun week consisting of an insightful presentation from UNICEF at The Columbus Foundation, as well as Netcare’s filming day and all the excitement that came with it!

Our learning session with UNICEF at The Columbus Foundation was such an incredible experience to learn about child rights. We participated in multiple activities and even were able to give our opinion on certain matters that the organization needed help with. It was a great opportunity to learn about some amazing things while also making an impact in our community.

This week at Netcare was super eventful with it being our filming week! Every year, our marketing department films content for our social media, usually consisting of client testimonials and footage of our facilities. However this year in addition to our normal content, we decided to film some of our board members and employees!

Our client testimonials are when we bring in former clients and ask them a series of questions about Netcare and their experience with our organization. It is a great way for prospective clients to feel safe and ready to reach out to help, while also showing supporters the difference their help makes. Additionally, we record shots of our buildings to show what staying in our residential facilities might look like.

Our new content focusing on staff and board members is supposed to encourage donations and support, and help recruit. We brought in staff from all of our programs (including administrative staff) and asked them a series of questions like what made them proud to work at Netcare, their favorite memories here, and more. We also asked the board members similar questions to hear the impact their support has on Netcare and again, encourage others to do the same!

It was such a great experience to be a part of these filming days and hear first-hand the impact that Netcare has made on so many people. Just being a part of this process made me feel proud to be at Netcare and I hope to work at an organization like this in the future. Although I am sad this is all coming to an end, I can’t wait to see what my last week holds.

Best,

Anaika

Happy August!! This week with the Center for Disability Empowerment was slow and relaxing for me. I finally got feedback on the thank you email drafts I wrote for our sponsors, volunteers, and attendees of the event a few weeks ago, so I was able to send all of those out this week. That means everything with the event is officially wrapped up! Other than that, this week I have been working on updating and cleaning up the CDE’s contact lists. All of the CDE’s contact information for elected officials had not been fully updated for the last election cycle, so I researched and updated all of that. This was definitely not the most exciting thing I’ve done in my internship so far, but will hopefully be helpful for the CDE in the future. 

This week at the learning session, we heard Tracy Najera from UNICEF USA talk about her career path and children’s rights. It was interesting to hear how her career has taken her in so many directions, and I thought it was cool that throughout all of the different positions she has worked, they all have been focused on helping children and children’s rights. The UN’s list of children’s rights that we looked at was honestly a bit surprising to me. Some items on the list such as the right to rest, relaxation, and creative activities is not something I’ve really thought of as a right before, so this definitely challenged me to actually think more deeply about what I think human and children’s rights are. Human and children’s rights are very central to the mission of nonprofit work, and I think it’s an important framework to keep in mind while working at a nonprofit. Tracy Najera’s presentation definitely emphasized this for me, and I hope to remember it moving forward in my career.

Until next week, 

Rachael McCague 

This week at Green Columbus I continued working on grant proposals and attended several meetings about Columbus’ new Zone-In initiative.

On Tuesday this week, my boss Shelly and I went to a meeting at Keep Columbus Beautiful’s facility. The building stores materials that Green Columbus uses for Earth Month and there is essentially any tool you could ever need and every trash bag size in storage. At the meeting, I met several key staff members at Keep Columbus Beautiful that have implemented successful changes in Columbus like giving individual trash cans to households instead of large dumpsters which reduces waste and the appearance of clutter in neighborhoods. It was awesome to hear from them about their work and plan the Scioto Sweep with them. After the official meeting ended, the staff showed us a costume they had that might be Green Columbus’ new mascot which was fun.

On Thursday and Friday, we met with FLOW and B.R.E.A.D. and both meetings led to a deep dive in the Zone-In initiative in Columbus. I learned quite a bit about zoning laws from these meetings and how they can make or break the development of vulnerable communities and sustainability efforts. The Zone-In policies are doing very little for both vulnerable communities and sustainability and Green Columbus is aiming to advocate for changes to the new zoning codes before they become law. I’m interested now about learning more about zoning laws and possibly taking a class about them in the future because they have a significant impact on healthy development of city residents.

