Question: Please describe an impact you have had on a group or organization.

I joined the Board of Directors of [Company A] in 2001 for a two-year term. [Company A] is a non-profit treatment, education and research center that provides traditional Chinese medicine health care to approximately 700 people each month. Most of the center's clients are low-income or homeless and suffer from life-threatening illnesses such as Hepatitis C, HIV, AIDS and Cancer. The medical attention that people receive at [Company A] supplements the traditional treatments they receive and allays the severe side effects that accompany such treatments.

When I joined, [Company A] was in a dire financial situation. California's budget for AIDS research had been slashed and the public funding that had provided 45% of the organization's budget in 2000 would only cover 20% in 2001, at the same level of operation.

As a Board member, I focused on development, with the goal of ensuring the organization's long-term success. My first action was to identify and cultivate individuals and foundations capable and likely of meeting the organization's operating expenses in the short-term. After developing a list of potential investors and in collaboration with the Executive Director and founder, I developed a three-year $400,000 proposal to the California Endowment to fund ongoing initiatives.

As is the case with many community-based nonprofit organizations, the staff and board at Company A were unaccustomed to tailoring a pitch for their programs and had an opportunistic approach to fundraising. They had never had the bandwidth to aggressively seek funding and were unable to communicate about their work with people who weren't already familiar with Chinese medicine. With little background in the subject, I was especially sensitive to this tendency and set out to remedy it. I led an informal media and communications training for the Board to help them craft the pitch for their work and develop the proposal for The California Endowment. The training I conducted generated incredible momentum around fundraising and jumpstarted the Board of Directors. If the proposal we developed is approved, this funding will support Company A after my term has expired. I f not, the process of developing a pitch and creatively raising funds will still have sparked action on the part of Board members who had long since stagnated in their roles.

At each Board meeting, I update the Board on fundraising progress and lobby for a stronger focus on fund development in this difficult economic climate. Ancillary conversa­tions with individual Board members have ensued and I finally am seeing the results. Raising funds has become a focus for the board and long-term funding strategy has become a reality during my tenure. Since I' ve given them communication tools and encouragement, the Board has taken on aspects of fundraising from which they had previously shied away. Surprisingly enough, the work has become more fun as well—we have rallied around the common goal of raising money for [Company A]'s important work. In this situation, I am most proud of the fact that my impact is going beyond the immediate task at hand and is actually affecting behavioral change.

My work has also led to bringing back to life a nascent Cancer support program. The staff at [Company A] had never developed a long-term project with measurable impacts and needed guidance in order to sustain a fledgling program. I coached the Executive Director, presented a strategy to the Board, and created a map for a program that now serves cancer survivors in two low-income San Francisco neighborhoods, Bay view and the Mission, where residents have some of the highest rates of Cancer in California and the lowest rates of health care access. To date, the program has served almost 100 people and is receiving significant recognition and support from the Western medical community.

With state funding evaporating and demand for services skyrocketing, [Company A] still is in a difficult situation. I believe that strategically raising funds and developing programs are critical to surviving this challenging time and I've made it my mandate to communicate these priorities to the Board of Directors. Despite the fact that I only recently joined the Board and that my experience with Chinese medicine is minimal, I've succeeded in making the organization more financially viable and effectively managed.

Критика

Это эссе - великолепный пример того, как люди развивают свои лидерские и организационные способности вне работы. Ведь многие думают, что общественная жизнь для них проходит для галочки, хотя на самом деле это реальный шанс эффективного саморазвития.
Видно, что аппликант очень заботится о работе в группе. Не уделяя этому слишком много места, она тем не менее описывает рабочие моменты и показывает, каковы были ее действия в конкретных ситуациях. Мы всегда спрашиваем себя, разрешилась бы та или иная ситуация по-другому, если бы кандидата там не было. В данном конкретном случае ответ конкретный – да. Она очень удачно сфокусировала наше внимание на самой ситуации и на влиянии ее действий.

Внимательно еще раз прочитайте это эссе, именно в нем кандидат отвечает на вопрос «как», а не «что». Именно ответ на вопрос «как» всегда волнует членов приемных комиссий.

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