Ginger Donnan Events

Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

Inspiration at the U.S. Human Rights Fund Convening

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

by Ginger Donnan

Last night I returned from handling the logistics for the U.S. Human Rights Fund’s (USHRF) convening in Philadelphia. For the past three years, this event has brought together funders and advocates working towards common goals such as criminal justice reform, racial equity and developing youth leadership for social justice causes. Much of the convening was devoted to small-group workshops but the first day was devoted to a motivating opening plenary, followed by a presentation of the first USHRF Human Rights Hero Award to Jessica Lenahan.

Prior to working on this convening, I had never heard of Jessica Lenahan. But before I made the travel arrangements for our VIP, I knew I needed to know more. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights showed up first on google with this information:

“Jessica Lenahan…obtained a restraining order against her ex-husband from the Colorado Courts in May 21, 1999. Not knowing the whereabouts of her daughters, Jessica Lenahan had eight contacts with the Castle Rock Police Department during the evening of June 22, 1999 and the morning of June 23, 1999. In each of her telephone calls and discussions with the police agents, she requested efforts to locate her daughters and she informed them that she possessed a protection order against Simon Gonzales. Her contacts were met with a police response that was fragmented, uncoordinated and unprepared, and it did not respect the terms of the restraining order. That morning, Simon Gonzales drove his pick-up truck to the Castle Rock Police Department and fired shots through the window. There was an exchange of gunfire with officers from the station in the course of which he was fatally wounded and killed. The deceased bodies of the three girls were found in his truck.”

Luckily, I was sitting down when I read this and when I learned the rest of Jessica’s story while at the convening. I thought that what had happened to her was a blow so fierce that a person would never be able to withstand more hurt and heartache within their lifetime. But it was only after viewing this video at the convening, did I learn that Jessica’s struggle only just began with that violent day in 1999:

Jessica has spent the past 12 years fighting for women’s and children’s rights against domestic abuse and for enforcement of the laws that were meant to keep her family safe. It was a humbling honor to help to bring together a group that will use Jessica’s story as inspiration for their ongoing human rights advocacy.

Tags: arrangements, convening, coordinate, Non-profit, Philadelphia, plenary, workshops
Posted in Blog, Event Recaps, Featured, Non-Profit | No Comments »

Human Rights Convenings

Saturday, November 5th, 2011

Public Interest Projects’ Convenings of the U.S. Human Rights Fund

November 7-9, 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 14-17, 2010 in Los Angeles, California
January 11-14, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana

The 2011 convening “Using Human Rights to Achieve Racial Justice: We Shall Overcome,” hosted by the U.S. Human Rights Fund with support from The Overbrook Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Just and Fair Schools Fund, was attended by 150 advocates and funders. In addition to building the registration website, making travel reservations and communicating with attendees, Ginger Donnan Events coordinated arrangements for the course of events over the three-day convening.

The 2010 convening brought together 15 funders and 80 advocates working on three inter-related human rights campaigns to develop new campaign strategies and advocacy skills, and explore collaborations. Travel arrangements were made for the guests to attend the welcome reception:

USHRF10 Welcome Reception

2 ½ days of meetings:

USHRF10 Meeting

three site visits:

USHRF10 Site Visit

and two off-site dinners:

USHRF10 Dinner

The 2009 Global Strategy Exchange Convening was an opportunity for the organization’s grantees to meet and learn from key international human rights activists. The event included hotel and travel arrangements for 140 attendees, two days of meetings, two days of site visits around New Orleans and Mississippi and all food and beverage, including an off-site group dinner.

Working with Ginger Donnan is an experience unlike any other. Convenings and special events are by nature a stressful experience for the hosts. So many people’s needs to be addressed, so many details to consider. Ginger’s organizational skills expertly bring order to chaos. She identifies a problem and is able to nip it before it has a chance to derail the process. Ginger is a systems person. She has event planning down to a science and navigates you through each bump and curve with grace and calm. It has been more than a pleasure to have Ginger at the helm of our special events–she is magic. – Sue Simon, Director, Human Rights, U.S. Human Rights Fund, June 2010

The Libra Foundation’s Grantee Convening

October 17-19, 2011

For three days in Chicago, all of The Libra Foundation’s grantees were brought together for the first time to network and get to know the work of grantee organizations from their three priority areas: women’s rights, environmental sustainability, and social justice and drug policy reform, all working within a human rights framework.