Until next week,

Emma

This week at LifeCare Alliance was full of collaboration, facilitation, and the exciting start of new projects. Much of my time was spent preparing for and executing our Meals-on-Wheels Customer Journey half-day session. I started the week printing and assembling all materials including mock journey maps, empathy map takeaways, participant packets, and sticky tabs for the heat mapping activity. It was rewarding to see everything come together after weeks of research and planning.

On Tuesday, I met with Molly to discuss an upcoming project focused on marketing and outreach for the Savor & Select Meal Program, specifically aiming to capture new clients through Franklin County Senior Options. I also joined Molly and Andrea for our final prep meeting before the half-day session. That afternoon, I helped facilitate the session at Harmon, guiding a small group through activities like empathy mapping, customer journey visualization, and heat mapping. I was responsible for leading discussions and capturing insights on a playback sheet. It was energizing to see how staff engaged with the materials and shared ideas for improving the volunteer experience. After the session, we stayed to clean up and reflect on how it all went.

The following day, I went through all the physical posters and sticky notes to start building a recap presentation that summarizes our key takeaways. I also began diving into marketing materials for Savor & Select, taking notes on messaging strategies that could be reused or refreshed to better connect with seniors and their families.

Later in the week, I met with Anne to discuss two additional projects: creating marketing materials for Winter Gifting Program volunteers and helping to set up the agency’s eBay page. I also joined the fan distribution event, which offered a great opportunity to observe another side of LifeCare’s service efforts. In my weekly meeting with Andrea, I shared early reflections on the half-day session and offered suggestions for improving future workshops, like extending them to two days and removing distractions like phones.

As the end of my time with LifeCare this summer is creeping closer, I’ve started to feel a little melancholy, but also incredibly grateful. Reflecting on this experience, I realize how much I’ve learned and grown over the past several weeks. It has truly been an incredible time, and I’m not quite ready to leave just yet.

Until next week,
Kat Jolley

Hi All,

This week started and ended with some major progress on Safe Place!

First, at the beginning of the week, I started working on part three of my big project, which involves reaching out to potential new partners and updating the Safe Place training materials. While I cannot share whether any of the organizations I spoke with will officially become Safe Place partners just yet, I can say that the conversations I had went very well. So, I am hopeful that I will be able to add around 30 new partners to Huckleberry House’s Safe Place network!

Second, at the end of the week, we finally received the Safe Place signage we ordered for our current partners who need them, as well as for the number of potential new partners I hope to bring on board. As a result, next week, I plan to finish updating all the Safe Place training materials so that I can put together the 60 signage and/or material packets we need, if nothing changes, to ensure all current and new partners are equipped to support the youth of central Ohio as Safe Places. Then, in the following weeks, all I will need to do to finish up my last research project is work with the outreach team to ensure all the packets are distributed before my fellowship ends in August.

All in all, I am so excited to finally feel like everything is coming together to wrap up my big project!

Until next week,
Emoni

This week, I continued my work on two core projects at Zora’s House: organizing the library and developing a program evaluation report. Both are behind-the-scenes efforts, but they play an essential role in supporting the mission and impact of the organization.

The library project involved labeling and categorizing the collection to create a more accessible and intuitive system for members. As I worked through the titles, I was reminded of how thoughtfully curated the space is—filled with books that reflect the voices, identities, and experiences of women of color. Organizing the library is not just about order; it’s about honoring knowledge and creating pathways for discovery and growth. I am also developing a standard operating procedure (SOP) so that when I leave the organization as an intern, there will be a document detailing what I did and the resources I used to create the library. This will be helpful when someone else takes on the task in the future.

I also made progress on the evaluation report for several ZH programs, including Leadership Fellows, Wealth Builders, WoCo Market, and Membership. Drawing from survey responses and interviews, I began outlining key takeaways that will help Zora’s House measure its impact and identify opportunities for growth and deeper engagement.

