PHAME ACADEMY RENOVATION – part two: Getting Started
2011
In early February the perfect social investment opportunity came my way to put my career renovation skills and years of non-profit experience to work. After 26 years of living out of a suitcase, PHAME Academy was going to get its own offices. I was introduced to PHAME the previous November at the annual Winter Gala. The energy and purpose of their program quickly captured my attention. Nurturing people so they can work to their potential is a goal that resonates strongly with me as a parent and community member.Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Executive Director, put out a call on Facebook for anyone interested in helping with their move into new space. On his ToDo List was “painting.†I emailed him offering to talk about painting and his response was, “I don’t know jack about painting.†I came back with “you are talking to Jack!†From there together we entered a win/win race to the March 16 new program headquarters launch date.
As a board member of several non-profit organizations over the past 30 years, I knew that meeting daily program needs AND mounting a renovation project create problematic challenges to staff time and expertise, especially for the smaller non-profit organizations. My goal was to provide the renovation work as well as project management of the overall project so that PHAME staff could stay focused on on-going program demands with minimal interference from the needs of their renovation project.
After 26 years of success working out of transient administrative space, I wanted PHAME staff, students, board and supporters to have the quality of space they deserved. The project timeline was not generous to meet both a move-in date and public launch date for the new space, but the momentum generated with Stephen’s unstoppable energy and spirit hit the targets.
Next week we’ll see how a renovation project was built on a shoestring in “Building In-kind Support.â€
Read the introduction to Getting PHAMEous here.
