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Mentorship Journal

#8 May 31: Website pricing – 1 hour

Faceless person using laptop in office. (Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels)

Here we are, the end of the month of May, and I am continuing my look at various hosting companies for websites. I’ve mentioned multiple times that finding the best provider is a bit of a process. If you Google “Best Web Hosting 2020“–or just follow the link I’ve posted–you’ll find there are a lot of opinions out there. Some brand names appear just once, others three or four times.

A lot of factors go into a rating for these reviewers. Price is, of course, a major consideration. But you also have to think about whether the provider is able to meet the needs a site has. Will there be enough space to hold content? Can we get a live person on the phone to walk us through any issues? What do other customers think of the service? It’s not like walking into a restaurant and trying to decide between chicken or fish. A website is a significant investment that presents you to the world. So I have been going through what the experts say and putting them into a spreadsheet to show a consensus of the best product out there. I have no doubt that we will be able to make an informed decision.

It’s still rather early, but I continue to understand a little better with each passing day what the ICC is aiming for. It is going to be very exciting once rolled out and I am glad to be a part of it. Here’s to more ahead in June!

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Reflection

Week 3

Seems like it’s the short weeks that end up being the craziest. With everything that has been going on in the world, trying to stay focused on this website and what all I need to do for the Communication & Fundraising in Sport class has been especially challenging. Still, I think it’s good to have that kind of challenge at a time like this not just because it keeps me busy, but also it allows me to refine my ability to bring stability and security to an anxious population through my work.

Fundraising is a big part of the work that I do in my normal life, and it’s the subject that we have transitioned to in the course from communication. The importance of one over the other in running a nonprofit is comparable to the chicken and the egg: you can’t communicate effectively without having the proper resources which usually requires having funds, but you need to have the right message to get people to donate to you. So both concepts tend to complement each other quite well in my view.

The fundraising this class deals with is of course in the realm of sports, which could mean the athletic department of a higher-learning institution as mentioned specifically by Leonard (2012) in his textbook, but also recreational facilities such as the local YMCA. Despite the emphasis on sport, the items Leonard covers can be applied across organizations in the nonprofit sector. They do serve as a nice refresher, however, for best practices in fundraising.

A scheduling conflict led to the cancellation of the live discussion we were supposed to have so I instead ended up sharing my experiences of working with volunteers and how my current organization shows its appreciation for the work they do. I can show you an example of a social media post we did just this week to honor a young man who helped us out during COVID-19.

Horizons, A Family Service Alliance on Twitter

Even amid the great unrest that we as a society face right now, there is something satisfying about the work I am doing and I am more than happy to share in that with my fellow classmates, my community, and you, the reader.

Reference

Leonard, R. (2012). Fundraising for sport and athletics. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.

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Mentorship Journal

#7 May 30: Website pricing, market research – 1 hour

Thankfully, this research will not require consulting shelves upon shelves of books. (Photo by Olenka Sergienko from Pexels)

I took yesterday “off” so that I could tend to my Communication and Fundraising in Sport classwork. Now I am back at it this Saturday, conducting research on programs competing with the ICC’s newest initiative as well as pricing for a website. The Internet as vast as it is, there is a lot of information to look for and gather into a central document that’s simple enough to make the appropriate decision.

When I pursued my Journalism degree in undergrad, I will not lie, I had delusions of grandeur. If I worked hard enough, I could become the next Tom Brokaw or Ted Koppel. Obviously, it did not work out that way. That is why I have tempered my expectations greatly this time around. I will put the effort in to ensure that the ICC has a quality product that its intended audience uses and gets something out of. Whatever happens as a result of my work here is just great.

The important thing I am hoping to get out of this experience is the chance to showcase the talents I have accumulated from my journalistic and communications work. If you had asked me this question two years ago or heck, even one year ago, I am not sure that would be my response. But the farther I go and the closer I get to the finish line, it becomes all the more clearer to me that this is what I want to be doing. Research and publishing are quintessential traits to both journalism and communications, so my previous work has set me up to provide a great analysis for the ICC.

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Siguenza on Sports

At the intersection of Sports and Politics

Downtown Minneapolis in October 2016. (Brian Siguenza)

No matter who you are, politics is a very sensitive subject and you have to be careful about what you say and who you say it to because the discussion can escalate fast. And yet, it doesn’t feel right to talk about something like the NHL’s plan on returning to action and pretend as though the events that have unfolded in Minneapolis and across the United States in the last few days aren’t happening.