To end the week, I attended the Collective Care Member Event, a gathering designed to celebrate and pour into Zora’s House members. It was a beautiful reminder that our members are the heart of the organization. Many contribute in multiple ways, from volunteering and donating to advocating, and events like this reinforce how important it is to value and care for those who make this work possible.

Until next time,

Asia

This week, I went to St. Charles Preparatory School to help run a booth at the Shootout for Soldiers event. It was a 24-hour lacrosse game, and Overwatch ran a booth from 12:00-6:00pm. I was there from 3:00-6:00pm. It was nice getting to talk to people about Overwatch and the mentorship program when they stopped by. I also got to hand out OWP’s flyers and business cards. Some of the people that came up to the table expressed wanting to share Overwatch with friends and relatives, which I thought was really exciting! I hope OWP expands and gets to help as many veterans and their families as possible. 

Other than that event, this week I met with Eric. He looked over the Mentor Playbook that I created and he loved it! I was very pleasantly surprised that he didn’t see anything that needed to be fixed or changed. I spent a lot of time on it so I’m glad that my work paid off. Eric gave me two new tasks for next week. First, he asked me to research local businesses in Columbus that make poster boards. I have been working on creating a list of these businesses and listing how easy/difficult it would be to buy from them, how much they cost, do they have poster board mounts, etc. The other task I’ve been working on is finding national/local veteran specific companies that give out grants. A lot of businesses have specific requirements for their grants that don’t include veterans, so it would be easiest to find companies that donate specifically to veteran nonprofits and organizations. 

I can’t believe we’re already on Week 8. I’m so excited to see what the future holds after this. 

Thanks for reading, 

Kindall Benjamin 

Hello everyone!

We have now reached the end of week 8. This fellowship has gone by so fast!

This summer, the MAC has switched over from Arts People, a fundraising and donor management software, to AudienceView, an event management and ticketing software. This switch has been a process for all the MAC staff, and everyone has put in a lot of work to make this switch a success. One of my main tasks this week has been to make sure that all annual fund donors have been uploaded to AudienceView and that all spouses are connected to one another, specifically for future mail merges connected to acknowledgement letters. It is important to give proper acknowledgement to those who gift annual funds, no matter the size, because in reality all contributions equal impact.

Something else I got to do this week was sit in on a strategic planning meeting with some of the MAC staff. The purpose of this meeting was to continue to work on a strategic plan that can help the MAC move towards becoming a designated museum. What I found interesting, about this process, is that each part of the strategic plan falls under a certain department (education, performing arts, operations, marketing, etc.) and each department has a role in engaging a certain goal or strategy to produce a certain outcome. This, overall, ignited a lot of brainstorming for me as I felt personally attached to the goal of the MAC wanting to draw in younger audiences. This process brought forward another task for me as I was asked to find examples of current museum’s collection management policies and to do some research on them to help the MAC, in turn, draft its own.

On Wednesday of this week, we had our last MAC on the Road tour which took place at
the Ohioana Library. The Ohioana Library is a very unique and special place that dedicates itself to all thing’s literature connected to Ohio. This includes books, graphic novels, scrapbooks, maps, sheet music, and much more. As a part of the experience, I got to see a miniature Bible about the size of my thumb, an original copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, letters written by Langston Hughes, and a poetry book written by a talented poet who tragically died in her high school years. The amount of materials connected to Ohio is astonishing and the amazing thing is that it is all being preserved and celebrated by this nonprofit organization.

This week, I also had some time to reflect over what I have learned this summer at the MAC. I have really gotten a strong grasp on what nonprofit is and the different roles within a nonprofit. I understand a lot more, then when I came in this summer, about what it really means to be a nonprofit, what it takes to run a nonprofit, and the amount of dedication and passion it takes to be employed in a nonprofit organization. Not only this, but I have come to understand how people-centered the nonprofit sector is. If a nonprofit does not engage its mission through people, it is not really making an impact in its community.

Until next week,

Graci