Learning is a Life-Long Effort

I am on the board of the Southern California Association for Healthcare Development. No, I haven’t moved. I still live in Omaha Nebraska. But a friend of mine asked if I would help them on the board, and I agreed. My only mistake was scooting out to the restroom during the first board meeting and returning to learn I was now the education chair for SCAHD. Lesson learned. Don’t leave a meeting or someone can nominate you, and a board can vote before you get back.

With that said, I have enjoyed finding interesting and new speakers for our membership. Recently, we were gifted the opportunity to speak with the head of special events from Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Zach Abrams. He was spectacular. While I appreciate the tactical aspects of pandemic special events, what I appreciated most were his comments around why and how he cares for his staff and his key volunteers. CHOC does quite a few large events and has a staff to match. Zach talked about the importance of creating extra communication, engagement, and outreach to his internal team to ensure they were whole, as much as possible, during the pandemic. And they raised a heck of a lot of money along the way as well.  At the same time, he was so eloquent about how CHOC had to find new ways to engage scores and scores of volunteers who still wanted to be involved but were restricted to gathering/working because of the pandemic.

I am not a special events expert. I’m not even sure I qualify as a “special events novice.” But, I enjoy learning. Zach reminded us of the importance of engaging people where they are with special events because certain people engage in philanthropy by service, time, and talent. It is tough to leverage these qualities during a pandemic, but I learned so much about tactical ways of doing just that. In addition, Zach’s presentation was a great reminder of the importance of engaging our constituents regardless of the situation.  Remember, the people closest to us are in need as well, and their personal and emotional well-being may be compromised because of the chaotic world.

It is important to learn something new every day. It’s is good for you! I learned a lot in an hour just this past week, thanks to Zach at CHOC.