Indeed, sports are a very nice distraction from all the worries that we have as individuals. For three hours a night, longer on weekends, we can remove ourselves from the normal hustle and bustle, and get lost in a game of physical strategy. Much like a movie, except it happens in real-time and nobody knows how it’s going to end, not even the actors. This might help to explain why people are so eager to see live sports. It might also explain why some do not like athletes using sport to bring attention to real-world problems.

Ayesha on Twitter
https://twitter.com/andylassner/status/1266321654075936770
Andy Lassner on Twitter
The Philadelphia Inquirer on Twitter

But as the late Nelson Mandela suggested in a poignant speech 20 years ago, sports are so much more than the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Through the work of those who play them, sports have the opportunity to change lives. Listen carefully to his words, and perhaps you’ll find that Colin Kaepernick and other players who take a stand (or a knee) on societal matters understand the true spirit of being an athlete. And they deserve to be heard.

Laureus on YouTube
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Mentorship Journal

#6 May 28: Conference call, website pricing – 1 hour

Brian Siguenza's site uses features by WordPress. (WordPress)

We had our meeting via Zoom today, which led to further exploration of finding a host for the new ICC website. A lot of options exist for maintaining a site–GoDaddy and Wix are among the more popular ones. I mentioned earlier that I do not consider myself to be a wiz at building pages from scratch, but I have been able to keep this site going with the ease of WordPress. I also use Bluehost for my needs, and my experience with them will factor in the recommendation I make to the group.

Something else that came up was market research on projects similar to what we want to do. For competitive reasons, I still cannot fully disclose what that is, but investigative research is always fascinating. It gives you a pretty good idea of what else is out there and how you measure up.

Today marks one week since I began working with the ICC. There are still some nuances that I am getting used to like understanding the project itself, but I am in close contact with the ICC partners, who are very good about offering their suggestions. If I were to have a memorable moment of the past week, it would be crafting the news release for the project. Given my background, that is something I have always enjoyed doing. A lot more will be coming down the pipeline in that area and I am looking a great deal forward to bringing my unique style to those endeavors.

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Siguenza on Sports

Flying the friendly skies

A United aircraft. (Pascal Renet via Pexels)
White United Airlines plane. (Photo by Pascal Renet from Pexels)

Last week, I mentioned in a post my objection to using the phrase “stick to sports” at those who make their living in athletic competition. The issue I take with the phrase is that it dehumanizes the athlete, suggesting that they are nothing more than a commodity to be used solely for our entertainment. The way I see it, the players that we watch on TV and read about on the Internet aren’t all that different from us. They get up in the morning, go to jobs, and have the same basic needs. Like those of us who are not athletically gifted, they sometimes want to be left alone.

Case in point, an anonymous NFL player who caught United’s red-eye service to Newark from Los Angeles back in February. The player is now suing United for an incident that occurred with a female passenger whom he and the person accompanying him said was acting rather erratically. The suit, filed in Los Angeles, alleges that the woman made inappropriate gestures to the player, including touching him around his upper legs. She also harassed him over the use of a face mask he had worn out of concern for COVID-19 (Fox 11 Los Angeles, 2020).

Pandemic or not, air travel can be a very stressful experience. All passengers and crew deserve to be treated with respect regardless of the circumstances. There’s no need for additional turbulence.

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Mentorship Journal

#5 May 27: Logo prototypes – 30 minutes

Timing is everything when you're pursuing an MBA and work full time. (Photo by Torsten Dettlaff from Pexels)

Today I’m working on some recommendations to change up the International Cultural Consortium (ICC) logo. It does not need to be anything major, they already have an image that conveys the purpose of the organization, just some potential tweaks that will make it stand out.

I am a creature of habit myself. I tend to follow a schedule to my day–wake up, go to work, come home, exercise, tend to my studies, then go to bed. In light of COVID-19, the commute has practically been eliminated and I just travel to the kitchen for coffee in the morning. The fact that I am already working from home has made the start of the ICC mentorship quite smooth. I honestly don’t notice all that much of a difference between the mentorship and my job.

For somebody who thrives on a routine, that is a very good thing. Especially as my days can be quite full. I work for eight hours and am in the middle of another MBA course at Tiffin, so that doesn’t leave me with a lot of flexibility in terms of time.

That is not to say that I don’t enjoy some variety. I like to diversify my interests, so changing between my normal nonprofit work and my sports-related work keeps it lively. I learn so much more doing it this way.

Thursdays are when I have a standing meeting with Liston, Josh, and Dr. Tiell, so I shall partake in that tomorrow and see where the discussion leads.

