Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

Good afternoon, Fellows!

Though I’m a day late in posting, I didn’t want to miss the chance to share the amazing work happening at Big Brothers Big Sisters this week!

One of the most impactful experiences I had was attending an event called “Big Affinity.” This gathering celebrated long-term mentors—those who’ve been part of BBBS for 2 to 15 years—who have gone above and beyond in supporting their Littles and exemplifying the core values of mentorship. While attendance was optional, I eagerly volunteered to assist my team and gain insight into the unique challenges and triumphs experienced by these mentors.

My role involved welcoming guests, guiding them to the proper conference spaces, and serving as the lead note-taker. By the end, I had compiled three pages of valuable discussions, suggestions, training ideas, and constructive feedback. The event was deeply insightful and offered a wealth of ideas for improving mentor support.

Learning from Leadership

As part of my internship, I’ve been meeting one-on-one with BBBS staff to learn more about their roles, skills, and journeys within the organization. In earlier weeks, I connected with several Match Support Specialists. More recently, I’ve had the opportunity to engage with the leadership team, and these conversations have been incredibly eye-opening.

During our first learning session, we heard a powerful concept: Leadership means people follow you because they want to, not because they have to. This idea, along with the principle of exercising “power with” instead of “power over,” has stuck with me—and it’s evident that many BBBS leaders embody this approach.

Nearly every director and coordinator I’ve spoken with began their journey as a Match Support Specialist. Their growth stories emphasized two key lessons:

1. It’s okay to start small and grow over time.
2. Give yourself grace—growth takes patience, humility, and a willingness to receive feedback.

We also discussed the challenges of leadership, especially around conflict resolution. Many shared how learning to navigate conflict has helped them foster stronger relationships and more resilient teams. Whether in the nonprofit, corporate, or community sector, developing these interpersonal and leadership skills is essential to building a healthy organizational culture.

One program lead shared a powerful comment that stuck with me: “Match Support Specialists are the heart of this organization. Without them, we couldn’t do our jobs.” That sentiment captures the passion and dedication running through every level of BBBS.

Looking Ahead

Soon, I’ll be visiting our Delaware office for more shadowing and collaboration with the enrollment team in Franklin County. I’m especially excited to support efforts to welcome new volunteers into the BBBS family.

Even though this internship is short-term, I feel deeply connected to the mission and the people here. I’m eager to keep learning and contributing however I can.

Cheers to Week 6—onward to Week 7!

This week at Zora’s House gave me valuable insight into the inner workings of nonprofit development, programming, and team collaboration. One of the most impactful experiences was attending a meeting focused on impact evaluation and assessment. I’m learning how essential data is not just for internal understanding, but also for external needs like grant applications and donor reporting. What stood out most was the opportunity to give input on revising the participant survey. I offered suggestions to make it more inclusive of the diverse identities of the people who will be taking it. We also discussed formatting decisions to ensure the survey is user-friendly and accessible. It was exciting to be part of a conversation where inclusivity, clarity, and impact all intersected.

I also spent time learning more about the Wealth Builders program. This initiative supports women of color in gaining financial knowledge and building long-term stability. I observed how intentional the program is not only in content but in the community it fosters. Zora’s House provides a space where participants can feel safe talking about money, asking questions, and setting financial goals without judgment. It’s a powerful reminder that financial empowerment is deeply connected to emotional support and belonging.

In preparation for the Columbus Book Festival, I helped the team get materials ready for our tabling event this coming weekend. From organizing printed materials to checking off logistics, it was a hands-on experience that reminded me how much thought goes into public outreach. I’ll report back next week on how the event went!

Lastly, I attended part of an all-staff meeting focused on how Zora’s House uses Asana as a communication and task management platform. I learned how each program and event is broken down into action steps that keep the whole team aligned. It helps everyone know what needs to happen, who’s responsible, and how to keep things moving even when schedules change.

This week gave me a fuller picture of what it takes to run an organization with care, strategy, and community at the center.

Until next time,

Asia

Hi everyone! I just finished a super super exciting week at the Center for Disability Empowerment!! The past six weeks my time with the CDE has been dedicated to planning the 35th Anniversary Celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and tonight the event finally took place. It was so rewarding to see everything I have been working on come together. Over the last six weeks I have been in contact with countless sponsors and sat on many virtual Planning Committee meetings, and tonight I was finally able to meet with all of these people in person. Everything with the event went smoothly, and I felt that all the hours of preparation and planning really paid off.

