My Internship

2009-12-15T16:49:00.000-08:00

December 15, 2009
Today I got to sit in on a meeting with a potential Donner, the Vice President of Citizen's Bank Community Relations. I really enjoyed the meeting because it really made me understand Landmarks from the perspective of a grants committee. The meeting was set up so that Landmarks could be directed in an angle that would make it best stand out to Citizen's Bank's grant committee. Essentially we were told to focus on our education programs. Citizen's like most foundations does not give money to historic preservation. She also pointed out that the bank runs on a calendar year not a fiscal year and they are still awaiting their budget for 2010. She predicts that their budget will not be nearly as generous as it has been in the past, and that the non- profit world was going to take a huge funding hit in 2010. She advised us to aim low in our funding request. They must maintain funding to several organizations which they have had an extended relationship, and it will be difficult for us especially this year as a new organization.

One exciting thing that she did mention was that they in Spring the topic for their largest grant Champions in Action will be about the environment. Grumblethorpe is already starting new green projects that would fit into this category very nicely. If Landmarks win this huge prize of $25,000 they can essentially use the money for anything within the organization including maintenance.

After the meeting was over, I went back to working on the legislators packets. They will be finished on Thursday and able to be mailed/ hand delivered. I cannot wait until they are finished.

2009-12-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

December 10, 2009
Unfortunately I had a family emergency and needed to go home to New York on Wednesday. I should be back by next week.

2009-12-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

December 8, 2009
Today Brandi sent me back all of the revised letters and Budget, so I feel like I am getting very close to finishing these packets. She also had me update our foundations list. I've done this before without problem, but today I had to update the list on Paula. Paula does not have USB ports in the front, and has the 2003 version of Microsoft office. Luckily you can download a conversion pack online which allows you to open new documents on an older system. Except that it doesn't work on Paula who needs a lot of updates before she will let you download a new program. So I saved the Foundations List to an older version of excel file.

What I think happened is that a lot of people or foundations were waiting on budgets before they were able to give funds to Landmarks. So in December there were a lot of grants/ foundations that needed to be updated. So instead of working on the packets today, I updated our foundations list. The list has been on this particular spread sheet since 2006. It was interesting to see how a lot of them have been continuing to support Landmarks over the years, and have funded several different programs. What also amazes me every time I look at this list is how many donations/ grants we depend on to keep running. I would say that the average Foundation gives $2,000, and most of them have very specific rules for how the money must be spent.

2009-12-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

December 3, 2009
Today is day two at Landmarks without my laptop, which means that I got to make friends with the "new" desktop that I have mentally named Paula, after the woman who used to sit where the desktop is. I had revised the letters to Merly Levitz, Frank Rizzo and Jane Pepper a few weeks back, but Brandi wanted a printed copy. A completely reasonable request until you deal with Paula. Paula is not able to connect with the network printer, and will not print to the one that she is directly connected. It took me and Heather almost an hour to figure out a way to get the printer to work. I've come to the conclusion that all printers hate me.

Once I printed the letters, Brandi sent me a copy of the Physick/ Powell Budget so that I could adapt it to fit the Grumblethorpe Budget. I believe what I created makes sense, but she will most likely have to revise this before it can go into the legislators packets. Sometimes it feels like these packets will never be finished. But they need to be done in the next two and a half weeks because its almost Christmas. Physick House is already decorated for the season, and the house is beautiful.

2009-12-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

December 1st 2009
Today was my first day back in the office since Thanksgiving. Sadly my computer decided to leave me, and will no longer turn on. So this is the beginning of my internship with out my laptop, and with the "new" internship desktop that was donated to landmarks. Unfortunately the annual appeal was not finished before break like we had hoped. So today I finally finished stuffing and sealing the last of them.

When we finished the last envelope, I returned to my normal tasks and began assembling the packets for the Grumblethorpe legislators. The packets include a powerpoint about the sites education programs, fliers from various events, and past annual reports. Still needed for the packets is the legislative proposal, and the budget. The proposal is taking me the longest time to write. What makes it so difficult is that I am not an expert on the education programs at the site, and their lesson plans and such are at Grumblethorpe. I will need to contact their education director to help me better understand exactly what I'm talking about. It would be a lot easier to write the proposal if I knew more about the site, or if it was nearby like the Physick and Powell.

A really great thing I got to see today was one of our Hands on History Education Programs. Donna Baldino out education director was running Leeches and Soda Pop Cure a New Nation. It was fun to actually see the kids making carbonation, and being grossed out by the live leeches. Alright, so maybe it was me who was grossed out. But watching and taking pictures for the new powerpoint really let me see what the museum actually does. There are a lot of critics who feel that education programs are not the direction that house museums should be going, and that they should remain pristine and available only for tours. I completely disagree after watching the program. The children who will be around a lot longer after me, formed a relationship/ memory with the house. The more relationships that the museum creates with children the more likely they will be to support it when they are older. Also lets face it history can be dry at times, what better way to get children interested than a hands on activity including; soda, leeches, and a carbonation experiment.

