Saturday, August 15, 2009

Who'd have known that good bye was forever

离人

银色小船摇摇晃晃弯弯悬在绒绒的天上
你的心事三三俩俩蓝蓝
停在我幽幽心上
你说情到深处人怎能不孤独
爱到浓时就牵肠挂肚
我的行李孤孤单单散散惹惆怅
离人放逐到边界
彷佛走入第五个季节
昼夜乱了和谐
涨泛任性涨退
字典里没春天
离人挥霍着眼泪
回避还在眼前的离别
你不敢想明天
我不肯说再见
有人说
一次告别天上就会有颗星又熄灭

Friday, August 14, 2009

Misunderstood

It's a tough feeling. When the very friend you trust is also the friend you must be wary of.

In life you learn lessons along the way when things go wrong in love, studies, work.

Sometimes you only know things are going wrong when it's too late. Sometimes you see them

but you can't do anything about it. Sometimes you wish you didn't say something but you did.

Sometimes you tell people things not expecting it to end up in the ears of the person you

don't want most to hear. But these are life's lessons. No one is to blame anyone. Because

the blamer ends up being at the root of it - why say or do it in the first place? Life's

lessons are expensive. For someone who prides himself in streamlining all daily operations

and ensuring that life does not take more detours than it has to, I can only say, I have

succeeded only in academic aspects mostly. I did not take longer than I had to to finish my

degree with an overseas stint to boot. I have managed to secure internships and temp work

with pretty good timing to make sure my vacations didn't go to waste, but that's just drive.

And I am glad I had it nonetheless.

Regret regret regret.

No one teaches such lessons in life. But people are watching and judging you all the time for such qualities or the lack of it. It's a tough world out there. Yet that is precisely the motivation to overcome and succeed!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Systematic Volunteer Management

Individual Giving Survey 2008 Data:

- 2000-2008 has seen increase in number of former volunteers - 10.7% to 16.7%.
- from 2002 to 2006, main reason for volunteering changed from personal interest to helping less fortunate (underlying reason being increase in media exposure about charities soliciting donations? Like NKF, Ren Ci)
- Religious communities were where the volunteers mostly come from (2008), followed by education and health (2004) and social service and education (2008).
- Youths ranging from 15-24 were the most active volunteers followed by 35-44 (2004 & 2008)
- Demographics - 5-room HDB, monthly income of $4k above
- Satisfaction from ability to give back to society (2006) vs sense of well being (2004)
- Mostly volunteered because they wanted to (!) only small percentage asked by friends/relatives
- Most volunteered only occasionally
- Top complaints from volunteers/ suggested improvements: better organization, proper training and realistic expectations from the organization
- Workload and flexibility of time area of concern for former/non-volunteers
- Reasons for not volunteering: No Time (2004 & 2006)
- Challenges faced by regular volunteering: Hard to recruit and retain
- Short term solutions: Perks & rewards, on top of those mentioned by Fundraising Article (staff support, recognition...)
- Long term solutions: redesign volunteer jobs, reframe needs of clients (referring to beneficiary)
- Ad Hoc volunteering possibilities
1. Specialized - web site, legal, medical support, public relations, consultancy
2. General - clean up homes of elderly, marshals, packing, outings
- Volunteers expect:
1. feel good experience
2. empowerment
3. accountable organization
4. tangible results
5. alignment with own passions
6. part of fun event
7. customer service
- Framework for Volunteer Management System:
stage 1 (conceptualize)
stage 2 (plan)
stage 3 (implement)
stage 4 (review)
- Conceptualize:
articulate vision/mission/goals
assess needs of your volunteers (short-handed?)
design budget for them
record-keeping (manpower hrs, b'days, previous volunteering experience)
- Planning:
write job description
develop action plans for short term assignments
support facilities, risk management
writing policies & procedures
- Implementation:
plan recruitment
screen interview place
orientate & train
supervising volunteers
- Review:
recognize & retain
performance reviews & appraisals
volunteer exit
volunteer programme assessment

Nutshell: Integrate ad hoc projects into program; make the most of the volunteer lifespan; build relationships with volunteers; work with core team of volunteers/staff; have a management system in place!

Source: Extracted from Individual Giving Survey 2008 findings, NVPC

On Volunteer Recruitment

Types of theories behind people who give:
- altruists (for ability to do good)
- communitarian (for benefitting society which they care about)
- devout (for religion)
- investor (possible payback to self or others in future)
- socialite (for attending charity events)
- repayer (been helped before)
- dynast (family culture of giving)

= 55% of donors stop giving within the first year, and 85% stop within 5 since they last gave. Hmm. Blood is easier to part with.

= People who gave, they preferred simple acknowledgment (written letter, with their names properly spelt out) rather than physical gifts (medals, trophies) in recognition

= Volunteers fail most often because of lack of support from staff and tools to succeed

= Add on, they look for
1. clear expression of expectations
2. tools provided
3. their presence is making a difference

= Fundraising volunteers are a unique type of volunteers, that's true. "I can give my time, but I won't ask for money on behalf of your organization." Can imagine that happening.

= Good fundraisers have 5 of the traits:
1. impeccable integrity
2. good listener (two ears vs one mouth)
3. ability to motivate
4. hard worker
5. concern for people
6. savvy about current events (deaths, crisis, know what to say at the right time) -> by me

= What volunteer fundraisers can do, concrete examples:
1. special events (bazaar, matriculation fair, competitions across campuses)
2. telephone fundraising (phonathon)
3. corporate appeals
4. grant proposals (for sponsoring students overseas to offset expenses)
5. major gift appeals (statue for supporting arts like Siemens for SSO)
6. capital and endowment campaigns
7. planned giving efforts

= volunteers are ideal for fundraising because...
1. they don't get paid
2. they have a real commitment to the cause
3. they have made a significant contribution themselves
4. they care enough to take time off their 'real' work to take part in nonprofit organization's program
5. it's not a glamourous job but they see a need for it to be done

Nutshell: article shares the psyche of donors/givers; ideal traits of volunteer fundraisers OR how to identify good ones; suggested approaches for fundraising engine

Source: Nonprofit Essentials: Recruiting and Training Fundraising Volunteers by Linda Lysakowski

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Big Idea

Fundraising

then

Capital Campaign

then

Advancement

The goals of an organization. Means not much to me yet but I have a feeling it will. In time to come.

*wink