For the first hour of the event I was at the registration table helping to check guests in and get them their nametags. I was happy with this position as I got to interact with all of our guests at the event and see the diverse range of individuals who were choosing to spend their evenings celebrating the ADA. During the program, we heard the essay contest winners read their essays as well as a keynote address from disability advocate Rebecca Cokley. Even though I have been working with the CDE for six weeks now, I learned so much about the struggles of the disability community this evening. Whether it is personal, systemic, or political struggles, there has been true determination and resilience in the disability community to continue fighting for their rights. Rebecca Cokley is an incredibly inspiring individual who has dedicated her career to disability advocacy, and it was amazing to hear all the change she has incited for the disability community throughout her career. During her keynote address, Rebecca made sure to highlight the community aspect of disability advocacy, and called everyone at the event to action to fight for the livelihood of disabled Americans. It was clear that everyone at the event felt a sense of community and strength in all coming together tonight. 

I am so pleased with how the event went this evening and I feel so grateful that I got to be a part of it. I have learned so much more than I ever imagined I would, both about professional event planning as well as about what it means to be an advocate.

Until next week,

Rachael McCague

Hello everyone!

I have now reached the end of week 6! This week has once again been made up of various responsibilities and activities, and I would like to give you a glance into all of them!

On Tuesday, I dedicated time to preparing our marketing cart for the Columbus Book Festival, which has been a multi-day process. I specifically readied season brochures, folded children’s brochures, and packed materials I have been collecting on my desk neatly into the cart. Some such materials that can be found in the marketing cart include MAC stickers, two kinds of brochures, exhibition postcards, kids coloring sheets, etc. On this day, I also got to do a direct press communication with CityScene. I sent them our responses to the prompts they had emailed, connected to the Performance Review, and I attached a photo. Overall, I really got to focus on Marketing and Outreach this day which has been a nice learning experience. 

On Wednesday, I started my morning off at The Columbus Foundation. We had a session dedicated to Fundraising and Philanthropy, a subject that I have found myself becoming increasingly interested in within Nonprofit work. Our two speakers were Emily Savors Senior Director of Grantmaking at The Columbus Foundation and Ruth Lomax Senior Vice President and Executive Director for City Year Columbus, and they both provided us a wonderful opportunity to not only discuss the positives surrounding fundraising and philanthropy but also the harder things surrounding both. Later on in the day, I got to participate in our second MAC on the Road tour at the Columbus Museum of Art. All participants had the opportunity to take part in a docent led tour of the museum. As someone who has visited this museum on several occasions, I enjoyed being able to learn something new, whether that was connected to a backstory of a piece of art or being challenged to not only consider the art but what it is framed in. I also got to enjoy the company of our participants who themselves are passionate about the arts. In the evening, I and a few other fellows attended a Columbus Clipper game, and I enjoyed the chance to connect with my peers and get to know them more.

On Thursday, I started the day off with a meeting with some MAC staff where we learned how to use an app through which we can make merchandise sales at the upcoming Columbus Books Festival. A little later in the day, we had an all staff meeting where we mainly discussed how the organization would like to pass on convenience fees and tax when it comes to ticket purchases, for example. I ended the day with a gallery/exhibition opening- my first one at the MAC! It was nice to learn about what goes into having a gallery opening from the concessions, to hiring a musician for ambience, to prepping the overall building. It was lovely to get to see people enjoying the beautiful artwork of Linda Hutchinson, whose exhibit titled In Good Company lined the MAC’s hallways, and Said-Oladejo-Lawal, whose exhibit titled My Voice and Dance, lined our main gallery walls. Said-Oladejo-Lawal was in attendance himself, and it was nice to hear how art, for him, gives him freedom to express his thoughts, a type of song and dance on canvas.

Today, Friday, I spent some time both in the morning and the afternoon, going around to various classrooms and getting pictures of the various instructor camps that are going on, for marketing purposes. Some such camps that the MAC offers includes creative writing, sewing and fashion, ceramic hand-building, comic creation, paint/ink, digital art, etc. It was fun to get to experience the atmosphere of each class, interact with the kids and instructors, and get to see a younger generation engaging in the world of art in its various forms. Today, I also had another Nonprofit Chat with our Executive Director and another colleague. Our topic of discussion was The Greater Columbus Arts Council. One other thing we did today, in preparation for the Columbus Books Festival, was to pack up the MAC Shop merchandise to be transported to our booth site. 

