Philanthropy411, in partnership with the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, is currently covering the Council on Foundations conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Kim St. John-Stevenson, Communications Officer at the Saint Luke’s Foundation.
by: Kim St. John-Stevenson
So I finally made it to Denver after a bit of weather related airline angst. Thrilled to finally be in the Mile High City and looking forward to being with philanthropic colleagues from across the US, I finally had a chance to look at the handy “At A Glance” guide to the conference…and alas, more angst.
In addition to the opportunity for fellowship and learning, I’m also here to accept the COF Shields Silver Award in Communication Excellence for my Foundation’s 2008 electronic annual report. The award ceremony happens to be tucked right in the middle of a number of concurrent learning sessions. So why my angst?
1. The timing of the ceremony is unfortunate in that all award recipients miss out on one cycle of concurrent sessions.
2. The award program will be primarily populated by award recipieints, who I believe could get a bigger audience if there weren’t such great competition in the same timeslot.
3. I view the award ceremony as a great opportunity for all of us to learn from the winners. Granted, there are a few conference #cof10 sessions on how we can communicate better. The award program could also serve in that role. After all, our work in the philanthropic sector hinges on our ability to do lots of things well – inluding communicating.
So I will attend the ceremony and proudly accept our award. I would love to share our report with you, and I am sure other winners would too. Look us up – we love to communicate.
