The Winnipeg Foundation

As many of you know, I'm wrapping up my forth and final term in the Creative Communications program at Red River College. Term four incorporates two three-week work placements into the curriculum; students may choose an organization or business to work for as an unpaid intern to gain first-hand experience and understanding of the industry they'll be soon be working in.

I chose The Winnipeg Foundation - a very large non-profit group which supports charitable groups,community-building projects and organizations through grants. The Foundation is the oldest community foundation in Canada (founded in 1921 by William Alloway) and the second largest in the country, with an endowment of just over $440 million.




















William Forbes Alloway, by Leo Mol (photo by J.Booth, 2008)


Another reason I wanted to work at The Winnipeg Foundation was my interest in gaining some experience in how non-profit groups operate, and honing my skills in areas outside of advertising (My amazing summer job last year was with Winnipeg ad agency McKim Cringan George).

I definitely found what I was looking for.

The Job

On my first day my supervisor LuAnn Lovlin, Director of Communications, left me a memo outlining what I was to work on during my time at the Foundation. My four jobs were, to write as many Foundation Feature articles (advertorials) for the Free Press as I had time for; to produce at least four podcasts for their website, pertaining to Foundation projects and personnel; editing together some footage provided by grant recipients for the Foundation website; and writing up a very rough marketing strategy for Will Week, to promote writing a will. I wrote five feature articles, produced 11 podcasts, and edited six videos. Aside from that, I immersed myself in the organizations literature and corporate culture. I attended dozens of meetings: staff meetings, departmental meetings, managed fund meeting (pretty fancy breakfast), professional advisors group meeting (very fancy lunch), and internal communications meetings. I also assisted with some basic clerical and day to day operations type work. (Help move the Christmas tree into storage, etc.)

Getting to Know You...

Staff were unbelievably welcoming and friendly, and most importantly accessible. Any questions I had were answered right away, staff at all levels took the time to converse and get to know me better (lot’s of questions about CreComm, my career path, and my perspective on the Foundation). I had a favourable opinion of the organization going in, but I went away feeling inspired about what they do, and the city I live in. They are a very well organized team, and even in one of the busiest periods of their year, nobody seemed stressed out or out of it. I was surprised by how many important events and meetings I was invited to, and they were very good about introducing me to important people as well. I met the outgoing chair of the board, Greg Hanson (incoming United Way chair), and the incoming chair, Richard Bracken, along with a slough of business professionals associated with the Foundation.

I was also very appreciative that Foundation CEO Rick Frost took time to sit down and talk with me about the organization and its history.

Surprises

The friendliness of the staff, and the extremely sweet office with a window view of the Exchange from the 13th floor of the Richardson Building. Didn’t expect that at all.




















My awesome view, January 4-22, 2010.


What I Learned

A LOT about the organization; I have a tremendous respect for the work that they do, and intend to support them in some capacity in the future. It was fascinating learning about the history of the Foundation, the literally hundreds of projects the support in the community, and intricacies of running a non-profit enterprise in the midst of a financial meltdown. I also learned some general stuff about how non-profits work, and about a number of different charities in the city. I also learned a bit about the career paths that people followed that lead them to work at the Foundation.

And, I picked up a few tidbits on smart investing.

If I’d known there was going to be so much audio production, I would have booked out a better microphone from the get-go. Also, it seemed like they really wanted more video, so making arrangements to book an HD camera for a few days would have been smart. You live and learn.

Conclusion

Overall, I think this was a very good work placement. Last Wednesday I attended one of the public meetings the Foundation was holding around the city – because, believe it or not, I actually wanted to check it out. The enthusiasm there is pretty infectious.

In my farewell email thanking the staff for the opportunity to work with them, I said this: "Every time I visit the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden and see the statue of Mr. Alloway, I will reflect fondly on my experience here, the people I was fortunate enough to interact with, and the exemplary work which the Foundation contributes to the City of Winnipeg each and every year."

Good stuff.

-J