Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

I guess failure is a very harsh word, because making a mistake or something not going the way you expect it should not be labeled failure, but these events could still feel like failure.

All the weeks I have been here I have felt like the crème of the crop, everyone made me feel special and expectations of perfection were quickly established (at least in my head). This week was the first time I felt that feeling of failure.

They were not even big things, just things that did not work out. It still stung and made my face turn red from the embarrassment of having a bad idea. I have never considered myself a perfectionist just someone who tries really hard, and in school this has always reflected in great grades and GPA’s. But what does it mean to have a fear of failure at work?

I catch myself rereading simple emails for multiple minutes, creating ten design drafts for one request, and lengthy scrambled sounding Teams messages. In career advice panels I have often heard that you must find a separation between your personal life and your work life. But in non-profits, when your personal passions align with your work, where do you stop and draw a line in the sand?

Cancelling the event I helped with was the right call and it is selfish for me to feel disappointed that it did not work out because it is what was best for the organization. Eventually, I will likely forget about it and worry about something else that did not go the way we planned. I could blame my feelings on my anxiety or on my fear of disappointment and failure, but ultimately, I think it is a fear that comes from being a young professional. I do not think there is any quick fix, I think dealing with things like this has to come from practice and years of trial and error.

To finish off on a higher note, I did learn a new Microsoft program this week called Microsoft Power Automate. If you haven’t learned about this, I highly recommend you do, it’s probably the coolest Microsoft app out here. It helps you automate forms, emails, calendars, and makes you feel like a tech wiz (not a paid advertisement I swear but if someone from Microsoft sees this you should sponsor me).

I feel like I have mentioned this too much but honestly, I never get tired of mentioning how lovely this environment is. Even through my moments of doubting my abilities and feeling this sense of failure, my bosses continue to trust me and challenge me, and I see myself growing as a professional and I love it. This opportunity is just everything and more, every day I come into work I cannot believe how lucky I am to have this experience.

p.s. if you would like to volunteer at our community garden please give me call (614-641-0020) or send me an email jmartinez-cortez@ecdi.org. We serve the Devon Triangle community which is a USDA-identified food desert and we would love to get more volunteers!

Wrapping up my fourth week of the Columbus Foundation fellowship, I discovered a new source of enjoyment, grant research and writing. Hope Hollow’s mission is straightforward and impactful, so writing about all Hope Hollow has accomplished is almost effortless.

Prior to my Columbus Foundation fellowship, I had little to no exposure to grants. My lack of knowledge on grant writing led me to believe that grants were relatively uniform. However, I now understand and enjoy the fact that each grant and funder is distinct and requires special attention.

For instance, one of the grants that Hope Hollow applied for this past week was from a foundation in a specific Ohio county. In order to complete this application, I collected data from Hope Hollow’s database about how Hope Hollow has assisted cancer patients from this particular county. In my opinion, collecting and utilizing this data was the most enjoyable part of this particular application process. Hope Hollow would not be the organization that it is without the cancer patients it serves, so it was incredible to have the opportunity to personalize this application and include specifics about the cancer patients Hope Hollow served from this county. 

Arguably the hardest part of the grant writing process has been conciseness. Hope Hollow has impacted thousands of lives throughout the United States, so expressing the significance of Hope Hollow’s work in 250 characters is difficult. Additionally, I have been fortunate enough to hear dozens of testimonials about cancer patients and loved ones that Hope Hollow has served. Choosing which testimonials to utilize in our grant applications is challenging because each story is beautiful and worthy of attention. 

Grant writing has served as an outlet for me to share the incredible work that Hope Hollow has done and will continue to do for the cancer community. It is powerful to think that the grants I have completed, alongside Kevin and Jane, could potentially enable Hope Hollow to continue providing basic necessities to cancer patients, and their loved ones, so that they can pursue potentially life-saving medical treatment.

The beginning of week four started off with a relaxed staff meeting at First Watch. It was great to get out of the office and reconvene on the past week’s activities. Later in the afternoon I did some digital design for the upcoming Charity Regatta put on by the Columbus Kiwanis. I’ve been working on this project for several weeks, so it has been very rewarding seeing the progress I’ve made.

Tuesday was then spent finalizing ideas for the sailboat, then I was finally able to upload the photo of our sailboat to join the online regatta race. After finishing up the regatta design, it was all hands on deck for an evening packing event. We hosted thirty volunteers, and packed over 1,000 buddy boxes during the event. It was great seeing a large group come together for their community. 

The Family Mentor Foundation always stays busy, so on Wednesday we hosted another packing event during the day. Once again, it was great to upbeat spirits and high morale when it came to packing buddy boxes. The rest of Wednesday was pretty mellow, conducting more research for the upcoming pilot program, and organizing information. 

Thursday I was tasked to draft some letters for donor relations, then attended a partnership meeting in the afternoon. At the meeting I learned a lot about funding strategies and different methods. It was great to hear how other nonprofits find funding and build relationships with them.

Lastly, on Friday I helped with some Buddy Box orders for drivers, and more designs for an online fundraising event. This week has definitely been eventful, and I feel like I learn something new each day.

