Giving Tuesday: Making It Work for You

by Corrie Fortner, Senior Consultant

Global Philanthropic

What is Giving Tuesday? It is a global movement for giving and volunteering, a day that calls for charities, individuals, and companies to rally for a cause which “unites communities by sharing our capacity to care for and empower one another.” The eighth annual Giving Tuesday is December 1, 2020.

Before you start planning activities, it makes sense to ask a key question: what outcome do you hope to achieve by participating in Giving Tuesday? This will help guide both your strategy and the resources you will invest. Take into consideration a number of factors, including: 

• What else is happening in your organization right now? 
• What else is happening in your community for Giving Tuesday? 
• Do you have a presence on social media that will help drive donations to your cause? 
• Is this part of your annual campaign? 
• Is this a strategy you can leverage to attain your goals? 

Those are a few starting points for your reflection or discussion about whether this day warrants your focus and energy. 

Working with Fort Calgary to Mentor a Junior Employee

Mentorship in Alberta Museums: Part 2

In hiring a Collections Officer at Fort Calgary, a goal of this new position was to provide a full-time opportunity for an emerging professional in the field. Recognizing that this person may need some help navigating all parts of the job, an experienced Collections Management professional, Gail Niinimaa, was engaged as a consultant to liaise with Fort Calgary’s President & CEO, Naomi Grattan, and work directly with the Collections Officer, Adrienne Dewsberry, as a mentor. In this post, they reflect on their experience with this project. 

Miss Part 1? Click here for Reflections on the AMA Mentorship Program.

 

Working with Fort Calgary to Mentor a Junior Employee

Gail Niinimaa, Niinimaa Enterprises Inc.

During the Alberta Museums Association (AMA) 2019 Conference, at the reception at the Royal Alberta Museum, I ran into Naomi Grattan, the new President & CEO of Fort Calgary. We chatted about what we were up to and she mentioned that she may like to pick my brain about their collection and some of their collections management issues. I suggested that I would be happy to be a consultant to a junior staff member and to work together with them, to share my knowledge and to help them along the way. 

Reflections on the AMA Mentorship Program

Mentorship in Alberta Museums: Part 1

In July 2019, the Alberta Museums Association (AMA) launched the Mentorship Program, a flexible, self-directed program for Mentors and Mentees to share experiences, develop skills, and gain insights on the challenges, opportunities, and innovative practices in the museum community. Running from October 2019 to August 2020, the inaugural year of the Program was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this post, participants from the first cohort reflect on their experiences adapting the Program to meet their goals.  

Being a Mentor in the Second Half of Life

Gail Niinimaa, Niinimaa Enterprises Inc.

2020 is a year for me where I have definitely moved into the second half of my life. This is a time when I can give back and decide what impact I may want to leave on this world! In 1979, when I started at Glenbow and was given my pension documents to sign, the date of April 14, 2020, seemed very far into the future. I remember remarking to my colleague who was about 20 years older than me that there was no way that I would still be at the Glenbow in 2020! My prediction was fairly accurate – I did formally leave the Glenbow in 2008 after a combination of full-time and contract work over the years – but I have continued to be an occasional consultant for them in the last 12 years, the most recently being in March 2020 right before COVID-19 shut down the world.