Giving our 7th Gift of Time
Happy Sunday afternoon!
We have been doing a tremendous amount of “behind the scenes” work with the intention of creating more Andrew and Abby Szott Foundation exposure. I hope we have succeeded and I look forward to your feedback.
First, we wish to welcome 14 year-old Jenna Johnston, her mom, and her twin sister as our newest Gift of Time recipient. Jenna was diagnosed in August 2008 with a rare form of childhood cancer called rabdomyosarcoma. We awarded her family a $10,400 Gift of Time at our February board meeting.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Jenna’s mother this afternoon. She reported that God has healed Jenna, as her last two scans have not revealed any disease. Jenna still has a long haul ahead of her; her treatments are alternating five days and three days every two weeks. Her chemo runs over a 24-hour period, so she is required to stay in the hospital during the course of these days. She has just completed her first 5-week radiation treatment and suffered some pretty severe burning because of it. She has another 5-week treatment that she will begin in a couple of months. I assured Jenna’s mom that the Szott Foundation family would pray for the following things:
• Finances
• Continued health and healing
• Relief from the feeling of isolation
• Jenna’s sister
Will you please join me in bombarding Heaven with these petitions? They will be heard!
Second, we have FINISHED our new promotional video, and it is quiet compelling. My brother, John Laurence, and KARE 11 photographer, Ron Stover, put many, many hours into its creation, and the Szott Foundation is grateful beyond measure for this added communication tool. It will help bring the Foundation to a new level, as its design is for exposure and fundraising. Thank you so much John and Ron! Please look for the link to view it on our website. It will also soon be available on YouTube and Network for Good. We are very excited.
Next, all of the communication tools that the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management students created are complete. Kelsey Webster, board member and student has completed our first Annual Report. The report is a tool for the Foundation to communicate its work to external stakeholders and includes:
• Budget information and year-to-date finances.
• Events from the past year.
• Biographies of Gift of Time recipients and Board of Directors.
• Recognition of volunteers, donors and corporate sponsors.
Please be looking for an electronic copy of the Annual Report, and we hope you enjoy reading it.
As many of you know already, we have a new look to our website. Sawan Patel is responsible for this new development. He upgraded the current website to be more user-friendly to potential donors, volunteers, and families so they can find information that is relevant to them, even if they are not currently familiar with the Foundation. The website allows all Board members to update the site easily and with improved efficiency, using familiar Microsoft Office applications. It provides the Foundation with a user manual to describe how to manage and edit the new site. The website also allows visitors to subscribe to my blog and other frequently updated content. These things were done largely to improve the navigation, organization and design layout, while making minimal changes to content. The new website will help market the Szott Foundation nationwide and encourage participation of visitors, even those who are just becoming familiar with the Foundation. Further, the site’s improved organization promotes online donations by making the “donate now” button more visible.
We also have a new brochure that is beautiful and was designed by Liz Pellen. She changed the design elements of the brochure and added a section about its vision to become a nationwide organization. She also added content to make the current brochure effective for both an applicant audience, as well as a potential donor audience. It will help us realize our goal for people to know exactly what the Andrew and Abby Szott Foundation is all about after only glancing at the brochure.
A PowerPoint template is another development that was created by Bryan Olson. It will be used for all formal presentations that the Szott Foundation makes and includes elements of the branding guidelines including layouts, visuals, fonts, and colors. There are different slide layouts designated for a presentation’s introduction, agenda, content, contact information, and Q & A slides. The deck also includes three standard content slides for use in presentations, including “About the Foundation,” “Application Process,” and “Andrew and Abby’s Story.” The template will make it much easier for the Foundation to use and easy for the audience to recognize and follow.
Finally, the U of M students designed new business cards, a newsletter template, and letterhead, all to make the look of the Foundation consistent throughout its communication tools.
On behalf of the Board of Directors we wish to thank these very talented, creative, hard-working, and passionate people for being so very committed to the cause of the Foundation:
• John Laurence
• Ron Stover
• Kelsey Webster
• Sawan Patel
• Liz Pellen
• Brian Olson
You have helped to move mountains in the growth of the Andrew and Abby Szott Foundation.
Blessings to all of you. Please let us know what you think.
Fondly,
Kathryn Szott
Co-Founder and President
Andrew and Abby Szott Foundation