The RCEF Blog 博客

After a busy week promoting RCEF in the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York City, Diane finally had some time to catch up with old friends and volunteers, as well as meet new friends who are interested in RCEF’s cause. Jean and I organized a small gathering at Congee Village in Chinatown for 10 and among the attendees were Ting, Andrew and Diedie, who we were very excited to see.

Diane brought over a video that was made in the village in Hebei where Andrew, Diedie and Ting had volunteered in 2006, as well as a presentation of new developments and initiatives at Guan Ai. The pictures, video and stories from the interactive summer program from this year gave our friends a good overview of RCEF and our efforts in China. Other topics of discussion included hosting fundraising events targeting individual donors, grant-writing, monitoring student progress at Guan Ai, recruiting efforts and new building projects at the school.

Our new friends Sandy, Nate, Shin and Doug also brought their perspectives from previous experiences volunteering or visiting education institutions in China. This was a good lead into discussing our goals for the rest of the year, as we are always interested in fresh ideas. One of our biggest objectives this year is to further develop our individual donor cultivation, especially in meeting our goals for individual donations. We are currently looking for individuals who can fill this position and help us reach out to family, friends, coworkers and professional communities for support.

Overall, the meeting was very productive and we hope to see new developments in the New York team soon. Our next fundraising event will be held on November 1 at Le Parker Meridien Hotel to reach out to members of the Chinese Finance Association (TCFA), a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting professionals in the finance community. As a member of their Board of Directors, I will organize a table for RCEF and allow us to distribute flyers and brochures about our organization. The purpose of this event is to increase exposure and reach out to finance professionals who may have the means to support RCEF through donations but little time to get involved. RCEF represents an important cause and area of interest/concern for many of these professionals, who are often too busy to get involved with non-profits. I believe we can help them realize some of their goals by establishing a long-term relationship where they know that their contributions are helping to build a future for rural students.

I am looking forward to seeing the implementation of our new initiatives this year and throughout 2009. I hope we will continue to have gatherings to collect new ideas and improve RCEF.