We managed the budget, handled online registration and individual attendee communications, vendor coordination and meeting needs, transportation and travel booking, and on-site management, all while keeping the client fully informed through timely updates.

Photos credit: Hiroshi Landazuri

Tags: Conference, convening, Event, los angeles, Non-profit, Travel
Posted in Event Recaps, Portfolio | No Comments »

A Day of Firsts as an Event Planning Assistant

Friday, October 21st, 2011

by Amy Ferrone

On Saturday October 15^th, I was a part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk in Princeton, NJ. Approximately 2,500 people were on hand in Forrestal Village to walk with lighted balloons and help raise money for the fight against blood cancers. It was also a day of firsts for me as an event planning assistant: my first all-day event and my first outdoor event. It was amazing to see exactly what goes into staging and executing an event attended by so many people. The walkers did not start arriving until 4:00PM, but the day started hours earlier, with tent setups and positioning mapped out and assembly of the tent city beginning. Once I oriented myself to both the map and the site, I was educated enough to start answering questions and helping out where needed.

Three things that I used during the preparations: a box cutter, a generator for a 12-foot high light tower, and an Allen wrench. Here is what I found out about being the on-site planner for an event of this magnitude: it’s all about juggling!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society staff had a vanload of disparate items, ranging from signs, food donations, carnations, and what seemed like a million cases of water that needed to be unloaded and distributed. This is where the box cutter came into play – three of the signs that were supposed to fit into metal stands did not fit. I found a box cutter from one of the tent guys and went to work. They sure fit by the time I was done (and I’m happy to report, no injuries!). Next came the Allen wrench – there were actually two of them used to assemble the site map stand. I was able to manage that fine, but not knowing where to put them so that we would have them at the end of the day, I held them in my pocket for the next 10 hours – and do you know how hard it is to use an Allen wrench in the pitch-dark? Thank goodness for the lovely volunteer with a flashlight app on her phone! Whatever help I was able to provide on Saturday, as rudimentary as it was, I was certainly not going to lose the Allen wrenches.

“All hands on deck” would be a great way to describe much of the day – help wherever you can. Unload boxes, unpack signs, tell volunteers where to go, keep track of all the vendors’ deliveries, learn how to operate the generators for the light towers, hand out balloons , and clean up, clean up, clean up! The coordination of all the volunteers was a massive undertaking – you want volunteers there early, but what if the equipment they are going to use is late? I guess there’s never a worry of too many volunteers showing up, but you also don’t want people standing around with nothing to do. The 40 mph winds didn’t deter us too much – thank goodness they died down by the time the walkers began arriving. The balloon task was definitely labor-intensive – well over 3,000 balloons were blown up, then had to be distributed individually – and the wire cords for the special light-up balloons did not get the memo about not getting tangled!

It turned out to be a wonderful, successful day, and a really inspiring event. Volunteers, walkers and staff were all so engaged and supportive of each other, and the atmosphere was so upbeat. Aside from being completely exhausted and having my first case of “event headache,” I felt privileged to see and be part of such a great event, and to be able to truly appreciate all the work that goes into it.

Tags: Event planning, Leukemia, Lymphoma, New Jersey, production, tents, Vendors, Volunteers
Posted in Blog, Event Recaps, Featured, Non-Profit | No Comments »

My Road to Becoming an Event Planning Assistant

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

by Amy Ferrone

If you had told me a year ago that I would be working right now, let alone at an event planning company, I would have said you were crazy. I haven’t “worked” per se, in almost 8 years. Oh, I’ve worked, but I just have not been paid for it! I spent the past 8 years raising my three sons (cue the theme music!). Little did I know that all of the challenges that I faced during this time would hone my organizational and communication skills to such a degree that when the opportunity to join Ginger Donnan Events presented itself, I was ready!

