Ooops, I did it again. Just when I thought I had my mind-of-its-own, do-gooder, no-problem-I'll-do it volunteering hand of mine under control, it snuck out from under me (literally - as I do tend to sit on my hands when I feel one of those "hey, who can we suck into doing this thing" situations coming on). And now, I am my sector's Team Captain for the Government of Canada Charitable Campaign.I accepted the challenge on the day my department launched the campaign. Usually, team captains are picked months in advance of the launch. Accordingly, we had picked a team captain months ago, but (lucky for her, unlucky for us) she got promoted and left for another government department right before the start of the campaign. Still, I kept silent. We sent out emails looking for a replacement. We held staff meetings. We begged, we schmoozed, we pleaded. We came up empty. So I said to my boss, who just happens to be the campaign champion for my department, "gee boss, if no one else steps up, I'll do it". Gah. Because of course, I am really not busy enough and really needed something more to do. Because they have miraculously found an extra 3 hours in every day for me, and my day now has 27 hours to work with, aren't I lucky. Because my assistant, who takes work home already as things stand, really isn't busy enough and has plenty of time to support me in this endeavour. Gah.
Ok, pity party over. I stepped up to the plate, and I am going to give it my all, as always. I actually really love this kind of thing, and the danger here is that I'm going to neglect my "real" job in favour of this really fun campaign stuff. Good thing I don't run a government program where lives are at stake, 'cause Canadians would just have to suck it up while I organize penny drives and karaoke contests. Oh well, the Public Service will just have to renew itself at a slightly slower pace until the campaign is over :o)
So if you have any really groovy fundraising ideas, could you please share? We have a few activities planned already, but I can always use more ideas! And more importantly, if you have any tips on how to control out-of-control hands that pop up in the air whenever anybody is looking for a dedicated individual (aka sucker), share those with me too, please!!!!
5 comments:
the hand in the air problem follows all of us.. you are now looking at mom to 4, full time job, mba student, and now the parent rep for the school board and for the PTA... jeez louise, how do we do this to ourselves?
Yah, okay. So your story is the EXACT same as mine. I am the Team Leader of the canvassers for our 300-employee directorate. Because the person who was supposed to do this and the special events coordination and EVERYthing else United Way in our group... he got deployed to another directorate just weeks before the campaign kicked off. And my manager BEGGED people to help her. So how could I say no? *sigh*
I sent your blog link to my friend/coworker who took over the events coordination part of the job, and he wrote back to me... "eerily similar."
Nathalie, you're a good person. I wish you luck with all this.
Darn hand! Sit on it next time! LOL Good luck with it!
Sorry I have no advice. I volunteer and do nothing because I am too lazy;)
Good luck, I'm sure you'll do great.
I laughed as I read this. At the RCMP they have had some great fund raising efforts with a lot of the typical events - BBQ, head shaving, silent auction, draws, etc. Good luck with it!
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