2009-11-29T18:24:00.000-08:00

November 24, 2009

Today we almost finished, the annual appeal. Everything was finished for the stuffing except... for the extra postage. We realized almost halfway through that the letters needed extra postage. So everything was done by the end of Tues except for the added postage. Luckily Jorja will be in tomorrow and can finish the mailing. All of our other projects will have to be on hold until we get back from Thanksgiving.

hours 9-1:30

2009-11-29T18:14:00.000-08:00

November 19, 2009

It's annual appeal time at Landmarks. Which means that everyone is working on sending out the annual appeal. Its where we send out an updated 2009 newsletter, membership information, and donation information. The annual appeal is how we bring in a lot of our funds and maintain relationships with a lot of our members. The newsletter lets our members know what is new and exciting at Landmarks, and updates them on ongoing projects. Unfortunately the annual appeal is also 5,000 envelopes, letters, and membership packets that need to be folded, given postage and stuffed. So they started yesterday, and we will be working on this most likely until Thanksgiving. Luckily we don't have to lick envelopes, because I'm pretty sure that Susan from Seinfeld died from that.

hours 9-1

2009-11-29T17:42:00.000-08:00

November 17, 2009

Today I worked on finishing the letters, from last week. I finished most of them but still need to work on the letter to Jane Pepper. Now I need to assemble the packets that will accompany the letters. The only part of this that is a drag is that I need to print out powerpoint slides. They take forever, and use a ton of ink. It's possible that it would be cheaper and faster to print the photo's instead. I'm not sure that I want to test that theory out though and accidently cost Landmarks more money. Unfortunately I got into another fight with the printer. Which resulted in me again calling the printer company. After I printed the power points the documents for the annual appeal came in and we arranged them so that, the interns could begin stuffing.

hours 9-1

2009-11-29T16:49:00.000-08:00

November 12, 2009

Tuesday I began working on the letters for Jane Pepper and the Grumblethorpe legislators. Today I probably should have continued to work on them and finish them, but I was given a second list of letters and packets to create. The second list appeared more fun so I decided to work on them. Before I could do this though, I sent out the minutes for the Waynesborough.

The second list of letters included Councilman at large Frank Rizzo and his Director of legislative concerns Terri Italiano. Terri is a friend of one of our board members, who asked us to contact her. Also on the list is Meryl Levitz who is the President and Chief Executive Officer for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, I believe its commonly known as GoPhila. The letter would be to create a relationship between the two offices and hopefully they might help promotes some of our events like the Phyzzfest and the Icecream Social. The second list was a lot more fun so I wrote those. Hopefully they don't need to much revision.

hours 9-1-30

2009-11-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

November 10, 2009

Today I worked on letters for the local legislators for the House Grumblethorpe. I also worked on a letter for the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, Jane Pepper. The letter for the legislators in Germantown, where Grumblethorpe is located could be based off of a similar letter for the Physick House. The letters are not exactly a solicitation but they are a request for funds and an attempt to build a relationship. This letter was easier to work on than the latter one.

The second letter did not get finished today because there is no real precedent. On top of this I am not familiar with the organization and needed to do research on our involvement with them, and the purpose of the letter. From what I understand because of the farm and gardens at Grumblethorpe, the organization might be interested in giving the house; ideas, advice, and volunteers. They could also help to publicize events there. Also, Landmarks already has a relationship with them because of Exploritas. Every year, Exploritas a branch of Landmarks brings in about 50 tourists to see Philadelphia's annual flower show. This letter is going to require a little more research. Plus, when we send the letter it will be accompanied with a packet that highlights aspects of landmarks that would be of interest to them. Later this week I should assemble this, or at least decide what will go in it. I'm not quite sure how this will come out.

