The day is upon us

Well, tomorrow is the day we are handing out the first 30 of the 225 computers to 7th graders at Hairston Middle School. I have recruited volunteers, made sure that the computers are ready and that all the students that are scheduled to come tomorrow, have turned in all the various forms that were required to be completed before they received their computer. So I guess I have prepared to the best of my ability, I still think it is going to be chaos though. We are letting them come in and pick which computer they want so I can see fights breaking out in my head already. But I am just going to go with the flow, I have learned that if you can effectively do this without getting frustrated the nonprofit world wont have such a negative affect on you. We have to plan but I have seen plans go out the window several times. It just the environment you are in and the population you are trying to serve, when so many people are trying to collaborate to reach one goal, miscommunication is almost guaranteed to happen. But like I said before, if you can go with the flow, you will be fine! I am still planning on putting together some info for you but I havent had much time, after the giveways are over, I think it can be done.

Oh, I am also proud to say that over the past couple weeks I have developed partnership with 3 other nonprofit agencies: Greensboro Housing Authority and Women's Recourse Center and Women's Workforce Web. Representatives from these agencies have decided to work with us in developing a grant that funds all of our services. We are a unique org. so we can often form our mission to fit the interest of several different funders. Like environmental, educational and other human services. So to not over use our funders, these other agencies will seek the funding and we participate in the programs.

For example, Women's Workforce Web has a 12 week program that prepares women for various working environments . An incentive to finish the program could be that when they have completed all the requirements they receive a free computer from our org. So we can be a part of the grant, receive some funding as well and serve more people in the community without having to charge our low fee. I think nonprofits should collaborate more with grants, seeking the funds together, but I know many smaller org, like ours have trouble with this because they are so short staffed or they need keep their focus on getting funds for the stability of the organization and can not look beyond their immediate needs. Well I guess that is all for now..................................................

Comment from Kevin Palmer on October 29, 2007 - 12:24pm

Awesome job getting your bases covered for the computer hand out! How'd it end up going?

You also definitely hit on something so key to smaller orgs and that's collaborating on mutually beneficial grants, especially as government funding drys up with a record number of non-profits in operation. How's the strategic planning going by the way?