Kind of Worried

I am a little worried because I haven't met with representatives of the Maine Media Workshop in Rockport Maine to discuss my internship and to get necessary paperwork processed. My initial contact with the college was by phone. I spoke with a secretary who was enthusiastic and encouraging about the prospect of my internship. She informed me that Fall was a good time of year for the internship to occur because they are actually busier during their summer semester and have more room to house students (and interns) in the Fall. She said that pertinent personnel would meet on the Thursday of our first week to discuss the internship and then she would get back to me in order to set up a time to meet.

Well, I guess I blew it because when I received an email from the college I didn't recognize it because it had the name of the secretary as the byline followed by the subject heading "Is Friday a good time to meet?" - I get so much junk mail that I didn't recognize this as being from the college and didn't respond until hours before the day and time they wanted to meet. I called the secretary immediately to re-schedule. The secretary Chris Urquart, was very nice and promised to connect with the appropriate personnel (President Charles Atschul and Dean of Education Elizabeth Greenberg) to find out when they could meet. Their semester began Labor Day and the following day they had a visit from an important donor to the college so relevant contacts were tied up. I have continued to call at the risk of being a pest and been told that Christine Urquart is working on setting up a new meeting time and will get back to me.

In the meantime I have contacted Jane Irving in order to commence writing a grant for her to start a wellness program which she has designed for terminally ill patients. Jane Irving is CEO of Castine Consulting and conducts online education in massage therapy. We have a three way conference call scheduled for Monday September 19, 2011 in order to discuss the following agenda:

• The grant writing process
• A short brain storming session to determine which organizations we will petition for funds
• Organizations that would sponsor us once we receive the money
• A general time line to apply and receive funds
• Alternatives to grants, IE: private funding

Jane Irving is under the impression that filing for a tax exempt status would take two years so is considering assuming a fiscal partner who already enjoys a non-profit tax exempt status in order to expedite the launching of her program. My research of grant writing informs me that although it can take up to two years to gain tax exempt status, it can take as little as two weeks. Before Monday I am planning to review some information I have on different types of exemptions to ascertain which one best suits the needs of Ms. Irving. I will also continue exploring the Maine Philanthropy Center's website http://www.mainephilanthropy.org/ to compose a list of suitable donors geared towards supporting the type of program Ms. Irving is developing.