• I have been doing a lot of reflecting this week and there are so many things I have learned in the four weeks I have been at ROX. One of the key things I have learned is the importance of relationships and networking. The relationships you make with other leaders and partners is super important because each party will be essential in each other’s success. A name for this is networking. I have never realized how important networking is, but it is a game changer. The partners and funders ROX have are because of the authentic relationships each of the members have made with other parties. Another lesson I learned is to be opened to change. In nonprofits things are constantly changing. You must be flexible and be able to face challenges with a positive attitude. Seeing the way, the women at ROX adapt to change and be open-minded to new things really allows their organization to thrive the way it does.
• I was able to meet with two other key members of ROX. A big take away I took from both meetings is that it is all about the process. The journeys they both took after college were very different. It was through new opportunities, obstacles, and challenges that they were able to get the opportunity to do what they loved. Additionally, the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the only way to do what you love. It was because these women stepped out of their comfort zone with new job opportunities that their journeys led them to ROX.
• I was able to sit in on a meeting with a social worker from the ACLU and I have to say it was extremely touching. So many struggles she discussed that girls face resonated with me. It was touching to hear someone explain all the different things I experienced as a black girl growing up. She went into detail about her many careers, and it was an inspiration to see black women who accomplished so much. The passion she had for social justice increased my motivation to be an advocate for change whenever possible. 

This week, at Equitas Health, I got the opportunity to be involved in a whole-day meeting of the development team as we planned and presented what we have accomplished the last year. It was really interesting to me to see all the different facets that go into nonprofit work. As my primary focus has been events, I had not fully realized the scope of our department. We talked through everything from the budget for the next fiscal year, to website redevelopment, to the events at both the Columbus and Dayton locations, to how to best thank donors. The part of the meeting that discussed how to best thank donors was interesting to think about; I had not considered the work involved in deciding how to send handwritten thank-you notes, at what rate, and for what seasons in depth before. It was also nice to hear from the Dayton events team, with RED and Masquerage both major events there, I benefited from hearing about the unity between the two cities in our organization.

I also have gotten to spend some time with the Equitas Health Institute this past week, as I have worked on sending out their incentives and rewards for participating in their programs. The Institute is the education wing of the organization, which works to reduce healthcare disparities in the LGBTQ+ Community through cultural competency and cultural humility training. While I work in development, the diversity of facets of nonprofit work was insightful; all of these areas help us to best serve the community.

Also, this week, I got an office plant! I have a small tree I am currently growing in the corner of my cubicle. Currently, the tree is only about 10 inches tall and perfectly fits, but it is supposed to get to 8-10 feet, so I’m excited to see it start to grow throughout the summer as I continue my work.

This week, I had the opportunity to help run the Netcare Foundation’s Golf Fundraiser. It was an eye opening and exciting experience. In addition to the immense planning involved with fundraisers, I learned how many moving parts and pieces must be in order to ensure that the event runs smoothly. Not only do event planners need to ensure the guests enjoy their day, but they also have to make sure that the volunteers understand their role and are performing said role correctly. It was a very tiring–but rewarding–day. 

After Monday’s golf event, we immediately began working this week to prepare for the fall fundraiser: Netcare Foundation’s 3rd Annual Community Awards and Recognition Dinner. This week to prepare, I planned social media posts for the event, sent letters out to donors, and notified local news centers of the upcoming fall event. 

This week we also had a fellows learning session about marketing. Though we talked about marketing, we also talked about what makes a good leader. It was amazing to see how all of the fellows’ mindsets about leadership and empowerment changed in such a short period of time. Initially, we thought of power as finite. However, by the end, we realized how power is infinite and how simply being human is powerful in its own right. 

I appreciate learning from all of these fellows and seeing all the unique perspectives they bring to the table. 

Monday

After being so busy last week, this day was like a breath of fresh air! It was a prep day! On these days we just clean and put everything away that we used previously to prep for the upcoming week. We received a large donation and I was able to go through everything to put it away. While she was doing this Phyllis let me take home whatever I thought looked cool. It was extremely nice of her and I ended up taking a lot of yarn to crochet with, and for my cat to play with. 

Tuesday

Today was the first day of our teen camp, it was extremely different from last week’s camp with the younger kids. They were at a skill level where you did not have to walk them through every step of the project multiple times. They did not need much help at all. This left me with helping Phyllis prepare more for next week as well as getting some of my own work done. I do video editing for our weekly camps so I have to take lots of pictures as well. 

Thursday and Friday

Teen camp came to a close and this week compared to last was a lot more relaxed. There was no time crunching and no feelings of stress what so ever. It was moslty prep work! I look forward to have the kids back next week though. I kinda miss the caos. 

Being an intern at ECDI brings different things every day. Right now, we are focusing our efforts in the Women’s Business Center to support businesses affected by COVID-19 and creating partnerships to better reach the Hispanic demographic.

Last week I was invited to go to the Guadalupe Center with Edgar from the Women’s Business center to meet Ramona and learn about the center and the services they provide to the community. They primarily support the Latinx community on the west side, with services such as social workers, an immigration lawyer, and a food pantry. They are interested in partnering with SBA and ECDI in order to bring in house business classes. A partnership would be very beneficial to better reach the Latinx community, a goal ECDI currently has.

We also went to visit a client in her bakery, Le Vieux Lyon French Bakery Café, to see firsthand her success and talk about what else she might need. She served us macaroons, tarts, and cupcakes! Her bakery is lovely, and her treats were delicious.

I love experiencing firsthand how much the Women’s Business Center truly cares about the success of their clients. ECDI may not be globally known or a household name for the work they do but they are constantly trying to figure out how to better support the community. I thought about this during our learning session this week, marketing is an important aspect of any company; but in the Women’s Business Center it is evident that they are more focused and passionate about marketing their clients’ businesses.

The rest of my week has been focusing on the community garden. Monday, I spent the entire day outside building garden beds, handling soil delivery, and planting fifty different veggies into our new beds. The most exciting part was that we had some members of the community stop by and tell us they loved the new garden beds! I have gained a lot of knowledge about marketing this week through the garden too! I met two people who work in marketing, and they taught me specifically about ECDI marketing. I have been religiously studying the branding guides to assure that the flyers, event emails, and garden signs fit the standards!

Overall, I cannot believe how much I am working on and how much I am learning. I am so grateful to all the staff that have been so essential to my experience thus far.