April 2009 - Posts
Every year, the Charleston Regional Business Journal carefully selects and recognizes 40 people under the age of 40 who are make our community such a great place to be. They recognize people from a wide variety of professions, including many who are committed to giving back.
I am exceptionally proud to announce that, this, year, Blackbaud's very own Stefanie Greene made this prestigious list! To say that Stefanie is a recruiting analyst in Human Resources and that she has won the "Recruiting Rockstar" award two years in a row is just the beginning of the story. The heart of the tale centers around how she exemplifies our mission of making the world a better place. She truly puts a face to our value that "service to others makes a world a better place.
Whether she realizes it or not, Stefanie is a budding philanthropist. She invests her money, her time and her expertise at nonprofits where she has a passion for the mission. Within the Blackbaud community, she is active with Team Blackbaud (our employee volunteer corps), always ready to lend a hand and inspire others to get involved. Again, that's just a part of the story...
Every Monday night, she volunteers at the Medical University of South Carolina's Children's Hospital, helping some of the most inspiring kids, families and professionals you'll ever meet. Both of my children have been patients at the Children's Hospital, and it was people like Stefanie who helped us stay positive during what were stressful times.
Almost every weekend, Stefanie has something else on her schedule, some way to give back within the community -- through Habitat for Humanity, the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission, Hope Lodge, Carolina Youth Development Center, Ronald McDonald House, and Crisis Ministries. She always has the time, on top of her own career at Blackbaud and her involvement with the Charleston Young Professionals, to help those in need.
Please join me in congratulating Stefanie for being named one of Charleston's "Forty Under Forty." It came as no surprise to us. She's a Rockstar, after all. We're just glad the community is joining us in recognizing what we know to be true every day.
It's National Volunteer Week, so before I go any further, I want to say thank you to all my friends and colleagues for everything they do to serve others. This is your week, so enjoy it.
Yep, April 19-25th is THE week -- as established by the Points of Light & Hands On Network -- across the United States and Canada when we celebrate the many contributions of what are sometimes called unpaid staff. This year's theme is pretty appropriate - "Celebrating people in action." That's what it's all about every day, every week. Not just this week.
That fact that today is Earth Day, as well, makes it even better. There's so much going on right now that, at Blackbaud HQ, we decided to focus on being green this week...and having our volunteer fair in May.
As for being green...I just returned from a great lunch & learn where Josh Martin from the Coastal Conservation League talked about "rethinking settlement patterns" (i.e. stopping sprawl and being mindful about land use). Very cool presentation with some shocking arial photographs of highways, malls and neighborhoods that eat up acres and cause traffic problems because of how they were designed. I have to admit, the alternate vision Josh shared of what the Coastal Conservation League thinks these places could be like is pretty darn compelling. When I meet someone like Josh and hear what organizations like his are doing, it makes me appreciate living in an engaged community.
I'm also happy to report that my house got a walk score of 75 out of 100 or "very walkable" in terms of getting to a variety of shops (including a Starbucks and a local bakery), restuarants, parks...even a branch library. I knew I liked living in a walkable neighborhood with a central place where people gathered. Hearing Josh helped me understand why that was.
Tomorrow, my colleagues who work at Blackbaud's HQ on Daniel Island have another opportunity to learn more about what it means to be green. Greenbaud (our employee environmental corps) and Team Blackbaud Charlestion (the HQ "branch" of our employee volunteer corps) are teaming up to bring us our first Green Fair. I hear that more than 25 local businesses and organizations that promote sustainable living and/or products and services will be in the atrium. We'll be able to check out the latest in Hybrid technology from Honda, learn how to get free hot water from SolarTEK and maybe even snag a cupcake from, who else, Cupcake.
I love opportunities like this that give us a chance to meet in our "community center" within Blackbaud, visit with people from neighboring divisions and learn about things that make the world a better place. So thank you to everyone on Greenbaud and Team Blackbaud Charleston who are bringing us the Green Fair. I hope this is the beginning of an annual tradition.
And never fear, we'll get back to National Volunteer Week soon. Our HQ-based volunteer fair is scheduled for May 6th, and we've invited more than 30 nonprofits to set up shop in the atrium. Australia and the UK (where we also have offices) have their volunteer weeks in May and June, respectively. So we'll be championing volunteerism for months (well, ok, we do that all the time, really)!
Wherever you are, I hope you are doing something to mark Earth Day and to give back. That's what being a part of a community is all about!
I work with great people. Seriously. Every day, I come into work and am surrounded by great people (both in this building and within the larger Blackbaud community). They're interesting, passionate about what they do, and ready to dive in and make things happen.
On top of all that, they also care a whole lot about giving back. When we set about formalizing our corporate values, it was clear we needed one around volunteerism. The concept of service -- of giving back in whatever form you choose -- has always been a part of the fabric of this company.