Overall, it has been a productive and engaging week, and I look forward to attending the Columbus Book Festival Saturday and Sunday!

Talk to you soon, 

Graci

Hi All,

Today, I am wrapping up my birthday and sixth week with Huckleberry House! Overall, I would say this week was a rather productive one as I finished calling all of our 135 current Safe Place partners and started working with the outreach team to order and distribute the proper Safe Place signage and materials to the partner sites that need them. Although I am still waiting on a few current partners to call me back, I am happy to be moving on to part two of my big project, as that will free up some time for me to work on other things, like updating the Safe Place training manual and reaching out to potential new partners.

Also, in between all the phone calls and emails, I was able to finish updating Huck House’s Case for Support! As I mentioned last week, I really enjoyed getting to use some of my research skills for this project, so I decided to take on another research task Carol had. My new research project is to find info on both the long-term individual impact and social return on investment (SROI) of youth using services like ours at Huck House versus entering the foster and/or juvenile justice systems. After an initial search, I found a lot on individual impact but not a lot of SROI analyses, so this might be an opportunity for me to crunch some numbers and see if I can approximate what an actual SROI analysis might reveal.

Until next week,
Emoni

Hi everyone! This week at ETSS Tewahedo Social Services, I worked on some more event planning duties as we get closer to the August 8th Youth Summit, which is officially less than a month away! Some of my tasks include: negotiating discounts from restaurants and place catering orders, analyzing our Summer Youth Enrichment Program site rosters and pairing cohorts from each site with age-appropriate workshops from various community partners, ordering branded merchandise and medals for the soccer tournaments, coordinating with the DJ to provide him with MP3 files of backing songs for the kids’ cultural dances, finalizing volunteer roles and creating a signup through our volunteer management platform, and keeping track of our event budget as new sponsorships and expenses pop up.  

Our Fellows Learning Session this week focused on fundraising, a topic that the cohort was enthusiastic to learn about. Emily Savors from the Columbus Foundation and Ruth Lomax from City Year graced us with their presence. It was fascinating to hear from both sides of the grantmaking process, with the Columbus Foundation distributing money from donors to nonprofits like City Year. Their insights are helpful to me as I gain fundraising experience, especially the old “fundraising is relationship-building” adage. I personally found it reassuring that even more introverted people can find meaningful work on the grantmaking side of things!  

A fun coincidence: On Monday, I met with a wonderful local artist Richard “Duarte” Brown, who will be offering a workshop for our Summer Youth Enrichment Program students at the Youth Summit. After I introduced myself as a Summer Fellow, he asked if I had seen his painting in the Columbus Foundation building, and I wasn’t sure. It turns out that I have been sitting directly in front of his painting at all our Learning Sessions!  

Until next time,

Sanay

Hi everyone! This week was definitely a more relaxed week at Netcare with no major meetings or big projects to finish. I spent a lot of this week completing tiny tasks from my checklist, while assisting my supervisors in their work.

I started off this week with continuing on our quarterly newsletter, focusing on the client testimonials. I continued to draft infographics and eye-catching material to boost our reach and awareness. I also did quite a few organization related tasks like redoing the folder with all of our logos and partners’ logos so that they were easy and quick to find, and adding community events we could participate in to our calendar.

I spent a lot of this week reading through an audit, which was incredibly interesting to look through as I have never done so before! We also started to promote an upcoming event where we are partnering with Aladdin’s. On July 29, a portion of the proceeds from dine-in and take-out food at the Grandview location will be given to Netcare, so please enjoy a nice meal there if you are interested in supporting us!

The past couple of days we had our Town Hall meetings, which are meetings with our CEO that give staff members the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about recent Netcare updates. This was very fun to sit in on, as I was able to see new changes in the nonprofit sector, as well as recent developments within our organization.

As this upcoming week approaches, we will continue to work on our large project of increasing engagement on our social platforms through short videos. We spent this week curating a list of questions to ask our staff and donors, and will be starting interviews soon. We have also started to look into video-editing software and how we want to make our content more fun and interesting for people of all ages.

Overall, I had a great time working on many different tasks and am looking forward to our work over the next few weeks!

Best,

Anaika

This week at LifeCare Alliance reminded me why I love working in environments that are rooted in community. Whether it was helping at a fan distribution event, attending a style show, or listening to volunteers share their stories, I felt surrounded by people who genuinely care about the mission, about each other, and about showing up.