2009-11-09T15:29:00.002-08:00

November 5, 2009
Could not make it in today because I caught the Flu :(

2009-11-09T15:29:00.001-08:00

November 3, 2009
office closed for election day

2009-11-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

October 29, 2009
Today was not very exciting, most of the projects such as the Grumbethorpe Battlefield Grant are on hold at the moment, so I got to do various gruntwork around the office. The biggest project I tackled was the file cabinet that holds our IRS paperwork from the past fifteen years and various paperwork, photos, programs and whatever fit. Landmarks has accumuated a great deal of paper work and files over the years and there usually isn't the manpower or time to deal with it all. So today I was able to clean up some of the excess files and throw away a lot of duplicate paperwork and such.
When Brandi finished her cover letter to Gary Steuer, she asked me to hand deliver it to his office in city hall. After walking around the building for a good twenty mins I finally found the entrance and was allowed to bring the packet inside. I was surprised at how little security there was to get into the building. After I delivered the package, it wasn't hard at all to explore the entire building.
Hours- 9am-2pm

2009-11-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

October 27, 2009
Today we did a lot of catch up. I worked on the power point, and hopefully finished it. Brandi at 10:45 had her phone meeting with Gary Steuer. The meeting went well and he requested a packet of information regarding the houses that reside in Philadelphia. This packet is important because it will give him a much better visual understanding of all of the aspects of Landmarks as well as various opportunities to create a relationship with his office. The packet includes printed powerpoints about our education programs, pamphets about unique Landmarks events as well as general information about the society. When Brandi finishes the cover letter it will be all finished.
Hours 10am-2pm

2009-10-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

October 22, 2009

In the office today it felt like there were a thousand different things happening. There were four interns in the office which included a new one for the education coordinator, who was very excited to have her. I typed up the minutes from Tuesday's staff minutes and began work on a fun new project.

Part of my internship goal is to see how relationships with legislators, committee members and non -profits work, and how they benefit each other. Last week I finished the contact information for the legislators that are zoned for Grumblethorpe, and later I will have to set up appointments with them. Brandi wants to have a powerpoint presentation ready for these future meetings. So I spent the the majority of my day creating a powerpoint that combines the three houses that reside in Philadelphia and the education programs that they have. It is important for the powerpoint to showcase how the sites reach out to the community. I didn't quite finish it, but I e mailed it to Brandi and later I will find out what she thinks.

There was a meeting in Physick house that needed the projector screen, which was in the Powel House. So I went looking for that, and carried it back to Physick. I was not at all aware of how heavy those things are. When I got back I called the Office of the Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, and spoke to Gary Steuer's scheduler. She said that his schedule was blocked off for a lot of time slots and made a phone call appointment for next week Tuesday.

2009-10-27T07:53:00.001-07:00

October 2o, 2009

Today I worked on the Legislative Proposal for Grumblethorpe and printed it out, to give to Brandi for editing. The proposal includes a lot of "shovel ready" projects. These projects are things like security systems and maintenance of the building. In order to explain why the site deserves the money the proposal includes a summery of Grumblethorpe's education programs and events.

When I finished printing the proposal I edited again a letter to Gary Stuerer who is the Officer of the Arts Culture and Creative Economy a committee that was brought back by the current mayor. On thursday I will have to attempt to make an appointment with him for Brandi. Her goal is to establish a relationship with Landmarks and this committee so that hopefully they use our sites and keep Landmarks in mind.

2009-10-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

October 15, 2009
Today was an unusually hectic day. For security, and practical management reasons each of the houses have on site managers. The Powel house manger is moving on, so Landmarks is searching for a new manager. So this morning instead of meeting at the Physick house I met Brandi at Powel for a tour/ interview of potential managers. The couple was able to get a quick tour of the site and ask questions. I could not stay for the entirety of the meeting as I had to go over to Physick to meet my professor Dr. Seth Bruggemen, so that we could discuss the future on my internship, assignments and blogs. He was also there with Dana, a recent Temple graduate who will be volunteering in collections on Thursdays with Landmarks.

After all of the meeting were over, I continued on so unfinished projects. I made a few phone calls to get the e- mail addresses of the remaining legislators the preside over Grumblethorpe's district. This list will make it much easier to establish relationships with them, and keep them informed of the happenings of the site. Also their schedulers e - mail addresses were included so that in the future we can make appointments with them. After that I found out the contact information for Enterprise Rent-A- Car in Germantown. A lot of our programs depend a great deal on donations. A new driving tour of Germantown has been created but needs a van donated. One of the ways that Landmarks asks for donations is through letters. When I have the information, my boss Brandi will create a letter for them and hopefully they will donate. Luckily most donations made to Landmarks can be tax detucible, and gives back the community by offering new programs and services.

Hours 9am-1pm

2009-10-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

October 13, 2009
Today I took a break from the Northwest Schools list. Brandi had me work on a few other projects today. One of the things that I worked on was a letter to Gary Steuer who is the director of the Office of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, which was an advisory brought back by Mayor Michael Nutter. The purpose of the letter was the initial step in creating a relationship with this committee and Landmarks. One aspect of this comitee is to find ways to support non- profit culteral organizations in Philadelphia. The Powell House was the residence of the mayor of Philadelphia just before and after the revolution, which grants it a special relationship with the office of the current mayor. Landmarks hopes to establish a relationship with this committee as well as with the mayor's office, in hopes that they may use the site, or just keep it in mind for any future support. So while the house is no longer the residence of the mayor it holds a great deal of history for the executive branch of Philadelphia and could still be utilized by the current mayor.

