Michael Liu: Finding my Footing in an Increasingly-Complex World
Having worked at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits (SVCN) for five months now, I can definitely say my experience has been nothing but positive.
As my time at Santa Clara University has been gradually moving closer and closer to my senior year, I have been taking time to reflect on how my experience at SVCN has been relating to my coursework as a marketing major. At this point in time, I have only taken one marketing course at SCU that lays out the principles of marketing. Thus, I have yet to dive deep into the complex world of marketing. My time at SVCN has allowed me to work on projects such as email campaigns and social media posts, both of which bring to light our extensive lists of job opportunities, training and fundraising events, and public service announcements in regards to the state of our community. For example, in light of the growing threat of COVID-19, SVCN sent out an email highlighting the state of emergency California has been put under, as announced by Governor Gavin Newsom. We alerted our entire community of nonprofit members to this issue, urging everyone to be on caution and to explore remote work options. As I continue to communicate with our community members, I hope to gain further interaction with my audience in order for me to better understand their needs and appeal to them.
All-in-all, I am grateful for the opportunity to get to work for SVCN. My bosses and coworkers have been nothing short of brilliant in giving me the resources to succeed in my professional career. As I mentioned earlier, I mapped out current and future projects for me to work on with my colleagues. At this moment, I am currently working on an “At-a-Glance” flyer that displays the work and impact of our company. Because our nonprofit focuses on advocacy, we sometimes find ourselves having to explain what we do. With this flyer, we are able to demonstrate the outcomes and successes of the organization in the past year. Right now, I am collecting specific data from SVCN and simplifying it for viewing consumption. This project has been giving me a great chance to improve my research and analyzation skills, as well as helping me gain a clearer image of the work that we do. As my time at SVCN evolves in new and exciting ways, I hope that I will continue to build my professional repertoire so that I may be better prepared for my future career aspirations going forward.