Finding Sponsors

Photo Credit: WDNR

So today is the first day that I am actually on my own. Unfortunately at this time they have not assigned someone to be coordinator of TWA. This leaves me sinking a little bit, trying to catch my breath. I am not sure exactly what to do with my time. After meeting with Adrian and another person on Friday last week, they believe my first priority should be on getting donations and really working towards finding funding.

So here I am sending lots of emails to anywhere I can think of that would like to sponsor the Wolf Awareness Week. Actually, here is my sales pitch to you! This year we are allowing individuals to sponsor the poster on behalf of an organization, such as a local school, library, or nature center. We believe these organization typically don't have the money to be a sponsor but could benefit from the marketing on the poster and receiving hundreds of posters that come with being a sponsor. This would allow for wolf education to spread further than it has before. So if you are interested in becoming a sponsor through your organization or on behalf of another, please email me at ariverarautmann@northland.edu  :). My official email is a bit better than that and there is a physical form that I didn't know how to embed into this blog.

Photo Credit: WDNR

However, next week or this week I am going to have to make some "cold calls" trying to get past sponsors to sponsor again. I am super nervous about this but I am confident I can do it. I have already got over 1000 dollars sponsored! But I need to do a lot better than that.

On the other hand, this work is not really what I wanted to focus my summer on. Already my project was within my comfort zone, by creating educational materials. I wanted to get time to participate in some field experience, but as of now I am a lone ship sailing at TWA and I just don't think I'll have the time to get that experience. This saddens me because I already care deeply about TWA and I am not going to let it sink, however, I am allowing myself to miss out on opportunities that could advance my career. I have already done the administration type work when I was a camp director, but not necessarily the funding part of it. Yes running an NGO will be somewhat impressive on my resume but its not really the direction I had anticipated.

I feel somewhat pessimistic but I will persevere. I will put in extra time and I will try my best to stretch myself (but not to thin) to support TWA and gain the skills I want to gain. In the mean time, let me know of any advice you have for gaining donations!