Steady Day

Today was a pretty good day. I went to see the race track today in Braintree- it is a terrific venue. The two indoor race tracks are really cool and the rest of the venue is beautiful. There is a ton of space available, we could have a huge event if we wanted to, but I think we'll start with something smaller. I'm really excited to hold a racing fundraiser and party there in October. It really is exciting to have new events going on- it is going to be a lot of work, but I think they are all going to be very successful. I was at my DWC networking event tonight and the group was very receptive when I talked about our Mother's Day event that I'm working on. I have a lot of planning to do- I'm going to be working with the event planner on it, but there is a lot that I can get done myself. Tomorrow, I need to review the event contracts- date auction, anniv event and mom's day and then sign them and return, some need to have a deposit put down as well, which is fine.

What else is new today? I was catching up on emails, I had a lot of phone calls come in about stuffed animal donations and I was working on some other event planning things. The Single Volunteers of Boston group is on board to recruit volunteers for our Valentines event. They did a good job last year at the date auction.

Something funny happened tonight at the networking event- one of the members said to me that she thought it was interesting that I attended the events since I didn't run a business. I wasn't sure at first how to respond to her, because I'd never really heard a comment like that before. I explained to her that Project Smile, just like every other non profit that runs a full time operation is a business. We don't show a profit at the end of the year, but this is absolutely a business and it is run with the same care and diligence that one runs any business. We provide a service, we have revenue, we have expenses, we pay payroll taxes and benefits, we file all our paperwork with the Secretary of State and Attorney General and the IRS every year, I market Project Smile everyday- this is definitely a business.

Anyways, there was one frustrating thing that happened today and I don't want to go into the details of it, but there was someone that I was friends with who had acted in a really crappy manner in regards to Project Smile and it made me really annoyed and upset this afternoon. I did learn something from it though- never ask people to make a purchase for you without giving them a specific dollar limit. Because if you don't give them a limit, they will most likely spend way too much money. I had asked this person to purchase some items for an event that we were holding last fall- it was a last minute purchase. He bought the items, gave them to the person who needed them at the event and then never gave me a receipt so that I could reimburse him, he didn't even tell me how much the stuff cost. Now, 3 months later he sends me a receipt for a $150 purchase for the supplies. I had absolutely no idea he was going to spend that much money and no way in hell would I have allowed it. You see, I work extremely hard for every penny that Project Smile raises and I am very careful about every dollar that is spent- $150 is a lot of money and to spend that, without even calling me and asking if it was OK to spend that amount is wrong. If I had known how much he spent when he returned to the event, I would have returned some of the items- but I didn't know. A month after the event, he asked if he could sell some calendars. Of course, I was happy to have the help. I gave him 20 calendars. We hadn't talked in about a month and I called him last week and left a message asking him to send me a check for the calendars that he had sold. Today, I get an envelope containing 8 calendars, along with a note saying that I can deduct the money that I owed him from the calendars he sold and a receipt for $150 from Staples. Now, you don't wait 3 months to submit a receipt for reimbursement, you also don't spend that much money before checking to make sure that it is OK and you sure don't ask to sell calendars, then pocket the money because you're reimbursing yourself. It is wrong on so many levels. I need to account for my calendar sales- it is a separate transaction from the fall event and now I have a biarre note in place of where $120 should be. What am I going to do? Nothing- there isn't much I can do. I trusted him to sell calendars, because that's what he said he was going to do. He never said that he would take our calendars, then pocket the money for himself so he could get reimbursed for an amount that I wasn't even aware of. I trusted him to make a sensible purchase at Staples, because I thought that's what he was capable of, but evidently I was wrong. I know I said I didn't want to go into the details of it, but I guess I just did. It really is hurtful though when things happen like that. Sometimes, I just don't understand why people act the way they do. I would never dream of behaving the way he did.

Anyways, enough on that stupid topic. It is almost 1am and I need to write my list and go to bed- I'm getting a headache. Until tomorrow friends..