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Hello, my name is Carla, and I help people find money.
I had a moment this afternoon that made me feel as though all of my toil isn't for naught.
One of my work responsibilities is to oversee student use of the Foundation Directory. That's an online database of 80,000 philanthropic foundations and we use it A LOT in trying to find funders for specific school initiatives. Students can use it to locate scholarship money, or money to fund individual service learning activities. If a student visits career counseling or the financial aid office asking for advice on how to get additional funding for their education, they get referred to me, and I take some time to familiarize them with the database, show them how to conduct an effective search, and tell them how to read the foundation profiles. Not a lot of students utilize the resource. I think I assistaed all of 10 students last year. The largest surge of interest was right before the end of the school year, surprise, surprise. Students usually walk out of here with a list of foundations that might be willing to fund them, and it's up to them to do whatever additional research or application preparation may be required. I show 'em where to find the money, then it's up to them to go get it.
Well, I was on an errand in the office of career counseling this afternoon, and their graduate assistant, who looked very familiar to me, was helping me find what I needed. As soon as I said my name was Carla and I was from College Resources, she said "I knew you looked familiar! You're the one who does the Foundation Directory. You helped me find money last year!" And then I remembered her. This girl had come into the office in April or May hoping to find someone to fund...a summer internship, or community volunteer opportunity of some sort that she was going to do over the summer, I don't remember exactly. I felt kind of bad for her because what most students don't know is that foundations decide MONTHS in advance who they are going to give money to. So, if you're hoping to fund something for the month of June, you're gonna have to submit an application three to six months before hand. I seriously didn't think she would be able to find anyone to fund an activity whose start date was less than two months away. Well, today she told me "Yeah, I submitted applications to eight foundations, and one of them gave me money!"
I can't tell you how ridiculously good that made me feel. I showed someone how to locate resources that enabled her to pay for something she needed money to do. Made me feel like all the hours I spend in this office searching and filing and writing are worth something.
One of my work responsibilities is to oversee student use of the Foundation Directory. That's an online database of 80,000 philanthropic foundations and we use it A LOT in trying to find funders for specific school initiatives. Students can use it to locate scholarship money, or money to fund individual service learning activities. If a student visits career counseling or the financial aid office asking for advice on how to get additional funding for their education, they get referred to me, and I take some time to familiarize them with the database, show them how to conduct an effective search, and tell them how to read the foundation profiles. Not a lot of students utilize the resource. I think I assistaed all of 10 students last year. The largest surge of interest was right before the end of the school year, surprise, surprise. Students usually walk out of here with a list of foundations that might be willing to fund them, and it's up to them to do whatever additional research or application preparation may be required. I show 'em where to find the money, then it's up to them to go get it.
Well, I was on an errand in the office of career counseling this afternoon, and their graduate assistant, who looked very familiar to me, was helping me find what I needed. As soon as I said my name was Carla and I was from College Resources, she said "I knew you looked familiar! You're the one who does the Foundation Directory. You helped me find money last year!" And then I remembered her. This girl had come into the office in April or May hoping to find someone to fund...a summer internship, or community volunteer opportunity of some sort that she was going to do over the summer, I don't remember exactly. I felt kind of bad for her because what most students don't know is that foundations decide MONTHS in advance who they are going to give money to. So, if you're hoping to fund something for the month of June, you're gonna have to submit an application three to six months before hand. I seriously didn't think she would be able to find anyone to fund an activity whose start date was less than two months away. Well, today she told me "Yeah, I submitted applications to eight foundations, and one of them gave me money!"
I can't tell you how ridiculously good that made me feel. I showed someone how to locate resources that enabled her to pay for something she needed money to do. Made me feel like all the hours I spend in this office searching and filing and writing are worth something.