Anna Simanovich's Field Reports

Staying Busy:)

Anna Simanovich — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:46:41 -0700

HCN's Hairston project is coming to a close. We are at the point were we are having the stragglers come to our office to get their computer, instead of having the two hour training program at the middle school. I felt this project went as well as possible considering that there was a high number of students that did not have working phones and did not want to be contacted by me or the school (trust issues maybe....still not sure about that one). Also it was extremely difficult to get the parents to attend and stay for the duration of the training, due to lack of interest or too much going on at home. I have been doing my best to reach out to the students that were left behind, and will continue to make calls during free time, but I can only do so much for them when they are unwilling to communicate with me. Overall we have been able to get out 200 computers to these students so I think thats pretty awesome!

Anyway moving on. We will be being stage 2 of our strategic plan next sat. I hope to use this time to develop the committees we need and flush out the four main goals that we want to focus on for the next 5 years. I will be conducting this retreat with one of our Nonprofit Consultants that do a lot of our grant writing. She has been a great help to me and I think we are going to get a lot accomplished, because as of right now our broad is pretty dead, no one is that active and if things don't start picking up fast we will be in trouble. I think once we have the components set that I mentioned before, it will give the org and its broad more direction and a feeling of ownership which should get things moving. I just recently participated in recruting two more members for our broad, an HR specialst and a VP of a local bank, I am excited to see what they bring to the table. We are also looking for a new president.

I have recently started a new project within HCN. We have developed a contract with the ARC of North Carolina (Association of Retarded Citizens) To place a computer in selected group homes all over central North Carolina. I am coordinating the training, training materials and distribution schedules for this project. These computers will include W2000,open office and educational software that has proven to improve certain skills and prolong the life of people with disabilities. This project will carry on till June.

Of course I am constantly trying to find new outlets for money and computers to be brought into the org. I have started contacting more people about coming to tour the facility, it is so amazing to watch these people with DD (Developmental Disabilities) do the work they do and to tell you the truth they have already taught me a lot about refurbishing computers, I am even thinking of building my own soon:)

Well thats about it for now, take care everyone!

The month of appeals

Anna Simanovich — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:40:36 -0700

Hello all, sorry it has been awhile since my last post, things have been a little crazy around here and I am sure all of you are getting busier as well. Over the holiday I finally wrote my very first appeal letter and let me tell you it wasn't easy. There is so much that you want the community to know about the successes and missions of your organziation but you really have to be concise because people don't read anything that is more than a page long usually. I tried to focus on how we are the solution to the problem and not just stating the problem with statistics and sob stories(the previous vista did that and it didn't seem to work). I had the chance to interview a client we had helped because it really is all about the stories. I believe stories are what really moves people into action. Even though we might not want to admit it, many people act with there hearts and desires and not with their logic.

So with our letter I included an insert entitled "Leola's Story", I really hope it will grab people's attention because in our business it can be difficult to make computers the focus of our mission because ultimately it is about the people we help in our community because that is what others can really relate to. During this time I have also introduced a new board member to HCN, he specializes in Human Resources, which is something we needed, and tonight we are going to accept a donation($1,000!) that a group he is connected with is giving us, so that is going well. Also we are planning our Christmas Open House, which is next week. I have never planned an event like this and it is harder than I thought so I formed a committee out of the parents of our disabled volunteers. They all have great ideas but we seem to be having trouble coming to a consensus on things. Is this a problem committees have often?

At first we were going to send the invite to the Christmas party with the appeal letters but that didn't really work out. I looked all over the Triad area and no office paper company makes an envelope that is both wide and long, WHY! Maybe I should start my own company:) At the conference we went to that talked about "making the ask" had suggested that December is the worst time to send out an appeal, that really the best time falls in the early spring/late winter just before the a warm weather mentality sets in. Also they suggested the last week of September and first weeks of October. People are "back to work" physically and mentally. Which if you think about it makes sense. We as nonprofits try to be as non-competitive as possible right? So why are we sending out a letter to our community asking them for money at the same time?

Especially when donors are hiking up their credit card bill already to buy for their family. I think it is very important to understand your donors and what they are doing when your letter arrives. So with that being said, we decided to send out our appeal in April. Which frees up my mind for planning this open house! I sent out 200 invities to corporations, funders and individuals that have given money and computer equipment, I hope people show up. You just never know with these things.

The day is upon us

Anna Simanovich — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:18:43 -0600

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..................................................

time flys

Anna Simanovich — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:00:49 -0600

Hello again,

Well, I just got back from a wonderful conference hosted by the Blue Cross Blue Shield, Healthy Community Institute on strategic planning and making the ask, for money, encase you were wondering. I learned so much in two days and they sent us home with tons of great resources and tools. I am working on posting some on those for everyone but I have to find out what I am allowed to make copies, which doesn't look like much but a little rewording and you still get the main ideas. I am sure the institute will make its way to your area and I encourage everyone to attend, it is so worth it!! It is expensive but they provide scholarships, which is how many org. got to attend. We are planning to develop a plan in the next couple of week at our board retreat, we realized there are a lot of bases we haven't covered, being such a new and small org. There are many issue that we need to have set in stone for example, our business processes, board expectations, by laws and visions are just a few core concepts that we need to put in writing not only to keep the org. inline with its mission but so everyone involved in the org. knows their roles and what they are responsible for. I think it is important to take care of the basics before with can effectively put future plans into action.

Right now I am getting ready for our big computer giveaway, I am proud to say the on Oct 20 &23 will are giving 225 computers to all the 7th graders and some outstanding 8th graders at one of our local middle schools!! So I have been planning how we are going to get all these computers to the right home and in a timely fashion, yeah right... I am interested to see how this plays out but all I can do is plan for the worst and hope for the best. Also I have been contacting several media relations to cover this event.

Of course I am always trying to find more computers, which is becoming some what frustrating, a lot of corporations and public institutions are leasing computers now and I found out the Good Will now has a truck that goes around collecting computer equipment from people and it has our same colors too, green and blue!!! I am really going to work hard to develop a partnership with Good Will to see if we can get some of their equipment because I know all they do is have them crushed for parts, which I see as such a waste, because most of them can be refurbished and placed in a home and help change someone's life. Also when I have extra time, I am trying to learn about Exceed (the new database program we just received for a great price) because all we have right now are excel databases and data all over the place! It is definitely a work in progress, you can pay 200 for the train but I am going to try to tough it out. Well I guess that is all for now.......