Maria's Art & Words
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Contact

My Time as a BeadforLife Volunteer Is Over

2/25/2016

0 Comments

 
bead for life nonprofit volunteer jewelry paper beads uganda boulder
There's no doubt that BeadforLife has been a great experience. I got to go to Uganda. I raised thousands of dollars to support the wonderful women whose voices and experiences became real during my time there. I bought and sold beautiful, handmade, fair trade pieces. I took a picture of my cat wearing a BeadforLife necklace.
boulder uganda nonprofit bead jewelry paper ngo bengal cat
The YP program was conceived as a program to reach out to young professionals. From the program announcement: "We want motivated, compassionate, movers, shakers, and difference-makers! In one word, we want LEADERS who want to use their time and talents for good! We need YPs who aren't scared to roll up their sleeves and get to work building a successful program. As a YP, you will contribute to the growth process of the program, participate in Think-Outside-The-Box fundraising to support BeadforLife programs, and participate in the Live Below the Line Challenge."

Now, I did all of that. I lead the Virtual Coffee Hours, which were meant to bring YPs together to converse about the topics that mattered to them. I became a member of the YP advisory board. I raised money, reached out to all of you and got a terrific response. To me, the program ending doesn't invalidate BeadforLife or the money you all contributed. Or, for that matter, the work we did to grow the program.

So, why, if I had a successful experience in the program, is it ending? The answer is a story about the tricky pathway to volunteer engagement, financial fiscal years, and program design. There are two ways to look at it: you could blame everyone, or no one. I think both are valid. 

Although YPs had the option to continue in a different volunteer program, I thought it was a good opportunity for me to reassess my chosen commitments. I wish it had ended differently, but I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me and the program.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2020
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Topics

    All
    Aisthesis
    Analysis
    Art
    Beadforlife
    Business
    Classes
    Conference
    Cool/inspiring Activities
    Current Events
    D3
    Dear Reader
    Esports
    Firefighting
    Freelancing
    Gaming
    Guildmaster
    Gw2
    Hapax
    Heroesofthestorm
    Heroes Of The Storm
    How To
    Kngo
    Lit Mags
    Metablog
    Nanowrimo
    Nonprofits
    Painting
    Personal Memories
    Personal Post
    Photography
    Publications
    Residency
    Swtor
    Travel
    Uganda
    Volunteer
    Website
    Work In Progress
    Wow
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Home 

Email

Copyright © 2020
Front page image 'Stars and Clouds,' placed in private collection.

  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Contact