It's been a couple of months since I began my new job, so I wanted to share my experiences and what's been happening since the last time I was able to blog regularly.
First of all, if you're still keeping up and reading my posts, thank you!
OK, I was hired after a phone interview, an in-person interview, and a comprehensive background check. At first, I thought it unnecessary to have all the investigations for a position in development, but as soon as I started work and saw the kids running around on campus, I got it. We are immersed in the kids' daily life, from eating in the cafeteria with them to bringing volunteers to work and play with them, so we do interact with them more than a "normal" development professional normally interacts with the clients of his or her organization.
For the first few weeks, I held back and observed. I learned the lesson from past jobs, especially in nonprofit, to not jump in over my head...just test the waters, feel out the climate, and ease into taking on more responsibility. I began strictly doing database administration, entering gifts and producing reports and acknowledgements, and slowly added more as I judged how I could balance it in my schedule. I've also been more vocal about feeling overloaded, saying no and/or requesting delegation elsewhere to tasks I simply don't have time to handle myself, and requesting committee assistance from volunteers and other staff. These are all lessons I had to learn over the past five years of working with and for nonprofits- it's OK to know your limits, mark your boundaries, and share the load....it makes for a happier workplace and more successful projects.
The organization serves children with "severe emotional and behavioral issues". They are children who either have a diagnosed mental illness or have experienced severe trauma. And I mean severe. Some of the stories are positively chilling: severe and continued physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and frequently administered by their own biological parents. To see these kids walking around, playing on the playground, drumming, singing, and most of all, smiling....it's amazing.
I was concerned when I began working there that ghosts of my own childhood would emerge, and sometimes I catch a glimpse of myself in the faces of the littlest girls. I was six when I was adopted. There's one little girl there- brown hair and big blue eyes, the smallest girl in her group, whose sad eyes just haunt me sometimes. I don't know her story, but any child who has that look must have been through something pretty bad. I think of her when I'm tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed at my desk and I push back, reorganize, prioritize, and keep going. These kids desperately need our services, and with ongoing budget cuts and changes in a new administration in our state, we are on edge and watching for the potential axe to fall on several channels of funding. Anyway, I look at the little girl that I was twenty-five years ago and I'm glad that organizations like this exist so that other kids don't have to go through what I did.
As I've gotten acclimatized, my work load has gradually increased, and I love just about every piece of it. I am the database administrator for the organization, so my mornings are spent entering our daily deposit, running reports for grant writers, board members, and other organizational leaders, and producing acknowledgment letters. Then I get to have fun :)
My other responsibilities include: preparing for and running Angel Network, our Christmas gifting program, creating and managing certain donation pages on our website, running our Friends Asking Friends program (the online personal fundraising pages [the "thermometer" pages], developing and implementing a Moves Management program for donor cultivation, managing major mailings, running our In-Kind gifts program, including receiving and accounting for all those clothing, toy, and school supply donations and corporate gifts, whether it be food for staff events to tickets for events for the kids, as well as the ongoing Box Tops and Campbell Soup labels...and those are just the ongoing daily responsibilities. Sometimes there's extra surprises thrown in there for fun. Oh, and I was just designated the "First Responder" for our building, so I'm our representative for the Emergency Response Team (apparently having three children qualified me just as much as my military background for qualifying as a first responder...LOL).
The difference between handling all these duties here and at past jobs is huge. First of all, I took on each of these tasks gradually, with a full understanding of the commitment and work it entailed, after a meeting (or series of meetings) with staff and long-term volunteers. Second, I was given full disclosure of the history of each project and how much time it would take but also given full support by the staff and volunteers, meaning I am not solely responsible for any project (and its success or failure) because I have people on call to help out as needed. Third, my ideas for innovation, streamlining, and automating functions are actually heard, appreciated, and implemented. Since starting seven weeks ago, several of my ideas have been implemented that have begun to streamline and automate our daily tasks, easing our workload, lowering our environmental impact (read: much less paper use), not to mention lowering our stress levels every morning. I'm pretty sure if I had suggested these concepts at a previous job, the mere suggestion would have been summarily denied or just ignored. I have been given a good degree of freedom in this position to draft correspondence for new programs, utilize existing marketing pieces in new ways, and develop an expanded on-line presence. In short, I am allowed to use both my creative right-brain and my programming "IT" left-brain to develop these programs, and I. Am. In. Heaven!!
I think it boils down to the work environment. Aside from all the technical jargon, the people who work in this organization are deeply satisfied and visibly happy. Everyone has a smile. We joke. We laugh. We support each other's ideas and no one has a problem saying, "Good job!" or "Thank you for helping!" The positivity seeps into our work, which leaks out to the public, so our donors and volunteers are also happy, engaged, satisfied, and feel highly valued and appreciated. Sometimes it is frustrating to work for a nonprofit- the work hours are longer, the demands more, and the pay less than for-profit work (I would be pulling in probably three times what I am now doing all of these jobs for a for-profit), so it takes an extraordinary team and great management to keep such a positive work environment and such good morale. I am just insanely blessed to have found this opportunity, and I do not think it was by accident. This is where I am supposed to be, where I am supposed to set down roots in my career, and where my talents are used, challenged, and appreciated. There is sufficient room to improve the organization and also grow my personal skills...it is the ideal work situation, from any standpoint- nonprofit or not.
The financial aspect is also a blessing. It won't make me rich, but it beats working minimum wage at Starbucks. It has allowed our family to get on an even keel, breathe easy, pay all of our bills in full, and even have room left for allowances for each child and sometimes the occasional movie or bowling night. It allows me to sleep at night knowing our financial obligations are met, and has given me to security to begin planning for purchasing a house (or having one built, which is a more economical move in our area)- things I never could have considered a year ago.
The kids are ramping up for the fall. Football and cheer practice began on Thursday, and somehow I became Team Mom for Callie's cheerleading squad (not complaining...I'm excited!). We've bought backpacks and squeaky new shoes, packages of pencils, paper, folders, markers, crayons, and what seems like a metric ton of glue sticks. They are happy, comfortable, and have adjusted well to life in SC.
Finally, after evolving into what seems like a completely new person and going through what seemed like an insurmountable amount of stress and heartache in the past seven years, I have found a great companion. Chris is caring, considerate, also works in nonprofit and shares the same passion I do for our work, and brings a deep calm and patience that is priceless in a blended relationship (with kids).
So it seems like finally...finally...our life is back on even keel and we have passed the storm. If you're reading this, you're probably close enough to be on my list of people to thank....so thank you. I couldn't have pulled our family through this past year without the support and love of my friends and chosen family. It's onward and upward for us, so I'll be sharing more of our stories....stay tuned!
