When I was accepted into the 2012 NLC fellows class, I expected to meet a lot of dynamic, like-minded individuals, learn about various aspects of leadership and community work through sessions ranging from public speaking to strategic marketing, and have access to a strong network of progressives within the San Diego community. That definitely happened.
When I was accepted into the 2012 NLC fellows class, I expected to meet a lot of dynamic, like-minded individuals, learn about various aspects of leadership and community work through sessions ranging from public speaking to strategic marketing, and have access to a strong network of progressives within the San Diego community. That definitely happened.
But, what I did not expect was the hands on experience I would receive as co-chair of our upcoming San Diego Leadership Alliance/New Leaders Council fundraiser! I knew that the fellows class would work together to coordinate a fundraiser during our 5 month fellowship program but it didn’t occur to me that we would be given complete ownership and responsibility of the fundraiser, which has been both exciting and a huge learning curve!
To work with your fellow cohorts on an event that brings together the progressive community in San Diego and to receive hands on experience in communications, fundraising, and logistics has been invaluable!
In addition to the many learning moments I’ve experienced in helping to lead and organize our fundraiser (it’s on Thursday, May 17th from 6:00-8:00pm at Belo in downtown San Diego, by the way), it has also been great to experience the passion and hard work that our fellows bring to the process. If it weren’t for the time spent by our three committees, comprised of our 2012 fellows class, we would never have been able to pull it off!
I actually cannot believe how much has been achieved over the past four weeks, as we’ve worked on the fundraiser, with a healthy dose of unpredictable events sprinkled in for good measure. J
Over the past month, we have worked as a team to determine the event date/time/location, secured a wonderful, dynamic keynote speaker (Vince Hall, VP of Public Affairs and Communication at Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest), chosen our Community Collaboration awardee (The San Diego LGBT Community Center), put together videos, facebook/twitter posts, and sent out emails to announce the event, contacted loads of potential organizational sponsors, and much more! Phew! I’m getting tired just thinking of all that we’ve done!
But, there’s much more to do! We’re now working hard on securing sponsorships, telling our friends/family/colleagues about the event, organizing a phone bank to secure more ticket sales, setting the event program, securing vendors, and the list goes on and on!
The Fellows Fundraiser is two weeks away and we’re all looking forward to a wonderful, inspiring evening! If you’d like to purchase a ticket to the event or make a donation (the money we raise will support the next class of NLC fellows), please click on the following link: http://www.sdleadership.org/index.php/nlc-institute/fellows-fundraiser-2012
I hope to see you on May 17th!
Aline Racic
Alex Southard