Rules to Live By

There are certain rules to live by. I've recently broken a few of these rules and felt the repercussions. Here's a list of rules that I've either forgotten, broken, or witnessed someone else break and then felt like a jackass afterward:

1. The first rule of donor relations (or investor relations) is to thank your donor when they make a gift. Failure to do so usually results in a lack of second gift or discontinuation of giving. I failed to thank a donor and only realized it when my boss asked to see the thank you letter because the Chairman of the Board of Directors had met the donor and wanted to make sure that we were treating them right. We weren't, and it sucked.

2. Second rule of donors relations: spend the money you have received! Holding onto it makes it look like you never needed it, or worse, that you aren't providing the services you promised to provide in the grant agreement or verbal promise. It also makes me look like an ass when I have to do a report and we have 0 expenditures.

3. Be prepared for an interview! Yes, just like a job interview, you need to be prepared to interview with schools that you are applying for admission. If you are not prepared, the interviewer might ask you a question like: "Have you looked at the list of clubs on the website? Which clubs were you thinking about getting involved in if you were admitted to XXX?" I answered, "Yes, I have looked at the website, but didn't see the portion about the clubs. Could you tell me more about them please?" Then you'll have to figure out if you are more interested in the finance, marketing, or consulting club on the spot. Also having a spare copy of your resume handy in case the Admissions Office accidentally only prints out page 2 of your two-page resume and not speeding to make your interview on-time after a very stressful day at work would also help.

I spent more time being nervous about the interview than actually preparing for it. Consequently, I think I bombed my interview. Really. It didn't go well. I'm not even going to go into the fact that my interviewer either didn't understand the legal structure of a non-profit organization (versus a private foundation or NGO) or I was doing a horrible job explaining it and my job responsibilities within my agency. Either way, it didn't go well.

4. Don't lose your beautiful phone on a bus. It will really, really suck. It's even more humbling to have to e-mail the Admissions Office and ask for the name of the bus company to see if anyone found a phone.