Non-Profits need to have a reckoning of their accomplishments each year. They also need to take notice of their volunteer and contributors. Some of this clusters in June, after the universities send their new grads into the world but before the families send their younger ones off to camp for the summer. As much as I had hoped for a travel day in the coming week, PM invitations that I could not ignore fill the entire mid-week.
My synagogue holds its annual meeting on Tuesday. Relations with the leadership are mixed, but they offered me a spot on their Board of Governors, which I accepted. There is perfunctory business, voting on the slate, renewal of a non-controversial contract, and sale of a real estate asset that is more useful as cash than as property. This one takes place by Zoom. It is primarily a business meeting. There are advantages to in-person meetings which allow for better community building or at least getting to know other members, to say nothing of better give and take as people express their thoughts on the three agenda items. But mainly this meeting is obligatory by by-laws. Expediency rules the day. I have skipped it, but as one given a spot going forward by a Nominating Committee that has often received my skeptical comments, I really need to sign on to the electronic forum that evening. I suppose I can still take SEPTA to some Philly attractions and get home in time.
The following night comes the reception that I most want to attend. For a few years, I have scored scholarship applications and critiqued the application process for the Delaware Community Foundation, a non-profit that distributes funds on behalf of local philanthropists. They host a semi-annual reception for staff and volunteers that I always try to attend. I invariably encounter a mixture of familiar and new people while I sip something with alcohol and sample some nibbles from a buffet. The people, some staff, some community, are mostly more interesting folks with unique personal stories. I find it easy to bond. It's one of those wouldn't miss this events.
Then came an invitation that I did not expect. My charitable giving goes to places that I think do important work. While United Way and Federation have each earned a share of my scorn, the communal work they support still has to be done. The DuPont Company aligned with United Way, shaking down its employees, including my wife, for as much as they could coerce. It made a mostly worthy, even essential effort something of a charitable cliché. In retirement, I have a contribution for them each summer, as does my wife independently. Unknown to me, if you donate above a certain threshold you get invited to their June reception. While both my wife's and my individual donations fell beneath that amount, the staff elected to combine the household contribution, which got us one ticket. For logistical reasons, I am the recipient. Ordinarily, I do not engage in social climbing, but it has been years since I was invited to a place where everyone who's anyone will be on site. Why not attend?
That gives me a busy week, one in which I have a few other ongoing projects to complete, including slides for an upcoming presentation. But maintaining social interactions, particularly with people unfamiliar to me and likely more accomplished than me, has its own importance.
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