I continued to make progress on the Customer Journey project, conducting interviews with seven volunteers and two staff members, including a longtime SSD driver and a quality assurance coordinator. Each story added depth to my understanding of the Meals-on-Wheels experience, and I spent much of my time going through transcripts, reviewing recordings, and creating playback sheets. I also began coordinating materials and activities for our upcoming half-day workshop, where we’ll share findings from the project and engage staff and volunteers in co-creating solutions.

Midweek, I attended the Carrie’s Café Style Show, an uplifting event where clients modeled outfits from LCA’s thrift stores while enjoying lunch and applause from a supportive crowd. Later in the week, I helped out at the Beat the Heat Fan Campaign, distributing fans to community members in need and registering them on-site. I even had the chance to observe a media day as Channel 6 filmed interviews and featured the event on the news. It was a great example of how mission-based events can also serve as meaningful marketing moments.

From a marketing lens, I’m starting to connect the dots between outreach, storytelling, and visibility. I spoke with Brea about brainstorming engagement events to attract younger donors and volunteers, something I’m excited to keep exploring. I also heard creative suggestions in my interviews, like creating newsletters or events targeted at retirees, and even the idea of working with Greek organizations or pre-med students whose academic programs require volunteer hours. It’s clear there are many ways to grow our reach through thoughtful partnerships.

This week was full, but energizing. With just a few weeks left, I’m looking forward to turning what I’ve heard into action, and helping create a more connected and empowered volunteer experience.

Until next week,
Kat Jolley

Hello again, this is Elysa. I just completed my second week. 

It has been two weeks since I started working at Friends of Alum Creek and Tributaries. This week was fully stocked with activities. First, I had the chance to experience FACT’s board meeting in person. During the board meeting, they talked about the nonprofit’s financials, new events, and any developments happening around Alum Creek. Second, I am currently working on a science experiment testing the different soil types and watering methods. There are about 10 different tree species and 4 different types of soil. Each tree has three duplicates of the same soil type.  I spent time collecting my initial data and labeling the different plant types. I think I am hypothesizing that there won’t be much of a difference in the soil types. Third, I got the chance to interview one of the longest-working FACT members, and we got to talk about different things relating to the environmental impact of design choices. We also took a tour to places where FACT has done invasive species removal. 

Some things that I learnt this week that I thought were interesting:

Most parking lot designs are not environmentally friendly.

The water table is replenished by rainfall, which comes from impervious surfaces. With current development, impervious surfaces are disappearing, as farmland and large undeveloped lands are being developed. 

Setbacks – 50 ft set by municipalities to protect land and parks, such as Alum Creek, from erosion. 

Tree coverage areas are considered safe zones for animals and are all impervious surfaces, which allows water to percolate down to the water table. More trees equal fewer heat islands. 

Design can be environmentally friendly, but municipalities and private corporations do not want to pay the cost of constant maintenance and upkeep. 

Bye, see you next week

Hello,

My name is Elysa Kwaw. I am currently a rising fourth-year majoring in Civil Engineering with a minor in Nonprofit Management at The Ohio State University. I am also interested in City and Regional Planning and Education. I enjoy learning and exploring the intersection between these subjects. This summer, through the Columbus Foundation Summer Fellow Program, I will be interning at the Friends of Alum Creek Tributaries(FACT) in Westerville, Ohio. FACT is a nonprofit that focuses on protecting and maintaining the Alum Creek Watershed. They also work on other environmental issues, such as removing invasive species in parks surrounding the watershed. I spent the first week as a Summer Fellow at FACT, learning about the organization and understanding the work I will be doing with FACT this summer. This summer, I will be helping FACT manage its Tree Nursery located at 271 Hiwatta Rd. Come check it out if you want to see the work FACT is doing.

Through the summer, I will also be working to create a Google map that showcases FACT projects and important points of interest around the Alum Creek watershed. These points include the Low head dam removal and their extensive invasive species removal work around the Alum Creek watershed. The last assignment I will be working on this summer is organizing Salt watch data that FACT has collected over the years. The plan is to make it as visually pleasing and easy to read as possible for promotional activities like tabling events. So far this week, I have gained a background understanding of watershed protection and its importance. I have also learnt how small design choices can affect the way the environment is shaped, ie, the different type of storm system designs affects how much water gets back into the soil.

Love,

Elysa K.