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Communication & Fundraising in Sport

Discussing Donor Databases

Hopefully you have noticed by now that I am quite well-versed in the world of sport and communications. Now I would like to show you my expertise in another subject: fundraising. My day job is with a 501(c)3 non-profit organization here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The term non-profit is a bit of a misnomer because it suggests that the organization does not exist to make money. It is true that the purpose is more about providing a service that benefits the residents of a particular community (Kenton, 2020). However, the organization still needs to have the appropriate financial resources in order to do so.

That’s where donors come in. The generosity of corporations and individuals alike allow organizations like ours to ensure that we can meet the needs of our population. We want to maintain that connection to the people who have contributed to us, so we keep records using an online database. There are several options available for tracking donor data but for the sake of simplicity, I will tell you about the two systems that I have used: Raiser’s Edge 7 by Blackbaud and Little Green Light (LGL).

The Raiser’s Edge software we used was installed on the network of our computers. It was simple enough to manually input contact information on a constituent and any donation they made. Importing records could be a challenge though, as well as creating exports if we wanted to look at, say, gifts that have been made in the current fiscal year. On the other hand, I can not only import and export records in a matter of minutes on LGL, but I can also track upcoming grants with it as well.

Now I was part of the decision-making process to switch over to LGL, which is why I’m so partial to it. Ultimately, the software that a fundraiser chooses has to fit the capacity of his or her program, both from a functional and economical perspective. In that sense, I would recommend reaching out to other non-profit agencies in your area to get a feel for what software works best for them.

Reference

Kenton, W. (2020, April 29). Nonprofit organization (NPO). Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/non-profitorganization.asp

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Mentorship Journal

#4 May 25: News release, logo prototype – 1 hour

Logo of the ICC at present. (International Cultural Consortium)

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my bedroom has doubled as my office. I use my gold Macbook here not just for checking Facebook or YouTube videos but also for my work projects. And Zoom meetings. Lots of Zoom meetings. The walls have but paint on them, so that makes for a nice backdrop. Finally, all my business calls are conducted on my personal cell phone. I kind of like being able to work from home, though I do miss getting out there and making a difference with my colleagues and the community.

Quarantine would not make that big of a difference with the International Cultural Consortium (ICC), since the partners of the organization are scattered across the country. Liston Bochette, who I mentioned the other day, is in Florida; we also have Dr. Bonnie Tiell, the professor of Sport Management at Tiffin University in Ohio, then there is Josh Henson, an attorney based in the Washington, D.C. area. Meanwhile, Iowa is where my office/bedroom is located, but I do not hold a financial stake in the ICC and thus am not a partner.

Even so, I have an important role in this venture, working to get the partners’ message across through such initiatives as a news release and looking at the ICC’s present logo, both of which I have done on this Memorial Day. In a short amount of time, I am learning a great deal more about what Liston, Josh, and Dr. Tiell hope to accomplish with their work, and I take those objectives just as seriously as they do.

Categories
Reflection

Week 2

Before coming here to type up this week’s reflection, I wandered over to the analytics section, and it seems I’m rather popular in Canada according to the metrics. That’s one of the nice things about web analytics, which was covered in the book I read this week. It gives you a sense of where people are coming from, how they’re finding you, and what they’re looking at. It can even track things like sales, as Newman, Peck, Harris, & Wilhide (2013) point out. Of course, that is a bit advanced for me and I’m not selling anything at the moment per se.

Other highlights from Newman et al. (2013) include some practices I have great familiarity with like photos/video and marketing via search engines and e-mail, as well as mobile marketing, which is a concept I have some knowledge with but would not consider myself to be the utmost expert on. As I look to build upon my communications background, the reading was a nice review of those elements that make a campaign effective. Speaking of communications and journalism, you might notice that I have a few more entries over at the Siguenza on Sports blog this week, dealing primarily with sports and COVID-19. One post examines the starting up of youth competition this summer. Reopening business in the United States is a hot-button issue right now and while I don’t want to come across as overtly political in what I write, I think it’s very important to address the potential drawbacks to any plan with tact.

It was nice to hear about the NBA’s plans to return to action from an agent in the field on Friday. Justin Haynes gave a glimpse of what that might look like during his appearance on Tiell Total Sports’ Go Time show (personal communication, May 22, 2020). I would be interested to see how the league pulls off the completion of this season with another one looming in late October. It would certainly be a quick turnaround for the participants of the NBA Finals.

I think in general, things are picking up but I’m also starting to ease in a little bit here so I like where I’m at and onward we go.

Reference

Newman, T., Peck, J.F., Harris, C., & Wilhide, B. (2013). Social media in sport marketing. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway, Publishers.