With the value that "service to others makes the world a better place" now formalized these past few years, we've had an opportunity to celebrate those who give back, both as a way to say thank you and to encourage others to join in. Each month on our web site, we profile a Blackbaud volunteer. We share a little bit about these people, how they give back and why.
This month, we're highlighting Chad Norman, my colleague in internet marketing and the one who taught me the basics of blogging. Chad volunteers at a number of places but is most well known for Go Green Charleston, a nonprofit resource he founded with his wife. Check it out for yourself, and you'll get a sense of what this guy is all about. Living green and "being the change you want to see in the world."
I love that sentiment. It's one thing to identify a problem. It's something completely different to dig in and drive change. But it's the courageous few who do who become the leaders we want and need. That makes me think about something Sidney Poitier said in his speech at the AFP International Conference last month. "It doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down. What matters is what you do with your time when you get back up."
Although I've heard comments like this before, what I love about this one is the focus on time as a precious resource that we can either invest or waste. It's a personal choice. I, for one, am glad that Chad and others like him at Blackbaud choose to make the investment in the community and themselves.
To meet other Blackbaud volunteers, stop back each month and check out the philanthropy section of our web site.
About a month ago, I introduced you to The Blackbaud Fund, a long-standing philanthropic program that relies on an employee committee to determine which applicants will receive grants.
Established in the 1990s, The Blackbaud Fund is near and dear to my heart. It's such a fabulous way to learn more about what nonprofits are doing in the Lowcountry of South Carolina to help address the educational needs of disadvantaged youth. Although serving on the committee is an honor, it's also a tough job. Who knew that giving away money could be so hard?
At first blush, every application seems worthy. How can you choose between them? How can you tell what the potential outcome will be? To help our committee sort through those answers, we rely on Edie Blakeslee of the Coastal Community Foundation (that's where our fund is held). Edie had fabulous things to say about the committee this year, particularly about the focus and passion they brought to the site visits. There's nothing like seeing a program in action to help committee members bring what they read on paper to life.
Edie has the fun job of bringing the committee back together after the site visits to discuss how the funding will be apportioned. Today, I have the happy task of announcing the 2009 grant recipients.
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Family Services - For the "Freedom School" summer program for 50 underprivileged students in the Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood of North Charleston.
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Florence Crittenton - For the organization's educational program, which serves 75 resident and day clients each year.
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Lowcountry Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy - Challenge grant to provide scholarships for equine-assisted therapy to 20 students whose academic success has been negatively affected by mental health difficulties or abuse/neglect.
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McClellanville Arts Council - To purchase six keyboards, which will allow the organization to double the number of children who can participate in the music program.
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SEWEE Association - For the "Earth Stewards" program for students in four underserved schools and for one-day visits to the SEWEE Center for 7,000 students.
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Sidewalk Chalk - For the "Writes the Future" program, which provides mentoring and seeks to improve the writing skills of 300 underprivileged students in six schools.
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A quick thank you to the employee committee for its hard work this year. And to Edie Blakeslee, who teaches all of us so much.
I've just returned from the AFP International Conference in New Orleans, and what a conference it was. More than 3,000 people gathered this year to celebrate and to advance the profession through continuing education.
I have to admit that I expected it to be a down year, and although it was a somewhat smaller crowd than previous years, the fact that several thousand fundraisers made the trip says something really positive about our industry and where it stands. We are continuing to invest in our people and our future.
Chris Gardner was a highly appropriate choice for opening keynote. His story (aka The Pursuit of Happyness) contains so many tragic moments. The movie, starring Will Smith, featured a 5-year-old boy as his son, who joined him in lengthy bouts of homelessness. In reality, the son was a baby, and Chris was carrying diapers with him every day when he left whatever shelter he could find for them. Homeless with a baby.
But as sad as his story was, Chris Gardner's message was one of hope. Of how he refused to step away from his responsibility to raise his child, away from the bond that love created. It was his baby after all, and that baby deserved a father. As funny as it was sad, the opening keynote was inspiring -- a great way to start several days of sessions and networking. Days of dashing around a very large convention center (how many miles was that from the front door to Hall I?) from session to session and fitting in as many conversations with people inbetween.
It's impossible to name all the terrific speakers who presented this week. Or to acknowledge all the dedicated volunteers who work with the AFP staff both to plan the conference and drive other programs throughout the year. But kudos to you all. And kudos to whomever chose Sidney Poitier for the Tuesday general session. Hearing him was like no other experience I've ever had. Profound. Moving. Incredible. Beyond that, I can't find the right words because, in comparison, they would lack his eloquence.
As I boarded the airplane back home, I took many new ideas, friendships and thoughts with me. And I took a sense of hope and inspiration that we're headed in a positive direction. We work in a wonderful sector, and that makes us very fortunate. As Mr. Poitier said, "Philanthropy is a profound manifestation of the very best in us all."
Yes it is. And we are a part of it every day.