The second part of my day I worked on a proposal for the legislators who are responsible for the area that Grumblethorpe is located. It is always important for museum houses, and probably all non-profits to establish and keep a relationship with their local legislators. The proposal that I worked on outlined the immediate needs of the house such as a security system, while also reminding the reader about the programs that are run in the site. From what I understand most legislators are more likely to lend support and funds to programing that involves education. Luckily for Landmarks Grumblethorpe is home to several great "Hands on History" education programs.
Hours 9am- 1pm

2009-10-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

Oct. 8, 2009
The first part of my new project is going to involve creating a list of all the schools in the Northwest of Philadelphia. This list will eventually serve as a contact list for the students and schools, that may be involved with the new programing at Grumblethorpe. So today at Landmarks I worked on making an excel spreadsheet with the list of schools separated by zip code. I was not able to finish it and will have to pick it up again on Tues. of next week.
Hours 9am-1pm

2009-10-08T06:51:00.000-07:00

Tues. Oct. 6, 2009

This morning I came in and typed the minutes for the Physick House staff meeting. After I typed the minutes I began aquatinting myself with a new project. The "new" project really isn't new but is a grant that previous interns have worked on for the site house Grumblethorpe.

The grant is a Battlefield Protection Grant, which Grumblethorpe, as a result of its involvement in the Battle of Germantown 1777 may be eligible. I spent the rest of my day looking over the requirements, past grant winners and the work that had already been done. A past intern had already contacted the grant manager. From this conversation is was established that Grumblethorpe's best option would be to apply under the education category. This grant is going to require a lot of effort. The only reason I say this is because in order to get funded Grumblethorpe will have to create an entirely new program tailored to the Battle of Germantown.

The day ended with Brandi telling me a start off point for this project, which is a list of schools in the Northwest section of Philadelphia. These are the schools that could potentially be a part of the new program. I will have to assemble this list on Thursday.

Hours 9 am- 1pm

2009-10-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Tues September 29, 2009

Today was a catch up day. When I came in the office, I had a stack of minutes from a Grumblethorpe meeting, that needed to be mailed. So I spent a little bit of my morning putting those together. My boss then gave me a task which she described as painstaking and grudge work. She gave me a stack of about 100 business cards and asked me to organize them. At the moment I'm in between projects, like grants, so I really didn't have anything else to do at that moment.
Almost as if on cue when I finished alphabetising the cards we had an all staff meeting. Heather, another intern, was not there so I took the minutes. We went over the projects that everyone was working on and where they were. Brandi informed me that the next grant/ project I will be working on will be a Battlefield Grant. One of the houses we operate Grumblethorpe, played prominenty in the battle of Germantown, and we are hoping that this will make it eligible for Battlefield Grant Money. The meeting ran a little late, so I will have to type up the minutes the next time I'm at the office.
hours 10am-1pm

2009-09-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

September 24, 2009

I learned a valuable lesson today, always check your phone in the morning. This morning my boss, Brandi Levine, needed to make some house calls. Had I checked my phone this morning, I would have known. But luckily Brandi caught me at the door and we left for the William H. Meredith School. The school the previous year had an education partnership with Landmarks and Brandi, wanted to check on the relationship and see where the school stood for this year.

We met with the principal for about five minutes, and then went to the Powel House to pick up easels. Tonight the Physick House is hosting a silent auction fundraiser, and needed the easels to display some of the items.

After we returned to the Physick House, I finished assembling the materials for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund Grant. The grant is due tomorrow and luckily we finished it today, a day early. I never knew how detailed a grant application could be. I also didn't know that photo copy machines have a collated button. I may have printed off 12 copies of a 15 page document, that had to later be collated by hand. Other than that, everything was assembled without any setbacks and hand delivered by my boss.

Hours 9am-1 pm

2009-09-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

September 22, 2009

Today was a hectic day at Landmarks. My boss had attended a meeting the night before, which explained fund allocation to various non- profits, mostly museums. The state had proposed a new tax to help make up for the budget gap. The new law is that museum admission would be taxed. Naturally, my boss was pretty upset. As a result of this I spent most of my day finishing the list of legislators and their e- mail addresses. The list was supposed to be sent to our board members and supporters so that they could contact them, and protest the tax.

The rest of my day was spent learning how to use the postage machine and mailing out the minutes from a meeting at the Powel House.

hours 9am-1pm