After an internship at the Denver Art Museum 30 years ago, I was hired to work in the Education Department as a Teaching Assistant for Asian Art. Thanks to grant funding, I worked there for three years. The Denver Art Museum’s current mission is to enrich the lives of present and future generations through the acquisition, presentation, and preservation of works of art, supported by exemplary scholarship and public programs related to both its permanent collections and to temporary exhibitions presented by the museum.
I am going to share three stories about my experience at the Denver Art Museum and lessons learned for both nonprofit leaders and volunteers.
The Denver Art Museum’s Education Department was led by Patterson (Patty) Williams. She had a reputation for loving to say, “yes.” She had high expectations, encouraged her team to do their best, and was passionate about bringing the joy of learning to others.
Patty made it possible for me to take my first business trip. She sent me to San Francisco to the Asian Art Museum. I attended a 3-day teacher’s workshop related to a blockbuster exhibition about Mongolia. The entire experience was amazing. I wanted to replicate the workshop in Denver. Patty told me to go for it. If I could raise $5,000, then she could justify hosting 20 to 30 teachers. I began outreaching to Denver businesses. Even though I hadn’t raised any money yet, I was quickly called to the Development Director’s office. She was sophisticated, well spoken and kind. She explained that I couldn’t do that on my own. I think she perceived that I was a driven young professional who was clueless about fundraising. She was right.
The Development Director taught me that you can’t fulfill a mission without money. Fundraising is inherently part of nonprofit work. It needs to be well-coordinated. What I was doing was going rogue—at the direction of my boss, but no matter, I was rogue!
I have no idea where the funding came from to make the teacher’s workshop possible. I just know that I was quickly back in my “educator” lane, and we were able to host a very successful workshop (continuing ed credits and all) for educators across Colorado. They took the information back to their students, scheduled field trips, and opened up the world to students a little more.
A few months later, my colleagues and I busily created and prepared activities for summer camps. The activities were unique and fun. I remember high school volunteers joining us one weekday morning to help our team get ready for summer camps. A teenaged boy around the age of 16 was assigned to me to help cut foam core. He seemed coordinated and bright eyed. We were both standing up facing a table to cut foam core sheets. We had metal straight edges as our guides. For the first half hour or so, we chatted and he confidently cut the shapes that we needed. Then, I suddenly heard him gasp. He had pulled the Exacto knife too hard and too fast straight into his belly!
I remember him sitting down and me calling security. The young volunteer went away in an ambulance and that’s all I ever knew. The volunteer was OK, I assume. I really don’t know and I have felt a little guilty for decades. I recently relayed this story to a good friend and she replied, “Well, Ashley, he didn’t die. You would have heard about that.” I wish I had tried to figure out how to reach him and his parents.
The third story relates to sponges—yes, sponges. The sponges were SWAG at the opening weekend of a new education center in the garden level of the Gio Ponti building. We attracted and engaged over 6,500 people that weekend! It was my first 70-hour week and I experienced the full range of emotions during the celebration. Months before, I selected and ordered thousands of paper-thin sponges that expanded with water. They were branded with the Denver Art Museum logo, phone number and website. We offered guests these business-card sized sponges when they arrived at the free opening.
Guests could take them home to use at their kitchen sink or could use them right away for an interactive painting project. Our team had affixed paper on the concrete walls leading up to the main entrance. We had tarps on the ground. This was all set on a Friday and we were ready to go when I was interviewed on 9News for the 5 am morning show in the dark. I felt BIG TIME! Now, I think that none of the leaders wanted to get up that early!
Picture a clear blue sky and happy families gathering to explore the museum and make art. People were lined up along the 5’ curved entrance wall adding to a painted mural. A staff member responsible for cleaning came up to me in utter shock. The problem was that paint was dripping past the paper onto the wall. The wall was exposed where the paper ended and the tarps on the ground began. Facilities and the cleaning crew were not happy! I hope the paint was washable.
There are multiple lessons from these stories:
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- Coordinate all fundraising activities with leaders before independently raising funds for a nonprofit—even if well intentioned, duplicative requests can make the nonprofit look disorganized, disrespectful and greedy.
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- Always secure contact information for volunteers—even if it’s a one-time gig arranged by a 3rd party. Communicate with your colleagues before and after the volunteer activity.
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- Show compassion to volunteers and colleagues in all circumstances.
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- Be thorough in training. Considering the student who cut himself, I should have been clearer about how to use the exacto knife. I started using an exacto knife when I was involved in student newspaper work. I laid copy. This is the perfect time to throw out the acronym IYKYK (if you know you know). I also had art classes in college and experienced cutting my own fingers with an exacto knife—but never my gut.
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- Be very detailed with colleagues when planning large-group activities that may affect the physical plant or grounds of your nonprofit. Trouble shoot problems as a team. Unexpected events occur all the time and a unified, measured response can mitigate risk.
Onward and upward!
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