Nancy Levesque
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.
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
Here is a typical day in October:
Before 8:00 am: I’m not really a morning person. That said, I try my hardest to wake up at 6:30 am, but typically roll out of bed at 7. My sweet Cocker Spaniels will actually wait for me to wake with them.
I have some breakfast and a cup and a half of coffee–just enough so that I’m not overly caffeinated. I do a quick email check on my smartphone, and I’m out the door around 8:00. Luckily, I have a short commute living and working in downtown Baltimore.
8:00 am – 10:00 am: Once I arrive at the office, I grab a tall glass of water (must stay hydrated!), check email, Google Alerts for media hits, and then check in on our Facebook and Twitter profiles.
I then head to a weekly 9 am planning meeting to discuss our national conference. At 10, our marketing communications coordinator and I have a check-in meeting to discuss the week’s projects.
10:00 am – 12:00 pm: If this were the summer, my day would be fully-packed with media inquires and planning for our national Summer Learning Advocacy Day in June. In 2014 we partnered with the U.S. Dept of Education to welcome First Lady Michelle Obama to our Summer Learning Day event! It was amazing!
But since it’s October, most of my mornings and afternoons are focused on various projects that we want to make available at this year’s conference. I’ll check in on Basecamp (our project management tool) to see where we are on our schedules, and connect via that tool to communicate with our amazing team of graphic design, website, and other consultants.
On a beautiful day, I like to go out for lunch–whether I brought or need to pick something up–and take a walk over to the Inner Harbor or to historical Federal Hill, where there’s a cupcakery called Midnite Confections that my colleagues and I frequent. Their salted caramel cupcake is amazing! Working in Downtown Baltimore is so much fun. Lately, there’s been so much energy and excitement about our Orioles. Go O’s!
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Because we’re a small organization, and I wear a bunch of different marketing communications hats, my days tend to vary. Lately, because we’re in the process of rolling out a new strategic plan, a lot of my time is spent on working with our public relations agency on talking points, directing the design of a new organizational brochure, and working with our CEO to revise our communications plan to reflect our new strategic priorities.
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm: If I don’t have meetings, I find I’m most productive and creative with my writing in the afternoons. I put my headphones on and dig right in. I check email throughout the day. I also try and take a break to read through some blogs–Kivi, Beth Kanter, and Social Media for Nonprofits are my faves!
After 4:00 pm: I check back in on social media (we have an amazing marketing communications coordinator who manages our Facebook and Twitter). I check my calendar for tomorrow’s meetings, take a look at my to-do list to cross off what I accomplished, and create a new list for the next day.
I tend to leave the office between 5 to 5:30. I try my best to turn off once home–it’s easier in the fall than in the summer, our busiest time. I get a work out in, help my husband with dinner, and snuggle with my dogs–the best medicine after a stressful day!
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
