Being part of the funding team was a pleasant and tricky learning experience. I have never been involved in such thing before, so I didn't really know my way round. This being one of the reasons why I choose to be part of the funding team as well as I wanted to take on the challenge and responsibility. Working with Luisa and Suzanna was an absolute pleasure, At first I don't think that we communicated our ideas to one another very well, as we lost out on a considerate amount of money which could easily been approved if we were to apply for them in time.
This particularly deflated and disheartened me an awful lot. We than realised that somewhere along we went wrong...A particular meeting that opened my eyes towards this issues was through our daily meetings on Mondays and Thursdays. As I was the only one present in that particular meeting as both Luisa and Suzanna could not make it to the meeting for various reasons. I had to be the one who answered to all the questions on the behalf of the Funding team, as the rest of the group wanted to be informed. I mus admit I felt guilty for the errors of our team but I knew it was not about me personally it was about our working unit as whole. Even though I felt guilty about it it was a good experience as I become to realise how important my role was to the Drama in the Community project, because it's success depended on funding.
Following on from that meeting my job was to arrange a meeting with all the members of the funding team and discuss where we went wrong and what can we do about it. This meeting also involved Mark as he was able to gives a better aspect of where we went wrong and how can we improve our faults. As a result we came up with another plan to get our hands on some funding budget this was by ringing up the Hounslow, Richmond and Kingston business directories and ask them for their support. We each took one borough each and got calling. Suzie looked after the Hounslow area, Luisa rang Kingston area and I took on the responsibility of calling Richmond area, By the sounds of it seemed straight forward, but it was not as simple as I thought i would be. My first call was on my way home on the platform waiting for my train, as I was really keen and ready to start working down my list of calls as well as curiosity playing a huge role. So there went my first attempt, the first business on my list, my phone call was answered, told them about our project which than I got transferred. During my wait I began to get really excited as I thought it was promising. Not long after the person on the other line answered so I thought it was my job to inform my reason for calling, instantly I got told to stop as the news was not very pleasant, as the business was not interested in helping us out. My adrenalin completely went from 10 to 0...I than realised that our task was not as straight forward as I thought, but I had to set my self a strong state of mind and made a pact with my self that every day I would spend at least 3 hours or more depending on how much free time I had in making calls. and even though I got rejection after rejection I kept caring on. On my first day I managed to get a 'Yes' out of 20 'No's' this bringing me to a strange addiction, that if I would not get at least one 'Yes' a day I would not stop ringing until I did, having this state of mind completely enhanced my drive and determination.
Furthermore I felt that this particular task of the fundraising project improved my communication skills as well it boosted my confidence in working with various business in partnership. On various occasion I came across really pleasant and not so pleasant people but I maintained a professional and respectable relationship with all the people I spoke to, as some were annoyed with my phone call and others eager to hear about our project, no matter the situation I kept my cool and tried to change their state of mind by alluring them with charm and politeness. One particular business was not very happy to supporting our project at first but due to my calm and polite approach I managed to get them interested. On some occasions I came across business which made promises but not kept to them, as they wanted to know about the project but than replied via email with a 'No', as well as having some odd incidents which brightened my day as well as coming across strange and wonderful characters. All in all I feel that this particular stage of the fundraising was tiring, enjoyable and extremely mind opening on top of a wonderful experience.
This particularly deflated and disheartened me an awful lot. We than realised that somewhere along we went wrong...A particular meeting that opened my eyes towards this issues was through our daily meetings on Mondays and Thursdays. As I was the only one present in that particular meeting as both Luisa and Suzanna could not make it to the meeting for various reasons. I had to be the one who answered to all the questions on the behalf of the Funding team, as the rest of the group wanted to be informed. I mus admit I felt guilty for the errors of our team but I knew it was not about me personally it was about our working unit as whole. Even though I felt guilty about it it was a good experience as I become to realise how important my role was to the Drama in the Community project, because it's success depended on funding.
Following on from that meeting my job was to arrange a meeting with all the members of the funding team and discuss where we went wrong and what can we do about it. This meeting also involved Mark as he was able to gives a better aspect of where we went wrong and how can we improve our faults. As a result we came up with another plan to get our hands on some funding budget this was by ringing up the Hounslow, Richmond and Kingston business directories and ask them for their support. We each took one borough each and got calling. Suzie looked after the Hounslow area, Luisa rang Kingston area and I took on the responsibility of calling Richmond area, By the sounds of it seemed straight forward, but it was not as simple as I thought i would be. My first call was on my way home on the platform waiting for my train, as I was really keen and ready to start working down my list of calls as well as curiosity playing a huge role. So there went my first attempt, the first business on my list, my phone call was answered, told them about our project which than I got transferred. During my wait I began to get really excited as I thought it was promising. Not long after the person on the other line answered so I thought it was my job to inform my reason for calling, instantly I got told to stop as the news was not very pleasant, as the business was not interested in helping us out. My adrenalin completely went from 10 to 0...I than realised that our task was not as straight forward as I thought, but I had to set my self a strong state of mind and made a pact with my self that every day I would spend at least 3 hours or more depending on how much free time I had in making calls. and even though I got rejection after rejection I kept caring on. On my first day I managed to get a 'Yes' out of 20 'No's' this bringing me to a strange addiction, that if I would not get at least one 'Yes' a day I would not stop ringing until I did, having this state of mind completely enhanced my drive and determination.
Furthermore I felt that this particular task of the fundraising project improved my communication skills as well it boosted my confidence in working with various business in partnership. On various occasion I came across really pleasant and not so pleasant people but I maintained a professional and respectable relationship with all the people I spoke to, as some were annoyed with my phone call and others eager to hear about our project, no matter the situation I kept my cool and tried to change their state of mind by alluring them with charm and politeness. One particular business was not very happy to supporting our project at first but due to my calm and polite approach I managed to get them interested. On some occasions I came across business which made promises but not kept to them, as they wanted to know about the project but than replied via email with a 'No', as well as having some odd incidents which brightened my day as well as coming across strange and wonderful characters. All in all I feel that this particular stage of the fundraising was tiring, enjoyable and extremely mind opening on top of a wonderful experience.
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