Lauren Schlabach
Here’s the latest installment in our series on the “Day in the Life” of nonprofit communicators, where we ask you to describe your day in your own words.
Lauren Schlabach is the communications director for the Alma School District and the Alma Education and Arts Foundation. She has worked in this position for 3 years as the first communications professional at the organization. Lauren is a 2007 graduate of Alma High School and a 2011 graduate of Harding University. She is a member of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).
Here is her typical day:
Before 8:00 am: Check email while snuggling with my puppies – making sure there have been no overnight catastrophes.
Drive to work.
8:00 am – 10:00 am: Review weekly to do list and daily appointments. Make adjustments based on yesterday’s performance (or lack there of).
Respond to emails.
Check social media and schedule posts for the day. Respond to messages that came in overnight – sorry, I don’t respond to Facebook messages at 2 am.
Read the local, regional, and state newspapers. (Do the crytoquip in the regional paper.) Cut out articles related to our organization or field.
10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Write a blog article about the 5 weirdest things we’ve found left behind in our performing arts center after a show. (#1 was false teeth! ewww.)
Work on design for new season brochures.
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Lunch at home – more puppy time! Listening to a webinar on crowd-sourcing.
Meeting with supervisor to collaborate on new projects, share ideas, and ensure that we are working towards the same goals.
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Research possible grant opportunities. Start a checklist with detailed notes on organizations that are a good fit for our program.
Gather materials needed for an upcoming grant application including budget estimates and demographic stats.
After 4:00 pm: Clean off the mess that has developed on top of my desk over the last 8 hours.
At 5:00 PM, I teach Zumba Fitness classes downtown.
Head home for dinner around 8:00, snuggling with the puppies, and a TV show on Hulu before bed.
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
