Mo’ MAGIC Spring 2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

My time at Mo’ MAGIC was nothing less than an extraordinary learning experience. I was pleased to work with such an ethical company that strives to create a better community within San Francisco. I accomplished a lot of the vital tasks that were needed to prepare for the summer events they host.

The tasks I accomplished can be summed up into three main groups:

1. Compiling data  for planning sheets

2. Researching prices for food, transportation, and supplies and comparing options

3. Drafting and designing invitations and corporate giving letters

 

I learned a lot while working on these tasks and came across a couple challenges:

– Speaking to people who don’t speak English very well and conducting business deals

– Coming up with new ways to survey children at events

– Disorganized businesses

– Supervisor moved out of state which made it difficult to communicate

– Not knowing Mo MAGIC’s budget

Fortunately, while struggling to overcome the obstacles I encountered, I used my business skills and acquired other skills as well. I used my negotiation skills, tax status knowledge, and exercised my organization skills a lot. However, I acquired more skills then I thought I would. My phone communication and excel skills improved, I developed more patience, I learned to conduct B2B agreements efficiently, improved my presentation skills, and last but not least I learned time management which really helped me during finals week.

As you continue reading you will see how Mo MAGIC significantly improved my overall work ethic as well as the positive impact I made on their summer events.

 

INTRODUCTION

Hello,

My name is Kimberly DiCiro; I am a senior business major at the University of San Francisco. This semester as well as being a Public Service Intern, I also volunteer as the Events Manager at the United Educators Association for Affordable Housing and work as a marketing consultant at VS Consulting Ventures. Being the daughter of two former Army officers, I grew up traveling the United States. When I moved to San Francisco to attend college in 2012, I fell in love with my school, the people, and the culture of the city. Being apart of such a lively and free-spirited community has stimulated my life goal of traveling the world and creating a business that will serve members of an international community.

This spring I have had the privilege of working with Mo’ Magic as their Summer Events Intern. Mo’ Magic is a San Francisco based non-profit with a mission to empower our community’s youth through interaction and collaboration. They provide services for students in grades K-12, host events, and offer programs for workforce development and family relations. During my time at Mo’ Magic I hope to learn skills that will help me in building loyal connections in my community and how to utilize my resources to their full potential.

I have a mix of duties and responsibilities for my position at Mo’ Magic all which are under the guidance and supervision of Sheryl Davis and Tiffany Wheeler. During these first days at Mo’ Magic I have been working with project management and research for the twenty events they host during summer time. This is includes compiling data of projections and actuals, assembling cost sheets for events, and organizing calendars. In the future, I will help with event coordination, public relations, and administrative duties.

 

BLOG POST 2

After the initial week of training, Mo Magic has started to trust me with more difficult tasks. I have been arranging reservations for resources that are needed for their summer events including but not limited to:

• Reserving bus transportation for field trips
• Booking instructors and artists that are needed for events
• Updating event planning sheets with invoices including the costs
• Creating a survey method that can efficiently gather needed information from hundreds of children at events
• Draft corporate invitation letter to officials

Given the new tasks that have been delegated to me, I have come across challenges that have helped me develop skills to properly handle these situations. One of the biggest challenges I have faced is coming up with a new and fresh perspective on how to efficiently survey hundreds of children at a time. In order to come up with survey methods that will satisfy the requirements, I have reached out to marketing teachers at my school, children psychologists, and camp chaperones to gather primary data that will enrich the basis on which I will build my method from.

I have also experienced triumph during this time at Mo’ Magic. For example, in previous years Mo’ Magic has provided transportation for field trips at a low cost. However, even though they have successfully found an inexpensive way to transport their children to events, the bus that was provided was not the nicest or the most sanitary of vehicles. Thus, I was given the task to find a bus company that has nicer equipment with little to no difference in the price. In order for me to accomplish that task I had to use my bargaining skills as well as my knowledge of tax statuses to receive discounts from the company. Additionally, I have developed phone communication skills and my skills in excel that have helped me communicate with third parties efficiently and professionally and I will be able to use these skills for future business endeavors.

