GreenLight Fund Detroit - Consulting and Communications Intern
Experience Description:
GreenLight Fund is a national nonprofit organization that aims to help transform the experiences of youth and families who are underrepresented in the Detroit community. Each local site runs a localized annual process to identify urgent needs for children and families facing economic and social mobility barriers. GreenLight Fund takes on a human-centered design approach that involves identifying a critical need, selecting and investing in a highly effective national program, and galvanizing local support to ensure that the program is sustainable and makes a social impact.
GreenLight Fund Detroit launched operations in 2017 and has announced three major social investments since. Working alongside two-dozen sponsors, over two-dozen advisory council members, and a plethora of community partners, GreenLight Fund Detroit aims to broaden its public presence and awareness of its numerous partners and social outcomes.
Responsibilities:
I chose this experience because the local community of Detroit has faced many setbacks due to the region’s economic decline. However, despite these challenges, the people of Detroit never quit rebuilding what they’ve lost. I respect the strength of the community and was honored to work alongside change-makers with so much passion for their home. I had hoped to assist the local community in their progress to recovery and help them tackle their most pressing issues in education, recidivism, and economic + community development.
GreenLight Fund is a national nonprofit organization that aims to help transform the experiences of youth and families who are underrepresented in the Detroit community. Each local site runs a localized annual process to identify urgent needs for children and families facing economic and social mobility barriers. GreenLight Fund takes on a human-centered design approach that involves identifying a critical need, selecting and investing in a highly effective national program, and galvanizing local support to ensure that the program is sustainable and makes a social impact.
GreenLight Fund Detroit launched operations in 2017 and has announced three major social investments since. Working alongside two-dozen sponsors, over two-dozen advisory council members, and a plethora of community partners, GreenLight Fund Detroit aims to broaden its public presence and awareness of its numerous partners and social outcomes.
Responsibilities:
- Spearheaded the development of a pipeline of organizations that can contribute to a multimillion-dollar fund by identifying and cataloging prospective partners, supporters, and local networks
- Informed the executives when meeting with potential investors by mapping professional networks of 22 highly ranked community leaders and organizations
- Developed a communication strategy network by creating an Excel database of 50 partner organizations and their social engagement topics
- Redesigned graphical content for social media channels and newsletters using the social engagement topic database to highlight partners’ stories
- Strategized with supervisors to plan the launch of a virtual event series by outlining management, marketing, and operations tactics that align with GreenLight’s goal of uplifting its people, process, and programs
I chose this experience because the local community of Detroit has faced many setbacks due to the region’s economic decline. However, despite these challenges, the people of Detroit never quit rebuilding what they’ve lost. I respect the strength of the community and was honored to work alongside change-makers with so much passion for their home. I had hoped to assist the local community in their progress to recovery and help them tackle their most pressing issues in education, recidivism, and economic + community development.
Reflection:
An innovative idea that I generated to address the problem of limited outreach to community and investor partners, involved creating an Excel database of GreenLight’s 50 partners'. In developing this database, I had to research each of the investors, SAC member and portfolio organizations to gather information about their engagement topics, narrative overlaps, group involvement, and primary PR channels. Utilizing the research, I highlighted partner stories in GreenLight’s newsletters and social media posts and briefed the executive director’s meetings with current and past investors. I also used the engagement topic research to begin the initial planning of a virtual event series meant to uplift the voices of residents and leaders in the Detroit community.
A time that I failed during this DukeEngage experience was when I took on too many tasks than I could handle in a given week. Since the nonprofit organization that I was working with only had two members, there was always a lot of work that had to be completed. As a result, I was often working on several tasks in a given day. I noticed that the only way for me to complete all these tasks by the deadline was to rush through some of the tasks which decreased the quality of my work. The lesson that I learned from this experience is that communication is key. If I had communicated with my community partner earlier about my concerns with the workload, then we could have figured out a solution to my problem sooner.
Key Learnings:
An innovative idea that I generated to address the problem of limited outreach to community and investor partners, involved creating an Excel database of GreenLight’s 50 partners'. In developing this database, I had to research each of the investors, SAC member and portfolio organizations to gather information about their engagement topics, narrative overlaps, group involvement, and primary PR channels. Utilizing the research, I highlighted partner stories in GreenLight’s newsletters and social media posts and briefed the executive director’s meetings with current and past investors. I also used the engagement topic research to begin the initial planning of a virtual event series meant to uplift the voices of residents and leaders in the Detroit community.
A time that I failed during this DukeEngage experience was when I took on too many tasks than I could handle in a given week. Since the nonprofit organization that I was working with only had two members, there was always a lot of work that had to be completed. As a result, I was often working on several tasks in a given day. I noticed that the only way for me to complete all these tasks by the deadline was to rush through some of the tasks which decreased the quality of my work. The lesson that I learned from this experience is that communication is key. If I had communicated with my community partner earlier about my concerns with the workload, then we could have figured out a solution to my problem sooner.
Key Learnings:
- I have learned that fundraising is more than just raising capital to reach a goal. The most important aspect of fundraising is ensuring that you build key relationships. These relationships are fostered through a mutual desire to contribute to addressing a social problem that is deeply personal to the investor/donor and the partner organization. If these connections are managed effectively, then there will be a higher chance of receiving an investment from an individual who truly cares about the community in need and creating social change.
- This experience has taught me the importance of being open-minded and willing to wear different hats when the job calls for it. Working in the nonprofit sector is all about taking calculated risks, so sometimes a person has to attempt to take on a new project that is way out of their comfort zone.
Artifact:
This slide deck is an overview of the key tasks that my partner and I completed during the DukeEngage Detroit program.
This slide deck is an overview of the key tasks that my partner and I completed during the DukeEngage Detroit program.