As of last week, I am the new (and first!) Corporate Development Intern for the Oakland East Bay Symphony! What does this mean? Why, that's an excellent question. In the simplest of terms, my goal is to help OEBS find more sponsors/donors/etc. during my two-month internship.
So far this super broad goal has led to me researching board members of local businesses/corporations using a super creepy tool called WealthEngine. You know all that financial data that is technically public record? You know, property ownership, political donations, etc. Yeah, this tool compiles all that information and analyzes it and gives individuals statistical ratings in terms of the their capacity to give. Super creepy, but incredibly convenient. And don't worry, my internal ethics will not allow me to stalk friends/family members/etc. I promise.
I have also been research Bay Area-based businesses to see if they have any sort of matching gift programs. Matching gift programs are where a corporation will match an employee's donation to a charity/nonprofit/etc. We have several corporate matching gift programs, but we're hoping to expand to other businesses as well. Right now I have a spreadsheet of over 70 Bay Area-based businesses and any data I could find in relation to our goal.
Today I tweaked (aka completely rewrote) the letter that we send to corporations to encourage them to sponsor concerts/guest artists/special events. I'll also be editing our letter that seeks donors for OEBS's community outreach programs (which are totally awesome, btw).
The office is much different than working in admissions. There is a relatively small staff, the phone hardly ever rings, and we don't usually have unexpected visitors. Everyone is nice, but there isn't a whole lot of interaction between the people who work here. Everyone has their individual tasks and they work to accomplish them, usually reaching out only if needed. I don't mind it, it's just much, much different than admissions, which has more of a social atmosphere.
I like what I'm doing. It's pretty interesting (even though it might sound boring). Also, I'm gaining some incredibly useful skills in terms of development/fundraising/etc. Maybe I'll eventually actually get a job that will pay me money!
On a fun side note, the son of one of my coworkers is going to be a high school senior in the fall and he's looking at Oberlin! I talked to her for a few minutes (basically giving her a hard sell) and then offered to talk to her son if he has any questions. I did mention that I worked in admissions for three years, so maybe he'll want to talk to me. Apparently I will never escape Oberlin's admissions office. I'm totally okay with that.
That's all for now. If anything interesting happens, I'll be sure to post an update!
I BLOGGED! YAY!
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