Below is a link to the Google Drive folder that has all the materials I have been working on for their summer events.

https://drive.google.com/a/opportunityimpact.org/folderview?id=0B1RkJQFiyKKmY2d6TzJ6MEJYbG8&usp=sharing

Below is the link to a short video clip of last years Summer Learning Day which is one of the events I have been helping with.

 

BLOG POST 3

Even though I have been working with Mo’ Magic for a couple months now, I have been mostly working on the same tasks due to my title of Summer Events Intern. There are many events Mo’ Magic puts on during summer, all which require the same amount of effort and time.

My latest projects have been drafting corporate giving letters, researching children activities for the summer and the supplies needed to make these activities happen, updating the excel planning sheets with new invoices, arranging activities and business deals with other businesses, and designing invitations to the summer events for their elected officials.

The corporate giving letters have helped me gain knowledge about the process non-profits go through in order to obtain resources. So far, I have reached out to the local Trader Joe’s, The Dreyer’s Foundation, SaveMart CARES, and Ralphs/Food4Less for donations of any kind for the events Mo’ Magic will be hosting. Below is an example.

Corporate Giving Letter to Ralphs/Food4Less

Designing invitations to Mo’ Magic’s elected officials was one of my favorite tasks I was assigned. I have never been in charge of creating an invitation to such a target market but it all worked out in the end. Below is one of the options I provided to my supervisor (and my personal favorite).

With my wide variety of tasks I did come across some challenges that helped me develop the skills to handle these situations more appropriately. First challenge I came across was that a lot of the businesses Mo’ Magic partners with are very disorganized. There was a time when I arranged transportation for three separate days in July for a field trip Mo Magic was hosting and never received a confirmation. When I called the following week the director had lost the information I provided him and I had to start from scratch. This challenge helped me develop patience and compassion for other people’s faults and I was happy to provide the director with the information he lost so I could receive a confirmation by the end of the week.

Another challenge was not knowing Mo’ MAGIC’s budget for supplies, transportation, food, etc. so sometimes what looks like a good deal to me, isn’t a good deal for Mo Magic, and I have found that it is best to come up with multiple quotes in a large range for the superiors to chose from. Also, due to their non-profit status many activities were out of the companies reach and I was in charge of searching for the next best alternative. For example, Mo’ Magic wanted to take their children to a movie one day out of the summer, however the cost was out of their budget. I found an alternative option, to project the movie outside for the children to watch and the cost came up to less than half than the cost of going to a movie theater.

Nonetheless, I am excited to continue working with this company and developing my business skills.

 

BLOG POST 4

As I continue to work with Mo’ MAGIC, my administrative skills and business mindset are growing more and more. Lately, I have been finishing up and tailoring my projects to perfection with the company. The planning sheets and invoices I have been working on for the summer events are up to date and physically appealing to the eye; the corporate giving letters have been edited and posted on Mo’ MAGIC’s letterhead for distribution; and the transportation to the events have been secured and confirmed.

This week I have been given the tasks to order the supplies for the events, organize a second scavenger hunt in Japantown, and book a reservation for a group tour at SF Zoo with a non-profit discount.

However, I have come across a couple complications over the past few weeks. The first being that my supervisor, Tiffany Wheeler, has moved out of state and we are now forced to communicate via email and skype on occasion. This is very difficult not to have her in the same vicinity when I have questions of clarification about the tasks I am assigned. Also, email is not a rich form of communication so there have been times where I misunderstand what is required of me and I have to redo my work.

Another challenge I have come across was communication via phone to people that don’t understand or speak English that well. Patience and other forms of communication helped solve this issue.

Fortunately, I have learned a lot from these challenges and tasks and have developed certain business skills to accomplish these tasks. Since I have been working at Mo MAGIC during a hectic time in school I have learned to manage my time better and become more organized so I have a clear picture of what needs to be accomplished each day in accordance to deadlines. I have also developed my B2B communication skills efficiently and with little inconvenience to the person on the other end. And lastly, my presentation skills have grown due because I am required to present my findings to the staff on a weekly basis.

Below is a link to a survey I developed:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B1RkJQFiyKKmY2d6TzJ6MEJYbG8?tab=mo

Below is a picture of an organization survey I developed and helped designed: