Asian Arts Initiative Journal #2
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Since Betsy was not going to be in Monday and President’s Day, we arranged that I would come in Wednesday this week and next week. When we met today, we went over my schedule, including helping out this Friday at the MANTRA open mic event. Betsy updated me on several different things going on. The save-the-date postcards for the annual fundraising banquet (of which I received some to distribute) and the search that just started for a new position, Director of Development and an internal search for a new program assistant. I also brought up the possibility of outsourcing the AAI’s email through a recent initiative through Google. I had sent an email to Betsy earlier this week and was pretty excited about the possibilities for the organization, since it would simplify the current email setup and offer more possibilities/functionality. I had hoped that we could at least apply for the (free) program, but Betsy said that she would have to discuss it at the staff meeting.
It was somewhat surprising to hear this since I thought it was a relatively straightforward matter to sign up, since it wouldn’t be a commitment. I had forgotten that even small organizations have specific channels for making decisions.
Betsy and I worked using the database software some more to estimate a better idea of how many people will need to be called during the call-a-thon on Wednesday evening. We also discussed the details of when the calling would take place and by whom. I spent much of the afternoon rewriting the script for the call-a-thon. I found it was hard to switch to the mode of writing for a telephone call, as Betsy had to point out, many of the phrases or sentences I was using would be awkward on the phone or didn’t reflect regular speech patterns.
I also had the task of investigating the possibility of setting up a mailing list for the participants in the Artists’ Exchange program, which one of the board members had suggested we set up (modeled after another organization’s mailing list). I looked around on the web-interface for the mail setup and found some mentions of mailing lists but no actual way to add them, so I called the customer service number of the company. After spending a long time on hold with someone (who seemed very confused by my request), I was told that they didn’t offer that functionality. I’ll have to look into other, outside possibilities that still allow the “asianartsinitiative.org” tag to be visible.
Asian Arts Initiative Journal #1
February 6, 2006
Today was my first day at the Asian Arts Initiative. It is located on the 2nd floor of a building sort of near Chinatown and very close to the Convention Center. Unfortunately, the planned expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center is forcing the Asian Arts Initiative and the other groups and artists in the building to move, though most likely not until next year, or December at the earliest.
It looks like my schedule will be mainly Mondays, from 10am-4pm. Occasionally there may be evening events, like MANTRA on February 17, 2006, which is the bi-monthly open mic series. Betsy Self Elijah, Operation and Grants Manager and my direct supervisor, suggested that I might want to attend a few of these events, to see some of the direct work that the AAI does.
The first project I’ll be working on is the call-a-thon. I will be arranging for volunteers to contact donors in the database who haven’t made a contribution yet this year, basically a follow-up on a mailing several weeks ago. It also involves preparing and updating materials for the volunteers and working with the donor database to make sure each person making the call has all the necessary information about the donor. This is part of the winter request cycle, another one takes place in June.
I also learned the system for being on reception-duty, which involves answering the phone and greeting the few people who come into the Asian Arts Initiative. Everything is very well written up, including some basic scripts for answering the phone in different situations. For example, there are suggestions on how to field calls from potential volunteers, potential interns, for “artist referrals” (although I’m still not quite sure what this means – given that there is a different (indifferent) response for people who are looking for “Oriental” performers), and also for space and equipment rentals.
Both of these activities have been very helpful in familiarizing me with the day-to-day and recurring activities at the Asian Arts Initiative and in giving me a better sense of the mission and purpose of the organization. In the reception folder there are posters for upcoming workshops (they could be better designed; appear to be mostly MS Word Clipart) and a general events listing with tentative dates through March. Reading through the documentation and guidelines for donor fundraising also is giving me a better idea of the working style of the organization.
Chon, one of the other interns (she has been doing work-study at the AAI since 2004, and was a participant in their youth programs before that), helped me out through the day by showing me the ropes, basically. We hand-delivered a grant application to a funder nearby. The Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative is in a large building and shares a new space with several other non-profit organizations and foundations. Full of glass, modern-looking furniture and a dedicated receptionist, it was a very different set-up than the Asian Arts Initiative. In the afternoon I had the chance to talk with Gayle Isa, the executive director about her work at the organization, since its founding. We also talked about the different types of non-profit organizations that serve the Asian American communities in the Philadelphia area.