When you have preemie twin boys that need to be fed every 3 hours, and it takes an hour to feed and change them, and you need to monitor who is wetting and dirtying their diapers, you find a way to get organized. For me, it was this special notepad that was designed to track all of these things – I wrote everything down! Couple that with extreme sleep deprivation, and I found myself trying to write things down in the middle of the night in the pitch dark that didn’t even occur. My sisters still make fun of me for that, but I did learn that my brain works best when I am as organized as possible. Write it down and it won’t be forgotten.

Several years later (and one miracle baby brother coming 18 months after the twins), I was still not “working,” but became involved in a number of activities for my boys. I am the Treasurer for the elementary school’s PTA, a Den Leader for the Cub Scouts, and I oversee/manage the boys’ homework and sporting and art activities – it all takes planning and organization!! Not to mention creativity and efficiency.

I have also been keeping busy over the years with volunteer work, most importantly running The George McDermott Memorial for 10 years. After my father passed away, my sisters and I wanted to honor our Dad’s name in a meaningful way, so we started a memorial sports outing once a year. First it was a golf tournament and picnic, then it morphed into softball and a picnic. It was a great deal of work (managing mailing lists, tee time organization, menu planning, scheduling kids activities), but well worth it in terms of results. We had 150+ family and friends attend each year, and were able to raise more than $85K for the John Wayne Cancer Institute in my Dad’s name.

As Treasurer of a Parent Teacher Association chapter at an elementary school, I’ve heard it all. “Oh good, your husband’s an accountant, he can help you” and “You’re not afraid of numbers and money?” were two of my favorites as I began to do the daily finances for a school’s annual budget of $50K. Here’s what I found works as you handle the inflows and outflows of dozens of events throughout the year: communicate properly the details of making deposits and check requests. Repeat them constantly, to anyone who will listen. Help those who won’t listen. Count everything several times. Write everything down (by now I’ve graduated to spreadsheets, but for my money, nothing beats a paper and pen!), stay organized and focused, and everything will go smoothly.

And much to my surprise, when all my boys are in school for a full day, I discovered that event planning requires, among other things: organization, communication, planning, and creative thinking, all skills I have been acquiring and honing over the past six years. Thanks to Ginger, who took a chance on a coming-back-into-the-workforce-Mom, I am able to put these skills into practice in planning events.

Tags: communication, Event planning, Fundraiser, New Jersey
Posted in Blog, Featured, Non-Profit | No Comments »

Event Emergency Plans

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

by Ginger Donnan

There’s nothing like a hurricane to make you focus on your emergency plan, at home, at work or for events. The stories we’ve been hearing from clients, vendors and volunteers are tough but luckily, not heartbreaking, since those we’ve talked to have come out the other side safe and sound. We didn’t have any events taking place for the past week but we’re never in the clear when it comes to upcoming events. September and October are still a part of hurricane season, not to mention the unthinkable, like once-in-a-century earthquakes and the ever-present threat of terrorist attacks.

Inclement Weather: For outdoor events and festivals, just a little rain can make for a complete change of plans including back-up indoor space, rescheduling or the cost of additional tents with or without sidewalls. For meetings and conferences, a little rain typically won’t change much, until the winds pick up and transportation gets difficult. The date of the event is too late to talk to your venues and vendors about flexibility in case of cancellation or postponement.

Natural Disasters: Just because the news says a hurricane is on the way, doesn’t mean you and your vendors are on the same page in terms of when force majeure comes into effect. Hurricane Irene hit New York Saturday afternoon but what if you had a brunch scheduled for earlier that day that no one planned to attend because they needed to be in their homes when the storm hit? Don’t wait to communicate.

Terrorist Attacks: It was one of many people’s first thoughts when the earthquake hit, because the threat of terrorist attacks has not gone away. You need to know your venue’s evacuation protocol, including when to stay put. Event planners are not first responders but they should be first communicators when an emergency happens just prior to or during an event they’ve organized. This doesn’t (necessarily) mean you get up to the podium and start pointing at exit signs but you do talk to the security/police and your client to confirm proceeding with the first step of a pre-established plan.

Coming soon: Our September newsletter shares our emergency plan for a 300+ person conference this past spring. Not on the mailing list? Sign up here.

Tags: emergency, Event, plan, Vendors, Venues
Posted in Advice, Blog, Featured | No Comments »